Hades

First published in GRIND I, pages 44–51.

During a tumultuous period of my life, it seems At its core it is a rogue-like in which you control a character from that a big breath of air was precisely a visit not an eagle-eye perspective. So far, everything is classic and re-encountered in thousands of just short until hell. I spotted Hades with more examples from Steam. Hades stands out through the festive shirt well over 1 year ago, back when it was still in which it wears: the story. work. Watching the Noclip YouTube channel, I also came across documentaries about Supergiant Games: The protagonist you control is Zagreus, son of the god Hades. He the studio responsible for the work about which I will speak wishes with all his soul to escape from hell, and you can't really blame him: in this article. Through the journalistic effort even from the perspective of a demigod, hell can become boring and independent provided by Danny O'Dwyer, I had repetitive. Here intervenes the conflict between father and son, Hades wishing that the pleasure of observing the various stages through which the game Zagreus to respect his duties towards family and towards his subjects passed during production. damned.

I already loved Supergiant Games from The young rebel thus goes on a Vip adventure the time of Bastion, so it wasn't hard to his life (and the death of others). As in > make sure I would buy Hades when it came out. traditional Romanian fairy tales, this Harap N @.” And in September last year I White, ironically dressed in red, finds allies on = os embarked on the infernal adventure about which throughout his journey, to face e =f I will tell you in what follows. challenges to match. Besides characters like Achilles, Hypnos, Nyx and many others, with whom you mostly About Hades I could say it offers converse over a coffee, there are a few names you might have heard — and NM an all-inclusive package at a super price. they help you a bit more. Zeus, Athena, Ares, Artemis and the others from the Fe What does that mean? It means an Olympian gang greet you from place to place, offering you magical abilities that I have | N excellent gameplay, a story completely transform your playstyle. extremely well developed, an audio-visual experience of the highest quality and tens of hours This is where the interweaving of gameplay and story shows best. of entertainment. What At its core you have a few ways to attack — but once you gain the gods' abilities, the possibilities expand faster than a virus we all already know ' makes Hades a truly about. Each god of Olympus comes with special abilities depending on the power which truly wonderful game is the way he commands. You can imagine what Zeus or Poseidon can offer you, but the same goes for the others: fidelity to the myths is respected. Artemis, for example, gives you

N the component elements on guides your attacks towards the enemies' hearts to give you crit chance. On the other hand which I mentioned earlier. hand, Aphrodite directly weakens the creatures' hearts, making your attacks more powerful. On top of that, there are a few dual abilities that give you special bonuses depending on the combined powers of two deities.

The diversity of the combat is rounded out by the six weapons you can swap between at the start of your journey: from the classic sword-and-bow or sword-and-spear combo to a legendary mythical machine gun.

There's always a point where the gameplay becomes repetitive, but the moment of realisation is delayed by the fact that your encounters with the friendly gods are voice acted, and the personalities of all the characters made me even more invested in the story and eager to listen to them every time. I don't know how many lines of dialogue were recorded for Hades, but I never found two that sounded the same for the same character in two consecutive encounters. Admittedly, I've played for around 50 hours... so the dialogue is bound to repeat at some point. But I was always surprised by their lines.

The difficulty in Hades comes from how you choose your special abilities and combine them. Of course, your skill at dodging enemies and landing well-placed attacks helps a lot... but at some point the gods' abilities can save your life far more easily.

The fact that you have a health bar that doesn't regenerate on its own adds an extra layer of challenge. So you could see Hades as a game of managing your resources — life in particular, but special abilities too. On your journey you'll pass through procedurally generated rooms and defeat monsters, and at the end you'll have to choose between two other rooms. The difference from other rogue-likes is that you can no longer go back to clear every room. Your choice is final, and you must move on. For this reason, you'll sometimes have to decide whether you want an extra special ability or would rather have some vital energy.

wasadelight thankyou My ransacking b cretngs Father yan e forasking, So,"

With venturing out comes inevitable death (unless you're a hardcore speedrunner who finds Hades a piece of cake).

You're already in hell, so you can't go any lower than where you started – namely, Hades' house. Some of the treasures you collect stay with you to strengthen your character traits, to gain new abilities, and to help you get even further next time you try.

You can also renovate the house, which you may well be seeing quite often.

The decorations aren't an essential part of the game, but they are proof of the passion that went into making it. Every object and character has its place in this universe, and all these elements >| combined help create a complete gaming experience.

For the way it managed to inspire me, Hades has entered the pantheon of games I will always love.

Even the ghostly chef whom the gods condemned to an eternity of cooking has a multitude of animations for chopping an onion — which means the developers did their job completely. I know I can always return to Hades and do another run for old times' sake, and Cerberus will always be waiting for me, delighted, in the throne room. And yes, you can pet the three headed dog!

= Michael Dime

DARREN KORB

Le DN | Ia)

+ Nuenevoie dăeneee elul to which the Hades soundtrack rises, but I want to draw attention to one song in particular.

I discovered Good Riddance at a moment when I thought I'd seen most of the game's surprises. The song couldn't have come at a better moment. After rounds of fierce battle, you arrive in this pocket of hell where you're warmly welcomed by Eurydice. It was hard for me to leave this place the first time I came across it. It was a moment I wished would never end, and I still remember it fondly every time I listen to this song.

