![]() ![]() And it isn’t just gods there are also mortals you’ll meet in the underworld, with their own personalities and stories. He’s an odd one, but I’m always happy to talk to him. One of my personal favorite characters is Hypnos, the embodiment of sleep, who comments after each run about whatever enemy or trap ended up killing you. You’ll learn more about each of them over time, and a lot of the conversations are genuinely entertaining in their own right. For example, while all of the Olympian gods speak highly of Zagreus and seem very happy about him coming to Olympus, they’ll still attack him if you choose one of them over the other for boons, and it doesn’t seem like their kindness and generosity really applies to mortals. As for the aforementioned gods, they’re more complex than they seem at first glance. He’s as sympathetic as a character can be while the gods don’t always have the purest motives (as per the source material), Zagreus is impossible to dislike. He’s a young man with a gentle heart, but a rough exterior he’s trying to escape from his father’s realm so he can finally meet his real mother. To begin with, there’s the player character, Zagreus. The most powerful single-run resources are boons from the gods, of course these give Zagreus new abilities and a chance to converse with his relatives.Īnd this, of course, leads us right into the main reason that Hades stands out from the pack: its characters and storytelling. Maybe that’s because the purposes of these items are explained narratively by the characters, and there’s even a backstory for each one, which you uncover as you collect more and more of them. But I never once had that issue in Hades. That’s another issue I have with most roguelikes: it’s hard to keep track of all that. As for other staples of the genre, there’s one currency for buying items to help on the current run, another for buying permanent upgrades between runs, special things that upgrade your weapons, etc. Enemy health is easy to track, so I have a much easier time understanding how effective my attack strategy is than I would in a game where that information got lost or wasn’t shown in the first place. Each weapon works differently, and even later into the game, there are enough weaker enemies that it’s really satisfying to smash or shoot your way through them. Before we go into what makes Hades different, I should start by noting that the combat is very satisfying. If you die, you have to start back from the very beginning. You can choose from multiple weapons as you traverse through procedurally-generated chambers, collecting various things to help you reach the end. Right off the bat, all of your typical roguelike staples are here. Join me in the underworld, and I’ll break down what makes this title so special. And it wouldn’t hurt for the subject matter to be something that already interests me, like maybe Greek mythology? Yes, if I were to describe my ideal roguelike, it would probably look a lot like Supergiant Games’ Hades, which recently had its final release after almost two years in Early Access. It would take something beyond a compelling gameplay loop I would need to care about the characters and understand them. It would take a lot to get me to happily repeat the same battles and locations over and over. I’ve reviewed quite a few roguelikes in my time, and my response to them is usually the same: the constant repetition and grind just isn’t worth it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |