Your first successful run in Hades is only the beginning. Supergiant Games has crafted a dungeon crawler that can conceivably be played for thousands of hours, with your first escape attempt acting as a prologue to a wider, more emotional narrative surrounding Zagreus and his drive to reunite with his birth mother. It’s a thing of beauty, a subversion of expectations that takes the adrenaline-fueled glory of finally defeating your oppressive father and morphs it into something far more profound than I ever could have expected.
I often have a hard time with roguelites, struggling to push myself towards subsequent runs when progress is continually ripped away from me as punishment for not being good enough. This is why I’ve never stuck with games like Spelunky or The Binding of Isaac, knowing I need a breadcrumb trail of sorts to keep me invested. Hades provides that in ample amounts, with each failed run resulting in new dialogue choices, upgrades, and an ever-changing underworld that reacts to your actions.
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It doesn’t matter what your skill level is, Hades understands your investment, and does everything it can to reward you and make its rendition of areas from Greek mythology feel like places you’ll never want to leave. Upon beating Hades, the scene is almost silent as Zagreus walks past his father’s fading corpse and towards a snowy horizon. Faint sniffles and coughs slow his progress, although our hero shakes it off as little more than expectant fatigue after fighting his way through the impossible.
All of a sudden you stumble into a beautiful garden, and before you stands the woman you’ve spent countless mortal cycles trying to reunite with – Persephone. She’s dumbfounded, failing to believe your presence is even possible after spending years thinking you passed away at birth. Zagreus grew up in the underworld, so it’s no wonder he’s so desperate to reach a world that was unfairly ripped away from him. It’s a plot twist I wasn’t expecting, and one that recontextualizes each run going forward. Me and Zagreus are now striving to uncover the truth together, with the hope that we’ll untangle the web of lies that defines his very existence. It’s clear his motivation stems from something far more tangible than a spat with his father in the administration chambers – this is bigger than anyone in the Underworld, and our protagonist is right to pursue it. His first emergence from the blood pool after killing his father is met with rampant trepidation. Your friends and acquaintances are almost shocked at what you’ve managed to achieve, either frustrated or overjoyed that the forces of nature have once again confined you to a perpetual existence amidst the pits of Tartarus.
Some are in full support of your goal to reach Olympus, while others react with a mixture of jealousy and contempt. They’re happy for you, but also angry that you’d throw the Underworld into disarray and abandon precious relationships for something so selfish. But it’s far deeper than this, and much of the interactions after your first run are spent growing closer to said characters, learning to understand both sides of the story as romances blossom and friendships grow fonder in the face of adversity. I was almost choked up as Zagreus was torn away from his mother at the last possible moment, having spent several hours working towards this climax only to realise it is likely one of many to come in the runup to the endgame.
Each line of dialogue offers a precious slither of development, characters teasing a life filled with trials and tribulations that existed long before you pick up the controller. Many of these people might be dead already and have no agency in the mortal realm, but the things they left behind are all too alive. Achilles strives to reunite with Patroclus despite the honest acknowledgement of dooming him to a life in purgatory, while the warming bond between Zagreus and Thanatos highlights a bittersweet love that grows with each encounter, Thanatos’ voice is lined with an aura of both warmth and betrayal. There’s so much depth to everything in Hades, and the endgame is the perfect example of that.
There’s the mechanical side of things, too. Conquering your first run introduces a whole number of variables you can apply to each attempt that make enemies tougher, weaken Zagreus, or offer a number of bespoke compromises that make the act of defeating Hades so much more challenging. You also earn rewards for upgrading weapons, encouraging constant runs with different loadouts to make the most of this new layer of customisation. It’s wonderful, and has opened up an entire new avenue of progression I’m eager to mine for everything it’s worth.
I imagine there are still a few mechanics and characters I’ve yet to encounter, and I’ve only finished one arc related to gifting Nectar to my favourite character. I want to see all of these through to the end, since the stories of individual gods and mortals combine in a way that complement one another. They’re all working together to form a single cohesive picture, one that will likely result in a true ending that gives this world the conclusion it deserves. Zagreus deserves a happy ending, as do his loved ones – Hades has me passionately working towards such a goal.
Hades is a masterpiece, and I’m confident in that verdict despite having so much more to see across its seemingly never-ending combination of satisfying battles and poignant character moments. It’s all so well done, and nothing in it feels out of place or irrelevant – nothing lends itself to a package that needs adjustment. By opting for early access and taking on the feedback of players throughout its development, Supergiant Games has been able to craft one of the genre’s brightest sparks, and all of the success it’s experienced feels more than warranted. I was so late to the party on this one, but now I’m here, I’m not sure I ever want to leave.
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