History VideoGame / Hades

* JerkassGods: Relatively downplayed, but this is a modern take on Greek mythology, after all. In Trial of the Gods rooms, whichever god Zagreus doesn't pick will hunt him down mercilessly for the slight, gloating if they manage to kill him. The story at large demonstrates various shades of pettiness and jerkassery from gods, especially Hades and [[spoiler:Demeter]].

** Sisyphus being a significantly more sympathetic character with the very boulder he rolls being a CompanionCube with a face is quite obviously a nod to ''VideoGame/RockOfAges''. His portrayal as someone who found solace in the punishment and attraction to Bouldy are also reminiscent of his Literature/{{Discworld}} analogue from ''Literature/{{Eric}}''.

A sequel, ''VideoGame/HadesII'', was announced at the Game Awards 2022. It follows the story of Zagreus's sister, Melinoë, some time after the events of the original game. Tutored in witchcraft by Hecate, she sets out to slay Chronos, the Titan of Time, who has escaped his underworld prison, imprisoned Hades, and declared war on Olympus. Its Early-Access release is slated for Q2 2024.

** Sisyphus being a significantly more sympathetic character with the very boulder he rolls being a CompanionCube with a face is quite obviously a nod to ''VideoGame/RockOfAges''. His portrayal as someone who found solace in the punishment and attraction to Bouldy are also reminiscent of his Discworld analogue from Eric.

-.->'''Narrator:''' Thus did Prince of the Underworld Zagreus absorb the contents of this hidden letter, written in his mother's hand.\\
'''Zagreus:''' His mother's hand, my mother's hand, wait, ''what''?! You're saying this Persephone, that's she's my...mother...? But Father always said that Nyx was my... {{That liar|Lies}}. He lied to me, they both did. All my life!\\
'''Narrator:''' Uhh... Erm... Thus did the Prince discover, inadvertently, the well-kept truth about his lineage. [[BlatantLies Entirely by chance, this did occur...]]

''Hades'' is a game based on Myth/ClassicalMythology. Developed by Creator/SupergiantGames, the game follows Zagreus, Prince of TheUnderworld and son of Hades himself. When a revelation about his heritage proves to be the last straw in his strained relationship with his father, Zagreus resolves to [[EscapedFromHell Escape From Hell]] or die trying. Of course, since the game is a {{Roguelike}}, he'll succeed [[TheManyDeathsOfYou frequently]] at the latter; whether he succeeds at the former is up to the player.

*** He has all the boons which say, "Your Attack or your Special happens faster." These are also conditional but ''also'' worth their weight in obols when paired with any Weapon Aspect which turns Zagreus into a MighyGlacier (which is [[spoiler:most of the Hidden Aspects]]).

* AnAesop: [[CharacterDevelopment People can change]] and it's important that they be given the chance to do so. These changes aren't always positive, such as Theseus[[note]]changed from IdealHero to self-entitled {{Jerkass}}, even if it's possibly just him [[{{Kayfabe}} "giving a good show"]][[/note]] and Demeter[[note]]changed from a giving deity to one willing to kill all of humanity [[spoiler:due to the disappearance of her daughter]][[/note]], but many more — Zagreus[[note]]goes from LoserDeity and a kid that just wanted to run away from home, to becoming the [[TheHeart heart]] and [[AllLovingHero mediator]] between the Olympian and Chthonic deities[[/note]], Sisyphus[[note]]changes from the prime example of how low a Greek could fall to a wise and kind-hearted sage[[/note]], Asterius [[note]]originally much more wild and reckless in life (not to mention that he ate people), to being redeemed in Elysium and becoming a stoic, intelligent warrior[[/note]], [[spoiler:Persephone]][[note]]changes from a woman who would rather run away from her problems and hide away while the world goes to hell, to a Queen that creates peace between both sides of her family through her charisma and planning[[/note]], and [[spoiler:(once again) Demeter]][[note]]goes from embittered woman determined to kill all of mankind because of an imagined slight to a warmer grandmother who grows to accept her daughter's decisions[[/note]] — have become better people. This is the reason why, despite there being people more responsible for the main conflict than Hades, [[spoiler:i.e Zeus and Demeter]], he remains the BigBad of the game — because he refuses to believe that there can be positive change and so does everything in his power to maintain the status quo, despite how unhappy it makes himself and everyone else around him. The key to his HeelFaceTurn is making him understand the concept of having faith and be willing to take a risk with change.

** Family ties are also a theme that is explored; particularly how family is imperfect at best, and abusive at worst. For example, [[spoiler:despite being abused by his father for years, Zagreus learns to forgive Hades and the two slowly but surely form a better bond]].

-->'''Narrator:''' Thus did Prince of the Underworld Zagreus absorb the contents of this hidden letter, written in his mother's hand.\\

'''Narrator:''' Uhh erm thus did the Prince discover, inadvertently, the well-kept truth about his lineage. [[BlatantLies Entirely by chance, this did occur...]]

* TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers: All of the Infernal Arms' aspects have their final unlock be [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent someone not from Greek mythology]]. For example, the Stygian Blade has aspects for Zagreus, Nemesis, Poseidon, and [[Myth/KingArthur someone named "Arthur"]].

* AndTheAdventureContinues: [[spoiler:After convincing Hades and Persephone to make up, causing the latter to return to the Underworld and the former to introduce her and Zagreus to his siblings officially, Hades hires Zagreus to be his security consultant for the Underworld. Specifically, Zagreus needs to continue to attempt to escape the Underworld so Hades can find and plug loopholes that others might use to escape, thus allowing the player to continue playing even after the story has concluded. Also, after Zagreus convinces the Olympians to come down for a grand feast, they continue aiding his escapes, even though he's unable to break out just yet.]]

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[spoiler:Demeter, Persephone's mother and the Olympian goddess of the seasons. Her MyBelovedSmother qualities are why Persephone had to secretly elope with Hades, and she's trapped the surface world in an EndlessWinter ever since her daughter went missing due to a particularly nasty case of PoorCommunicationKills]].

* GroundPound: The Stygian Blade special has Zagreus do a forward flip and slam his weapon into the ground, doing an area of damage.

The development of ''Hades'' began less than a month after the release of Supergiant's previous title, ''VideoGame/{{Pyre}}''. The game received a surprise Early Access release (a first for the company) after being revealed at the Game Awards on December 6, 2018 and was released as an exclusive title of the Platform/EpicGamesStore for a year on December 10th 2018, with a Platform/{{Steam}} Early Access release coming the following year. It left early access for a full release on September 17, 2020 on PC (again via Epic Games and Steam), Mac, and Platform/NintendoSwitch, with ports for the Platform/PS4, Platform/PS5, and Platform/XboxOne eventually released.

** On the other hand, the humanoid bosses will also comment on the way Zagreus fights, mostly by mocking him if he takes damage. Theseus and Hades even have unique dialog lines if you use a Greater Call against them; the former labels you a cheater if the Call does a great deal of damage to him, while the latter has context-specific reactions depending on the Olympian represented by the Call.

* DiminishingReturnsForBalance: Boon upgrades granted by pomegranates work this way, giving lesser benefits per succeeding levels in most cases. This helps make higher-rarity levels valuable in a boon; they give increased benefits without getting in the way of gains earned from pom levels.

* DiscOneNuke: Poseidon's Duo Boons. Unlike all of the other gods' duos, Poseidon's duo boons are extremely easy to get as the requirements are bog standard for both gods involved and the odds on receiving them are much more forgiving than others. That's pretty fair, since all they do is boost Poms of Power (Aphrodite) and boost Boon Rarity (Dionysus). And yes, it is possible to get both. With these active, you can do things like pump out crazy damage or make yourself nigh-invulnerable, with far less effort and luck than would be required of a normal run.

** Boons of Chaos force Zagreus to endure a debuff for several encounters but will transform into a buff when the debuff wears off. For example, Maimed Strike would start off by making Zagreus take damage every time he attacks, then evolve into a buff to his attack damage later on.

*** Cursed Slash cuts Zagreus' HP by 60% but allows him to heal 2 hitpoints with every successful attack.

*** Serrated Point allows the Eternal Spear's dash attack to hit 3 times but cuts dash range by 25%.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Some of the ways Zagreus dies in the Early Access endings and the post-game in the final game, including, but not limited too, slipping on a banana peel, sniffing a flower he's allergic to, or [[RakeTake getting hit in the face with a rake]], are hilariously anti-climatic, especially if you take into account just how much punishment he can take in his escape from the underworld. One death doesn't even elaborate on what happened, and Zagreus is just as surprised as the player is.]]

