Hades is an incredibly addictive rougelike set in the Greek underworld. You play as Zagreus, the son of Hades, who is attempting to escape to the world of the living. Beautifully animated and full of gods and vanquished heroes, Hades has a fairly compelling story which is basically a dysfunctional family drama. The lord of the underworld, you see, has forbidden his son to leave, and so every time he dies (you'll die a lot, it's a rougelike), Zagreus has to walk past his grumpy workaholic dad, who has a quip or putdown ready for his rebellious son. The voice acting and writing are excellent, especially for an indie, but this is Supergiant of Bastion fame, so enough said. Gameplay consists of hack and slash combat in randomized dungeons based in four locales (you start on the lowest level, Tartarus). What makes Hades really fun is that Zagreus's build can vary drastically between playthroughs depending on what gods you encounter. The Olympians want to meet Zagreus, and can't help but stick their heads in his business, so they lend their aid by way of Boons, which can greatly determine your success or failure. Zeus can make your Dash movement shoot lightning, whereas Artemus can buff your critical chance. One of my favorites is Poseidon's Tidal Dash, which knocks enemies away from you and often send them into a trap or lava pit. It's all great, addictive fun, and I haven't touched Assassin's Creed Odyssey for a couple days because I can't stop playing. Rougelikes aren't a genre I've ever been interested in, but seeing how everyone has been singing this game's praises for over a year, I think most people will likely enjoy Hades.
I haven't played an Assassin's Creed game since Assassin's Creed 2. Odyssey seems to share much more in common with the Witcher 3 than its earliest predecessors, which is fine by me, since I enjoyed the Witcher 3 far more than those games. It's basically a Greek mercenary simulator, complete with naval combat and a fighting system more similar to Dark Souls than Assassin's Creed 1 or 2. It is also gorgeous and requires a decent system to run on max settings at 1440p. Still, after having finished Red Dead 2 not that long ago, the prospect of slogging through another 90 hour game isn't appealing at the moment, which is why, perhaps, Hades has my attention. That being said, if you've missed out on the Assassin's Creed series for several years, you might be surprised how much they've moved toward open-world RPG territory. There's not a whole lot on my plate for the rest of the year gamewise, other than Deathloop and Halo Infinite, so I'm sure I'll return to Odyssey after my interest in Hades wains.
No comments:
Post a Comment