Is "Hades-like" a Genre? If so, what mechanics are needed?
Hello fellow Hades players, I am working on a chart (pic 2) showing the evolution of the Roguelike genre. It will show how the lite vs like distinction came to be and how other sub genres formed.
One thing I want to discuss is how new genres can form when a group of mechanics gains a unified identity. So, I thought comparing Roguelike Deckbuilders (which just combined two genres), Survivors-likes (which took elements of multiple genres and changed them drastically), and Hades-likes (which is a fuzzy category that worries more about mechanical similarities) would be a good way to do that.
I have looked through many discussion to find games that people called "Hades-likes" or similar to Hades and tried to identify what mechanics made them do so. With this being what I have found so far, you can see that most games only meet 2-3 of the 4 main mechanics I have so far identified. This has been difficult as I haven't played all these games before and, like with the Rougelike title, it can be very different person to person. I think it has potential to be a genre, similar to the Survivors-like, but it is more just an example to show viewers how genres can form.
If you have any suggestions as to what core mechanics makes Hades distinct, what games may be considered Hades-likes, or even any suggestions for the other sections of this chart, please let me know! No better place to ask than the Hades community.