"I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows." -- Plato
First, an apology. I had promised to write every Wednesday, but since this game came out it has eaten up the majority of my gaming time. Rogue-like games are not really my forte, but something about this game mixing with my love of Greek mythology really drew me in. I have recommended this game to everyone. I got my husband addicted to it, I've gotten my friend to start playing it... and I'm going to recommend you play it too, but I guess I'm putting my cart before the horse here. I haven't even said what game I am talking about. Let's start over.
We're talking of course, about Hades. Hades is a rogue-like game by SuperGiant where you see yourself as Zagreus, son of Hades who wishes to leave the deep depths of Tartarus and find his mother on the surface. This is no easy task. Hades refuses to let you leave, and will do everything in his power to stop you, including giving you a smack down himself. I have yet to make it past Hades yet, the two times I have made it there, but I continue to try. As you make your way through the reaches of the Underworld, the other Greek Gods will offer you boons and power ups to aid in your escape. There's a lot of variety so you can power up Zag to suit whatever your play style is.
One of the biggest pluses of this game for me is the style. The artwork is beautiful, the environments are lush and vibrant, and the characters are nice to look at too. The game is full voiced, and all of the voices really fit the characters that have them. My friend TK who started playing said she "could listen to Zagreus talk all day" which I have to agree with. The music is also wonderful, and I don't mind re-listening to it all every time I die and have to start over (about 15 times so far).
Every time to die, you lose your boons and gold, but you get to keep the darkness gems you earn to power up Zagreus's base stats a bit, including a skill that revives you so you can continue your run. There are many different variants of bosses, so you never know what you're going to end up with. Except Theseus and the Minotaur. It's always them, and I HATE Theseus and the Minotaur. It's such a relief when I beat them though, like an adrenaline high. Now if I could just get past both of Hades phases..
As I mentioned before, rogue-like games are not my forte. Hades, however, with the variety of weapons and the boons that you can gain from the gods, really helps to level the playing field and lower the skill ceiling so that winning ti attainable even for weaklings like me. I think this is a great way to help get players into a game, and build skill. Not every run is going to be great. Sometime you can't get the boons you really want and it means trying a little harder to get through those rooms. This will inevitably help build some skill for this type of game.
Overall, I feel like this game can appeal to a wide variety of people for a variety of reasons, and would highly recommend giving it a try for yourself. You can get Hades on Steam HERE for 24.99, and I believe it's also available on the Switch. If you have played Hades, what do you think of it? Have you made it through Hades himself yet?
Thank you, as always, for spending some time with me. I hope you're staying safe and healthy, and if you live in the North East of the US like I do, I hope you're staying warm because it's getting chilly. The leaves are changing and it's absolutely gorgeous out here in the country. Grab a cup of hot coffee or hot cocoa and take a breather. I'll see you all next week!
Bell