Finally, we reach the final door of the RPS Advent Calendar. Behind this is our game of the year and you know what? It’s been a hard journey here. We went through several different realms. Many beasts and several family friends attacked us. Our father did not strangely support everything. But you know what? It seems that there is a real blessing waiting behind the door 24 …
This … Hades!
Imogen: This time, last year, I was gathered at my parents’ house, throwing races from Hades while it was still in early access. It’s crazy to think that at that time this beautiful mythical myth was not even finished. Every run I completed was greeted with close jokes about Zagreus’ fate and how I should wait a little longer to find out the rest of his story … Then it came to release 1.0 this summer, I found out what it was Zag searched and made me cry.
I don’t think a roguelike ever brought me so emotional. Zagreus is such a wonderful boy, with only one purpose: to escape from hell. But her journey intertwines with the travels of many others, there is just so much more feeling in her than I could have imagined. Inspire so much determination to complete each run – not just to learn more about this mysterious ending, Supergiant has been following you for so long, but to absorb you in every aspect of the world they have created.
Even now, long after I’ve finished the main story, I can’t stop playing it. Hades does not end in the most wonderful way: there is still a lot to hear from all my chthonic friends. I feel personally attacked when Eurydice does not invite me to eat at Asphodel’s; or when my husband, Death Incarnate, doesn’t come down to Tartarus to help me beat some bastards.
I think the stories you come across in Hades are so compelling, because the story is included in the game, in a way I don’t think many games do. My favorite example of this is one of the battles of the bosses of Hades. After a lot of running, these bosses started to change their tone during their stuttering before the quarrel. I didn’t think much about it at that moment, until a few runs later it became clear that they had solved their character arc and movement set. permanently modified to reflect it. And they killed me almost immediately! I was so used to their old sequences that I caught myself properly with the guard down. Of course, I jumped straight back to find them and fight them again.
Hades’ ability to continue to surprise and encourage is different from any roguelike I’ve played. Even when you fail to run, you are rewarded with fun exchanges between bright characters from your underworld mansion. Hades makes failure and success so incredibly inspiring. Please play this game.
Ed: I like Hades because I like to run through doors that will prey on me, in rooms that will probably give me more prey. I’m a big fan of Binding Of Isaac, because it involves too much killing things in a room, choosing a door, then hoping that the door you chose has prey on the other side of it. I’m greedy for power-ups.
Hades is very good at making you feel strong. As you progress through a run, you are visited by these Olympic gods who will be like “You could use some lightning to go with that shield, wouldn’t you?”, And I will gladly take his offer, but not before to slip into an awkward, well-spoken “partner” to seal the deal. I can’t shake the feeling that the character you play, Zagreus, is essentially Robert Pattinson.
Eventually, you will be crushed and cut all over the place, with a lot of powers playing each other. One of my best runs was with a big sword, and I had this in which I would challenge enemies with a stack of Doom every time I landed a shot, so after a short delay, all these stacks it would gather and poplar like a mini-nut on anything ugly I cut.
I also respect the fact that Hades is not extremely difficult and is not afraid to give you a little trait for your efforts. That miracle of running the sword was finally over, but instead of crying at my feet, I felt a solid sense of accomplishment. I could go back to my comfortable world and offer my friends the prices I found on the run, spend money on items, or even test a new spear that I unlocked. Choir, so many options!
I discovered that Hades is extremely gloomy, resembling that “just a feeling” in my brain, even though my eyes are threatening to collapse. I think this is because he is a rogue-like, who is delighted to see you pushing forward, as opposed to rooting for your death.
Alice Bee: I think my favorite thing about Hades (apart from the fact that it’s literally the only good roguelike game ever) is that everyone who plays it has their favorite god in the pantheon. As Ed says, they all give you slightly different benefits, and therefore each has its own favorite stacking combinations, to get the right attacks or passive abilities for that first run through the underworld.
So, you will end up with a couple of favorite gods, which you will end up praying for, appearing earlier and repeatedly in your run, and with others who do not bother you, but you are not the best. I’m currently an Artemis / Poseidon girl, but I don’t mean to say Not at Ares or Apollo.
In this way, the Supergiant managed to make us all worshipers of the ancient Greek gods again, in a way that I imagine humans actually were in the past. Because we’re all like, “Yeah, thanks Artemis, give me that spoiled spoilers!” but equally, because running can make or break in a single roll of the infernal dice, we hope just as much not run into certain gods. “Please, Please without Dionysos or – oh damn hell, it’s Zeus, ugh. “I can’t say that anyone in Ancient Athens ever said that exact sentence again. Time is a circle.
Alice0: I haven’t played Hades yet, but I appreciate the art of everyone’s beautiful, creative, funny and excited fans. Thank you for drawing. Keep up the good work.
James: What can I say about Hades? Every time I think I’m done, the game keeps pulling me back. Please don’t read this and play it if you haven’t already – even the most intense anti-roguelike I know have come into the genre after this year’s Supergiant Effort.
When I play games, as the absolute content hound that I am, I naturally look for catchable moments. Those lines of dialogue that you can send to a friend and say “haha that’s something you would say”, or a beautiful piece of landscape, as well as everything in between. Well, Hades is absolutely filled with those moments. From flirtatious discussions with Meg to Achilles’ fun codex glossary to hand-drawn views of the plains of the Elysee, save a little disk space. You will press the PRT SCR button quite often.
“After all, if I were to recommend a single game offered by 2020, it must be Hades.”
However, the moments that can be captured do not make a game. Hades has the rest. The game is just there, with a huge range of characters, which I will not forget in a hurry, some great songs to further propel you through the depths of the underworld and some of the clearest and most receptive actions I have. ever experienced.
Nor is the way the narrative spans multiple journeys something we’ve never seen before, and it’s extremely impressive how each line of dialogue (all with an excellent voice, too) feels relevant to your current situation. . I haven’t heard a repeated conversation yet, and although you have to complete several runs to get the “complete” story, it doesn’t feel like a chore due to the sweet variety of weapons to choose from, as well as options for raising ante and doing the most difficult things for you.
If you can, pamper yourself this Christmas. Despite all that, if I should recommend one game offered by 2020, it must be Hades. Supergiant completely destroyed it with Hades and I doubt that I will discover everything this game has to offer for a long time.
Ollie: Supergiant games have played an important role in my career writing about games. I wrote my bachelor’s dissertation on Bastion and Transistor, for one thing. And we’ve been working on RPS for only three days, when Hades was announced (and released simultaneously in Early Access) at Game Awards 2018, so I was able to watch it grow as I grew in the role. It’s such a pleasure whenever I get to write about a Supergiant game.
Hades lacks the emotional narrative punch of the other Supergiant games, and yet at the same time I can’t see him as anything but the most beautiful writings so far. Before Hades, I couldn’t even imagine how you could build an effective story in a roguelike with permadeath and meta-progression. The supergiant has always done an incredible job, marrying the mechanics with the narration in a way that lifts them both, but Hades is their opposite magnus.
Even without a story, it would still be hard to let Hades down. It’s an incredibly beautiful, polished and satisfying experience and ticks all the boxes of what I’m looking for in a roguelike. But thanks to the story I feel that I can no longer be fully satisfied with another roguelike. I want those easier moments when you talk to characters and find out about their reasons and troubles. I want it to make sense that I’m still dying and going back to the beginning. I want to find out about the personalities behind every boss fight every time I meet them. Hades has ruined something fierce for me.