History YMMV / Hades

** The contests with Thanatos are free help, regardless of whomever wins. Yet if Zagreus gets more kills or manages a tie, Thanatos also gives a free Centaur heart -- however, depending upon the enemies' numbers, Zagreus' build, among other things, this can range from easy to borderline-impossible because his appearance is completely random. The latter normally applies to large groups enemies in armor, particularly those from Elysium, as Zagreus needs time to tear through armor while Thanatos' attacks are a (delayed) OneHitKill.

** Ares is ''very'' taken by Thanatos's role as Death Incarnate.

* AwardSnub: A lot of fans think that ''Hades'' should have won Best Direction in the 2020 Game Awards, if not Game of the Year. This is an especially contentious point because the winner of both awards, ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'', is a lightning rod for controversy, with multiple controversial storytelling decisions as well as Creator/NaughtyDog's reportedly [[TroubledProduction horrendous working conditions]] not being the best example of good day-to-day direction, the latter contrasting with Supergiant having prioritized their employees' health throughout ''Hades''' development.
** Later averted when Hades won in 2021 the very first [[https://kotaku.com/hades-wins-a-hugo-award-making-history-as-first-video-1848242324 "Best Video Game" Hugo Award.]]

** "Thanks, But No Thanks". This requires you to purge a Legendary-level Boon in a Pool of Purging. Sounds simple enough, were it not for several problems. First, you have to earn such an extremely rare boon in the first place, which means running through at least half the game. Then you have to find a Pool of Purging — you'll find them at the end of each floor, but you might not even get a Legendary boon until the final floor. ''Then'' you have to hope that out of the three boons you can purge, one of them is the Legendary one. This was made easier in later updates, as Pools of Purging can appear in regular rooms even in the Temple of Styx (unlocked after beating all foes), and Fated Persuasion can affect which three boons Zagreus can purge, but it still is highly luck-based. However, there is a way to cheese this. Once you get the fishing rod, Poseidon can congratulate you for doing so the next time you get his boon which in turn alters his standard boon selection to a single choice of the ''Legendary-level Boon'' of Huge Catch (Increase fishing spot spawn rate by 20%). When you reach a Pool of Purging, it will definitely show up as a choice if you were savvy enough to not get over three boons.

** Asterius enjoys a ''very'' over-cranked bull-rush wherein he runs you down for massive damage. It doesn't stop on its own (only when it hits you or a wall), he's ''much'' faster than you, and he has insane tracking. He can easily curve around the pillars in the arena, so they're out of the question unless you can dash through them when he's right on your heels. It's much simpler to just approach the edge of the arena and get him to smack into a wall that way — except that the outer edge of the arena is where Theseus throws his ''own'' highly damaging attacks (spears, which you need the pillars to hide from, and on Extreme Measures, he circles the arena laying potent bombs).
** Demeter is probably the most annoying god whom Theseus can call. Every time Theseus spin-attacks or throws a spear, she'll summon a growing icy whirlwind much like the player's version of her call, either near Theseus himself or at the spear landing point. It deals damage quickly and applies Chill to you, making you slower and likely to take more of it. Additionally, it generally happens to spawn with a wide radius right under your feet, making it difficult to avoid even when you're already moving.

** Demeter is probably the most annoying god whom Theseus can call. Every few seconds, she'll summon a growing icy whirlwind much like the player's version of her call. It deals damage quickly and applies Chill to you, making you slower and likely to take more of it. Additionally, it generally happens to spawn with a wide radius right under your feet, making it difficult to avoid even when you're already moving.

** It's rather common in fanworks to see Zagreus, who's never been to the surface for very long, to not know things that are rather common knowledge amongst mortals, such as what certain animals are.

* {{Fanon}}: Theseus is commonly interpreted as [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain homophobic]] and/or [[ArmoredClosetGay extremely attracted to Asterius.]]

