Roguelike games have massively increased in popularity over the last decade, and companies are continuing to improve on the trial-and-error formula. Among the plethora of titles that are leaving Xbox' Game Pass service at the end of August, Hades is perhaps the game that gamers are saddest to see go. It's one of the few experiences that has stood alongside Spelunky, Dead Cells, The Binding of Isaac, and Rogue Legacy as one of the best roguelike games ever made, but where it perhaps stands even taller is how the story unfolds, as well as they way it looks.
While Hades is, first and foremost a grueling experience with fast-paced combat and punishing enemy encounters, it's far more than initially meets the eye. Its genre isn't known for intricate character development and story beats, but Supergiant Games' latest masterpiece is proof that what it learned with Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre has not gone to waste. Hades shows that the developer is an industry leader in fusing innovative gameplay with a gripping story and memorable interactions. The tale is littered with exceptional personalities who are developed even further by the game's stunning visual style, further showing that art direction can be a useful tool in forging great characters.
Hades' Gorgeous Character Models
As so much artistic innovation comes from the indie scene, Hades had a monumental challenge ahead of it during development to rival the visuals of titles like Gris, Hotline Miami, and Inside. Thankfully for both the developer and fans of the roguelike genre, Hades is a visual marvel, and its stunning take on the Greek gods of Olympus is head and shoulders above what's come before. The writing is fantastic, and each god's character subverts expectation while also remaining faithful to the mythology they are a part of, making them feel truly different to those presented in games like God of War, Immortals Fenyx Rising, and Smite.
No clearer is this than in the way they look. Zagreus' interactions with the gods is almost entirely done through text boxes appearing on-screen alongside a character image that only ever changes slightly. This would usually sound like a negative, but the way Supergiant crafts each of the Olympian and Chthonic gods makes them stand out for all the right reasons. Thanatos' steely-gray hair and colossal scythe immediately makes him feel like a threatening presence, and Tisiphone's lifeless facial features do well to show that she's the least rational of the Fury sisters. All the characters have small, but significant visual quirks that bleed into their overall personality, which greatly helps the players, as well as Zagreus' relationship with them.
Bad Art Direction Can Make Characters Feel Boring
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While Hades shows that good art direction can drastically improve how characters are developed, there are plenty of examples where the opposite is in effect. Bad art or uninspired character models can be detrimental to the story any game is trying to tell, as the personalities aren't adequately modeled to make them feel special. For instance, Marvel's Avengers has been criticized for its boring game design and questionable corporate tactics, but one of the things that players took note of early on was the way the characters looked. The Avengers felt like bland copy-and-paste characters with little to differentiate them, and fans were quick to voice their concerns.
If a team as beloved as the Avengers can fall victim of poor art direction, smaller indie titles in a brand-new IP are surely even more at risk of it. Yet, Hades had three predecessors to learn from, and unlike Crystal Dynamics with Marvel's Avengers, there was no pressure to recreate a property that is so culturally relevant today. Supergiant leaned into its unrelenting ability to make a game look as good as it plays, which in turn had huge benefits to the way players connected with the gods of Olympus.
There are far more important factors that boost character development than art direction, as strong writing and voice acting surely take precedence. However, players will always be prone to judging a character based on their appearance, as it's more often than not the first impression they get. In the early moments of Hades, gamers will be forgiven for deciding to side with Ares rather than Artemis during Trial of the Gods because his war-centric character model makes him feel like a valuable asset in battle. In reality, though, every character that Hades pulls from Greek mythology is beautifully realized, making their personality feel more than skin-deep.
Hades is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
