Hades Is Rather Special (Review) - Part 1

 This video is brought to you by ExpressVPN. When it comes to media and entertainment, we continue to seek our satisfaction faster. In less than 20 years we have gone from ICQ to Snapchat, from CDs to Spotify, from DVD box sets to Netflix, from Broadsheet to Netflix twitter feed from youtube tiktok even within these new platforms, every effort is made to make things to further compress Most shows are limited to 10 minutes per pop, but the fact that they've built this multi-billion dollar platform around this time-based goal is that the educational attention spans are getting shorter, so things are speeding up and it happens in video games too mobile games by their very nature have always aimed to release a shot of endorphins in the same amount of time it takes to visit the throne room, but it happens in core games that are too legendary are still among the most popular Playing the world and has made numerous improvements over the years to take the game time from 45 minutes at the beginning to an average of around 30M minutes these days by the way there is a dearth of long games releasing today from the 120 hour long Persona 5 to the classic MMOS that still promise to consume every moment you are ready to give up but what me Of interest is the way developers attempt to condense historically long gameplay loops into short, session-based playstyles Returning to the moba analogy, Heroes of the Storm was essentially defined by its condensed boost rhythm, where you literally have three hot matches could get for each Dota 2 match. Huts have had many issues, but one of its most famous features was certainly how easy it was to digest. In a genre that has often felt lengthy to stay with Blizzard, World of Warcraft is about to release its Shadowlands expansion, its signature new Tower of Torgast A features a procedural dungeon experience that randomizes enemy layouts and upgrades to simulate and condense the freezing slow progression of Wow

The icy slow progression curve to something that can be experienced within 30 to 60 minutes. The best example of these condensed gameplay loops is the battle royale genre Pubg, and its contemporaries all took the rhythm of loot gear upgrades that we've become accustomed to in loot games and RPGs and it combined that with the competitive shooter genre , which we've been playing since Doom Land Parties, sure you could grind 40 hours into Borderlands to collect a cute set of weapons and trinkets and shields all fused into one build, or you could just play a 40 -minute spins of Apex Legends or Pubg or Fortnite that will trigger many of the same synapses in your brain. It's interesting now to look back at Tom Clancy's Division, which in September 2016, a full six months before the arrival of pubg, released its Survival update, a battle royale game mode that brought all of The Division's tedious loot grind into one 30-minute experience, whether it's Wow's Tower or Division Survival's booming battle royale genre, it's remarkable how much these games all rely on features attributed to the roguelike subgenre, procedural generation of random loot placement and drops and a massively shortened path to build variety and varied playstyles, no two rounds of Apex Legends are just as no two rows of Dead Cells are alike, there are obviously massive differences between these two games, not least in terms of multiplayer , but the core DNA of these two games is much different due to this roguelike more similar than you might think Why the hell did I spend this whole intro block talking about roguelike mechanics? Well the truth is I've been thinking about it a lot this year. Roguelikes have been around for a long time, but it really feels like they're picking up steam lately. Spelunky was 2008 the binding of isaac was released in 2011. ftl was 2012. into the gungeon was 2016. prey moon crash and dead cells were 2018. slay the spi That was 2019. That year alone we had Dreamscaper Neon Abyss Griffland's BPM Risk of Rain 2 and Spelunky 2. It's a very big one year for a subgenre that is beginning to feel increasingly central to many contemporaries

Large and small games are developed. We're particularly fortunate, then, that in a year so full of quality roguelikes we're also getting Hades, a game that immediately takes its place in the pantheon of the best in the genre, despite the opinion that Hades is objectively the most sophisticated and Polished Roguelike Yet Released Every inch of it sparkles with stunning hand-drawn visuals, immersive voice acting, crisp, elegant writing, tight, satisfying combat, near-endless build variety, and an impressive array of enemies and an absolutely banging soundtrack, what I love the most Interested in Hades but not its polish It's the way it inverts one of the core tenets of the roguelike subgenre. The rewards that come with the failure of most ghost story roguelikes altogether rely on the simple thrill of gameplay to advance them. There may be some lore that can expand upon the world, but the narrative isn't the focus, some games hint at the story throughout, providing more exposure if the player manages to progress further Hades is unique in that its Moments of exposition lie between runs returning to the House of Hades after a death, allowing the player to talk to NPCs who receive the exposition in bite-sized chunks so small that their story can be found after dozens of them can successfully escape from your father's clutches liked this a lot it reminded me a lot of disco elysium a game that also found a way to successfully reverse the fail state in most video game rpgs a bad dice roll is usually just a missed opportunity the door won won't open for you or the NPC won't let you hang out with them in Disco Elysium ay. A failed role is just another outcome, usually hilarious but always rewarding. Often you welcome failure because you know something good is waiting for you on the other side, it's the same here in hades where every death is almost welcomed because it's a chance to return home and learn about the characters of the world and finding out your own place in all that stupid boy i told you nobody gets out of here alive or dead but how was your craving and ransacking my domain. Greetings father my second round was a joy out of them with your death Hades never feels deflated

