Text/Black Cat
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| A well-deserved Rogue king |
Everyone may have different criteria for defining what a hit is, but a well-anticipated blockbuster game like Hades II has become a benchmark in the eyes of industry insiders.
The front foot has just finished a small range of internal tests, and the back foot has a reverse jump to catch the player off guard, and he gets up in the middle of the night to pay for the warehouse and begins to suffer, and the main game is played in one go.
Considering that the previous game sold more than 10 million on all platforms, according to the standard selling price of $25, the revenue of a single product is already close to 300 million US dollars, even if the 30% commission is removed (Epic has been exclusive for one year, the commission is even lower), the developer Supergiant has also earned more than 200 million US dollars. Therefore, on the day of its launch, Hades II topped the global sales list, with 98% rave reviews, and the highest online peak of 100,000 can only be regarded as a basic operation.
At present, "Hades II" has received 15,000 reviews in three days on the Steam platform, and it is conservatively estimated that the sales volume is close to 100 million, and this is only the EA version, and it may only be a matter of time before it becomes the next 10 million sales hit after the official launch.
It has now risen to 18,657 reviews
Many players say that Hades II is really too "stable".
On the one hand, the double harvest of sales and word-of-mouth is almost a strong reproduction of the previous god's route. Thanks to developer Supergiant Games' near-rebellious art style and groundbreaking gameplay mechanics that have led to a host of roguelike titles, Hades II's explosion is a sure hit.
But on the other hand, this kind of "stability" doesn't seem to be a good thing for a sequel. The gameplay system, narrative style, and art style of the previous game are almost one-to-one, making many players feel that the overall experience of Hades II is closer to a large-scale DLC.
This inexplicable familiarity is especially evident in the first 3 hours of the game, so much so that every time a new system or new facility is unlocked, I thought it was a new way to play, but after trying it, I found that there was a familiar flavor everywhere, and the difference from the previous game was so small that it seemed that there was only a vertical gap between the title.
Compared with the "Hades" after the fire, countless follow-up works have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and many players ridiculed that "Hades II" is the most awesome "skin change", you change the protagonist of the previous work to a different gender, and dye the tone of the picture as a sequel to sell, without a little sense of disobedience. What is a tribute to oneself and what is a successful reproduction, Supergiant shows it vividly.
Little Melinois is high, and some plots also have a special exploration mode
To be honest, after the first 4 hours of playing, I also had the same feeling, this feeling is like egg fried rice with some chopped green onions, is it delicious? It's delicious, but it doesn't taste anything fresher. After all, the previous work was a son beating his father, and this work is a granddaughter beating his father, focusing on an ethical family drama of "family harmony, father and son filial piety".
Guess which is Hades? laugh
With the underlying experience already so good, it seems hard to expect a major breakthrough.
However, after I went through a 25-hour journey of suffering (mainly ten hours of being stuck in other development gameplay and the final boss, believing that melee combat is never a slave) to get through the upper and lower levels, the above concept changed a bit. The overall framework of Hades II is indeed the same as that of its predecessor, with dungeons to explore for resources, character development outside the game, and unlock more systems to explore the typical roguelike logic of more areas. However, the brilliance of this game lies in the further deep binding of dungeon exploration and out-of-game cultivation, making each game more valuable for players.
Why do you say that? The classic rogue development system is no longer a simple and crude consumption of only one resource, but is split into multiple, each of which is almost bound to a way to play.
Talent development in Hades II has gone from a single bonus in the previous game to an active card. Each card represents an ability, and players first need to unlock it with the "Dust" resource, and then match it according to the amount of Perception consumed. The player's initial perception value is only 10 points, and in the later stage, it can be improved by obtaining "soul" resource upgrades through various channels.
In addition, there are also special cards with 0 consumption in the carrot card that can provide strong talents, but although this kind of card does not occupy the perception value, it needs to be activated in a special way, such as activating at least 3 cards with the same cost, activating cards consumed from 1 to 5, or activating a horizontal card, the activation conditions are relatively harsh, and players need to make a reasonable allocation in the case of taking into account the consumption of perception. It's worth mentioning that some cards have mutually exclusive activation conditions, which also means that players can't "I want them all" in this game.
However, the most important thing is that the unlocked resources of these cards are almost bound to the final boss of each area, in other words, they are also bound to the player's growth curve, controlling the difficulty of the game from another level.
After unlocking the card, players can also upgrade it through the "Moon Dust" resource, and the highest level 3 also requires players to prepare some additional resources such as "broken copper and iron" or "melons, fruits and vegetables" to unlock them. At this point, the whole talent system can be regarded as truly playful.
Seeing this, many players may have understood what I am talking about, the types of resources that need to be consumed have increased, on the one hand, it means that players need to obtain more ways to obtain resources, and the variety and playability of gameplay are also increasing; On the other hand, even if the game is difficult to get stuck, a small amount of resources obtained in a variety of ways can bring a certain amount of growth, and the player is always in the "self-comfort" of becoming stronger, and the resulting sense of defeat and boredom is greatly reduced.
