Just picked Hades up and started playing. Been holding off for full release and saw it was on sale today. I must say it lives up to everyone's hype of the game, fantastic feel, satisfying mechanics, and the dialogue makes the runs feel like you're actually progressing the story each time, blah blah blah. Wouldn't be surprised to see it on Game of the Year lists and I'm only 4 hours in.

Anyway, I think something that helped deepen my appreciation of it is I've been listening to a couple of audiobooks recently. I've always loved Greek mythology and was kind of a nerd for it back in school, even before we studied it in some version of English class. Blame Clash of the Titans for getting me into it, but it was kind of my first view into a connected universe, even before comics. Turns out, Stephen Fry is also a Greek mythology nut and has written (and most importantly, narrated) two books about the gods and heroes, entitled Mythos and Heroes respectively. Obviously, listening to Stephen Fry read anything is a delightful experience, but the way he's retold the stories of Greek myth make them feel far more contemporary than other sources. I can highly recommend them if you have some Audible credits burning a hole in your digital wallet. It led to the first hour of meeting gods and mythological characters making me go "Ohhh, them! Cool!" I'm sure the actual books would give a similar effect, sans Mr. Fry's lovely reading voice, but let's be honest, it's damn hard to pronounce some Greek names and terms, so it's nice to have him to do it for you.

Also, one interesting note that might be a spoiler for the first boss - Megara, the first fury you encounter, is also the name of Heracles' (Romanized version, Hercules) first wife. She is tragically killed by the hero when he is given a hallucination by the goddess Hera making him believe his wife and children are monsters or wolves or similar (varies from telling to telling). This is what leads to him having to do his famous 12 labors to expunge his soul of the crime of killing family members (Should sound familiar if you've ever played God of War, a similar event happens to Kratos). Not sure if that's revealed later in the game or if they just used the name, I'm only a few hours in, just thought I'd mention it here.

@phoenix654: That Stephen Fry stuffs sounds good, maybe I'll give it a listen.

The game plays pretty fast and loose as needed with the mythology. Mostly because Zagreus is almost entirely an original creation of the game since the actual Greek mythology Zagreus is kind of a nothing character and/or is maybe just another name for Dionysus. There's a fun nod to that at one point.

They don't get into the mythological backstory of the Furies (Megaera or otherwise) very much in the game.

I actually just started reading through the classic Edith Hamilton tome Mythology because of Hades. Definitely a drier approach to the material than Stephen Fry, but it's a pretty damn comprehensive look at the full scope of Greek mythology.

@bisonhero said:

I kind of figured it would. Nothing can be a straight up translation of the source material, especially with sources this old. It'd probably be even weirder if they used the actual character in question as a boss, since she's kind of a non-character, fridged girlfriend/wife in most non-Disney versions of the story I've heard. Good to know in any case.

I'll have to look it up and see if an audio version exists. Dry doesn't bother me if it's a bit more academic, Mythos and Heroes are more oral tradition-like in their style. I guess this is kind of a trend with a certain kind of author lately because Neil Gaiman did his take on Norse mythology a while back. Much shorter than Stephen Fry's books, but also a good read. Now I just need someone to do Egyptian mythology...

this sounds cool, but i think Stephen Fry has an awful reading voice. better, is to just watch Jason and the Argonauts.

I ate up Greek mythology as a kid. They were my fairy tales.
GoW and Hades tackle it a bit but with care since Olympian gods are some serious douches.
Hm guess GoW does it way more justice then.

Wow what a take.

Stephen Fry and awful reading voice is something I've never heard of - that's crazy haha.

I mean, they got him to do the Harry Potter Audiobooks

Anyway yeah, I'd also recommend 'Bulfinch's Mythology' or 'The Greek Myths' by Robert Graves.

If you're interested in Norse mythology 'Norse Mythology' by Neil Gaiman is very accessible

@ulfhedinn: Yeah, basically what you learn by reading about Greek myths is that if you stand out, in any way, for any reason as a human being who is exceptional at just about anything (athleticism, battle, music, attractiveness, prosperity, etc.) you are deeply, deeply screwed because the gods will fuck up your life in creative and disturbing ways. GoW felt very accurate in that way.