Hades by Supergiant Games is a visually stunning roguelike dungeon crawler game immersed in Greek mythology. The game explores narrative storytelling by using the roguelike game mechanics to encourage multiple playthroughs that unfold different storylines. Greek mythology already has a rich foundation for a plethora stories, different gods having experiences that have been interpreted in numerous ways. While the main storyline follows the protagonist, Zagreus’, journey in his attempt to escape the underworld aides by different Olympians, the player can explore other storylines that take inspirations for myths.

The games sequel, Hades ii follows the sister of Zagreus, Melinoe in her own journey. Similarly to how the developers came across Zagreus, they explored different Greek mythos, until they found mention of Melinoe in the Orphic Hymms, with little else written about her. This allowed Kasavin and Zee to use her as a blank slate for their Games story, while staying true to the cannon myths that surround the characters. Having a lesser-known figure as the protagonist, while encircling her with well known mythological figures, such as Icarus or Ariadne, allowed for a narratively rich game, both in the peripherals of the protagonist, and in the game’s main storyline.

 I chose Hades as my IP, not only because it’s my favourite videogame, but also due to the intentionality the developers had while designing the characters for this franchise, their commitment to honouring the Greek mythology clear in not only the art style, but also the NPC encounters and storylines. Designing my own character to fit within the game would mean having the same attention to detail in the characters physicality, and background. I would have the option to develop another protagonist for a secondary sequel concept and explore lesser-known figures in Greek mythos or develop a non-playable character and look for a foundation to reiterate for my own design.