Herc's Adventures

About the Game

Herc's Adventures is a 1997 action-adventure game developed by Big Ape Productions and published by LucasArts for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The game uses Greek mythology as its foundation but presents it through a highly comedic and satirical style, creating a bizarre version of ancient Greece filled with mythical creatures, gods, and deliberately anachronistic elements.

The story begins when Hades abducts Persephone, the goddess of nature. Without Persephone, nature and the world are threatened, leading three heroes to embark on a quest to rescue her and confront Hades. Players can choose between three characters: Herc, a humorous interpretation of Hercules; Atlanta, based on Atalanta; and Jason, the legendary hero of the Argonauts.

Each character has different abilities and characteristics. Herc relies on physical strength, Atlanta emphasizes speed and combat abilities, while Jason makes greater use of his intelligence and a different selection of equipment. This gives players several ways to approach combat and exploration depending on their chosen hero.

Gameplay is presented from an overhead perspective and combines exploration, combat, item collection, and various environmental challenges. The world is relatively open, allowing players to travel between different areas, meet characters, discover items, and fight enemies. Its structure is closer to a comedic action-adventure than to a traditional linear action game.

One of the game's notable features is two-player cooperative gameplay. Two players can participate in the adventure simultaneously, selecting different characters and working together during combat and exploration.

Many of the enemies are drawn from Greek mythology. Players encounter the Cyclops, Hydra, Medusa, skeletons, mythical monsters, and various gods. However, the game does not stop there. Its satirical approach introduces completely out-of-place elements such as aliens, clowns, and modern objects, deliberately mixing ancient Greek mythology with elements of modern pop culture.

The same approach can be seen in the heroes' equipment. Alongside more conventional weapons such as swords, bows, and slingshots, players can use objects that have absolutely no place in ancient Greece. The game even includes absurd items such as houses, sheep, inflatable cows, and ray-gun-style weapons. This deliberate anachronism is a central part of the game's humor.

Greek mythology is therefore used primarily as the setting for a comedic adventure, rather than as the subject of a faithful adaptation. Hercules, Atalanta, Jason, Hades, Persephone, Medusa, and other figures appear in highly unconventional versions of their traditional myths. Even the gods are treated humorously. Characters appearing in the game include Zeus, Athena, Hera, Poseidon, and Dionysus, among others.

From a gameplay perspective, Herc's Adventures is a representative example of the action-adventure games of the 1990s that combined exploration in a relatively open world with direct combat. The two-player cooperative mode adds another character to the adventure and allows players to tackle obstacles and enemies together.

The game was originally released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The PlayStation version came first, launching in North America on July 15, 1997, while the Saturn version followed on July 31. The PlayStation version was later released in Europe in December of the same year, while a Japanese version appeared in 1998 under the title Hercules no Daibōken.

Herc's Adventures Trailer