Welcome to The Backlog, a series in which we will take a look back at 12 games from 2020 that, in one way or another, had a lasting impact on the video game industry.
How much can I praise a game that I am objectively terrible at playing? That's the conundrum at the heart of this month's Backlog post. I have previously written about my struggles with the Hades franchise, so I won't recap it too thoroughly, but the takeaway is that I have been very bad at Hades since its release on Sept. 17, 2020. In the five years since, I have put in a bunch of hours but have only managed to beat the final boss a couple of times, and I consider my failures with it as one of the biggest of my gaming life, alongside my sheer ineptitude at Hollow Knight (I hope everyone is enjoying Silksong!) and all of the FromSoftware games.
Still, even in my struggles, and because of my refusal to turn on Baby Gamer Mode, I can appreciate Hades for how it has perfected its own genre and brought many more players into the roguelike world than even the most optimistic of fans could have imagined. Since its release, millions of players have taken the mantle of Zagreus, the titular character's unruly son, who is on a quest to escape from Hell for reasons that, frankly, I have not absorbed beyond them being the impetus for the game's loop. That's the thing about Hades: There are plenty of people who obsess over its lore, but what you get out of the game is directly proportional to how much you put into it. If you do not care about its colorful characters and evolving dialogue, you can always just skip through that to get back to killing things.
Hades has been a phenomenon since its release because of that flexibility and accessibility, and has propelled Supergiant Games, developer of excellent games like Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre, to industry stalwart. I was always interested in Supergiant's games, but after Hades, I became a day-zero purchaser of Hades II when it was in Early Access, and will likely do the same for whatever comes next. In terms of The Backlog, Hades fits the criteria of "game that had a lasting impact on the video game industry" more than most, a rising tide that has lifted the genre to new heights. I wouldn't say Balatro or Vampire Survivors wouldn't exist without Hades, but I am confident in saying that they would have had a trickier time latching onto the public consciousness if they couldn't be described as "poker, but like Hades" or "vampire shoot-em-up, but like Hades."
With all that in mind, let's dive in and see why so many people have attempted to escape Hell, and had such a great time dying.
What Is It?
Hades is a roguelike action role-playing game. What the hell does that mean? Let's break it down piece-by-piece. The "action" part is self-explanatory: There's combat, and it's decided by the player's skill with the controller (or mouse and keyboard) and their coordination. (This stands in opposition with, say, a turn-based game, which usually relies more on strategic acumen and preparation.) The "role-playing" aspect of Hades isn't particularly deep, but it's there: You can customize Zagreus with various weapons and items, there's a narrative that evolves throughout the game, and he gains more abilities as the game goes on, all hallmarks of RPGs.
It's the "roguelike" part that gives Hades its unique flavor, though. The roguelike gets its name from the 1980 game Rogue, and its main features are permadeath for the player character and overarching progression. What that means in play is that each "run" (in Hades, they are called "escapes") ends when the character dies, and you restart at the beginning, over and over (and if you're bad like me, over and over and over and over). Each time you venture into Hell, you collect currency that then lets you upgrade Zagreus's abilities. You can buy a "cheat death" that saves you once per run (more as you level it up) and brings you back to half health. You can upgrade your damage when attacking enemies from behind. You can upgrade your dash. Hades also lets you collect keys throughout your escapes which unlock more upgrades or, crucially, the various weapons available in the game. Zagreus starts with a big sword, but you can unlock a shield, a bow, a gun, a spear, and—my personal favorite—big metal fists.
All of this means that while you do play the same parts of the game repeatedly while trying to reach the final boss, each run plays differently thanks to your skillset, what boons you pick up throughout—each run has randomized abilities you receive from the gods of Olympus, from Dionysus's ability to put damage-over-time debuffs on enemies to Athena's ability to deflect attacks while dashing—and what weapon you pick. While you may have to fight first major boss Megaera the Fury ("Meg") many times, it gets easier each time, both from repetition and optimization of Zagreus's powers. The fact that each run is as short or as long as your skill allows gives Hades an addicting gameplay loop that rewards the player for slowly getting better at its many challenges.
What Went Right?
All those aspects combine to form the game's main strength, which is replayability. While the Civilization series might have the best claim for "one more turn" mentality, Hades pulls the same trick with "one more escape." Did you fuck up on the challenging third boss, in the beautiful Elysium zone? Might as well go again and correct your mistakes to advance deeper into the game's four biomes: the relatively generic Tartarus, the lava-laden Asphodel, Elysium, and the final showdown at the Temple of Styx.
By giving the player tangible and permanent progression from run to run, Hades encourages this self-betterment narrative, but the real genius is the randomization of god boons. A run is never doomed, even if you get a lot of Zeus buffs (for the strongest god, he sure has my least favorite boons), but there's always the chance that the next run will have your exact perfect combination of gods helping you out. I prefer Dionysus's damage-over-time and Hermes's sheer speed, with a dash of Aphrodite's "Weak" debuff, which reduces the damage I take. But your mileage might vary, and that's the genius of Hades. Finding the right combinations can turn Zagreus from a fine enough killing machine to a wrecking ball of godlike demolition.
