Hades

Hades
Hades	2020
Hades II	TBA

Hades is a singleplayer bird's-eye view, scrolling and isometric ARPG and roguelike game in the Hades series.

General information

Official Discord server

Official FAQ

Steam Community Discussions

Availability

Source	DRM	Notes	Keys	OS
Epic Games Store		DRM-free when launched directly from its executable.^[5]
Microsoft Store		Xbox Play Anywhere.
Steam		DRM-free when launched directly from its executable.^[6]

Monetization

Type	Notes
One-time game purchase	The game requires an upfront purchase to access.

Microtransactions

Type	Notes
No microtransactions	Game does not contain any microtransactions.

Game data

Configuration file(s) location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Saved Games\Hades\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\SupergiantGamesLLC.Hades_q53c1yqmx7pha\SystemAppData\wgs
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Supergiant Games/Hades/
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1145360/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game data location

System	Location
Windows	%USERPROFILE%\Documents\Saved Games\Hades\
Microsoft Store	%LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\SupergiantGamesLLC.Hades_q53c1yqmx7pha\SystemAppData\wgs
macOS (OS X)	$HOME/Library/Application Support/Supergiant Games/Hades/
Steam Play (Linux)	<Steam-folder>/steamapps/compatdata/1145360/pfx/^{[Note 1]}

Save game cloud syncing

System	Native	Notes
Epic Games Launcher
OneDrive		Requires enabling backup of the Documents* folder in OneDrive on all computers.*
Steam Cloud
Xbox Cloud

Cross-save is available with the Nintendo Switch version of the game.^[7]

Video

Display settings

Graphics feature	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution		Native 16:9 support (scaled up/down from the internal viewport of 1920x1080); see 16:10 (Steam Deck) for 16:10 support.
Multi-monitor		See Multi-monitor.
Ultra-widescreen		See Ultra-widescreen.
4K Ultra HD		Upscaled from the internal viewport of 1920x1080.
Field of view (FOV)
Windowed	See Windowed.
Borderless fullscreen windowed	See Windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)
60 FPS and 120+ FPS
High dynamic range display (HDR)	See the glossary page for potential alternatives.

Windowed

By default, window size is static; only the resolutions from the main display are offered in the game settings, and the game window cannot be freely resized.

A custom window size / resolution can be manually set, by either:

(Note: replace <width> and <height> with your desired resolution.)

Adding /X=<width> /Y=<height> to the game’s command line parameters from Steam/Epic.
Setting X = <width> and Y = <height> in your ProfileX.sjson configuration file.
Using third-party mod to auto-configure a custom resolution, see Hephaistos.

Ultra-widescreen

Hades has a 16:9 static aspect ratio and is pillarboxed at resolutions wider than 16:9.

Pillarboxing can be bypassed using third-party mod, see Hephaistos.

By default, Hades is pillarboxed with dedicated artwork^[8] rather than plain black bars.

The pillarbox artwork can be disabled and replaced with black bars if desired, by either:
Adding `/UseSideBarArt=false` to the game’s command line parameters from Steam/Epic. Adding `UseSideBarArt = false` to your `ProfileX.sjson` configuration file.

At any aspect ratio > 21.6:9, the display logic forcefully offsets the pillars to the top^[9] leading to the artwork being zoomed in (see the 32:9 example below).

21:9 at 3440x1440, showing dedicated pillarbox artwork
21:9 at 3440x1440, after fix
32:9 at 3840x1080, showing dedicated pillarbox artwork "zoomed in"
32:9 at 3840x1080, after fix

Multi-monitor

Multi-monitor setups behave identically to ultra-widescreen and are pillarboxed at resolutions wider than 16:9.

Pillarboxing can be bypassed using third-party mod, see Hephaistos.

By default, Hades only works on multi-monitor setups emulating a single display (such as Eyefinity / Surround), as it is not possible to freely resize the game window. See Windowed for details and a bypass solution.

