top of page
Hades
Game Choice
Shawn
Adam's Review
??
HOURS PLAYED
22
RATING
8/10
ACHIEVEMENTS
11/49
John's Review
??
HOURS PLAYED
50
RATING
9.6/10
ACHIEVEMENTS
35/49
Shawn's Review
No Review
HOURS PLAYED
4
RATING
8/10
ACHIEVEMENTS
6/49
Travis's Review
Summary
Hades was a charming roguelite with solid combat mechanics.
⦁ Pros
⦁ The graphics and art-style were stunning. The colors really pop.
⦁ The storytelling was done tastefully, and I enjoyed the Greek mythology aspects of it.
⦁ Great combat system that is very fluid. However, it can feel a bit button-mashy at times.
⦁ Cons
⦁ Grindy
⦁ Repetitive, especially the boss fights
⦁ Not enough end-game content
Gameplay
The gameplay overall was very solid. It was easy to appreciate the attention the developers put into the game; each character and enemy within the game carries its own personality, and it’s expressed well through both the narrative and combat.
Overall, this was not a difficult game to jump into. The game’s mechanics are explained well, and there is never a time where I thought the complexity of the gameplay itself elevated to a point where I would fear ever coming back to this game later if I decided to take an extended break.
Combat
The combat is where this game really shines. I really enjoyed that Hades offered a variety of weapon-types, and that it never forced me to conform to one style of combat. I personally enjoyed using the Twin Fists (big surprise I know).
The combat is further enhanced by adding some additional functions into the game that really allowed me to custom-tailor my preferred playstyle with the leveling-systems in place. Getting different boons always kept beating each room feeling very rewarding, and often encouraged me to take on greater challenges to get a specific upgrade that I was seeking.
I did feel that the combat suffered a bit with the amount it required me to repeatedly press my attack button. This is something that annoys me in a lot of games actually, when I’m required to repeatedly press a button over and over again. Luckily…. through some Steam-input modifications, I was able to map a couple turbo buttons and mode-shifts to make the experience a lot more friendly to my hands and controller!
Bosses
The bosses were very cool…the first time I encountered them. This is where I thought the game suffered a lot. Considering the number of times, I was required to run through this game, encountering the same bosses, and their slightly different variants, felt extremely repetitive. Boss-battles is something I usually look forward to in games, however, I this case, I lost my excitement every time I realized my next chamber was a boss-battle.
Leveling & Progression
This is where I felt Hades needed the most work. Too many aspects of the progression in Hades requires you to just constantly grind and farm gems, currency, lifeblood, etc. I quickly lost my motivation to get all the achievements in this game when I realized how much grinding would be involved.
Final Thoughts & Conclusion
Overall, I really enjoyed playing through Hades. I was disappointed that there wasn’t more end-game content beyond just beating the same chambers and bosses repeatedly to grind more currency. The visuals and combat mechanics really helped me stay engaged during long play-sessions. The Greek lore and mythology really tickled that history-buff side to my personality as well.
I’d rank the game 7/10
HOURS PLAYED
21
RATING
7/10
ACHIEVEMENTS
23/55
Eric's Review
Hades 9.4/10 Overall a very engaging and atmospheric game that delivers on all fronts.
Story 9/10 - Interesting story of a boy god who travels out of the underworld to learn the truth of his past. There's also a plethora of characters with their own unique personalities.
Art/graphics 10/10 - Very cool art style. The 3d models of the characters look very good as well as the portrait art for each character. Every world in the game felt different than the last. There are also viewpoints in the game that let you see the backdrops in much more detail.
Voice Acting 10/10 - I could be wrong, but I feel like every line in the game is voice acted and there's a lot of them. Also, the voice acting was on point. I never felt like a character's voice didn't match and their intonations never felt forced.
Music and Sound 9.5/10 - For a normal playthrough of the game the music is good enough not to get to stale. The music only started to grate on me later on when I was going for the platinum. I think generally speaking, I don't notice sounds in games that much, so the fact that some sounds really stick out for me means they're pretty good. I can still hear in my head the sound of hammer clanking when I pick up the daedulus hammmer, or the teleportation sound of Thanatos appearing, or the thundrous sounds of Zeus's call.
Combat/Gameplay 10/10 - In the beginning the options for playing are limited but as you progress there are a lot of variations you can make to suit your playstyle. There are 6 weapons, each with 4 different versions that play quite differently, and your choice of talents on Nyx's Mirror. There's also a plethora of keepsakes to choose from and your choice of cthonic companion. After those initial options, each run is very different depending on the boons you get. There are regular boons, duo boons, legendary boons, and daedalus hammer upgrades. Combat is also surprisingly deep with all the status effects, traps, armor, backstabs, wall slams, attack, special, cast, dash attack, and calls. There's also the pact of punishment which adds to the difficulty and boss variety. There's also a lot of customization for the underworld and there's even fishing. Overall I'd say the combat and gameplay is clean, deep, and varied.
Gripes:
- I think the game could've had slightly more stage variation, like take a secret door and end up in olympus or something, but maybe that's just me remembering the variety in stages in Binding of Isaac.
- Completing the epilogue is quite vague compared to the straightforwardness of the the main story.
- It's not clear that you can talk to the boulder next to Sisyphus.
HOURS PLAYED
60
RATING
9.4/10
ACHIEVEMENTS
49/49
Gesi's Review
Honestly judging only by its cover, I didn’t expect much from Hades, but after playing it my expression was: wow! It didn't promise anything but delivered everything.
It’s a game full of surprises and it took a while for me to start having a better guess of what was waiting for me behind the next door.
My biggest challenge was getting used to dying so many times lol I’m one of those people who gets very emotional while playing games and I haaaaateeee dying! But the bad feelings were gone once I realized how much stronger I was getting after every restart and how much I was learning about the combos (weapon+cast/special).
Besides playing for several hours I wasn’t able to beat it, but Adam and John did(cheaters!) and for what I understood this is still not the end since you can start over and combine different combos.
Graphics: 7/10
The graphic doesn’t have anything that looks extraordinary, but it looks very good for this game and the story behind it.
Gameplay 9/10
Having many options for weapons was very interesting, although I only used three of them (sword, trident and crossbow.). I’m curious to see somebody succeed only using the shield as a weapon. Every time you get the chance to empower your weapons the explanation for the options are very clear which is very helpful.
Story:9/10
When my character has to interact with other characters there are only a few games that can capture my attention. The characters passed the vibe of having their own personality (mudererrr lol). Also, each of them would give you very nice/ rare items once you give them some sugar.
HOURS PLAYED
11
RATING
8.5/10
ACHIEVEMENTS
?/49
bottom of page