2020 saw a number of big-name titles in the video game industry make waves. Sony brought out Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Last of Us Part II, and Ghost of Tsushima, while Nintendo launched the social phenomenon Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Though among the indie lineup of games, Supergiant Games released their own critically-acclaimed hit in Hades.
It made the roguelike genre more mainstream by being the game that players who aren't into roguelikes can fall in love with. Plus, it blended in masterful music, a beautiful art style, and an enthralling, emotional story--the latter of which roguelikes aren't typically known for. With such a great narrative and excellent art, a case could be made for be adapting the game as an animated TV series.
10 The Castlevania Treatment
Perhaps the biggest and best example of how Hades could succeed in the TV space through an animated format is Netflix's Castlevania. The series has been a success for the platform, and is among the few video game adaptations to actually receive a positive critical reception, and has retained that through its third season--the most recent.
The second and third, in fact, have gotten critically-acclaimed reception, and the overall production quality shows. The art style is fantastically done and likewise for the animation of it thanks to the studio in charge. The acting performances are top-notch all around and the writing is genuinely compelling.
9 The Rogue-like Nature
Translating a video game genre like rogue-like might seem strange in terms of how it would be adapted into a show, but the game's premise could allow for some fun creative liberties. Zagreus is determined to escape the clutches of the Underworld and his Lord father who rules it, but the everchanging chambers of each layer of it - Tartarus, Asphodel, Elysium, and the Temple of Styx - make things supposedly impossible to do so.
In addition, there are several characters such as the undead minions, Greek gods, and other figures that work for Hades. Adapting this story to TV could have fun with the many, many encounters Zag will have throughout his equally-many escape attempts and still keep things exciting. Fans could be on their toes for what dangers he'll face from moment to moment, as well as which Olympian gods will help - or unleash their wrath.
8 Anime-Influenced Art Style
This ties into Castlevania, as that series made use of this technique and inspiration, but Hades seems like another perfect opportunity to use an anime-influenced art style to the characters and world. Anime in general has gotten a tighter foothold in western pop culture, and the former series shows how it can be used as a loving homage in western animation.
Given the art style used in the game itself, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to have a hypothetical Hades show do what Castlevania is doing. Netflix's recent Blood of Zeus is also making use of this, as it's also Castlevania's studio. As shown in the Netflix show, it can give a clean, aesthetically-pleasing look that still has its tinges of western touch in with the Japanese art-style inspiration.
7 Fast-Paced Action
The majority of Hades' gameplay is definitely the real-time action combat, and as fans of animated shows like Castlevania and anime like Demon Slayer know there are some truly masterful things that can be done with animation. The action in those two series are exhilarating and cathartic, bringing to life vibrant scenes that would be incredibly difficult to imitate in live-action.
Hades is ripe for some excellent animation in this front (as the trailer showed), especially when potentially animating the boss fights against the Furies, Hydra, Theseus and Asterius, and Hades himself; not to mention the hordes of creatures in between. Fights from this game would surely be colorful as well.
6 The Story Is Already There
In terms of narrative, Hades essentially already has the well-constructed skeleton of a TV plot ready for use. As mentioned, the game is a rare case of a rogue-like priding itself notably for its story as well as gameplay, therefore a writing team would have plenty of high-quality source material to work with. Steins;Gate started off as a video game, and while it was a visual novel genre already, it got a beautifully fleshed-out anime series.
Turning back to the west, Castlevania thus far is basing itself in part by very retro games in the franchise, yet improvised and translated the core premises in great fashion. If a modern game like Hades already has such a superb, emotionally resonant story - from familial drama to even romance - a creative team of similar caliber could take its plot and have room for improvising, elaborating, and fleshing out and still be well written.
5 Voice Actors Are Already There
Likewise, the voice cast in the game is already exceptional and displayed their talent in countless lines of dialogue. Of course, other voice talents could be recruited, but with the amount of dialogue and the high quality of the performances, fans already have those voices in their heads.
It could be a great opportunity to have them reprise their roles in a show and breathe new life into the game through a new medium, rather than getting completely different actors or just recycling a bunch of their recorded lines with/without them. Having them voice original scenes could also be a treat to see and hear.
4 HBO Max
With streaming dominating the TV space as opposed to live networks, HBO Max is a potentially perfect opportunity to have this idea pitched. HBO's platform is still quite new, and they're surely looking for plenty of convincing content to help drive subscriptions up in order to compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney+, with the latter making big waves lately with their slate of Star Wars and Marvel content.
It's been referenced earlier, but Netflix coincidentally already pulled the trigger on an animated Greek mythology series with Blood of Zeus, so perhaps HBO would be a good place to have a Hades show. It could be their answer to both of Netflix's hit animated originals.
3 The Soundtrack
Like with the story and actors being primed and ready to go for as is, the soundtrack of Hades is also there already - and it's killer. Supergiant Games are known through all four of their games so far in part for their soundtracks, and their most recent one is no exception.
This is probably the one aspect out of the three - music, story, acting - that could literally be ported one-to-one and would be welcomed for it. There's plenty of it there and would fit in wonderfully in a lovingly-crafted animated series as every track is atmospheric, fun, and hype-inducing. The final boss songs come to mind in particular for the latter.
2 Animation Over Live-Action
Video game adaptations have been mostly awful, from TV to movies, but more recent endeavors have surprisingly yielded positive receptions. Though animation has proven to likely be the best avenue for a video game adaptation to take, as demonstrated by Netflix. They've also lined up to adapt an animated Assassin's Creed and Devil May Cry series, also with Adi Shankar producing.
Hopefully, they aren't getting overzealous with past and current successes with those projects, but Hades would make most sense animated - and having the best chances for actually turning out well.
1 Newfound Western Appreciation For Animation
While maybe not a direct reason for why Hades would be a great animated series, it could be indirectly. The more recent wave in the west's appreciation for animation in TV and movies outside of Disney productions and the like could mean more effort will be put into the obvious advantages the format provides. It's now taken more seriously as a genuinely compelling storytelling perspective.
And while it's a stretch, 2018's Spider-Verse showed that animation can be profoundly engaging across wider demographics, with the Netflix originals showing how adult-oriented animation can be expertly executed, showcasing the broad range of animation's appeal. Classic anime like Monster and Berserk (1997) should have already proven this, but the understandably niche nature means more in-your-face, mainstream examples were needed. Perhaps now more higher-ups will recognize and invest in this format.
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