Challenge runs are always a delight to see in video games. From speedruns to Pokemon Nuzlocke runs and various other crazy challenges people can come up with, watching a player do the impossible and breaking previously unbreakable limits is a priceless experience. And it just happened again in the popular god-like roguelike Hades.
Player angelic3276 has just completed a 64 Heat run in the game. For those inexperienced with the game, your goal in Hades is to escape the underworld and reach the surface by overcoming various obstacles along the way, with the namesake boss waiting for you at the end.Â
After clearing once, you get access to the Pact of Punishment, which allows you to apply restrictions to your run, with each of them adding a certain Heat Level at the bottom of the screen. 64 Heat is the maximum possible, but it was deemed impossible to complete legitimately without external tools. But this very persistent player has proven the impossible is very much possible when you’re good (and lucky) enough.
Why 64 Was Believed to Be Impossible
A few days ago, Youtube recommended me a video on this exact subject by Haelian, one of the most popular Hades speedrunners and streamers. Throughout his video, he explains why the 64 Heat run restrictions make this feat to be almost impossible. You can watch the full 14 minutes here, but in summary, the run needs to have perfectly aligned buffs and occurrences to even be attemptable.
The only viable weapon for this run is a maxed-out Aspect of Zeus Shield, and you need to find the perfect boons (buffs and upgrades to your skills) too. But all boons are randomized, and thanks to the extra heat, you can’t even pick a specific boon out of the three options given to you. No rerolling boons either. And you have no access to Death Defiance or any of your usual Mirror upgrades while your enemies are stronger than ever.
You can try your luck with random boons, but expert runners have already concluded that a certain build is basically mandatory to even have a chance. So most of the attempts are mostly resets waiting for you to get the right boons. According to Haelian, it could take almost four hours of resets before you even have a chance at a clear.
Related: How To Sign Up for Hades 2 Early Access
This is also a speedrun thanks to a restriction that forces you to complete the run within a certain time. Otherwise, you take constant damage until you die. Certain rooms (Safe rooms like Euridice’s or Thanatos’ challenge rooms) will pause this timer, so getting a few of them is also mandatory. But remember that Hades is a game where basically everything, including the rooms you get, is purely RNG.
So if you somehow do everything right, from getting the correct boon combination to being lucky with your route, you might have a chance if you’re fast enough. But then it comes to another run-ender: finding the Satyr Sack before facing Hades.
The sack is hidden in one out of five rooms. Your chances of finding it in the second room are only 56.8%. So almost half of your perfect runs (which were already hard enough to get) will end because you were unlucky at the wrong time. And you still have to kick your dad’s ass. Do you see where I’m trying to get here? This run is basically impossible! But not for Angel1c.
How One Persistent Player Has Done the Impossible
Haelian made clear that it wasn’t exactly impossible, but this was very, very, very much unlikely. One week later and we got a perfect run, unmodded and unseeded! Angel1C was already pretty famous among the community and was even mentioned by Haelian as one of the few people who have completed a modded 64 run.Â
The mods were basically RNG manipulators to make sure you can get the correct boons and, consequently, reduce the number of resets needed. This is still the hardest run possible in the game. Like, it literally cannot get any harder. They’ve done it with mods once, and they’ve done it again in a legitimate way.
Related: Fishing In Hades Is My Own Personal Hell
In the video, you can see how Angel1C slowly and steadily check-marked the whole requirements list for perfect run, and how history was made in the game. They got the perfect boons, the perfect room alignment, and even found the sack in the second room! Other experienced players have confirmed this run is legit, including Haelian who even reacted to his own claims being denied merely a week later.
With less than 40 seconds left and right after being hit by a wandering skull (which could possibly kill the run during the final boss’ last phase), Hades fell. A new record is set. Angel1C may now be known as the best Hades player in the whole world.
This is not only an amazing display of skill but also a perfect example of how the stars can randomly align out of a sudden. As Angel1C mentioned in the description, it only took them 51 minutes of attempts until they got the perfect setup. Maybe all that was needed was someone claiming it was impossible, so the universe made it happen just so it could have a good chuckle out of that.
This will definitely inspire more players to attempt this run in the following days, so we might even see a new record being set anytime soon. It’s still very unlikely to happen, but people are definitely bored while Hades 2 isn’t out yet, so this is definitely a good reason to return to the original, incredible game that started it all.
