It is fitting that one of the biggest video games of 2020 is about an uninterrupted and useless escape from hell itself. Hades, from Supergiant Games, captured the hearts of millions when it was officially launched in September 2020, reinventing timeless Greek mythology and using it to build a narrative that rewards failure as much as success. The roguelike action game stars Zagreus, the son of Hades, as he struggles to make his way through the various layers of hell in a quest to reach the surface and find his mother Persephone, missing. Zagreus is aided in his search by the gods of Olympus, who are delighted to learn of his relative’s existence and help him with various aids that increase attack strength, add buffs or debuffs, or provide other useful facts.
There are two keys to Hades‘success. The first is that the game rewards failure. Zagreus dies … a lot, and is forced to restart his endless quest from scratch whenever they return him to the Underworld. However, dying gives Zagreus the chance to spend currency to permanently increase his strength and abilities, unlock new conversations with key NPCs, and test new weapons with unique abilities. Hades it only advances when Zagreus dies, and this mechanic eliminates one of the most frustrating aspects of most video games: the futility of loss.
The other key to Hades‘Continuous popularity is the relative lack of villains in the game. There are no really “bad” guys in Hades – The titular antagonist of the game is stubborn, proud and hard, but the game slowly comes off his exterior to reveal the very valid reasons for his continued resistance to his son. Over time, players can romance with the first bosses of the players, come to terms with other important antagonists, and find meaningful resolutions in complicated plots. Empathy and care are part of it Hades basic, and help players keep coming back for more runs even after winning the main game. The Greek gods themselves have also been redesigned with a fabulous voice interpretation and key art that has inspired countless fan art pieces. It is very difficult to hate any character Hades, with the possible exception of Theseus, whose personality is deliberately unpleasant and unpleasant.
Of couse, Hades it is also a very fun pirate and fun game. The game’s profit system is based on finding out breaking combos on the go and destroying dozens of enemies at once. Because the blessings are randomly distributed, players are encouraged to mix and match at will, and there are very few skills that don’t sync well with each other. The majority Hades players will swear by one weapon or another, but the game can be conquered by almost any combination of weapon and blessing, as long as the player does the best they can. Players will be happy to send spam to various combos as they clean rooms, as they try to decide whether to add more benefits or turn on existing ones. There is never a wrong answer, although some options will work better with some styles of play than others. Personally, I liked how different weapons could be customized to suit different styles of play. Malphon’s twin cuffs, a set of gloves designed for close combat, evolved from my least favorite weapon to the weapon with which I had the most consistent success, as I learned to combine my style of combat. ‘attack with few advantages and different temporary attacks. to hit enemies as he ran past them.
The game also rewards players for continuing to play even after they finally run away from hell. Each of the game’s weapons has different variants that can only be unlocked after repeated rolls, and the main plot is not resolved until a player has cleared the game 10 times. Post-game content is also fun, with players literally taking the poison making the dungeons deliberately harder in order to get extra rewards. There are also role-playing elements that don’t come into play until much deeper in the game, with players able to fall in love with some characters and learn meaningful information from others while giving gifts and talking to the characters between races and others.
Hades is an instant classic, a game in which players can spend 50 or more hours without feeling like any time has passed. The game is designed to be enjoyed in bite-sized chunks, with the race taking no more than approximately 30 minutes to complete. These short segments were perfect for 2020, as many people struggled to find energy for marathon sessions. Combine it with a captivating story and an easy-to-learn but hard-to-master game, and Supergiant found a recipe for instant success. In a difficult year, Hades it was a delicious breath of fresh air.