I'll start off this review by saying that I'm the kind of person that hates rogue-like games. This is not because they are bad games by any means, rather it's because the RNG involved in them has never been on my side. Games like Enter the Gungeon and Binding of Isaac have never been enjoyable to me because I've never been able to progress past the first couple of floors since RNG was almost always never in my favor. I came across Hades when one of my friends got me the game to try out. For the longest time I held off playing this game thinking that maybe the game was over-hyped from The Game Awards and it would be the same formula as Enter the Gungeon and Binding of Isaac. After playing and completing this game in full I can honestly say that I have never been happier to have been proven wrong.

Hades is without a doubt one of if not the best game(s) I have ever played. From extremely smooth controls to a fast-paced combat system with gradual difficulty combined with an engaging story featuring loveable characters, the game absolutely lived up to the hype it generated. In my opinion this is the game that should have won game of the year in 2020 instead of Last of Us 2.

Overview and Gameplay

As a rogue-like game, Hades follows the same format as most other dungeon crawlers where you fight rooms of enemies and a boss at the end of each floor. The game features four main bosses and one extra boss that can be fought on higher difficulties. In terms of difficulty, it can be pretty challenging since you will die a lot as expected from rogue-like games. However, unlike other rogue-like games, not once has any death ever felt unfair from terrible RNG. Even though I died a lot in the game at the beginning, it wasn't because I was cheated from the game, rather it was my own fault that I died and I learned from each attempt.

Even though you will die a lot in Hades, you never feel like you lose progress. Every time you lose a run, you end up back in the House of Hades where you can engage with the characters who will always have something new to say every time which will advance either the main plot or one of its several sub-plots. All of these are incredibly engaging and are so well-written to the point where I actually didn't mind dying at all because I was more interested in seeing the next part of the quest. The more you play this game, the better you get at it and since you can unlock permanent upgrades from the mirror of night, you'll always feel like you're levelling up and getting stronger every run thus motivating you to continue. To beat the main campaign, you must successfully beat Hades 10 times and then you will eventually unlock the epilogue offering even more story post-game. The game will come to a point where you'll be able to consistently beat Hades with no problem due to the permanent upgrades you get, but after you beat your first run you'll unlock the pact of punishment which will let you challenge yourself even further and let you collect rewards that can be used to power up your weapons, unlock items from the house contractor, gift ambrosia to other characters to unlock story sub-plots, etc. If the game is too difficult for you, there is a "god mode" option for those that want to experience the story and make the game even easier even though it's not necessary at all even if you are bad at the game.

For achievement hunters, the best part of this game is that none of the achievements are missable and you can unlock everything in time. The only thing that may be a bit frustrating is that a lot of the achievements are tied to sub-plots which are randomly generated each time you complete a run and may or may not unlock the parts necessary for you to progress sidequests, but as long as you continue playing you'll be able to unlock pretty much everything.

The only critique I can give about the gameplay is that while the experience was phenomenal to play through the main campaign, once you complete the main campaign, epilogue and sidequests, the grinding to complete all of the customization can become tedious to do especially if you've already completed all of the minor prophecies. For me personally, even though it is repetitive, it definitely feels worth it to unlock everything the game has to offer.

Conclusion & Recommendation

Everything about Hades from the gameplay, the story, the music and the sidequests make this game an absolute masterpiece with the only con being that it can feel a bit repetitive after you beat everything in the main campaign. However, because there's always a different experience each time I complete a run it really doesn't feel as repetitive as other rogue-like games. This game is a phenomenal masterpiece and absolutely deserves all of the praise it gets. New players will find that the game is slightly difficult at first, but the game's difficulty is not unfair and the RNG in it is nowhere near as bad as other rogue-likes making the experience feel more in control of the player rather than the game. For completionists out there, it can take you almost 100 - 120 hours to unlock everything the game has to offer, but the game has been so well-designed that you don't feel like you are grinding even when you are unlocking everything else.

As Zagreus might say: In the name of Hades! Olympus, I give this game a 9.5/10.