Hades

Hades is a 2020 roguelike action role-playing game developed and published by Supergiant Games. It was released for macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows on September 17, 2020. It was later released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in August 2021, and was released for iOS in March 2024 through Netflix Games. Zagreus (Darren Korb), the son and Firstborn of Hades (Logan Cunningham), seeks to escape his father’s realm in the Underworld. He is aided in his quest by his adoptive mother Nyx (Jamie Landrum), the Gods of Olympus to whom he has reached out, and other inhabitants of the Underworld.

Hades claims that escape is impossible and hinders Zagreus by unleashing the Underworld’s monsters on him. When Zagreus is slain, he is revived at the House of Hades, a palace where he and other Chthonic gods reside, which he leaves to attempt another escape. It is eventually revealed that Zagreus wishes to escape the Underworld to find Persephone (Laila Berzins), his biological mother, whom he never knew due to being told that he was the child of Nyx. Hades refuses to allow her name to be spoken in his House, and it is said that those who disobey this order will be punished. Nyx decides to help Zagreus find the truth about his birth mother by putting him in contact with his relatives on Olympus.

After reaching the exit to the Underworld and defeating Hades, Zagreus finds Persephone at a cottage in Greece. After they reunite, Zagreus discovers that since he, like Hades, is bound to the Underworld, he will quickly die after reaching the surface. Despite this, he promises to keep escaping the Underworld to spend time with Persephone and learn the truth about her absence. The player controls Zagreus, the prince of the Underworld, who seeks to escape the realm to get away from his unloving father, Hades, and reach his mother Persephone in the mortal world. Along his quest, the other Olympians support him, granting him gifts called Boons to help him fight the beings that guard the exit to the Underworld.

He is also aided by notorious residents of the Underworld, such as Sisyphus, Eurydice, and Patroclus. The game world is divided between four main dungeons; Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and the Temple of Styx, each representing one of the regions of the Underworld, with each new region being unlocked upon clearing the previous. The game is presented in an isometric view, with the player controlling Zagreus. The player starts a run by fighting through several rooms drawn from a pool of pre-determined layouts, with the order they appear in and the enemies that appear being randomized.

The game features a hack and slash combat system. The player has a primary attack and a secondary “special” attack depending on their pre-determined weapon of choice, a magic “cast” that can be used from a distance, a dash that provides momentary intangibility and mobility, allows the player to phase through thin enough walls and gaps, and can deal damage when combined with an attack or Boon, and a summon attack that can call upon the power of one of the Gods. Throughout a run, the Olympians will provide Boons, each of which provides a choice of three persistent boosts and effects for that run that the player can select from.

The Boons are themed based on the Olympian; for example, Zeus’s Boons provide lightning damage effects and Poseidon’s provide push-back wave effects. The player moves through rooms to gradually ascend through the Underworld; after clearing a room, the player is given the room’s rewards, allowing them to grow stronger or recover lost health points. However, if Zagreus’ health points drop to zero while he has no “death defiance” tokens left, he is defeated and taken by the river Styx back to the House of Hades, which effectively acts as the game’s overworld between attempts. 

Hades features a combination of roguelike and dungeon-crawler elements, where obols and certain types of upgrades are lost upon death and must be collected anew each time, while other types of currency can be used at the House to purchase permanent upgrades that affect future attempts. After clearing a certain number of rooms in a region, the player must fight the bosses of the region to advance to the next; at least one of the three Furies in Tartarus, the skeletonized Lernaean Hydra in Asphodel, Theseus and Asterius in Elysium, and Hades at the gates of the Underworld.