Hades is coming to Netflix

Oh damn: Netflix is bringing Hades to its gaming service in 2024.

We’ve known Netflix is serious about its gaming library. Ever since it added the Oxenfree series and, arguably, going all the way back to Hextech Mayhem, Netflix has shown its gaming offerings weren’t going to be just silly, time-wasting waiting room games but solid mobile versions of indie games with name recognition, including the announcement of Braid earlier this week. Never has that idea been more expressed than in this latest announcement that Supergiant Games’ Hades will debut exclusively on mobile via Netflix.

Hades is an isometric dungeon crawler roguelike in which you play the seriously hot Zagreus, prince of Tartarus and son of Hades, as he tries to escape his dad’s domain to reach the mortal world to find his mother. Before each attempt to escape hell, you choose one of several different weapons, and during the journey, the gods of Olympus offer you boons to help you along the way. Should Zagreus die in the attempt (and he will), he pops up at the beginning — being the prince of hell and all — to start his jailbreak all over again.

This is only a high-level overview and does nothing to convey all the charm Supergiant put into this game. Over time, Zagreus establishes relationships with his friends and family that deepen each time he returns to hell, leading to some seriously beautiful, heartbreaking, and funny moments.

The game launched on PC in early access back in 2018, was formally released in 2020 (when it should have won Game of the Year, a fact I will never not be mad about), and developer Supergiant recently announced a sequel in 2022. But the game never made it to mobile until Netflix.

Sadly, the game is only launching on iOS. But despite leaving Android users in the cold, it is a really good thing that more people will have the opportunity to play this phenomenal (and totally robbed!) game.