Hades (from Supergiant, maker of Pyre, Bastion, Transistor)

now out of Early Access, this game has kind of ruined my life since i purchased it a few days ago. there's so much to say about it, from how polished and good it is to build ideas, to making fun of Eurydice for being into acoustic Staind songs.

anyone else in hell with me?

RIYL: dead cells, rogue legacy, binding of isaac, good writing and voice acting, being perpetually one 25-minute run away from unlocking something you really want

what is most amazing to me is how they manage to keep things fresh. it is pretty amazing that none of the characters ever repeats themselves, dozens of times in, even though you're interacting with them repeatedly. as all the reviews indicated, it is the kind of game where you're always unlocking something that is interesting, even things that substantially change the way you can play the game, dozens of hours into the game.

I got an hour with this last night, it's very, very slick

Is there any kind of shortcut mechanic? It has all the signs of being a really addictive times ink, but also can see myself repeatedly failing several runs to that first boss and then bouncing off it because I suck at roguelikes

i haven't run across one yet, but i am pretty sure there will be one. i've been _this_ close to beating it (i think).

it's one of those roguelites where you'll be able to gradually improve your base stats (using the mirror in your bedroom) between runs, so i wouldn't feel too bad about losing the first couple times. also, the 6 weapons are very different and encourage different modes of style, so it might help just to try another one out.

i didn't like the shield, in particular, at first, but it can be incredibly powerful and fun with just a few boons

I loved the shield straight away, I had a lightning shield run early on that felt like it was better at being marvel ultimate alliance than marvel ultimate alliance 3 was

yeah the shield is my favorite so far but i've had the greatest success with the spear + wild backstab damage + speed up, throwing it and recalling it (+ backstab each time), dash across the room, repeat.

i was wondering at what point the NPCs would start resorting to stock phrases but it seems like there's a Lot of Writing here.

the first person i gave nectar to was my skeleton punching bag bro, he brings a lot of good vibes and energy to what is probably a crappy job

i've accidentally given nectar to cerberus like 5 times now. it's easy to do on a gamepad (using PS4 controller with my mac) because Pet is L2 and gift is R2

i find myself using the Chaos trapdoor more often, too, especially when it's the one near the beginning. some of those early-game rewards can be really powerful later

I stopped playing Dead Cells after a weekend, but this seems a little more forgiving?

i dunno, it gets pretty hard. i mean, with both games (and the genre, by design you're supposed to hit a point where it's too hard and die, at least a few dozen times, so you definitely read THERE IS NO ESCAPE a bunch

but counteract with Kith's Short, Dirty, and Spoiler-Free Hades Starter Guide, "for people who want to know the basics of how to fight good and plan ahead without getting spoiled on characters, locations, or the story"

one simple thing i was confused about was the Call gauge - I kept on saving it up for a big boss fight, but smartly, it depletes to 0 after every room, so if you have a Call equipped it definitely makes sense to use it!

This will definitely be too hard for me but it's cool, and hey you can pet Cerberus

two things i really like:

- "One must imagine Sisyphus happy", and they did! took me a while to make the connection but it's lovely
- i love the freedom of movement in this game, from the very beginning. the dash takes you right through walls, and except for the flames in Asphodel, it's setup so you can't "mess up" or take fall damage. very godlike controls, overall.

I got this yesterday afternoon and somehow played it for like 6 hours. Not much to say that hasn’t been said, but yeah, it’s good. This is kinda how I wished the too-unchallenging Diablo 3 played.

I still don’t quite understand how the Calls work.

shit, i meant to respond to that a couple days ago! you probably already figured it out, but once you get a Call (via a boon), your God Gauge fills up every time to you take a hit, and when it passes a threshold you can trigger the Call. what i didn't realize for an embarrassing amount of time was that the God Gauge drains at the end of each battle, so there's no point in "saving" the gauge for the next fight, you should definitely use them as much as possible

this game is so great that i kind of assume no one's posting here because you're all poopsocking hades

i think my favorite call is Ares? the one that turns you into a giant human spinning Rift for a few seconds? that one can be lethal on bosses. i feel like the Aphrodite call, the one that charms the enemy for a few seconds, could also potentially be very powerful.

also, i am on the verge of tears because i've died to (what i think is) the final boss like 4 times in a row when they were down to a sliver of health. sometimes it's because my build is weak, but other times it's total manual user error, flipping out with nerves. i feel like i'm on the edge of beating it, though. 37 hours in so far.

it's amazing to me how fresh each new run feels, and how the daedalus hammers combined with the boons can lead to totally different experiences with the same 6 weapons. i'm torn because the gun has gotten me to the end boss every single time i've used it, but it's also my least favorite weapon to use in terms of fun.

surprisingly, i think the melee/dual fists are my current favorite (again in terms of fun, not effectiveness) it has a cool alternate version you can unlock with titan blood, too, that makes your special pull in enemies from afar to right next to your character there is a boon for it that makes the dash-strike "combine" into the regular attack combo, which basically means you can pull off a nearly infinite punching and dash-striking combo that is nearly unstoppable if you also have deflect built into it.

i think the melee and gun are powerful (for me at least) because they're both rapid fire attacks so it's really easy to add boon effects that trigger with every individual strike (like lightning, or effects you can stack like chill or poison). and same deal with the shield, which has a special that can easily be modified to strike multiple times, triggering side-effects with each hit.

so those are mainstays that are almost always possible, if you make a point of building that direction. but i love running into unexpected playstyles, being forced to try them out essentially, that are like mini-games in their own. for example, my last heartbreaking run was with that one laser beam cast (forget which god), but later on i added another effect which made the lasers target ME instead of the direction i initially placed them. the lasers didn't hurt me, but they did follow me, which meant i had to place the lasers on the edge of the playing area, then run into the middle, so that the enemy was caught in the laser crossfire as it swept across to the center. hard to explain, and i'm not sure i'd try to get that build again, but also delightful and occasionally really powerful when i was taking advantage of it properly.

i love that the underlying system of hades upgrades makes that kind of run possible almost 40 hours in, it's great

18 escapes attempted. 0 times getting past Theseus and the bull. I really want to stop playing but I also just unlocked the gun ...

For me, the short-range weapons like the gloves or the sword are great for other enemies, but I have a hard time fighting the bosses with them, as the bosses have many ways of hurting you if you get too close... So the only way I've been able to consistently get past the third boss and into the endgame is to use the bow, whose special attack (a spread of arrows) is awesome if you add some extra damaging effects to it. That, combined with the boon from Zeus that makes your cast into a chain lightning, seems to be the best way to bombard the bosses from a distance while trying to avoid their attacks. The spread of arrows also makes the three witches chamber on the second level a piece of cake, which it doesn't seem to be with the other weapons?

