I’ve said it many times before, I tend to dislike roguelikes because of the lack of long term progression and I’m bad at twitch games. After hearing so much about Hades, I finally sat down to play it and I’m instantly hooked. This might be a roguelike but it is all about long term progression and it’s very twichy but it’s also very forgiving in terms of difficulty. Following everyone’s advice, I turned on God Mode and didn’t look back, which practically guarantees that anyone would be able to beat the game eventually. I still think I did pretty well in getting to the end boss by about the 12th attempt and beating him after another 12 or so deaths.

Here you’re Zagreus, son of Hades, who is intent on escaping his father’s underworld realm. He is opposed by the endless hordes of the dead and must fight his way through Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium and finally the Temple of Styx. Every time he dies, he is reborn in his father’s halls and must start all over again. A flashback scene reveals Zagreus’ discovery that Nyx, the goddess of night, is not his mother as he has been told. So he is determined to go to the surface world to seek his real mother Persephone. His efforts soon draw the attention of the Olympian gods who confer their boons to aid him. Nyx also secretly assists him, allowing him to amass Darkness during his journey across the underworld which can be used to make him more powerful. At first Zagreus is armed only with the Stygian Blade but very soon unlocks access to a variety of legendary weapons which each handles very differently. Acting upon the orders of Hades, many of his minions attempt to block his passage but many others are sympathetic to his cause.

What most characterizes roguelike games is that you’re expected to die over and over again and any upgrades and equipment that you manage to gather over the course of a given run is lost. Hades breaks that rule by allowing you to keep permanent progression in so many ways so no run is ever pointless. You can spend Darkness to start with more health, more money, more backstab damage etc. You can remodel the underworld to make it easier to survive. You unlock weapon aspects rather soon which radically changes how they play. Even befriending the Olympian and Cthonic gods and their servants opens up new options. The very neat prophecy system encourages you to try all kinds of combinations of weapons and boons. Just by doing enough runs, Zagreus can become extremely powerful. To placate still hesitant players, the developers also put in a very generous God Mode which gives you damage resistance the more you die. There are no downsides to turning this on as you still get access to every part of the game. Even doofus players like me are guaranteed to be able to beat the end boss with all these tools and options available.

The great fun of Hades is that you get permanent progression and access to a large variety of builds through the large number of boons and weapon combinations possible. I’m sure that purists will scoff because this is still only a small fraction of what is possible in true roguelikes but it’s plenty for me. Each weapon can be modified by the Daedalus Hammers you can pick up and enhanced with effects from the god boons. So boons from Zeus add lightning to everything, Poseidon’s boon adds a knockback effect to your attacks and so on. To make things even more fun, the boons have rarity levels and you can get combination boons that involve two gods. The hammer modifications are even more dramatic, a single thrust of the spear might turn into three spears in parallel. Throwing your shield might let you bounce it off multiple enemies Captain America-style. Unlike most roguelikes, this game positively excels at making you feel powerful once you understand how the mechanics work enough to put a proper build together.

The sheer variety of builds possible and how differently each plays make this an addictive, just one more run, experience. It’s random which rewards each room offers you and though you have tools to mitigate that randomness, it’s impossible to build your character exactly the way you want for any given run. Most of the time, you make do with what you get while always hoping that you might be able to find something to round out your build later. As every room offers some kind of reward, it’s hard to stop playing when you see that you have a hammer coming up next or a boon. The combat challenges in each room are well-designed too with a good mix of enemies. A weapon like the twin fists just melts enemies when you get right behind them but good luck if you meet enemies that teleport away and cast spells at you. The different areas of the underworld challenges you in different ways with the final area, the Temple of Styx, being a cramped set of rat warrens that force you to fight at close quarters. Great if you have area-of-effect damage, awful if you don’t.

Perhaps the most surprising things about this game is that even its story is good. There’s a ton of dialogue in here and you will need to beat the final boss many, many times to get to the end of the main story. Talking to each character reveals their backstories and develops their relationship with you. I actually love how well-written the characters are and there so many clever touches. Theseus is a pompous asshole but Asterius is an honorable warrior. Your dog Cerberus is so adorable. The lore goes deep and I don’t want to reveal spoilers here but I will say that it’s well worth spending all of the extra time to unlock the whole story. Even Zagreus is surprisingly likable once you get to know him and understand his motivations even if his initial vibes are that of a spoiled prince of the underworld.

All these are high praises but I do have my quibbles with it. I’ve played a few of Supergiant’s games so far and this is the best one yet. I’m however not a big fan of their more cartoonish art style and especially how the enemies are stylized into somewhat abstract figures. It’s true that this makes their movements easier to read in the middle of all the frenetic action but damn it, when I’m fighting a hydra I’d like it to look like a real monster. Gameplay-wise, I also dislike that the primary defensive tool is dashing. You’re invulnerable while doing it and the only cost is a slight pause in between dash chains. The game even rewards combining the dash with an attack in the form of dash-strikes. Not surprisingly, the community has concluded that by far the most effective tactic is to dash around the map all the time like a madman while attacking situationally when it’s safe. I think that’s just silly and not just because I’m bad at this play style so I tend to do best with ranged weapons that let me keep my distance from enemies.

The larger point though is that the game offers so many options that many, many builds are possible. The prophecy system rewards players for trying different builds instead of just sticking with one all the time and who knows you just might pick up a new tactic and find success with it. The gameplay is a lot of fun even if it’s very twitchy and if you die, it’s still all good because you’re making long-term progress. The story provides incentive to keep going even after your first clear and upping the difficulty level gives you a playground to test out builds with improved weapon aspects and all abilities unlocked. Usually I don’t have much interest in sequels because the first game already offers enough of what it does for me. In this case, it’s so good that I’m likely going to pick up Hades 2 somewhere down the road especially since I’ve heard that the developers have addressed the dashing around everywhere issue.