[Note: If you are unfamiliar with the use of loops and arcs in game design, read this article]

As a rogue-like, Hades features a well-defined core gameplay loop. It twists the standard rogue-like loop by incorporating a visual novel-style narrative arc. You push the narrative forward with each run as new dialogue options unlock. The core gameplay loop is the run loop in which you venture into the underworld and return to the House of Hades via death. Within each run you clear regions, within those clearing rooms, and waves and enemies.

Let's return to the run loop. Each run is an escape attempt where you as Zagreus, the prince of the underworld, seek to escape from your father's influence and ascend Mount Olympus. This simple premise introduces ludonarrative harmony: harmony between narrative and gameplay. By no means is this novel, as many rogue-likes before Hades feature a narrative with an explanation for the character's unfailing return. However, few tie it together as nicely as Hades with its narrative tie-ins after each death. With every untimely demise, Zargeus unlocks new dialogue with a portion of the pleasantly rendered and voiced NPCs. There exists a loop in the narrative progression system as well; you farm nectar during runs to gift to your favorite NPCs and then step through a brief cutscene and then return to enter the run loop again. This can be identified as Hades' highest-level loop which I will refer to as the narrative loop.

The narrative loop sets Hades apart and defines a new subgenre of visual narrative games in the rogue-like parent genre. Hades lacks the standard dialogue choice options seen in visual novel games, but it makes up for this by creating a false sense of agency through the nectar gifting system. Nectar increases your standing with NPCs and unlocks special interactions allowing the player to feel active even though it's a linear cutscene. This trick works to great effect and allows the Hades team to blend visual novels and Rogue-likes without the immense weight of branching dialogue and narrative. For many players, especially those unfamiliar with rogue-likes, these individual NPC narrative arcs were the key feature that attracted them to Hades. 

Enough arcs, more loops! The meat and potatoes of Hades gameplay is its exquisite (if occasionally tedious) combat. The combat is split into two different styles, boss fighting and room clearing. Each region ends with a boss fight (with the odd mini-boss fight), preceded by a series of challenging rooms chock-full of enemies. Rephrased in terms of loops, within each region loop is a chain of nested room loops ending with an altered boss room loop. Each boss room requires beating each phase of the boss before progressing while each normal room requires defeating each wave. Wave is not technically correct as enemies do not fully spawn in waves, but rather are staggered; they spawn in clusters with the defeat of each enemy. The wave loop keeps you on your toes and maintains pressure as you clear a room. At most, you receive a second of respite as the next cluster of enemies spawns. Combat is fast, violent, and continuous within each room. The player is allowed a break after clearing a room, which can be quite pleasant (when not trying to beat your best time).

Not solely a Rogue-like, Hades incorporates a few other miscellaneous arcs that help to pad out the gameplay, especially for completionist and narrative-focused players. The House of Hades features the House Architect, who works for gems collected in the underworld. The Architect allows you to spruce up the House, slowly remodeling the House to fit your tastes as you progress. Zagreus' infernal arms also have their own upgrade paths that must be progressed through to unlock the hidden aspects.

I don't like writing conclusions, so you should conclude this by playing Hades.