Hades is another great game from Super giant games which has been producing epic titles such as Bastion, Transistor and Pyre. One can easily see the similarities in their titles regarding voice acting,, top down gameplay and constant narration of minor events. This game is very similar to transistor in terms of how the gameplay and combat is delivered.
The story is quite simple. You are the son of Hades and you wish to see your mother Persephone in order to discover your family history. Unfortunately, 4 levels of Underworld separate you and your mother, and on top of that, your father has made sure that each floor is loaded with traps, enemies and bosses, so that you never get to see your mother.
The game essentially plays as a rogue light with randomly generated levels. In order to get stronger, you need to select rooms containing God boons which serve as the game's upgrade system. The boons are random and of various kinds with different levels of rarity. The idea is to select the right rooms as to create a "build" for your character depending on which base weapon you started of with. In addition, there are various upgrades and bonuses ranging from health upgrades, stat multipliers, power ups to secondary attack hammers.
To beat the game you must reach your mother 10 times because each time you do get to see your mother you have a limited amount of dialogue before you are sent back to the underworld. Simply put, as the son of Hades, you are bound to the underworld and cannot stay outside for long. Each time you do reach your mother, you learn more about your family history in order to mend the various family issues and arguments.
To reach your mother, you need to go through the same randomly generated levels and defeat your father Hades waiting for you outside.
After a while I found the game to be repetitive, so it is important to avoid the frustration by knowing as much as possible before beginning the game. The game is too straightforward to have any spoilers. The game doesn't explain anything, so you have to figure it out by playing. I personally lost 20 runs learning how to play the game which I could have avoided with some knowledge.
If you plan on picking up the game here are:
Tips for new players:
1- Collect as many dark crystals as possible to unlock as many mirror upgrades as possible. Consider doing the first few runs simply to collect dark crystals. Focus on upgrading your initial health, damage and how many lives you can carry. It is unlikely to beat the game on your first run, no matter how good you are... Remember that the mirror contains 2 different modes for each upgrade, you can change the modes on the left side with the gray arrow box.
2-Athena and Artemis are by far the best boons to have an early fighting chance. To unlock both, you need to give them ambrosia when you find their boons to get a starting token. This way you can unlock them as soon as you come out of the game. Athena's deflect damage attack will allow you to dash into your enemies without getting hurt by projectiles. Artemis support fire and Artemis aid simply kills bosses and mob in a few seconds. I personally find it to be overpowered.
3- The best weapon is the "spear". If you can manage to get the triple dash attack hammer upgrade you will simply shred everything in your path. If not, at least consider extension your range and speed. The skewer special that hits 7 enemies is amazing with some kind of status effect upgrade like "drunk/weak". Make sure you save at least 5 titan bloods to be able to upgrade the first aspect which is the best one. The rest is not that great.
4-Remember that all your lives can be reset at the special NPC located in Elysium (the door with the gray palate with 3 colored dots on it)..
5- Don't waste time on doors with coins, keys and treasure. The power ups aren't even that great and don't really make a huge different. Focus on items in this order priority
Always choose first in this order
Hammer - Boons -Health - Power ups - Dark crystals - ambrosia - the rest is not necessary.. And try to acquire the door reset mirror stat in order to switch up undesired items.
Good luck and have fun!