*hugs thread*

fwiw lukas, i'm at about 38 attempts now, but i was at theseus/minotaur at around the same time as you (15-20 attempts in i think), and unlocked the gun around the same time. my very first time with the adamant rail, i made it all the way to the endboss.

xp tuomas i initially felt the same with the weapons, like i needed something long-range to survive. but over time i've figured out how to effectively use the others as well (note that i still haven't beaten the damn game, though i've come close!).

i think for the bosses, particularly the late game, it's pretty essential to have at least one good long range option (whether that's the weapon intself, or a cast or a beefed up special) but also essential to have an attack that lets you get in close and deal tons of damage in a short time (while they're vulnerable). for me, so far, that close attack often seems to involve a dash-strike that repels, or some other sort of chained attack where i can be almost invulnerable for a short period.

some of my best runs, against the bosses, are the opposite of ranged - i'm just dashing through and around the boss, invulnerable for almost the entire time. of course, at some point the intermittent damage adds up to death, as i still haven't won this way!

then again, in other runs i'm hovering on the edges, picking my spots and being extremely careful, and also getting very close.

ok i need to play hades now

I'm kind of conflicted in getting the game! On the one hand, I'm tired of hard games and my consoles are littered with barely played rogue likes. OTOH the near universal praise and reviews like this paint it to be a possible exception for me? https://kotaku.com/i-guess-i-actually-like-roguelikes-now-1845131675

Sorry to be wishy washy!

hahaha

honestly, it does lean toward being a "hard" game. it is not as difficult as celeste - just throwing that out as a reference, if you've played it.

i'm tempted to try to compare it to the difficulty of dark souls games, but they're just too different. i've never gotten to the end of a dark souls game, because i always get stuck on some boss 25 hours in and get so frustrated that i quit. there are similar boss obstacles in Hades, but the difference is that there aren't nearly so many. for me, the Escalating Series of Bosses model is much more manageable when it's only a handful, as opposed to the dozens in a dark souls game.

all the same, the actual gameplay of Hades is consistently engaging but challenging - if you don't pay attention, you can quickly take a beating. it's not the kind of game you'd recommend to a newcomer to videogames, it kind of has prerequisites. (note that i'm talking about adults. obviously 6-year-olds can pick up anything and master it within a week due to their god-like abilities boons)

the thing is, leee, i think you'd like all the OTHER things about it - it's just so polished and well-done, i'm actually still interested in some of the sub-plots, 40 hours in, as they are dished out to me in small doses every once in a while. the persona of hades is very close to an unrepentant version of the grumpy dad in God of War. the difference is, instead of wanting to murder the little boy in the God of War's boat, instead you ARE the little boy, but you're trying to murder your dad, and he definitely deserves it, and the god of war is called Ares and he can upgrade your cast spell so that it shoots out spinning black-hole rifts

condensed down to a recommendation for your CNN appearance later:

• it's only $25, which to use an increasingly overused 2020 adjective, is "generous".
• worth checking out even if you're on the fence, just know that dying is part of the cycle of existence

sorry, CNN, the $25 itself is not generous, i just mean that the game itself is very generous. like, given how much enjoyment i've already gotten out of it (even if i never play it again, starting...tomorrow), i think i would pay $140 for this game

Thanks Karl! That's definitely food for thought.

the downbeat atmosphere draws me in quite a bit, i love how much of the voice-acting is calm and quiet. details like that keep me interested even though i'm not great at the game, kinda like a difficult book with a really nice cover

had fun playing with dad in the front yard. i'm just gonna admit that i'm s spear guy. it's the only weapon that makes sense to me.

(ie, i haven't figured out how to get the same dps from anything else - the spear special is the only way i know to reliably backstab in chaotic situations.)

pierced butterfly is nice, wearing it when meeting the person who gives it to you is cool too.

i have a different take on what "there is no escape means" now, a much ... darker take

okay the fists can be cool. i shouldn't evaluate weapons after trying them only once or twice, because boons.

It's really annoying that bull rush can't clear the smallest barrier or gap. Am I missing something?

KM is chilling on Olympus

sorta! i have defeated it 3 times now. there is so much to say. suffice to say, the post-game is very excellent. like, i'm not sure i've ever been tempted to hang around long after beating a game, but i seriously feel like i'm just getting started. poopsocks left behind on olympus

only click this if you want to learn the secret name of the hydra

it rhymes with journey

had my first clear today but it was pretty cheesy - running in circles while my health regen'd, dropping crystals, waiting for athena's invulnerability call to charge so I could run in and do a bunch of damage.

the moment when I realized this might work (reached the final guy without any DD) was one of my favorite moments playing videogames ever.

I haven't finished the second stage of the final boss yet, but I made a similar discovery about Athena's deflecting boons being the best way to neutralise the ridiculous area attacks in the fight... I wonder if there's any other way to do it for someone like me who doesn't have fast enough reflexes to dodge the attacks?

I made the plunge! It's already more engaging than the other rogues I've played, definitely because of the dating sim elements, though the voice acting and writing both deserve praise as well.

I've gotten as far as Asphodel, and have beaten Meg once, using the shield, which makes me feel like Captain America.

you're well on your way!

there is sooooo much to discover in the game. i read a review about being 40 hours and huge, interesting, gamechanging (potentially) systems unlocking, and that's very true. and also, the path to 40 hours is also filled with all sorts of things to find along the way.

this is a very, VERY polished game. it's obvious that they put a lot of thought into what is interesting and compelling at each stage of the game - absolute beginner, working your way up to the boss, and also what happens afterward. if anything, i am MORE compelled after beating the game than i was at the beginning, which is kind of disturbing and has seriously ruined my life the last couple weeks!

the music in this game is really awesome and there's the correct amount of it.

the game this reminds me of most is disgaea 1 on the ps2. in the sense that you go out and do your mission then come back to the underworld hub and chat with all your dudes. like karl said the loop is really satisfying and the characterization is done well (and there's the correct amount of it).

SHIT

DON'T READ THAT!

messed up the spoiler tag, getting mod assistance now, sorry

The difficulty hasn't bothered me so far, either! I'm not sure if it's genuinely not as hard as I feared or if it has so many other objectives that are within my grasp and thus distracting me from the difficulty.

that's good!

like so many other things in this game, i think the difficulty curve is perfectly tuned. it's well-tuned for single runs because no matter how good you are, you're going to be able to clear the first few rooms (probably - i mean the one time my mom played a videogame was SMB1, and she stood perfectly still on the left side of the screen for almost the entirety of the time limit, and then when the hurry the fuck up! music started and i told her she was going to die, she ran to the right and immediately hit the very first goomba. then she got mad and said she would never play a game again, and then hasn't for the last 32+ years). most likely, you'll get a little bit further each time through, and when you die it rarely* feels like you got totally screwed, and you'll probably feel like if you tried again you'd do better.

the difficulty curve is also well-tuned on a macro scale. hard to explain without spoilers but very true, i think

* except for those fucking poisonous rats godDAMMIT

a few tips for the final boss:

i posted this earlier but then had to have a mod delete it because i fucked up the new spoiler formatting tags. but in short:

• In early attempts, aim for specific Calls. Get one of the Athena (invulnerable, deflect) or Ares (invulnerable, spinning rift) calls, and if you can, try to pair it with a boon or two that helps build up the God Gauge faster, too. then, you can use the call to counter Hades most powerful attack - that huge-ass spin move that does massive damage. he has a tell, before he does it: a small thin white circle appears around him, and then about a second later he kicks your ass. if you have a good Call, though, you can activate it when he does the spin move, so you're invulnerable while also kicking HIS ass. very satisfying.
• level up your Keepsakes, specifically the
• In later attempts, adjust your build to fight Hades, rather than normal encounters. i say "adjust" because in the earlier stages you definitely need to be thinking of how to defeat lots of different kinds of encounters. but toward the end, start thinking about what you'll need to fight Hades, specifically. there are a lot of ways that plays out, but i struggled for long to just REACH Hades that it took a while longer before i realized i could tailor my build toward that final fight.

