Hades - roguelike action dungeon crawler from Supergiant Games

[Ent]

I think the game is fun. I like punching things with the fists.

 

[Shackleton]

If we can move away from all the anti-sjw weaponised autism and back to the actual game, after 21 hours and about 40 runs I finally beat the last boss and escaped. I must be pretty shit at this game if Riddler managed to beat it 10 times in 25 runs to get the 'true' ending with the credits, but I guess that's good because I find the difficulty pretty nicely done. I beat it with the bow, using Demeter's boons to chill , Athena's cast to deflect to AoE damage and her call to go invulnerable, and Aphrodite's special to weaken. What helped most though was an Epic Hermes boon to give me 40% more move speed. I fair zipped around and got out the way of most shit a lot more easily. Picked up the tri-attack on my attack from the Daedalus hammers as well.

Still loving the combat after 21 hours and can easily see me beating it plenty of more times with other weapons and boons. Thank god I find my enjoyment of the game not affected by what colour ink they used to paint the skin of the cartoon characters whose text I click through rapidly.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

If we can move away from all the anti-sjw weaponised autism and back to the actual game, after 21 hours and about 40 runs I finally beat the last boss and escaped. I must be pretty shit at this game if Riddler managed to beat it 10 times in 25 runs to get the 'true' ending with the credits, but I guess that's good because I find the difficulty pretty nicely done. I beat it with the bow, using Demeter's boons to chill , Athena's cast to deflect to AoE damage and her call to go invulnerable, and Aphrodite's special to weaken. What helped most though was an Epic Hermes boon to give me 40% more move speed. I fair zipped around and got out the way of most shit a lot more easily. Picked up the tri-attack on my attack from the Daedalus hammers as well.

Still loving the combat after 21 hours and can easily see me beating it plenty of more times with other weapons and boons. Thank god I find my enjoyment of the game not affected by what colour ink they used to paint the skin of the cartoon characters whose text I click through rapidly.

What does this have to do with our thread about the color of ancient greek deities?

 

[Alpan]

I must be pretty shit at this game if Riddler managed to beat it 10 times in 25 runs to get the 'true' ending with the credits, but I guess that's good because I find the difficulty pretty nicely done.

I got my first win on my 18th run and tenth on the 34th; right now I have 31 wins in 65 runs. It's really about familiarity and muscle memory; you'll start winning more consistently now that you've won once.

 

[Shackleton]

I must be pretty shit at this game if Riddler managed to beat it 10 times in 25 runs to get the 'true' ending with the credits, but I guess that's good because I find the difficulty pretty nicely done.

I got my first win on my 18th run and tenth on the 34th; right now I have 31 wins in 65 runs. It's really about familiarity and muscle memory; you'll start winning more consistently now that you've won once.

Yeah, I've found I can pretty reliably clear up to the last boss with whatever weapon and boons come my way. Once I get more of a handle on the last boss I think I'll be doing it regularly even with the hell points or whatever those extra challenges are. That's one of the things I like about it, it doesn't throw cheap deaths at you. Whenever I die it's because I've not done well enough, not the game spawning some bullshit bullet hell room. I guess for some that makes it too easy, but my old man reflexes don't need a Sekiro level of challenge in every game.

 

[Riddler]

If we can move away from all the anti-sjw weaponised autism and back to the actual game, after 21 hours and about 40 runs I finally beat the last boss and escaped. I must be pretty shit at this game if Riddler managed to beat it 10 times in 25 runs to get the 'true' ending with the credits, but I guess that's good because I find the difficulty pretty nicely done. I beat it with the bow, using Demeter's boons to chill , Athena's cast to deflect to AoE damage and her call to go invulnerable, and Aphrodite's special to weaken. What helped most though was an Epic Hermes boon to give me 40% more move speed. I fair zipped around and got out the way of most shit a lot more easily. Picked up the tri-attack on my attack from the Daedalus hammers as well.

Still loving the combat after 21 hours and can easily see me beating it plenty of more times with other weapons and boons. Thank god I find my enjoyment of the game not affected by what colour ink they used to paint the skin of the cartoon characters whose text I click through rapidly.

