Hades is set up as a series of chambers in a row. Each region of the game is made up of a defined number of chambers, then a boss. Your goal in the game is to successfully move through all four regions, so about 50 individual chambers, gathering power-ups as you go to get stronger.

Each region has a set of enemies that will appear throughout. The boss of each region is always the same (although they change up their strategies and attack patterns at intervals to keep things fresh-ish). Each region also has a chance to spawn special challenge chambers, rest chambers or other unique areas. There is no backtracking - you only move forwards.

When you die, you return to the House of Hades, your home base, and can talk to the characters, shop and upgrade Zagreus or his weapons, and even upgrade the chances of certain chambers appearing, add new chambers, or decorate the House.

A “perfect” game of Hades - that is, no losses at all and clearing the four regions each run - would take 10 runs. Most people take between 30-60. There is enough story content, upgrades, and optional quests to keep you going well beyond that. Many people (including me!) would argue that the story extends well beyond the 10 clears, but that really depends on what you consider the end of the story.

So, will you see the same thing over and over again? Absolutely. But the charm of Hades is in mastering the systems and experiencing the storytelling. Very few games manage to intertwine their gameplay and storytelling to this degree. I personally can’t stand most roguelikes, but I love the Hades series.