Rogue-likes are controversial for their unconventional death system: every time you die, you lose
a big chunk of the progress you made that run and start the level from the bottom.
This can build frustration in your player and may make them hate the game, so it is
essential to avoid that.
It could be a difficult task to properly balance the rogue-like nature of a game, frustration
and engagement, and while some do it better than others, Hades achieves that in a rather
unique and far from bad method, making every attempt at getting out of the Underworld fresh
and worthwhile.
To find out what makes Hades so captivating and entertaining, I went on a journey by finishing
the game, studying what others think of it and even talking to the developers themselves
at Supergiant.
And after all of that, here is the genius design
that makes escaping the Underworld engaging.
Replayability… that’s the defining characteristic of any rogue-like game.
Originating back in the 90s, it means “the quality or fact of being suitable for or worth
playing more than once.”
In other terms, how many times can you play a game before it gets boring?
And in a rogue-like, engagement can be quite literally translated to replayability.
And although an engaging game might mean something different for you, for the sake of this video
I will define it as one that constantly keeps you hooked.
Consider this: once the game stops being alluring, the player loses interest and will most likely
stop playing.
As for Hades, the developers had to create reasons for players to continue after dying
and even after finishing the game, and they achieved that through diversity and progression
and some other methods… but those are for another video.
To one of my questions, Greg Kasavin, writer and designer at Supergiant Games
explained that "replayability was a foremost goal on Hades so the multiplicative design content
and story that adapts to player progression were key aspects we focused on"
Before diving deeper into these matters, let me tell you about the combat system – because
this is what the player will take part in most of the time.
From a mechanical standpoint, we can say that Hades has been built with "fun" in mind.
An impactful combat system, a satisfying escape mechanic, challenging enemies and various
creative ways to kill your foes, such as using the environment to deal damage or luring enemies
into traps, all come together and form the base gameplay loop.
But fighting the dead and avoiding becoming one yourself can be engaging only for so long,
so diversity was essential in a game like Hades.
Initially, your only weapon is a sword, but over time, you can choose from five other
weapons, such as a bow, a shield or... the Exagryph, a sort of rail gun.
The more weapons there are, the more incentives you give the player to try to escape again,
making future runs feel new.
Furthermore, each weapon has four of these so-called "aspects", which are upgrades and
changes to the initial set of weapons.
All of these added together make twenty-four weapons in total.
Throughout your play through, you meet characters such as gods, like Zeus or Athena, and other
mythological figures, like Sisyphus.
Everyone you meet in the game is, basically, a spin off from how we imagine Greek mythology
personalities, interpreted in a humoristic and authentic way.
Zagreus: My ransacking was a delight, thank you for asking
Zagreus: So, I'll just be on my way, again.
The constant, funny interactions you take part in, while usually short, hook your attention
back into the action.
The gameplay purpose of these characters is to aid you on your journey by offering boons
or buffs.
These help make each run different.
Lastly, every level of the Underworld introduces new types of enemies, gradually harder to
beat, which bring new challenges with them, to the point this variety is almost overwhelming
- in a good way.
Consider this tough guy: his shield blocks damage coming from the opposite direction.
Naturally, you need to dash behind and stab him in the back while he's trying his best
to turn around.
This can be creatively approached if you use the spear.
Instead of trying to get behind him, you can use its special to throw it, which initially
won't deal damage.
But on its way back it will backstab your foe.
And so, the 30-something types of enemies ensure you are frequently exposed to new challenges.
You might have noticed that Hades promotes freedom of choice in most of its mechanics
and systems: you are not restricted to using a single weapon, you get to choose which room
you are going to face next, and you decide
what bonus to receive from the characters you meet.
Practically, you get to create your own path, builds, and play styles.
I think it's safe to say that playing Hades puts you, quite literally, in the role of
a game designer that needs to discover various ways of playing.
It's not necessarily that Hades is inherently mechanically attractive - although it is because
of its fast-paced adrenaline-inducing style - but because you have
so many choices over how you play.
This is one of the elements that reinforce engagement.
You, basically, have over 20 styles of playing based on which weapon you use, and, practically,
infinitely many combinations of boons.
And this is where Hades really shines as a rogue-like, in terms of replayability.
But there is one element above killing the dead and getting through the layers of Hell
that drives the story: death
– the intrinsic system of any rogue-like.
Generally, in a game, death means you have to start from the last save with more experience
than the last time.
But in Hades, death has a dual nature: one that penalizes you for dying and forces you
to start over and one that rewards you with story and gameplay progression.
So, to spend the goodies you got during a run to get stronger, you need to return to
the House of Hades.
But that is unimportant when you consider the brilliant design of being able to interact
with a character only once per return.
This forces you, in a sense, to die.
That’s the genius design choice that dictates the pace of the story, hides the limited interaction
and repeated dialogues between you and the other Gods, and eliminates frustration, knowing
you get to see your progress and what happens next.
And you should die, if you want to fully experience the game and learn everything the characters
have to say because the game has a staggering
number of over twenty thousand lines of dialogue.
Kasavin explains this as following: “It was
also a commitment to our idea of giving the game a narrative context throughout a rogue-like
experience game.
It’s an infinitely replayable game, so ideally it should have infinite content.
But someone does have to write that stuff, and we have to stop at some point."
But what happens when the game ends?
Or, more exactly, when does the game end?
It is bound that you will escape the Underworld at some point, technically achieving your
goal.
But through a strange occurrence which I will not describe, for the sake of spoilers, you
get to keep trying to escape again and again.
Zagreus: All right, one more time
But, although the developers created good reasons to play in the first place, what is
the reason to continue, now that you're most likely familiar with its diversity and story?
The story doesn't end when you first escape.
You need to beat it 9 more times to learn everything there is to be learnt.
After the first time you escape, you can also accept a Pact of Punishment and make the game
harder through various modifiers.
And, if those aren't enough to make one continue, the game incorporates an achievement system,
which is far from easy to complete.
While the last two - modifiers and achievements - are nothing new nor unique, together they
do add another layer to keeping you hooked.
Admittedly, Hades does much more under the hood to make you keep playing, and undoubtedly
these have their impact on engagement, but I hardly think they can compare to what I
have talked about above.
So, this is how Hades, a game that might seem repetitive and frustrating, manages to
keep its players engaged and always wanting more.
By combining great mechanics with freedom of choice and all sorts of obstacles, reinventing
mythological characters in an authentic way and giving death a new meaning, Supergiant
succeeded in making the iterative process of escaping the Underworld constantly engaging.
You're given reasons to come back at every step of the story, having more to try out
and more to learn about the game.
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That's it for the first video in this new series.
Thank you so much for watching, I'll catch you in the next one!