It's been quite some time since our last foray through the Greek Underworld with the handsome and kind Prince Zagreus. Back then, the game was still incomplete, even if all of the stages, including the final boss, were ready and waiting for anyone who could brave through a full run.
And yet, much has been tweak, added, or adjusted between then and now. Additionally, the game has a proper ending for players to experience when they finally succeed. Join us, as we take this opportunity to take a few Quick Runs through what has become one of my favorite rougelikes from the past few years, and possibly my favorite game from Supergiant to date.
It has been a ton of fun watching how this game has progressed since it started out in Early Access nearly two years ago. Even back then, Hades felt like a polished, if not fully complete experience out of the box, that still gave other roguelikes a run for their money. Even if Lernie, the Stygian Hydra was as far as one could go, that was still fairly substantial at the time.
And that only grew more and more true as the updates rolled out, adding features that people entering now would struggle to envision the game without, like the House Contractor or the many aspects of each of the Infernal Arms. Further, each update always felt substantial, bringing in big changes and improvements to the game that made running it again feel different than it did before.
As someone who has "beaten" the game over sixty times now, the joy I feel at seeing how far the game has come is compounded further by my own excitement at finally seeing the true ending for it. That they even thought of a clever solution to the problem of still needing to give the player an excuse to go on additional runs only makes the artistic all the more apparent.
Having lived on-and-off with this cast of characters for all this time, it's also been heartwarming to see the memes, fan art, and fandom practically reemerge in the wake of the 1.0 release. I have friends who are making their first escape attempts and I can't help but smile because they're having the same amount of fun, if not more, than I did starting out. They get to share in my excitement, and I theirs.
It's a wonderful feeling.
No comments:
Post a Comment