Hey everybody, welcome to baby got backlog, a video games podcast where I bring in other video game lovers to talk about the games that I’ve played recently. joined today by Aaron “the Minotaur” Angle and nectar enthusiast Jim Rodeman Today’s game is Hades , an isometric roguelike action dungeon crawler developed and published by Supergiant Games for all major platforms in 2020 after a few years in early access on PC. Before we get into our focus on Hades, what has everyone been playing lately? Ok, let’s get into Hades. Hades is a game that leans on its story as a major gameplay motivation, so We will attempt to avoid spoilers until the spoiler wall later in the episode, so if you haven’t played it, fear not, and if you have, we’ll get into that spoilery good stuff later in the episode. Our histories with the game- When did we play, on what platform- played on switch, bought it at release What interested us in this game? I’ve enjoyed everything Supergiant had done, and Hades had gotten great reviews during the early access period. So as soon as I got a 1.0 release date on Switch, I knew I would get it on day 1. Play time- around 15 hours Basics of how the game works, key mechanics Roguelike structure- when you die, you lose all temporary boons and currencies, and are reset to the home base area, where you can chat with the other residents of the underworld, pet the dog, and spend your persistent resources on upgrades for your character, weapons and home base itself. What are our histories with roguelikes and how did Hades compare? For me, I’m kind of sick of the trend of what feels like every new indie game being roguelike, but if the gameplay is fun I’ll enjoy the game. But I find a lot of them too hard to beat, or once I do get one clear, I’m done forever with the game, like my brain moves on. Same thing happened in Hades. Having a coherent story really helped me get as far as I did. How runs work- during the runs, your in-run powerups will be in the form of boons from various Greek gods, or Daedalus hammers to upgrade your skills. The boons from the gods often synergize really well. I really like how the first few boons you get can really shape the run, which further gives gameplay variety, based on the weapon you picked for that run. How about you guys? Did you enjoy the way runs are constructed? We will talk about insider stuff like specific boons, weapons and synergies after the spoiler wall. Combat- most of the game is spent in combat, progressing through biomes as sets of combat arenas. There are four biomes, and each biome has unique enemies that get harder as you progress. Each biome also ends with a boss fight, which stays relatively consistent each time. Combat is from an isometric point of view, and you mainly customize your combat style by which of the six weapons you pick for that particular run. I really enjoyed the combat for the most part, there are a few enemies in particular that really suck to fight, but the combat is smooth, customizeable and very skill and awareness-based in most cases. Very fun Bosses- four main bosses, one at the end of each area, the bosses are the same each run but there are small variations. I heard somebody describe the boss difficulty as “un sticking a jar lid”, where they are difficult the first few times you fight them, or even more so for one in particular, but once you beat them once, you’ve mastered them and will probably beat them each subsequent time. One in particular I lost to almost 15 times in a row, and once I beat it, I beat it the next 5 times no problem Story- each “run” is an attempt by Zagreus, son of Hades, to escape the underworld to reach mount olympus. During and after each run, the npcs will comment on your quest to escape, some encouraging you (like the gods) and some discouraging you (dad). The writing and voice acting for these bits are very entertaining, and the fact that you can play this game for hundreds of hours without these lines of dialogue repeating is an absolute feat. And once you learned why Zagreus wants to escape, it gave some stakes that I personally got into. What do you guys think of the story? We will talk specifics after the spoiler wall. Without spoilers, there is a true ending to unlock, did you guys get it? Gameplay loop- the combination of the roguelike structure and the story give Hades an intensely satisfying loop, in my opinion. In the time it takes to talk to your people back at the home base, give a few gifts, and upgrade some stuff, I’d already formulated a plan for my next attempt. Base building? How did the loop treat you guys? There are romance options in the story, did you guys pursue any of those? Horny character designs? There is a debate over whether these designs are horny, which is a debate I would like to weigh in on- in this game in particular, the characters are all drawn in a sexy way, but keep in mind these are greek gods, who by all accounts were horny as hell all the time. Visuals- Because