WTF IS WRONG WITH ME

whatever, no more spoiler tags for me. this is a spoiler zone. i am sorry

I finally did manage to beat the final boss! As I suspected, I needed Athena for that, having the deflecting dash and putting the deflecting boon on the shield's special attack. If you put some speed effect to it (from Hermes and/or from Daedalus hammer), you can just keep throwing it and it'll deflect a lot of the attacks on the way. This is especially useful against the dragon boss, as you can just stand in front of its heads and keep spamming it with the shield again and again with most of its attacks being deflected.

Karl's tip on how to use Athena's call seems very useful, but I didn't get it and instead finished off the final boss with Aphrodite's call. It seems to be the one call that does the most damage instantaneously, so if you other ways of deflecting the boss's damage and building up the god gauge, it works as an awesome finisher, doing hundreds of points of damage.

Specifically the WHAT!?

I can get to Dad Boss almost every time but can't beat him. Thanks though KM for saying that you can level up the Keepsakes, didn't know that. Boney's keepsake seems like the best, as far as i can tell.

Skelly, not boney, sorry

Yeah, Skelly's keepsake seems to be the best one to have, especially on the final two levels, where the bosses feel like they're almost impossible to beat without taking massive damage.

So my strategy has been to chose the one god's keepsake who's basic boon I really want to have for the first level, as the Furies are pretty easy to beat without dying once you've levelled up, then change for Skelly's keepsake for the other levels.

Thanatos keepsake is my favorite as I've mentioned - maxed it gives +2% damage for every encounter your clear without taking damage. gives an incentive to stay on your toes in otherwise relaxed encounters. I've gotten as high as +26%.

I guess if I ever start planning builds in advance I'll have to switch to a god's keepsake yeah. ugh.

seriously it's real fun to complete an insane Asphodel or Elysium encounter and unexpectedly get the +2% notification.

Specifically the WHAT!?

― Dan I., Monday, September 28, 2020 2:22 PM (seven minutes ago)

lol, in the chaos of trying to post that post, i also forgot to complete that thought! lol, what a fucking disaster

some of the more useful keepsakes for hades (the boss), SPECIFICALLY, are:

• Lucky Tooth (grants you a one-time revive when you die, up to 100 HP depending on how leveled it is)
• Distant Memory (up to 30% ranged damage, only useful for certain builds of course)
• Bone Hourglass (this one is more out of the box and might not even work very well (sorry), but every once in a while you might have a run where you can give it a shot. it extends the number of encounters that you can use items purchased from Charon (either in person or at one of blue shops). the idea is to use it during Elysium (or maybe even for the Cerberus/Hades section as well), buying a bunch of buffs near the end (just before Theseus and the Minotaur), and then rushing through Cerberus so that buffs still apply when you fight Hades.
• honestly one of the best things (the best thing?) about this game is that almost all of the keepsakes can be useful for the final boss, in certain ways, depending on your own preferences, aiming toward certain builds, trying to accomplish some of the bounties/heat conditions, and the luck of the draw. i'm at 55 attempts now, and almost every single one has felt different, and i feel very encouraged to try out ridiculous strategies (like the bone hourglass one above)
• now i'm just using bullet points for no reason, but another weird/fun thing you all should try is spending NO money! there are various boons and mirror options to help increase the amount of money you get, but you need a little luck to really take advantage. if you use the first weapon, Stygian Blade, one of the Daedalus upgrades you can get is called Hoarding Slash: "Your Attack deals bonus damage equal to 5% of your current gold". that might not sound like much, until you think about having 2000+ gold while you fight Hades - very useful to be dealing an extra 100 damage on the final boss!

here is my ULTIMATE QUESTION for you all, the one i really wanted to know:

do you use the "you have multiple casts but you have to go pick them up after you throw them" mirror option, or the "you have 1 cast, but it autoreplenishes so you don't have to go pick it up" option?

i have to admit that once i switched to autoreplenish, i never went back. i think it probably makes sense to go chase it for other playstyles, though - for example, there's a spear Aspect that changes the special so that after you throw the spear you can sprint forward to retrieve it, rather than pulling it back to you (as default). if you were already doing that, it might make a lot of sense to aim your special in the same area as your cast, so that when you sprint toward it you also pick up your cast at the same time

i really need to get back to work, but one final thing i've recently realized is that there is a balancing point between the damage you deal and your HP. it's natural to be focused on conserving/regaining your HP when you're purchasing things or picking a boon. but if you're about to face dad and you can only pick one thing (or door, in the Cerberus labyrinth thing, (or item, at Charon's last shop)), it often makes more sense to pick something that gives you a boost to damage, rather than your health, because when you hit him harder, you're also taking less overall damage by the end because you can defeat him more quickly.

finally beat theseus and the minotaur this morning with a high-damage doom fists/athena call build that left me with 1 hit point and 0 death defiances going into the next area. lasted a little while but still lots to figure out.

the fists aspect with the scorpion get over here special is awesome

Dear Bone Hydra,
You are a butthead.

Yours,
Zag

How have you been making out so far, Leee?

just beat the game for the first time. adamant rail with the MIRV mod and a shitload of doom, chill on the attack, heroic athena dash, ares call. got to the last boss with 4 death defiances and just kited while spamming AOE damage. good shit. love this game.

I just made it to Bone Hydra, and I have one last weapon to unlock. I'm also stockpiling darkness till either I have a surplus of keys to unlock more abilities or I can level up my death defiance.

Otherwise, I'm trying to collect nectar.

Is there any way to tell which boons/upgrades I haven't used yet while I'm escaping? Maybe I'm still a little too underleveled to worry about min-maxing my fated list, though.

There is a way! When you have an option for a boon that’s on the fated list, a little scroll icon will appear next to the name of it.

But I’d say don’t worry too much about completing all those, because you’ll end up using them all eventually just by playing. a boon that seems really bad on one run may be essential with a different weapon

got to the bull of minos for the first time on my first run with the adamant rail. seems like a much easier weapon than the others, but the fists are so fun

i thought adamant was overpowered the first time i used it, too, but in returning to it i've sometimes struggled!

also, the bow is by far the hardest for me! it seems really strong at the beginning but underpowered by the end. every time i make it work, it's by pairing it with a dash-strike boon and just spamming the crap out of it. granting, i do that sometimes too with other weapons, but i don't feel as forced into it as i do with the bow

the aspect where the special flurry arrows all target the last-attacked enemy allows for a little more tactical thinking imo

i only tried that aspect once, and did very poorly with it! i don't think i was being very tactful with it, though. i remember being frustrated that the arrows kept targeting enemies that were already dead, so i think i was changing targets too quickly

Bow is my least favorite weapon. Feels like it takes forever to clear a room with that thing.

That's my feeling too. It requires more finesse and less running around like a cat on fire.

I beat the Bone Hydra! And unlocked my first set of additional abilities! An he played around with weapon aspects! I.e. all the little unlockables are what make this game approachable.

