This week, I played Hades, a roguelike dungeon crawler developed and published by Supergiant Games for PC, console, and mobile platforms. Rated for teens and above, it is aimed toward players interested in action and narrative-focused games. I played on PC, and did not have time to finish the whole game, but reaching the Theseus and Asterius boss duo gave me a good idea of the game’s mechanics and narrative direction. Although the main story follows Zagreus’s repeated attempts to escape the Underworld, the game’s worldbuilding combines social systems, environmental details, and familiar mythological stereotypes, which the player is then encouraged to question.
The most important worldbuilding choice in Hades is every failed escape attempt sending Zagreus back to the House of Hades. In many roguelikes, death primarily removes progress and leads the player to another attempt. Here, it also returns the player to a social space. Hades sits behind his desk, shades wait for judgment, and Achilles waits at his post. Their placement conveys authority and hierarchy without needing a long explanation of the Underworld’s society. With death being the mechanic, the dynamic becomes the changing conversations between house dwellers after each escape attempt. This establishes the house as an inhabited workplace and a home to a dysfunctional family. As a result, the characters’ traits seem shaped by their jobs, relationships, and positions within the House.
Hades also uses evocative narrative through the player’s existing knowledge of Greek mythology. Hades himself is expected to be villainous, Theseus as heroic, and the Minotaur monstrous. From a design perspective, these associations give the player a basis to work on to put together the game’s narrative without being bogged down with lengthy explanations. Embedded narrative then complicates the player’s assumptions. Hades’ interactions with the shades and with Zagreus give insight into both his administrative and fatherly sides. The cheers of the Elysium arena, in which you face Theseus and Asterius, give insight into that society’s preferences for whom to celebrate.
When it comes to Hades’s dialogue, repeated conversations reveal the characters’ personalities, which do not always match their titles. Unlike many action games that usually treat the Underworld only as a hostile backdrop, Hades presents it as a place where people work and live. The stereotypes provide clarity, but the world becomes interesting because the game goes beyond them to establish its own narrative. This was especially noticeable when I reached Theseus and Asterius. Theseus is introduced with the reputation of a great hero, while Asterius has the appearance and title of a monster. Their characterization, however, creates almost the opposite impression. Theseus performs for the crowd and talks down to Zagreus, while Asterius is more restrained and respectful. Putting them together in one boss encounter all but forces the player to compare their appearances, reputations, and behavior as they battle them. Elysium’s arena strengthens this contrast because its audience continues celebrating the person who already possesses the heroic label. Instead of directly explaining that heroes and monsters should not be judged by predisposed traits, the game allows the player to discover that contradiction through interaction.
Overall, I believe that these deviations from the general view of Greek mythology are beneficial for the game. The Olympian gods are depicted with varied skin tones rather than following the common whitewashed appearance of Greek mythological figures found in other media. This allows the mythology to be more inclusive, with each god remaining recognizable through symbols, dialogue, and abilities. On the other hand, this diversity is mostly visual rather than a developed cultural identity, as the core of the characters is still mostly based on established mythology. The game also focuses heavily on more popular named characters, giving them more complexity than ordinary shades and monsters. While characters like Charon exist, additional non-combat encounters or individual reactions from these individuals could provide a wider narrative perspective. Even with this limitation, Hades does a great job with its design, challenging the idea that appearance determines a character’s role or worth.
