Hades Wiki

Hades

Hades is a roguelike action role-playing game developed and published by Supergiant Games, released in September 2020 after a year in early access. Players control Zagreus, prince of the Underworld, who fights his way out of the realm of the dead again and again in the hope of reaching the surface and finding his mother Persephone. Every escape attempt runs through the four biomes below the House of Hades and ends, win or lose, back in the House, where relationships with the gods, shades and chthonic staff move forward between runs. Combat is fast, dash-driven hack-and-slash built on six Infernal Arms, boons from the Olympian gods and a Mirror of Night that turns accumulated Darkness into permanent upgrades. The game is widely credited with tying a strong, continuously advancing story to the repetition of a roguelike loop.

• Escape Runs - Each attempt climbs from Tartarus through Asphodel and Elysium to the Temple of Styx and the surface, with chamber rewards, shops and gates shuffled per run; death returns Zagreus to the House of Hades but keeps everything spent on permanent progression.
• Infernal Arms - Six weapons (Stygius, Varatha, Aegis, Coronacht, Malphon and Exagryph) with four Aspects apiece. Aspects are unlocked with Titan Blood and change the weapon's core behaviour rather than simply raising its numbers.
• Olympian Boons - Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, Dionysus, Demeter and Hermes offer Attack, Special, Cast, Dash and Call boons in Common, Rare, Epic and Heroic rarities, plus Duo and Legendary boons that only appear when the right prerequisites line up.
• Mirror of Night - Darkness collected in runs buys permanent talents on a two-column mirror, where most rows force a choice between two mutually exclusive upgrades, so the mirror defines the shape of a save file.
• Pact of Punishment - Heat is a self-imposed difficulty budget. Each run the player can enable conditions such as Hard Labour, Lasting Consequences, Convenience Fee, Jury Summons, Extreme Measures (which upgrades bosses) and Personal Liability, and higher Heat pays out more bounties.
• Keepsakes and Nectar - Nectar gifts raise bonds with gods and House characters, and each bond unlocks a Keepsake that grants a passive effect for one run, with three bond levels per Keepsake.
• Chaos Gates and the Well of Charon - Chaos Gates trade a temporary curse for a powerful boon, while the Well of Charon sells run-only items for Obols collected in chambers.
• Fated List of Minor Prophecies - The House Contractor and the Fated List hand out long-term objectives that pay out in resources, giving runs a second layer of goals beyond reaching the surface.