For this critical play, I used Steam to play Hades, the roguelike action game created by Supergiant Games. The game is best suited for older teens and young adults because it contains some violent action and has detailed world building. The game invites players to care about its mythic world through two tightly integrated formal elements: a death‑and‑return loop laced with reactive dialogue and a boon/keepsake build system that formalizes relationships. However, certain attributes are endowed by the nature of your character’s “race”, and there are ethical concerns around that design.
Each time Zagreus dies, he reforms in the House of Hades and a new slice of conversation unlocks. The new slice of the story and dialogue happen regardless of how you performed in the previous escape. Indeed, the game tracks dozens of run‑state variables, unique lines continue to surface even after seventy‑plus attempts, producing what Greg Kasavin calls “story told through iteration”. The loop reframes failure as discovery: you start to relish defeat because it means another chance to chat with Megara, mend Achilles’ regrets, or eavesdrop on Hypnos’ jokes. In doing so, the formal structure of dying and retrying teaches players to care about the Underworld’s denizens. Furthermore, the entire structure and arc of the game is centred around Zagreus trying to escape to get to his mother on the surface world. As you compete to escape, the dungeon loop ensures that there are fresh challenges and the formal mechanic of the Pact of Punishment actually allows you to choose extra difficult challenges for each escape. This ensures that loops don’t become stale. All the while, each time you successfully defeat your father Hades, the overall arc and narrative of the game advances. With each successful clear, you get to talk to your mother who gives you the backstory and details of the family drama. As you learn more about the family drama, you start to understand the detailed and complicated dynamics between all the game characters, making the world of the game much richer and more realistic. The design of this loop and arc help create a rich narrative and backstory that builds the world into something worth emotionally investing in for the player.
During each escape attempt, Olympian gods offer boons which are combat augments tied to their personalities. Each god has a different one, for example Aphrodite has a charm that reduces the damage enemies deal and Ares (quite fittingly) has a curse that deals damage to the afflicted enemy after a period of time. Between runs, gifting nectar to the gods earns you keepsakes that grant buffs and reflect emotional bonds. One such example is Skelly’s tooth which grants a free death defy. Furthermore, the strongest synergies (Duo Boons) require mixing powers from two gods, so this design nudges you to court multiple deities, reading their lore and weighing their feelings before you decide on a build. Investing attention and time in your relationships with these in game deities and characters quite literally empowers Zagreus’ body on the battlefield. By designing the mechanic of getting new items this way, the game forces you to interact with the world it is building and you are incentivized to actually interact beyond a surface level. Consequently, the game ensures combat success is inseparable from social attention to the characters.
Zagreus’ immortality and his ability to channel godly boons derive from bloodline. He resurrects endlessly and wields divine strength that mortals could never attain. The Mirror of Night frames these advantages as latent potential unlocked through Nyx’s Darkness, reinforcing the idea that certain powers are innate. However, keepsakes and combat styles are learned or gifted, not inherited. Any character can teach Zagreus new tactics or lend him artifacts, implying that skill refinement and emotional bonds are social rather than biological. Divine talents grant obvious boons, yet family lineage also shackles Zagreus to the House and fuels Hades’ resentment. To soften the messaging that your powers are gained by birthright, I would decouple boons from ancestry. Instead of having abilities simply because Zagreus is a demigod, blessings would unlock through completing objectives like clearing realms without taking damage or grinding in training rooms. The Mirror could also be transformed into a Gymnasium of Night where you can invest time to earn extra dashes or death defiance, depicting ability as practised rather than predetermined. Gods could still flavour upgrades, but their gifts would now feel contractual instead of hereditary, shifting the depiction of the body from fixed divine inheritance to earned adaptability.
