Hades News

Hades gets the queer love story right with Achilles and Patroclus

Queer love stories in games usually come in two flavours: those that are defined solely by their queerness, and those that are just like heteronormative relationships with the serial numbers filed off. The medium still has a long way to go when it comes to portraying a diverse array of queer love stories that feel believable and distinct from one another.

That's what makes Hades' love story between Achilles and Patroclus so special. It's a classical tragedy that's defined by intense longing and a willingness to risk it all, and one that's grounded by believable dialogue.

The story of Achilles and Patroclus existed well before Hades ever came into being. A key plot line in Homer's Iliad, the story goes that Achilles withdrew from King Agamemnon's war against Troy after the greedy king insulted him. While Achilles sulked in his tent, Patroclus donned his armour and led his army in his place, and though he made headway against the Trojan forces, was slain in a duel by Troy's champion Hector.

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Steam Global Top Sellers for the Week ending 4 October 2020

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Post-Launch Patch - October 2, 2020

We are humbled by and grateful for the amazing response to our v1.0 Launch Update. While our Early Access development is now complete, expect several follow-up patches such as this one to shore up any remaining issues. Thank you very much for playing.

Note: 📢 indicates a change inspired by community feedback!

Infernal Arms, Aspects, & Abilities

📢 Heart-Seeking Bow (Hera Aspect): fixed certain interactions with Crush Shot (Aphrodite)
📢 Adamant Rail (Hestia Aspect): fixed instances where empowered shots could fire successively

Boons & Blessings

• Merciful End (Athena x Ares): combo effect can no longer activate multiple times from a single instance of the Doom Status Curse

Foes & Encounters

📢 Wringers no longer appear in Survival encounters
• Theseus and The Minotaur: fixed issues with their alternate late-game tag-team maneuver
• Hidden Boss: fixed an issue preventing pillars from collapsing between phases as intended

Level Design & Environments

• Minor fixes and improvements to several chambers

Music & SFX

📢 Updated timing of music-ducking during voiceover (music should remain soft during gaps in speech)
• Other minor changes, fixes, and mix improvements

Voice & Narrative

• An early event where Achilles grants the Codex should occur more reliably
• Minor changes and improvements to various narrative events

Miscellaneous

📢 Added launch option UseSideBarArt (set to false if you prefer black bars in ultrawide resolutions)
📢 The third of Skelly's unlockable prizes now sparkles as well it ought
• You can no longer use Fishing Points in Survival encounters before the encounters begin
• Improved aim preview intersections around some obstacles
• Updated text size in some non-English languages in certain contexts
• The backing for floating text messages should align better with the text in certain cases
• Various minor performance optimizations

Bug Fixes

• Fixed Bouldy gifting interactions repeating more often than intended (there are a bunch...)
• Fixed Good Riddance not unlocking correctly from the House Contractor
📢 Fixed unintended Eurydice events sometimes occurring after completing her subplot
📢 Fixed Orpheus sometimes changing songs after re-entering the House of Hades main hall
• Fixed the Final Boss reusing a certain ability while under Extreme Measures (Pact)
• Fixed Thanatos area attack activating the player's revenge Boons
📢 Fixed Thanatos being invisible during certain specific story interactions
📢 Fixed various Achievements not unlocking as expected
📢 Fixed Dusa sometimes remaining visible after flying off
📢 Fixed Lord Hades using the wrong animation in certain late-game scenes
📢 Fixed a specific case where the Administrative Chamber could be unexpectedly inaccessible
• Fixed Dark Thirst looping sound stacking when successively equipping the imbued weapon
• Fixed Aspect of Beowulf causing Cast to function in the House (no fighting in the House!)
📢 Fixed incorrect requirements in the Codex Index for Scintillating Feast (Zeus x Dionysus)
📢 Fixed incorrect requirements in the Codex Index for Thunder Flare (Zeus)
📢 Fixed incorrect requirements in the Codex Index for Curse of Nausea (Ares x Dionysus)
📢 Fixed incorrect requirements in the Codex Index for Defiance (Chaos)
• Fixed some visual issues with Chill effects from Demeter Boons
• Fixed minor formatting issues in the Keepsakes Screen
• Other minor fixes

Quote of the Patch

'My son, my son, the unluckiest man alive! This is no deception sent by Queen Persephone, this is just the way of mortals when we die.' ~The Odyssey (Homer; R. Fagles translation)

Steam Global Top Sellers for the Week ending 27 September 2020

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Hades players aren't petting Cerberus enough

Did you know you can pet the dog in Hades? You can give Cerberus a lovely rub for being such a good, three-headed boy. We presume you might not have known, because according to Steam stats, very few players are doing it regularly.

The revelation comes from the Can You Pet The Dog? Twitter account. From statistics on Steam achievements, 12.1% of players have earned the trophy for petting Cerberus ten times, and frankly, we have questions. Is it because he's so large that some of you are intimidated? Are you just too consumed on obtaining victory in the action-adventure game that you don't think of giving him a wee pat? He might be guarding the Temple of Styx, but earlier he's always there in the House, quietly cheering you on, y'know.

Hades came out of Early Access after nearly two years earlier this month. We gave it a strong review, to say the least, Diego Arguello writing that the RPG game is "perhaps the first roguelike I'd recommend to everyone, regardless of their experience in the genre". It's the latest hit indie game from developer Supergiant Games, who also made Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre.

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