The variety of resources in this game has been greatly increased
So in my opinion,Suffering is only one side of the experience,A variety of gameplay and cultivation methods make the difficulty curve smoother,Players always jump sideways between suffering and getting stronger,After the card level, what I think of is not to drop the handle immediately,But to think about it, I can still get stronger,After going up, start the infinite loop of "this is definitely the last game",This is the biggest difference I feel after the two experiences。
Tons of upgrade options in the future
When it comes to gameplay, Hades II currently brings three modes. The Dungeon of the Underworld still adopts the classic 4-plus-1 setting of the previous game, and players need to explore 4 map areas with different styles, and finally defeat the Time Lord, they can unlock the "Oath Mode" and carry out a variety of difficult challenges.
On the whole, the gameplay mechanics of the four maps are all differentiated. For example, Figure 1 "Errebos" is a testament to technical prowess, with a high-quality art style that catches the player's eye almost the moment they enter the game, and terrain traps become more controllable and useful in this game.
However, the most impressive thing is still this sheep
Figure 2 "Keranos" players will be able to unlock a variety of reward options through multiple battles in certain areas.
The first attempt of the boss "Three Sisters" Smash Bros. was very challenging, and the passionate singing of the sirens was even more praised.
It is worth mentioning that due to the special ability of the Time Lord, players still have a certain chance of being teleported to the "Daffodil Plains" map of the previous game in this level, which is full of surprises.
Dream back to the first generation, but the challenge is not easy
The three-map "Mourning Field" adopts a box garden-style design, and players can freely explore in a larger map, in addition to the setting that must unlock rewards to enter the next area, there are also some directly obtainable rewards that need to be further explored. After unlocking the Divine Tree feature, there will be a clear marker of rewards in the map, so that players will not have to "fight for 2 minutes and go shopping for 1 hour".
Figure 4 "Tartarus" basically adopts the design of "one way", which will only occasionally randomly refresh powerful challenges to provide rewards, with a higher density of monsters and more trap traps, which belongs to the "group of demons dancing", but for players who have already formed BD in the later stage, it is just a matter of chopping melons and vegetables all the way down, "Fight, cool".
There are even "unexpected surprises" in this level
As for the final boss Kronos, I really can't say, all kinds of large-scale moves and gorgeous special effects bring me, a believer in melee abuse, back to life, I just want to ask, melee is not human? Isn't it human? Coupled with the 2-stage design and a variety of displacement and special skills, a Rogue game at the good end has been played as a souls-based game, focusing on a suffering, right?
The "Surface Area" will be unlocked in the middle of the game through the Alchemy Furnace, which is not yet fully completed, and is officially "still under construction", with only 2 maps at the moment.
No matter which game it is, it seems that they are keen on petting cats
"Efira City" is a bit like the previous game level 4, players can freely choose 6 areas to defeat the crystal to challenge the boss, and the scene of "Thesari's Rift" in Figure 2 comes to a ghost ship, and the overall art style and level design can be described as full of characteristics.
Finally, there is the "trial mode", where players need to challenge specific levels according to the weapons and talents provided by the system, and the randomly attached BD has a certain reference value for the later BD collocation.
It is worth mentioning that,This work has joined the magic pet system,At present, only a frog is available,In addition to increasing the player's blood limit,It can also be accompanied by the function of attack and resource collection,It is foreseeable,Later it is to develop a black hole。
As for out-of-game development, players have more ways to obtain resources, and it is more convenient. In addition to the regular dungeon resource rewards, a new tool system has been added to allow players to choose one of the shovels, pickaxes, requiem slabs, and fishing rods to bring into the dungeon, and obtain different resources by completing the corresponding mini-games.
After returning to the "three-way intersection" in the safe zone, unlock various functions through the alchemy furnace, such as unlocking merchants to exchange and buy and sell resources, unlocking Charon's treasure chest, consuming VIP cards to enjoy "express service", or planting fields to enjoy leisure.
The acquisition of the above resources consumes a certain period of time, which can be completed after the player explores the dungeon area, so as to achieve a certain internal loop.
The NPC favorability system is still retained in this game, in addition to sending wine, players can also invite various gods to bathe or fish together, quickly consume time, and further speed up the acquisition of resources. And different gods have certain preferences for different invitations and give different responses.
It can be said that the biggest role of the out-of-game cultivation is to provide the player with a stable base gain after removing the randomness of the dungeon, and the higher the completion of the out-of-game cultivation, the higher the player's basic attributes, and the more the randomness of the dungeon can be deflected in the direction the player wants, so that the higher the degree of exploration and the more generous rewards can be obtained.
Even if it's just a preliminary exploration of one or two maps, a variety of resources are enough to make a variety of gains, if you can't beat this, then change one, this feeling is like drawing cards, even if the process of drawing cards is random, but relying on the BUFF bonus developed outside the game, you can still slowly piece together the hand you want, and players are often happy to do it.
Just imagine, when you are dressed in garbage BD matching, you have stumbled through the second map, knowing that there is no hope of clearing the level, and you still fantasize that maybe a powerful talent will come in the later stage and directly "hit the soul", how can you give up lightly at this time? Don't ask me how I know, I don't know how many times I've been deceived by this "illusion", and asking is PUA myself.
As for the combat system of "Hades II",To be honest, the combat system of this work has not changed much.,In addition to the regular light and heavy attacks,Maybe it's to match the identity of this mage.,The bomb of the previous work was changed to a magic circle.,I want to give special praise for this change.。 Not only has the range become larger, but the gameplay has also become more varied, which directly affects my frequency of use, which we will talk about later.
The active skill system of the previous work has been completely deleted.,All of them have been integrated into the divine power of the moon god.,Players can still choose one of the three.,And according to the number of prosperous road points obtained,Randomly add points when you encounter it for the second time.,But the current EA version is almost all numerical improvement.,There is no change in form.,It's a little regrettable.。
In addition, as two new mechanics in the game, the charging and running systems are currently receiving mixed reviews from players.
On the one hand, in order to cooperate with the charging system, this work also adds a new resource slot "mana", which can release different magic and consume different mana by charging through light and heavy magic circles.
However, for a Rogue game that focuses on high-speed combat, Charge is clearly in an awkward position. Whether it's mana monitoring or charging skills that can't dodge and can only take beatings, regular action games usually try to avoid too many charging skills to ensure a smooth and refreshing gaming experience, but Hades II does the opposite, which makes first-time players particularly uncomfortable.
On the other hand, the run, known as the "dung mechanic", passively increases the player's difficulty to a new level. Running and dodging occupy the same key (controller), and short press to dodge and long press to run, which causes players to have a sense of delay when dodging by mistake. And for gamepad players, long-pressing the run button also means "nothing to do", so this feature is often overlooked.
If this is the case with the above, then it is estimated that "Hades II" may have been bombarded with bad reviews from players, but fortunately, Supergiant has probably figured out the pros and cons before making the game, and through the deep combination of BD, it has created a more playable solution.
Slow to charge? Add a time-stop passive talent that allows the player to slow down time during charge to avoid becoming a human target. Don't feel cool? Then add an active talent to greatly reduce the cast time, and five shots per second in the late stage is not a dream. Low mana? Please feel free to choose from a variety of ways to return to the mana. Even if it is a magic circle skill, through the choice of BD, what magic traps, remotely guided bombs, and magic return assistance, various ways of playing are also played by Supergiant, and various genres are built in endlessly.
As for running, you can also see a lot of various skills designed around its mechanics, such as Poseidon, which allows players to generate waves that can repel enemies when they run, and it is not impossible to go shopping all the way. However, considering the practicality and anti-human handle operation, I can only say that it is good to go.
epilogue
Having said all that, Hades II gives me a rough feeling of being more of a big PLUS version. Supergiant went to great lengths to keep all the best of its predecessor, even to the point of "not a single drop", and then split most of the features and systems into various gameplay options for players to unlock. For a Rogue game that needs to be "brushed and brushed" repeatedly, the experience is relatively benign and comfortable.
Although there is a lot of controversy about the changes to the combat mechanism, but as the progress deepens, after the addition of various divine powers, you can still see the construction of a variety of special gameplay, because many skills are exclusive to weapons (each weapon has a special exclusive skill, which will not appear when choosing other weapons), so the fun brought by different BDs is also particularly different, and it can even be said that the BD of "Hades II" is almost all determined around the attack mode and skill form of the weapon, This is also one of the biggest features that distinguishes this game from other similar roguelike games.
At present, there are quite a few divine talents
But, yes, I would say again, but, it's Hades II after all, it's good enough, but it should have been better. "Isaac" and "Dead Cells", which are both the three masterpieces of Rogue, have also updated a lot of large-scale versions, but without exception, they are all sold as DLC. Hades II, with little innovation and a deep malice towards melee combat (hegemonic, ranged, tracking, wide area, etc.), sold nearly twice the price of its predecessor during the EA period, which is really debatable.
Melee play XX
However, considering that this is only the EA version, it has already taken out the volume of the full version of the previous work, and even added nearly double the content (although the experience will be a bit repetitive, just for the service of material acquisition), and it will be officially launched for almost a year, so it is worth looking forward to what kind of surprises it will bring at that time.
Isn't it possible that only a few outfits will be added to the EA stage this year, and the content pit on the ground will be filled in and there will be no life, right? Wouldn't it, wouldn't it, wouldn't it?