*** The "Fresh File run"[[labelnote:Explanation]]Beat the final boss at your first escape attempt.[[/labelnote]] is generally considered as the ultimate example of this. At your very first run, not only you have no access to the Mirror of Night, you also have no Companions, Keepsakes, upgrades to the Underworld, access to Demeter's Boons and Olympian Calls while being locked to base level Stygius as the used weapon.

*** Heightened Security is also another hated condition, mainly due to it not being worth a mere 1 heat. It increases the damage from traps and magma by ''400%''. Suddenly, your health is dropping faster than a stone in Asphodel's lava while the dropping axes in Styx cut your health in half (if not more). Not to mention that the urns the FinalBoss spawns count as traps, so their shockwaves are buffed by this as well.

** Styx. Nearly every enemy there has a ton of health, the poison effects will drain your resources absurdly fast, and the rooms are so cramped that avoiding damage is difficult if you're not quick. There are several BossInMooksClothing enemies that you could potentially run into, and they're all a chore to fight even with GameBreaker boons at your disposal. The Satyr sack that you need to advance is found in one of the five corridors, but it's programmed to never be in the first room you choose, and it's up to the RandomNumberGod as to whether it'll be in the 2nd-to-5th room. While you still get boons and rewards from going down the corridors, and you can check the other corridors after you find the sack if you want to, you won't be getting any more fountains to restore your health after you've found the sack, so whether they're worth it is purely up to the player. The level even gets this reception from an art design perspective. [[note]]Mostly brown levels, lack of unique encounters, and focus on rats can make it feel more like a NoobCave than TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. But given that it's the entrance to the Underworld, where people are supposed to enter -- not exit, as Zagreus is attempting -- this does make some sense.[[/note]]

** Hypnos' cheery, sarcastic demeanor, lack of ability to focus, and ButtMonkey status made him very endearing to the fanbase.

* DisappointingLastLevel: Styx is a dull slog of a final level, forcing the player to cut through a series of armored, high-HP enemies who can also poison Zagreus, all in the hope that the RandomNumberGod smiles upon the player and cuts the level short relatively early. When combined with the way the last few chambers of Elysium can drag a bit with the difficult enemies the player is forced to fight, the difficult and long boss fight against Asterius and Theseus after Elysium and the marathon final boss fight of the game against [[spoiler: Hades]] after Styx, the home stretch of the game can grow rather tedious and frustrating.

** Megaera has a specific move where she sits still and spams waves of projectiles at you, rather like the Spreader Witches from Asphodel. Unlike those, however, she will do it for a long time without interruptions, will trail her attacks directly on Zagreus, and she won't stop this attack for quite a while. If you're nearby when she starts, it's almost guaranteed to chew your health down quite a bit. On the plus side, this attack does have a maximum range, and if you can get some distance, the bullets can be dodged more easily. Alecto and Tisiphone also have their own versions of this attack; Alecto's shoot projectiles in a random six-star pattern, while Tisiphone's does not leave any room to dodge (all-but requiring using dashes to I-frame them). The latter of which is especially bad since it coincides with Tisiphone's increasingly small chamber.

** Tisiphone is a nightmare as a supporting Fury because she has two moves that are way more debilitating/dangerous than anything she uses as a boss. The first is a cranked up version of her flame spout attack that appears in three rows, covering most of the battlefield. This is extremely difficult to dodge if you don't see it coming. The second is when she covers the entire arena in a fog that makes it very hard to see where the other enemies are, and it lasts for a decent amount of time.
** Asterius enjoys a ''very'' overcranked bull-rush wherein he runs you down for massive damage. It doesn't stop on its own (only when it hits you or a wall), he's ''much'' faster than you, and he has insane tracking. He can easily curve around the pillars in the arena, so they're out of the question unless you can dash through them when he's right on your heels. It's much simpler to just approach the edge of the arena and get him to smack into a wall that way — except that the outer edge of the arena is where Theseus throws his ''own'' highly damaging attacks (spears, which you need the pillars to hide from, and on Extreme Measures, he circles the arena laying potent bombs). ScyllaAndCharybdis situation indeed.