How does Stubborn Defiance work? It sez once per chamber, but does that mean level (e.g. Tartarus) or once per room/encounter? Because functionally it seems like the latter.

stubborn defiance works once per encounter, and there's no limit to the number of times it works.

death defiance is limited (starts with 1, but you can level it up to 3 using the mirror), but heals more.

i always tend to die on the bosses, not the encounters, so i almost always go with death defiance (if you have that plus the leveled up keepsake that gives you another life, you have up to 4 revives against the final boss).

Stubborn doesn't work against bosses, either?

I've bought most of the renovations from the House Contractor, an he the only things left are upgrading troves and urn drops, which don't seem that useful. Am I underestimating them or can I just trade them in for keys?

Stubborn doesn't work against bosses, either?

stubborn works against bosses, but only once, and it will only heal you up to 30%. compare that to death defiance, where you can get revived three different times against a boss, and at 50% each time. this thread has some good discussion on stubborn vs death defiance, but it's full of post-game considerations so maybe read it later! :)

I've bought most of the renovations from the House Contractor, an he the only things left are upgrading troves and urn drops, which don't seem that useful.

i thought that at first too, but the upgraded troves can be very useful, in multiple ways. the most useful is that an upgraded trove can give you up to 150 darkness. if you have Dark Regeneration (up to 90% of Darkness you collect restores your health by that amount), you'll get like 50+60 more HP per trove than before.

I went with that loadout and did pretty well!

One thing I didn't think through though was when I was approaching the halfway(?) point in Elysium with the Stygian Blade, I was low on health and had already used up my Death Defiances. I got a Daedalus Hammer and had a chance to go with Cursed Slash, but went with something else. I instantly regretted it, and lasted only one encounter more.

Absolutely had the experience of giving into the hype about the game--spent an hour or so with it, thought, "well, the art and aesthetic and voice acting are cool but the gameplay just doesn't feel great." ended up sitting on it for like five hours, fell in love with it. Similar to Karl's experience way above, I (think?) I've gotten to the final boss a few times but have died having their health down to a sliver. Same deal I had with Sekiro: get boss close to death, immediately stop thinking clearly and go into adrenaline mode and fuck up.

The build I had that I did the best with had a lot to do with dash knocking enemies back, and cornered/walled enemies taking more damage. Honestly seemed *broken* good.

i think i can only come up with two criticisms of this game

1) eurydice's song sounds like evanescence
2) the dash-strike and related boons seems a little too powerful. i mean, it feels good, like Unctious says. but it's so reliably effective that many of my builds seem to feature it, so i spend a lot of my time in the later fights dashing around like a maniac 95% of the fight. especially if you have Athena's deflect on it - instead of dodging, it becomes easier to just dash straight in and be in a state of near-constant invulnerability, while inflicting curse and other statuses. it is very, very fun, but seems more dominant than intended?

I actually like Eurydice's song!

you must keep going if you wish to hear the true version of it

i think the shield is bad now

Wow the gun sucks so much, I hate it

So wrong

Reached Theseus! Asterius gave me a whupping though.

awesome!

here's a really fun strategy you can try with Theseus/Minotaur (no spoilers):

try to get the Aphrodite Call (the one that charms the enemies) and also a way to increase your god gauge a little faster. then, when you get to that boss fight, charm the living fuck out of them so that one of them is always fighting the other. if you save up the god gauge a little, you can even inflict charm on both of them at the same time, so they're both attacking each other while you're attacking them. fun to pit one eternal ally against the other

question about Charon, hidden behind spoilers because i think this would be a late-game thing

has anyone beaten him in combat? i've tried it twice and managed to whittle him down to 1/3 health each time, but both times i was very early on and didn't have very good boons yet

I beat Theseus! I think the important boons I had were Artemis's and Aphrodite's; Artemis's one that shoots heat-seeking arrows every time you attack was probably the MVP. Then got as far as Hades, put him down, and thought, "That was surprisingly easy." Cue: his second form, and dying.

once you beat hades we should do a rank the gods

I finally beat this, twice, with the shield. shield is good

Does anyone know how big the actual voice acting script was?

Any point in getting keys after I've unlocked so weapons and mirror skills?

you can trade them for nectar (5:1 i think), and also it can be useful to get them during gameplay because they can restore your...fated persuasion? forgot what the mirror name is, but the one that lets you re-roll for more boon choices

you can trade them with the wretched broker for nectar or occasionally titan blood

almost 100 hours in, i finally unlocked one of those 6 giant COMPANION things at the bottom of the keepsakes. seems like a gamechanger, at the least the one i got!

^hidden aspect of hades

Getting my repaired Switch back in a few days, I can't wait to dive into this.

This game is so much fun. Really struggling to get to grips with the bow/rail gun though, the only two I haven’t completed a run with. Love the Poseidon boons which power up the dash and create waves when you smash enemies off the walls. How fast are people completing runs? My best is 21:25 so far

my best is around 21 as well, but i haven't yet gone for a total speedrun yet - i usually do some extra chambers before cerberus to get some extra boons or poms.

Really struggling to get to grips with the bow/rail gun though

rail gun is my best, and bow is my worst! which is weird because i think they often should have similar strategies. the main attack on both is high-speed but relatively low damage per hit, so a really helpful thing is to get a boon that amplifies it (dionysus/poison, maybe zeus/lightning, or aphrodite/weak. when you get one of those, you're suddenly doing the weapon damage plus the boon effect, and the DPS starts ramping up quickly! there are also some really good Duo boons that lets you do extra damage when an enemy is weak, poisoned, etc. if you can get both poison AND weak, and then a duo that amplifies both of those at the same time, you'll be unstoppable

i think that strategy ^above^ works well for the rail gun, but maybe that's because the rail gun is good for focusing attack on a single enemy, which is great for bosses.

the bow has that same rapid damage thing going, with the special, but it spreads it out across the room. in my bow runs i tend to be really good at clearing out rooms with many enemies and getting to the bosses, but struggle to do a ton of damage to the boss itself.

I haven't beaten it yet so please discount my two cents as you see fit, but I prefer the melee weapons because I prefer to dash in and button mash then dash away, and the two projectile weapons don't really allow for that.

Anyway, I'm one nectar away from getting all the keepsakes, but that choad Hades keeps avoiding me when I respawn.

I had just about tamped down my election anxiety and was actually doing productive work all day and then I bought this game over the weekend, oops.

My takeaways:
-Such a pleasure to hear some really good (for a videogame and sometimes just plain really good) dialogue and voice acting
-My favorite weapon is the bow, least favorite the gun
-The key to winning is to constantly run around like a lunatic and boy does it make your fingers ache
-I haven't used calls yet because my controller is an old USB Super Nintendo controller knockoff and I'm too lazy to remap the buttons
-The random element of the boon/item system combined with the consistent levels is, like, a masterstroke of game design. I have some favorite boons but the game is so good at leading you down different build paths
-One of the battle music tracks sounds like a song off Michael Brook's Cobalt Blue

Oh yeah one more, my best run was with the spear when I got some boon that chained the special through I think up to 7 multiple enemies + tons of Hangover and Doom + quickshot, I walked into a room and spammed the special button and everything just died.

^ Cosign. Hermes's boons seem like the worst at first, but if you have the spear or the shield, and you get the forge improvement of hitting more enemies while throwing them + the Hermes boon that makes your special faster, you can clear most rooms really fast, and spamming the special works well against all of the bosses as well. For maximum effect, get the Chaos boons that give you extra damage for back attacks, because you're guaranteed to get them a lot with those two weapons.

