#a major part of Zagreus' mythology is that he died

[aroaceleovaldez]

Nico referring to his mom as "Mama" implies he most likely at least used to refer to Hades as "Papa" and i 100% headcanon he still does but mostly in the manner of him having the entire Underworld wrapped around his finger for being the baby of the family

[rikusqueenofhearts]

All right. Guys. We're gonna try something different because I am messing up, and I think I got an idea for a Greek mythology retelling.

Option 1: A dark retelling of Hades and Persephone where they're enemies to lovers, but it's also more complicated than that. Demeter is not a bad guy either, but she's a grieving mother. Persephone being against Hades but also loving him later on. It's a blend of both. Persephone missing her mom terribly. So, technically, more close to Greek mythology.

Option 2: Persephone is in love with Adonis, and the two seem to be into each other until it's discovered Aphrodite has seduced Adonis and encourages him to leave Persephone high and dry. Persephone feels as though she's about to lose her only friend and companion in the Underworld. With a side of Hades and Persephone.

Option 3: Another similar story to Hades and Persephone except it's with Leuke. Leuke isn't close to her father, but is carefree and loving towards her sisters and friends. After being abducted, she's at a loss. She doesn't want to be the queen of the Underworld. She has a complicated relationship with Hades while also trying to escape. Might end up pregnant in the story, and even then, she's got mixed feelings.

Option 4: So this Zagreus in one source is said to be a son of Hades and an unknown woman. This story would be about Zagreus being Hades' heir, but also, Zagreus has a connection to the outside world, able to leave the Underworld. Zagreus is still the god of rebirth and hunting, but leans more towards hunting in this one. He captures his love interest in a net, and he ends up in a situation with the love interest. Might be adventure or like Hades and Persephone.

Option 5: This Zagreus in most sources is the son of Zeus and Persephone. Zagreus is the heir of Olympus, but is also the prince of the Underworld due to Persephone's marriage to Hades. Zagreus is the stepson of Hades. Zagreus and Hades often don't meet eye to eye. Zagreus realizes just how powerful and capable he is as a god. He had died as a child, but then got brought back to life. Zagreus is both caring and terrifying figure. Zagreus has a connection to both the Underworld and the upper sky. His consort would be an earth goddess.

Option 6: Minthe is a part of the Underworld and was once Hades' lover, striving to be a ruler. But when Hades deserted her for Persephone, Minthe was heartbroken. Minthe had no choice but to obey. But Persephone, feeling threatened by Minthe, finds any means to make Minthe's life hell. Demeter does the same thing to Minthe.

Option 7: Eros and Psyche story would take place in fae lore, with Eros as a prince of Elphame while Psyche is a mortal who was stolen away and made to marry Eros without knowing who he truly is. Eros did this to protect Psyche from his mother's wrath, his mother seeing the girl as a threat. For what reason? Who knows.

Option 8: This one is before Eros and Psyche. Rhodope is the sister of Leuke. Connected to option 3. Rhodope attempts to find her lost sister, but Eros offers to help as long as she pays him back. Rhodope is unsure what he wants, but she agrees to let Eros help her find Leuke. Hera assumes that Eros is breaking his own rules of love and warns Zeus of Eros' love for Rhodope, even making up lies about them. For what reason? Who knows.

Option 9: In one source, Eros and Peitho had a daughter together, but that could be just a minor source that's not major. Either way, Eros and Peitho hooked up at some point, and Peitho finds herself pregnant despite being set to marry Hermes. Peitho must figure out what to do.

Option 10: Any more than one of these.

Option 11: Any other idea? Not sure unless you got something.

Option 12: I'm not sure how all of these would connect, but I would come up with something.

[impactemblem]

A Roguelike from Hell | A Review of Hades (Blog #1)

>click on the photo for a link to its trailer

Introduction

Hades is a game that honestly came out of left field for me. I had never heard of the game until half a year ago (despite being in development since 2018), when I saw videos about it recommended to me on YouTube. Its premise featured a young god named Zagreus, pictured in the photo above, trying to escape his home in the Underworld which is ruled by his father Hades. It very clearly drew influence from ancient Greek mythology. Since I was very interested in the subject since elementary school, I was intrigued by it and decided to buy the game for myself. It had already come out by the time I made my discovery.

The Verdict: Is the game good and would I recommend it?

Yes. Very much so.

