What escape attempt were you on when you escaped? (Potential Spoilers)

9th for me using the gun for the first time. I hammered it with hazard shot (big special dmg buff but hurts you) and just kept buffing special since that showed up. Had no idea I was doing so much damage (I turn off dmg numbers in games) until the zone 3 bosses melted and I was like, "oh... ok then!".

Honestly, and I know this sounds like very obvious advice, the game gets easier once you watch boss attack animations and wait to attack after you've dodged through it. Almost all of my deaths can be attributed to me using my dodges constantly with a complete disregard for what the enemy was doing.

I feel like this is by design. That first hump is getting taught out the game works, how to heal yourself and recover from eating shit on a boss. It also lets the story advance quickly early on, because longer runs means less talking to people in the House.

I wouldn't sweat the mirror at all. Just play and see what works. There is a theme of defying fate in this game, which realized in game by tweeking the odds. Picking what god you get a boon from first and so on. And to learn that takes time. The most important part is giving people booze, getting keep sakes and learning what boons work for you. At some point you will dump enough stuff into the mirror to blast through the first few levels with ease.

Looks like I need to farm some more. I'm at my tenth run and feeling like I'm hitting a bit of a wall. I can reliably beat the first Fury but usually die not long after getting into the River of Flame. Only just unlocked the gauntlets this last time out and, frankly, haven't devoted many keys to the mirror. I paid to reveal the first set of extra mirror abilities but still have more that I can access.

@rauthelegendary: Impressive. I also beat Extreme Measures Hades on the first try, but I had the shield. The fight seems very difficult without blocking.

Unless it changed from early access, I think you need to talk to Zeus to unlock the gun's hidden aspect. If you've been avoiding him, there's still a reason to check in.

@dudeglove: I feel like with familiarity I have rarely taken the Athena dash now so it's probably better in the long run to learn how to properly use more offensive dashes right from the start.

Hrm, I guess. I don't like Expose as a build at all so I'm a little biased against it now that I don't care about deflecting as much.

31st time with the shield and 4 lives.

I was literally one hit away from dying when I beat it.

It seems I'm really bad at this game.

I get to the last boss almost every time and just can't beat him. Starting to grow frustrated tbh.

I think I'm on 38, beat the minotaur, got Theseus down to a sliver of health, that's as far as I got. Not ashamed, not mad, I love playing it.

I beat it on around 8 I believe. Got the proper ending at 30 runs and I'm currently on a streak on 15 clears. The game eases up a little as soon as you learn what builds are viable with what weapons and you learn the different attacks and how to counter/react. I am currently trying to speed through on a sub 15 min clear, got to 17 min last attempt. I'm also slowly doing the pact of punishment stuff adding one more skull every time for the different weapons. I really like this game. Currently my favorite build is the Athena dash and Zeus stuff with a fast weapon, though getting a Doom build going is also pretty fun.

I'm playing on the Switch too and I haven't noticed too many frame drops. That one room with the witches that shoot dozens of those purple orbs however isn't the best.

I think I escaped on attempt 8 maybe? The first time I got past Theseus, I managed to escape. The build I escaped with: I found a hammer upgrade for the sword that makes you regain hitpoints with every attack. I had that and Athena's call. My strategy was basically attack as fast and recklessly as I could to regain health as quick as I could. When my health dropped dangerously low I'd pop Athena's call and in those few seconds of invulnerability I could easily heal back to full.

I've done about 45 runs now, and escaped ~25 times.

If I get Demeter's cast, I can usually escape. My favourite boon combo: If you can get her cast, focus on getting more of Demeter's boons. I think the two boons that make her cast truly OP are Glacial Glare (cast lasts longer & adds chill) and Arctic Blast (reaching 10 stacks of chill causes a burst of damage and clears chill). Plop down all your turrets, and then just run away and play defensively. Your turrets will get to 10 stacks of chill suuuuper fast, dealing a lot of damage over and over. The duo boon with Artemis is also great, but not terribly necessary.

