Hades review for Xbox Series X/One, PS5/4

Hades, the fantastic rogue-like action game from developer Supergiant Games, dropped last week on Xbox and PlayStation platforms, after an initial launch window on Nintendo Switch and PC (check out my prior review here) last year. If for some reason you?ve not had a chance to experience one of my favorite games from 2020, then you?ll be in for a real treat with this one. And if you?ve already played copious amounts of Hades on other platforms, well, I still think it?s worth picking up again.

It?s worth noting that this version of Hades does lack the cross-save function found between the Switch and PC versions. So you?ll be starting fresh, and won?t be able to carry a save over between platforms. But outside of that, everything else is ported over intact, and runs fantastic on any Xbox or PlayStation platform you may own. I?ve been playing on an Xbox Series X for the past couple of weeks, and haven’t had a single performance issue over dozens and dozens of playtime hours.

If you?re unfamiliar with Hades, it?s a Greek mythology infused isometric action-adventure, wherein you play as Zagreus, son of Hades, on a mission to break out of the underworld and find his long lost mother Persephone. In order to do so, he?ll be granted a variety of powers by the pantheon of the Gods, which bestow upon him boons that can enhance his attacks, movements, and so on in order to successfully complete his goal. But reaching the end of the Underworld isn?t the end of the game by a long shot, and despite having sunk tons of time into the Switch release and now the Xbox release, I?ve yet to exhaust all of the dialogue and bits of story cram packed into this game. And the writing is top notch, along with the voice acting, making it well worth your time to unveil every bit of lore you can possibly unravel.

As you make your way through Hades, and inevitably die over and over again, you?ll gain various currencies that can be used to further enhance Zagreus? abilities, along with additional weapons to wield, which will in turn make your future runs through the Underworld a bit more successful. The progression through Hades, and how you can see yourself becoming better and better at the game after each subsequent run, is one of the more addicting aspects of the game for me. Again, despite having ?cleared? Hades a number of times, and having defeated the same bosses over and over again, I keep coming back for more, and a lot of that comes down to just how much damn fun the game is to play.

So yeah, Hades is absolutely worth a purchase, or a second purchase even, on these new platforms. You absolutely owe it to yourself to check it out, and I can confidently say that you?ll not be disappointed.

Note: Supergiant Games provided us with Xbox One and PS4/PS5 codes for review purposes.