** Theseus and Asterius are the hardest duo boss comparable to [[VideoGame/DarkSoulsI Ornstein and Smough]]. The king has the combined abilities of all Elysium's shades; the aggravating-as-hell shield block from the front, a close-range spin attack, and the incredibly accurate snipe that requires special action to dodge. At half health, he also invokes the gods, who proceed to paint the entire map in energy blasts, with each possible god having a different pattern of blasts. This would not be a huge issue if it weren't for the presence of Asterius. The bull man is an aggressive attacker with highly-damaging swings, and will chase you down across the arena with them. While either opponent would be fairly simple on their own, you have to divide your attention between them, which is juggling a lot. They can easily fill the map with more attacks than you can reasonably expect to dodge. Combined with having more health and damage migration than the other bosses put together, their battle is an epic test of endurance you will likely fail.

** The Hydra on Extreme Measures becomes a nightmare by the simple virtue of an arena change. What once was a spacious island with several hiding spots and plenty of room is now four ''tiny'' islands with no such safety nets. Fighting seven heads (six armored and one impervious) on that little land will make you cry. If too many purple heads spawn, you can easily end up taking huge amounts of damage. Oh, and once the Hydra is down to one-third of its health, its spine breaks and it's free to chase you all around the arena. And you have to deal with the second wave of secondary heads on top of that.
** Not to be outdone, Alecto is considered by the fanbase to be the hardest of the three Fury Sisters to fight due to her more aggressive fighting style. Her Lightning Chase sees her chase Zagreus across the map, summoning an attack from below him, making it hard to counter-attack her during this phase. And then there's her [[ThatOneAttack Whip Shot]], in which she summons a cast similar to the Hunting Blades duo cast, which can deceptively do a lot of damage to Zagreus if you do not dodge in time, and they follow you. Over the course of the fight, she will progressively summon more of them. Extreme Measures cranks this up if you have the misfortune of Tisiphone serving as her support, as she will obscure the screen with fog.
** The Wretched Sneak. You [[AppliedMathematics transplant a Satyr from Styx and put it in early-game Tartarus, then multiply all its annoying features up to fifty.]] This gets you a hellion with a large amount of health and a [[DamageSpongeBoss full complement of armor]], which would make it enough of a pain were it not a [[GetBackHereBoss frenzied, hyperactive enemy]] that ''constantly'' teleports, only ever stopping momentarily to lob attacks that become progressively more aggravating the more you are peppered with them. There's simply no way to kill it quickly, since it appears too early to have built a suitably powerful arsenal of boons, and the weapons with enough punch to stagger it are too slow to hit it. As this little lunatic can kneecap a run early on, you'll be ''praying'' to fight the relatively easier mini-bosses like the Doomstone and Inferno-Bombers instead. And if you thought you could hit it with some sort of status effect, [[SarcasmMode have a good news]] as any and all status effects disappear whenever it teleports. And if the Middle Management condition is turned on, it also constantly spawns Wringers to hold you in place, as if dodging its attacks weren't difficult enough already.

*** The Temple of Styx is easily the worst: its already hideously aggressive and tough mini-bosses (e.g. Dire Bother, Giant Vermin, Satyr Chief, and Dire Snakestone) begin appearing two at a time.

** Extreme Measures [[spoiler: Hades]] is arguably the hardest boss in the game. The boss hits even harder, gains an extra stage, the ability to heal, their summon brings out mini-bosses instead of just regular monsters and they summon [[spoiler: Cerberus to blanket the field with attacks]]. The common strategy of getting up close and hitting when they fire the laser attack also doesn't work it's countered with a push and stun. On high heats and with pacts that increase damage or Tight Deadline, it's near impossible to win. It says a lot that despite the boss being worth a whopping 4 heat, Extreme Measures 4 is widely recognized as one of the most punishing pacts and players are recommended not to choose it for high heat runs.

