- Rich narrative and memorable characters
- Innovative roguelike design and replayability
- Stunning art and sound design
- Engaging Greek mythology integration
- Highly polished and addictive gameplay
- Some find gameplay repetitive and grind-heavy
Emotions
Players feel satisfied by the game's high overall quality, including its refined gameplay, engaging story, and character development. The continuous progression, even after death, and the high replayability with varied runs and builds contribute significantly to this feeling. Achieving milestones like platinum trophies or overcoming challenges also provides a deep sense of accomplishment.
Excitement stems from the game's frenetic, crisp, and satisfying combat, which often leads to addiction. The anticipation for new content, especially Hades 2, and the thrill of discovering intricate builds and new dialogues keep players eagerly engaged. Overcoming difficult bosses and experiencing the game's dynamic battles also generates a strong sense of exhilaration.
Admiration is primarily driven by the game's exceptional artistic direction, including its stunning visuals, magnificent animation, and captivating soundtrack. The masterful integration of narrative with roguelike gameplay, well-written characters, and impressive voice acting showcase the developers' incredible care and attention to detail, leading players to consider it a masterpiece.
Players find enjoyment in the game's fun and addictive gameplay loop, which offers unique builds and dynamic characters. The engaging story, character development, and the ability to improve runs and understand game mechanics contribute to a consistently entertaining experience. Even the challenge and the process of learning from losses are often cited as enjoyable aspects.
Joy is experienced through the game's charming characters, humor, and engaging aspects like petting Cerberus. The fun and replayability, along with the beautiful soundtrack and heartwarming story, contribute to a deeply positive emotional experience. Discovering hidden references and reuniting characters also brings moments of pure delight.
Verdict
Mostly positive
Summary
Positive 97% · Negative 3%. Score: 3 / 100
Positives:
- The game is lauded for its compelling, well-written story and deeply developed characters, which are brought to life by outstanding voice acting. The narrative unfolds organically with each run and death, making every interaction meaningful and fostering strong emotional connections with the cast.
- The game redefines the roguelike genre by seamlessly integrating its narrative with the gameplay loop, making death a purposeful part of progression rather than a punishment. It's highly praised for converting players who typically dislike roguelikes, offering accessibility while maintaining depth and challenge.
- Players consistently praise the game's incredibly fun, addictive, and fluid combat system, highlighting its balance, variety, and responsiveness. The game offers immense replayability through diverse weapons, boons, and evolving strategies, ensuring each run feels fresh and rewarding, even after hundreds of hours.
- The game offers a well-balanced difficulty curve that is challenging yet fair, with options like 'God Mode' to cater to all skill levels. The progression system is intelligently designed, ensuring players always feel a sense of advancement and improvement, even after failed attempts.
- Reviewers consistently highlight the game's breathtaking, unique, and vibrant hand-drawn art style, which perfectly captures the Greek underworld atmosphere. The phenomenal soundtrack, composed by Darren Korb, is equally praised for its ability to enhance both intense combat and emotional narrative moments.
Negatives:
- Many players found the core gameplay loop, combat, and enemy variety to become monotonous and repetitive after extended play. The need for extensive grinding for upgrades and story progression further exacerbated this issue, leading to player fatigue.
- Players noted a lack of diversity in enemy types and boss encounters across different locations. This contributes to the feeling of repetitiveness, as many enemies are palette swaps or have similar attack patterns, making combat stale.
- The weapon roster is seen as lacking variety, with some weapons feeling unfinished or awkward. The build system is also criticized for imbalance and relying too much on luck for synergistic upgrades, limiting strategic depth and player choice.
- The game presents a significant initial difficulty spike and a steep learning curve, especially for newcomers to the roguelike genre. This often results in frequent early deaths and frustration, making it hard for some players to get into the game.
- Combat readability suffers from visual clutter, making it difficult to track the player character, enemies, and projectiles. Additionally, enemies frequently attack from off-screen or are obscured by the environment, leading to unfair damage and frustration.
