Escaping Reality

Exploring the Greek Underworld. 

Stealing a portion of IGN's beginning, the ancient Greek myth of Sisyphus, a not-so poor should condemned to push a massive boulder uphill for eternity, without rest; Allowed to leave once the boulder reaches the top, but would always fall back down, no matter what he tried. Twisting the tale of Sisyphus, what if you battle your way out of the Greek Underworld, fighting hordes of enemies, and gaining boons of the Olympians, and the Cthonic Gods? What about if you forever evolved, and forge relationships with companions you meet along your escape? That, quite frankly, is Supergiant's Hades premise. Summed up in a sentence, a dungeon-crawler, roguelike, sprinkled with Greek mythology. 

Do I See the Gateway to the Overworld?

Unlike most dungeon crawler, and roguelike games which don't really focus on the story, Supergiant has done otherwise. Without looking into it too much, the story of Hades seems rather simple. The game puts you in the shoes of our protagonist, Zagreus, the Son of Hades, trying to escape the Underworld, and reach the overworld, the mortal realm, to meet Persephone, his actual mother (Which you find out through a special event in the game). You're probably going to die quite often in your first few runs. Don't worry, you shouldn't fear death. Rather encourage it. Every time you die, you respawn in the 'Pool of Styx', located in the 'House of Hades', and unlock interactions with various characters in the House, as well as outside. 

The story unfolds as you keep interacting with your main cast of characters, namely, Hades, the God of the Underworld himself, and the Goddess of the Night, Nyx. After a certain point in the game, you figure out Nyx, your "mother", had put up a farce, while your true mother Persephone resides in the overworld. Thereby, changing Zagreus' goal, from simply escaping his father's clutches and exploring the overworld, to residing with Persephone in the overworld. However, after your first successful run and interaction with Persephone, you find out Zagreus' soul is bound to the Underworld, and his body can't tolerate the overworld for long (Note: Probably worth mentioning, the game strays away from aspects of the actual Greek Mythology, not everything in Hades is the same). The more you complete a successful run (beating Hades himself), the more lore you uncover about the story. However, after a certain amount of successful runs (Major Spoiler!), rather than residing in the overworld with Persephone, you bring her back to the House of Hades, unlocking the true ending to the wonderful game. 

The Four Regions, and Interactions. 

In your very first run, you probably won't uncover most of the map. Hades, takes you through four regions of the underworld- Tartarus, where the House of Hades is located, and the first region; Asphodel, the second region; Elysium, the third region; and finally, the Temple of Styx, the fourth and final region (Disregarding the overworld as a region). Tartarus is the lowest region of the Underworld, appearing like your typical dungeon, with pools of blood, not to forget the flowing River Styx. After conquering Tartarus, up comes Asphodel, a beautiful meadow, only to be overflowed by the River Phlegethon, making it a molten wasteland, with rocky islands drifting. Following Asphodel, up comes Elysium, a supposed haven for the dead in actual mythology, but quite the opposite in Hades; Elysium appears to be  a collection of caves, filled to the brim with mossy surfaces and crystals, accompanied by the flowing River Lethe. And of course, the Temple of Styx, a gateway out of the Underworld, the bridge between the Land of the Dead and the mortal realm. 

As you journey through the 4 regions, you encounter various characters. Venturing through Tartarus, you encounter Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone, and Sisyphus; The Bone Hydra, and Eurydice in Asphodel; Asterius, Patroclus, Thanatos, and Theseus in Elysium; and Cerberus, and Hades in the Temple of Styx. Not to forget the Olympian Gods, that offer you their boons. You'll notice you encounter Charon, the ferryman, who will sell you his wares in all the four regions of the underworld, as well as the primordial god Chaos, who will offer you buffs in return for de-buffs for a certain period of time. After encountering Thanatos for the first time in Elysium, he'll appear once a run, challenging you to a battle, by aiding you clear a chamber. Every time you encounter a deity, or character, you'll have option to give them "Nectar", which will build up a friendship meter, and giving you a keepsake in return (a buff), and eventually the nectar of Gods "Ambrosia". With certain characters, after talking to them, giving nectar, building a friendship, and giving them Ambrosia, you'll be able to romance them (Dusa, Megaera, and Thanatos). Something I really enjoy as I play Hades, is the amount of detail the developers have added, doing almost anything will earn you snarky remarks from a nearby character, or just a random line; For example, after beating Megaera with a keepsake, then fighting her without one, you'll hear a dialogue telling you the very thing, it's something very minor, but uplifting to discover.