*** Approval Process (cuts out one choice when obtaining Boons and upgrades per rank at random) is generally considered the most hated due to it's infamous tendency to prevent you from obtaining the choice you are after despite it being supposedly random. To rub it in, the censor doesn't completely cover the choice, effectively rubbing it in that you are denied the Duo or Legendary Boon that you turned the underworld upside down for. Not only that, if you attempt to use Fated Persuasion to reroll, ''it is possible for the same choice to get blocked again''.
*** Heightened Security is also another hated condition due to it not being worth that 1 heat. It increases the damage from traps and magma by '''400%'''. Suddenly, your health is dropping faster than a stone in Asphodel despite not receiving any hits from the enemy while dropping axes deal over ''100'' damage. Did I forget to mention that the urns the FinalBoss spawns count as traps?
*** Routine Inspection, especially at rank 2 and above, removes many important buffs that are responsible for clearing high heat runs.

** Asphodel being flooded by the Phlegethon (read: being a LethalLavaLand) and cranking up everything you hated about Tartarus while making you chase those things you hated across small islands is not a change that's easily adjusted to, even on repeated playthroughs. In comparison, Elysium's higher density of traps and harder enemies are welcome just because of the more even footing.
** Styx is the most hated level in the game. Nearly every enemy there has a ton of health, the poison effects will drain your resources absurdly fast, and the rooms are so cramped that avoiding damage is difficult. There are several BossInMooksClothing enemies that you could potentially run into, and they're all a chore to fight even with GameBreaker boons at your disposal. The Satyr sack that you need to advance is found in one of the five corridors, but it's programmed to never be in the first room you choose. To make it worse, which room it's in after the first is up to the RandomNumberGod, so you'll have to check at least two of the rooms. The level isn't too bad if you find the Satyr sack in the second room, but Olympus help you if you have to check all five. While you still get boons and rewards from going down the corridors, and you can check the other corridors after you find the sack if you want to, you won't be getting any more fountains to restore your health after you've found the sack. The abundance of brutal enemies means that it's almost never worth going into any more rooms after you have what you came for. The level even gets this reception from an art design perspective. [[note]]Mostly brown levels, lack of unique encounters, and focus on rats can make it feel more like a NoobCave than TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. But given that it's the entrance to the Underworld, where people are supposed to enter -- not exit, as Zagreus is attempting -- this does make some sense.[[/note]]

*** Any Trial of the Gods becomes this if you make Aphrodite angry. Instead of blanketing the arena in damaging effects like Ares or Demeter, or buffing the enemies like Athena, Aphrodite summons heart-shaped homing projectiles after Zagreus. Unlike most projectiles in the game, these hearts cannot be swatted down or deflected, and will chase Zagreus unerringly until they dissipate after quite a while, are steered into a barrier, or land a hit and deal fifteen damage and stun Zagreus for three seconds, making him dead meat to the actual enemies of the Trial.

** A Friendly Wager: Given to you by Hermes is a bet in which you have to defeat [[BonusBoss Charon]] two times in a row. Charon is both a difficult boss and one that you are not guaranteed to trigger during a run. The fact that the "prompt" to initiating the fight [[note]]Shop lifting a randomly spawned bag of gold[[/note]] can appear in any of the first three realms can lead to you challenging him before you have finalized your core build. Also like Sea God's Spite, the quest giving dialogue is rather low on the priority list in his dialogue pool, meaning that it is possible to have indeed beaten Charon multiple times in a row before getting the quest which obligates you into getting yourself into a BonusBoss fight you do not want.
** Wanton Ransacking: Requires you to defeat every [[MiniBoss warden]] in Styx. This is a time-consuming prophecy, as there is no guarantee to spawn a specific Warden. You will only encounter two boss chambers in Styx per run, so it will take repeated attempts. Not to mention how these bosses can be stealth run-enders because of how notoriously difficult Styx is.

