![]() ![]() It’s a staggering amount of unique dialog that continues to deliver the story to the player whether you complete a run or fail early on. There’s assorted character side stories that interweave with Zagreus’ escape attempts. There’s dialog based on which gods’ boons you’ve acquired earlier in a run. I am still hearing unique voice lines based on things like what types of enemies I get killed by, what weapon I use, and what specific aspect (form) of a weapon I choose. I can’t fathom how much recorded dialog must be in this game. Not only is the voice acting itself phenomenal, but the prompts that create these dynamic and unique interactions are always incredible. Honestly, I was just as eager to spend time in the House of Hades as I was to make my way through the Underworld fighting shades and other nasty things that would have me sent back again. It’s paced such that characters never drone on for overly long, and it’s a joy to hear every interaction that Zagreus has with various denizens of the Underworld and Olympian gods, paired with beautiful portraits of each character. The voice acting in Hades is so good, I never skipped any spoken dialog. There’s a lot of mystery surrounding his attempts to leave, but each time Zagreus dies, he is sent back to the Pool of Styx in the House of Hades-minus most of his collected boons, weapon upgrades, and obols-where he can talk to various house servants to learn more. Some runs aren’t anything special, and some can turn into delightfully unexpected combinations of chaos that empower you in ways you didn’t even know possible when you first jumped out of Zag’s bedroom window. Do you want that boon from Ares, or perhaps are you a little short on obols for the boatman Charon this run? Maybe you’re trying to collect gems to fix up the House of Hades? Even when getting boons from the Olympians or picking weapon upgrades with the Hammer of Daedalus, you’re offered from a selection of three choice to best tailor your build. Sometimes you’ll get multiple doors the ability to choose which chamber you want to enter next, and each will show what reward you’ll gain. There’s a healthy balance between randomness and providing some player choice. ![]() Keys, darkness, gems, obols, health upgrades there are a lot of things to collect along the way, much of which is lost should you fall in your attempt to leave the Underworld. Each chamber throughout the Underworld houses a new reward to aid that run (or perhaps something to spend on more permanent upgrades for future escape attempts). Hermes’ boons are all based on modifying your speed in some way. Athena grants abilities that deflect enemy attacks. Zeus might give your attack the ability to emit chain lightning. Along the way, he is aided by assorted gods, who send him boons and blessings that modify each escape attempt. Zagreus, son of Hades, is attempting to escape the Underworld. Its combat and (literal) gameplay loop is engaging and fun, stopping short of ever feeling repetitive-despite its very nature of asking players to venture back through the Underworld multiple times. Its story is a thrilling mystery with deep and complex characters. Its art style is stunning, using subtle almost unnoticeable flecks and streaks of bright neon colors to make the environments in the underworld pop. Hades is undeniably a Supergiant game, but at the same time so different from every Supergiant game that came before it. Hades is the kind of game awards were made for. ![]() That patience paid off, and I got to go into Hades on the PS5 completely fresh a couple of weeks ago. I’d seen the game’s art, but I knew virtually nothing else about Hades beyond what it looked like and that it was apparently pretty award worthy. ![]() I avoided even looking into the game outside of what occasionally came across my Twitter feed. Though I’d heard how the latest from Supergiant was lauded and laden with awards, I was holding out hope that it would one day get a PlayStation release. Supergiant Games might be one of my favorite developers of all time-I loved Bastion and Pyre, and Transistor is probably one of my favorite games ever-but I missed Hades when it first released last year on Switch and PC. ![]()
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