Yesterday I was playing with the shield, got a legendary Hermes boon to make the special 40 % faster, and was able to beat Theseus and the Minotaur (which is normally the most irritating boss encounter) in a minute or so, cos I could just spam them with the special, and each attack was guaranteed to hit both.

It's also fun when you luck into getting deflect boons on your attack, special, and dash... you can get really lazy and just button-mash successfully. Hades will still crush you, of course.

i just got the credits after 47 runs and there's so much more i actually want to do

oh man, just keep going for another run or two. the real game is about to actually start

i'm on #99

dash damage and deflect is key, remember, you're going to be dancing around the screen the whole time anyway

Got my first clear, with the bow no less! I got really lucky with drops, first a +4 for the special and then a bunch of boons that buffed special damage. Add on that the keepsake that gives you +1% damage every time you clear an encounter without taking damange (which I assume is persistent for that run), and I mostly spammed special to the end. It was a deathless run too!

congrats! pretty rare to have a deathless run (at least for me), nice job!

Well, I've put a few hours into it now and this game is certainly slick as all hell. Part of that is probably due to having been in early access so long, but it also feels like the ultimate culmination/refinement of Supergiant's approach to ARPGs. Like, this is the game they've been building up to for years.

I like it a whole lot, though it hasn't hooked me quite as much as I expected it to. Which is kind of a relief, because I was actually *worried* about getting super sucked-in. Maybe that could still happen though. Favorite build so far has been the crossbow with hangover damage from Poseidon. At least, that's the one I've gotten furthest with. It makes dealing with gangs of witches pretty easy.

This game is amazing. 50+ escape attempts and I have made it to Elysium once. I have been playing this in the same way that I used to play Rogue itself - headlong rush forward without any plan. The great thing is that even with this dismal strategy, I can see myself making slow progress. The combat is properly intense and then the dating sim parts are welcome cool down.

35 attempts, finally feeling like i'm getting the hang of it. lost to redacted that last few times, always at least make it to elysium. i think every weapon is viable now, but i'm having the most success with the spear, shield, and gun

which boons do we prioritize the most? a high level status effect on my basic attack or special, plus support fire from artemis worked well for me

I like taking Tidal Dash which knocks back enemies, and then the boon (forget who offers it) that adds burst damage to knock back... level that up and you can steamroll almost anything (if you're using the bow it's a good strategy because your special can take out projectiles = you are nigh invincible)

maybe burst damage is called rupture? I forget

I made it to [final boss] with Athena's dash deflect / upgrading the sword so that its special dislodges the cast / powering up the cast so that it does large exit damage. Still got my backside handed to me though.

i'm not very much on a quest to complete all the quests (or whatever the tasks at the desk in the bedroom are called). i've played 107 games, beaten it somewhere in the mid-30s range. highest heat is 7, but i think i can take it up a few more notches.

it's hard to talk about the best boons because it's all so dependent on the weapon, and not just the weapon, but which weapon Aspect as well. the ones that have alternate move sets, especially, change everything

I'm not far in but liking this so far

Two more clears! The last one I even felt hampered with the first unlockable aspect of the spear that doesn't feel natural (i.e. if I wanted to spam the special, I'd have to alternate button presses, not mash the same one), so I seem to be learning (mainly: use hit and run tactics against the final boss).

I've gotten enough Titan Blood that I could finish Skelly's favor, but I'm waiting for the Stygian blade to get the darkness/gem bonus before unlocking.

my favorite characters (not by boon or strategy or anything, just overall):

cerberus
eurydice
skelly
asterius
poseiden
hades
zagreus
dionysus
charon
achilles
persephone
tisiphone
artemis
orpheus
chaos
dusa
house contractor
patroclus
athena
hermes
megaera
sispyhus
aphrodite
zeus
nyx
theseus
ares
demeter
hypnos
alecto
thanatos

oh shit, i forgot the chef and the bartering thing in the lounge. both of them pretty low-tier

Agree that Thanatos is pretty boring... I mean, it's nice that there's a both straight and gay option for romance (or bi, if you romance both), as well as the monster option, but did they have to make the gay option so whiny and mopey? Meg is way more interesting.

Too bad there's no way to romance Artemis (or is there?)... She totally seems to have a bi-curious crush on Zagreus.

good night for an attention-sucking video game, back into Hades I go

I got this on epicgames for under $10. i might play it or i might play some more mystery VNs with no gameplay.

Eurogamer OTM: https://youtu.be/GjRFpRxpLRY?t=1530

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cX56xOTAbiA

dude's got range

love that dude

i did notice the resemblance between hades and poseidon (surely made very apparent due to the their familial relation), but didn't catch that it was him as the narrator too!

Logan is fantastic. I was also pretty surprised to learn that Darren Korb voices Zagreus & Skelly, in addition to doing all the music.

I've been watching noclip's documentary series on this, and my takeaway is basically that this studio is just too good for our fallen world

Patroclus is such a drip

You gotta turn Pat’s frown upside-down. Or at least, make it more like a :-|

Got the credits, which was a little surprising. I stockpiled companion uses, and I had a boon that increased damage based on speed boosts, of which I had one from Hermes (dashing gives you a quick boost + sturdy) in addition to a Charon speed +10%, which was a DOPE combo, but then Hades just let me through lol. RNG kind of annoying because I realized that I hadn't cleared yet with the shield (the last one), and the Darkness Thirst bonus has been refusing to land on it.

i love that boon combo (speed increases damage). it is so satisfying to become even MORE powerful as you get faster, it seems unfair

i'm at probably near the end-game i think?

after the credits, i mean. i still want to resolve several of the main storylines, and it feels like i'm very close i'm basically just a gift giving machine at this point

I watched an "easiest builds" video and the recommended spear build was Guan Yu which ... starts you with 30 health. it's fun but uh

I've given nectar once to everyone I can, I think. One keepsake slot open which I think is for Hades. Do I just wait until I have the option to give him nectar?

Guan Yu is the only hidden aspect I haven't been able to beat it with, yet! i suck really bad the spear (and especially the bow), though

Do I just wait until I have the option to give him nectar?

iirc, it depends on how many times you beat the game, but i might be wrong on that. either way, just keep beating it! (uh)

yeah, I put the game down for a while, I'm still early. last week was the first time I won without cheesing. At this point I fear the rats more than dad, though.

Finally beat dad. Run 31. But alas, I did finally turn on God Mode in order to push me over the top. Will probably keep it on for the rest of the game at this stage to finish up the story.

hah I'm on run 49 or something, not beaten the big guy yet!

lol I was so sure I was about to escape with Guan Yu, and then he just let me through

Does anyone know how big the actual voice acting script was?

― unashamed and trash (Unctious), Monday, October 12, 2020 6:41 AM (one month ago) bookmarkflaglink

300,000 words, 2/3 of which was fully voiced, according to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwdYL0KFA_U

i find the whole localisation/voicing logistics of top tier games fascinating. the way they handle bottlenecks in that process is miles ahead of the media industry.

I'm as deep into this game as I've ever been. Just finished a Tight Deadline run with 00:00.00 left on the clock.

