Love everything about it. The story is fantastic, and usually games stories don't captivate me too much. I think it helps that for a game like this, which is super fast paced, most the dialogue is only 4-5 text boxes which gets all the info out quickly but tells the story well. The voice acting is also perfect, some of the characters are extremely loveable. They nailed it so much with the charm of each personality they have.
Gameplay wise it's probably the best rogue-like I've played in recent memory that hooked me super hard. The learning curve is there, but something a lot of newer rogue-likes or "rogue-lights" figured out is how to add a progression system which always feels like you're improving. And in Hades case, it does make the game easier to an extent. Once you unlocked enough stuff you have much more things to rely on to possibly save your run. Then once you hit the end game, and you ramp up the difficulty, those upgrades, while still important, cannot really replace actual knowledge and mechanical skill (unless you cheese it and abuse certain combos. which is fair but, depends on how you wanna play really.)
The music is also top notch. Haven't listened to a track I dislike and some of them I really like! Good battle music too.
Visually the game has some incredible art work and character design. They also did a pretty good job for most spell effects, some of the boons (upgrades you find in your run) aren't as good as others though. There tends to be a bit of visual clutter in certain parts of the game that almost rivals bullet hell games, which I'm not a fan of, but it's not always an issue, just certain rooms/mobs will do this. But it adds to the suspense since they don't overdo it.
My only recommendation is use a controller in this game. If you play too much with M+KB your thumb area is going to be in pain from RSI. Since the spacebar is your dash key which is basically the most important key of them all besides an attack key, you're going to be using it a lot. Controller also has aim assist and almost all the speedrunners use it, so it's definitely good.
edit: also please don't make fun of my pathetic spear attempts. I really tried to make that bad boy work when I had no clue how to target boon farm or really knew how to do anything at all. Also the shield and fists are 100% way better, just no question. I underestimated them greatly. I also underestimated how good the "special" action was when you get some good boons on it. The railgun has some insane boons where you can a rocket and a hammer upgrade that SENDS 5 rockets. And you can pointblank bosses and melt them faster than anything else I've ever gotten.
edit2: I feel like I should also mention that there is vey well done gay and non-binary representation in this game. It's done in a brilliant way and fits the story and everything perfectly. I haven't even seen g*mers get mad about this (though i'm sure there is some) which i find funny. Cause either those same people didn't make it very far in the game or they didn't even realize it when seeing it because of how everything just flows in this game.
The day I beat 32 heat was a happy one. Chiron Bow GANG
hahah I'm still a baby at 5 heat now. But after figuring out which boons I should aim for, it has been really smooth sailing. As you can see in that screenshot, I still haven't beat it on any heat level with the bow. I couldn't figure out which boons to use for it. Got any advice for that one?
Depends on the aspect. Chiron is really strong with the hammers that give you more arrows on your special and increasing damage for each special arrow (try and get both). Then for Boons Artemis special and as many crit boons as possible. A Zeus build is also viable.
Casting builds with the Hera bow are also really fun
One of my favorite builds has been:
Non-pickup, regenerating cast
Dionysius aoe cast
Extra cast ammo legendary boon
Extra damage when you have no cast ammo
You can pop 3 huge aoe grenades that do high damage quickly, and stun everything so you don't die. And you get your ammo back by regeneration long before the previous cast effect ends.
Zeus cast with Mirage Shot can really fun as well. Clear rooms like zoooooom
good stuff. It's my least used and I just couldn't make it work when I was still noob. I'll probably give it an honest go later since I need to beat it at least once with the bow, and my mechanical skill has increased quite a bit since I last used it.
I basically did 50 hours of M+KB (played it in early access and had a new save file after release) and didn't think I'd use one either, but after a long session I was getting repetitive strain injury for my thumb from dashing so much. And the controller doesn't have that same issue for me. It helps that they add aim assist in it.
Well I didn't even know I was beating it when I beat it lol, but i had the sword. All I was trying to do was beat each "heat level" once with each weapon before ramping up the difficulty each time. You know how when you get that purple glow on your weapons for bonus 20% Darkness gained? I was just picking whatever weapon was glowing at the time if I hadn't beaten the heat level for that one.
