Questions About The Game

What Genre is Hades?

Hades is considered a Rogue-like dungeon crawler. Most people know what a dungeon crawler is, a game where you explore different rooms of a dungeon while battling monsters. You clear the rooms, get your reward and move on. There are boss fights, and sub-boss fights to add in some extra flavor. The goal is to progress all the way through the rooms until you have exited hell and are on the surface.

What is a Rogue-like?

At its core a roguelike is a game based on randomly generated maps/rooms where you advance through levels and learn by dying. Normally in a Rogue when you die you lose everything, the death is permanent, but that isn't the case in Hades. By definition Hades is actually a roguelite. Progression is saved between deaths, and that firmly puts it in the lite, not like category. It has all the elements of a roguelike, but since death is not permanent it can't be called a roguelike, even if that is how the game is marketed.

Are there any audio games like Hades?

This is a very hard question to answer. Sure there could be some, but comparing anything made by an audio game developer (probably in BGT) to Hades would be a disservice to the game. If you are interested in seeing what the game is like, I'd suggest going to youtube and search for reviews people have done of the game. This will give you a good idea of what to expect when playing, and it is a good habit to get into before buying any mainstream game.

What platforms is Hades on?

Hades is only available on PC and on switch. Nothing I've seen covers how to play on switch, so you should stick to playing it on PC. This is also good because you can OCR when needed and this makes the game quite easy to navigate. You can pick the game up on Steam.

How much does it cost?

The normal price for Hades is $24.99 on Steam. With all the play time you can get out of the game, this is quite worth the price. Remember this is not an audio game, so there is a different level to the depth of play. Since this is a normal game which so happens to be mostly blind accessible, you'll get a lot more playtime out of it.

Accessibility Questions

Do I need a controller to play Hades?

Yes a controller is required. Without a controller you cannot use the aim assist feature which is necessary to play. With how much the development of audio games is advancing, and more and more mainstream games becoming accessible it is something you should definitly invest in. You don't need anything special, just a normal XBox or Playstation controller will last you a long time. You can also pick up a generic game-pad, and it will work for most games. You do get what you pay for however, and paying $20 may result in something that only lasts a couple months.

Is Hades Low Vision Friendly?

Yes very much so. The menus are almost all white letters on a dark background. In game a lot of the enemies are bright colors that stand out quite easily against the dark background of the maps. I have quite horrible eyes, but I can still use them to play the game just fine. I go off a mixture of audio and visual with about a 75/25 split. It has worked out quite well for me.

Is this playable with no vision?

Yes it is quite playable with no working eyes at all. There are plenty of people who play and who have beaten the game without ever looking at their screen. This is done through learning and understanding the spacial seperation in game and understanding the pan to distance ratio. This comes naturally as you simply play the game. It isn't something you'll be able to pick up and instantly be great at, but once you get comfortable with the sound engine and the mechanics you'll have no problems.

Is God Mode Required To Play?

Required no, but does it make sense...yes. Unlike in other games God Mode here doesn't actually make you invinsible. Instead it adds a sliding scale to the damage you take based on how many times you die. I believe every time you die it adds 2% resistance and it caps at 80%. This way as you die the game gets a touch easier. It is still quite possible to die with god mode on...I've done it plenty.

Are there mods to add accessibility? If so where?

lirin and JLove started the mods, but they have been added to by a third person over time. Some of the things these mods do is introduce door sounds with a menu to automatically jump to doors. A boon screen to see all your artafact currencys along with health and effects. A mod screen that shows all the items on the ground so you can easily jump to them. A mod to prevent trap damage, and another to prevent lava damage. These are very useful and they will make your playing experience much more enjoyable when learning the game.
Hades accessible mods on hllf.net.com

How do I install the mods?

If you use the download from HLF.net it has install instructions contained in the package, and it will walk you through the process. It is easy and is not difficult to set up.

How do I read what is on screen in game?

The only times you'll need to read what is on screen is when picking a boon after clearing a room, and when checking your boon and doors screen. With the boon screen and doors screen these are presented by the accessible mods, and OCR reads them like a dream. With the picking of boons you'll have three options, and OCR can give you more than enough information to choose the correct one. This is made even easier by reading the wiki covering all the boons so you know what they all are already.

What screen reader is best to use?

By far NVDA is the best for gaming, and Hades is no exception. It has the easiest to use OCR, and OCR is something you'll be using to read boons while in a run. It is quite easy to go through and choose what you want just going off the OCR results.

Game Play Questions

What are the controls for the game?

