This article is part of Run, Die, Repeat, Polygon’s week-long series exploring roguelikes.
I loved the first Hades game because of the characters and story. When Hades 2 was finally out, all I wanted was to dive into it. But the excitement faded away as the runs grew longer and every death was followed by the realization that I would have to do everything again. Another forty minutes to see if maybe — and only maybe — I can finally beat the boss I’m stuck at. Although I can enjoy them to some extent, I wondered if roguelite games were not for me. My hope of enjoying the genre has been restored once I found the perfect bite-sized roguelite experience in He Is Coming.
Video games have the difficult task of managing the player’s frustration. From soul-crushing-parry-based combat in games like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice to the spiritual retreats one finds in titles like Journey, any game can spur discussions about the right amount of friction we want to experience. I’m not against feeling frustrated in games, but as an anxious person, I prefer to have a straightforward experience, quickly putting me on track towards the main goal.
He Is Coming is an autobattler roguelite game designed by the two-man studio Chronocle and published by Hooded Horse. In this game, you just open chests, scavenge the graves of past heroes, and kill monsters to farm gold during three cycles of day and night, which leads you to a boss fight. You fight them. If you die, no problem, because every run takes no longer than 10 minutes. In He is Coming, I can quickly recover from my past failures, making it a more pleasant experience.
Of course, there’s more to He Is Coming than just quick runs. As an auto battler, it feels like playing chess because you’re always choosing pieces of gear while trying to predict how the fight will unfold. Besides, He Is Coming‘s retro visuals, with a small palette of colors and an irresistible catchy chiptune song playing in the background, bring the kind of comfort that memories of playing games as a kid usually do. But I can’t deny that the best aspect of the game is how quick and short each run can be.
I don’t mind having my ass kicked multiple times in Dark Souls, but only because I can respawn in the nearest bonfire, run back to the arena, and start the fight again. On the other hand, playing through long parts of the game, and depending too much on having a solid run between multiple rooms to try my hand at fighting a powerful boss, is a far cry from the fun I crave.
Roguelites are a gamble. Every try holds the potential to lead you to victory — or not. A run in Hades can take from 30 to 50 minutes, and, although you become “stronger” the more you play, we’re still talking about almost an hour that can go south fast if you play wrong in the first stages. I could spend one hour grinding in Dragon Quest XI, hunting the infamous Silver Slimes, who quickly flee from fights, and you rarely hit, and I would still feel more satisfied with only a couple of levels conquered. As roguelite games became more complex with runs filled with more mechanics, harder enemies, and larger areas to traverse, the price of failing became too high for me.
While He is Coming makes you go through the three-day cycles to face bosses, the stakes in each run don’t feel so high. There’s no anxiety involved in making my way to the next boss because of how the runs are structured. A cycle of day and night usually lasts around five minutes for me, in which I can focus only on searching for better gear and avoiding enemies when I’m not looking for gold. He Is Coming is far from an easy game, though. I’ve only been able to beat a couple of bosses before having to start a new run. Even so, since the boss you face at each end of a cycle rotates, I don’t feel that my chances of enjoying what the game can offer are being taken from me and hidden behind an insurmountable wall with a long HP bar and an annoying sequence of attacks.
While not every roguelite game should have only five-minute cycles, they should be designed so that the process is as satisfying as the final outcome of a boss fight. Simply walking around killing minor enemies or searching for loot is fun. So it doesn’t matter if I spend 10 minutes or two hours lost in this world, I will still wish to come back for one more run.