48:9 (triple screen) at 3840x720, showing dedicated pillarbox artwork "zoomed in"
48:9 (triple screen) at 3840x720, after fix

16:10 (Steam Deck)

Hades has a 16:9 static aspect ratio and is letterboxed with black bars at resolutions taller than 16:9 (e.g. the Steam Deck's 16:10).

Letterboxing can be bypassed using third-party mod, see Hephaistos.

16:10 at 1280x800 (Steam Deck), showing letterboxes
16:10 at 1280x800 (Steam Deck), after fix

Hephaistos

Hephaistos is a third-party mod for Hades which can be used for bypassing pillarboxing / letterboxing / static window size.

[Scaling] Hor+ for wider aspect ratios (e.g. 21:9) / Vert+ for taller aspect ratios (e.g. 16:10). Pixel-based also available.

[HUD] Expanded horizontally / vertically by default, can also be kept in the center.

[Static assets / FMV] Not resized, will stay at 16:9 in the center of the screen.

[Custom resolution] Patches a custom resolution in the ProfileX.sjson configuration file (useful for custom window sizes and multi-monitor without Eyefinity / Surround).

Input

Keyboard and mouse controls

Keyboard and mouse	State	Notes
Remapping
Mouse acceleration
Mouse sensitivity
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller support
Full controller support
Controller remapping
Controller sensitivity		Configurable deadzone.
Controller Y-axis inversion

Controller types

XInput-compatible controllers
Xbox button prompts
Impulse Trigger vibration

DualShock 4 controllers
DualShock button prompts
Light bar support		The light color varies depending on power-ups.
Connection modes	wireless adapter, Bluetooth, wired V2 tested.

Generic/other controllers

Additional information
Controller hotplugging
Haptic feedback
Simultaneous controller+KB/M

Xbox controls
Hades DualShock controls.png

DualShock controls

Audio

Audio settings

Audio feature	State	Notes
Separate volume controls		Master, Music, SFX, Voice
Surround sound
Subtitles
Closed captions		Subtitles include captions for nonverbal dialogue, such as heavy breathing. General sound effects and music are not captioned.
Mute on focus lost
Royalty free audio

Localizations

Language settings

Language	UI	Audio	Sub	Notes
English
Simplified Chinese
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Polish
Brazilian Portuguese
Russian
Spanish

Other information

API

Technical specs	Supported	Notes
Direct3D	11
Metal support
Vulkan	1.1	Added with an update released on October 27, 2020.^[10]

Executable	32-bit	64-bit	Notes
Windows
macOS (OS X)

Older builds had OpenGL 2.1 support, which was removed during the early access period.

Middleware

	Middleware	Notes
Audio	FMOD
Input	SDL
Cutscenes	Bink Video

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	7 SP1
Processor (CPU)	2.4 GHz Dual Core	3.0 GHz Dual Core
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	15 GB	20 GB
Video card (GPU)	1 GB of VRAM DirectX 10 compatible	2 GB of VRAM

macOS (OS X)
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	10.13.6	10.14
Processor (CPU)	2.4 GHz Dual Core	3.0 GHz Quad Core
System memory (RAM)	4 GB	8 GB
Hard disk drive (HDD)	15 GB	20 GB
Video card (GPU)	Intel HD Graphics 5000 Metal compatible	Intel UHD Graphics 630

A 64-bit operating system is required.

