Recent reviews by fireindaarcade

Just left early access, so I’ll give this a review. Hades is a great game overall, and it really showcases everything Supergiant Games have learned over their other games. The art and character design is perhaps their best yet. The music is just as great as ever, although the rogue-like nature of the game means you lose a bit of the connection between songs and moments that worked so well in their previous games. The combat feels absolutely great, and the upgrades are well designed to where you can be successful with almost any play style/build. My complaints would be that enemy and upgrade varieties are both good enough, but not quite at the level some of the other great rogue likes. The game relies a bit more on lore to hook you, which brings me to my biggest complaint. One of the biggest strengths of Supergiant Games is their world building and writing, but the rogue-like nature isn’t a very good showcase for that. There are all these great characters with interesting character development and lore, but you only get to talk to them every two or three runs, and they’ll only bother to tell you something interesting one out of five times you talk to them. I’ve put fifty hours into the game and I feel like I’ve seen most of what the game has to offer gameplay wise, but I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of the character interactions that are possible and that’s a bit frustrating. Maybe it’ll be better now that it’s out of early access, who knows.Overall I still HIGHLY recommend this game if you are a fan of rogue-likes or Supergiants previous games. You just have to be aware that there are limitations.

This is a game that I really loved, although I can't quite figure out why. It has plenty of pros but I could name a lot of con as well.

First off, the gameplay is centered around a really interesting mechanic. It's sort of an adventure game and it's sort of a puzzle game. The point of the game is to use different seeds to create different forms of life. Each of these lifeforms have a different amount of biomass, and your goal is to create enough life to raise the biomass in different "tiers" which has a variety of effects. It's a great mechanic, and in the later caves, it's quite interesting to watch. One plant produces seeds that are eaten by another creature. That creature is then trapped by another plant, producing a sort of compost you can use to make the first plant produce more seeds. At no point is this mechanic especiall difficult. There is a health system and their are some hazards, but health is no problem as long as you pay attention. Once you figure out how all the creatures interact, it's a simple matter to raise biomass. Where this game really shines is during the second third of the game. during the first third, the game is rather simple, and it couldn't really hold my interest. However, during the second third, each room is a new creature or a new interaction to discover. It truly feels like ou are discovering a new world. Then, it slows down... you figure out all the creatures and raising biomass is more of a matter of grinding for different seeds and creatures. Although I was invested in the game by this point it lost some of the fun.

As far as the story goes, I enjoyed it. The game is mostly solitary, although you do have two companions, one A.I and one human that check in with you occasionally. Neither are particularly well written, and although the A.I. character is endearing and grows on you throughout the game, I can't say the same for the human character. I often felt annoyed that she was interrupting my solitude. The main character I enjoyed much more. His dialogue conveys his sense of wonder at whats he's discovering, yet he's calm throughout the entire thing. It's easy to identify with him as you both spend time exploring these caverns.

Long story short, I think what makes this game special isn't the story or the gameplay, but the theme. It's about the sense of wonder and discovery that makes the game enjoable. It's a peaceful game, something that's bolstered by a great soundtrack and a great visual style. If you are looking for purely for gameplay, their are better puzzle/adventure indies out there, but if you have the right mindset, it could easily be one of the best games you've ever played. Wait until it's on sale if you aren't sure, but I definitely recommend it.