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[PC] Hades

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[PC] Hades

Unread postby Masahiro9891 » 14 Jan 2019 23:48

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Released in Early Access on December 6, 2018.

https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/p ... hades/home

Supergiant Games wrote:Battle Out of Hell
Defy the god of death as you hack and slash your way out of the Underworld in this rogue-like dungeon crawler from the creators of Bastion and Transistor.

Play In Early Access: This is a living game in active development! Expect regular updates with new features, events, characters, places, powers, and more.


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Early Access Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=593xCDfumN0
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Masahiro9891
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Unread postby icycalm » 19 Jan 2019 20:11

I have to say the illustrations in this game are way above what this developer has put out before.

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I'd give them a solid 3.5/5, with the best of them bordering on 4/5.

Graphics aren't bad either, though I'd have to take a closer look at them to tell if they are significantly improved over those of their previous games.

It's definitely a better-realized Greek theme than fucking God of War (which is far more suited to a barbarian theme).
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icycalm
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Unread postby kini » 06 Feb 2019 12:58

I just streamed a couple hours of the game on Insomnia's Twitch channel (the game crashed near the end, which is understandable as it's still in Early Access): https://www.twitch.tv/videos/375979270

YouTube link for when the Twitch broadcast gets deleted: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMxurQ9I6Tc

Hades is a diablolike that has an emphasized action element, as opposed to most other diablolike games where aiming your weapons and dodging attacks comes into consideration to a lesser extent. Upgrades come every so often throughout the randomized dungeon in the form of temporary stat and mechanic boosts to your different attacks, which are wiped upon death. It's a difficult game due to the enemies being ubiquitous and barraging you with attacks from every corner. There are no invincibility frames or easy dodges, especially since you stagger after every dash.

The moves are few and simple but effective. Different weapons seem to be better or worse against certain enemies. The weapon upgrades will usually add a bonus to damage for one attack, or add a secondary effect to an attack.

It seems that a good strategy is to take things slow. Because of the dodge mechanics and the number of enemies on screen you will not progress far if you jump into the fray like you would in most pure action games. It's pretty tempting to jump in to make things go a little faster though, of course. You need to strike a balance so that things move at the right pace I suppose. It does make it slow compared to other action games that resemble Hades as far as moveset goes, but the upside is that planning attacks is satisfying. Not that it isn't in other action games, but Hades at least retains some of that satisfaction.

I actually find it quite similar to Bastion in many respects. Bastion had upgrades and ability choices as well. The difference is that Bastion didn't slow down the action at all, it let you use two different weapons at once and had stages and a couple cool tunes that I remember.

Hades on the other hand has random enemy arrangements and a random dungeon layout. This means that the game maintains the same style of rooms and the same types of enemies for a long time, which might get monotonous depending on your temperament.

The upshot to the randomness is that the game lasts longer than Bastion. That is one difference where Hades outshines it. Progressing in this game is difficult (you don't rely on power creep as much as other diablolikes), so while you are learning how to best deal with enemies and moving through the dungeon, you are carefully picking minor upgrades that however add up over time. This difficulty and length probably makes it more satisfying when you reach a milestone or checkpoint or beat a mini-boss fight or whatever than it was in Bastion.

The dungeon is not my favorite part of the game. I mean it is colorful and all but I would have preferred something a little more eyecatching. The enemies aren't bad. They each have a different moveset (many of them spam the same attack) and the different compositions do get interesting.

All in all I like the game, and will continue playing for a while at least.
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Unread postby icycalm » 06 Feb 2019 18:25

What I don't get about this game is that the whole point of Early Access is, supposedly, the feedback. But the Epic store has neither a forum nor a user review section. So how on earth do these people get feedback? I guess they have their own forum, or expect people to... email them?

Anyway, yeah, this looks more promising to me than any of the developer's previous games, though I have to say the protagonist seems to have like four frames of animation, and given that everything else is so high-res and detailed, that makes your avatar look like he stepped off a cheap mobile game. Then again the game IS cheap, barely 20 dollars, so I guess you get what you pay for?

All in all, I'd definitely be interested in giving it a go myself at some point. The concept of an action-focused diablolike is a solid one, as the mostly boring combat is a major negative of diablolikes (the other being the non-existent level design, which Hades doesn't seem to address, unfortunately). Thanks for the detailed impressions!
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Unread postby kini » 06 Feb 2019 21:09

Yeah, no problem!
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Unread postby icycalm » 30 Dec 2020 01:19

Everyone and their dog is playing this game now...

We have lots of videos of this now on YouTube, and there's even more CULT people playing it who haven't streamed: https://www.youtube.com/user/insomniacu ... uery=Hades

I just watched a couple of minutes of the last of Archonus's streams [ > ], and I'd say I must have watched about five or so minutes of the game overall. I could seriously review it from those five minutes. I could have probably reviewed it even before, but now there's no question: I feel I know all there is to know about this game, and I don't feel like playing it. So is it necessary to play it to review it?

Okay... alright, I'll play it for a bit. But I am not buying it lol, I'll mooch someone else's copy.

And none of you guys will like my review, but that's life. I hope I won't spoil your fun.
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