#and i hadn't seen anyone discuss this part of the game critically yet

[solidandsound]

Every Supergiant game is brilliant, and each in their own way. Hades is probably the most fun a Supergiant game has ever been; it's the kind of game you never want to put down. It's also likely the studio's weakest narrative, and certainly its weakest ending.

The writing of Hades is to be commended for how it is able to keep story-focused players engaged with a type of game that they would normally otherwise bounce off of. Dying can be frustrating, but at least in Hades death is another chance to talk to a large roster of cool friends, cuties, and spooky parental figures. It also makes even failed runs feel like part of the story because of how reactive dialogue can be. If you die to a sword dude, there's a good chance someone back home's gonna say, "Wow, sorry to hear you died from a sword dude, that must have sucked." There is an astonishing amount of dialogue, reacting to an astonishing amount of possible circumstances.

However, because it does this, you start to expect it to adapt to you on every level, and it can't, not perfectly. I believe the devs did enough work to prevent the game from directly contradicting itself, but there are nonetheless certain lines of dialogue that feel off. Once you accomplish the story's main goal of bringing Persephone home, Zagreus's motivation became much more casual, but there are still lines that, through writing or delivery, make it sound like he is fighting for something vitally important, or even that he is still in dire conflict with his father. He always has a reason to keep fighting, and there is always tension between him and his father, so you can squint and let these moments pass, but after a while they start to grate on you, or at least they did on me.*

Speaking of Zagreus, he is, of course, the one driving the story forward. His goal can only be achieved by fighting out of the underworld, over and over again. That moment, when Persephone finally comes home, is great, and if that were the ending, I would have been satisfied. Credits do roll, but it isn't the true ending, and even in that moment, Persephone alludes to what must still be done. The remaining conflict is primarily between Persephone and the Olympians. She is the one coming up with the plan this time; Zag is just along for the ride. As players, our task to assist Persephone is simple, nothing we haven't done before. So we complete it, the epilogue happens, and... that's it. After a lot of build-up, all conflict is resolved at an unbelievably peaceful family reunion. There is no god-like wrath, nor even any arguing.

This ending does not feel earned, by the story nor by us. I at minimum would have loved some sort of conversation during the dinner, Demeter at least laying out her grievances, her grief. As a player--and this is a lot to ask, I know--some sort of challenge to wrap this up would have made it all feel more satisfying. Maybe Demeter, or a gauntlet of betrayed Olympians, as a true final boss or boss rush.

This is kind of the problem with roguelikes, though. The game isn't really over. I can, and likely will, continue playing. It ends when I decide it ends, when I am satisfied with it. How do you make a satisfying ending to something like that? I don't know, but I'm excited to see Supergiant take a second shot at it.

*I'm sure the devs know this, and I expect that this aspect will be improved upon in the sequel. Knowing that the game was developed via early access, I am sure they had times where they pushed an update and then realized, Oh shit, I failed to write previous sections anticipating this! With planning and forethought, I am sure they can write in such a way that contradictions are accounted for before they happen.