Hades chastises his son for running off, but seems to doubt Zagreus will make it far should he try again and deems his recent death punishment enough for now. The dead are lined up to be judged by the intimidating Hades, who leers down at them from his desk and inscribes their afterlife fates. Hypnos, the god of sleep, tallies the new arrivals to the Underworld and is surprised to see the prince among them.

He has arrived where all the dead do: the waiting room of his own house. Zagreus revives from a pool of blood in the entrance hall of the House of Hades. Because your health is low and the denizens of Tartarus are not particularly lenient, you’ll likely only get through a few chambers before you die. He receives a gift from the god Zeus, who bestows a power onto him to help him fight better, and then it’s off to whack at some dungeon monsters. The game opens up with Zagreus in Tartarus, the bowels of the Underworld. The basic conceit of Hades is simple: you play as Zagreus, son of Hades, who wants to escape the Underworld against his father’s will. _ 3P Reviews Series: HadesĬontent Warnings: Mention of death, parental abuse, kidnapping brief mention of rape, torture, murder reclaimed use of the term “queer.” It retells parts of classic Greek myths, but it goes further than just making them appealing it recontextualizes the everlasting parts of them and sows them into a narrative that, while familiar, is utterly its own. Very little is wasted, and it has one of the most inventive ways of exploring story that I’ve ever seen in a video game. The gamemakers know their craft in a way few others do. Hades is not only the best game I’ve played all year (so far), it’s one of the best games I’ve played, period. The story revolves around the shirtless anime prince of the Underworld, Zagreus, as he battles through his father’s domain and comes across all sorts of references that will make your inner teenager go, “Hey, I understood that reference.”Īnd yet, it works. What’s more, it’s rooted in Greek mythology in a way that’s designed to seem authentic while remaining very marketable. It’s a hack-and-slash roguelike with occasional dialogue bubble interruptions that convey a very long yet straightforward plot. I want to preface this review with that to make it clear that Hades has to work hard to win me over. After the third or fourth time hearing about Orpheus or Zeus or Heracles, though, you start to realize few adaptations bring anything new to the table. There are plenty of adaptations of myths that are designed to appeal to a modern audience, and these are great when you’re a kid and haven’t seen them before. What I liked wasn’t really the myths themselves – many of the originals are fairly dry – but rather I liked the retelling of them they were translated into modern frameworks in a way that I found relatable. I mean, I liked the Ancient Greece unit in middle school history class, and at one point I could name all of the major gods and their origin stories, but by high school, I had started to grow out of them. I’m not much of a fan of Greek mythology.

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