Cleared all Pact of Punishment bounties. Beat 32 Heat. Beat Extreme Measures 4. Maxed out all relationships. Completed all story content. Fully unlocked and upgraded the Mirror of Night. Unlocked and fully upgraded every Aspect and Companion. 126 escapes out of 214 total attempts. I have one last cosmetic item to unlock at the House Contractor (+3 Decorative Themes) and one piece of music left to unlock for the Music Stand (Good Riddance, which does not show up at my House Contractor due to a bug that has been patched on PC but not yet on Switch). I still have nine Keepsakes to fully level up and 14 Prophecies to complete, mostly related to finding specific Boons or Daedalus Hammer upgrades.
This game has been an absolute blast from start to ... well, I'm not actually finished with it just yet!
I have never been much a fan of the Roguelike genre, but Hades captured me right from the start with its wonderful art, story, and characters. Having your repeated failed attempts be accounted for in the narrative and actually moving that narrative forward in the process ensured that even failed attempts were never frustrating. Every attempt gets you something, be it permanent resources, knowledge, or new story moments with the game's many amazing characters. Zagreus is a great protagonist and I greatly enjoyed his many interactions with the rest of the cast. Each of them have such wonderful personalities and relationships, not to mention the beautiful portrait art and stunning voice work.
Each of the weapons are different and unique, and though I struggled with a few of them initially, each of them has at least one Aspect I enjoy wielding and building around. Arthur Blade, Demeter Fists, and Chiron Bow are my favorite weapons to use, with Zagreus Spear, Beowulf Shield, and Zagreus Rail following. The Rail gave me my first clear, and it was the weapon I was most comfortable with when starting out - but after 214 runs, I have found its damage output a bit lacking, and its Special is hard to use on a controller. I struggled greatly with the Blade at first; its damage output was fine, great even, but being in melee range all the time meant incurring a lot more damage too. Aspect of Arthur took away that struggle and is also just really, really, really fun to use. Demeter Fists and Chiron Bow each have really satisfying play patterns revolving around their Specials.
I have also found success with each of the gods and their Boons. I feel Poseidon and Ares offer the weakest Boons by quite a bit. Poseidon knocking back foes is fun, but kinda worthless vs. bosses, and Ares' Doom can be useful but is pretty low on my list generally. Each of the other gods just have so much more to offer - Critical damage from Artemis, high damage percentage increase and Weak from Aphrodite, Deflect from Athena, Hangover, Festive Fog, and Premium Vintage from Dionysus, tons of lightning everywhere all the time from Zeus, great utility from Hermes, and Chill from Demeter. One skill that I initially didn't care for at all but have since come to greatly appreciate is Athena's Aid. I was very much wrong in thinking that a Call that didn't deal any damage wasn't of much use, and now try to grab it every time I run the Blade or Fists. Getting to just stand there for some 16 seconds while you beat down a boss is so good, and you're probably doing more damage in that time than a damaging Call would have done anyway.
I should probably finish up this post before it turns into an essay, so I'll just say once more that I have greatly enjoyed my time with the game so far. Great work from the people at Supergiant.