The trick is that you don't need to dodge anything at all and just spam attack/dash. The only thing that really matters is damage and perhaps Athena's dash.

The invincibility calls are nice against Hades as well.

I don't think I really can lose with any of the melee weapons.

I just did a run at heat 10 in 13:40 with the gauntlets and barely took damage until Hades.

 

[polo]

I got my first win at the 9th attempt with the lance, i found it to be quite op. Now im trying the other weapons and im struggling tbh. How do u deal with the exploding chariots using close range weapons like the fists?

 

[Riddler]

I got my first win at the 9th attempt with the lance, i found it to be quite op. Now im trying the other weapons and im struggling tbh. How do u deal with the exploding chariots using close range weapons like the fists?

Just smash dash+attack like with everything else.

You'll likely be hit once or twice in levels with a ton of exploding chariots.

Be sure to get a dash skill with aoe dmg and Zeus chain lightning helps as well.

 

[Nostaljaded]

For those finding the game is on the easy end, recommend to (re)start in Hell Mode.

Differences in Hell Mode:
- Heat Gauge starts at 5, rather than 0

• +20% foes' damage
• -25% Life restore
• +20% foes in standard Encounters
• +15% foes' Life Totals
• Disabled Personal Liability/Auto Defense (brief invulnerability after a burst of damage); it's absent in Normal Mode

- Disabled God Mode (Easy) option

Difficulty Screenshots

 

[Theodora]

Just hit the credits today. I don't really have anything negative to say about it, but a hell of a lot to praise.

Something that makes it stand out compared to other roguelites, which tend to have a very set difficulty, is just how finely tunable it to make something that's challenging for you. Very much a standard Supergiant trait, but it works incredibly well here (though really, I'm just impressed that something using the roguelite formula managed to pull off a story at all, nevermind how well paced and executed it is. I've spent 70+ hours in the game and even after hitting the credits it's still throwing reams of new dialogue at me.

For anyone wanting more an idea what Hades is about:



Basically agree, it's one of my favourite games of all time just by how perfect all its component parts are.

That and I loooooooooooooooooooove Dionysus.

Don't exactly imagine Jim would be popular on here, but I haven't seen many big names give it attention since it launched in 1.0 (Skill Up looked at it when it was in early access, but that was in 2018). But it's a very no-nonsense review, so even if you loathe the guy (for reasons that are better left to GD), I'd encourage you to give it a watch(/listen) if you're at all curious about Hades.

I just did a run at heat 10 in 13:40 with the gauntlets and barely took damage until Hades.

Damnnn, very nice.

I got my first win at the 9th attempt with the lance, i found it to be quite op. Now im trying the other weapons and im struggling tbh. How do u deal with the exploding chariots using close range weapons like the fists?

Damn, really? The lance is my worst, easily. And when using the fists I tend to use my cast (or failing that a dash effect) to deal with the flame wheels.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Don't exactly imagine Jim would be popular on here, but I haven't seen many big names

HAHAHA

And what a BIG name that is! Because Jim? Jim FUCKING Sterling? That's one FAT bitch! Hahahaha, he's so FAT he probably couldn't escape Hades because he'd not fit through the doors! I bet because he's so FAT that Cerberus' three heads would be full if they ate him! He's so fucking FAT, Theodora, he's so fucking FAT that Nyx would say "Could you move? You're blocking the sun."

Because that's what Jim Sterling is, baby! A FAT man! God, he's fat.

 

[Theodora]

Because that's what Jim Sterling is, baby! A FAT man! God, he's fat.

And he rather magnificently own it. Anyway Hades is the shit.

 

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

Imagine being a custodian and seeing Jim FUCKING Sterling walking into the nearby restroom stall. The cold sweats you'd break out in knowing full well that he is about to destroy that toilet.

 

[Tigranes]

I picked it up on Switch, it ran like shit and I dropped it shortly thereafter. I'm going to start vetting my Switch purchases better, janky framerate bothers me too much to keep wasting money like this.

Early impressions are that I enjoy Curse of the Dead Gods combat system more.

Runs just fine for me on the Switch docked. No doubt it'd run slightly better on PC but I've noticed no issues.

