Reviewers Agree ‘Hades’ is a Fantastic Game

Hades finally made its long-awaited transition from early access to full release this past week and I am absolutely thrilled for Supergiant Games. Now that the 1.0 version of the game is available for purchase, the reviews have been pouring in. I’m ecstatic that it seems that both professional and user reviewers alike have lauded the Hades as the great game that it is. Heck, IGN.com gave the game a 9 out of 10.

Supergiant Games is a company that has that put out some excellent games that feature tremendous art design, ingenuity, and exploration of mythological themes other developers don’t tend to touch. Bastion, Pyre, and Transistor are all titles that are highly regarded in the gaming community. Steam reviews for the games average just over 90 percent and the titles all have Metascore over 80. Hades currently has a 98 percent “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam and a Metascore of 91.

What is Hades? It is described by the developers as a “rogue-like dungeon crawler” where you control the son of Hades, who is attempting to make his escape from the underworld and his father. Based in the world of Greek mythology, the other gods certainly become involved with some willing to help out the main character and others attempting to prevent him from succeeding in his quest. The art direction is phenomenally complimented by excellent voice acting and music. Hades also has smooth and responsive controls that go very well with its dungeon style combat. I can’t say enough about the game as it is the best indie game I’ve played in 2020 and one of the best indie games period.

Hades was originally released as an early access title in late 2018. I first heard about the dungeon crawler in late 2019 and spent months reading information on the game and watching gameplay videos. To say I was blown away by the look of the game would be an understatement. Having an interest in Greek mythology since elementary school, I was intrigued by the premise of Hades from the moment I discovered it. Back in April of this year, I decided to finally pull the trigger and purchased the game in its early access state on Steam because I found it had more than enough content for me to sink my teeth into.

I do not invest in early access titles very often. Many of the games with that status don’t present enough content and ongoing updates to warrant a purchase. Yet I am open to games in a work-in-progress state when there is a fair amount of content, a clear roadmap that lays out the direction the developer is taking and a legitimate plan to eventually exit early access. Hades, Dead Cells, and The Last Epoch are great examples of this.

Last year, Bastion was my first foray into the Supergiant Games world. It made me a fan of the developer. When I found out that Hades was made by the same developer, it made perfect sense as to why it looked, sounded, and played the way it did. When I bought Hades, I simultaneously purchased Pyre and Transistor. Though the library of Supergiant Games currently stands at four games, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better collection of games from an independent company. The games have left such an impression on me that I am hoping Supergiant Games releases another game soon just so I can support it.

Hades can currently be played on PC and the Nintendo Switch. I do hope that Playstation and Xbox owners will be able to enjoy this game at some point. Because I was fixated on the PC version, I didn’t know Hades was also being released on the Switch until after I bought my Steam copy. Otherwise, I would have chosen the Switch because it would have been great to have this game on a handheld. Yet that doesn’t change that I am fully satisfied with my PC purchase.

Give this game a go. For $20-25, you get a game that outclasses many games that possess a $60 price tag. Congratulations to Supergiant Games for bringing its latest work out of early access. I hope that Hades does very well for the company and provides the return on its investment that will allow it to keep making premium quality content . This type of effort more than deserves to be rewarded.

-TVGA