 As super-jant games gear up to release the first update for Hades in 2020. I thought it would be well past time to talk about how Hades currently looks. It has been a little while since my last look at the game. There's plenty of new content that wasn't here when last I played it. And the best news is that since December 6th this wonderful game is no longer an epic exclusive and you can purchase it on Steam if you so desire. Just like if you so desire you can hit a like, subscribe, ring that bell button without further ado. This is the current state of the game of Hades. The last time I played it was in June, just after the Elysium Update hit, adding a third biome and the God Hermes among other features. Since then the game's difficulty system, the Pact of Punishment has been reworked, a fourth biome, the Temple of Styx, has been added with lots of poison rats and awful awful things as well as what is likely to be the final boss engagement with Hades himself. With four biomes and a boss battle to progress past each of them, I have to say the sheer amount of variability Hades now offers is staggering. It feels like a complete offering and the fact that super-jant are working hard on adding yet more content, two more boss fights and as of yet an announced number of gods past next week's Demeter, yes I'm calling it by the way right now, next week's patch is going to introduce Demeter. And do you know how I know that it was Demeter? Because of the cornucopia. That's the plant you see right there, right over there. I really hope I have got the image somewhere on screen right now. If I don't this will be very awkward indeed. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that all these additions, although we already have such solid game, they tell you something about the development philosophy the studio has. Good is not enough for them. No, what they are after is excellence in gameplay and excellence in storytelling. The gameplay is all about the choices you make and as if the thousands, I'm not exaggerating, thousands of combinations of godly boons weren't enough, the folks of Supergiant have implemented the weapon aspect system, which unlocks specially enchanted alternate forms for each of Zagreus's weapons. Each of these aspects looks different, brings some fascinating new ability to the table, or modifies an old one rather, and can be upgraded using a new resource called Blood of Titans. This blood is earned whenever you defeat bosses, but ah, once you have defeated them with some weapon, you're then required to use the Pact of Punishment to invest in some of the myriad ways in which the difficulty of the game can be tweaked to turn on the heat, as it were. You see, this is a pun because the resources we use to turn on the heat with are called heat. Yes, I'm terribly clever, I know. It's a system that challenges you in the best ways, giving you complete control over the difficulty and the ways in which this difficulty is pronounced in each of your runs, and the way Hades is designed, the more you play, the better you become, the more you crave greater challenge. That said, the game is plenty difficult enough at first. It takes a while to learn to synergize the different boons to find out which blessings go best with which weapons to even begin to figure out which weapon aspect will serve best with your playstyle. I have recently discovered that Hades' peer aspect is a wonderful monstrosity in my own hands. Of course, if all that sounds like it's too much choice, don't worry. There's a pact of punishment you can sign that will block out all but one of the blessings you can pick. Making life a living hell, probably. The biggest improvement, Artemis is no longer Last time I played with her boons, they were not good now. God's critical damage can be a monstrosity. Not to doubt some Hades, some Bladewell went and you've got yourself a party, my friend. As for the story, it is rather more difficult to say how much of it mushes together well. I've been playing Early Access a long time now, over a year. I'm ashamed to say I have forgotten some of the story beats early on, but it continues to be both easy to relate to and engaging with Zagreis's attempts to leave home in search for the truth behind his mother's abandoning the realm of Hades. Well, it is all very sweet in that yummy Greek tragedy way. Ah, but the bossbuffle with Hades. I cannot describe to you how good I felt the first time I managed to drop him to 0 HP, even if the Freudian bit was all in the air around me. The call of the dead fell to his knees, grunted, and then he got up and proceeded to fuck me up. Only the way a large abusive dad can fuck up his scruffy looking Sunnyby. It's a great battle, excellent design. The disappearance he does early on, the summoning of enemies, the slower, more controlled, almost tactical way in which he attacks, far from easy to deal with, but you might catch yourself thinking, is that it? And then of course, once you do manage to defeat this first phase, you get the response, and no, that is not it. And he goes all out. No more hiding, no more invisibility, at this point the fight against Hades becomes almost like a bullet hell, with you having to avoid these ridiculous lasers, ways of deadening the energy, you know the type, is that nasty green and it makes you very dead. And of course, stuff like Hades himself doesn't have a big ass spear he wields with excellent precision. He's almost as if you inherited your skills from him or something like that. And then maybe, just maybe, you manage to defeat him. It is wonderful, excellent. The feeling of triumph is brutal, because you've spent about 40 minutes cleaning this latest run and you're enjoying just how clever you are for getting all the right boons and avoiding all the telegraph attacks and making short work of furies and hydras and heroes and minotaurs, and even that worst enemy to all little boys, the father. And then of course, you die because the game is unfinished, so whoops, back at it again. Damn. It's a solid game, the fact that I've come back to it for over a year now is proof enough. I have over 60 escape attempts and have slain a staggering 12,000 foes. This is addictive and I'm going to do my best to cover every part that comes out until release, and in more timely a manner. Until then, I am Philip Magnus. Thank you for watching and I will see you next time. Leave a comment below, what's your experience with Hades? Are you planning on getting it eventually? If you haven't yet, why not? Get it! It's good! Bye!