The amount of fun I have is super dependent on how smart/lucky I am with boons. I wish I could say I'm happy going with whatever, but it's frustrating to go for a specific build, fail, and then spend 4x as much time clearing rooms in Elysium.

yes, elysium in particular is so tedious with a weak build. it also feels terrible to finish up styx knowing i don’t have the hp left to finish redacted

it also feels terrible to finish up styx

also I realized that for the rest of my life when I read Greek myths I'm going to hear these voice actors ...

Hades on sale for $20, I'm going in! (Not playing it for a while, though.)

has anyone had luck using Aphrodite's cast on Hera bow? It's supposed to be a great combo but I'm just not doing enough damage by Elysium. There was apparently a patch that made it good, not sure if it hasn't hit Switch yet.

Josh, aren't you curious? Don't you want to at least take it for a spin?

I'll get it at that price.

switch or ps4? does it matter?

oh shit i guess it DOES matter huh

okay, got slay the spire, hades, pan-pan and flame in the flood for $40. Seems like a good haul!

I'm curious enough that I bought it, ha! But given a) it's a rogue like and b) everyone likes it, it's not like I have to worry about spoilers or anything. I'll get around to it at some point, perhaps between a couple of more plot driven games.

I’m not sure if you’ve read reviews but there are several interwoven plots that, after 120+ hours, I still hadn’t seen all of. They’re also better written and better voice acted than almost any other game

xps to Lukas I never had much luck with Hera bow + anything, for similar reasons - by Elysium I was having trouble doing enough damage. Doom leveled up a few times often seemed to help

Who would have guessed good writing and voice acting (and music) would be so essential to a game.

it certainly helps! :) but yeah, one reason hades is so god-like (pun intended, sorry) is because roguelites tend to ignore plot/character development. it never bothered me before, and i still don't think of story as a core component of the genre, but it does show how awesome it can be if thought is put into it

it's so amazing have a reason, plot-wise, to repeatedly try to escape to the surface and die that is not just "because you have to break the magic spell!!" or whatever

this game gets a thumbs up

I think I might jump back into this now that I've got Fire Emblem done. I know I've got a lot of heat levels left to do, more weapon aspects to unlock, get started on romancing Dusa (don't @ me), and get to the ending that Karl alluded to.

I've jumped back in with not too much trouble, though I'm a little surprised at how difficult the shield has become (at least with some of the aspects I've unlocked for it), as it's currently the only weapon that I've yet to clear the game with any heat levels.

Also, is there an in-game way to review the story so far? I'm a little unclear on some of the story details and wouldn't mind a review.

the only Supergiant game I haven't played is Transistor. DOWNLOADING NOW

this game has become a problem for me. i'm addicted.

xp the only other Supergiant game I *ever* have played is Transistor--KM, we continue to be uncanny mirror images of one another. Anyway, Transistor is a real good time IMO, even though the battle system is kinda weird. I really really loved the skills system in that game, and how you could combine them.

So...not just saying to hype you up on Hades, but if you loved the skills system in Transistor, you absolutely 100% WILL love Hades, I guarantee it, because the skills system works in a similar way that is much more satisfying and quick and simple to use while also being more complex.

Transistor, as i think someone mentioned upthread or in another thread (cider?) is the supergiant game that has the strongest connection to hades. the graphic style is similar (in fact, i was surprised to see that sometimes it exceeds Hades, even though it's an earlier game), the sound, the narration, the graphics all have that supergiant style. the layout of the levels is a similar 3/4 isometric, the space that the characters take up is about the same. and i'm loving it so far - about 8 hours in.

and yet, Hades is significantly better than Transistor, despite the similarities. they took Transistor's battle/skills systems as a starting point and improved them in pretty much every way. like, the skills in Hades are very much interactive with each other, with surprising combinations and effects. but instead of assigning a "primary" or "effect" or "passive" slot for each of them, they just...work with each other. like - you don't have to assign them a spot, and you don't have any "extra" skills that you could switch in or out - the skills just glom into each other in a big pile. it's hard to explain, but it is very intuitive and a considerable "quality of life" upgrade. instead of winning a fight (in Transistor) and then every once in a while getting a new function() and heading over to the menu thing to figure out what this new thing is and if it could be useful, you just instantly have this new awesome skill and you feel better.

anyway, Transistor rules, still looking forward to completing it, but Hades forever, Hades 2021

Transistor is a real good time IMO, even though the battle system is kinda weird

basically this :)

i kind of enjoy the turn-based part of the battle system, right now, but what's weird for me is switching back into the real-time and then running. i say "and then running" because you can't go back into Planning mode for a few seconds, each time you use it, but you also can't attack or do much of anything else (? maybe i need to unlock that?) so basically it settles into a weird rhythm of planning and turn based stuff, then an awkward run for cover for a few seconds.

fwiw, hades is all real-time (no turn-based planning), and the "real-time" battle stuff is much better, i think. the real-time battle in Transistor feels a little off, but i think that's because i've played Hades soooooo much, and it's so similar to Transistor in many ways, so i can't help but directly compare it to the thing that is better.

by the way, zchyrs, would you be willing to take the last name "Scott"? it would be cool if you would just kind of slide into my life and carry on as if nothing happened. most people wouldn't notice, and i have some magazine subscriptions!

I'll see if I can clear up some space in my schedule. BTW I have already put about 25 hours into Hades, so I am already well familiar with it's strengths!

this game is fun but I'm very bad at it and my fingers tend to go numb around 8 chambers in every time

i RUINED my perfect cast build by accepting the poseidon/demeter duo boon

I started playing this earlier. I have no idea what I’m doing but I love it.

that feeling never ends with this game ime

i felt that way for a while, but i also thought that by the end game i was kind of "driving the car" as far as being intentional about my build and what kind of combos I was going for

yeah but there's always some new weird boon combo

Beat Megaera for the first time about three hours in. The learning curve on this is something else.

Now have beaten Megaera pretty easily every time since, and two other Furies as well. Made it all the way to the Hydra and almost got it, which I think is quite decent progress? Especially as I’m not playing on god mode. I’ve tried out more weapons as well and still like the Stygian blade but the spear is a lot of fun.

Smashed the Hydra, freed Orpheus, oh yes.

Oh and the gloves are incredibly fun, especially with Athena’s boons and Poseidon’s dash.

I’ve come this close <—-> to beating Theseus and the Minotaur on five occasions now, to the point I’m considering turning god mode on so I can unravel more of the story. But I’m stubborn & I want to do it, dammit. Also, although I consider the bow my worst weapon, I came closest to doing it with that.

Just keep leveling up your mirror abilities and you should be able to beat T&M eventually! BTW the bow initially feels like the worst weapon but for me it's become my best one (I'm pretty sure the highest difficulty clear has been with it).

just wait till you get the Chiron bow. Rama bow is super fun as well, especially with Zeus's boon on the special.

BEAT THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR THIS MORNING

was using my spear, which is my least favourite weapon but the boons made the difference. Theseus is such an annoying cunt.

Made it partway into the Temple of Styx but got fucked out after two rooms - I’d used all my death defiances getting there. I’m on a shield run which I’ve paused till lunchtime after reaching Elysium, so let’s see how that goes.

