10 Best Underground Areas In Video Games

It seems only fitting that one of humanity's ur-underworlds get the top billing on this list. And while Hades may not have been the first video game to depict its eponymous location, it's certainly the only one that makes dying in Ancient Greece seem like an enviable proposition.

That's because, after pouring hundreds of hours into Supergiant's roguelike masterpiece, the one word that kept popping into this writer's head was cozy. Despite Hades' core gameplay consisting of frenetic, best-in-genre combat against the undying hordes of one of civilization's oldest hells, the Underworld itself proves to be the best hang-out space in gaming since Mass Effect's Normandy.

Much like Bioware's space epic, it's Hades' characters that really make the game sing. Supergiant have a real gift at creating relatable people(who knew Medusa's severed head could be so endearing?), and it's the post-mission chats with them that give Hades its heart. Watching protagonist Zagreus develop his relationship with Hades' crew of gods, heroes and monsters is genuinely heartwarming, and played a big role in helping this writer through lockdown.

To bookend this article with another eighties reference: sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came. And it's to Hades eternal credit that you'll always be just as happy to see its crew of mythological misfits as they are to see you.