A few weeks ago, I broke down some of the many ways that designers can classify their players. I purposefully kept that post broad and mainly focused on what some of the different typologies are. But this week, we’re going to focus in on how a game can appeal to different types of players using specific features and mechanics. For this case study, we’re going to break down Supergiant Games’ Hades using Nick Yee’s Motivations of Play. Keep in mind that this is not going to be an exhaustive breakdown of every single mechanic in the game, but rather a highlight on some of the game’s key features and their effectiveness.
Ready? Let’s go. In the name of Hades!
~ Spoilers Ahead ~
Component #1: Achievement
In case you need a quick refresher, players motivated by Achievement care about accomplishing tasks. They want to feel that they are making progress towards their goals, gaining mastery over the game’s systems, and getting better at the game. As a Roguelike, Hades is well positioned to appeal to this type of motivation given the genre’s notoriety for difficulty. Here are some of the specific ways that Hades keeps these players happy.
Steam Achievements
I’m so damn close…
Though it might be a bit of an obvious feature, achievements are a simple way of giving players a sense of, well, achievement. Having a long list of tasks to complete can help keep players motivated for a long time. It’s worth noting that Hades has both “easy” achievements that can be completed almost immediately (e.g. “Skelly Slayer”, “Three-Headed Boy”) and “hard” achievements that will require a decent amount of time and skill to complete (e.g. “Haste of Hermes”, “One for the Ages”). This is valuable because it ensures players can get an early sense of accomplishment while they are struggling towards the more difficult targets.
Mirror of Night Upgrades
Similar to Steam Achievements, the upgrades available in the Mirror of Night give players plenty of things to unlock. However, the main benefit of these upgrades is that they give the player a tangible sense of progression and power escalation. As a player, you feel yourself getting stronger as you unlock these upgrades. Additionally, this increase in power helps you get closer and closer to escaping the Underworld, giving yourself another indicator that you’re getting better at the game.
The House Contractor
Seriously, I still need A LOT of gems…
There are truly an absurd number of unlockable cosmetics available in the game through the House Contractor. While the customization of these cosmetics will appeal more to the player’s Immersion motivation, the sense of accomplishment you feel when you marvel at a fully furnished House of Hades is undeniable. Additionally, purchasing many of these unlockables are not tied directly to accomplishing Steam Achievements, meaning that it gives you something to complete even after you’ve completed “everything.”
The Pact of Punishment
Finally, for players striving for a real challenge, the Pact of Punishment offers a way to dramatically ramp up the game’s difficulty. At the start of any run after escaping the Underworld for the first time, you get the option to add handicaps to make the game more challenging. There are 15 (or 16 in Hell Mode) different handicaps you can chose from, ranging from spawning more enemies, reducing your healing effects, fighting tougher bosses, or adding time limits. You can mix-and-match these handicaps as you see fit, letting you fully tailor the game’s difficulty to your skill level.
Component #2: Social
Players motivated by the Social component care about connecting and collaborating with others. In single-player games like Hades, this can be a tricky component to satisfy. However, Hades still found a few ways to foster player relationships.
Affinity & Keepsakes
As you complete the game’s story, Zagreus can form relationships with almost every character in the game (primarily through giving gifts and doing favours). As the characters feel more affinity towards you, they’ll give you various Keepsakes as tokens of their affection. While collecting all of the Keepsakes will appeal more to the Achievement motivation, they still act as nice symbols of the meaningful relationships you forged over the course of the game.
Dusa + Zagreus = ❤️
Romance Options
In addition to forming platonic relationships, Zagreus can form romantic relationships with up to three different characters in the game. All of these relationships can be engaged in concurrently (with no negative repercussions), and they cover a nice range of gender and sexuality. Not only is this good in terms of representation (anecdotally, it’s so validating to play as a bi character), but it allows players flexibility for how deep they want their in-game relationships to be.
Streamers & Content Creators
While this does go beyond the confines of the game itself, streamers and content creators are a great way of bringing additional people into a single-player experience. As an example, the Hermes Cup gave both the players and the viewers a fun way to share in the delights of competition and to build a sense of community.
Component #3: Immersion
Finally, players motivated by the Immersion component care about being invested in the game, its world, and its story. They care about discovering cool interactions, experiencing meaningful narratives, and crafting unique strategies. Luckily for these players, Hades is full of content just for them.
Infernal Arms & Weapon Aspects
“I see you through the eyes of the crimson phoenix.”
Before each run, players choose one of six different weapons to aid them on their journey. By itself, this offers players a nice range of strategies that they can use. But to widen this range even further, each weapon has four different aspects to choose from. These aspects fundamentally alter how the weapons function and give the player even more control over how they want to play. Six of these aspects (e.g. Aspect of Guan Yu) are initially hideen, requiring the player to discover secret phrases before they can access them. All together, these weapons offer 24 different strategies to choose from before the run even begins!
Legendary & Duo Boons
During each run, players can receive a multitude of blessing from the Olympian Gods. While the normal boons offers plenty of space to forge fun strategies, the Legendary and Duo Boons in particular provide powerful and unexpected synergies to discover. I still remember the first time I got the Sea Storm Duo Boon from Zeus/Poseidon and how awesome it felt to combine it with Splitting Bolt and Second Wave. It feels incredibly rewarding to get a huge payoff for choosing your own path.
The Codex
While many players likely overlooked this feature, the Codex is a dream come true for any player looking to get lost in the world of Hades. The Codex is filled to the brim with lore and secrets about all the characters, enemies, weapons, and locations in the game. It also lays out all the Boons available in the game, making it easy to figure out what boons you want and how to obtain them.
As you can see, different parts of a game are going to appeal to different players. There are multiple ways to appeal to each player types, and some features are going to appeal to multiple types of players. Just always keep in mind that all players are different and its up to you to keep them all satisfied.