I wholeheartedly recommend it, and I hope it brings you the same peace of mind that it brings me.

Hades – when the grind becomes divinely good

Let's imagine the following scenario: you're an adolescent in full physical and spiritual development, and the whole world is at your feet, ready to be transformed by the creative force dwelling within you. Everything sounds lovely, so far.

The problem is that you are none other than the Prince of the Underworld, and your father is one of the most feared gods in the Greek pantheon. And that's not because Hades drew the short straw when the spoils were divided between him and his two brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, ending up with the realm of the departed. It's because, quite simply, you have no chance of finding common ground with him. We can deduce that watching over millions of souls makes you grumpier and less inclined to run after a spoiled brat who won't listen to you.

Zagreus, for he is the subject of the story, plucks up his courage and dares to do what every young person has done at least once in their life: rebel and leave home. His intentions do not go unnoticed, and his cousins, uncles and aunts on Mount Olympus contribute, step by step, to the prodigal son's escape. But who said it would be so easy to escape from hell?

Supergiant Games, the creators of Hades, started from a very simple idea: how to make your product equally interesting to a casual player and to a connoisseur of the genre. The principle was applied in their other titles too, such as Bastion and Transistor, both enormously successful after launch. The difference with Hades is that the game's reaction to the player's actions isn't limited to a single level, but extends to the whole game. Pyre was the developer's first product where this strategy was put into practice. Conversations, as well as discussion topics, will be triggered based on the choices you make in the game.

There is, however, a limit to the variety of dialogue lines. How willing you are to dig through every possibility the script has to offer is up to you.

Of course, I got my arse handed to me dozens of times trying to get as far as I could. You could argue that when you sign up to a rogue-like you know it'll be at least a Sisyphean slog before you reach the main antagonist. But the further I got, and the more I talked to the characters, the more I realised I wanted the opposite: not to finish the game.

What's remarkable about Hades is that every build choice you make, every interaction with a god, has consequences for the way the story unfolds. Whether you manage to put Theseus in his place in your first few attempts or you can barely get past Meg's rounds of sarcasm and beatings, there'll always be new dialogue lines, reactions and areas waiting to be unlocked by meeting certain conditions.

This is where the game's repetitive, labyrinthine nature comes in. Every artefact the game puts at your disposal can be had after you clear an area of enemies, then you're granted access to another room, and so on. One of the main draws is talking to every god individually. So Nectar becomes better than gold for treasure hunters. And when you're blessed with the presence and the gift of an Olympian god, what do one or two extra deaths matter?

Athena is the first Olympian to make Zagreus's acquaintance, and she wants to free him from the shadow of his oppressive father. As you push on, the hero ends up meeting all his relatives at random. I quickly picked my favourites, with Ares, Poseidon and Artemis at the top. With the list drawn up, all that was left for me was to hunt down the ones on it. When a god decides to show themselves to you, Nectar can be offered up as a tribute, and in return they give you a keepsake as a token of their appreciation. I worked out that the guarantee of more frequent visits from my favourites rose in proportion to the Nectar I handed over, so my work had only just begun.

And so, out of a long string of escapades by a rebellious kid who can't communicate with his grumpy, stubborn father, you end up with an experience worthy of a dating simulator, with a whiff of family intrigue. Not to mention that if you overdo the gifts for a few deities, your intentions won't go unnoticed. You find yourself in a contest where your relatives each want something from you, and your inattention to certain Olympians earns you subtle reproaches or punishments.

But beyond the relationships Zagreus builds step by step, the powers granted by each individual deity make you stronger, more agile and more resilient. Perhaps the best combination I had across several runs was Doom or Blade Rifts from Ares, Tidal Dash or Razor

Shoals from Poseidon and Holy Shield or Bronze Skin from Athena.

There's also an entity that rewards you royally for your daring. But only if you're willing to carry a handicap for the next few chambers. The primordial

Void, Chaos, offers you, from the very first chambers of

Tartarus, the chance to rise above your condition, even if, compared to him, you're not much different from a common insect.

Right after Nectar, Darkness and Chthonic Keys are the currency items you absolutely must hoard if you want to improve your abilities. Among the deities

The Olympians are vying for your favor, are they not? So often they forget themselves. They force their blessings onto you, whilst I merely offer you a choice.

Chthonic, Nyx is the only true support for Zagreus. The mirror in his room, though easy to overlook at first glance, is where you spend the aforementioned resources.

As for weapons, whether you prefer the bow Coronacht or the shield Aegis, the fights with the final adversaries on each floor will reward you with Titan Blood, the item used to upgrade them.

Once all my lives are spent and the last boss fight has managed to wreck all my plans, I wake up with Zagreus in a pool of blood. Hypnos greets me and consoles me, taking care to rub salt in the wound. Hades stares at me for a long while, with contempt and disappointment, but with the satisfaction that all the traps have proved effective. Do I feel frustration?

Annoyance? None. If anything, I was thinking it was time I messed it all up, somehow.

I remembered that Thanatos still hadn't turned up to help me in Elysium, and the chances to lure him in with a bit of Nectar hadn't been enough. Who knows what kind of relationship awaits me with him?

Conclusion: who needs a carefree life in Heaven when hell has never been this interesting? C4 mMădălina $2/ ve

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