Hades Secrets: 5 Things You Might Have Missed

I always felt roguelike and roguelite games weren’t for me, that is until I tried Hades for the first time. The way the game paces player and story progress is nothing short of genius. My biggest gripe with the genre has always been the fact that death is permanent. A single mistake, even the tiniest misstep, will land you right back at the beginning of the game, perhaps with an extra trinket to make the next run a little easier. Hades makes it so that there is something new to do every time you return to the hub world – a new weapon to try out, a new piece of lore to uncover, a new quest or challenge to complete, or a new feature to use – at least for the first 40-50 hours of gameplay.

Dying may still be frustrating on occasion, but for the most part, you are likely to find yourself looking forward to starting over. There is so much content to explore in the game, that even after having invested nearly 80 hours into it, I still have quite a bit left to do. With so much to do, there’s always a chance you’ll miss a few relatively inconspicuous bits and secrets during your trips through the underworld, such as the ones mentioned below.

Hades - Things you might have missed

Viewing your “Farthest Chamber Reached”

You can view the maximum number of chambers you’ve explored in a single escape attempt. The game calls this your Farthest Chamber Reached (or Max Chamber Depth, as it was called in earlier versions of the game).

Farthest Chamber Reached (Max Chamber Depth)

In the room where you pick your weapon and Keepsake before starting an escape attempt, walk to the extreme left, past the Keepsake showcase, all the way to the end of the pathway. The camera will slowly focus on the scenery beyond the edge of the path and the number will appear in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Charon Boss Fight

At one of the many Charon shops that you come upon through the first three underworld regions, you may find a sack of Obol behind the vendor. The sack appears at random, at any of the shops apart from the one before the boss chamber at the end of each of the three regions.

"Borrow" Obol from Charon - Hades

Walk up to the sack of Obol and you will be given the option to “borrow” it. Doing so doesn’t sit well with Charon, however, as he pulls Zagreus down with him to Erebus for some good old pummeling.

Charon boss fight - Hades

Bringing the Stygian Boatman’s health down to 20% will end the boss fight and reward you with a “Loyalty Card” – a boon that reduces the cost of items at every Charon shop and Well of Charon to be reduced by 20% for the remainder of the escape attempt.

Charon Loyalty Card - Hades

Bouldy Boon

While exploring the first underworld region, Tartarus, you may come upon the NPC Sisyphus and his giant boulder, which he lovingly calls Bouldy. Keep returning to Sisyphus and eventually, you’ll be able to interact with his inanimate friend.

Giving Bouldy Nectar - Hades

Bouldy, being inanimate, doesn’t have much to say in return, but you can gift it Nectar, in return for which, you will be rewarded with the Heart of Stone boon, which offers a random effect, such as a 2-4% increase to all damage dealt and 2-4% reduction in damage received.

Bouldy Boon - Hades

Chaos Fishing

After acquiring Poseidon’s Rod of Fishing, you’ll see fishing points randomly pop up all over the underworld. What you might have missed is the fact that these can also appear in the world where you meet Chaos, though very rarely. “Fish” might not be the best way to describe these primordial beings, though. The creatures you find here – the Mati, Projelly, and Voidskate – are all progenitors of their ilk, as old as time itself.

Chaos Fishing - Hades

Victory Screen Messages

At the end of each completed escape attempt, the game may display a commendation based on the actions you’ve completed through the course of the run, such as completing your first run, using your Call 50 or more times, or escaping for the 10th time in a row.

Victory Screen Messages - Hades

These short messages can be seen on both the victory screen and on the Security Log found in the Administrative Chamber – this would be the room to the left of Achilles in the House of Hades – and yet they are easy to miss and likely to be ignored, as the game doesn’t offer any additional information about them.

Hades stats screen (Security Log)

Is there anything you would add to this list? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Sameed Khan

I write, game, design at times, and revel in sarcasm. You can find me on Twitter.