TLDR; YES!
But Ben you didn’t ask “why should an indie title deserve Game of the Year over these big name titles?” You silly fool, Hades is amazing despite being developed by a smaller studio. Here’s why.
An Accessible Rogue-like
Hades does Rogue-like games different than the other popular titles such as Dead Cells, Enter the Gungeon, or The Binding of Isaac. In Hades, you can collect Dark Crystals which can be spend on powering up your character: Zagreus. While good luck and skill are necessary to escape Hell, little opportunities help alleviate the pain. While I enjoy bashing my head at escape attempts, the opportunity to make it easier is nice. Despite the mirror, you can also increase the difficulty was well.
A Deep Story with Engaging Characters
Despite a smaller budget, Supergiant games created a great cast of characters and personalities. You play as Zagreus, son of Hades, and he is full of sass and personality. Despite dying constantly in front of his father and friends, he takes it in stride and continues to press forward. The Olympic Gods, his uncle and aunts, provide him power-ups and words of encouragement. Despite short dialogue with your godly family, they each have personalities suiting your familiarity of the Gods as well as adding more to them. Zeus is proud and boisterous, Poseidon is a fun uncle, Athena is wise and calm, Ares loves murder and more! There are so many characters in the game and their personalities shine. As you progress through the game, the characters will note on your accomplishments, drive, and skill which helps you feel as though you’re progressing.
It’s really fun
Last and not least, it’s a fun game. The combat feels fast, dungeons are quick but challenging, there are less cheap deaths, it just feels amazing to play. I literally had an addiction to the game at some points. I had to uninstall the game because I couldn’t stop playing. That’s how much I enjoyed it. There are a variety of different build paths, starting weapons, god power combinations, and sassy dialogue to make the game more amazing.
Video contains spoilers
Conclusion
This game makes me so happy. It’s fun to play and the characters are fantastic. I hope this game gets GOTY!
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