Hades is a critically acclaimed roguelike dungeon crawler by Supergiant Games that has captured the hearts of many gamers worldwide. From a rich and deep narrative to the intense combat system, Hades keeps players coming back for more. In Hades, the player plays as Zagreus son of Hades as he battles through various floors of the underworld to finally beat Hades and reunite with his mother. Having to repeat this process numerous times, what exactly makes this loop so captivating?

The heart of Hades lies in its escape attempts. As Zagreus, players embark on a repeated journey to escape the Underworld, with each successful escape and interaction unlocking a new storyline. During the run, players are introduced to fast-paced and skill-intensive gameplay that keeps the player hooked. With unique playstyles created by in-game weapons and boon(powerups in Hades), every escape attempt is unique and special.

Shown above is a chart of combinations of boons in the game, and as you can probably guess, it is quite massive. This boon system gives players creative freedom to explore and strategize their boons per escape attempt. The game encourages players to find synergies and experiment with them, as a successful attempt will often accompanied by a synergized set of boons.

To further mix up the uniqueness of each attempt, there are also different weapons, as mentioned above, that give the game a completely different playstyle. From short to long range, aggressive to defensive, Hades offers a variety of different playstyles for players to enjoy.

Then outside of the main game loop, players can also upgrade their stat to become even stronger during escape attempts. These upgrades range from getting more damage, health, and lives to increasing odds of better boons, boon manipulation, and more damage on synergies. This makes it so that even as players are not able to clear the game, they are still getting upgrades that will help them later on.

That being said, Hades is a complex game that goes beyond roguelike dungeon crawler and story game with so many different ways to play making players come back for more.