I haven't gotten far yet but it's a very solid game. The basic abilities, pacing, it's all sound. Story/etc is all as ignorable as you like, which is how it should be in a game like this. Not a huge fan of the art style but it's done competently.

 

[Theodora]

I believe the switch version is meant to be a reliable 60 fps. I think the footage above was recorded on a Switch actually.

 

[Shackleton]

Yeah, after 52 hours and 70 runs I hit the end credits today as well. That's the end credits, rather than the end as there's a post-game with more story and more unlocks so I just immediately started another run. I just love the combat and the fact it's the kind of game you can pick up for 30 mins or 3 hours. There's no wasted time at all, unless you count the clicking NPC's between runs, but even that is both brief and mildly interesting.

I like all the weapons except the gun. Just can't get on with it, although I've escaped twice with it. I'm sure it's great with the right boons but I always grimace a bit when it's got the 20% buff and I feel kinda obligated to take it. Rolling with the hidden aspect spear currently and kicking ass with Zeus on attack and ofc Hera on Dash-deflect.

Fantastic game, probably my GOTY so far.

 

[Frank Capicoli]

Got to the end credits here recently as well.

Doing a few clears with every weapon I find the bow to be the weakest weapon, there just isn't a single ability about it that I like.

 

[Riddler]

Got to the end credits here recently as well.

Doing a few clears with every weapon I find the bow to be the weakest weapon, there just isn't a single ability about it that I like.

The one that makes all the special arrows hit the enemy you used the attack on is pretty fun.

 

[J1M]

Got to the end credits here recently as well.

Doing a few clears with every weapon I find the bow to be the weakest weapon, there just isn't a single ability about it that I like.

Using Hades to put Doom on the secondary spray attack was the only thing I found passable for the bow. People talk a lot about the lock-on, but I think they are forgetting how shitty the primary attack required to apply it is.

Or you could get the OP wine keg spell, buff that, and just ignore the equipped weapon.

 

[aweigh]

this is what a greek god looks like

 

[Theodora]

(Nothing spoiler related at all.)

 

[Riddler]

For those finding the game is on the easy end, recommend to (re)start in Hell Mode.

Differences in Hell Mode:
- Heat Gauge starts at 5, rather than 0

• +20% foes' damage
• -25% Life restore
• +20% foes in standard Encounters
• +15% foes' Life Totals
• Disabled Personal Liability/Auto Defense (brief invulnerability after a burst of damage); it's absent in Normal Mode

- Disabled God Mode (Easy) option

Difficulty Screenshots

Tried hellmode yesterday and the personal liability thing actually makes a fair bit of difference and I can't help but wonder if the game was originally designed with this in mind and the immunity being introduced to cater to the hopelessly inept.

If anyone new is reading this thread, do yourself a favour and start over on hell mode as soon as you feel like you have a handle on the controls, unless you have no experience with controllers. This is a far superior experience that demands at least a little bit more than mindless button mashing.

 

[Hobo Elf]

Finally beat the 3rd floor duo boss fight using the Shield of Chaos. Think this might be my new favorite weapon, though I still have two more to unlock. Shit's really cool, and makes it easy for me to deal with some of the enemies that give me the hardest time (ironically, the Greatshields in Elysium).

 

[Tigranes]

OK, I got round to my first "Victory". The writing/story's been "I guess it's fine" for me all the way through, but the way they handle the "Ending" and work the roguelike respawning into the setup is really nicely done.

So what are some of the "builds" / synergies that people have found useful?

I've been very partial to Bow (Chiron) and Fists, as I favour high mobility and complete spatial flexibility, and they also support easy proccing of boons like hangover/chill/crits. Eveyrone says Shields are great but I just can't get with it - I'm always getting hit in the back, bullrushing into lava, or some other incompetence.

I've also been slow to realise just how powerful Casts can be - in one run I had the Athena cast with extended timer & the Poseidon pull-people-in bonus, and it just obliterated everything while deflecting eveyrthing. Add the Artemis fast cast & any faster-bloodstone-drop perks and you could just not bother with normal attacks.

 

[Riddler]

Eveyrone says Shields are great but I just can't get with it - I'm always getting hit in the back, bullrushing into lava, or some other incompetence.

Dash and smash with posidon's buffs.