Hades almost starred in Theseus, which would have been boring AF

Imagine playing Hades, working to escape the underworld, fight and succumb to swarms of relentless enemies. Every time your character goes down, you hear the low, sinister chuckle of the King of the Dead in your ear, mocking you for your weakness. Until finally, after countless attempts, you stand in front of Hades to prepare for the final showdown, and hear your character say, “To all of our fans, we dedicate this fight to you!” Because in this version of Hades, you play as Theseus.

Fortunately this did not happen. But according to a report in the roadside, we narrowly shunned a Bad Timeline in which the platinum blonde blowhard starred in Supergiant Games’ 2020 roguelite hit instead of the soft and sweet Prince Zagreus.

The game’s first drafts were Theseus as he explored the Labyrinth of Crete, Supergiant co-founder Amir Rao said in a talk about the invite-only and audio-only social app Clubhouse. Although Theseus is a popular heroic figure in Greek myth, the team was unhappy with his development as Hades‘hero.

“When we tried to bring him to life as a protagonist, he ran the risk of being quite generic,” Hades said creative director Greg Kasavin Verge“But as soon as we start adding specific details[s] to him he just doesn’t really feel like Theseus anymore. “

Returning to the mythological drawing board, Kasavin found the neglected story of the son of Hades and decided that Zagreus would become a better protagonist.

“We just found a better kind of angle on the protagonist, on the overall theme and also on the narrative technique in that one fell swoop,” Kasavin said.

Theseus as Hades‘protagonist made sense. After all, he’s the celebrated, Minotaur-slaying hero of Greek myth. But Hadesstory worked because it undermined expectations. Gods were still whimsical and insignificant creatures, but they’re your family, and you fucking love them. It still featured a disgruntled son killing his overbearing father, but the game’s main story was about reconciliation, not revenge. Even the design of the gods themselves like people of color was revolutionary. Although I think Hades Would have been nice no matter who I piloted through those twisting dungeons, I feel the game’s success comes from Supergiant taking the worn-out source material and getting funky with it. In HadesTheseus is still a hero – an obnoxious, self-centered, overly groomed hero that everyone likes to hate.