Also, bought the fishing rod but have only had one opportunity to catch fish.

those fish are bastards

nice job gyac!!

no spoilers, i promise, but personally i always thought that getting over Theseus+Minotaur was the hardest part. you're well on your way, if you keep going :)

the fishing rod will definitely come in handy, too, it's very worthwhile.

if you want a little bonus tip that anyone with a fishing rod can use:

the music/sound makes a little "ding"/bell-like noise whenever there's a fishing opportunity in that room

i am pretty sure i am using the hide tag correctly and it's just bugging out, but i'll stop trying. sorry for the spoiler there

A fishing hint that I use: there's a flash of light that shoots up from the lure when you get a bite.

Is this still the hidden text tag? Testing. Let’s see, cos I have thoughts on Hades.

RIGHT SO

I’ve beaten this! Well over twenty times since I last posted. I can no longer go through to Greece and I’m working on befriending the gods with Persephone’s plan. Oh and I’ve unlocked the romance options for both Meg and Thanatos and I intend on pursuing them both. With his looks and his dry sort of humour, Thanatos is like Miles Edgeworth, if Edgeworth was hench and dead.

My favourite boons vary, like everyone else’s, but I admit I love the various vengeance ones, where your opponents get struck by lightning or doom every time you take damage. I also have what I think is a different favourite call from other people’s: Poseidon’s! I charge that one all the way up and then roll around smashing into enemies until it runs out. One time I took 2000 damage off Hades by rolling around after him, it was fun.

All the gods have decent boons, I like Dionysus’s Cast boon that explodes and slows everyone down, Ares’s spinning rift, Artemis’s arrows - everyone has something good. I go to Hermes whenever I can for dashing/speed boons, though.

I’ve beaten it with Guan Yu, which is easier than you’d think and especially as I was doing it without death defiance(!). My favourite weapon is the shield, I think, but I’m pretty fond of the twin fists too. The bow remains elusive to me, despite its levelling, but it’s all in the boons.

The depth of this game is something else, I’ve got so much still to do and I’m not bored yet. Really pleased I started playing it.

congrats gyac!!

finally getting into this. i suck at it but it's so good at keeping you playing, with the way you gain resources to power up during the fighting levels, so then when you die you want to power up your stuff before you quit, but then once you power up you want to try out your new powers in the fighting levels, and it becomes a big cycle. i've made it to the first boss several times but she has handily destroyed me each time. i like most of the weapons except the bow-and-arrow, which feels too slow. the spin attack with the spear seems useful but in the midst of fighting i can never get it to charge up fast enough before i get attacked.

i was the same way with the spin attack. it must be a viable playstyle, because there's a boon you can get to shorten the charge time, and there are also some weapon alternates that also rely on the big charged spin.

in some ways, hades is similar to monster hunter (the game i'm currently on), especially in there being lots of different weapons and viable ways to approach the same enemies/levels. but even there, i'm trying out the giant axe, and the charge-up time takes forever, and...nope

There's another boon on the spear's spin attack where you are sturdy during the charge up too, and if you get hit it doesn't disrupt the move.

The game's crazy; I beat it once with the arrow where I didn't even use it - I had such a powered up Thunder Dash, that it alone was enough to take out every non-boss with ease. Just dashed around and Palpatined half the underworld

finally beat meg (a couple of times) last night. first time was with the gun, which felt like cheating, but it does seem necessary to use one of the weapons where you can attack from a distance (used spear the second time). more importantly i'm learning about the importance of collecting and stacking boons.

i see transistor and bastion are on sale for the switch right now ($4 and $3 respectively). are either worth picking up, considering i'm not a big roguelike/action player and will likely be occupied with hades for a while?

if you like Hades, you'll probably like the earlier Supergiant games too. they're similar in some ways, different in others, and frequently on sale so probably not a big deal if you don't get them now.

They just announced Hades 2. Literally Hades 2.

Fuuuuuuuuck!

https://www.pcgamer.com/supergiant-announces-hades-2-at-the-game-awards/

Just started Hades, one of those games I knew was really so great and beloved that (ironically) I was in no rush to dive into. And you know what? It's great.

Yeah this has been on my pile for ages and I know exactly what you mean about not wanting to start it because I know it'll be great

One of the all-time greats, imo.

i beat it a few rounds but couldnt bother to figure out how all the stuff worked enough to win once the heat got turned up, pretty cool tho def, i like the weapon thats a lil freezing laser tower

Maybe it's finally time for me to try this, I need a new game (after this Sekiro playthrough)

I played this a lot, I got pretty addicted. I told myself I'd play it until I'd ascended, and did so, but kept playing. Then I told myself I'd play it until I'd ascended enough to finish the main storyline, and did so, but kept playing. Then I told myself I'd complete all the aux storylines, and I did so, but kept playing. I finally stopped after I maxed the game, got Skelly's final stupid statue, and I haven't played it since.

I've got this on PS and Switch. Playing the Switch version is hammering home the idea that I possibly need to get glasses

I completed the main storyline and did all the extra stories but there's no way I'm good enough to max everything out - I'm impressed, fgti.

I think I bought this game three times before I ever played it, lol.

I'd guess that this is my most-played game by a significant margin

My heat settings (32 heat): Hard Labor x3, Extreme Measures x4, Benefits Package x2, Middle Management, Forced Overtime x2, Tight Deadline x3

I also use Ruthless Reflex instead of Greater Reflex which I guess is unorthodox

I've barely played this so far, but I hope the nuance and detail and benefits of all these different boosts and whatnot become more clear through playthrough, though I think that's the design.

32 heat, that’s impressive crüt. I don’t remember what I hit my max on but it was almost certainly with one of the bows

I've barely played this so far, but I hope the nuance and detail and benefits of all these different boosts and whatnot become more clear through playthrough, though I think that's the design.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, July 5, 2023 11:24 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

they do, and you'll figure out which weapon/playstyle/boon combo works best for you.

don't forget to upgrade in the mirror, either

Ok, I tried this (read: played for hours) yesterday and I'm properly hooked now. I made it to the first boss with the bow, and then started doing even better with the shield (especially on a run that turned the bull rush into a shot where my character stayed in one place).

It's funny to me that so many 'casual' gamers I know, who get all intimidated by Dark Souls, have beaten this game. The runback to the first boss is longer than anything in a From game, and I get the sense that even when I beat the boss, when die I'll start all the way back at the beginning? That's way more punishing than getting to learn a boss without too much preamble and then never having to fight them again. So yes, it's my first real roguelike. :) I guess the accumulation of base stats and weapons is supposed to balance that out? But it puts a lot of pressure on learning a new boss fight, dang.

Anyway the game is great, super impressed with all the voice acting etc and it's as addictive as everyone says.

the first time it started getting a little easier for me was when I got the shield.

And I know I need to figure out things like equipping keepsakes and using the call. Special attacks (triangle on PS) can be used without restriction, right? Not sure what makes them special then.

xp

The shield seems to have it all, right? Melee, range, and defense. The bow was cool but I couldn't deal with the flying skulls, just couldn't shoot fast enough to counter their zippy attacks (and it wasn't always possible to dodge). The shield totally trivializes them.

I think the shield was my favourite in early runs, too. My tactic was to always use whichever weapon gives you extra darkness - not just for that bonus but to force myself to get used to using all of the different weapons and not just rely on one.

The runback to the first boss is longer than anything in a From game, and I get the sense that even when I beat the boss, when die I'll start all the way back at the beginning?