There aren't many of them to remember. Mainly just your d-pad or left stick for moving, and one action for each of the face buttons. Toss in RB/R1 for interacting and that is all you need to get started. There is an accessible controls listing here on BSG which lists all the main controls you'll need in game.

What Perspective Is Hades?

The best description I can think of is a bird's eye view. You are above your character on screen. he can move north, east, south, and west, or any angle between those directions. You have true 360 movement, but the map never spins. You just move around on the stationary map. Where you are facing is where you'll be attacking. The aim assist only does so much, so you need to be facing in the general ddirection you want to attack. This also is a perk for low vision and blind players because the panning stays consistent and predictable since the map never moves, only your character does.

How Do I Pick a Door?

After picking up the reward for a room you will hear a paper flicky fluttery sound. This is the screen that is part of the Accessible Door Mod. You can OCr this screen to see what your options are. It will list the doors you can use to exit the current room. After pressing A/X on the door you want, that door will start a looping sound on the map. Going to this sound and pressing R1/RB will take you to the next room.
note: sometimes the door has a wall in front or next to it. You can't always just walk right up to it. Try coming at it from different angles.

I died and now I'm stuck, How do I get out out of the house?

Join the Club. I was in that damn house forever. The door to get out is almost directly East of where you spawn back in, but there is a bit that sticks out from the southern wall. Go as far East as possible. Then go north, all east, and work your way south and east. Once you get to Hades(who is scribbling on paper) that is where you go south and east. Once geting south and east you go north into the pink door. This puts you in your bedroom, and the door to the cortyard is north and east of you. Go two dashes east then all north, from there just a touch west and north. Once in the cortyard go east until you hear fire. Interact with the fire to be entered back into the dungeon to crawl.

How Do I unlock New Weapons?

You need keys, and then you can unlock them in the cortyard. Keys are dropped as one of the rewards for clearing a room. While in a run you can press select//share/back on your controller then L1/LB to bring up the accessible mod's boon menu. This shows you how many keys you have with a simple OCR of the screen.
Once you have enough keys and are in the cortyard you'll hear the weapons whisper to you. going up to a whisper and pressing RB/R1 will unlock it if you have the keys to unlock it. If not your character will say he needsmore keys.

How Do I See My Health?

Everytime you are hit your controller will vibrate to let you know you got wacked. Sometimes just a quick OCR of the normal playing window will read your health. The sure fire way to check is to use the mod's resource page. You can do this by pressing select/share/back then L1/LB. this is a page made just for OCR. This will read all your resources, your HP, and any effects you have on your character.

Is The Story Required?

I don't believe it is, but it is pretty simple to keep up with. Every time you die go through and talk to the different characters in the house of hades. If you enter your room and your character says he is tired then go to the bed on the far right of the room and interact with it. None of these are required but they do add a new dimention to the game.

Where Are The Characters In The House Of Hades

hades is in the upper right side-ish. he is writing on paper all the time.
Cerberus the three headed dog is to the left of hades. he is breathing
contractor is to the right of hades.
Hypnos is sleeping north and a little east of where you spawn back in after dying, he is snoaring.
Achilles is way left of hades, but not as far as the admin door. he is on the north wall. talks if you try and open the door.
Nyx is south and east of hades near the lounge, no sounds.
the guy you beat up for practice is in your courtyard.

I keep dying, what am I doing wrong?

Hades is a rogue-like, this means dying is just part of the game. You'll be doing way more dying than surviving. The key is to learn from the mistakes you are making. Don't stand still and spam your weapon. Listen for when the monsters are attacking and move to come at them from a different direction. Use your dash to move fast and to close the distance on a monster after they miss you with their attack. Don't be afraid to run and get to a spot on the map that is advantagious. If you get swarmed get out of there and fight on your ground not the monster's. use the menu guides and make sure god mode and aim assist are both turned on. If you are still dying just keep trying, eventually you'll start making it farther and farther...I promise. It may also help to hear someone blind who is good at the game, and you can get that via The playthrough that Aaron Ramirez did on youtube.

How Do I Get Keepsakes?

Keepsakes are things you can bring on a run with you to boost your damage, give you hp, or give you an advantage in some other way. To get them you must give characters in game Nectar. Nectar is one of the rewards rooms have after cclearing it. To get a keepsake from a god simply walk up to them and press R2/RT. It will go through some dialog, and at the end of it you'll have the keepsake in your locker. The easiest wayy to do this is to interact with the god first with R1/RB, then after that dialog is over use R2/RT to give them the nectar. You can check how much Nectar you have in a run by pressing Select//Share/Back then L1/LB to bring up the accessibility resources screen. Scanning this screen with OCR gives you a very simple to read resource listing for your character.