Hades (video game)

Hades is a rougelite action video game about escaping from the Greek Underworld by cutting through and battling the forces of Hades. Along the way Zagreus, the player character and protagonist, receives assistance from a number of Olympians, as well as from some Chthonic gods and other entities.

Hades is a game about action and incorporates many elements from the hack and slash genre, with most of the gameplay consisting of positioning Zagreus to effectively attack his foes while avoiding attacks. It is also a game about cycles, and being a rougelite, the player is expected to loose frequently as a result. When Zagreus dies, he is returned to the start at the House of Hades, eliminating most of his progress. When he returns to the House of Hades a few specific types of currency are retained, and those can be spent on small buffs that survive across cycles. Furthermore each run the Zagreus is presented with various temporary boons semi-randomly, with the player being able to tilt the odds in their favor somewhat by manipulating factors such as who gives the boon or their rarity. When this is coupled with the increasing skill of the player, challenges that may have seemed insurmountable at first quickly become easier, and the player is thus able to progress further in a run. Additionally the story is progressed by this mechanic, with characters commenting on the results of the prior run frequently.

Released in 2020 by Supergiant Games. It is available on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.

It was followed by Hades II which also uses an early access model.

• Acrofatic: The louts are large, yet can charge forward quickly.
• Action Bomb: The Flame Wheels drive into Zagreus, exploding on impact.
• Action Prologue: When starting a new game, a few words are said by the Narrator before the player is thrust into gameplay at the starting chamber, beginning a run.
• Affectionate Nickname: Dionysus calls Zagreus "Zag", and Poseidon calls him "Little Hades".
• Ancient Greece: The setting of the surface, though it is simply referred to as Greece.
• Animated Adaptation: The launch trailer, Viewable on YouTube here, features a short animated fight based on the game.
• Auto Revive: A Death Defiance allows Zagreus to recover some HP and continue fighting after a hit that would normally kill him.
• An Axe to Grind: The main weapon of Asterius is a huge axe.
• Back from the Dead: Hades attempts to stop this.
• Back Stab: Zagreus can deal extra damage by attacking enemies from the back.
• The Bard: Orpheus serves the role of court musician in the house of Hades.
• Beam Spam: What doomstones will eventually do if their Mooks aren’t dealt with. Hades also likes this tactic.
• Berserk Button: If two gods offer a boon, whichever god who’s boon the player did not pick will be very upset.
• Bizarrchitecture: A few examples:
  • The realm of Chaos appears to float in a space of twinkling stars, with columns casting long shadows over a small amount of ground surrounded by ripples in the void, under which more columns and structures can be faintly seen. Within the ripples of the void by the floor, it is possible to fish.
  • The realm of Hades rearranges itself between runs.
  • When fighting Tisiphone the chamber shrinks as the battle progresses, bringing the fight into close quarters.
• Bolt of Divine Retribution: Associated with boons from Zeus.
• Boss Battle: Zagreus fights several on his way to the surface, such as against the Bone Hydra.
• Cardboard Prison: Averted for most, as Hades is very difficult to break out of. Played straight for skilled players.
• Cast from Hit Points: Unsealing the gate to enter the realm of Chaos requires a sacrifice of Hit Points. Additionally some of the curses from Chaos cause specific regular attacks to require sacrificing a small amount of hit points each time they are used before the curse becomes a boon.
• Carry a Big Stick: Thugs carry a large spiked club.
• Celestial Bureaucracy: The house of Hades is largely preoccupied with paperwork and records keeping, with Nyx admitting that she accepted Hades to help with the immense administrative duties the realm required.
  • The administrative chamber is an open plan office complete with a water cooler and a motivational piece on the wall. A mountain of scrolls can be seen in the bottom left.
• Chaos Entity: Chaos is an entity described as a "Primordial Originator". Chaos is depicted as a humanoid with a winged and fanged head, wreathed in an umbilical cord bearing many disturbed faces. His main face is otherwise conventionally beautiful, if pale, and features his emblem on his forehead. Holding the earth between his pointer and his thumb, his image grows and fades out constantly.
• Chain Lightning: Some boons from Zeus bestow this effect to attacks, letting lighting strike nearby foes as well.
• Character Portrait: Important characters have a portrait displayed when they speak.
• Charged Attack: Some attacks can be charged for extra damage.
• Cheap Gold Coins: Obols are relatively common compared to some of the other valuables in Hades.
• Circles of Hell: Hades is divided into several levels, such as Tartarus, Asphodel, and Elysium.
• Classical Mythology: Heavily draws from Greek mythology.
• Cleavage Window: One is part of the robe of Nyx.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Boon rarities are color coded, as are the blessings from Olympus.
