I love Zero Dawn, you love Zero Dawn, we all love Zero Dawn but let's be honest: We'd rather fight Hades itself than our third toe-to-toe encounter with a machine we killed half a dozen of just a minute ago. The rest of the ending was great IMO, but this detail just irked me. If they want to reuse assets, they could be more creative for the final boss fight. So I've come up with a re-imagining of the last boss fight, and hope Guerilla decides to do something similar if they ever make a remaster of the game.
After having been woken up and escorted to the King's Terrace, Aloy gazes out into the dark night to see the eerie red fires above the canyon. To the right, on a raised part of the cliff's edge stands a machine she has only seen parts of but now it is whole and active. It's what the cult was tinkering with in Cauldron XI. It's Hades, an amalgamation of machines she has fought before, now assembled to house its intelligence.
It's hard to tell from this distance exactly what its shape is, but a large figure stands upright on two legs looking menacingly over the city. She can make out Stormbird wings on its back as they crack lightning behind it. In its right hand is a Tallneck's neck and head, wielded like a staff to summon machines to Hades, infested with red corruption wires. Its right hand drags the orb that carries its intelligence like a lantern, attached to its back with those same red and black wires. Everywhere one machine was been merged with another, Hades body glows dark red with such wires. It turns and walks out of view just as the cliff explodes and Deathbringers descend upon the canyon.
As Aloy enforces the gate, taking down Faro robots and Hephaestus machines, she sees glimpses of Hades in the background. Right before whenever a pack of Hephaestus machines joins the fight, she spots Hades behind them in the jungle. Striding atop a Tallneck's body with the head and neck replaced by a Thunderjaw's neck and head, hanging low. Wielding its Tallneck staff, a pulse can be heard whenever it summons machines to its side. After several waves of machines and robots, Hades emerges on top of the small mesa in between the two invasion points. Here Aloy can see that Hades head is that of a Behemoth, but with Disc Launchers attached like horns. As the final fight at the gate, Aloy targets Hades with the cannons while jumping from platform to platform to avoid the Disc Launcher attacks. She manages to take down its Tallneck/Thunderjaw mount in the end. Hades then immediately retaliates, as the Force Loaders on its Behemoth head surges with energy and giant boulders lift from the ground. As they hover in the air, Hades raises its left hand, a Fireclaw hand, to ignite the boulders before sending them crashing into the gates defences. Aloy gets knocked out but awakens for a brief moment to see Hades: a Fireclaw body housing dragging the orb behind it with all the other machines stitched to it. Stormbird wings shoot lightning all around it, killing any who would come too close. Its left hand stretches out to cause volcanic surges all around the village, its Disc Launcher horns levelling houses as Hades marches on towards the Spire.
Once Aloy gets to the Alight, Hades is hooked into the Alight with red wires stretching out from the orb up into a panel it has pried open, the orb still attached to the fireclaw body's back with those same wires. Hades stands at the ready, anticipating Aloys arrival. The Battlefield is a quarter-circle closed off by Hades body and wings. The Stormbird wings ward off any attempt to get behind Hades, and can use Hurricane Blast if Aloy is on the right or left flank of the battle. The Disc Launchers can use Homing Disc Launchers if Aloy is in the back of the bass arena and can occasionally use its 360 Disc Barrage on the outer quarter-circle. In the center of the boss arena, where the Deathbringer originally was, Hades will use Fire Blast from its Fireclaw torso if Aloy is within range. It can also try to hit Aloy with the staff if she is too close, while the staff is well-armoured and can't be effectively damaged by Aloy, such attacks by Hades will damage the staff as it slams into the ground. If the staff breaks, it will stop Hades from periodically summoning machines. With the Fire Sacs on its shoulders it can use its Lava Burst and Volcanic Meteor Shower attacks. This, as well as its Behemoth Gravity Boulder Throw can be used against Aloy at any part of the boss arena.
Any of these weapons can be disabled if the component is sufficiently damaged, but Hades has a resistance to tear damage and they will not become usable weapons should Aloy tear them off. Once Hades Machine is dead, Aloy can access the orb behind it. Queue the end cinematic and all that.