** Ares' Slicing Shot and Demeter's Crystal Beam are typically considered to be the worst casts in the game due to being slow-moving and having relatively weak enemy tracking, relying upon timing to aim their damage effectively. Due to the mobility of enemies and bosses alike, they are reliant entirely on getting their Duo Boons with Artemis -- Hunting Blades & Crystal Clarity, respectively -- to be usable. Ironically enough, both Duo Boons are considered [[GameBreaker Game Breakers]].
** Cold Embrace, the duo boon between Demeter and Aphrodite, is considered to be one of the worst duo boons in the game. It adds tracking to Demeter's Crystal Beams, but unlike with Crystal Clarity, which tracks the closest enemy, Cold Embrace instead focuses beams on Zagreus. This requires the player to position Zagreus in harm's way to get off Crystal Beam damage. As such, Cold Embrace is considered to be inferior to both Crystal Clarity and Lightning Rod, the latter of which can outstrip it in terms of AOE damage. Unless you are using a very close-range weapon like the Fists, you are better off not using it.
** Mort and Rib, the companion keepsakes that allow you to summon Thanatos and Skelly respectively, are considered the weakest of the Companion summons. Thanatos is able to provide one of the single strongest attacks in the game, guaranteeing a 3500 damage hit, but the delay of his attack is long enough that mobile enemies are often capable of avoiding it, making him inferior to Megaera's. Skelly's keepsake, on the other hand, will summon him to draw all attacks from enemies, but he has 250 HP, which often gets him destroyed rather fast...and not helping matters that he is actually vulnerable to friendly fire from Zagreus to prevent the player from abusing InvincibleMinorMinion to make him taunt the enemy longer.
** Among the eight gods, Artemis' status effect is considered the hardest to trigger Privileged Status. This is because like Zeus, Poseidon and Athena, you need a specific boon to trigger her status effect. Unlike those three, Hunter's Mark works not by adding the status effect to the attacks, but by triggering critical damage which has a low chance of happening. It also marks a different enemy instead of the one you just landed a critical hit on, which is great for snowball damage against mobs but crippling when facing singular enemies like minibosses and the final boss. This is most likely intentional by design to avoid breaking the game by spamming critical hits.

** The contests with Thanatos are free help, regardless of whomever wins. Yet if Zagreus gets more kills, Thanatos also gives a free Centaur heart -- however, depending upon the enemies' numbers, Zagreus' build, among other things, this can range from easy to borderline-impossible because his appearance is completely random. The latter normally applies to large groups enemies in armor, particularly those from Elysium, as Zagreus needs time to tear through armor while Thanatos' attacks are a (delayed) OneHitKill.
** You can meet the requirements for multiple run clear messages after clearing a run. However, only one will be displayed and what determines it is a ''hidden'' priority variable. If the earned messages have no priority, one of them will be picked at random.

** A downplayed example, as the contests with Thanatos are free help, regardless of whomever wins. Yet if Zagreus gets more kills, Thantaos also gives a free Centaur heart -- however, depending upon the enemies' numbers, Zagreus' build, among other things, this can range from easy to borderline-impossible. The latter normally applies to large groups enemies in armor, particularly those from Elysium, as Zagreus needs time to tear through armor while Thanatos' attacks are a (delayed) OneHitKill.

* ThatOneSideQuest: Completing the Fated Prophesies can be a treasure trove of this:

** Hug your dad. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The FinalBoss has a massive laser attack that has an ArbitraryMinimumRange. Rushing to his close proximity is considered the best course of action if there is no cover nearby while allowing you to use your weapon for some free much-needed damage. This phrase is used by the players when referring to this move. It is noted by some that this tactic won't work when he is under Extreme Measures, where he will push you right back to his lasers if you try.[[/labelnote]]

* ThatOneDisadvantage: Picking up any of the three CastFromHitPoints boon curses (Addled, Flayed, Maimed) from Chaos can be debilitating if the player has already min-maxed, depended, or specialized too much on a certain combat aspect (Casting, Specials, and normal Attacks, respectively). These curses encourage the player to switch around their playstyle in the next rooms, but the difficulty ramps up if the other combat aspects weren't upgraded, leaving the player with fewer or weaker offensive options than usual. Thankfully, these curses are only temporary and will buff Zagreus once they are lifted. But regardless of their initial adverse effects, some players deliberately choose a boon with these curses if their end-result upgrades are very beneficial in the long run.

