Hades test: the Supergiant Games game deserves Perseus

After almost two years of early access on the Epic Games Store and then on Steam, Hades was upgraded to version 1.0 on September 17 and appeared in the catalog of switch games. It is therefore time to see what the latest production from the Supergiant Games studio, accustomed until now to critical hits with Bastion, Transistor et Pyre, has in the belly on PC.

Hades test: the Supergiant Games game deserves Perseus See the priceRead the conclusionHades

Ultra nervous, precise and varied gameplay
Solid replayability
An indecent artistic direction
A challenge suitable for all players

Sometimes a bit confusing and visually tiring
We would not have spat on an additional environment
"One last room and off to bed... oops it's 3am" (not a real minus)
Add a co-op mode and it's 10

Usually, when a game that piques my interest comes out in beta or early access, I put it on my wishlist and don't touch it until version 1.0 or later. I already don't have time to play everything I want, so I don't see why I would "waste my time" and potentially spoil the fun on products still under construction where the gaming experience is not probably not ideal and representative of the finished product. But there are a few exceptions. Starting with the sparkling Hades.

Hydra, he crosses a Tartarus

During its long months of early access, I tried to resist not launching Hades to savor it fully when it came out. But I failed several times. It must be said that like many gamers, I am a big customer of high-quality Supergiant Games productions, and that I am particularly sensitive to the rogue-lite genre that the studio is trying out this time. And thanks to an extremely clean beta period and substantial content, I do not regret a single hour spent in the game before the recent 1.0 update, which came to put the last stone in an already solid edifice.

In this dungeon crawler where you will die a lot, but also progress and improve your hero with each try (the very principle of a rogue-lite), you embody Zagreus. This Prince of the Underworld is fed up with the heat, his responsibilities and above all his unpleasant and rigid paternal Hades, and would like to discover the truth about his origins. That's why he's going to get it into his head to escape.

But traversing the various areas and chambers that make up the path to reaching the surface is going to have to deal with plenty of monsters, traps, and bosses reluctant to let you go. To overcome this, Zagreus will be able to choose a weapon for each escape attempt (among 6 once unlocked, very different and all of which have several variants to discover and improve), but also to ally with heroes and Gods of the Olympe motivated to help her and who will appear randomly during each run.

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One of 6 weapons and some of its variants

See the Hades (Steam) offer

Mythological content

Hades constantly asks the player to make choices, both during the escape and in the starting hub. Rather take this path which will give gold to spend in a shop, or rather the one with stronger enemies but which will give additional power? Rather make the basic attack faster, or add an effect to one of the secondary attacks or to the dash? Take this temporary penalty to improve this power later, or conversely play it safe and recover HP?

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We will appreciate the training area to take control of each weapon.

The improvements offered by the Gods or to be found are as numerous as they are varied and can completely change the way you approach a run, especially since they can be improved and combined. Each build change is also reflected visually, which regularly gives great results.

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Charon is always there to help you with his store. With finance of course.

By combining the different attacks and specificities of weapons that play completely differently (sword, bow, spear, etc.), multiple objects that profoundly modify and improve your abilities, and dozens of powers granted by the Gods (slowdown, parry, poisoning , seduction, weakening…), as much to tell you that no escape attempt resembles the previous one, because the possible combinations are counted in the hundreds.

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At each meeting with a God, you will have to choose from 3 Benefits.

For that alone, the replayability of the title is simply mind-blowing and we will salute in passing an excellent balancing and different systems that encourage you to test a lot of things. But that would be without counting on a very extensive bestiary and the fact that each run allows you to recover different currencies which are used for several things: improve your character permanently via a talent tree, renovate the Underworld to obtain more resources and elements in each game, or even become friends with characters in order to obtain their favors in the form of a memory to equip at the start of the run and between each zone to personalize your attempt a little more.

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Currying a character's favor unlocks a Souvenir, but also advances their story.

Impactful gameplay and a Sisyphus

Add to that random events during runs or even tons of gameplay elements or even lore and scenarios to unlock as you progress (in 25 hours of play I'm still far enough from having unlocked and discovered everything…), and you get a title that you always want to relaunch to discover the sequel even if you have just died miserably. And the best thing about all of this is that even without this "carrot" of extremely controlled progression or even its interesting and well-told scenario, Hades would have been a title that we would have liked to relaunch ad infinitum because of its gameplay is exhilarating and the feeling of permanent progression.

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"Greece Gandalf, is it on the left or on the right?"

Joystick or keyboard/mouse in hand, the feeling of speed and power is quite simply pleasurable from the first levels, even before having recovered the improvements. Dodging and exploding monsters while twirling through the levels while analyzing changing rooms and traps to take advantage of them is very rewarding, especially since the precision is truly there.

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THESEUS ARE YOU

Hades is a very nervous and hard-hitting game that can leave you exhausted at each attempt, both in the hands and the nerves or even the eyes, as the accumulation of effects can sometimes seem a little too much. But fortunately, each run is finally quite short (count between 30 and 45min approximately per complete attempt).

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One of the random events that can spice up a room.

How does Artemis click?

And then the more cautious will say to me: “yeah but it looks like a tough game, I just want to enjoy the story and not die in a row”. Well know that Supergiant Games has thought of you with a divine mode to activate or deactivate on the fly in the options. This reduces the damage suffered by the player by 20% by base, and this percentage increases a little with each death of the player to adapt to his level.

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For lovers of try hard, it will happen here.

Conversely, heavy players looking for a challenge can, once the game is finished for the first time, activate modifiers from a long list to make the attempts much harder, but also enjoy more rewards. Hades has a real desire for accessibility with all types of players, and it's beautiful.

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The display of Zagreus bonuses and features could be a bit more convenient.

And since we are talking about beauty, it is time to evoke the Cerberus in the room: NAME, OF, GOD, THAT, IT IS, MA-GNI-FIQUE. The studio's previous 3 games were already stunning, but Hades is a real uppercut in the muzzle when it comes to the least of its visual aspects. The artistic direction is crazy, the sets are teeming with details, the colors and lights that give a real atmosphere are amazing, the animations and effects are eye-opening and even the slightest illustration is a work of art.

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Home sweet home.

Same thing for sound effects and music, a real trademark of Supergiant Games since Bastion, like its narrator and more generally all the voice cast. The dialogues (in English) are excellent and every line spoken by a dubbing actor/actress is perfect, making each character endearing and instantly captivating, making you want to meet them again to learn more about them and enrich our relationship with them.

Hades : l'avis de Clubic

High quality games have been very numerous this year. And yet, when forming my personal ranking of 2020 it would seem that Hades occupies without forcing one of the steps of the podium alongside Persona 5 Royal and There is no Game: Wrong Dimension (yes, this dropping of names is absolutely free, play it). Absolutely enjoyable to browse, both for the eyes and ears as well as for the sensations in the hands, the title of Supergiant Games has once again raised the bar of excellence of the studio. Zagreus and its adventures are likely to occupy players for many hours and have a lasting influence on future rogue-lite/dungeon crawler games. Name of Zeus/10, as the other would say.

Test carried out from a personal PC Steam version.

Hades

As solid on the bottom as on the form, Hades is a new nugget signed Supergiant Games in which it is really difficult to find faults. A flamboyant lesson, quite simply.