• Companion Cube: Sisyphus became attached to his boulder.
• Convection, Schmonvection: The lava in Asphodel can be walked up to without issue, but entering it will cause damage.
• Cool Gate: The portal to Chaos emits a shadowy aura, where stars peak out from under it and strange whispers can be heard nearby.
• Cosmic Egg: Played with. Chaos, a being associated with creation, gives Zagreus a "Cosmic Egg", though it never hatches.
• Crosshair Aware: Some attacks by enemies show a radius of effect on the ground before the attack lands.
• Curse: Boons from Chaos start out as one, afflicting some nasty effect on Zagreus for several chambers till it becomes a proper boon, loosing the negative effects.
• Cute Monster Girl: Dusa is a friendly Gorgon who works in the House of Hades, and is simply a floating snakelike head with snakes resembling hair.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Nyx is associated with the night, and yet is very benevolent to Zagreus.
• Death Is a Slap on The Wrist: Death ends a run, loosing all boons and Obels in the process. The next run will be from the very start as well. However all other rewards are kept, and during and returning to the house of Hades is essential to purchase certain upgrades, or initiate certain conversations.
• Deflector Shields: Boons from Athena can bestow this as a power up.
• Dem Bones: Skelly is a friendly skeleton and Training Dummy. The numskulls are floating skull enemies. Many other enemies take skeletal forms.
• Destructible Projectiles: Zagreus can destroy some enemy projectiles by attacking them.
• Die, Chair, Die!: Various set-pieces in the chambers can be smashed up.
• Divine Assistance: The Olympians shower Zagreus with their boons through his fight out of Hades. However their jealousy of eachother and willingness to also support Theseus in his fights against Zagreus can complicate their assistance. Some of the Chthonic gods such as Nyx and Thanatos also assist Zagreus, albeit in different ways.
• Divine Parentage: Zagreus is the son of Hades.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Nyx, the personification of Night, is quite benevolent to Zagreus.
• Don't Look Back: A lyric in The Lament of Orpheus is literally “Don't Look Back”.
• Eldritch Abomination: Exemplified by Chaos. Befitting of their origin, their mechanics don’t quite match those of anyone else, being at least somewhat harmful to Zagreus.
• Empathic Weapon: The Infernal Arms are strangely reactive and not static. When Zagreus asks Hades why he doesn't just lock them up, Hades doesn't seem to think it would work for long given their qualities.
• Everybody Hates Hades: Downplayed, Zagreus and Hades do not get along and the Olympians intervene on behalf of Zagreus, but Hades isn’t portrayed as particularly evil.
• Father Neptune: Poseidon, of course.
• Fauns and Satyrs: Satyrs inhabit the Temple of Styx as an enemy.
• The Ferry Man: Charon is referred to as the "Stygian Boatman" in his subtitle. He carries his oar with him as well.
• Fishing Minigame: Zagreus can play one at times after acquiring the right item from the house contractor.
• Frickin' Laser Beams: Brimstones attack with beams of energy that slowly but continually deal damage on contact.
• Friendly Fireproof: Attacking some characters on accident such as Thanatos will not harm them, though may result in a quip.
• God Mode: Played with. An option named "God Mode" exists in the game. However, while it makes the game much easier, it doesn't actually make Zagreus invincible, though it becomes more potent with each death.
• Godiva Hair: Aphrodite only wears jewelry rather than clothes, so her hair covers her up.
• Green Thumb: Persephone maintains a verdant and lush garden, even in the middle of winter.
• The Grim Reaper: Thanatos is subtitled "Death Incarnate", wields a large scythe and wears a hood.
• Hades Shaded: The Chthonic gods, being the deities of hades, have unnatural shading.
• Has Two Mommies: Zagreus has two mommies and a daddy. Persephone (Biological) and Nyx (Adoptive) serve as maternal figures.
• Have a Nice Death: Hypnos will greet Zagreus when he returns to the House of Hades after dying, often by referencing how he was killed, and offering some plain advice on how to avoid such fates in the future.
• Heart Beat-Down: The boons associated with Aphrodite often bestow this, making enemies weak or charming them.
• Heart Container: Centaur hearts are used chamber rewards used to upgrade the life bar.
• Hell Hound: Cerberus features prominently as a dog that lives in the house of Hades. Unlike most examples, it is not antagonistic.
• Hit Points: Zagreus has a limited amount of hit points, which can be extended through various means.
• Homing Projectile: Some projectiles curve towards their targets.
• Hot God: Many of the divine characters are conventionally attractive.
• Horned Humanoid: Asterius has two impressive horns as a Minotaur.
• Hunk: Theseus is ripped and shows it off.
• Hydra Problem: The Lernaean Bone Hydra will extend additional heads after taking a certain amount of damage, and can't be beaten unless all the new heads are dealt with first.
• Hyperactive Metabolism: Zagreus can heal himself by eating food.
• An Ice Person: Demeter's boons often result in Zagreus gaining icy attributes to his attacks.
