Hades (Switch) Review
Release Date: 19 March 2021
Date Played: 24 April 2021
Well, what can I say about this game that hasn't been said already? Hades is a rogue-lite hack and slash game from SuperGiant, the developers of Bastion and Transistor. While Supergiant has made renowned games in the past and I have usually enjoyed them, there was always something about them that held me back from loving them deeply. This isn't the case with Hades. This game is a Masterpiece in virtually every possible sense. It seemed to be every organization's game of the year for 2020 and would have been mine also had it not gone up against the Last of Us II, a game I had an extreme emotional experience with. But even though it wasn't my top game of the year, that doesn't stop it from being one of the most engaging, addictive, beautiful, and downright best games I've ever played.
For the last several years there have been a glut of rogue-lite games of every ilk. They often share the same mechanics and a similar gameplay loop that can get stagnant. Having to die over and over again in an attempt to unlock some small piece of content like a new item or character can become quite frustrating when you can't succeed. You attempt the same thing over and over with no reward and no sense of advancement. You've simply failed and wasted your run. SuperGiant, in a stroke of genius, have eliminated this problem with the gameplay loop of Hades.
In this game, you play as Zagreus, the son of Hades. You discover that the goddess who raised you, Nyx, isn't your birth mother. You soon learn that your real mother, Persephone, has left Hades and is hiding on Earth. You decide that you have to break out of the underworld and reunite with her. Of course, your father forbids this and does everything in his power to stop you. Fortunately for you, the Gods of Olympus have heard of your plight to escape and want you to come join you on mount Olympus. They offer you boons to aid in your journey through the 4 levels of the underworld. These boons act as the powerups and upgrade items in the game. All of the gods have different aspects to their boons. Zeus has lightning, Demeter has ice, Athena has shields, Dionysus uses poison (termed hangover), Poseidon is water, etc. Choosing the best boons for your current build is paramount to your success in the game. The boons are also graded and have different rarities that determine their power levels. An epic form of a boon will be much stronger than the common form. While it can be difficult to make the exact build you want because of the rogue-liteness of the game, there are lots of synergies available between the gods. If you're lucky enough to get enough boons from the same god, they will offer you a legendary boon if you're lucky. Sometimes the gods will pair up and offer you a unique duo boon that combines their powers. These can cause Zagreus to become extremely powerful, and it’s fun watching him dash around the screen causing all sorts of havoc. In addition to this, you have 6 weapons to choose from that are unlocked over time. These range from a sword, spear, shield, bow, gauntlets, and even a grenade shooting assault rifle. Combining these with the boons can really change up the playstyle of the game. Also, each of the 6 weapons has 4 unlockable forms that completely change how they work. Obviously, all of these options open the game up to countless possibilities of playstyles that keep the game from getting boring.
In addition to this, there are other collectables to gather on your runs. There's the usual assortment of healing items and health upgrades, money, weapon modifications (changes the playstyle even more), gemstones, and darkness (more on these later), As you battle your way up through the underworld the 4 areas get progressively more difficult. Each of these areas looks, feels, and plays totally different from the others. Some are lava pits where you have to pay attention to your footing, Elysium forces you to fight fallen soldiers that regenerate if you don't kill them fast enough, there are enemies that constantly poison you and require you to kill them with a real sense of urgency.. All in all these areas are fun... but I do wish there was a little more variation than playing the exact same 4 levels over and over. The game is so fantastic, I want more content… I want more levels.
Zagreus has his attack, a special attack, a cast, and a dash. All of these can be modified and changed with the aforementioned upgrades. The controls are simple, but work perfectly and it's a real testament to SuperGiant to know not to overwhelm you with too many controls in such a hectic game.
I also encountered no technical issues whatsoever in my 80+ hours of playtime. I never had a framerate drop, crash, bug, or anything at all.
So, that's the gameplay. It's pretty stellar and a lot of fun. It by itself would make for a remarkable game. However, remember when I mentioned how Supergiant fixed the problem with the rogue-like gameplay loop? Well, that solution is what ascends this game to its masterpiece classification. In between your runs, you get to wander the halls of your father's house in Hades. You speak to NPCs and advance your relationship with them. As you get to know more about their lives and how they came to be in Hades, you actually begin to care for these characters. You WANT to know more about them. Soon you'll be exchanging gifts to show your affection for them. Eventually, they will confide in you and ask you to help them with their plights. It's all very interesting and adds some worthwhile additional content to the game. In addition to all of this, you can use the resources you gather during your runs to permanently upgrade Zagreus. You can level up his weapons, give him new skills, add health, give the ability to reroll items, unlock decorations for the house, gain trinkets that change the gameplay, find companions to help you out on your journey. Truthfully, there's so much to do and to unlock it can be overwhelming... but, gathering these resources means you'll be just a little bit stronger on that next run. Did you die on the last boss? No worries, it isn't a wasted run. You gathered resources and can upgrade your weapon to make it 5% stronger. So, you'll have a better chance next time. This constant stream of progression and the elimination of wasted runs is what knocked this game out of the park.
Even after I "beat the game" I kept wanting to go longer to unlock everything. After I got the "true ending" I still wanted to keep unlocking the game’s massive amount of content. As if this weren't enough to keep you busy for the next 300 hours, there's a Pact of Punishment that allows you to increase the difficulty of certain aspects of the game. Increasing these raises your heat gauge and allows you the chance to get even more collectables to unlock items or level up. This Pact of Punishment serves to alter the game to an entirely new level and acts as the end game portion. The amount of content in this game is, honestly, unbelievable. SuperGiant put so much love and care into crafting this game that I'm in awe.
After writing all of this, I realized I hadn't even mentioned the aesthetics of the game. The graphics are beautiful and have that sharp contrast look of the other SuperGiant games. It's very colorful with dark grays and greens with blood red mixed in. The soundtrack is very nice (although not as good as their other games, in my opinion) and is performed extremely well. Finally, I have to give a huge nod to the dialog, voice acting, and characters in this game. Everything is written perfectly and performed expertly. Every character in the game is unique, likable, and memorable. The time I spent with them was memorable and most of the interactions Zagreus had with them often ranged from making me laugh and grin ear to ear, to actually tugging on my heart strings. I also loved the world and its charming character. Hades, despite it being the underworld, was truly a beautiful and amazing place.
In the end, I unlocked everything in the game and only needed to level up all of the items to their max levels. I decided to call it here... for now. I'm not even sure if you can ever truthfully finish the game. There may be unlockables that go on forever. You can always bump up the Pact of Punishment another level, or upgrade a chair in the reception hall, or level up your renown in the underworld. Since I unlocked all of the usable items, and saw all of the possible story, did all the meaningful side missions, I didn't want to burn out on upgrading everything to its maximum level by having to grind runs over and over. My time with this game was fantastic. I never got bored playing it and could have kept playing for another 80 hours or more with relative ease. But, as with all things in life, there's never enough time. I'm not sure where this game falls in my list of my all-time favorites, but it's certainly high up there. I have... and will continue recommending this game to anyone who will listen.
Final Status: Completed
Final Score: 10/10 (Masterpiece)
No comments:
Post a Comment