Hades - Xbox ARGENTINA Digital Key
Hades for PC is a roguelike game – or perhaps the better term is ‘roguelite’
because in this game you are actually meant to die over and over, returning to
the start a little older, wiser and with plenty of improvements and power-ups in
your back pocket. It also has many elements of a role-playing game, and boasts
isometric view and a fantastic soundtrack that enhances the game play
experience, especially the combat scenes.
WHAT’S THE STORY?
The game has a simple premise – you are the son of Hades (Zagreus) and you are
making a break from the bowels of hell to the pinnacle of Mount Olympus, in the
hopes of finding out some more about your mom. Olympus is, of course, where all
your aunties and uncles hang out and some of them will aid you on your mission,
but even this godly help this won’t stop you dying often!
Non-god characters deserving of a special mention are Sisyphus – he of the
endless boulder, Patroclus, Hercules’s buddy, and Eurydice, late wife of Orpheus
who oh-so-nearly made it out of Hades and back into her tragically cut short
life.
You have a range of weapons and powers: dash, light or weapon attack (primary
weapon), special attack (an enhancement of your primary weapon and attack), and
some magic (called a ‘cast’ and being a spell that is basically a long distance
weapon). You can combine power-ups, for example, combining dash with attack
gives you a whirling melee attack called a ‘dash-strike’.
THE LITE-NESS OF BEING
You begin by playing through the same four rooms each time, but the layout and
enemies within it are different each time, giving you plenty of variety to keep
you engaged. You die a lot, especially at the beginning, but whatever loot,
treasures, power-ups and skills you have improved remain with you – hence the
game being called ‘roguelite’ rather than roguelike, which emphasises permadeath
and loss of all rewards.
Because you are meant to die often as you explore your way through Hades,
finding your way to the outside world, so you can try all the doors, explore all
the paths and try out all the options. Whichever weapon you choose gives you
different methods of engaging in combat: the sword provides for up-close
slashing action, the long-bow allows you to pick off distant enemies more easily
and the shield is great fun, able to be used as a sort of Captain America
boomerang.
Activating God Mode helps you survive longer and longer each time, by giving you
an ever-increasing resistance to damage, which makes you stronger and stronger
the more you die – a realistic trait in an immortal kid, when you think about
it!
WHAT ELSE SHOULD I KNOW?
Every time you complete a room, you earn improvements and upgrades which come in
the form of keys, in-game currency (details below), stores and any gifts that
your Olympian family have decided to help you with! Often completing a room
(killing any villains, using power-ups, finding secrets) will cause one or more
doors to open, showing you the way or giving you a choice of where to go next.
The currency takes several forms and actually upgrades the further and more
powerful you get, beginning with gold obols (tiny coins taken from the eyes of
the dead) and shards of darkness and moving up to gemstones, titan blood phials
and more. The Olympian uncles and aunts give gifts that are a nod to their godly
powers: Zeus inflicts lightning damage on your strike, and Dionysius supplies
‘hangover damage’ – better known as poison!
THE GAME MAP
Zagreus can explore the underworld in between quests, unlocking upgrades,
gaining new weapons and build new support features for underworld. He will find
himself, after the four initial rooms, in one of four underworld biomes, namely
:
Temple of Styx
Tartarus
Asphodel
Elysium
If you begin to find that the game is a little too easy, , switch up the Pact of
Punishment for greater difficulty and more challenging levels with
harder-to-beat villains.