Notes

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1145360/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1145360) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

References

↑ Hades - last accessed on 2020-02-29
↑ The Forge on GitHub - last accessed on 2021-05-27
"One of the on-going challenges was that [Supergiant Games] run-time was written in C#. At the beginning of 2019, we suggested to help them in building a new cross-platform game engine in C/C++ from scratch with The Forge."
↑ 2020 - A Retrospective - The Forge - last accessed on 2021-05-27
"One of the on-going challenges was that [Supergiant Games] run-time was written in C#. At the beginning of 2019, we suggested to help them in building a new cross-platform game engine in C/C++ from scratch with The Forge."
↑ How 6 Months of COVID-19 Quarantine Affected Life at Supergiant Games - Developing Hell #05 - last accessed on 2021-05-27
"Talks about Hades engine switch during the "March" section (04:15 - 06:27)"
↑ Epic Store games you can play without the Epic Launcher - last accessed on 2020-07-05
↑ Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2021-02-27
I was gifted this game and tried to launch it without Steam running and it was able to play. Tested the x64 and x64vk executables and they were able to play without Steam.
↑ Twitter - Supergiant Games: Our Cross-Saves update for HADES is out now on Nintendo Switch! - last accessed on 2020-12-17
↑ Has the ultrawide resolution been fixed? - last accessed on 2020-09-24
"We have artwork to fill the screen edges in ultrawide resolutions. This is an intentional choice."
↑ Hades ultrawide mod - last accessed on 2021-09-13
"If we hex patch the memory value from 2.4 (0x4019999a) to 2.5 (0x40200000), the artwork will be displayed without offset at 3840x1600."
↑ Post-Launch Patch - October 27, 2020 - last accessed on 2020-11-03

[Proton_path_note-7] 1.0 ^1.1 File/folder structure within this directory reflects the path(s) listed for Windows and/or Steam game data (use Wine regedit to access Windows registry paths). Games with Steam Cloud support may store data in ~/.steam/steam/userdata/<user-id>/1145360/ in addition to or instead of this directory. The app ID (1145360) may differ in some cases. Treat backslashes as forward slashes. See the glossary page for details.

[1] Hades - last accessed on 2020-02-29

[2] The Forge on GitHub - last accessed on 2021-05-27
"One of the on-going challenges was that [Supergiant Games] run-time was written in C#. At the beginning of 2019, we suggested to help them in building a new cross-platform game engine in C/C++ from scratch with The Forge."

[3] 2020 - A Retrospective - The Forge - last accessed on 2021-05-27
"One of the on-going challenges was that [Supergiant Games] run-time was written in C#. At the beginning of 2019, we suggested to help them in building a new cross-platform game engine in C/C++ from scratch with The Forge."

[4] How 6 Months of COVID-19 Quarantine Affected Life at Supergiant Games - Developing Hell #05 - last accessed on 2021-05-27
"Talks about Hades engine switch during the "March" section (04:15 - 06:27)"

[5] Epic Store games you can play without the Epic Launcher - last accessed on 2020-07-05

[6] Verified by User:AmethystViper on 2021-02-27
I was gifted this game and tried to launch it without Steam running and it was able to play. Tested the x64 and x64vk executables and they were able to play without Steam.

[8] Twitter - Supergiant Games: Our Cross-Saves update for HADES is out now on Nintendo Switch! - last accessed on 2020-12-17

[9] Has the ultrawide resolution been fixed? - last accessed on 2020-09-24
"We have artwork to fill the screen edges in ultrawide resolutions. This is an intentional choice."

[10] Hades ultrawide mod - last accessed on 2021-09-13
"If we hex patch the memory value from 2.4 (0x4019999a) to 2.5 (0x40200000), the artwork will be displayed without offset at 3840x1600."

[11] Post-Launch Patch - October 27, 2020 - last accessed on 2020-11-03

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[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[Note 1]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

Developers

	Supergiant Games
Engines
Early access	MonoGame^[1]
Release	The Forge^[2]^[3]^[4]
Release dates
Windows	September 17, 2020
macOS (OS X)	September 17, 2020
Reception
Metacritic	93
OpenCritic	94
IGDB	94
Taxonomy
Monetization	One-time game purchase
Microtransactions	None
Modes	Singleplayer
Pacing	Real-time
Perspectives	Bird's-eye view, Scrolling, Isometric
Controls	Direct control
Genres	ARPG, Roguelike
Art styles	Stylized
Themes	Classical, Fantasy
Series	Hades