** Cold Embrace, the duo boon between Demeter and Aphrodite, is considered to be one of the worst duo boons in the game. It adds tracking to Demeter's Crystal Beams, but unlike with Crystal Clarity, which tracks the closest enemy, Cold Embrace instead focuses beams on Zagreus. This requires the player to position Zagreus in harm's way to get off Crystal Beam damage. As such, Cold Embrace is considered to be inferior to both Crystal Clarity and Lightning Rod, the latter of which can outstrip it in terms of AOE damage.
** Mort and Rib, the companion keepsakes that allow you to summon Thanatos and Skelly respectively, are considered the weakest of the Companion summons. Thanatos is able to provide one of the single strongest attacks in the game, guaranteeing a 3500 damage hit, but the delay of his attack is long enough that mobile enemies are often capable of avoiding it, making him inferior to Megaera's. Skelly's keepsake, on the other hand, will summon him to draw all attacks from enemies, but he has 250 HP, which often gets him destroyed rather fast... and not helping matters that he is actually vulnerable to friendly fire from Zagreus.

* DisappointingLastLevel: Styx is a dull slog of a final level, forcing the player to cut through a series of armored, high-HP enemies who can also poison Zagreus, all in the hope that the RandomNumberGod smiles upon the player and cuts the level short relatively early. When combined with the way that last few chambers of Elysium can drag a bit with the difficult enemies the player is forced to fight, the difficult and long boss fight against Asterius and Theseus after Elysium and the marathon final boss fight of the game against [[spoiler: Hades]] after Styx, the home stretch of the game can grow rather tedious and frustrating.

* FoeYay: Every boss fight with Megaera is preceded by an exchange of ''very'' clear flirting from both parties. It only worsens because Meg can be found in the lounge after being defeated, and Zagreus can speak to her and gift her Nectar. Her first response is an ''obviously'' flustered "I will make sure this contraband is put away." It helps that Zagreus and Megaera actually ''were'' in a relationship at some point, and they can get back together if the player chooses to.

** "Thanks, But No Thanks". This requires you to purge a Legendary-level Boon in a Pool of Purging. Sounds simple enough, were it not for several problems. First, you have to earn such an extremely rare boon in the first place, which means running through at least half the game. Then you have to find a Pool of Purging — you'll find them at the end of each floor, but you might not even get a Legendary boon until the final floor. ''Then'' you have to hope that out of the three boons you can purge, one of them is the Legendary one. This was made easier in later updates, as Pools of Purging can appear in regular rooms even in the Temple of Styx (unlocked after beating all foes), and Fated Persuasion can affect which three boons Zagreus can purge, but it still is highly luck-based. However, there is a way to cheese this. Once you get the fishing rod, Poseidon can congratulate you for doing so the next time you get his boon and his boon selection becomes a single choice of the ''Legendary-level Boon'' of Huge Catch (Increase fishing spot spawn rate by 20%). When you reach a Pool of Purging, it will definitely show up as a choice if you were savvy enough to not get over three boons.

** Sea God's Spite: Given to you by Poseidon requires Zagreus to defeat Theseus and Asterius under the Extreme Measures Pact of Punishment. They're the first entry in ThatOneBoss for a reason.
** A Friendly Wager: Given to you by Hermes is a bet in which you have to defeat [[BonusBoss Charon]] two times in a row. Charon is both a difficult boss and one that you are not guaranteed to trigger during a run. The fact that the "prompt" to initiating the fight [[note]]Shop lifting a randomly spawned bag of gold[[/note]] can appear in any of the first three realms can lead to you challenging him before you have finalized your core build.

