You fight your way out of the underworld as its rebellious prince, using a chosen weapon and blessings granted by other gods that change how your attacks behave each run. Dying just sends you back home, where new conversations and story details unfold before you head out again. The combat is fast and readable, and the constant story progression even when you lose makes failing feel worthwhile rather than frustrating.
Gameplay video
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Screenshots & review notes
Why it lands
Supergiant somehow turned constant failure into the emotional backbone of the entire game, and the result is one of the most purely satisfying games of its generation. It deserved every award it won.
How it plays
Combat is fast, stylish, and endlessly variable thanks to the boon system, letting each escape attempt feel like a fresh build. Difficulty scales with you through the Pact of Punishment.
Style and score
The art direction leans into gorgeous, painterly mythology, and Darren Korb's score might be the best original soundtrack of the decade. It runs buttery smooth in either docked or handheld mode.
Who it's for
Thousands of lines of dialogue mean the story keeps evolving well past your first dozen escapes. Essential for roguelike fans and a genuinely great entry point for people who don't usually like the genre.
Frames captured from the gameplay video above; notes are our own take on the game.
What it's like to play
You play Zagreus, the rebellious son of the god of the underworld, trying to fight his way up out of hell and into the world above, starting each attempt from his father's house full of talking gods and spirits. You move with the left stick and attack with a weapon you choose before heading out, ranging from a sword to a bow, while a dash lets you dodge through incoming attacks, and the game explains its basics within the first couple of rooms you fight through. Every escape attempt takes you through a series of rooms filled with enemies, and clearing a room lets you choose from a couple of blessings offered by different gods that change how your attacks work for that run.
Dying doesn't end anything permanently, it just sends you back home to talk with characters who remember your last attempt and slowly reveal more of their own stories, before you head back out to try again with new god blessings. A single run to the surface can take twenty to thirty minutes once you know what you're doing, and stacking the right combination of blessings together can turn your character into something wildly different from the last run. There are six weapons to unlock and experiment with, and after your first successful escape the game offers ways to make future runs progressively tougher if you want to keep testing yourself.
The combat feels fast and easy to read even in busy fights, and having new dialogue play out after nearly every single run gives failure real forward momentum instead of feeling like wasted time. Players chasing every relationship and every weapon variant will find plenty to do well past the main story's conclusion. If you enjoy action games with a lot of momentum and want a story that unfolds through repeated attempts rather than one straight line, this is an excellent place to start.