Hades

[El Grillo]

I also played a ton of this over the past week and managed to continue my win streak with the ranged weapons, building up to heat 4, until I got the credits on run #31. I managed a win with the fists after that, but it was a really messy affair where I basically face-tanked the final boss to build my Call gauge, and I still haven't managed to win with the sword I just find myself taking so much more damage in the boss fights and especially in Styx.

Chiron and Hera bow have been my favorites and most effective runs, Zagreus spear is good with hammer upgrades for the ranged special, and shield and rail are fine but much slower, possibly because I haven't spent any Titan blood leveling them yet.

Also, I remapped dash from B to ZR on my Switch controller and it makes my preferred style of constantly disengaging and picking off isolated enemies so much easier to execute.

[El Grillo]

I finally managed to beat Heat 0 with the sword in total cheese fashion by maxing out the Poseidon aspect for bonus Cast damage and taking Demeter/Artemis heirlooms to get their duo boon, which turns Casts into sufficiently reliable ranged DPS. Then I just focused on dodging as usual and was able to win fairly easily. I basically only used the sword itself to apply Weak and get Privileged Position online.

[Gustaran]

I bought the game two days ago and it has a great setting, story, music and voice acting. I managed to reach the 2nd boss so far, but I must admit that I am wondering about the gameplay: It is normal that you have to dash around the screen like a madman, while dodging bullets, trying to avoid exploding circles and having tons of enemies on screen?

It seems sometimes the screen is covered with so many graphical effects that it's difficult to really see what's going on and react in time. So I just resort to mashing dash+attack and hope I don't get hit, which becomes a bit boring (and exhausting for my right hand because I press the same buttons for 20 minutes non-stop)

[Gustaran]

[Sullla]

For anyone interested, I wrote a short review of Hades to record my thoughts about the game while they were still fresh: http://www.sullla.com/hades.html

I'd recommend this game to anyone who likes actions games or roguelike games, it's definitely fun and worth a purchase.

[Gold Ergo Sum]

I finally made it all the way through the story. Once you make it to the end credits, you probably need another 20-30 runs to fully complete the epilogue. Overall, the writing is fantastic, and as someone who had 40-50 runs before 1.0 released, I found the conclusion quite satisfying. You generally never get this level of writing and story in this genre of game, and it definitely added to the desire to keep grinding runs.

I nearly have every keepsake leveled to three stars. I have reached maximum bonds with all but a half dozen or so NPCs. And I am most of the way to earning the last of the six companions I have yet to unlock. I suspect depending on skill level, it probably takes 100-150 runs to unlock everything.

For whatever reason, it took over 20 runs for the legendary rail aspect to unlock, even though I had done everything the wiki said. And it was very slow letting me complete some of the companion quests, so I guess my advice would be just bear with it if you are enjoying the game, it will all unlock eventually.

[Lewwyn]

I finally made it all the way through the story.  Once you make it to the end credits, you probably need another 20-30 runs to fully complete the epilogue.  Overall, the writing is fantastic, and as someone who had 40-50 runs before 1.0 released, I found the conclusion quite satisfying.  You generally never get this level of writing and story in this genre of game, and it definitely added to the desire to keep grinding runs.

I nearly have every keepsake leveled to three stars.  I have reached maximum bonds with all but a half dozen or so NPCs.  And I am most of the way to earning the last of the six companions I have yet to unlock.  I suspect depending on skill level, it probably takes 100-150 runs to unlock everything. 

For whatever reason, it took over 20 runs for the legendary rail aspect to unlock, even though I had done everything the wiki said.  And it was very slow letting me complete some of the companion quests, so I guess my advice would be just bear with it if you are enjoying the game, it will all unlock eventually.

I made it through to the end credits a while back and then took a break but I will go back to it and get the epilogue at some point. I still find each run fun and there's still new story to get through.

[Gustaran]

Overall, the writing is fantastic, and as someone who had 40-50 runs before 1.0 released, I found the conclusion quite satisfying.  You generally never get this level of writing and story in this genre of game, and it definitely added to the desire to keep grinding runs......it probably takes 100-150 runs to unlock everything. 

For whatever reason, it took over 20 runs for the legendary rail aspect to unlock, even though I had done everything the wiki said.  And it was very slow letting me complete some of the companion quests, so I guess my advice would be just bear with it if you are enjoying the game, it will all unlock eventually.

I am somewhat less enthusiastic about the story. Sure, among roguelikes it has definitely set a new standard, but I also think it really needed to, because the gameplay itself is not motivating enough to get the average player to spend 150 runs on this game.
I am also not a great fan of the story pacing itself: In the beginning, I found it a clever twist that the first win of the game is not the real ending and racking up another 10 wins for the 2nd ending/credits seems reasonable. Put pulling the "oh, wait there is still more" for a second time in a row is tedious. I would be interested to know how the story ends, but to me personally I am not really motivated to keep on playing for another 40 runs to see the epilogue ending.

The other thing you mentioned is the lack or progress in the story and the sidequests: Quite often, the story advances very, very slowly. From checking the subreddit, I am not the only player that went on "suicide" runs, killing myself in the first room to advance a story or questline because otherwise some character would just give me two new textboxes with superficial chatter or not show up at all and it would take another 4-5 deaths to get to the point.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying Hades is a bad game, especially not at the price, but I think the devs bank very much on players wanting to do 100+ runs and having the desire to challenge themselves through the heat system. If that's your thing, Hades has fantastic replay value. But if you are more a casual player like me, who finds enough of a challenge at Heat 0, the content/progression does not work so well.

[haphazard1]

Recently started playing this game. I'm terrible at it. But I am having fun, and am slowly getting better. I am trying to learn to use the dash more effectively; moving in and out rapidly for quick strikes and then getting out of danger seems to be vital.

I am still unlocking weapons and abilities and other basic things. The interaction with all the NPCs and their stories works well as you alternate quieter periods in the House of Hades with the frenetic action during the runs.

Now if I can just get past Meg. Almost managed it last time, hopefully third try will be the charm.

[yuris125]

I think one of the biggest accomplishments of this game is that they managed to make it fun even for those who are terrible at it. From fellow struggler to fellow struggler - good luck!