** Zagreus is a ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' troll.[[labelnote:Explanation]]Many fans have noticed how Zagreus' design makes him look very similar to the trolls from ''Homestuck'' (particularly Karkat Vantas), with his greyish skintone and black spiky hair, as well as his laurel crown having the same yellow-orange-red gradient as the trolls' horns.[[/labelnote]]
** I do not control the die [[labelnote:Explanation]]A variation on the "I do not control the speed at which lobsters die" meme from ''Series/DrakeAndJosh'', where the sentence is blanked out in places to suit whichever god from ''Hades'' is saying it.[[/labelnote]]

** Hug your dad. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The FinalBoss has a massive laser attack that has an ArbitraryMinimumRange. Rushing to his close proximity is considered the best course of action if there is no cover nearby while allowing you to use your weapon for some free much-needed damage. This phrase is used by the players when referring to this move.[[/labelnote]]

** "Thanks, But No Thanks". This requires you to purge a Legendary-level Boon in a Pool of Purging. Sounds simple enough, were it not for several problems. First, you have to earn such an extremely rare boon in the first place, which means running through at least half the game. Then you have to find a Pool of Purging — you'll find them at the end of each floor, but you might not even get a Legendary boon until the final floor. ''Then'' you have to hope that out of the three boons you can purge, one of them is the Legendary one. This was made easier in later updates, as Pools of Purging can appear in regular rooms even in the Temple of Styx (unlocked after beating all foes), and Fated Persuasion can affect which three boons Zagreus can purge, but it still is highly luck-based.

** "Thorn of Thanatos" requires you to accumulate a 30% damage buff from using Thanatos' keepsake, Pierced Butterfly, which gives you a stackable 1-2% buff (depending on the keepsake's level) if you can clear a room [[FlawlessVictory without taking any damage]]. So at max level, you'll need to clear 15 rooms without getting hit, which is a bit harder than it seems. Not only can you take damage from enemies off-screen, but you'll also have to avoid suffering any trap damage. The Keepsake also has a specific exemption for the Temple of Styx, since the rooms are both extremely numerous and quite short, so it has to be earned before reaching that level.

** On the combat side of things, staggered or delayed enemy spawns. This is ordinarily not a problem until you come across rooms full of [[GoddamnedBats Flame Wheels]], which — unless you use Casts, have Athena's Divine Dash, or ranged attacks for the weapons that have them — may cause the fight to slow down to a crawl while you run around the room, letting them hit walls. This strategy sometimes drags way out, and can also happen during trove challenges — which are timed in nature. Gods help you if you have Tight Deadline active.
** A downplayed example, as the contests with Thanatos are free help, regardless of whomever wins. Yet if Zagreus gets more kills, Thantaos also gives a free Centaur heart — however, depending upon the enemies' numbers, Zagreus' build, among other things, this can range from easy to borderline-impossible. The latter normally applies to large groups enemies in armor, particularly those from Elysium, as Zagreus needs time to tear through armor while Thanatos' attacks are a (delayed) OneHitKill.

** Alecto also has her own Blade Rifts — yes, those things that Ares gives you. Turns out they hurt quite a bit, they follow you around the arena, and stay on the field for far too long. Unsurprisingly, both this attack and the above one can be used if they are supporting the current sister on a Pact run.

** Styx is the most hated level in the game. Nearly every enemy there has a ton of health, the poison effects will drain your resources absurdly fast, and the rooms are so cramped that avoiding damage is difficult. There are several BossInMooksClothing enemies that you could potentially run into, and they're all a chore to fight even with GameBreaker boons at your disposal. The Satyr sack that you need to advance is found in one of the five corridors, but it's programmed to never be in the first room you choose. To make it worse, which room it's in after the first is up to the RandomNumberGod, so you'll have to check at least two of the rooms. The level isn't too bad if you find the Satyr sack in the second room, but Olympus help you if you have to check all five. While you still get boons and rewards from going down the corridors, and you can check the other corridors after you find the sack if you want to, you won't be getting any more fountains to restore your health after you've found the sack. The abundance of brutal enemies means that it's almost never worth going into any more rooms after you have what you came for. The level even gets this reception from an art design perspective. [[note]]Mostly brown levels, lack of unique encounters, and focus on rats can make it feel more like a NoobCave than TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. But given that it's the entrance to the Underworld, where people are supposed to enter — not exit, as Zagreus is attempting — this does make some sense.[[/note]]