Sword is really fun though if you get certain boons, especially for your special ability. Can do some sick combos. The fists were by far the easiest. If you get Zeus for primary attack you can clear rooms in a matter of seconds no problem. Especially if you get the support boons like Jolted and anything that adds to the lightning damage. The shield is the safest one if you abuse the charging dash. The Hades fight is a joke with the shield, you block every single thing he does if you position yourself correctly. I liked using Demeter (cold lady) primary attack boon for that one since it just adds good damage but slows all the enemies and she has a fantastic legendary boon that shatters enemies (even bosses) when they reach 10% hp which is good because the shield is a bit slower if you're playing super carefully.
I really thought the spear was my favorite till I actually started using the other ones. It's pretty good but I think I also was bad at positioning when I was maining that weapon. I gotta give it another shot now that I feel more comfortable with all the fights.
edit: i just realized you may have meant beat the end boss, Hades and not the story. for that i used the shield. it was a cake walk using the charging dash and blocking everything. get the bullrush hammer upgrade that does 500% damage on charge and just spam it and keep your shield up the entire time and you almost can't die unless you've got your back to enemies.
agreed, I really like that range upgrade for fists. It helps a lot. The boon that does +5 damage each consecutive hit seems to be the worse. I could see it being okay on bosses but it isn't too often they just stand still long enough to really ramp it up enough.
But yeah, the shield is dope, by the time I got to 3 heat i started feeling like it was overpowered in the sense that it made things maybe too easy since you just hold the shield up during boss fights and never die if you time your charges right after they attack. They are all good in their own ways though, the hammer upgrade for spear that adds 2 more prongs to it can make for some insane clear speeds. The railgun has by far the coolest special upgrade if you get the rockets + 5 bombs at one time. It melted the boss faster than anything I've used if you get just even a couple +% damage boons to special
idk if you meant to type heat or meat but i'm proud of you either way
Very nicely done! Finishing the main story was awesome, but the heat system and side stories mean I've got a lot left to play. I also think it's very interesting which weapons people gravitate toward, I can't stand the shield and i'm lukewarm on the fists, but I love the bow and the spear.
The shield grew on me really fast once I realized I was unkillable abusing the block feature of the charging dash. The hammer upgrades for it also make it spit out good DPS if you also have on hit effect boons too. The fists are just a powerhouse. I mentioned in another comment that if you get the Zeus primary attack on it with chain lightning and something like Jolted for added damage you can clear a room faster than anything else I've used.
Love this game. I'm at about heat 20 with all weapons, slowly making my way up.
Look into grabbing the Achilles Spear and maxing it out. After throwing/retrieving spear (special attack) the next 4 attacks/casts are 150% damage. You can easily get MASSIVE cast damage.
I like to go Stygian, get a chaos boon (+1 cast) , chase Artemis' +2 casts, and Hermes cast cool down boon. I just did this with Dionysus cast + Ice Wine Duo Boon and it hit dad for like 1,500+ consistently.
Hell yeah. I haven't tried out the Achilles spear yet, but it did seem fun. I maxed out the railgun first because it is so goddamn sick. I love that weapon. Thanks for the tips <3
I like how they let you get to the end and then figured out a way to take you back to the starting point without being too hamfisted.
Love this game but I feel like I'm getting carpal tunnel in my thumbs on a controller.
damn, I was really hoping the controller would be better. the keyboard got painful after gaming all day yesterday. I even woke up with it still sore and I stretch my hands/fingers/elbows after every run as a healthy habit. It was just too much repetitiveness really. I think the controller is gonna be slightly better personally since I don't feel it using the same muscle in my thumbs that the keyboard's spacebar did for me. idk, i don't wanna stop playing but i'm not trying to get an actual strain injury doing it.
I had a hard time getting into Transistor but everything else they've made has been A+ for me. Bastion was fantastic and Pyre was very well done in so many ways.
Ehh, I personally just didn't like how the combat worked the first two times I tried to play it. really hardly made it past the tutorial area and it just didn't click with me. It's a different type of a game really. I don't think it's bad at all, it was really cool concept and from what i heard, story. Just if the main part of the game like combat doesn't click, I don't bother when I have so many other games that do.
