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I was wrong about Hades

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
Previously, I've repeatedly expressed my disdain for roguelikes. I don't hate them, but I find most of them offer little in terms of replay value. The grind and repeating the same randomly generated rooms with random loot gets old quickly. Hades is regarded as a crowning achievement of the genre, but I wasn't impressed by it. I played it right around release and beat it a few times (not the epilogue though) and maxed out at around Heat 2. I don't exactly recall.

I blamed roguelikes for eschewing level design and intricately placed enemies in favor of grinding. I'm not sure what's gotten into me but I've been replaying Hades since Monday and haven't been able to put it down since. I think I got 12 hours in just 3 days. This time, instead of just skipping dialogues and running through the game without having a clue of what was really going on, I paid more attention to everything, especially the various mechanics. All the boons and different combinations with the weapons are incredibly fun. During my first playthrough, I looked for Athena and ignored pretty much the other gods, not bothering to learn the intricacies of all the different interlocking systems. Still beat it without that (the game kicked my ass more times than I'd like to admit) much trouble but it's so much more than I gave it credit for. The gameplay has far more depth and variety than I previously thought.

tl;dr: Hades is an awesome game with fantastic mechanics. I know it's several years old, but I initially thought it was a good game and not much more. It's great.

GHG GHG You were right.
 
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MarkMe2525

Gold Member
It's an amazing game that manages to tell a great story in spite of it's rouge like roots. I probably put a good 100hrs in across Xbox and Switch. Can't wait for Hades 2.
 

bender

What time is it?
Should have stuck with your initial impressions.

giphy.gif
 

Holammer

Member
The gameplay and mechanics aside, Hades drip feeds the player the right amount of story and dialogue and there are no super high minded concepts or subverting of expectations, but mostly interpersonal relationships, it's literally about family. I ended up caring more for Skelly than any other NPC I can think of in video games.

Fail a run or progress and you get another dose.
 

Gaiff

SBI’s Resident Gaslighter
The gameplay and mechanics aside, Hades drip feeds the player the right amount of story and dialogue and there are no super high minded concepts or subverting of expectations, but mostly interpersonal relationships, it's literally about family. I ended up caring more for Skelly than any other NPC I can think of in video games.

Fail a run or progress and you get another dose.
That's a part I really didn't take in the first time. I died and just ran straight past everyone and resumed the run but, this actually makes the game a lot worse. Not only do you miss a lot of the story and characters but even some gameplay bonuses and clues on how to approach the different challenges.
 
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It happens. I've full-on shit on games only to have it click and do a near 180. Same goes for albums, movies, books.

Sometimes you're just not in the mood or whatever. I actually find it really satisfying when it happens considering I don't actually LIKE blowing money on a game I hate.
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Just bought this again for steam deck, these types of games are perfect for it.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
I’m still cautious about calling it a masterpiece. It’s enjoyable, but also super frustrating. The desire to redo something has to come from the player. They have to see a reward in what they did. All that grind just to fight the same boss to get to the 2nd boss. It works on some days and other days it’s just irritating.

I have both games and I’m still on the fence. They did a good job at giving you something to see or do once you die. I think it’ll click eventually, but I wouldn’t say it’s in my top 5. Hades II has a better aesthetic IMO than Hades. Maybe some day I’ll pass a certain point and change my mind.
 

dorkimoe

Member
I also HATE replaying the same thing over and over. I think hades 2 looks awesome, but im not falling for it again. Its just not for me.
 
I hear ya man, same here. I mostly hate roguelikes but Hades was just such a good game, I couldn't ignore it. Felt the same way about Returnal.
 

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Hades 2 for me is the only game in this genre that didn’t feel like a waste of time. Every run is fresh with new content being added, new cut scenes, new mechanics, and much more. It’s all so well put together and I keep improving my build cohesion and getting further into it.

I’ve made it to chronos twice, and completed going topside. I want more. The gameplay loop keeps satisfying and enticing me to do more.

I know when I beat chronos that’ll be a wrap for me, but the journey there is all fun and exciting.

Hades 1 didn’t do that for me though.
 

Thief1987

Member
I tried it, and I like how it plays, like the combat and gameplay flow in general, but no, I can't overcome its roguelike nature. This genre isn't for me.
 

The Cockatrice

I'm retarded?
I hate rogue-likes but Hades was the exception because it has a huge story importance in perfec relation to its mechanics which 90% of other rogue-likes dont.
 

consoul

Member
It's one of the best. The premise, the mechanics, the characters, the pacing & progression, the art, the music. It was so compelling. Loved loved loved it.

And yet I have no interest in Hades II.
I played the shit outta Hades. That's enough.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
First hades made me like the whole genre, it was a special game.

And the sequel is shaping as my goty if nothing better comes out, it's between h2 and helldivers 2 for now.

There are better roguelite out there with more variety and challenge and content maybe, but no one has an overall package as good as hades.
 

T-Cake

Member
Since I started playing last week, I haven't been able to stop. Probably coming near to the end now after 90 hours as there's not a lot of things to complete except the ridiculous amount of house renovations but I doubt I shall do all that unless there's an achievement required.
 

winjer

Gold Member
Previously, I've repeatedly expressed my disdain for roguelikes. I don't hate them, but I find most of them offer little in terms of replay value. The grind and repeating the same randomly generated rooms with random loot gets old quickly. Hades is regarded as a crowning achievement of the genre, but I wasn't impressed by it. I played it right around release and beat it a few times (not the epilogue though) and maxed out at around Heat 2. I don't exactly recall.

I blamed roguelikes for eschewing level design and intricately placed enemies in favor of grinding. I'm not sure what's gotten into me but I've been replaying Hades since Monday and haven't been able to put it down since. I think I got 12 hours in just 3 days. This time, instead of just skipping dialogues and running through the game without having a clue of what was really going on, I paid more attention to everything, especially the various mechanics. All the boons and different combinations with the weapons are incredibly fun. During my first playthrough, I looked for Athena and ignored pretty much the other gods, not bothering to learn the intricacies of all the different interlocking systems. Still beat it without that (the game kicked my ass more times than I'd like to admit) much trouble but it's so much more than I gave it credit for. The gameplay has far more depth and variety than I previously thought.

tl;dr: Hades is an awesome game with fantastic mechanics. I know it's several years old, but I initially thought it was a good game and not much more. It's great.

GHG GHG You were right.

Hades is a good game, despite being a roguelite. But if it had a normal campaign, it would have been much better.
By the time I finished my 20th run, I was getting really saturated with the game. And gave up on it after a few more.
I did finish the arch with his mom returning to the underworld. But I did nothing more after that, just because I was so fed up with doing the same levels over and over and over again. And again. And again.
 
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GymWolf

Gold Member
Hades is a good game, despite being a roguelite. But if it had a normal campaign, it would have been much better.
By the time I finished my 20th run, I was getting really saturated with the game. And gave up on it after a few more.
I did finish the arch with his mom returning to the underworld. But I did nothing more after that, just because I was so fed up with doing the same levels over and over and over again. And again. And again.
I think the whole game is designed to be a roguelite where you die and get small bit of lore everytime, if you just go forward with the campaign you would lose like 90% of the banters.

And i just liked the costant progression even after bad runs or when you get the right combo of boons.

Yeah i don't know if i would have liked the game if it wasn't a roguelite.
 
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