Gameplay:
- Combat is fast-paced, fluid, and dynamic, emphasizing dodging and strategic attacks over button-mashing. Players can experiment with a vast array of weapons, each with unique aspects, and combine them with diverse boons from Olympian gods to create countless unique and powerful builds.
- The game offers a wide range of difficulty options, from an accessible 'God Mode' for casual players to a challenging 'Heat System' and 'Pact of Punishment' for those seeking extreme challenges and replayability. This system allows players to gradually increase difficulty and rewards, ensuring a tailored experience.
- Players control Zagreus, son of Hades, on a quest to escape the Underworld and uncover his past. The story is deeply integrated with Greek mythology, featuring well-developed characters, evolving dialogues, and romance options that unfold with each escape attempt.
- The game is a roguelite dungeon crawler where death is a core mechanic. Players repeatedly die, return to the House of Hades, and use accumulated resources to unlock permanent upgrades, new weapons, and story elements, making each subsequent run stronger and more informed.
- Olympian gods bestow temporary boons during runs, each with unique themes and effects that significantly alter gameplay. Players strategically choose and combine these boons, including powerful 'Duo' and 'Legendary' tiers, to create synergistic builds and adapt to challenges.
Performance:
- The game is frequently lauded for its flawless performance and perfect controls on the Steam Deck, making it a highly recommended experience for portable play. Battery life is also noted as reasonable.
- Players consistently report that the game runs smoothly across a wide range of hardware, from high-end PCs to older Macs and low-resource machines. Many highlight stable frame rates and a general lack of performance issues, even during intense combat.
- There's conflicting feedback regarding PC requirements; some state it needs a 'gamer-level' PC, while others claim it runs on 'potato' or low-end machines. The general consensus leans towards accessible requirements.
- One player expressed a desire for more graphics options beyond just resolution, suggesting a potential area for enhancement in visual customization.
- One player noted that Reshade helped with graphic issues, but problems persisted when the game became too sprite-heavy towards the end, suggesting potential visual clutter or performance dips in specific scenarios.
Recommendations:
- The game is overwhelmingly recommended by players across various preferences, including roguelike fans, action RPG enthusiasts, and even newcomers to the genre. Many consider it a masterpiece and a must-play, often rating it 9/10 or 10/10.
- Players frequently praise the game as one of the best, if not the best, roguelikes ever made. It is seen as a gold standard, redefining the genre's possibilities and setting a new benchmark for future titles.
- The game appeals to a broad audience, including fans of Greek mythology, dynamic combat, and compelling stories. It's recommended for both seasoned roguelike players and those new to the genre, with some suggesting it can change non-fans' opinions.
- Players find the game highly addictive and difficult to stop playing, often leading to hundreds of hours of playtime. Its engaging nature and replayability are highlighted as key strengths, making it a game that keeps pulling players back in.
- The inclusion of a 'God Mode' is appreciated, making the game more accessible for players who are intimidated by roguelikes or prefer to focus on the story. This feature allows for a more relaxed experience, reducing difficulty with each death.
Miscellaneous:
- Players consistently praise the game's exceptional polish, lack of significant bugs, and addictive nature, leading to hundreds of hours of gameplay and high replayability. Many initially skeptical players became deeply engrossed.
- The game features a compelling, gradually unfolding story rich with well-written, humorous characters and extensive, dynamic dialogue. The character development and interactions are frequently highlighted as a major strength.
- The game's art style, character designs, and overall visual direction are consistently lauded as beautiful and impressive. This is complemented by top-tier voice acting for all characters, enhancing the immersive experience.
- Many players, including those new to or previously averse to the roguelike genre, found this game to be an enjoyable and accessible entry point. It successfully integrates a strong narrative into the roguelike loop, which is uncommon for the genre.
- Many players express excitement and anticipation for the sequel, Hades II, often purchasing the first game to prepare or understand its backstory. This indicates strong brand loyalty and interest in the franchise's future.
