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Why Hades is a Lot More Important Than You Think: A thread (1/?) #HadesGame
1. Actual good work culture
This has been covered pretty thoroughly already but the people at Supergiant made sure their employees were well treated. Mandatory vacations and absolutely no crunch. https://kotaku.com/the-secret-to-the-success-of-bastion-pyre-and-hades-1838082618 2/?
This has been covered pretty thoroughly already but the people at Supergiant made sure their employees were well treated. Mandatory vacations and absolutely no crunch. https://kotaku.com/the-secret-to-the-success-of-bastion-pyre-and-hades-1838082618 2/?
They also kept a lot of work in-house, even passing on professional voice actors when performances by employees fit characters perfectly. That's how we got Darren Korb, the composer, voicing both Zagreus and Skelly. 3/?
Jim Sterling actually went over this in their 2020 Best Games video so go watch that, it's a lot better at explaining it than I am. 4/?
2: INCLUSIVITY AND REPRESENTATION
It's well known that Zagreus is canonically bisexual AND polyamorous, which is huge, but there's a lot of other LGBT+ rep in the game. Achilles and Patroclus are written as lovers without any subtext. Just text. 5/?
It's well known that Zagreus is canonically bisexual AND polyamorous, which is huge, but there's a lot of other LGBT+ rep in the game. Achilles and Patroclus are written as lovers without any subtext. Just text. 5/?
Also Zag might be the first positive rep for polyam I've seen in a game? Most of the time polyam is "you can date all the romance options... but they don't know." Yeah there's a word for that. 6/?
Beyond LGBT+, a lot of characters aren't depicted as white. Dionysus, Hermes, and Patroclus are all men of color. And each character has a unique body shape and size! 7/?
You can also interpret Dusa's romance arc as someone accepting their asexuality. Which, as an asexual person, I totally do. 8/?
3. Games can be happy, you know
This is where I get into story spoilers so if you'd rather avoid them, please stop reading now. 9/?
This is where I get into story spoilers so if you'd rather avoid them, please stop reading now. 9/?
Despite the overwhelming odds Zagreus faces and all the anguish and pain he goes through, there's still a happy ending. Even if the face of so much adversity, there are people who care for him and want him to succeed. And that feels like a message people need in 2020/21. 10/13
Hades shows that games can be dark without being depressing. That happy endings are possible for anybody, regardless of their situation. That there's always a bright spot at the end of the road. 11/13
With so many triple-A games focusing on being "realistic" and needlessly cruel, this game in a genre DESIGNED to be unfair and challenging said "no. Happiness is possible." And I love it for that. 12/13
And finally, 4: Zagreus is just. Really hot thanks for reading