Elsewhere, Hades shines due to its art style and characters. The game is a treat to look at, particularly once you consistently get past Tartarus, which is easily the game's most boring zone, visually. Zagreus's abilities all pop off the screen; throwing your shield like Captain America is as satisfying as lining up the perfect bow volley. The enemies could use a bit more flavor, but for the most part, they get the job done, and each biome has enough unique monsters to not feel repetitive as you move through them. The bosses are similarly great: Meg zips around the battlefield and shoots out pink orbs of death, while the snake that caps Asphodel is almost silly and cartoonish, at least when it's not trying to murder you with many additional heads that slam onto the ground.
The characters that aid Zagreus on his journey are even better, though, and perhaps the single best part of the game. Each of the game's gods are beautifully rendered, and they all have their unique personalities. Aphrodite is a flirt, Ares seems like he'd rather be doing anything else, Hermes is a little weirdo, and Poseidon is a chill uncle. There are additional characters strewn about that all have individual flair and dialogue that progresses as your game does, from Achilles to Sisyphus to the goodest boy Cerberus, who you can pet and give treats to in the hub zone that is Hades's house. For a game whose appeal is mostly in the frenetic combat and fleshed-out progression system, the visuals and lore could have been an afterthought, but Supergiant put a lot of effort into creating a living world, full of memorable characters, around all of its action.
What Went Wrong?
Very little. Hades isn't for everyone, but it's as close to a perfect vision of a roguelike as I've ever played. When the main competition for that crown is Slay the Spire, in my eyes, then you know you've got a great game on your hands.
I will still pick some nits here. The combat is fluid and wonderful, but given the number of minor enemies in the game that have a predictable attack pattern, it can devolve into a bit of a spammy mess, particularly in the early zones. The repetition can also be a bit jarring for new players; until one gets the hang of the game, prepare to die a lot to Meg in the first zone, only to have to repeat the same part of the game, which is easily the least dynamic of all the biomes. Finally, the randomness of the boons, which is mostly a big positive, can mean that you will have escapes that are just overloaded with crap choices. As I said, that won't doom your run, but it will severely tank your enjoyment of that particular run.
Then again, that's part of the challenge. While I haven't been able to kill the titular final boss without at least some of my favorite powers, I can imagine that doing just that will bring a bit of an extra reward to a particular run. Hades is just so damn good that it's hard to find real flaws with its gameplay, visuals, or personality.
Were People Normal About This Game?
No! Everyone was horny!! Remember when I said that the characters were beautifully rendered? Given that this is the internet, people got real feral over their gods of choice. There's so much slashfic for the various deities, as well as Zagreus himself. I will spare you links, but trust me when I say that I have read some truly horrifying prose (for research) inspired by the many goofballs of Hades.
In terms of the actual game, people were not normal in the most complimentary of ways. The issues outlined above did pop up here and there, but acclaim from both critics and players was almost universally positive. Given that Hades was both a deep game and a cheap one—at launch, it cost a whopping $20—that's not a surprise. Even the difficulty didn't become off-putting thanks to the inclusion of God Mode, which makes Zagreus incrementally stronger upon each death. (This is what allowed baby gamer Barry to play and enjoy [Ed. note: and beat!!] Hades.) On the other end of the spectrum, the increased difficulties that unlock as the player gets better and goes further meant that even the biggest sickos could be challenged for far longer than a small indie game usually provides. The speedrunning community has had a field day with Hades, which is not a mainstream boon, but one worth pointing out, as speedrunners tend to extend the lifespan of games far beyond their logical duration.
What's Happened Since?
When I planned out the Backlog series for this year, I couldn't have known how perfect my timing would be for Hades. After 16 months in Early Access, Hades II finally released fully to the public on Thursday of this very week. Almost exactly five years after the original game showed up like a tornado, Hades II feels more like a hurricane, one that Supergiant tested and tweaked in public for a year and a half before unleashing on a rabidly expectant public. I haven't had a chance to play the full release, but I did play the Early Access, and I can confidently say that Hades II is an even better game than its predecessor. The reviews so far seem to agree.
Is It Worth Playing In 2025?
It's hard to find any faults with Hades. I can begrudge how bad I am at it, but that's a personal problem; my colleague Kathryn Xu, who possesses a pure and also perverse gamer's heart, is a beast at it, for example. Other than that, Hades is the perfect combination of addicting, challenging, rewarding, and just plain fun to play. Zagreus feels as zippy in 2025 as he did in 2020, and each of the game's levels will slowly surely ramp up the difficulty until the player is pushed to their limit, before overcoming that wall through sheer determination. I don't think Hades is the best game I'll cover in the Backlog this year, but I do think that it's the one most worth playing if you haven't yet. For that reason, Hades earns an 9.8 on the Defector Replayability Ability Scale.
