Hades: House Of Hades Hades guide, tips

This page of the Hades game guide contains basic information about the House of Hades - its main features, attractions, rooms and inhabitants.

Last update: 05 September 2021

On this page of the Hades guide you'll find the most important info about the House of Hades, the game's hub and safe haven. You'll learn when do you return to the House, what does it have to offer and how to leave it in order to begin your exploration of the underworld.

• When do you visit the House of Hades?
• Characters in the House of Hades
• The most important rooms and interactive objects in the House
• Leaving the House of Hades and entering the underworld

When do you visit the House of Hades?

You'll immediately find yourself in the underworld when launching the game for the first time - despite this, you'll be visiting the House very often. You automatically respawn there each time Zagreus dies and his current journey ends. In the later stages of the game you can return to the House of Hades even if you've succeeded during the escape attempt and dealt with the final boss.

House of Hades is an entirely safe area. You won't need to worry about combat, even though some of the characters you'll meet here are fought in the underworld. They won't have any hostile intentions in the House of Hades. Additionally you can improve your relationship with them via conversation and gifts.

Every time you return to the House of Hades, the game considers it a new escape attempt. You can find info regarding your number of attempts (and total Darkness collected across all runs) while selecting your saved game in the main menu.

Characters in the House of Hades

Many characters can be found in the House of Hades. If an NPC has an exclamation mark icon above their head, you can converse with them. They're worth talking to at any given opportunity, as it allows the player to learn more about the game world, about the characters, and can lead to developing plot threads that are tied to them.

You can also gift Nectar and Ambrosia (only after fully developing a bond) to important characters in the House of Hades. In return you can obtain keepsakes, which provide passive abilities tied to specific NPCs.

You should know that not all characters appear each time you return to the House of Hades. Some NPCs may be absent during our visit, sometimes due to story-related reasons, which Zagreus can comment on. Select characters, such as Dusa, can appear in various rooms of the House of Hades, so you shouldn't expect to always meet them at the same place. Each time you return to the House of Hades you should go through all the rooms it has to offer.

Sometimes you can witness the NPCs talking to each other. Zagreus usually won't join their conversation and can only listen. It's a good way to learn more about the game's world and its important characters.

The most important rooms and interactive objects in the House

Aside from talking to NPCs, as described above, each visit in the House of Hades should be used to:

1. Prepare for your next run - this primarily involves choosing equipment.
2. Spending the resources gained in your precious run - We're talking of the currency that wasn't lost after Zagreus' death. You can't keep Charon's Obols, for example.

In the main hall of the House you can meet Hades, Cerberus and the House Contractor. He's an important character who's responsible for projects that modify the underworld, help you progress or change the appearance of the House. The first kind of projects is obviously more important, as it allows you to unlock new content, new interactions in the House and new rooms in the underworld. The initial projects have to be paid for in Gemstones, but the ones unlocked in the late game require Diamonds, which are much more difficult to obtain.

In Zagreus' Bedroom you can find:

1. The Mirror of Night - it's used to purchase new talents which provide various stat bonuses. To do so you need to spend Darkness, a resource that carries on after death. It should be noted that not all talents are available immediately, as many of them need to be unlocked with Chtonic Keys.
2. Fated List of Minor Prophecies - it's a scroll containing prophecies in the forms of various challenges. You can use the List to check your progress on them and collect (very valuable) rewards for completing them.

Another room available from start is the sparring arena. Here you can find Skelly and freely test out your weapons on him. More important than him, however, are:

1. Weapon stands allowing purchasing new weapons - Weapons can be unlocked with Chtonic Keys, and belong to you permanently after being unlocked. You can select different weapons and upgrade them by spending Titan's Blood on their various aspects.
2. Keepsake display - they can be unlocked by gifting Nectar to various NPCs. Selecting an active keepsake gives Zagreus its effect and lets him develop it further.

In the later stage of the game you'll unlock the lounge and the kitchen. This location contains two important NPCs:

1. The Wretched Broker allows you to trade resources. You can rely on trade to obtain items you need and to get rid of resources you have too many of.
2. The Head Chef will take the fish you've managed to catch in the game world (after buying the fishing rod from the House Contractor). You receive various rewards for delivering fish, such as Gemstones or Nectar.

Even later you can unlock the Administrative Chamber - it becomes available once you purchase its respective project. Inside you can browse through detailed stats regarding your achievements so far.

Leaving the House of Hades and entering the underworld

There is only one exit from the House of Hades, which can be found in the sparring arena, next to the weapon selection. After using it, you'll always be transported to Tartarus, the first realm of the underworld. You can't make your journey shorter by skipping realms. You must always go through all four main areas, with the chambers being randomly generated.

After your first successful run, the House of Hades exit will gain a new function - the Pact of Punishment allows you to select rules which will be enforced during your next attempt. You can intentionally make the game more difficult to increase the Heat level and guarantee more rewards.