The gameplay is solid, the voice acting is top notch, the art style is hit or miss depending on your tastes, I personally really liked it. IMO it is a really good game. The company has been known for really innovative integration of gameplay and story from their first offering. In this case the metagame premise of you are playing a videogame so you get to start over when you die is woven into the story. You HAVE to run through the game multiple times, win or lose, to advance it.
That said the story is generic gay commie subversion: fathers bad, men bad, tradition bad, hierarchy (when led by men) bad, women always right, children know better than their parents, deviant relationships are normal. And of course the basic premise which is "the only way to be free is to escape (or possibly kill) your father".
I dont know if I would say that. The Olympian gods are shown to be aloof and uncaring about your situation except maybe Artemis (which would make sense as she is the only one not in Olympus), and see you as a toy in their own games against Hades.
I also dont think they showed Hades as particularly evil. Harsh yes, but not evil. And the game does kind of show Zagreus as being rash and impulsive for wanting to go to the surface so bad he is willing to fight and kill anything in his path to get there. The "You have to kill your father to escape" thing also kind of rings hollow for me as a slight since Hades is both A) By far the hardest boss in the game and will therefore whop your ass most of the time, and B) is immortal, so it is kind of moot in the grand scheme of things.
But then, I am also not one of those people who thinks the characters in the game look that bad, and that they all fit the style the game set out for. Even the Muse being what it is seems like a reference to the Disney's Hercules rather than a malicious destruction of Greek lore.
It is more subtly subversive than portraying Hades as outright evil. Instead it portrays him as clueless about the reality of the situation and ultimately his authoritarianism is due do irrational fear of the consequences of investigating and trying new things that Zagreus KNOWS (because youth always knows more than elders) are better.
Then the only way the relationship is "healed" is not by Zagreus acknowledging his father's lawful authority and then working for change by strengthening the relationship but by Hades humbling himself in defeat before Zagreus and eventually Persephone.
Maybe it is just a difference of perspective. I thought the game was fairly good to Hades, and when you beat it the first time you learn that Hades was right to say you cant go to the surface. And while he does eventually change his mind (yes, after being humbled in defeat), he is still the only one of the gods that cares about you, as the Olympians see you as merely a pawn even after you beat the game.
I also dont think I would count Persephone having sway over him, since she can do that even in the actual lore of Greek mythology.
The gameplay is solid, the voice acting is top notch, the art style is hit or miss depending on your tastes, I personally really liked it. IMO it is a really good game. The company has been known for really innovative integration of gameplay and story from their first offering. In this case the metagame premise of you are playing a videogame so you get to start over when you die is woven into the story. You HAVE to run through the game multiple times, win or lose, to advance it.
That said the story is generic gay commie subversion: fathers bad, men bad, tradition bad, hierarchy (when led by men) bad, women always right, children know better than their parents, deviant relationships are normal. And of course the basic premise which is "the only way to be free is to escape (or possibly kill) your father".
I dont know if I would say that. The Olympian gods are shown to be aloof and uncaring about your situation except maybe Artemis (which would make sense as she is the only one not in Olympus), and see you as a toy in their own games against Hades.
I also dont think they showed Hades as particularly evil. Harsh yes, but not evil. And the game does kind of show Zagreus as being rash and impulsive for wanting to go to the surface so bad he is willing to fight and kill anything in his path to get there. The "You have to kill your father to escape" thing also kind of rings hollow for me as a slight since Hades is both A) By far the hardest boss in the game and will therefore whop your ass most of the time, and B) is immortal, so it is kind of moot in the grand scheme of things.
But then, I am also not one of those people who thinks the characters in the game look that bad, and that they all fit the style the game set out for. Even the Muse being what it is seems like a reference to the Disney's Hercules rather than a malicious destruction of Greek lore.
It is more subtly subversive than portraying Hades as outright evil. Instead it portrays him as clueless about the reality of the situation and ultimately his authoritarianism is due do irrational fear of the consequences of investigating and trying new things that Zagreus KNOWS (because youth always knows more than elders) are better.
Then the only way the relationship is "healed" is not by Zagreus acknowledging his father's lawful authority and then working for change by strengthening the relationship but by Hades humbling himself in defeat before Zagreus and eventually Persephone.
Maybe it is just a difference of perspective. I thought the game was fairly good to Hades, and when you beat it the first time you learn that Hades was right to say you cant go to the surface. And while he does eventually change his mind (yes, after being humbled in defeat), he is still the only one of the gods that cares about you, as the Olympians see you as merely a pawn even after you beat the game.
I also dont think I would count Persephone having sway over him, since she can do that even in the actual lore of Greek mythology.