One of the best roguelike-style games debuts on Sony and Microsoft consoles.
It is one of the fashionable genres today, there is no doubt about that. Roguelike- style games (which started out as a sub-genre of role-playing games) have become a favorite among users and development teams alike. And due to the large number of titles of this same nature that have been appearing over the last few months, we have been able to taste authentic masterpieces such as Dead Cells , the recent Returnal or the one at hand. Hadesgot tired of receiving all kinds of awards when it came out last year on PC and Switch. An exemplary production that, after more time than the users of Sony and Microsoft consoles would have wanted, appears on said devices preserving all its quality and improving its technical finish, and also does so both in digital version and in physical format, and available from day one on Xbox Game Pass .
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The protagonist of this adventure is Zagreus, the son of Hades and prince of the Underworld, which is evidently ruled by his father. And what is your goal? Then challenge your father and escape from it to try to reach Mount Olympus. A task as arduous and painful as it is incredibly rewarding, engaging, and enjoyable . A story that has more packaging than is usual in the genre and for which we see a multitude of characters from classical Greek mythology such as Athena, Zeus and others appear. An interesting script that is possible to follow without problems thanks to the translation of these conversations into our language .
‘Hades’ is a roguelike adventure that stands out in each and every one of its game and audiovisual elements. It is a magnificent title.
Death awaits you
As is inherent to the genre, death is part of the experience that this adventure proposes. We will lose our lives dozens of times and, in doing so, the temporary aids and abilities that we have been able to forge in our game will be wasted forever. But to alleviate this situation, we will also receive certain permanent rewards . In a mirror that is part of the main hub of the game, we can invest the resources we have obtained during the game to enable certain improvements (health recovery, offensive power, etc.) as well as to obtain new weapons. At the beginning we start with a sword, but later we can get some additional ones like a spear, a bow or even a throwing shield.
The narrative is quite significant and presents us with a good number of characters drawn from classical Greek mythology.
Every time we start a new attempt to leave the Underworld, we have to go through a good number of different rooms that are procedurally generated. Rooms that are grouped into different levels and that we have to clean of adversariesto be able to access the next one. And every time we do this, we will be rewarded with a new temporary ability, a key, a kind of crystals that act as a currency, etc. The number of monsters that await us in each room is highly variable, almost as much as their different forms. The bestiary of this title is quite striking in general and to try to receive the least amount of damage possible before leaving each room, it is very necessary to learn the movement and attack patterns of each enemy. And far from being an arduous and boring task, the truth is that it is the opposite.
The fighting system is the best we’ve ever experienced in any roguelike.
And that’s because the battles become one of the main claims of the entire game. Some clashes that are the best that this style of titles has given us. In the purest style of what is recreated in a hack’n slash , we can chain really striking combos and attacks with total ease. And that is possible thanks to a fairly traditional but effective control system that is based on the use of four main buttons: normal and special attack, dodge and magic. Some duels that put the icing on a very balanced gameplay, quite varied taking into account the genre we are talking about and very addictive. And that, being honest, the truth is that it is a work that does not introduce any new element. He simply executes everything he proposes in a plausible way. Could something new have been integrated into these versions? Well, man, it never hurts to enjoy new levels, characters or weapons, aspects that have not been covered in these editions … but those who discover this game for the first time will not miss them either.
You will see this screen quite regularly, something common in this type of productions. Of course, it is not as frustrating as others and the progression is well captured.
In terms of graphics, that is where things have been slightly improved, at least in relation to the Switch version. The deliveries designed for PS4 and Xbox One are shown at 1080p and 60 animation frames, while those destined for PS5 and Xbox Series maintain that same frame rate but the resolution goes up to 4K . Everything else remains unchanged, including the isometric perspective, the sensational artistic direction that puts the whole adventure at stake, and the great recreation of monsters and characters. A very good visual section to which is added a good dubbing (in English with subtitles in our language), excellent melodies and very elaborate effects.
Artistically it is a very careful work and in these versions it is shown at 1080p and 60fps on PS4 and Xbox One, and 4K and 60fps on PS5 and Xbox Series.
A great reference of its genre
After all that we have commented both in this analysis and in the same one we made of the original title , as well as considering the amount of awards this work has received so far, we do not think it is necessary to add much more about this spectacular work of the team by Supergiant Games. Plain and simple, it is not only one of the most impressive current productions of a roguelike nature , but one of the most outstanding indie works of recent times. A majestic game in all its aspects (graphics, combat system, design, character progression …) and that should be enjoyed by any player , regardless of their relationship with this type of proposal.
