Hades review (PS5)

Hades review (PS5).

Hades came out last year for PC and Nintendo Switch. Hades was an instant hit and was one of the best games of last year. Now the game is finally coming to Playstation and Xbox, allowing gamers on these platforms to enjoy this game from Supergiant games as well. In short, Hades is still just as good on the Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X and could be up for Game of The Year again. In this review we will nevertheless discuss what makes Hades good and what extra things you can find in these current-gen versions.

What is Hades now?

For the people who don’t know what Hades is, Hades is a roguelike game. This means that if you die you have to start over from the beginning. Still you can get stronger. Throughout each run you collect items and you can improve your weapons, your health, your dashes and much more. This will make you stronger every run, allowing you to get further and further (as long as you don’t make any mistakes). So you are rewarded for playing the game a lot, although you can sometimes be knocked down hard because you happened to have chosen the wrong upgrades. Normally these kind of games wouldn’t be for me. I am a gamer who likes progression and want to see that reflected in a game. If I have to start over every time, that’s really not for me. Yet Hades somehow manages to hold my attention so well that I just want to play more and know the backgrounds of the characters. The characters in this game are wonderfully portrayed and as a history teacher I can only be happier with this setting.

You play as Zagreus, a boy who cannot die and only wants to escape from his father. Coincidentally, his father is the god of the underworld Hades. The other gods in Olympus are eager to help Zagreus in this attempt as they feel that Zagreus belongs to them and not to Hades. That’s why you get help from Aphrodite, Hermes, Ares and Demeter. These gods give you ‘boons’ that make you stronger, but also your weapons. You will lose these ‘boons’ every run, so you will have to look carefully every run to see which ‘boons’ are the best for your weapons in that run. In the end you have to defeat all three bosses in 1 run, but when you finally beat them, the game is far from finished. At the end of the game, there will be many more opportunities to do runs and also be surprised. For example, bosses also have different shapes, so that you sometimes face a boss that you might not have expected.

All this makes you want to play more and more. It’s happened often enough that my girlfriend called me to bed and I said, ‘ONE MORE RUN’. Which of course ended up being several runs.

A beautiful spectacle

I briefly played Hades on the Switch and it played fine. The game is the same and is also a masterpiece on the Switch. However, it looks better than ever on the Playstation 5 with a 4K monitor. The game is playable in 4K and in a beautiful 60 fps. Furthermore, the characters look even better and more detailed and the environments and the lights are beautiful. It just feels a lot nicer, a lot tighter and a lot smoother. It feels like the game should have been this way all along. In addition, the haptic feedback is even used. For example, the controller seems to growl briefly when you stroke Cerberus. They are small additions, but the experience actually only gets better!

Furthermore, adding achievements and trophies is a new experience for the game. On the Switch you have no trophies or achievements, so this ensures that you can even play the game in a new way. I played Hades regularly on the Switch, but now I was trying new things to get a trophy like this and sometimes this was even a much smarter way to get through a run. It gave a new challenge and dimension to Hades, making it a bit better than before.

Furthermore, the soundtrack of this game is great and it is no punishment to listen to it while you are fighting through the underworld. The soundtrack complements the game wonderfully and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The ultimate version

Hades on current-gen consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X|S) is the ultimate version of Hades (next to the PC version). The game is once beautiful, the story holds up well, the characters are wonderfully written, every run feels exciting and the addition of Trophies and Achievements ensure that you have one more challenge ahead of you. Hades is a difficult and challenging game that rewards you for your hard work. You will certainly get frustrated a few times because it seems that you are not progressing, but eventually you will get where you need to be. Hades is a great roguelike, but an even better game that’s close to perfection. The only thing I have to say about it is that it can sometimes be a bit too difficult. However, the graphics, gameplay, soundtrack, story and challenge of this game will keep you coming back to escape from your father Hades and the underworld.

Hades PS5

That’s Gaming

• Gameplay 9.8

  

• Graphics 9.8

• Soundtrack 9.5

• Story 9.5

The Goods

• – Great characters who support Zagreus well
• – Hades is beautiful in 4K, 60 fps
• – Every run is challenging
• – Trophies/Achievements
• – What a damn good game this is.

The Bads

• – Sometimes a bit too difficult for the normal gamer.

9.7 4,825 5 Average Score