The good 👍
- Good combat where each weapon is well-balanced and not feel like a placeholder, action is well paced, and it's easy to learn the ropes
- Good variety of enemies, and if we feel that game is too easy we can modify the difficulty level
- Optional God Mode, where game applies 20% damage reduction, and it goes up by 2% each time we die (up to 80%). It allows people who are not great with combat, but still want to explore the story, to play the game. (But it would take devs months to implement, and I would feel less special if someone else would enjoy game I am pro at!!1!!! Shouted the exclusion crowd)
- As per the point above. There is surprisingly a lot of story here. Sure, we want to beat the final boss and reach our mum. But all the Gods have their own personality. Sidekick characters like Dusa or Nyx are well worth talking to. Game made me even go and watch some Greek mythology videos and read wiki on it 🤣
- First attempts to escape were taking me close to an hour. After beating the boss for first time it dropped to 40 min. Which is good when we have only a bit of time to spare
- Run can be resumed at checkpoints between biomes. If we beat Tartarus (1st biome), we can exit game from next chamber (which act as healing-up/shop) and resume from the same spot. Which allows for even shorter 10-minute sessions with the game
- Game doesn't have animated cutscenes, but voice acting makes up for it. It is excellent and allow characters to have a lot of emotions. Even when they may have 2 - 3 sprites total
- So many upgrades. Permanent that offer active and passive bonuses. Weapon upgrades. Trinket modifiers. If you like (like me) game where you noticeably grow stronger (and not just know the mechanics better) this game is perfect.

The bad 👎
- We progress story only when we die, as NPCs in house of Hades will have only one new dialogue... it forced me to die on purpose just to progress their storyline 🤣 I stopped to die much after I beat the main boss for the first time...
- If you are not into learning NPCs backstory game can get repetitive fast. Only 3 biomes, each with 10 or so enemies 2 min-bosses and one boss.

Conclusion:

I enjoyed it very much. And I will most probably still go back to it to get true ending, complete rest of side quests, and get all achievements. Good mix of combat, persistent upgrades, story, progression. And even when information about Zagreus is very limited in Greek mythology, I will treat him canonically as son of Hades and Persephone, raised by the Night, being pal with Megaera and having Achilles as his combat teacher 😎

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Details

📘 Story ☐ Bare-bone ☐ Average ☑ Good

We play as Zagreus, son of Hades, the prince of the Underworld. We are on the mission to escape, reach the surface and find our mum. Sounds simple, but to reach mid-ending we need to beat game 10 times. And even more if we want to reach the true end. Which is fine, as there is a lot of backstory, interesting NPCs interactions, Gods interactions which keep the game interesting.

🔄 Gameplay loop ☐ Boring ☐ Average ☑ Good	If you don't care about backstory the gameplay can be quite repetitive. It is easy to learn the enemies patterns, and later on, with enough passive upgrades, you won't even die until you reach 3rd main boss or end game boss. After each death we end in Hades house, place which act as a hub area where we interact with other NPCs, upgrade our character, select weapon for the next run, upgrade the house with cosmetics. Like I said above, whole run takes 30 - 45 minutes, but it's possible to stop mid-way in area between biomes.
🪄 Abilities ☐ Basics (walk, jump etc.) ☐ Magic / powers ☑ Advanced combat	At it's core we have main and special attack, dash and shooting-projectile abilities. But then each ability can have a God's blessing. We find them as rewards for clearing the map, and there are so many possibilities. Main attack can shoot lightning (Zeus), have higher crit chance (Artemis), push enemies away (Poseidon), freeze enemies (Demeter), deflect projectiles (Athena), weaken enemies (Aphrodite), deal delayed damage (Ares) or deal DoT (Dionysus). That is just for the main attack. Boons for special dash and shooting area also all unique. That creates huge ability once we get a hang of it. Only issue is that which gods we encounter, and which boons are available is random. Second part are passives. More health, extra damage for backstabbing enemies, more dashes, higher chance to get specific loot etc. Those are all bought with experience points gathered during runs.
🎮 Controls ☐ Clunky and stiff ☐ Adequate ☑ Fluid and enjoyable	Controls are very fluid and enjoyable. We move fast, dash through obstacles, attack enemies, dash away. Enemies don't reach us even when it seems like we were in the clear. Learning how to use evade-dash (right before we are hit) to avoid damage is satisfying. Game is isometric, and there is no jumping.
📇 Inventory and menus ☑ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Over complicated	There are no real menus. We can select keepsake and weapon before the run. There is one menu where we buy mostly cosmetic decorations for the hub area. And then during run we can bring up button that shows details of our current abilities.
🥊 Combat 🏹 ☐ Boring and generic ☐ Average ☐ Good ☑ Great	Combat is good, thought can get repetitive. Shield and boxing gloves are extremely close weapon, sword is close range. Spear is medium-range and bow + gun are long range. Even when I generally prefer long range weapons, here it is easier to play with close range. I beat the main boss first time with the shield, by having Athena ultimate ability (invincibility for a few seconds) allowing me to punch the boss extremely fast. Rinse and repeat 🤣 As abilities during run are randomised, we can sometimes end with weird (but still workable) combos. Like shooting thunders or seeking arrows on attack with fast-hitting weapon can deal tons of damage. While having the same boon on slow-loading bow is kind of useless. Getting Poseidon boon that pushes enemies away while attacking makes sense with long range weapons, but not much with shield.
🤖 Game AI ☐ Brain dead ☐ Really basic ☐ Average ☑ Smart and responsive	Enemies are smart. They will move off-screen if they can attack us with long-range attacks, which forces us to close distance. Close range enemies will position themselves, so we can't easily shepherd them and beat into pulp. First two biome bosses are easy. 3rd is annoying, as there is one long-range enemy and one close-range one. Final boss is close range with big area sweeping attack. Each of those bosses require a bit of different technique, especially at the start when we are weak and can easily die.

💸 Microtransactions ☑ None ☐ Skins ☐ "Time-savers" ☐ Direct purchase ☐ Custom currency (gems etc.)	🏆 Achievements ☐ None ☐ Story progression ☐ Few collectibles / easy to get ☑ Grindy collectibles / hard to get ☑ Require multiple playthroughs	💾 Save system ☐ No saves ☐ No saves, progress carries over ☐ One checkpoint, too rare ☑ One checkpoint, frequent ☐ Manual saves
📊 Performance ☐ Can run on potato ☑ Medium requirements ☐ High requirements ☐ Too low for what is visible on screen ☐ Optimization disaster	🌌 Graphic ☐ May look good 10 years ago, but not now ☐ Blurry textures / geometry problems ☐ Average ☑ Good ☐ Beautiful	🔊 Sound ☐ Nothing to remember ☑ Good voice acting ☐ Good weapons & effects ☐ Good OST ☑ Music flows well with the action
🦚 Customization options ☐ Resolution, volume only ☑ Basic graphic settings ☐ Advanced graphic settings ☐ Adjustable HUD ☐ Accessibility options	🧭 Map ☑ No map ☐ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Minimap ☐ Fast travel	Details: