WEBVTT 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:07.079 Rogue-likes are controversial for their unconventional death system: every time you die, you lose 00:00:07.079 --> 00:00:12.440 a big chunk of the progress you made that run and start the level from the bottom. 00:00:12.440 --> 00:00:17.120 This can build frustration in your player and may make them hate the game, so it is 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:19.090 essential to avoid that. 00:00:19.090 --> 00:00:24.550 It could be a difficult task to properly balance the rogue-like nature of a game, frustration 00:00:24.550 --> 00:00:29.010 and engagement, and while some do it better than others, Hades achieves that in a rather 00:00:29.010 --> 00:00:34.530 unique and far from bad method, making every attempt at getting out of the Underworld fresh 00:00:34.530 --> 00:00:35.850 and worthwhile. 00:00:35.850 --> 00:00:41.300 To find out what makes Hades so captivating and entertaining, I went on a journey by finishing 00:00:41.300 --> 00:00:46.140 the game, studying what others think of it and even talking to the developers themselves 00:00:46.140 --> 00:00:47.870 at Supergiant. 00:00:47.870 --> 00:00:51.158 And after all of that, here is the genius design 00:00:51.158 --> 00:00:54.515 that makes escaping the Underworld engaging. 00:00:56.734 --> 00:01:02.420 Replayability… that’s the defining characteristic of any rogue-like game. 00:01:02.420 --> 00:01:09.479 Originating back in the 90s, it means “the quality or fact of being suitable for or worth 00:01:09.479 --> 00:01:11.820 playing more than once.” 00:01:11.820 --> 00:01:17.081 In other terms, how many times can you play a game before it gets boring? 00:01:17.081 --> 00:01:23.378 And in a rogue-like, engagement can be quite literally translated to replayability. 00:01:23.378 --> 00:01:30.150 And although an engaging game might mean something different for you, for the sake of this video 00:01:30.150 --> 00:01:34.372 I will define it as one that constantly keeps you hooked. 00:01:34.372 --> 00:01:41.300 Consider this: once the game stops being alluring, the player loses interest and will most likely 00:01:41.300 --> 00:01:42.320 stop playing. 00:01:42.320 --> 00:01:48.439 As for Hades, the developers had to create reasons for players to continue after dying 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:54.540 and even after finishing the game, and they achieved that through diversity and progression 00:01:54.540 --> 00:01:57.915 and some other methods… but those are for another video. 00:01:57.915 --> 00:02:03.209 To one of my questions, Greg Kasavin, writer and designer at Supergiant Games 00:02:03.209 --> 00:02:09.177 explained that "replayability was a foremost goal on Hades so the multiplicative design content 00:02:09.177 --> 00:02:14.610 and story that adapts to player progression were key aspects we focused on" 00:02:14.610 --> 00:02:19.809 Before diving deeper into these matters, let me tell you about the combat system – because 00:02:19.809 --> 00:02:23.518 this is what the player will take part in most of the time. 00:02:25.689 --> 00:02:31.559 From a mechanical standpoint, we can say that Hades has been built with "fun" in mind. 00:02:31.559 --> 00:02:37.889 An impactful combat system, a satisfying escape mechanic, challenging enemies and various 00:02:37.889 --> 00:02:43.949 creative ways to kill your foes, such as using the environment to deal damage or luring enemies 00:02:43.949 --> 00:02:48.750 into traps, all come together and form the base gameplay loop. 00:02:48.750 --> 00:02:55.299 But fighting the dead and avoiding becoming one yourself can be engaging only for so long, 00:02:55.299 --> 00:02:59.040 so diversity was essential in a game like Hades. 00:02:59.040 --> 00:03:04.709 Initially, your only weapon is a sword, but over time, you can choose from five other 00:03:04.709 --> 00:03:10.260 weapons, such as a bow, a shield or... the Exagryph, a sort of rail gun. 00:03:10.260 --> 00:03:16.799 The more weapons there are, the more incentives you give the player to try to escape again, 00:03:16.799 --> 00:03:19.219 making future runs feel new. 00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:24.840 Furthermore, each weapon has four of these so-called "aspects", which are upgrades and 00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:27.909 changes to the initial set of weapons. 00:03:27.909 --> 00:03:32.969 All of these added together make twenty-four weapons in total. 