Hades
Released: September 17, 2020
Game Length: 18 Hours
Grade: B+
Expectations: Alright SuperGiant Games. Rumor has it that you came out with a new smashing rogue-lite game. I hope it's better than Enter the Gungeon. Will you require me to spend hours upon hours replaying the same areas to grind out certain objects to unlock frivolous content? Now that I think about it, what sort of setting did you decide this time? Did you go with cowboys, animals in outer space, or something crazy in a futuristic metropolis? Oh, I was not expecting that. So they decided to build the Underworld out of Greek Mythology and get all their gods involved on top of that. Well they have the resources to build such a game and a small team of passionate people to make it happen. Assets from Transistor can supply them with the general combat while the dialogue format from Pyre can provide them with the visual novel aspect. I hope their game grew fruit from being in production since July 25, 2017 and Epic Games Early Access since December 7, 2018.
Reality: Contrary to what I thought going in, the story actually revolves around Zagreus - someone whom I never heard before - trying to escape from his father's domain. You must travel through several levels before reaching the surface: Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and the Temple of Styx. A typical run for me through all the levels lasted between 40 and 60 minutes. However, there is a peculiar challenge that requires you to reach the end within 36 minutes... or even 20 minutes if you are daring. The one thing I must stress is that the foundation of Hades is like any other isometric video game. The mechanics are very easy to pick-up on for anyone familiar with a modern controller. Though it is a good idea to turn on God Mode to reduce the amount of damage enemies dish out early if you think the game will be too difficult. I'm going to tell you right now... getting to "the end" of the game is going to take you a very long time. That said, I'm going to break the game down into three different phases for three types of people. I'll even include highlights from my own personal experience.
First Phase - Escape: Most of the game is all about learning what is available to you and unlocking your potential. There is a good chance you won't be able to escape your first times through. That doesn't mean your time venturing through the floors is going to be boring. There are plenty of things to do to keep you entertained in the meantime. Bartering Nectar with those in the database will provide you 25 Keepsakes - 14 with bonuses, 9 that help with god boons, and 2 extra special items obtainable after reaching the third phase of the game. It might have been easy getting Darkness to upgrade, but I desperately needed more Chthonic Keys in order to unlock all 24 traits (swappable between red and green sides) from the Mirror of Night and the other 5 Weapons. Not only are there 6 types of weapons, but you can eventually unlock 4 different variants and about 70 different modifiers from the Daedalus Hammer. It is also a good idea to visit the House Contractor and use some of those gemstones and diamonds on anything under the Work Orders category, especially the fishing rod.
Of course the most interesting aspect of the game has to be the Boon system. There are 10 Gods that will provide you with a wide-range of benefits. 2 of them are pretty inclusive: Chaos provides you with a boost on the condition you clear a few rooms with a specific curse and Hermes boons all correlate with non-damaging mechanics. For the other 8, things get pretty flashy in combat. The 3 gods with the best weapon modifiers were Ares for extra damage and rifts, Athena to deflect enemy attacks back-to-sender, and Zeus with homing lightning bolts that sometimes bounce between multiple targets. The other 5 gods have the best supporting modifiers: Aphrodite weakens enemies, Artemis increases critical damage, Dionysus adds a DoT (damage over time), Demeter slows people down, and Poseidon pushes people away. There are also a lot of interesting hidden boons you can obtain like Demeter's "Rare Crop" can increase your boons from Common to Heroic status and Poseidon's "Sunken Treasure" drops goodies at your lap. It is hard to choose one ability over the other when there are so many factors to consider: the type of weapon you are using, your game style, which God you find and when, your set traits and modifiers, how far along you are, and most importantly the rarity of the boon.
When it comes to a casual player, defeating the final boss and reaching the surface might be the very last thing you want to do in the game. I've heard stories where people would take upwards to 50 Tries before making such a feat from when the game was back in early access. I'm not sure how the game has evolved since then, but it only took me 11 Tries to do the same thing. Unlocking all those perks, fountains, bonuses, traits, and weapons will help give you the extra push to get to the end. I personally found that using the power of Skelly (yes, your character actually says that) through the "Lucky Tooth" keepsake in addition to the three "Death Defiance" ranks will help with that final boss. Unfortunately, your runs are highly dependent on that nasty Random Number Generator. I remember one specific run of mine that was terrible: no fountains, no treasure troves, no alternate characters, no chaos chambers, no boons within the first six rooms, the majority of boons being of common quality and rare boons being assigned to the worst of abilities, and no healing offers from Charon. It was a disaster. You also have to "relearn" boss battles since there are three different sisters from the first area and 4 different variants of the Bone Hydra in the second area after running through 3 times.
