Collection Hades

Hades solved the roguelike's oldest storytelling problem. Dying and restarting usually resets the narrative; Supergiant made the restart the narrative. Zagreus is trying to escape the underworld, and every failure returns him to his father's house, where everyone has something new to say.

That structure means the game gets more story the worse you are at it, which is an extraordinary design achievement. Hundreds of thousands of words of dialogue, all conditional, all responding to how your last run went and who you gave a bottle of nectar to.

The combat is fast and readable, built around boons from Olympian gods that combine into builds you didn't plan. No two escapes play the same, and the god who offers you a boon is also a character with opinions about your family.

The voice work and Jen Zee's character art turned a Greek pantheon into a cast people are genuinely attached to.

This collection covers Zagreus and the House of Hades.