• Interface Screw: Tisiphone can black out the screen during her boss fight.
• An Interior Designer Is You: The House Contractor offers a number of upgrades for the House of Hades, allowing Zagreus to somewhat customize it's appearance and features.
• Jerkass Gods: Many of the gods, both Olympian and Chthonic, engage in some Jerkassery at some point.
• Large Ham: Theseus makes a spectacle of himself, delivering boisterous speeches denouncing Zagreus in the arena.
• Lethal Lava Land: Due to flooding from the river Phlegethon, the plains of Asphodel became a fiery hellscape before Zagreus arrives.
• Life Meter: One is displayed on the bottom left of the screen.
• Like a Badass Out of Hell: Zagreus fights out of Hades.
• A Load of Bull: Asterius is the Bull of Minos, a minotaur with a large humanoid body and a bull like head.
• Love Goddess: Aphrodite appears in the story as a goddess of love.
• Making a Splash: Many of Poseidon's boons augment the attacks of Zagreus with water.
• Mini Boss: Some chambers contain these, such as the Doomstone or the Megagorgon.
• Mismatched Eyes: Zagreus has a red right eye and a green left eye.
• Money Spider: Some foes drop obel, even if it doesn't really make sense for them to have it.
• Mook Maker: The Skullomats are a pile of skulls that produce a stream of numskulls.
• Mooks: The non-boss enemies found during a run.
• Motor Mouth: Hermes speaks with a quick cadence.
• Mr. Fanservice: Theseus is a Hunk who shows off his muscles.
• Ms. Fanservice: Aphrodite is a shapely goddess of love who wears no clothes at all besides her jewelry and Godiva Hair.
• Narrator: One makes comment on occasion, typically with a retort from Zagreus.
• Nothing but Skulls: The Skullomats are piles of skulls.
• Our Gods Are Greater: The story features a number of gods and goddesses from Greek mythology.
• Orphean Rescue: The Olympians send their boons to assist Zagreus in an attempt to get him out of Hades. Lore wise, Orpheus attempted this as one would expect.
• Parental Abandonment: Chaos notes that he fell out of contact with their daughter Nyx long ago, and regrets their lack of contact.
• Plant Person: The head of Eurydice is treelike, branching out and blooming into leaves like hair.
• Power-Up Food: Eating a Pom of Power allows Zagreus to enhance a boon.
• Pretty Boy: Thanatos is slender with a soft face, yet has a fair bit of muscle. Hermes is another example, being a fit and thin speedster with a fine face.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: When Varatha the Eternal Spear is thrown, it can be recalled, attacking back along the way.
• Prongs of Poseidon: Used to represent Poseidon on chamber reward previews.
• Psychopomp: Charon is stated to help the recently deceased to the underworld in the Codex.
• Pyrrhic Victory: Though he can overcome his father and leave the underworld for a short time, Zagreus will perish shortly after reaching the surface, sending him back to the House of Hades.
• Rain of Arrows: Zagreus can do this himself with the bow Coronacht, letting out a rapid flurry of arrows in a wide arc.
• Rodents of Unusual Size: Large rodents can be found in the Temple of Styx.
• Shadow of Impending Doom: The Skull-Crushers create these before they drop down when they attack.
• Shield-Bearing Mook: The Greatshields in Elysium hold a shield that protects them from the front.
• Shock and Awe: Boons offered by Zeus typically augment one of the attacks Zagreus can perform with lightning strikes.
• Short-Range Shotgun: A Daedalus hammer upgrade for the rail can result in Zagreus wielding one that with extremely poor range and an extremely powerful punch in return.
• Sleepyhead: Hypnos frequently falls asleep.
• Spikes of Doom: Some chambers have spike traps which spring up when stepped on.
• Spin Attack: Zagreus can perform one as a Charged Attack while welding Varatha the Eternal Spear.
• Swarm of Rats: These can be found in the temple of Styx.
• Taken for Granite: The Megagorgon can temporarily turn Zagreus to stone if its projectiles hit him.
• Timed Mission: Some chambers task Zagreus with simply surviving for a set amount of time.
• Top God: Zeus among the Olympians, and Hades among the Chthonic gods.
• Training Dummy: Skelly asks Zagreus to hit him, serving this role by allowing the player to practice their moves before attempting to escape.
• The Underworld: The realm of Hades is where the dead are sent, with their actions in life determining where they are sent within the realm.
• The Unintelligible: Charon just groans at Zagreus rather than speaking. Tisiphone is another example, who primarily repeats the word "Murderer" and variations of it.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Poseidon doesn't wear a shirt, exposing his chest.
• War God: Ares is depicted as a god of war.
• Weaksauce Weakness: Zagreus is weakened greatly outside the underworld, and cannot persist long on the surface.
• Whip It Good: The Furies Megaera and Tisiphone wield whips in their Character Portraits.
• Wine Is Classy: Played with. Through he is an Olympian, the personality and attitude of Dionysus is that of a chill party host.
• Winged Humanoid: Each of the furies have a wing coming out of their backs.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Athena has greyish blue hair, and Aphrodite has pink hair.