Fittingly, one of the greatest video games of 2020 is about a never-ending and pointless escape from hell itself. Hadesfrom Supergiant Games, captured the hearts of millions when it officially launched in September 2020, reinventing timeless Greek mythology and using it to build a story that rewarded failure as much as success. In the roguelike action game, Zagreus, the son of Hades, stars as he makes his way through the different layers of hell in a quest to reach the surface and find his missing mother Persephone. Zagreus is assisted in his quest by the gods of Olympus, who are eager to hear about their relative’s existence and help him with various favors that increase attack power, add buffs or debuffs, or provide other useful facts.
There are two keys to it Hades‘good luck. The first is that the game rewards failure. Zagreus dies… a lot, and is forced to start his endless quest all over again when he is sent back to the underworld. However, dying gives Zagreus the chance to spend money to permanently increase his strength and abilities, unlock new conversations with key NPCs, and try out new weapons with unique abilities. Hades only progress when Zagreus dies, and that mechanic removes one of the most frustrating aspects of most video games – the uselessness of loss.
The other key to Hades‘continuing popularity is the game’s relative lack of villains. There are no really “bad” guys in it Hades – the game’s titular antagonist is stubborn, proud and callous, but the game is slowly receding its appearance to reveal the very valid reasons for its continued resistance to its son. Over time, players will eventually be able to romanticize the first boss players encounter, come to an agreement with other major opponents, and find meaningful solutions to complicated storylines. Empathy and care are part of it Hades’ core, and they help players keep coming back for more runs even after the main game is beaten. The Greek gods themselves have also been delightfully redesigned, with fantastic voice acting and key art that have inspired countless fan art. It’s really hard to hate a character Hades, with the possible exception of Theseus, whose personality is deliberately obnoxious and unpleasant.
Of course, Hades is also a really fun hack and slash game. The game’s bean system is built around figuring out gamebreaking combos on the fly and destroying dozens of enemies at once. Since the favors are distributed randomly, players are encouraged to mix and match at will, and few skills don’t sync well with each other. Most Hades players will swear by one weapon or the other, but the game can be conquered with almost any combination of weapon and blessing, provided the player makes the most of what they get. Players will enjoy spamming various combos as they free up rooms while trying to decide whether to add more perks or bolster existing ones. There is never a wrong answer, although some choices work better with some playing styles than others. I personally liked how different weapons could be adapted to different playstyles. The Twin Fists of Malphon, a set of gloves designed for close combat, evolved from my least favorite weapon to the weapon with which I had the most consistent success while learning how to combine my heavy attack style with various perks and timing attacks for hitting enemies as I ran past them.
The game also rewards players for continuing to play even after they finally escape hell. Each weapon of the game has different variants that can only be unlocked after repeated runs, and the main storyline itself doesn’t even resolve until a player has completed the game 10 times. The post-game content is also fun, with players literally choosing their poison by deliberately making the dungeons harder to unlock additional rewards. There are also RPG elements that only come into play much deeper into the game, where players are able to romanticize some characters and learn meaningful information about others while giving gifts and talking to the characters between runs.
Hades is an instant classic, a game where players can spend 50 or more hours without feeling that any time has passed. The game is meant to be played in bite-sized chunks, without the run taking longer than 30 minutes to complete. Those short segments were perfect for 2020, as many people struggled to find the energy for marathon sessions. Combine that with the engaging storyline and easy-to-learn but hard-to-master gameplay, and Supergiant found a recipe for instant success. In a difficult year Hades was a wonderful relief.