In the House of Hades, there are quite a few people you'd want to interact with, the Wretched Broker and the House Contractor. As the name implies, the Wretched Broker will trade you certain items, for other items (5 Cthonic Keys for a bottle of Nectar, for example).   The House Contractor, will help you upgrade your runs by providing you with various buffs such as Fountains (Which restore health), Infernal Troves (Essentially Treasure in return for beating enemies), and various other items. Make sure to check out Zagreus' room, containing the "Mirror of Night", which in exchange for darkness (a permanent currency that you find as chamber rewards), will permanently boost your gameplay (More respawn lives, more health, more wealth, better chances for rarer boons). 

Zagreus vs the Underworld. 

As you journey through the Underworld, you'll encounter various types of chambers: The three worth noting are chambers with the Daedalus Hammer (Provide Buffs to your weapon), Boons (Olympian Gods bestow their boons to you, boosting various aspects of gameplay), and Poms of Power (Levels up one of your boons, or buffs). However, at the very start of the game, you may want to focus on collecting "Cthonic Keys", which allow you to unlock the "Infernal Arms", which are a set of 6 weapons that Zagreus can master- Stygius (A Sword), Varatha (A Spear), Aegis (A Shield), Coronacht (A Bow), Malphon (Gloves), and Exagryph (A Gun) (I love all of these excluding Varatha, and Exagryph)- All of which have different utilities, and jobs that I'm going to leave for you to find out, but what I will mention are the various "Aspects", which are like buffs for you weapons that boost their capabilities-. Hades' combat is quite simple, there are three types of attacks: Your 'Normal Attack', your 'Special', and your 'Cast'- Needless to say, they're all different depending on the infernal arm you choose. 

As I've mentioned before, once you give a character a bottle of Nectar, you earn a keepsake. Keepsakes are an integral part of Hades, buffing your gameplay- From passive buffs such as damage reducing or health boosts, to damage buffs such as double damage (in return for no boons on your attack) or damage bonus increase per chamber (only if you take no damage). There are 10 gods that offer their boons upon you, each of which that have their own status curses- Aphrodite (Weak- Reduces Damage), Ares (Doom- A burst of damage), Artemis(Critical- Your damage deals 200% increased damage), Athena (Deflect- Reflects projectiles, and attacks), Zeus (Lightning- Summons a lightning bolt dealing damage), Poseidon (Knockback- Pushes enemies backwards), Dionysus (Hangover- Damage over time), Hermes (No status curse, but boosts various things), Demeter (Chill- Slows down enemies), and Chaos (Provides bonuses, but inflicts a de-buff for a period of time): It is worth mentioning, that the aforementioned Gods do certain jobs (improving cast, room rewards, and more), which I haven't mentioned due to their vast nature of abilities. There are 6 types of boons: Common, Rare, Epic, Heroic, Legendary- doing better things as the levels increases- and Duo which are a combination of boons. 

There. Is. No. Escape. 

Quite frankly, you can't escape the underworld, no matter if you've unlocked the true ending or not. Either way, Hades is probably one of the best games, released in the last year. Supergiant has done a phenomenal job when it boils down to the attention to detail, and the lore of almost every character. It is the one of the very few dungeon-crawler, and roguelike games that I actually enjoy. Personally speaking, after over 20 hours in he gameplay, and around 60 escape attempts in, the death-loop that is Hades, is a top contender for most games, and a loop that I never want to leave or end. 

Should You Play It? Yep. 

Favorite Quote: "I heard you got yourself into another mess that needed cleaning up."- Thanatos.