Hades

I did not fully understand Hades at first. I knew people loved it, but I was not immediately sold on the whole “do a run, die, start over” thing. My brain wanted to treat death like failure because that is how most games train you. You die, you reload, you try not to do the dumb thing again. So when Hades kept sending me back to the House of Hades, part of me was sitting there like, “So I just lost?” Then after a few runs, it clicked. You are not really starting over. You are learning. You are upgrading. You are meeting new characters. You are unlocking weapons. You are getting stronger. You are hearing new dialogue. The game is quietly moving forward even when Zagreus gets flattened by a boss or bullied by regular enemies I definitely thought I was too good to lose to. That is what made me fall in love with it. The combat is the first thing that really hooks you. It is fast, smooth, and easy to understand without being shallow. You dash, attack, special, cast, call, and try to piece together whatever build the gods hand you that run. Sometimes you get a setup that feels unstoppable. Sometimes the game gives you a weird pile of boons and you just try to survive with whatever nonsense you accidentally built. Either way, it rarely feels boring. Playing on Switch felt right too. Hades is one of those games that fits handheld play almost perfectly. One run can turn into five runs way too easily, but it also works if you only have time for a shorter session. The game feels sharp, runs well, and never feels like a compromised version just because it is on Nintendo’s hardware. What really surprised me was the story. I expected the combat to be good. I did not expect to care this much about everyone standing around in the underworld. Zagreus is easy to like, Hades is cold but interesting, and the supporting cast has way more personality than I expected. Achilles, Nyx, Megaera, Thanatos, Dusa, Hypnos, Cerberus, the Olympian gods — almost everyone has something memorable about them. The smartest thing Hades does is make dialogue part of the reward loop. You die, return home, and instead of feeling punished, you want to see who has something new to say. That is such a simple idea, but it completely changes the mood. Death becomes progress. Failure becomes a chance to hear more of the story. Somehow getting wrecked by Theseus and the Minotaur turns into “fine, at least maybe someone at home has new drama.” The mythology also works because the game does not treat it like homework. It uses Greek myth as a foundation, but the characters feel lively instead of dusty. The gods are powerful, petty, charming, annoying, helpful, and full of attitude. Basically exactly what you want from Greek gods. Every boon feels like both a gameplay choice and a little character moment. The repetition is real, though. If you already hate the idea of roguelikes, Hades may take some convincing. You are going through the same major regions again and again. Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and beyond will become very familiar. The difference is that the combat, boons, weapons, dialogue, and upgrades keep shifting enough that I rarely felt like I was just doing chores. But I can understand someone bouncing off before it clicks. Some weapons also feel way better than others, at least depending on how you like to play. I had runs where I felt completely locked in, and others where I was basically dragging a weapon through the underworld and hoping the gods would carry me. That is part of the fun, but it can also make certain attempts feel weaker before they even get going. The art and music are both excellent. Hades has a sharp style that still looks great, and the soundtrack gives the whole game this aggressive underworld energy that fits perfectly. It is stylish without feeling like it is trying too hard. The voice acting also does a lot of heavy lifting. A game built around repeated runs would fall apart fast if the characters were annoying. Thankfully, they are usually the reason you want to keep going. The biggest compliment I can give Hades is that it changed how I feel about the genre. I went in not really understanding why people liked this kind of game so much. I came out looking forward to the sequel and wanting to try more games like it. That does not happen often. Hades is not just good “for a roguelike.” It is a great game that happens to use roguelike structure better than almost anything I have played. It takes repetition, which should be the thing that hurts it, and turns it into the reason the story, combat, and progression work so well together. I thought dying over and over would get old. Instead, I kept saying one more run. That is how they get you.