Not only has it included a narrative and brilliant design aesthetics, but the one innovation it brought to the table that supersedes all others in the genre is "chambers". Fuck autogenerated maps and labyrinths, I just want to jump into the action. I put in about 100 runs into Hades and recently went back to try some of the classics, and holy crap is it frustrating basing your entire run on "finding an exit". I can't stand wandering and backtracking around a lifeless algorithm and zooming in on my minimap to make sure I haven't missed any dark patches of map.

Chambers: you're in, kill all the creatures in the room, take a gamble on your reward, and move the fuck on.

It's such a brilliant game. I can't recommend it enough.

  • RION [she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    As much as I love The Binding of Isaac and appreciate the role it has in the genre of roguelites I will never forgive Ed McMillen for Curse of the Lost/Maze. Neither "haha you can't see the map" not "haha doors don't work gud" are enjoyable from a gameplay perspective, and there's a lot to appreciate in the relatively simplistic approach that Hades takes.