I’m very much waffling on purchasing this on Epic during the current sale. I’m all for Diablo-style hack’n’slash loot finding gameplay and am pretty good at it at that particular pace and style of gameplay. Is Hades like that? The screenshots/vids I see seem to show it as a much more visually chaotic and a tad more difficult than I’d like, which pushes me back into a no. But I’ve heard such good things.
I like Diablo style hack’n’slash type games as well.
Hades is quite different. I’ve only played it for a limited time compared to most here. On some days I really love the gameplay, on others I get bored by it and leave the game alone for a few months. Then I come back and get a set of power-ups and weapons where everything just clicks and I love it, until I die, and then on the next run, I try something different and get bored and leave the game alone for a few months, etc.
So it’s tough for me to say if I’d recommend it or not.
Not really like Diablo. I would define Diablo as a game more about the loot and the character build, than the actual gameplay. Which is mouse driven.
Hades is more a traditional action game, once you see beyond the roguelite structure. Direct character control instead of clicking around, more importance on second to second gameplay (ie. avoiding enemy hits and moving around appropriately). And no random loot.
Btw, this is why Diablo on console >> Diablo on PC, as someone who has played it on both extensively.
How good is your controller gameplay? It is absolutely a hard game, made more difficult if your controller reflexes are sucky like mine. That said, it has the most wonderful “pity” system in it that nerfs the difficulty dynamically until it balances with your ability. It has some of the best voice acting and music as well, and I’m personally a sucker for most ancient mythology themes. So as someone who doesn’t normally play these games due to skill issues, if the concept grabs you this is actually a great way to find out how much you like it.
Yeah I turned on baby mode, died enough times for the game to become remotely playable, and had a grand old time sucking horribly at it!
Aaaaaah, I think that sold me on not buying. Sounds much too twitchy for my taste (I really dislike fast-paced dodging).
I do love story, setting, characters, and acting to be top-notch, but if the gameplay sucks for me I’ll just be frustrated.
Thanks for the tips, they really helped.
Hades is like Rogue Legacy but instead of getting a bunch of randomized modifiers only at the start of a run, you repeatedly choose from sets of modifiers as you play the game.
Because you have those choices, you can bend the game into the type of action game that you’re comfortable with. Want it to be a twitchy bullet hell where you’re a glass cannon that needs to make a lot of precise movements? You can build that. Want a brawler where the gameplay is a simple as you pressing W+M1? You can make very effective builds that do that.
Stacking the deck so you get the build you want is part of the game’s strategic layer. If you’re good at that, it can really make up for any skill gaps on the tactical fighting layer. Plus, this is a roguelike that’s generous with upgrades between runs. Even if you find it tough at the beginning the game is eventually going to make itself easy enough for you to make progress, and you get something out of every loss.
I wouldn’t skip this because the gameplay looks fast paced, because that’s not as big a deal as it seems.
I agree. I’m too old for twitchy action games at this point (I’ve been trying with Dead Cells lately and most of the weapons leave me super frustrated and lots of enemies I can’t handle) and Hades just sucked me in and made me want to get good at it. While there can be a lot going on on screen especially later on I think Hades visual design keeps it all very legible after you get over the initial panic(and inevitable deaths that go with them).
Doh - I was trying to talk you into taking the chance, not scare you away from it! Just like Armando said, with baby/pity mode, it becomes playable for any skill level (ie., even me). Maybe try to find some YouTube folks that aren’t gods at the game to get a good feel (watching the really good players can be misleading and defeating).
The game is pretty tough. I feel like I should at least try it for a few years on default difficulty before I try baby mode.
This story seems tailor-made for the inevitable conclusion of “wow thanks guys, I’m glad you talked me into this, it’s one of my favorite games ever.”
There’s still a small chance you’ll hate it. But why not go for a high roll?
No, no.
PLEASE don’t get Hades because you think it is too hard. I am terrible at anything twitchy and I loved Hades.
The beauty of the way god mode is implemented is that it will gradually give you a little more damage resist each time a run ends (which needs to happen to advance the story). Between this and the other meta progression you will gradually feel stronger and get further in a way that feels quite organic, like you are improving (which you are), not just that the game is holding your hand. This is so much better than simply dumbing down the difficulty, because when you are successful, you will feel like you really accomplished something. And you HAVE, for whatever the skill level of the person playing happens to be.
This is one of those rare games I think pretty much everyone should play.
Well, somebody needs to play counterpoint so I guess I’ll do it. The story, setting, and characters are all great. They’re also a minuscule fraction of the game. All of your actual in-game time is spent in combat, fighting the same enemies in the same rooms over and over and over again.
Personally, I hung in there for a little less than 15 hours and enjoyed the character/story elements just fine, but the combat got really old really fast, and that’s to say nothing of the cheaty final boss. Posts like those above are what ultimately convinced me to buy the game, so it seems only responsible to say that while I certainly didn’t hate it, I wouldn’t have been missing anything important if I’d never played it. If it doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, give it a pass.
You have my attention. How did bosses cheat in Hades? I’m guessing it was Hades having a 2nd health bar - which is a surprise the first time, then you realize it’s one of his special abilities. Did any of the other bosses have a cheat?
Yup, and “cheaty” probably isn’t fair there but man do I hate that particular trope, especially in a case like this where you then end up having to essentially replay the entire game as a result of it. The game essentially saying “haha, fuck you, do it again” isn’t where I started to sour on it, but it helped expedite the process.
I definitely engaged in a bit of verbal abuse towards my screen the first time I ran into that.
The funny thing is now that I have played all of Elden Ring I feel like the issue in Hades wouldn’t phase me. Some ER boss fights were almost infinitely harder.
One of many reasons I’ll never play Elden Ring. :)
I’m not a fan of boss fights in general, so playing a Souls-like is kind of a non-starter.
Is having only like 6 clears in over 40 hours bad?
90% of the time I die fighting Hades, the other 10% is the poison rat ass tunnels.
I think I died to each boss a dozen times before clearing them. Now I can clear all bosses, usually without dying, except Hades still kicks my ass and easily kills me at least 2+ times so I need to still have my death defiances + I always swap in the tooth once I clear Elysium.
I think I’ve had better luck with ranged weapon cheese. Just kite everything and lob the AoE special grenade launcher. It takes forever but works (lots of misses with moving targets). If I can get a good special, cast, summon (all ranged or fire and forget) + damage/reflect from using dash, that’s optimal. The God of Wines summon is OP at max charge.
I like the spear but only if I can get the Poseidon range extender on it and increased attack speed from a hammer. Effectively turns it into a melee ranged weapon that is spammable from a safe distance.
I had some bow builds that were capable of clearing rooms with a bunch of the enemies still offscreen. I also gravitate towards ranged builds because they give me more time to react. But in Hades reaction meant which direction I was dodging because I was never not dodging somewhere. That said, I think there are a lot of builds that are great at getting you to Hades but suck against Hades.