* EasyLevelsHardBosses: Generally speaking, the floors themselves shouldn't cause players that much grief, it's the bosses (and to a lesser extent, mini-bosses) that will kill you for most of the time. However, this becomes somewhat less so at higher heat levels with the Pact of Punishment.

* EverybodyHatesHades: Downplayed. Overall, this is one of the softest interpretations of Hades' estrangement from the rest of the gods in Olympus, but Hades is still a bitter and overworked (though just and fair otherwise) man who has a very strained relationship with his family, including his son Zagreus. His brethren's Titan-slaying days are over, and with that gone, so does his contact with them. Still, Hades isn't even close to downright evil. Meanwhile, while the other gods are happy to help their nephew Zagreus, the son of Hades, escape the underworld (if only to spite their brother/uncle Hades in some cases), as the player learns more it becomes they hold as much fault with the BigScrewedUpFamily as Hades does, and that several of them are even ''worse'' about relationships and empathy.

* EveryoneLives: [[spoiler:At least for a given level of "alive" since ghosts are apparently immortal in their current state, but can't leave the Underworld. Every major character begins the story in as good health as they end the story.]]

* ExternallyValidatedProphecy: In his codexes, Achilles hopes that the Adamant Rail - basically an Assault Rifle with a grenade launcher attachment - is never created by mortals, for their own safety. However, he speculates that some day it will be. It definitely was.

** Once you complete the game's story, [[spoiler:you no longer take the trip up to the surface after beating the final boss, with Zagreus instead suffering a DiabolusExMachina that kills him anyway.]] This effectively changes the final room of each run and the fishing spot moves here instead so you can still fish.

* BrutalBonusLevel: Erebus is a domain restricted to players who have completed most of the game. The area is accessed through Erebus gates, unlocked through a costly Work Order, and even then you can't even enter them unless you're on 5 Heat at minimum. When you do, you're promised its rewards if you manage to defeat the enemies [[FlawlessVictory without taking a hit from them]], otherwise you get [[UndesirablePrize an onion]], which only restores one hit point. The only other way into Erebus is [[spoiler:by provoking Charon into a fight by stealing his coin bag, and Charon is not to be trifled with.]]

** Much of the main story and side quests revolve around reconciliation. For instance, if the player should choose to, Eurydice can forgive Orpheus for dooming her at the last minute by turning around before leaving the Underworld.

** The Sword and Fists turn Zagreus into a CloseRangeCombatant with a high-risk high-reward playstyle; the Bow and the Rail make him a LongRangeFighter but saddle him with DoNotRunWithAGun; and the Shield and the Spear let him operate at both ranges, but with added complexity: ThrowingYourShieldAlwaysWorks, and the JavelinThrower is a canonical part of Greek Mythology, but you have to CatchAndReturn before you can use the weapon again.
** The weapons are also sorted by who they affect. The Sword, Shield and Bow all have AreaOfEffect attacks making them better for crowds, but the Spear, Rail and Fists deliver higher DPS to a single target.

* ConsolationPrize: If you clear a room in Erebus without taking damage, you get an extra-powerful version item (like a Centaur Heart that increases max HP by 50 points instead of 25). But if you take damage during the trial, you get a red onion instead, which just restores one hit point.
* ConvectionSchmonvection: Zagreus suffers no ill-effects from being in Asphodel — aside from [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything being out for his blood]] — despite the entire place being a LethalLavaLand. He'll only take damage if he actually touches the lava (and even then, only if he remains in contact for about a full second or so). Zagreus will even [[LampshadedTrope point out that he's flame-resistant, not flame-proof.]] Justified in that he's a demigod native to the Underworld.

** Zagreus can use Dionysus's Hangover and Poseidon's Rupture to whittle away at enemies' health for a certain period of time. Demeter has a Boon that applies DamageOverTime to all enemies if they're all afflicted with Chill. Having a number of these types of Boons can rack up serious damage even against the likes of [[spoiler:[[FinalBoss Hades.]]]]

