Hades

This is one of the rare games I struggled to write a review for. I was so close to giving it a negative review, but then I thought that would be unfair to the developers, so I changed it to positive. The biggest reason for this is that I have stayed away from the roguelike genre for years, and I forced myself several times to try it and see whether I could actually enjoy it or not. I was always prejudiced against the genre because I hate soulslike games, and because of that, I thought the whole “be born, progress, die, repeat” idea could annoy me just as much as soulslikes and ruin my enjoyment. Despite that, I bought a few games in this genre, like Hades, Dead Cells, Returnal, etc., and Hades was the first one I decided to properly try. Well, turns out I was half right. I can honestly say that I got more frustrated with every death, especially during the final boss fights against Hades near the end of the True Ending route, around the 8th-10th clears. Those fights almost made me break my keyboard. Some people will probably call this a skill issue, and honestly, fair enough, I respect that. But for me, the issue is more about not being a calm and patient person, which is also the same reason why I hate soulslike games. The reason I said I was half right is that, even though there were moments that seriously annoyed me, I also enjoyed every bit of character progression. I could feel myself getting stronger, and because of that, most runs felt easier compared to the previous ones. I also thought the story was really good. I assume not every roguelike game puts much focus on story, but Hades definitely does not ignore that part. The amount of artifacts and things to grind also increases the replayability of the game. Even though that personally does not mean much to me, I am sure it is important for people who love this genre. I finished the game with the True Ending after 10 clears, in almost 20 hours. After doing some research, I found out that even though I saw the credits, there is still an epilogue-related story if I keep playing. Honestly, I do not want to continue anymore because I got really bored. This boredom actually started after the 3rd clear, but instead of quitting, I wanted to keep going as far as I could to give the genre a proper chance. There were many things I liked but I do not think the general structure of roguelike games is for me. Still, I will try the other roguelike games in my library and see how far I can go with them, but I do not think I will buy any more roguelike games from now on. I have respect for people who love the genre, but it is just not for me. [b]To sum it up, there are 3 reasons why I am giving this game a positive review:[/b] - It showed me that roguelike games are not for me. - Even though I personally did not fully enjoy it, I still think it is a very good game within its own genre, and I do not want to be unfair to the developers. - Dusa. Do not even ask for an explanation.

---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☑ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☑ Potato ☐ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Game Size }--- ☐ Floppy Disk ☐ Old Fashioned ☑ Workable ☐ Big ☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive ☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it ☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☐ Average grind level ☑ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☐ Good ☑ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☐ Average ☑ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☐ Worth the price ☑ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☑ Never heard of ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☑ 8 ☐ 9 ☐ 10 I've only got about 6 hours in, from what I've read im not even halfway through the "tutorial" phase of the game. The art, the sound, the combat, I love pretty much every element of the game, however for me personally I don't think I'll be able to continue playing much. I'm really interested in the story however the gameplay loop revolves around escaping the underworld, every death you return back to step one, you power up, you build relationships and take on new boons, however I just don't really enjoy having to constantly return and start from step 1 every 30minutes. Now if you're into that kind of thing then I can see this being an easy 9/10-10/10 for you, as I've said I absolutely love everything else about this game, but it's not quite my cup of tea in terms of repetitiveness, which Is why I still recommend the game, but will rate it 8/10. Whilst Hades doesn't quite fulfill what I want, it has at least made me really appreciate the genre and made me dive into it and explore other titles with similar gameplay but with more continuous gameplay loops vs repetitive.

I went into Hades with little expectation. I had never played a rogue-lite before, and I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it. I enjoy combat in games, but I prefer turn-based combat, storyline and character development. Nevertheless, I love Greek mythology and heard nothing but great things, so I figured I’d give it a shot. I figured I’d play it for a little while, maybe, then chalk it up as something very cool, just not for me. Instead, I became completely obsessed. This game is so addictive (compliment) and dying never felt like a punishment. It was great to sink hours into at a time, as well as picking up one run when I had a spare half an hour. I was always so excited to return to the House of Hades after every attempt to unlock new dialogue, interact with the characters and get stronger for the next run. It was a very rewarding experience, despite dying [i] a lot [/i]. It made dying fun! My relationships with the gods changed a lot throughout the game. I’m glad I never truly bonded with Poseidon (as I have a deep-rooted dislike for him, which I was not prepared to reassess). Early on, Artemis was my girl because I started with the bow. Eventually, I discovered the fists and the railgun and immediately abandoned the bow, sorry Artemis. Zeus became my favourite god overall because of his rapid lightning boons, but I much preferred running into Hermes for some fun dialogue. Shout-out Dionysus for carrying my early runs with hangover and Athena’s divine dash. My favourite character was probably Thanatos. [spoiler] The second I met him I was like, wait a second, this guy is INTO me. Like… he is totally obsessed with me. Then all of a sudden, I was in a romance storyline. I had no idea there was romance in this game. It was great news and I was glad to know I wasn’t making up delusional gay plotlines. [/spoiler] I also really enjoyed bonding with Dusa and Achilles, despite the fact that Achilles looked questionably old. Also screw you Theseus, I never liked you. Overall, Hades has fantastic gameplay, fantastic characters and fantastic music. I had so much fun with this one. I’d recommend it to everyone, especially people who think the gameplay might be out of their comfort zone. I’ve never played anything like it, and I am so glad I switched up my normal playstyle for this. I can’t wait to pick up Hades II!