00:03:32.969 --> 00:03:38.669 Throughout your play through, you meet characters such as gods, like Zeus or Athena, and other 00:03:38.669 --> 00:03:41.510 mythological figures, like Sisyphus. 00:03:41.510 --> 00:03:47.459 Everyone you meet in the game is, basically, a spin off from how we imagine Greek mythology 00:03:47.459 --> 00:03:51.213 personalities, interpreted in a humoristic and authentic way. 00:03:51.213 --> 00:03:53.737 Zagreus: My ransacking was a delight, thank you for asking 00:03:53.737 --> 00:03:56.111 Zagreus: So, I'll just be on my way, again. 00:03:56.229 --> 00:04:02.510 The constant, funny interactions you take part in, while usually short, hook your attention 00:04:02.510 --> 00:04:03.969 back into the action. 00:04:03.969 --> 00:04:10.569 The gameplay purpose of these characters is to aid you on your journey by offering boons 00:04:10.569 --> 00:04:11.799 or buffs. 00:04:11.799 --> 00:04:14.519 These help make each run different. 00:04:14.519 --> 00:04:20.759 Lastly, every level of the Underworld introduces new types of enemies, gradually harder to 00:04:20.759 --> 00:04:26.249 beat, which bring new challenges with them, to the point this variety is almost overwhelming 00:04:26.249 --> 00:04:28.169 - in a good way. 00:04:28.169 --> 00:04:33.539 Consider this tough guy: his shield blocks damage coming from the opposite direction. 00:04:33.539 --> 00:04:38.770 Naturally, you need to dash behind and stab him in the back while he's trying his best 00:04:38.770 --> 00:04:40.259 to turn around. 00:04:40.259 --> 00:04:43.690 This can be creatively approached if you use the spear. 00:04:43.690 --> 00:04:48.800 Instead of trying to get behind him, you can use its special to throw it, which initially 00:04:48.800 --> 00:04:50.419 won't deal damage. 00:04:50.419 --> 00:04:53.120 But on its way back it will backstab your foe. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:05:00.349 And so, the 30-something types of enemies ensure you are frequently exposed to new challenges. 00:05:00.349 --> 00:05:05.460 You might have noticed that Hades promotes freedom of choice in most of its mechanics 00:05:05.460 --> 00:05:11.050 and systems: you are not restricted to using a single weapon, you get to choose which room 00:05:11.050 --> 00:05:13.354 you are going to face next, and you decide 00:05:13.354 --> 00:05:16.759 what bonus to receive from the characters you meet. 00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:21.819 Practically, you get to create your own path, builds, and play styles. 00:05:21.819 --> 00:05:27.949 I think it's safe to say that playing Hades puts you, quite literally, in the role of 00:05:27.949 --> 00:05:32.800 a game designer that needs to discover various ways of playing. 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:38.139 It's not necessarily that Hades is inherently mechanically attractive - although it is because 00:05:38.139 --> 00:05:42.283 of its fast-paced adrenaline-inducing style - but because you have 00:05:42.283 --> 00:05:44.770 so many choices over how you play. 00:05:44.770 --> 00:05:48.389 This is one of the elements that reinforce engagement. 00:05:48.389 --> 00:05:55.169 You, basically, have over 20 styles of playing based on which weapon you use, and, practically, 00:05:55.169 --> 00:05:58.030 infinitely many combinations of boons. 00:05:58.030 --> 00:06:03.127 And this is where Hades really shines as a rogue-like, in terms of replayability. 00:06:04.274 --> 00:06:09.550 But there is one element above killing the dead and getting through the layers of Hell 00:06:09.550 --> 00:06:11.951 that drives the story: death 00:06:17.491 --> 00:06:21.138 – the intrinsic system of any rogue-like. 00:06:21.138 --> 00:06:27.099 Generally, in a game, death means you have to start from the last save with more experience 00:06:27.099 --> 00:06:28.499 than the last time. 00:06:28.499 --> 00:06:34.229 But in Hades, death has a dual nature: one that penalizes you for dying and forces you 00:06:34.229 --> 00:06:39.040 to start over and one that rewards you with story and gameplay progression. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:44.639 So, to spend the goodies you got during a run to get stronger, you need to return to 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.340 the House of Hades. 00:06:46.340 --> 00:06:52.039 But that is unimportant when you consider the brilliant design of being able to interact 00:06:52.039 --> 00:06:55.409 with a character only once per return. 