so, denn sobald der Nervenkitzel des Gameplays endet, beginnt der Nervenkitzel der Ausstellung. Das heißt nicht, dass die Ausstellung nur dem Scheitern vorbehalten ist. Das erste Mal das Spiel zu beenden, ist wirklich nur das Ende von Akt 1 in dieser besonderen griechischen Tragödie und du ' Sie müssen das Spiel weitere 9 Mal für das wahre Ende abschließen und müssen freigeschaltet werden. Geheime Nebenquests sind ebenfalls während Ihres Spiels tief vergraben, da jede von ihnen eine Art Erfolg oder Fortschritt erfordert, um Hades abzuschließen, was die Abgabe seiner Exposition definitiv ausgleicht zwischen den Erfolgs- und Misserfolgszuständen, so dass Sie, egal was Sie tun, ob es stirbt oder einen vollständigen Clear abschließt, etwas davon bekommen. So erfolgreich wie dieses Modell ist, ist es möglicherweise nicht jedermanns Geschmack für den Anfang House of Hades ist aufgrund der Stärke der Charakterdesigns, der unglaublichen Sprachausgabe und meiner eigenen Vertrautheit mit der griechischen Mythologie ziemlich langsam und oft voller Füllmaterial Ich habe mich sehr schnell in diese Charaktere und diese Geschichten verliebt. Ich wollte mehr darüber erfahren, warum Achilles dort unten war oder was zwischen Orpheus und Eurydike vor sich ging. Bei jeder Rückreise suchte ich sie hastig auf, nur um festzustellen, dass sie nicht da waren oder nichts hatten interessant zu dem Thema zu sagen oder wenn sie etwas dazu zu sagen hatten, war es nur eine weitere umsichtige, distanzierte Äußerung, wie ich sie Dutzende Male zuvor gehört hatte, als ich mit ihnen sprach wurde aufgereiht, was sich in einem sonst so engen und konzentrierten Spiel fehl am Platz anfühlte und

Of these, I, like others, will probably envision a roguelike experience where each and every trip back to HQ feels like its own breathless chapter, where I feel like I just have to run out and die right back in order for me can come back and find what happens next, given how fast Hades is being celebrated, I can imagine that one day we'll get a game like this, but it's not like this game that progresses the story blocked behind successful clears of the game, on the one hand will also likely get a mixed reaction from players It introduces an immersive character hunt that will spur you on to further completions so you can find out what happens next. On the other hand, it introduces a new risk-reward equation where the roguelike genre was normally devoid of the risk of spending just 30 minutes on a run only to see that effort go to waste if you die at the hands of a final boss , of course, isn't entirely wasted when you're there for both gameplay and story, but I found it a point of fruition as I worked my way through the credits, I was keen to find out what happened to Hades and Zagreus and his mother is, and the only way I could do that was to complete the game 10 times. In many of these attempts, I often failed because Hades himself cursed my death in a way I never did in games like Risk of Rain 2 or Dead Cells. This design also conflicts somewhat with the packs of punishment modifiers that become available after your first clear. After that, each run starts with this screen, where you can add difficulty modifiers that fundamentally change the nature of your run. It's not just about tweaking health and damage numbers, but additional enemies on mini-bosses Mini-bosses that gain new abilities or significant changes to the buffs that you can bring or collect allow you to calibrate your run with precision and at the same time ensure that one

Extremely long progression curve as the rewards for completing each weapon type exist and with numerous overall heat levels the problem is that you are less likely to want to use this system if the story is your goal as they make the game harder if you want me really want to lock 10 easy clears to hit the credits. You could enable the optional Godmode to make the game easier, but that feels a lot like cheating your extra completions with a greater chance of success. None of this is meant as a criticism of the way Hades is breaking new ground and this with such tremendous confidence and skill that we have to debate how much we like these things, not if these things are actually good, of course the narrative of haiti is good, it's just that some will find it a little slow , of course it's good to chart the progression of the most compelling narrative behind successful clears, only some people will find it a little more frustrating than they would otherwise prefer, more so than any other roguelike I've played. Hades feels heavily throttled, it can't be experienced at your own pace, even if you're a highly skilled player everything happens at the pace of the super giant, Hades is enjoyed by almost everyone who comes to it, but the extent to which you do it love probably comes down to whether or not you think calibrating that throttle is right for you

Story aside, I really felt the impact of this throttling on the core game, and Hades begins with just one weapon unlocked, there are almost no talents available and no structures built to support you through run after run, you will unlock things that have a significant impact on your power, of course it's possible to complete the game with no unlocks available, but this is only possible after you've completed the game several times using a different save file and learned it inside and out. Instead, you'll likely complete your first clear after around 20 to 30 tries, as that's the point at which your unlocks and game knowledge will converge enough to give you a fighting chance if you're looking for a freer roguelike experience where from the start anything is possible and you're only held back by player knowledge back might feel like hades is a little too prescriptive and restrictive as if you're doomed to fail rather than give you a fair shot at instant personal success i feel like it struck the right balance because it skillfully handled the relationship between player strength and enemy strength. Haiti's enemies, bosses, and encounters all feel finely tuned to an intended level of strength. You'll make steady progress on this journey as you keep bumping into new obstacles that feel like brick walls at first, but eventually crumble in front of you. The eventual leveled difficulty curve is only possible because Supergiant knew how to balance both the encounters and the reward economy to increase its challenge in a way that never feels disproportionate with the player strength there are plenty of places where the Hades polish and player testing can be felt, but none is as important or impactful as the kind of balancing that can only be achieved thanks to hundreds of thousands of hours of player testing during Early Access. It doesn't help, but thinking about my time with Risk of Rain, a game that opens much faster than Hades, there I felt like I was marching