Supergiant is a pretty small team that has had the same lead artist, Jen Zee, for a long time, the studio has a pretty recognizeable style, with their use of vibrant colors and the way characters are drawn, especially. I love the way Supergiant games look and Hades is really beautiful, from the fiery reds of asphodel to the eerie blue and green of Elysium. Music- music (and lots of voice acting) is done by Darren Korb, as usual for Supergiant, and I love the range of the soundtrack, from the heavy metal of the boss fights to the slower, trudging, building music of the levels themselves, to the much lighter, heartfelt falsetto songs. WHat do you guys think? Final thoughts, Do we recommend? At what price point? I roll my eyes when I see the word “roguelike” in a new game description. And if one actually gets to me, I usually have a thing with roguelikes where once I “complete” a run, I instantly lose all interest in the game. Hades was good enough to get me to that point, even though it’s very hard, which is a victory. The characters were fun, the loop was excellent, and it’s definitely worth a buy at its full price point of $25. Housekeeping - Thank you for listening! If you want to support the show, please subscribe on your platform of choice, leave us a rating and review if your platform allows it, and spread the good word! I/we also do a podcast called A Top 3 Podcast where each week we pick a topic, pick our top 3s in that topic, and discuss. It’s a good time, so check that out if you want to hear us talk about other subjects. SPOILER WALL Spoilery experiences Favorite boons and synergies? My only escape came with the shield, as I felt like the game was too hard for me with up close and personal weapons like the sword, fists and spear. The only times I could reliably get to Hades were with the shield and the gun. I generally went for doom damage any time I could, and the time I got out it was because I had the shield with a captain america shield ricochet ability + doom damage that just melted regular enemies, and the shield itself meant I could block difficult attacks. Also loved any attack or boon that like arc’d damage from one enemy to the next, or big AOE. Some of these encounters are really difficult, especially in elysium and daddy boss fight, so getting chip damage on everybody was always helpful. Tartarus -basically a tutorial zone, you’ll learn about basic enemies, ranged enemies, enemies with armor -boss Fury sisters, killed me the first few tries but never again after that. A test of sorts to see if you understand the combat Asphodel -introduces environmental hazards -never really had an issue, the Hydra is a pretty easy boss, don’t know if I died to it more than once or twice. -very cool area Elysium -Also, fuck the butterfly balls in Elysium. -The boss I alluded to earlier where I lost 15 times in a row but then never lost again after that was Theseus and the Minotaur Temple of Styx -poison enemies are bastards -Cerberus nooooooo DADDY -very difficult. Only beat him one time because of DOT boons. Story talk So once I made my first escape and talked to mom, and realized that I had to go back down and escape again, I had full intentions of doing the required 10 more runs to get the real ending, but then I died against Zeus after another 35 minute run and just said “nah” i’m done with this, so I just read about what happens on wikipedia. Persephone was given to Hades as a gift, and they had Zagreus, but he was stillborn. He was brought back to life by Nyx, but Persephone went to live in secret on the surface.. Persephone refuses to return to the Underworld because she fears retribution from the Olympians towards Hades and the Underworld should they discover the truth about her disappearance, especially her mother Demeter, who has covered the mortal world in an endless winter in grief for her daughter. Zagreus eventually convinces her to return by reminding her of the bonds of family and they finally sail down from Greece towards the House of Hades on the River Styx ferried by Charon. Persephone resumes her duties as Queen of the Underworld and Hades, now with a renewed respect for his son, allows Zagreus to continue his escape attempts under the guise of finding security vulnerabilities in the Underworld. In an epilogue, Persephone comes up with the idea of reconciling with the Olympians by inviting them all to a feast in the House of Hades. There they claim that Hades and Persephone eloped and had Zagreus, but avoided telling them about Persephone's resentment of Olympus and further add a false claim that due to her having eaten Underworld pomegranate seeds, she can only leave the Underworld a few months out of the year. The Olympians readily accept this explanation, though it's implied they know what really happened and simply wish to move on. Everyone now reconciled, Zagreus' new duties to escape his home continue. How about you guys? What do you think about the story?