And you thought YOUR dad was bad!!! (Hades)

King of Posters
#1

i’m surprised there isn’t a dedicated thread on here already for what might be a top GOTY 2020 contender but man it’s so fun

closest i ever came to really enjoying a roguelike/lite game like this was Dead Cells and even though there’s a friction and feel of that game that i like a bit more, the overall package of Hades (gameplay loop, weapons feel, writing, art, music direction, etc) makes for a damn fine capital V Video Game

i have never played a Supergiant game before this and now i want to experience their entire catalogue (i think Bastion and Transistor are both less than 4 bucks on the eshop right now)

and like all videogames, i’m not very good at it despite my fierce respect for the product (24 runs in, still haven’t beaten it) but the characters and unfolding story and incredibly effective boon building customization potentials make this a really enjoyable experience that literally every single person i know with a Switch is diving into

i give all my gifts to staff before the Gods, it makes for a harder game but they seem happier

5 Likes
#2

hades is such a good Feel
it feels Good to Die cuz that means i get to talk to my wonderfully voice acted friends who i am absolutely not horny for in any way shape or form and yes megaera is my sister but she is absolutely a tsundere

2 Likes
#3

As I posted in a Quick Questions thread, regarding playing Hades:

Seems like more and more people are arguing that Hades should get the top spot!

#4

I am really into the cadence of the dialogue. Everything is very fast, commas do not indicate pauses. Zag is especially fast. It’s an aspect of the style that I can’t stop thinking about as I play.

Something conservative about me makes me cringe that this game has systems of persistent progression, with upgrades and stuff. I don’t have any good reason to feel this way, and it looks like the upgrades are really small things anyway. So it seems unlikely that upgrades can trivialize the combat any more than getting stacked off random rewards can, snowballing to victory, which is always a blast.

3 Likes
#5

There are definitely some BIG CRUTCH upgrades, e.g. ones that save you from death (multiple times) so that’s my main complaint about the game.

Feels like it’s designed around the upgrades, though, especially because some favors interact with them. So I’m left feeling like “I don’t want the crutch” but also “it’s likely not using the crutch isn’t the intended way to play”.

Anyway it feels really nice and polished, the voice acting & art & presentation are all top notch! Combat is snappy and flowy. I’ve been using it to wind down from Spelunky runs.

I played it a little in alpha and thought it was ok, but it’s definitely better as a completed package.

1 Like
#6

people keep posting screenshots of the dialogue and holy shit HOLY SHIT it’s my kind of Not Horny At All.

i just really wanna play a roguelite again where losing and talking to people is just as important as dungeon progression again!

QUESTION: is there a daphne cameo

6 Likes
#7

I enjoyed Bastion, but this looked too modern Rogue-like formula (Binding of Issac-like?) where you’re just kind of slamming your head against the wall while you slowly unlock stuff.

On the other hand I just beat a super easy Rogue knockoff on my Smart TV on my first try during my lunch break. It was like a really stripped down Nethack with occasional Tiger Lights Out puzzles slapped on. A+

5 Likes
#8

I also do not like roguelites but if there’s one developer who’s cool enough to pull it off it’s the Transistor people. Maybe I’ll give it a shot

1 Like
#9

I’ve already talked about it extensively in the games thread! It feels near perfect, like it’s exactly the game it’s trying to be. The systems and how they all feed each other are magic. Action is fluid and fast, the choices are plentiful and meaningful.

The permanent mirror rewards and keepsake mechanics are… actually really good. They’re here to make the game beatable by almost anyone with enough perseverance (+50 max HP and 3 death defiances are enormously useful) And when/if the game becomes too easy for you, you can add challenge modifiers. Which unlock unique rewards not available anywhere else. This game’s systems are perfect!

I’m only slightly disappointed by its total absence of jank and its unwillingness to try to be anything but a pure entertainment product

9 Likes
#10

If Steam is an option for you I have a key for Bastion you can use

#11

I really wonder how Bastion would play brand-new in 2020. Even by 2011 indie standards it was a bit too slight (it’s almost entirely combat arenas with only a few enemy types) with a lot of production values in the margins. After a decade of increasingly-Nintendo-esque aesthetics in small games, does it read at all?

3 Likes
#12

It was never that good imo, except of course for the narrator.

3 Likes
#13

I didn’t like Bastion when it came out. Got bored in the middle. The combat was hardly doing anything for me, and that’s most of the game.

3 Likes
#14

yea bastion sucks so tell me more the good game please! i wanna see more screenshots of husbands

2 Likes
#15

i like the little goblin obsessed with cleaning

theseus and his boyfriend minos

hmmm

#16

you really gotta hear these husbands to get the whole effect

1 Like
#17

I found Pyre undercooked and wasn’t that impressed by Hades in early alpha, but that may have primed me for disappointment from the sounds of the reaction to the full release

#18

yeah i got impatient and watched videos and uh i need this game

#19

Bastion had some cool challenge rooms that had they same kind of combat-mechanics-as-a-puzzle feel as the Perfect Dark shooting range. I was kind of iffy on it until I hit those.

1 Like
#20

I’ve always found the Supergiant games fairly unremarkable at first glance. I think only Pyre has piqued my interest because of the NBA Jam connection. I realise these games are polished and stylish and usually feature great voicework but whenever I see Hades gameplay my brain kinda glides over it. Is its core appeal in the structure? It sounds like it does a similar storytelling thing to Abyss Odyssey where the runs still form a continuous narrative even though you fail and retry.