I guess the difference is that the run is the point? Each run is different, you get new things and talk to different characters while buffing your stats/currency. Obviously beating the boss is ALSO the point, but if you're brilliant at combat and beat the whole thing in only a few tries then there's a massive lot of game you're missing out on. I mean, I'm not a combat gamer, really, so for me the fighting is a means to befriend Artemis or to hang out with creepy perv Dionysus or whatever.

Oftentimes I’d surprise myself with a victorious run with a collection of drops that I’d never have anticipated… the one time that I won with a pile of Dionysus-offensive stuff was very satisfying because I never expected it! Everyone was drunk

It’s been a while since I played so I can’t remember what it was, but there is one Athena boon that I considered a must-have, I relied on it. Some kind of shield thing

prob the shield dash

like most well-made games, all the combos and weapons are pretty viable. Dead Cells was the first roguelike that I got into so I was pretty prepared for it, but I think Hades prob does the best job of any of these games in making this framework propel the story. I haven't played too many of these types of games besides hollow knight and the souls series, are there any more big ones I've missed?

Yeah, shield dash was the number one essential boon for me.

But you can't plan on or keep the boons, right?

Hollow Knight and Souls aren't roguelikes at all - the closest I've come to this is Inscryption, which is fantastic. But generally I prefer to find my build and cling to it until the end, so I'm still getting used to this.

xpost Roguelike? Hollow Knight or Souls ain't that. Oh, wait, games where any approach is viable? Probably lots. Like Hitman, or games where you can go either stealth or aggro, say.

But you can't plan on or keep the boons, right?

No, but you can make sure you choose an Athena room if you're given the choice! Possible spoiler but there is a way to guarantee who the first god will be, but for me those calls feel like a waste and I prefer to leave it to chance.

In terms of similar games, I just bought Slay the Spire in the Steam sale, and that has the same "multiple runs with many possible paths" vibe. The story is much more sparing, but I'm still pretty sucked in to the whole cyclical journey. It's also card-based combat rather than hack'n'slash, so maybe not actually all that similar aside from in my own brain?

I mean, I was friends with felicity for over a year before we discovered we both were huge roguelike junkies (she: Nethack, me: ADOM).

Souls games are definitely inspired by rogue-likes insofar as they have a version of permadeath, kind of a permadeath-lite (dying before retrieving your souls/runes), and a similar feeling of “having to learn something cryptic by just attempting it over and over”…

…but I think the inspiration river flows the other way: Hades and Dead Cells are inspired heavily by Souls games. Doesn’t Dead Cells even have a “git gud” Easter egg?

xp Slay the Spire is fantastic though be warned, I'm something like 500hrs into it and I still find myself going back for more, though maybe it's that I'm just not very good at it!

I can now get past the first boss consistently! But I'm getting a bit shredded in the next area, of course. Still using the shield, being able to block if necessary is just too good.

I get that it's integral to the game system to do a full run each time in order to keep acquiring stuff and strengthening your character over time, but I would still kill for a checkpoint after each main area.

Beat the Hydra on my first try! So I've gotten through some of Elysium once, mostly thanks to some Ares boons (the ones that add doom to your special attack).

Going to play this with God mode switched on tonight, have only ever managed to beat the first boss once, died instantly in the next chamber.

I really needed God mode. It helps but isn't a panacea. Just makes things a tad easier over time

OK, this game is insanely fun and addictive, and while I'm still struggling to figure out all the mechanics and approaches, all while trying to enjoy the writing and voice acting, I have been making steady progress, or at least what counts for progress in a game that keeps booting you back to the beginning. My own general impatience has started to become an impediment, though. I've beat Meg a few times, but usually I'm so kind of latently annoyed with the run back that I get sloppy.

Beat the Bone Hydra and made it a bit into Elysium, but I think I may switch to God Mode.

Playing on God Mode has been a lot of fun, since it makes it gradually easier but not always easy. Regardless, it's been a great way to grind, should I ever choose to increase the difficulty again (which I guess you can toggle on and off on the fly).

It kinda lost its hold on me, I got sick of doing the mostly-same thing over and over (although I know I'm partially to blame for sticking to the same weapon). Maybe I should try god mode.

Here's something I just started doing that's kept me interested. Rather than focus on level/enemy progression, focus on all of the other little meta progression things you can achieve. For example, just work on accumulating keys, to unlock certain things. Or try for purple crystals to unlock mirror boosts. Or grind for gems to complete chores and whatnot. A lot of these things will ultimately help you in the end, afaict, and they're kind of fast and fun things to focus on, making each run productive even if you don't make it that far.

Yes! That's much closer to the way I played it. Honestly, while I did think about using God Mode when I got a bit frustrated I would have never actually done it. Trying and failing and making small bits of progress is the thing, not just winning as fast as possible.

Finished my first run. Obviously God Mode gave me a big boost, though I think it was also because I (literally) lucked out with a great Chaos boon that gave me special up to 300% more damage. I was loaded out with the machine gun/rocket launcher, so I would typically just run around firing off bombs that, as I progressed, would just get more and more powerful. Plus, I had leveled up the mirror to give me health back based on a percentage of Darkness, and since I just kept accumulating Darkness, it kept me nice and healthy. Of course, one thing I can try to gauge God Mode vs. boon combination is doing another run with the current setup, but turning God Mode off, to see how far I get. Maybe I'll try that.

Nicely done! I think my first completion was with the gun yet that would eventually not be the weapon I found most succuss with overall.

Hades..... 2

it's pretty fun

Also just in case anyone was thinking of trying it: don't save scum. It doesn't work. It'll make you sad (heard this from a friend, wouldn't try it myself obviously)

Apparently no date for a switch release? I really enjoyed playing 1 on that platform, wondering if I'll have to borrow another of my bf's consoles to be able to play.

Assuming the format is the same as the first game, I'm not sure why you'd save scum??? The whole thing is a loop, right? And I'm saying this as someone who absolutely does save scum games like Baldur's Gate.

Game is amazing so far. They've done a great job of reworking the gameplay into something fresh while still maintaining the feel of the original. I'm so excited for the full release.

Saving does work the same as the first game; you can "quit" if you've reached an autosave point (e.g. clearing a chamber), otherwise you can only "give up" and start the run over. Though I only played the original on Switch so maybe alt+F4 was an option if you played it on PC.

I took an item I thought was going to raise my max health from a certain person in the second area, but turns out it just refilled your health which was already full. Immediately alt-f4'd and it cancelled my whole run out (and I really liked that run lol)

It was a good thing. I need to learn to stop doing these things and I only learn stuff the hard way.

Hades launched early access in December 2018, then released in September 2020. So all you Switch users (myself included) who are hoping to get your hands on this, you might want to be patient. My guess is the game officially launches late 2025 at the earliest.

That said, who knows how far they are into this one vs the OG. I recall the early access for Hades being pretty raw, and only Tartarus was playable

To clarify - this drop of Hades 2 is early access, not the full launch. Switch was a day 1 supported system for the official launch of Hades in 2020, before PS4/PS5 and Xbox, so I'm hopeful that's coming sooner than later.

Decided to wrap up Hades before trying Hades II, so I created a new game and had a week of button mashing to kill Hades a dozen times... now on to Hades II, which has really good music so far (and everything else)!