The Worldbuilding Game I experienced is Hades II, a roguelike (roguelite) action game developed by Supergiant Games. Its target audience includes action game enthusiasts and fans of Greek mythology. I cleared the original Hades four years ago, and I recently experienced this sequel (on PC, with approximately 20 hours of playtime).
Instead of using long blocks of text to explain its setting, Hades II distributes its worldbuilding across short levels and meta-progression, achieving a positive feedback loop: “the more you play, the more you understand the world; the more you understand the world, the more you want to play.” Specifically, Hades II sets different stages of objectives (formal elements) that drive players to personally experience the conflict (narrative elements) and gradually get to know the characters (narrative elements), thereby immersing them in the game world.
The first major objective of the game is to “Defeat Chronos.” My knowledge of Greek mythology was limited to the previous Hades game, so I was unfamiliar with Chronos’s backstory. All I knew was that every night, I had to enter the Underworld to fight, and upon death, I would return to the starting point. Interestingly, after my first few deaths, the game showcased arcs through cutscenes. These animations established the background story: Chronos had invaded the House of Hades and imprisoned many characters—even the protagonist of the previous game! To me, this was powerful evocative information, awakening memories of every character I encountered in the first game. This conflict sparked my curiosity about the current world: What happens to this world when the previous characters are forced “offline”? What changes can I bring to this world?
Image: Cutscene where the player controls Hades and discovers Chronos has imprisoned his family
Beyond the animation arcs, the game is filled with small dialogue arcs used for worldbuilding. Every night, I need to complete dozens of brief combat encounters. Between these battles, I might receive Boons from the Olympian Gods: a character portrait appears, triggering dialogue, requiring a choice, or allowing me to offer a gift to trigger further conversation. These brief dialogues are crucial for worldbuilding—for example, they provide additional reasons to crusade against Chronos, introduce the maps, and explain the relationships between the gods. For me, these arcs made the characters more relatable, to the point where I was willing to look up external sources to deepen my understanding of the lore (such as why Eris’s drop item is a Golden Apple).
Image: A Boon from Zeus
The design of these small loop-arcs also aligns with players’ cognitive habits: after dozens of seconds of intense combat, a simple, witty dialogue allows the player to relax. This makes worldbuilding a reward, which is far more acceptable than directly presenting massive amounts of text.
After completing the first major goal of “Defeating Chronos,” the game provides a new objective: “Find the Three Fates,” achieved by “cultivating relationships with multiple NPCs.” For me, this new goal drives me to play not just for “victory,” but to “see more of the story.” I began intentionally choosing routes that allowed for more NPC dialogue and experimented with different character combinations. Regarding the overall lifecycle of the game, once the emotional intensity of the “conflict” fades, the designers use “characters” as the core hook to keep players exploring.
Image: The quest to find the Three Fates, requiring increased affinity with other characters
Image: The Affinity/Gift system
Within the framework of The Psychology of World Building, Hades II basically follows the path from main character, to supporting cast, to surroundings, and finally to culture. As mentioned above, my initial focus was on the protagonist’s revenge and the stories of the Olympian gods. However, as the game progresses, environmental storytelling gradually comes into play: for instance, the contrast between the beauty of the Temple of Zeus and the chaos of Mount Olympus hints at the irresponsibility of the gods.
Image: Mount Olympus being invaded by monsters
Image: The Temple of Zeus
Ethics
Hades II features a female protagonist. Its action system builds upon the original by introducing a charging system (Omega moves) and more ranged combat options. In other words, players can choose to engage in sweeping close-quarters combat like Hades (the male protagonist), or play as a “ranged witch.” Because the player has a choice, I believe this represents “diversity” rather than “gender stereotypes.” Furthermore, Hades II portrays diverse body types: for example, Hestia is depicted as an elderly woman, and Hephaestus is depicted as disabled, yet both possess immense power. While some characters’ designs feature exposed skin, this does not stem from the “male gaze,” but rather from an equal representation of different genders’ bodies and an inheritance of traditional Greek mythological aesthetics.
