![]() The challenge inherent to the design of roguelikes is how to keep the gameplay interesting while asking the player to do the same thing over and over again this is a task as impossibly Sisyphean as playing Hades itself. By that metric, he reasoned, it should have "infinite content." Because of their computational character, video games are well-placed to provide such endless interactions (a non-video game equivalent is the generative ambient music of Brian Eno). Greg Kasavin, writer and designer at Supergiant Games, described Hades as "infinitely replayable" in an interview with the Washington Post. Playing 'Hades' on the cusp of a bleak winter - infection rates rising, lockdowns tightening, daylight dwindling - exacerbated my own dawning sense of feeling hemmed in, perhaps even of dread. Hades, however, is marginally less spiky than many entries in the genre the difficulty is toned down just a notch, the visuals drip with Athenian opulence, and the blood-splattered violence whips by with the vim and vigor of stylish Japanese action games such as 2009's Bayonetta. The Grecian underworld, a disorienting, metaphysical space of tribulations both numerous and painful, is perfectly suited to the roguelike. In the 40 years since, roguelikes built on this legacy, from 1987's NetHack to 2008's Spelunky have leant into the punishing, often sado-masochistic quality of the original. At the end of each run, the game would transport your avatar back to the beginning, only to let you attempt the journey again in a dungeon newly cooked-up by the game's code. There was no save feature, so death - which could arrive swiftly and surprisingly - ensured any progress was mercilessly discarded (a design trope called permadeath). These were all characteristic of Rogue, the genre progenitor which arrived in 1980 and tasked players with escaping a lo-fi, randomly generated dungeon. What's more surprising about Hades, outside of the eerie timing, is how it has achieved crossover appeal as a roguelike, a video game genre notable for its difficulty, obscure rules, and relentless repetition.
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