Dark Soldier wrote:

The can mix up the runs and flow of the levels as much as they want but when I'm getting very little joy out of the core combat loop and find the boons a bit dull then it isn't really going to gel. I can see how good it is but it doesn't have that one more go appeal of my preferred rogues.

Yeah it’s just one of those things I guess. I think it’s a total peach of a game but obviously others won’t. Same with people not gelling with Isaac or whatever. It has big one more go energy for me, cos I am obsessed with trying to get that sub 15 minute clear (which I reckon I could have had last night if I hadn’t fought the secret boss for a prophecy I wanted to clear!)

I think the mechanical care and consideration is very evident though, the design is absolutely meticulous and like I say that cyclical end game relationship of power and difficulty is the gold standard for this type of action roguelike. If you want to do scaling power, you need a pushback to make it interesting.

Yeah, Spelunky 2 is gonna be a wild ride for those who enjoy it, but I 100% know that I will not get on with it as I just never got on with the original. I fully understand why it gets the praise it does, it's an absolute masterpiece, but it's also just not for me at all.

One thing that hades does absolutely correctly is that it instantly makes your first weapon interesting. I’ve seen games where you start off really crap with your initial set up and it’s a real drag. (I don’t think passive buffs count - if hades only had the mirror stuff at the start and made you wait for a boon it’d be really shit)

My biggest issue with the game is the repetition. At least in Dead Cells you can pick your path through the game and see some different biomes and pick up interesting weapons along the way.

Having to slog through those opening levels in Hades over and over has put me right off, especially when so many of the chambers are nothing more than trivial encounters. I can get through just spamming away with little thought most of the time. The bosses at the end just cement the problem. I've fought that Bone Hydra countless times now and I don't think I can be bothered ever again. The last ten or twenty times it's been an identical fight. It's a snorefest of a boss.

The lack of any new areas or anything in the way of exploration is a real disappointment.

Hmm. I don't get the repetition fatigue in other roguelikes like I do in this game. It feels lacking in content to me, despite the myriad build options.

I didn’t even realise the heads were different. I just muller them fast.

I got to the second form of the main boss. That was rude. I hate second forms of bosses.

I didn’t realise there was a god mode option. Nice.

...

Except I'm just read the unspoilered spoiler above, so maybe there was more to go anyway.

You need to buy weapons with keys and that should open the next weapons to unlock.

Ah you get more tings if you use different tings

Got to the this time, still not made it out in 15 efforts but getting tantalisingly close and kinda getting there or there Annie's each go...

there Annie’s ?!?

F. ANNIES

Congrats!