Hades, my discovery of the moment!

Hades is the last game of Supergiant Games. I discovered it on a Nintendo Live that I commented for Nintendo Town with Fire akuma and Lordo. They two gentlemen were super hyped by the game and they passed their enthusiasm on to me. So I bought it as soon as it came out! So I propose you to discover Hades with me.

The story

You incarnate the prince of hell, Zagréus and as the son of Hades you are of course immortal. You also have a place of choice in hell, the house of Hades. But because there needs to be a story, Zagréus has no intention at all to spend eternity in daddy’s kingdom. He dreams of escaping to see the outside world and why not the Olympus and the other gods.

From then on and thanks to the help of Nyx, the primordial goddess of the Night, you try to get out of hell. As well as covering up your first evasion tentative, Nyx will put you in contact with the gods of the Olympus that will gift you with blessings (powers), to help you in your ascension towards the surface.

Even with all this help, getting out of hell is not that easy. In fact, hell is an enormous labyrinth composed of many bearings: each bearing being an obstacle between you and the surface. In addition to being a true labyrinth, each bearing is populated of monsters hired by your father to stop you from escaping. They have only one goal: to kill you to send you directly back to the start to say hi to dad…

In order to accentuate the labyrinth side and prevent you from establishing a cartography of the zone, each bearing is composed of multiple chambers/rooms constantly moving. Each new evasion tentative will give you access to a brand new labyrinth. The only thing you can be sure about is that each bearing is guarded by a boss you will have to confront.

A scenario perfectly integrated in the theming and genres of the game

The story, it’s nice enough, but what about the game? Hell is represented in the form of a dungeon crawler, that is to say that it will randomly be generated by the game: each new evasion will be unique. As such, the chambers of hell are in perpetual movement and perfectly modelled and I have to confess that it is the first time that I find that genre so well integrated in the scenario of the game.

Concretely you will have to go through more than ten chambers filled with monsters before reaching the exit of a bearing. Depending on the doors that you will choose to take, you will land or not on a mini boss before arriving in the final and compulsory room of each bearing guarded by a true boss.

Your evolution in the different chambers look like the gameplay you have in Diablo. That is to say that you have to kill absolutely every single monsters in the room to unlock the exit door or doors. As well as unlocking the doors your monster slaughtering will also give you access to a bonus: divine blessing, item to unlock upgrades or weapon upgrades. You have to adapt your game style according to the blessings and upgrades available to you, knowing that they will be attributed randomly.

Some of the chambers also shelter a shop where a character will come to your help. They will give you a small moment of well-deserved respite and enough to make you feel a little better. Some of those characters will give you life, money or items and some of them will restore your lives. This last bonus is so comforting and encourages you to continue in your ascension: I love it!

Each of your evasion tentative will be different: different blessings, different weapons, random progression and monsters encountered. This concept is really pushed to the extreme in the game and offer you a diversity in the gameplay all the while proposing surprises in each run. Those surprises are comparable to rewards and allow you to progress in the story or the game. It’s really addictive!

On a technical level: gameplay, soundtrack and graphics

Propelled by a careful work on the script and dialogue level, Hades is equally successful from an artistic and technical point of view.

Let’s start with the graphics. They are neat and perfectly adapted to the game. They are detailed and the gods’ artworks are superbly drawn and whinge of the usual illustrations representing the Grecian gods. The bestiary is vast and very well executed on a design and animation level. Likewise, the movements of Zagreus are really nicely realised and precise.

The gameplay is really nice: nervous, precise, fast and addictive. Zagreus can use six different weapons allowing to diversify the basic gameplay. Then the blessings received during your ascension also modify, more or less, the way you can manipulate your weapon. The combination of those two characteristics of the game incite you to use all the weapons and so discover other styles of gaming. Even if at the beginning I was hesitant at using one weapon rather than the other, I finally loved testing them all. But my favourite is the bow or my fists in hand to hand combat. Two very different gaming style, but that I loved.

That leaves me with the soundtrack. I love it! She enjoyably supports the gameplay and invites you to go further than you think you can to go even further in the game and reach your goal. The music’s are sometimes rhythmed, sometimes calm and sometimes lyrical. Honestly playing without the sound would be an error!

Furthermore, the important characters of Zagreus’s entourage as well as the gods possess a very nice English dubbing giving more charism to each character. A nice sound realisation!

As I told you the game possesses a rather impressive content, be it on a bestiary level, blessings or all the surprises hidden in the game. The surprises allow to reward the player’s efforts while trying to evade. They will allow you to upgrade your weapon, your skills or your relations with your entourage as well as redo the decoration in the room or in Hades’ house. I bought a super cushion for Cerberus (you know the three headed dog). Those little pluses make you love the game even more!

Once back in Hades’ house, don’t hesitate to talk with the characters that live there or give them gifts. They will answer you wittily and it gives an agreeable ambiance to the game. Please note that each of them can give you an interesting item or useful information for your progress in your evasion quest… *wink* *wink* *wink*:P

You will also have a codec to your disposition allowing you to catalogue everything that surrounds you: gods, characters, monsters, bosses, information about the bearings… in sum, all what you will find. It fills up automatically with each encounter you make, collecting as you go more and more details about the gods, characters, monsters or about the weapons and blessings your received. It is extremely well conceived and it is a pleasure to consult it as it contains so many details.

Anyways, I think I told you everything on the game apart from the fact I became addicted to it! I launch nearly one run every day since I got the game. If at the start, my run only lasted 10 to 15 minutes, they now last between 1h and 1h30. I saw the exit of hell only twice in 35 runs. The more it goes, the more efficient I am and I think I will soon manage to be successful at my first evasion. But even if I manage to get out, I’ll start over to discover all the secrets of hell.

I am addicted, but this game is so addictive that I can’t stop playing. I love it and I really recommend it to all of you! The team from Supergiant Games really did a wonderful job and this game is a true gem.

A must have for me! ^^