Part 1 (1/2): Progress

I decided to review gameplay elements first because it is a mostly stagnant aspect of the game. This is not to degrade the quality of its mechanics, but it largely does not change throughout the game, so I will not need to add anything major after making this initial post. Most games are like this, so it does not count against it from a review standpoint. By the time of writing this post, I have already completed my first successful run of Hades. I have unlocked all of the weapons and discovered all the various upgrades I can find during a run. I’m still making progress on unlocking all the permanent upgrades to Zagreus.

In terms of my writing, I feel a bit shy and may hold back a lot of my enthusiasm for reasons I’ve written in my about page. However, I will try my best to analyze the parts of this game as well as I can! I’ve never done a game review before, so I think it’ll be interesting to see what happens with it.

Part 1 (2/2): Review

Hades is a roguelike game, as stated in the title of this post. But what is that, exactly? It is a subgenre of dungeon-crawling games, where the player must enter through a variety of randomly generated rooms and defeat the enemies held within. It is characterized by its tile-based graphics (the layout of each room is in squares) and the “permanent” death of the character when the player fails. The rooms in this game are various regions of the Underworld (with a boss fight at the end of each region), and when Zagreus’ health bar reaches 0 (by receiving damage from enemies), he dies and comes back to life at his home in the House of Hades. It is explained that he doesn’t actually die because he is already a god in the land of the dead, but all the player’s progress is erased. They will have to start their trek all over again.

At first glance, this basis seems tedious and not enjoyable in the slightest; doing all that work to get where you did before having your progress reset. This is what I initially thought before diving in, but the game fixes this problem by having the House reset as well. There are always new things to find and new characters to talk to after dying on each run. The player will never particularly feel frustrated if their escape attempt fails, even if they die twenty times before a successful escape, and believe me, the player will be failing a lot. This is mostly attributed to the interesting and changing dialogue between Zagreus and the various characters. It was written with extreme attention to detail, as they comment on decisions you have made in-game. To illustrate this more clearly, take this for example:

(apologies for the rather poor quality, there was no proper clip of this interaction anywhere online, I play the game on a Nintendo Switch)

For context, after your first successful run, you unlock a plethora of challenges that make the game harder. This is for players who crave a more difficult task to accomplish. One of the challenges include timing your escape attempt, having 10 minutes to clear each region of the Underworld or your attempt will automatically be failed. Hermes acknowledges you turning this option on. These kinds of voice lines are short and small, but somehow it causes the gameplay to be so much more engaging than it would be without them. The choices you make as the player are noticed by other characters, making each attempt different and exciting.

In addition to this, the player can collect gemstones and gifts during their run, which they can spend on permanent upgrades in the Mirror of Night back at the House of Hades. The player can also give gifts to various characters, who would reveal more of their backstory upon doing so. This means that technically, dying can rewards the player in some ways.

Another component that makes each attempt feel unique is the different weapons and the different upgrades you can gain during each one. There are a total of six weapons Zagreus can take with him, and huge amount of power-ups that you can earn as a reward for clearing rooms (although these upgrades disappear when you die or complete an attempt). The staple of these power-ups are called “boons”, offered to you by the various Greek gods. Each type of boon is characterized by their effects, and some boons between different gods can compliment each other depending on what kind of playstyle you wish to try. These playstyles are referred to as “builds” by the community, and there is guaranteed to be at least one that any person would like. For instance, my personal favorite build uses Dionysus and Artemis boons, as they deal large amounts of damage and synergize well with Coronacht, the bow weapon. There are eight different gods who can offer boons to the player, and coupled with the amount of weapons, there is something for everyone to enjoy.

The game is available on PC and the Nintendo Switch. Sadly, I could not experience the game on a computer because of the limited resourced I had available to me. Luckily, however, I found that the game ran well on my Switch. I’ve seen that the PC version is still better, but I did not find my limitations too detrimental at the time. If a player is considering buying the game on PC, it is recommended that they have a console controller because it works better than a keyboard.

Here’s some footage of Hades gameplay at it’s best, so you can get an idea of how the game functions (you don’t need to watch the full video, this is just a visual you can watch if you are curious).

I am not as skilled as the individual who accomplished this 25-minute run record, but I can still confirm that the fast-pace nature of this game is really enjoyable.

Conclusion/Reflection

I had never played a roguelike game before, and it became glaringly obvious that I did not have a particular talent in playing them. It wasn’t the gameplay that I came for (as stated before, I was drawn in by its graphics), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was to my liking. I’m not suddenly a roguelike game enthusiast, but I do believe that there are very talented people handling the mechanics and coding at Supergiant Games. They work closely with the people who design the world and story of Hades, which I can really appreciate as a person who is much more story-oriented rather than gameplay-oriented.

I’m very excited to talk about the more artistic aspects of the game in my next blog!