There are several qualities that comprise an excellent serving of pasta. The presentation must be on point. The ingredients perfectly cooked and portioned appropriately. These are qualities that are exemplified in Hades. The gorgeous art style and phenomenal soundtrack draw the player in like a beautiful red tomato sauce hiding the noodles beneath. The fast-paced and diverse approaches to gameplay grab the player's attention as they breach the surface of the dish and begin to unwind the thick layers of fettuccine. The initial dive into the game is a memorable one as it gradually reveals its hidden ingredient to the player.

That ingredient, crucial to both Hades and good pasta, is family. Pasta is a dish that brings families together like few others can. Families bond over generations of cooking and eating pasta together. The traditions created through pasta become sacred and the recipes held by families are a reminder of those traditions. At its core, Hades is a game about re-discovering that family recipe. Traditions have fallen out of favour and due to complicated circumstances, family has drifted apart. No family is without its baggage and it is through accepting that baggage that new traditions and recipes can be created. Playing through Hades, slowly creating that new recipe and re-establishing traditions once lost, is what makes this game so enthralling. Families change as does pasta along with it; the two are meaningfully intertwined. Whether it's adding oregano where once there was none or replacing mild sausage for hot, the changes made for family are the most impactful.