Second Phase - Resolution: Now that you defeated the final boss, you now learn of the little twist in the story. You have to do it again, multiple times in fact, in order to bring a close to the story. How many times do you think it will take? I thought making it through with each weapon for a total of six times was good enough. I achieved this after maxing out all my traits and trying out every boon at 19 Attempts. But only after finding the wiki is when I learned that the game had other plans. In order to properly reach the credits, a total of 10 completed runs is required. This is when my joy of the game began to falter. What does the game have to offer me at this point? Well, you can collect thousands of more Gemstones to decorate the House. You can gift-wrap Nectar to various people and hear about how much they care about you. I guess you can always collect more reagents by knocking up a challenge on the Pact of Punishment board. See how things fair when you fight against opponents with extra mechanics. Oh and there was that one time I picked a fight with Charon.
At this stage of the game, it was infuriating to me the number of things that were still hidden, locked, inaccessible, or required way too many artifacts to obtain. I had 17 Ambrosia artifacts (all earned by defeating the third boss) with absolutely no clue what to use them for. Only by looking online did I find out that there were a number of companions you can get through offering people a good chunk of Nectar and Ambrosia. And why in the world did they require at least one diamond for a single song to be played in the lobby? I paid for a few of them before realizing how precious of a commodity the diamond is really worth! I really wish there was a way to look over all your previous runs, but I only found out while checking the wiki that the stupid Administrative Chamber is locked behind building a relationship with Achilles. Then there are a ton of little "conditions" like how Skeletal Lure doesn't unlock at the Well of Charon until you get some random discussion with Poseidon or how Orpheus starts to sing again after talking to him for about a dozen times. So after going through another 4 successful runs, now totaling 25 Attempts, I finally got to see the credits. I was happy. I was relieved. I got to hear that something, something, in the blood song (yes, your character actually says that). But as some might say, "that's only the beginning."
Third Phase - After Party: Did you complete all those lore entries in the database? Did you give every person a nice sum of Nectar and Ambrosia? Did you unlock all the features, completed all the prophecies, decorated the House with everything there was to offer, and revealed the statues Skelly had under the tarp? That's the problem I have about this game. Some things happen after the credits roll. I mean, that's when it's supposed to be over! So because I called it quits, I was never able to see that interesting epilogue where you send out invites to all of Olympus. I never got to hear Orpheus sing any one of his three songs. I never got to fight the Champion of Elysium with his mighty chariot or watch Cerberus be summoned into battle. I was just so exhausted after 25 Hours, that I couldn't bring myself to seek out 50 of one item and 100 of another. Oh well. Perhaps the developers just didn't consider the possibility of how quickly it would take some people to reach this part of the game.
Story: Supergiant Games did an excellent job with almost everything from a narrative perspective. They really nailed the voice acting and incorporation of the characters in the game. The designs and personalities of the gods were much more realistic than the ones from Disney's Hercules. They properly represented their attitudes, their mythology, and fighting technique. You get to hear them bicker and moan between each other whenever you have to choose between two of them, reference Charon when contained in his shop, talk about someone you conversed with earlier in the run, or chat among each other whenever a "duo boon" becomes available. They brought along the wonderful singing voice of Ashley Barrett for Eurydice. They included a database that opens directly to the character's page when standing in close proximity. Zagreus is nearly perfect with his sarcastic remarks, quick wit, determination, obstinance, demeanor, and 4th-wall breaking when responding to the narrator. I found myself quite amused to at least half of his lines. The way he pokes certain decorations, loves Cerberus, casually talks about other people, and responds to his fan.
Opinion: When it comes to SuperGiant Games,
I have learned to expect an interesting story inside a fabulous world
from a unique perspective with an awesome voice. Unfortunately, I have
also learned to expect that not everything will "click" into place when
it comes to infusing that narrative with some actual gameplay. When it
comes to Hardees Hades, they tried far too hard tucking
away its features until the player initiated some oddball condition that
was either never fully explained or necessitated beyond the patience of
the player. If you don't mind the setting and playing this type of
game, I hereby fully endorse this game with the asking price of $25.
12-8-2020