Hades Critic Reviews

Perfect gameplay style crowned with interesting mechanics, beautiful graphics and hectic fights, where death usually isn‘t the end, but a new beginning.

Hades is, to put it plainly, a masterpiece. It has a refreshingly unique trajectory, tells a compelling story with an alluring cast, and has such a good handle on moment-to-moment play that it is never anything less than genuinely excellent. It’s a game that grows the more you play it, as opposed to being something that suffers from a slow descent into tedium. And for that reason, it is a genuine forever game.

Hades is one of the best roguelites of all-time. It's a phenomenal achievement in story telling, gameplay, and an absolute treat for both your eyes and ears. It's astounding, and it's always been fairly astounding through Early Access, but this final release cements it as one of the greats. If you like roguelites, and even if you don't, you should probably get in on this as soon as you can.

Hades is near perfect, offering exactly what you expect and yet somehow exceeding your wildest expectations. From the art design to the gameplay to the narrative, Hades is proof of the incredible creative power that SuperGiant Games have been honing for the last nine years.

Hades sets itself apart from other entries in the roguelike genre with an intricate and engrossing story, while simultaneously creating a varied experience for both casual and hardcore players. With thousands of Boon possibilities accompanied by the different Aspects each individual weapon has and the perks granted to you by the Mirror, it gives players the opportunity to customize their builds to an incredible degree. Hades was more than worth the wait, as the full release is easily Game of the Year material.

Hades is an absolutely phenomenal game. Its characters are brilliantly written, and the worldbuilding and lore are top-notch. The combat mechanics are refreshing, intricate, and unbelievably deep. Its replayability and fun factor will keep you continuing onward with Zagreus' adventure well after the true ending and epilogue. This is one title you wouldn't want to miss out on.

Hades is everything a dungeon-crawler fan could want out of a game. Its gameplay loop is rewarding and interesting, it's simple enough that there's no skill barrier, it's complex enough that the repetition is a benefit and not a detriment, and all the small details boost the bigger ones. Hades is ultimately the result of when every aspect of a game comes together to form one fun and cohesive experience, and it's a testament to what Supergiant Games can do.

It's been a long time since a game grabbed me like Hades. It has been even longer since I played a game that seemed to keep getting better. With almost fifty hours on the counter, I know exactly what to expect from Hades. But nothing makes me want to stop playing, a sentiment that facilitates the endgame very well. Hades is a rare total package. Never before have I dared to recommend a game so easily. 2020 is a difficult year. Treat yourself.

Hades is one of the greatest roguelikes ever made. This is a must-play.

Hades is everything great about the roguelite genre all but perfected. Few games aim as high, and fewer still reach their goals. Hades does, exceeding even the loftiest expectations.

This is the kind of video game fighting that puts your heart in your mouth, an exhilarating whirl of slashes and strikes and dodges. Each jewel in Zagreus’ armoury – brass-knuckles, greatshield and sword, railgun, spear – has its own rhythm: some favour quick flurries at close range, others charge up to unleash hell on rooms full of gorgons and cursed chariots. Conquered chambers sometimes bring a new blessing from one of Zagreus’ relatives up on Mount Olympus, boons that add a watery damage-dealing flourish to your dash or imbue your weapon with lightning, calls that summon gods to unleash magical arrows or make you invincible.

Hades is Supergiant Games’ latest production, and also their best to date. Young prince Zagreus attempts to escape from the underworld due to reasons we’ll slowly uncover as the plot evolves. He’ll be aided by the Gods of Olympus, but only our own skill will decide if we came out victorious or if we die trying, returning home to start all over again. An action Roguelike perfectly designed like no other.

Hades success is very much indebted to its pacing. Game pacing is difficult in the best of circumstances; it’s impossible without extensive testing, consideration, and willingness to change things for the sake of player experience. This is all easy for people like me to say, with our monocles and berets and copies of the Chicago Manual of Style, plus maybe some Foucault if really pressed. “It’s all about the player experience.” “Design is law.” You can talk all day. But when the player starts getting frustrated at the lack of progress, or insufficient game cues, you might find yourself in a tough spot as a designer. How you get out of it, or if you even do, says a lot about your skill with design and production.

Dynamic combat, great loot and a brilliant story come together to turn Hades into an extremely addictive game which you’ll love to play for dozens of hours and which will probably never bore you.

An epic soundtrack, top-tier voice acting, gorgeous artwork and locales, frenetic but balanced action, and an addictive roguelike progression system and surprisingly deep build system come together to make Hades the indie game you should be playing if you have a PC.

Whenever I stopped playing this game, all I could think about was how I was going to handle my next run. I’d think about the gods I should look for and the characters I wanted to learn about, I’d think about the next weapon I should try and how frustrating a certain boss was. Then, I’d sit down and play again, losing myself in a world that I could consistently feel myself getting better at. And once I still think about the first time I fully completed a run, beating the final boss. That feeling of accomplishment is something to be celebrated and appreciated.

Hades is a roguelike action RPG developed and published by Supergiant Games. It set a new bar for roguelike games with amazing visuals, character development, and storyline. Hades does have a few minor issues that plague most roguelikes. But these don’t impact the overall experience of an amazingly great game.

Hades is one of the best roguelikes you can play. An interesting cast of characters, anchored by the lovable Zagreus, is worth learning about, while the seemingly never-ending upgrades always provide something to work towards. A few more bosses and environments would have helped the long road towards the true ending, but with so much weapon and build variety, each run offers a unique and rewarding trip through the Underworld.

Few are the games that actually live up to their hype. Hades is one such game. With its excellent gameplay, great soundtrack, wonderful story and great use of its roguelike elements to tell it, Hades is one of the best games of 2020. Supergiant games just gave us another banger.

As an avid fan of Diablo III’s transition into a build-your-own action-RPG superhero, Hades is often reminiscent of that Blizzard classic at its best - where weapon choice can then inform skills, variations, and switching things up based on what you’re presented with. There’s so much surprise in store and the narrative and mechanics are so intertwined that to discuss some of it in detail would feel like spoiling it. In the end though, persistence is what drives it all. So much so that reaching the surface and overcoming that final obstacle presents a feeling so monumental, that it borders on deeply emotional. But like any Greek tragedy or work of classical fiction that too opens the door to more questions, more answers, and more challenges for you and Zagreus to tackle head-on - with a little help from the Gods.