I think I really don't understand this game.

I finally got my first clear today at run 60-something. I turned on God Mode when characters started running out of things to say, I think I'm at the max 80% defense boost from god mode. Even with that boost, I really don't get very far unless I find a daedalus hammer with the "every attack recovers a bit of health" ability.

I kind of wish the game did a better job of explaining itself, because apparently I'm not playing it correctly. Or perhaps it's just not my kind of game. I'm glad I at least got the one clear, but I'm not going back and I'll watch the rest of the ending(s) on youtube.

@warpr: Sorry to hear you had so much trouble with it. Based on the 80% damage reduction and your preference for the “recover health on hit” upgrade, I take it you were taking a lot of hits throughout? It’s the kinda game where you’re hoping to do something like 50-100 attacks for every 1 time the enemies damage you. Is there any particular enemy type or boss that would run down your health consistently, or just kinda everything?

You really do have to dodge a lot, in every room, for like 25-50 minutes nonstop, and that’s not for everybody.

Got my first clear on run 51 (no God mode) using the Rail, specifically the Hazard Bomb. Have not gotten a second clear yet in the subsequent few runs. I have not seen any of the frame dropping on Switch, but after 30 minutes or so, the Switch does get pretty hot. Generally, the pair in the colosseum are my big stumbling block, but I feel like I'm starting to get a better strategy for them.

Just kind of everything. More dodging makes sense. I probably focused too much on the mirror abilities, boons, etc... to level up my character, instead of trying to get better at the game myself. Oh well... I enjoyed the story, and I'll play something else now :)

@warpr: It's certainly not a game where you are meant to be weathering attacks or trading blows. You do really need to get used to being constantly in motion. Whether you are trying to just evade OR trying to do damage back you should always be dodging.

Which I could see being a very difficult playstyle to adapt to if it's not the style of game you are used to.

Run #36 with the Spear on God Mode (I suck at games and I work too much), but loved this game.

Pretty sure Hades is my game of the year, with Risk of Rain 2, Spelunky 2, and Hardspace Shipbreaker (early access) coming close behind.

This really has been a year where I didn't buy very many AAA games.

Just completed my first full run today.

First win today on my 9th attempt. Artemis' damage output, the spear's rapid-attack upgrade, combined with a lot of buffs to dodge attack damage, dodge armor, and having 5ish dodges from Hermes made me pretty unstoppable.

The range of power different builds and runs' luck can offer is crazy in this game; my winning run was so stupidly powerful I got through without using a single death defiance. Previous run? Died to the hydra.

I'm not certain how much more I'm gonna play but I only have 6 hours on record and would feel bad...not seeing...whatever more story there is? Is there more story worth playing again for?

@theflamingo352: There's a lot more story after the first clear. The game has credits. There's more story after that too, but it's at least the end of the main arc.

There are also in game ways to increase difficulty if you think the game is becoming too easy.

I escaped on my 58th attempt. I'm not sure which one was my 10th escape, but I still play the game to fill out the Fated Prophecies list. Fantastic game all around. Gameplay, story, art, everything about this game is great.

I finished my tenth escape a couple of days ago. Came away feeling that it was just a couple escapes too many required to see credits. And finding out that there was more story to see after that, and reading up on what was required to see that, left me exhausted. Maybe I'll come back to see that some day, but honestly, every time I say that about a game, I never do. I enjoyed my time with it overall, but I think I was ready to be done with it before it was done with me.

Old-ish thread but I just escaped for the first time on my 17th attempt (Spear using Dionysus and a whole bunch of Special buffs) and boy am I just blown away by this game. Didn't really know what to expect given that Bastion is probably my least favourite of the Supergiant catalogue but it's incredible how they keep pushing the envelope of blending storytelling and gameplay. They've taken things that I loved about Pyre's storytelling and adapted and expanded on them in a brilliant way for a rouge-light. Can't wait to keep playing more.