Hades. Where repeated deaths are just part of the game....

Burticus

FPS Junkie
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I've been playing a lot of Hades this week. Got it for $10 from Epic (used a $10 coupon). I thought it would be like Diablo... but oh no. A roguelike game that plays like a twin stick shooter (I would skip the keyboard/mouse and go gamepad), where you have to start over every time you die. No saves. No level jumps. And you will die, oh yes, you will die a million times.

It looks great, the dialog (and the voice acting) is fine (it does get a little old after a while), the controls are tight, graphics are good. Environment is appropriately moody. But just when I finally defeated Meg (1st level boss) and got past the first level of hell, I died and had to start over. I am 1/12 in beating Meg, she's tough. (and in the video review, I saw a future level where you have to fight THREE demoness things just like Meg. UGH)

I hate the stupid crystaline entity things that shoot energy beams at you. While that by itself doesn't do a ton of damage, they have nearly infinite range and when they gang up on you, shooting you from across the map... gets real old when you're busy fighting the guys attacking your face.


I feel like it is worth $10. $20... ehhh, maybe, but it is SUPER repetitive. The guy in the review said he "finished" in about 30 turns... I have done 25+ and only progressed past the 1st level once. Then again, I am not a pro gamer / dude who writes reviews for a living.

I wish it had a way to warp/skip past the early levels once you beat them. I feel this is the only real flaw.

4 stars (out of 5) if you can get it on sale for $10ish.
 
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So the game is using difficulty to make it seem like a longer game. The NES was known for this back in the day. Short games, but the difficulty was so hard it would take many, many play throughs before you would beat it.
 
Yep, I wouldn't be able to deal with it. If I had to restart 20+ times from the beginning I'd loose interest in a hurry. :p
 
Game is so good. Got it for the Switch (enjoyed Supergiants' previous games, so figured I'd like this one).

Not sure how many times I've played through it now (it does keep track), but I've beaten the game with almost every weapon and played through heat level 6 using the Aegis shield (which feels overpowered once you realize how powerful its block mechanic is).

I'm still enjoying it, the story is cute and the characters are really well done. The gameplay is tough but fair. You'll get powered up via the Mirror for future runs, but even with the Mirror capped out it's still a challenging game (especially when you start throwing heat levels at it). I'm thinking this will be a game I return to when I just need a quick gameplay fix (my fastest time to complete was just under 30 minutes).

Oh, one of the best parts is the banter Zagreus has with the bosses before they battle.
 
SeymourGore said:
Game is so good. Got it for the Switch (enjoyed Supergiants' previous games, so figured I'd like this one).

Not sure how many times I've played through it now (it does keep track), but I've beaten the game with almost every weapon and played through heat level 6 using the Aegis shield (which feels overpowered once you realize how powerful its block mechanic is).

I'm still enjoying it, the story is cute and the characters are really well done. The gameplay is tough but fair. You'll get powered up via the Mirror for future runs, but even with the Mirror capped out it's still a challenging game (especially when you start throwing heat levels at it). I'm thinking this will be a game I return to when I just need a quick gameplay fix (my fastest time to complete was just under 30 minutes).

Oh, one of the best parts is the banter Zagreus has with the bosses before they battle.
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I agree, Zag's chat's are usually funny. I have now beat Meg 3 more times, but what sucks is by the time I get to her, I am usually on my last "life" so i don't last too long on the lava level.

@SeymourGore - hey since you have beaten the thing... is there really any point in paying the contractors to upgrade the halls, lounge etc? I do pay them sometimes for things that will benefit Zag personally. But gems aren't infinite and I don't care about cosmetics.

And yeah, the shield and the bow are my favorite weps so far. The gauntlets are nice but you take too much damage being up close.
 
Burticus said:
@SeymourGore - hey since you have beaten the thing... is there really any point in paying the contractors to upgrade the halls, lounge etc? I do pay them sometimes for things that will benefit Zag personally. But gems aren't infinite and I don't care about cosmetics.
Click to expand...

Some of the character sidequests require upgrading sections of the Keep, but for the most part it appears cosmetic. Early gameplay just had me worried about collecting the shadow keys/darkness orbs and maxing out the Mirror - not so much about the gems.

Yeah, gauntlets are cool but have such a short range on them. Whenever I use them, I'll try to pair them up with a powerful long range cast (ie: Trippy Lob).

Dusa's keepsake really helped me early on, being able to (usually) get a health chunk out of a pot per encounter went a long way in helping me survive. Now I usually equip a keepsake that's not leveled up yet until the final area, then i'll equip Myrmiddon (sp?) for the final stretch.

Shield is great against Meg and can block most of her attacks. You can use it to block her dash strikes, then bull rush her and score a few hits.
 
LeRoy_Blanchard said:
So I take it you didn't start your gaming hobby until way late in the late 90s, early 00s? lol
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Oh no, I was gaming when Wolfenstein, doom, and quake came out. Maybe I'm just getting too old for having a repetitive play? LOL
 
Brian_B said:
You missed out on the old arcade classics. UUDDLRLRBAS
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Oh no, I just didn't mention them. LOL. I was just merely mentioning the computer games I started playing.

I was playing Pong when it first came out. :p
 
Well, here is one that I had many years ago up until about 04 or so.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Portable_Personal_Computer

Used to play defender and others on it and write DOS games and programs on. One program was a hard drive park program. I truly believe that someone stole that program and used it in hard drives as they started having an automatic park in the firmware.

You had to load the games from a 5 1/4 inch floppy to run.
 
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