00:06:55.409 --> 00:06:58.749 This forces you, in a sense, to die. 00:06:58.749 --> 00:07:05.469 That’s the genius design choice that dictates the pace of the story, hides the limited interaction 00:07:05.469 --> 00:07:10.880 and repeated dialogues between you and the other Gods, and eliminates frustration, knowing 00:07:10.880 --> 00:07:14.419 you get to see your progress and what happens next. 00:07:14.419 --> 00:07:21.020 And you should die, if you want to fully experience the game and learn everything the characters 00:07:21.020 --> 00:07:23.658 have to say because the game has a staggering 00:07:23.658 --> 00:07:27.439 number of over twenty thousand lines of dialogue. 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:31.539 Kasavin explains this as following: “It was 00:07:31.539 --> 00:07:38.060 also a commitment to our idea of giving the game a narrative context throughout a rogue-like 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:39.439 experience game. 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:45.360 It’s an infinitely replayable game, so ideally it should have infinite content. 00:07:45.360 --> 00:07:50.610 But someone does have to write that stuff, and we have to stop at some point." 00:07:50.610 --> 00:07:53.219 But what happens when the game ends? 00:07:53.219 --> 00:07:57.009 Or, more exactly, when does the game end? 00:07:57.009 --> 00:08:02.300 It is bound that you will escape the Underworld at some point, technically achieving your 00:08:02.300 --> 00:08:03.300 goal. 00:08:03.300 --> 00:08:07.379 But through a strange occurrence which I will not describe, for the sake of spoilers, you 00:08:07.379 --> 00:08:10.573 get to keep trying to escape again and again. 00:08:10.573 --> 00:08:12.118 Zagreus: All right, one more time 00:08:12.118 --> 00:08:17.830 But, although the developers created good reasons to play in the first place, what is 00:08:17.830 --> 00:08:23.389 the reason to continue, now that you're most likely familiar with its diversity and story? 00:08:23.389 --> 00:08:26.669 The story doesn't end when you first escape. 00:08:26.669 --> 00:08:32.750 You need to beat it 9 more times to learn everything there is to be learnt. 00:08:32.750 --> 00:08:38.169 After the first time you escape, you can also accept a Pact of Punishment and make the game 00:08:38.169 --> 00:08:40.260 harder through various modifiers. 00:08:40.260 --> 00:08:46.550 And, if those aren't enough to make one continue, the game incorporates an achievement system, 00:08:46.550 --> 00:08:49.200 which is far from easy to complete. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:55.180 While the last two - modifiers and achievements - are nothing new nor unique, together they 00:08:55.180 --> 00:08:58.139 do add another layer to keeping you hooked. 00:08:58.139 --> 00:09:04.170 Admittedly, Hades does much more under the hood to make you keep playing, and undoubtedly 00:09:04.170 --> 00:09:09.620 these have their impact on engagement, but I hardly think they can compare to what I 00:09:09.620 --> 00:09:11.400 have talked about above. 00:09:12.120 --> 00:09:19.029 So, this is how Hades, a game that might seem repetitive and frustrating, manages to 00:09:19.029 --> 00:09:22.720 keep its players engaged and always wanting more. 00:09:22.720 --> 00:09:28.950 By combining great mechanics with freedom of choice and all sorts of obstacles, reinventing 00:09:28.950 --> 00:09:34.610 mythological characters in an authentic way and giving death a new meaning, Supergiant 00:09:34.610 --> 00:09:41.180 succeeded in making the iterative process of escaping the Underworld constantly engaging. 00:09:41.180 --> 00:09:46.540 You're given reasons to come back at every step of the story, having more to try out 00:09:46.540 --> 00:09:49.154 and more to learn about the game. 00:09:49.839 --> 00:09:54.200 If you want to be up to date with this new series, then subscribe and leave a like if 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:55.570 you enjoyed the video. 00:09:55.570 --> 00:10:00.490 If you want to support me, then become a patron like these kind folks, to whom I want to thank 00:10:00.490 --> 00:10:06.442 for making this video possible: Aviram Ifm, Bader AlQahtani, Giovanni Pena, 00:10:06.442 --> 00:10:10.314 Golden Glow Master, Realitätsverlust and Waifuislaifu. 00:10:10.314 --> 00:10:13.498 That's it for the first video in this new series. 00:10:13.498 --> 00:10:16.816 Thank you so much for watching, I'll catch you in the next one!