Finally we come to the last door of the RPS Advent Calendar. Behind this is our game of the year, and you know what? It has been a tough journey to get here. We’ve been through different realms. Many animals and different family friends attacked us. Strangely enough, our father did not support the whole thing. But you know what? It feels like a real blessing is waiting behind door 24 …
It’s … Hades!
Imogen: This time last year I was sitting at my parents’ house, shooting Hades while it was still early access. It’s crazy to think this beautiful mythological roguelike wasn’t even finished back then. Every run I completed was greeted with funny jokes about Zagreus’s fate, and how I’d have to wait a little longer to find out the rest of his story … Then it came out on version 1.0 this summer, I found out what Saw was looking for, and it made me tear up a little.
I don’t think a roguelike ever invested me that emotionally. Zagreus is such a sweet boy with one goal: to escape from hell. But his journey becomes intertwined with the journeys of so many others, there is so much more feeling in it than I could have imagined. It inspires so much determination to complete each run – not just to learn more about this mysterious ending Supergiant has been chasing for so long, but to immerse yourself in every aspect of the world they’ve created.
Even now, long after I finish the main storyline, I can’t stop playing. Hades never ends in the most wonderful way: there is somehow so much more to be heard from all my chthonic friends. I feel personally attacked when Eurydice does not invite me for a bite to eat in Asphodel; or when my husband, Death Incarnate, doesn’t come by Tartarus to help me beat up some wretches.
I think the little stories you come across in Hades are so engaging because storytelling is baked into the gameplay, in a way that I don’t think many games do. My favorite example of this is one of Hades’ boss fights. After numerous runs, these particular bosses began to change their tone during their pre-brawl banter. I didn’t think much about it then, until a few runs later it became clear that they had resolved their character arc and their move sequence permanently changed to display it. And they killed me almost immediately! I was so used to their old sequences that it took me by surprise. Of course I jumped right back in to find and fight them again.
Hades’s ability to keep surprising and encouraging is unlike any other roguelike I’ve played. Even if you fail, you will be rewarded with fun exchanges between brilliant characters in your underworld house. Hades makes failure fun and success so incredibly inspiring. Please play this game.
Ed: I like Hades because I like to run through doors that give me loot to rooms that are likely to give me more loot. I’m a huge fan of Binding Of Isaac because too much of it involves killing things in a room, picking a door, and then hoping that the door you picked on the other side has loot. I am a glutton for power-ups.
Hades is also very good at making you feel powerful. As you progress, you will be visited by these Olympian gods who will say, “You could use some lightning to match that shield, wouldn’t you?” And I will happily take them up on the offer, but not before I have an uncomfortable, very well spoken “mate” slid in to seal the deal. I really can’t shake the feeling that the character you’re playing, Zagreus, is actually Robert Pattinson.
Eventually you will run and cut everywhere with lots of forces playing each other out. One of my best runs was with a big sword, and I had something where I would inflict enemies with a pile of Doom every time I landed a hit, so after a short delay all these stacks would gather and just pop like a mini- atomic bomb on all the nasties I cut.
I also respect the fact that Hades isn’t crushingly difficult and isn’t afraid to give you a little treat for your efforts. That miracle performed with the sword eventually ended, but instead of sobbing into my white man afterwards, I felt a strong sense of achievement. I could go back to my cozy hub world and give friends prezzies I found on my flight, or spend money on items, or even test out a new javelin I unlocked. Cor, so many options!
I’ve noticed that Hades is super more, that “just one” seeding feeling in my brain, even when my eyes are about to collapse. I think this is because it’s a rogue one who’s excited to see you push forward, instead of rooting for your doom.
Alice Bee: I think my favorite thing about Hades (other than being literally the only good roguelike game ever) is that everyone who plays it has their favorite god from the pantheon. As Ed says, they all offer you slightly different perks, which is why everyone has their own preferred combinations for stacking, to get the right attacks or passive skills for that primo running through the underworld.
So you get a few favorite gods that you end up praying to show up early and repeatedly during your flight, and a few others that you don’t mind but aren’t your best. I’m an Artemis / Poseidon girl these days, but I mean I won’t say it No to Ares or Apollo.
In this way, Supergiant has managed to make us all worshipers of the ancient Greek gods again, in a way that I imagine humans were in the past. Because we all say, “Yes, thanks Artemis, give me that sweet critical stack damage!” but equally, since runs can make or break on a single roll of the hellish dice, we hope just as well not encounter certain gods. “Please, Please no Dionysus or – oh damn, it’s Zeus, ugh. “I can’t tell that anyone in ancient Athens has never said that exact phrase before. Time is a circle.
Alice0: I haven’t played Hades yet, but I appreciate everyone’s beautiful, creative, funny and horny fan art. Thanks for drawing. Keep it up.
James: What can I say about Hades? Every time I think I’m done with it, the game pulls me back in. Please stop reading and play it if you haven’t already – even the most intensely anti-roguelike people I know are after Supergiant’s stunning effort this year.
When I play games, as the absolute content dog that I am, I naturally look for screenshotable moments. You can send those dialogues to a friend and say “haha you would say that”, or a nice piece of landscape, and everything in between. Well, Hades is absolutely packed with those moments. From the flirty conversations with Meg, to Achilles’ entertaining glossary in the Codex, to the hand-drawn view of the plains of Elysium, save a little disk space. You’ll be hitting that PRT SCR button quite often.
“Despite everything, if I had to recommend a single game that 2020 has offered, it has to be Hades.”
However, screenshotable moments don’t make a game. Hades has the rest too. The game just sits there with a gigantic array of characters, which I won’t soon forget, some great tunes to keep you floating through the depths of the underworld, and some of the sharpest, most responsive action I’ve ever experienced.
The way the story expands across different runs is something I haven’t seen before either, and it’s extremely impressive how every single line of dialogue (all well voiced too) feels relevant to your current situation. I still haven’t heard chat repeat, and while you have to complete several runs to get the ‘full’ story, it doesn’t feel like a chore thanks to the sweet variety of weapons to choose from as well as the options to raise the bar and make it harder for yourself.
If you can, treat yourself this Christmas. Despite everything, if I had to recommend a single game that has 2020 on offer, it has to be Hades. Supergiant completely broke it down with Hades, and I doubt I’ll discover everything this game has to offer for a long time.
Ollie: Supergiant Games have played a huge part in my career writing about games. For example, I wrote my thesis on bastion and transistor. And I was only at RPS for three days when Hades was announced (and released in Early Access at the same time) at the Game Awards 2018, so I’ve been able to watch it grow as I’ve grown into the role. It’s as much fun as I get to write about a Supergiant game.
Hades lacks the emotional storyline of Supergiant’s other games, and yet at the same time, I can only see it as their best writing yet. Before Hades, I couldn’t even imagine building an effective story within the framework of a permadeath and meta-progression roguelike. Supergiant has always done an incredible job of combining mechanics with story in a way that elevates both, but Hades is their magnum opus.
Even without any story, I would still have a hard time taking Hades down. It’s an incredibly beautiful, polished, satisfying experience, and it ticks all the boxes of what I’m looking for in a roguelike. But it’s thanks to the story that I don’t think I can ever be completely satisfied with another roguelike again. I want those lighter moments when you talk to characters and learn about their motives and problems. I want it to make sense that I keep dying and returning to the beginning. I want to learn about the personalities behind each boss fight every time I run into them. Hades spoiled me a lot.