Hades has become a runaway success of a rogue-lite, even in a year saturated with rogue-lites and rogue-likes. Side by side with games like Returnal,Hades proves it's a great time to be a rogue-like fan.
Originally only available on Switch and the Epic Games Store, Hades existed in early access for a long time, eventually extending to Steam as well. With regular, substantial updates and good gameplay, Hades captured the hearts of many players. Now Hades is extending even further onto another service that will bring it into the hands of many new players so they can discover what makes it shine.
Hades is coming to Xbox Game Pass this year. Announced at E3, the game will be making its way to the subscription service on August 13. While there are no major updates or improvements scheduled alongside the release, there are hardly any necessary. Hades first earned acclaim on other platforms and its handcrafted graphics will look good just about anywhere, including Xbox consoles. Further, its gameplay is already proven to feel fantastic on keyboard and controller, including Xbox controllers. With the streaming service approach, many new players will have the chance to experience Hades' award-winning contextual storytelling, something that contributed to its success just as much as the fluid and frantic gameplay. It's definitely a win for Xbox fans.
Those unfamiliar with Hades will rapidly learn why it has developed such a dedicated fan base. The artwork is gorgeous, both in terms of character portraits and flashy attacks, not to mention the beautiful environments. The stylized look of the Underworld looks fantastic, with graphics that are primed to stand the test of time. With distinct, fun, interesting characters and good voice acting to back up the look, most players main request for improvements in a Hades sequel is jut to include more of the same.
Beyond looking and sounding great, Hades also plays smooth and fast, like many of the best rogue-likes/lites currently on the market. One of its biggest innovations is weaving its story in such a manner that it advances each time the player dies, making failure just as fun as success. It's a good trick, one future rogue-likes/lites should emulate.
In short, Xbox players are getting the full package with Hades, something that will rapidly become apparent. Hopefully the evidence of Hades coming to PlayStation 4 coalesces into reality sometime soon so that all players can experience it.
Hades is available now for Nintendo Switch and PC, with the Xbox version coming August 13, 2021.