* DecompositeCharacter: In Myth/ClassicalMythology, Zagreus and Dionysus are actually the ''same person,'' with Zagreus being Dionysus' chthonic aspect in the Orphic Mysteries (which also [[CompositeCharacter conflated]] Zeus and Hades). The game explains this away by having Zagreus convince Orpheus that he and Dionysus are the same person as a joke, to Dionysus' amusement.

** Similarly, all the bosses Zagreus defeats during a run will be back for the next run, resurrected by Hades and ready for another go. All of them (except the Hydra) are sentient enough to comment upon it as well, with Asterius in particular [[BloodKnight relishing the chance to challenge Zagreus again]].

** Summoned allies have special dialogue when summoned in certain situations--e.g. summoning Dusa against the Megagorgon (which looks like a souped-up enemy version of her) or Achilles and Patroclus against Theseus and Asterius. In many cases, the enemy encounter will react accordingly.

** The last area before the final boss, the Temple of Styx, consists of a series of small encounters, making it easy to evolve any Chaos boons you may have so they won't impede you later on. The upgrade effect of Demeter's Rare Crop boon and [[spoiler: Persephone's Pom Blossom keepsake]] also trigger within these rooms, allowing it to remain useful for that region.

* ArtisticAge: Even accounting for immortality, a god's chronological age has very little to do with their apparent age, even relative to other gods. Nyx, for example, looks quite younger than many of the gods, yet is the second oldest entity in the universe.

** Achilles and Patroclus were one of Myth/ClassicalMythology's most famous pair before their post-mortem separation. [[spoiler:They become one again and can be summoned by Achilles's companion keepsake, Antos, should Zagreus reunite them]].

* BigEntrance: For all his stoicism, Thanatos has quite a flair for the dramatic. His presence will always be heralded by a flash of green light, the sound of bells and a cool catchphrase about death.

* BittersweetEnding: The initial ending after escaping for the first time. [[spoiler:Zagreus finally reunites with Persephone, but because he is bound to the Underworld, he can only be in the mortal world for a short time before dying, meaning that to keep seeing her, [[AndTheAdventureContinues he has to keep fighting and escaping]]]]. [[spoiler:[[GoldenEnding This becomes subverted once you reach Persephone enough times.]]]]

* BodyCountCompetition: Whenever Thanatos shows up in a chamber, he challenges Zagreus to kill more of the incoming enemies than he can and will attack with two different [[OneHitKill 9999 damage attacks]] [[YouAreAlreadyDead on a timed delay]]. Beating or tieing him rewards you with a Centaur heart.

** The Shattered Shackle, Sisyphus' keepsake, gives Zagreus damage 50/75/100% to his Attack, Special, and Cast if they're unaugmented by a boon. Not as flashy as guaranteeing your first few god boons or the MagikarpPower keepsakes, but an immediate, zero-investment doubling of all sources is ''quite'' good when starting a new run [[note]] For the curious, it takes an Epic level Aphrodite boon to meet or exceed this much Attack or Special % increase[[/note]] and reduces the changes of the RNG screwing your build regardless of heat. Once you've finished the first boss and you've attained enough boons to neutralize this keepsake, you can switch to your other keepsakes depending on what you've earned.
** The various default weapon aspects of Zagreus. Even if they cost much less to fully upgrade than the others (they only cost 1 Blood per level, up to a maximum of 5, while other aspects add up to 15 or 16), they still give decent benefits in areas that are always relevant like dodge chance or attack power. Maxing them out first makes getting the Titan Blood you need for the other aspects much easier.

** Poseidon's Ocean Bounty simply increases the chamber rewards of Darkness, Gems and Obols which is a huge [[{{Pun}} boon]] for farming purposes for the former two while the latter makes it easier to buy more items from Charon. It also stacks with a similar boon from Chaos.

** Demeter is made the cousin of Hades, Poseidon and Zeus instead of being their sister. Though in some dialogue, Demeter does mention Zeus spreading false stories of her being his sister, which she theorizes as an act driven out of his dislike for one of her parents, Hyperion. Also, [[spoiler:Persephone isn't Zeus' daughter, which means Hades didn't marry his niece]].