Game Review Time!

Hades! Where should I even begin with this game? Its beautiful, its addictive, it has extremely fun references, its story is great, frankly its as close to a perfect game as I have gotten to play in a long time. While it probably isn't my favorite of all time, it is definitely climbing those ranks.

Firstly, the art is immaculate! I have always been a big fan of rendering mythological characters in new and interesting ways. Not only the style, but the designs themselves. Mostly, they are rather typical, which isn't a bad thing! The Greek Gods have very iconic imagery attached to them. Dionysis with his grapes and general laid back attitude, Athena with her war gear. But even with that, there as some subversions in their designs. The one that I first noticed as, of course, Ares. Normally, he is shown as massive, buff, in full armor, but in Hades, the devs flipped that on its head. One, he doesn't have a helmet, showing his full face. But one is almost implied, with the war paint over his eyes. Secondly, he isn't the largest God, that would go to Zeus or Hades, which is a bold choice for the god representing the battle and bloodshed of war.

Second, the gameplay. God(s) the gameplay! Its hard to describe, it describes itself a 'rogue-like dungeon crawler' (via the games Steam page), but I like to say its a beat em up rogue-like. I know its not an accurate description, but it has always felt right. It scratches one of my major itches when it comes to gaming, going for max damage and pure efficiency. Im sure you will see whenever I get to my Nubby's Number Factory review (which will probably be next), but I adore games where you stack and stack abilities and effects until you can just win. Another aspect I enjoy about the gameplay is that it is very, very satisfying. Hits feel powerful, the dash makes you feel zippy, (almost) every weapon is a joy to use, its wonderful! Though, on that topic, my only real complaint is that the bow feels very clunky to use, and simply isn't as effective as the other weapons. It having a single shot with a mediocre base damage makes me avoid it. It may well be me not getting it, but for this style of game, it almost feels out of place.

Third, the characters and stories attached to those characters. Ever since I could recall, I have always adored the study of mythology, especially Greek mythology. I was one of those people that got really into the world of Percy Jackson (though, funnily enough, only ever read the first book). The ideas and stories you could tell with these characters are, frankly, limitless. Being mythological characters, most of the cast of Hades have storied histories, which are referenced a lot in the game. Of course, there are the well known myths, Achilles and Patroclus being one used to great effect as they are separated even in death which hurts the soul. Though, there are also less well known references, my personal favorite being the side story of Zagreus and Dionysis lying to Orpheus that they are the same person, which comes from the real life fact that, at some point, Dionysis and Zagreus were the same god, and through time, split into two separate worshiped gods.

All in all, Hades is a game that I highly recommend for anyone who even remotely likes rouge-likes, or simply has an appreciation for greek myth.