It's truly gotten out of control when people are out here claiming Hades invented things like lessening player agency over overall plot progression or having stochastic elements to a narrative

Game is great but it's not even the first *supergiant* game to use those ideas and they go back a long ways! People gotta look beyond the confines of a handful of RPGs if they wanna draw the history of interactive narrative.

It's okay for a game you think is very good to be "merely" a very polished iteration. To try and say that every succesful game must be 'revolutionary' is erasing the actual history of the field.

In fact, I'd hazard to say that anything you've been wowed by in a game was probably done earlier by someone else. There's always a failed experiment or an overlooked gem, and it's harmful to keep promoting notions of 'unique genius' in the industry; no such thing.

When you encounter something new in games, ask yourself, for real: *Why* isn't this done more often? Find an answer other than "people haven't realized its brilliance yet." *When* and *where* has it shown up before?

There are much more productive discussions to have about Hades' game narrative than "Wow maybe everyone in the industry should rethink what they're doing!!!"