** Ares' Slicing Shot and Demeter's Crystal Beam are typically considered to be the worst casts in the game due to being slow-moving and having relatively weak enemy tracking, relying upon timing to aim their damage effectively. Due to the mobility of enemies and bosses alike, they are reliant entirely on getting their Duo Boons with Artemis — Hunting Blades & Crystal Clarity, respectively — to be usable. Ironically enough, both Duo Boons are considered [[GameBreaker Game Breakers]].

** Mort and Rib, the companion keepsakes that allow you to summon Thanatos and Skelly respectively, are considered the weakest of the Companion summons. Thanatos is able to provide one of the single strongest attacks in the game, guaranteeing a 3500 damage hit, but the delay of his attack is long enough that mobile enemies are often capable of avoiding it, making him inferior to Megaera's. Skelly's keepsake, on the other hand, will summon him to draw all attacks from enemies, but he has 250 HP, which often gets him destroyed rather fast… and not helping matters that he is actually vulnerable to friendly fire from Zagreus.

** "Thorn of Thanatos" requires you to accumulate a 30% damage buff from using Thanatos' keepsake, Pierced Butterfly, which gives you a stackable 1-2% buff (depending on the keepsake's level) if you can clear a room [[FlawlessVictory without taking any damage]]. So at max level, you'll need to clear 15 rooms without getting hit, which is a bit harder than it seems. Not only can you take damage from enemies off-screen, but you'll also have to avoid suffering any trap damage.

* GoddamnedBats:
** The Temple of Styx is full of little rats known as Crawlers. They die in one or two hits and deal minuscule damage, but they usually come in waves of eight or more at a time and surround Zagreus from all sides. Worse, they throw off the game's auto-aim system and makes attacks intended for more dangerous foes (like the aforementioned Satyrs) aim for them instead.

** Although Achilles noted that [[spoiler: Hades]] is one of the few deities who participates in a strictly monogamous relationship, it wasn't lost on many players that [[spoiler: Persephone]] has quite a bit of subtext with Nyx. [[spoiler:She'll mention that Nyx was the person (along with Cerberus) that she missed the most after leaving the underworld. Nyx herself clearly cares a lot about Persephone's well-being, since she collaborated with Charon and Hermes to smuggle Persephone out of the Underworld after Zagreus' stillbirth was too much for her to handle, and she still uses her abilities to keep Persephone hidden from both the Underworld's denizens and the Olympian gods. After Persephone returns, Zagreus will affectionately refer to them both as [[HasTwoMommies his two mothers]].]]

** Power Without Equal [[note]]Unlocking every Legendary Boon[[/note]], Primordial Boons/Banes [[note]]Unlocking every Boon and Bane offered by Chaos[[/note]], God(dess) of ______ [[note]]Unlocking all boons of a specific Olympian[[/note]], Divine Pairings [[note]]Unlocking all Duo Boons[[/note]] requires unlocking all of the boons. Because of RNG, there is massive trial and error with completing these prophesies, particularly because for the rarer boons, they have specific prerequisite boons you had to have already accepted before you're able to gain access to it.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Hypnos. In the game's universe, [[TheFriendNobodyLikes everyone seems to be annoyed by him]] and his presence at first, due to his condescending DeadpanSnarker tendencies and habit of frequently falling asleep. In the fandom, [[EnsembleDarkhorse he's one of the most popular minor characters]] whom people wish to have a bigger role and be available as a romance option.

* FanNickname: [Redacted] for [[spoiler:Hades]], since getting killed by them makes your cause of death be listed as "[redacted]".