Supergiant was able to record a frankly ludicrous amount of dialogue for Hades, ensuring that the player’s repeated escape attempts feel like one continuous, flowing arc. Hades certainly isn’t the first roguelike to make its run-based structure an integral part of its narrative, but I’ve never seen one put so much effort into keeping its story content fresh throughout. Grudges formed over the course of Hades aren’t born of philosophical disputes or life-or-death circumstances – they just come with the job. The other inhabitants of the Underworld either root for him on the down-low or view him as a nuisance because it’s their responsibility to send him back (and thus they endure repeated beatdowns when he becomes strong enough to consistently defeat them in battle). Zagreus can’t die and no one wants to kill him anyway - his father simply views him as a layabout and seeks to reprimand him. Hades doesn’t have ‘villains’ in the regular sense. The secret ingredient in Hades, however, is the same one present in all of Supergiant’s titles – sharp dialogue, believable characterization, and a focus on world-building unusual for a game of this type. Where the inherent repetition would drag a lesser title down, Hades has an ever-expanding web of systems that makes the campaign deeper and more engaging as it goes. Ambrosia can be given to other characters in exchange for equippable items. Gems can be spent on renovating structures that will aid the player on subsequent attempts. Pellets of darkness are used to upgrade Zagreus’s stats. While gold must be spent within the run in which it is claimed, everything else contributes to permanent changes. Rooms that don’t offer boons will instead feature shops, character encounters, or a wide variety of currencies. I always got a kick out of the chain-lightning effects granted by Zeus’s boons, for example, so whenever I saw his insignia over a door, that would be my route. In cases where the player is given two options, they can prioritize whatever they’re in the market for. Whenever a chamber is cleared of enemies and its prize is claimed, an icon over the door will inform the player what the next reward will be. It turns out that the combat needs to be inherently simplistic to serve as a keystone for all of the wild forms Zagreus can take. For example, by the time I’m a couple of levels in on a given run, my basic attacks might have a knockback effect thanks to Poseidon, my dash leaves a spinning blade in my wake courtesy of Ares, and Artemis has gifted me a homing arrow. While not every chamber will contain a new boon, the player will accumulate enough of them over the course of a run – granting a wide variety of bonuses – that each escape attempt gives Zagreus a radically new and exciting build. Hermes tends to grant Zagreus various speed boosts, for example, while Athena’s shield can help him deflect projectiles. Each god holds a number of possible boons, from which the player always gets a choice of three, and they all revolve around a theme. The gods on Mount Olympus want to help Zagreus escape, and so they’re constantly sending him gifts that boost his capabilities in combat, applying passive effects to his standard moves or swapping out his abilities for new ones. However, this is where the hook of “boons” comes into play. The wonderful visuals and charismatic voice work are here in full form, but following two titles with innovative battle systems ( Transistor and Pyre) one could be forgiven for initially thinking that the combat in Hades is disappointingly generic hack-and-slash fare. This is the fourth release from Supergiant Games, an indie studio known for dazzling presentation values. However, since gods can’t die, Zagreus simply pulls himself out of the River Styx when he’s defeated, gets a scolding from his father, and tries again. To keep would-be runaways contained, the layout of the Underworld is constantly shifting, and its chambers are full of guards and traps. Hades centers on Zagreus, here depicted as a rebellious teenager who’s desperate to escape from the dreary Underworld and ditch the responsibilities that come with being the son of the god of the dead. Hades is an exemplar of its genre because it does both. Since roguelikes are repetitive by nature, the best ones tend to do one of two things – they either provide enough variables to make each run exciting, or grant the player permanent upgrades to accelerate their progress over time. WTF Surely I’ll hit repeat dialogue eventually, right…? LOW The fourth biome is less interesting than the preceding three.
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