"The Roguelike That Made Death Worth Repeating"
About
You play as Zagreus, the son of Hades, attempting repeated escapes from the Underworld by fighting through procedurally generated chambers filled with monsters. Each run lasts 20-30 minutes as you navigate between rooms, defeating enemies with a melee weapon while dodging attacks and collecting power-ups that permanently alter your abilities. Death sends you back to the starting chamber to try again, though story progression and unlockable upgrades persist across attempts.
Verdict
Hades solves the problem every roguelike trips over: it gives you a reason to die. The combat is sharp and the build variety carries the runs, but the real engine is a story that advances every time you fail, turning repetition into momentum. It drip-feeds its ending across dozens of escapes, which delights people chasing the next conversation and infuriates anyone who just wanted closure.
You'll like it if …
- +repetition feels like momentum when each death pushes the story forward
- +you enjoy chasing new boon and weapon-aspect builds long after seeing the first ending
- +you want voiced characters who track your choices and deaths between runs
You'll dislike it if …
- −you want authored challenge with closure rather than grinding dozens of runs for the full epilogue
- −the room-clearing core loop holds no appeal no matter how it's framed
Breakdown
- +Combat is immediate and responsive, with build combinations through boons and weapon aspects turning desperate runs into power fantasies
- +Difficulty scaling adds enemy gimmicks rather than inflated health pools, keeping challenge fresh across runs
- −Moving particle effects and visual clutter can obscure attacks you need to dodge, harming combat legibility in heated moments
- +Boon combinations and weapon aspects create genuine build variety that keeps runs from blurring together
- +The 'one more run' pull works because each escape feeds both build experimentation and story progression simultaneously
- −True completion requires 10 successful escapes plus additional runs for the full epilogue, hitting a wall of repetition for players seeking authored challenge over grinding
- +Characters remember your deaths and choices across hundreds of voiced lines that land with wit, giving failure canonical weight
- +The Greek myth setting provides a narrative excuse for the death-rebirth loop that most roguelikes never attempt
- +Story advances with every failed run, turning repetition into narrative momentum rather than busywork
- +Art direction uses bold linework and saturated colour with effects that make every dash feel satisfying
- +Dynamic score mixes Greek instrumentation with metal, giving runs their rhythmic drive
- +Voice acting carries an enormous script without sagging across the full experience
- −Visual density occasionally sacrifices clarity, making attacks harder to distinguish on smaller screens
- +Everything runs cleanly and stably even on ancient integrated graphics, showing Supergiant's technical discipline
- +Forty hours to credits and substantially more for the full epilogue, pricing it at the cost of a couple of cinema tickets
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