How Hades's Genius Design Keeps You Engaged

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!