By: Persephone Pond
‘Hades’ is a Greek mythology based roguelike indie game that has won nine awards since its initial release. Early access was available in 2018, and the game first officially released on Steam in 2020, followed by a multitude of consoles including PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. In this article, I’ll be highlighting the best parts of the game and explaining why ‘Hades’ is worth the money.
In this game, you follow the story of the protagonist, Zagreus, the god of blood and the son of the King of the Underworld (the Land of the Dead), Hades. Zagreus has been kept in the House of Hades all his life, and at the beginning of the game, you learn there are more secrets about your family than you thought. You’ve never been exposed to the surface or any of your extended family, and as your suspicions grow, you finally rebel.
Your goal is to fight your way up each tier of the Underworld, finally allowing you to reach the surface and find your mother. There are four total tiers, or levels, to clear before you get to the surface. To give a quick overview, each tier consists of many small chambers with enemies, so to progress through chambers, you must fight and kill all enemies in any given chamber. At the end of each tier is a different boss, each a different figure in Greek mythology.
First is Tartarus. Tartarus is the deepest part of the Underworld, where beings of pure evil are sent after death. The boss fight in this area is Megaera the Fury, who is one of the three fury sisters in Greek mythology. The Furies each are in charge of punishing a different group of morally gray people, and Megaera, being the first of the Furies, is in charge of punishing adulterers, oathbreakers, and thieves. As Tartarus is the first of the tiers, Megarea is the easiest boss to defeat.
The second tier of the Underworld is Asphodel. This is the area where common folk get sent after death. It’s a lava flooded wasteland where the boss is a bone hydra, a dragon-like creature with hundreds of heads.
The third tier is Elysium, a utopia compared to the other parts of the Underworld, as this tier is where the heroes and champions go after they die. The enemies get significantly more difficult at this tier, and the boss fight in this level consists of two bosses: Theseus and Asterius. Asterius the Minotaur was brought to fight alongside Theseus, his successor, for the sake of not letting Zagreus escape the Underworld.
The final tier before the surface is the Temple of Styx, an area acting as a checkpoint between the Underworld and the surface. This level doesn’t have a traditional boss, instead you must go through small chambers until you find a treat for your dog Cerberus who’s blocking the exit.
Making it through every level will lead you to find yourself at the surface, facing your father, Hades. This final boss consists of two waves of battle, and is a significant challenge compared to other levels.
‘Hades’ is a game designed for failure. Collectible items that can be used to buy upgrades, weapons and more are spread throughout each tier, and when you die, these are the only items you retain as you respawn in the House of Hades. The whole purpose of this is that every time you die, you get stronger and can get further each time. Getting to the surface is a long process as it’s impossible to do at your beginning level, but the satisfaction when you finally do is worth all the deaths you’ve been through.
There are so many other aspects of the game that really pushes it above and beyond. The representation in this game is some of the best I’ve seen in popular video games, and it’s most likely due to the fact that Supergiant games, the developers of ‘Hades’, is a smaller company and has more freedom than bigger developers do.
Despite the game being made up of Greek characters, there is good racial representation, as they don’t keep to the trend of entirely white characters. Along with that, there are many LGBTQ+ inclusive themes that I was pleasantly surprised to see.
The main character, Zagreus, is canonically bisexual, and there are two love interests you can pursue in the game, one male and one female. And not only can you date both separately, but the game includes a cutscene where all three of you get together, giving the game polyamorus representation, which is very overlooked in the media.
Along with the main character being queer, a few side quests include helping reunite characters, and many of these quests also include much queer representation. In addition to sexuality, there is also a character who is purely referred to with gender neutral terms, and is canonically non-binary, adding another perspective of queer identity to the game.
Along with the characters holding wonderful representation, the designs and artwork in the game are beyond. The characters are interpreted in such a creative way, and the art itself for any given character is beautiful. The backgrounds and landscape are also beautiful, and the creators clearly put a lot of thought and effort into making the world immersive through their artwork.
This game is incredibly complex, and nothing from the core plot to the gameplay is simple. This really allows you to choose your own path, build relationships with characters, and figure out the mysteries independently. I cannot recommend ‘Hades’ enough, overall I’d rate it easily a 10/10 game.
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