To each their own tbh, and I am glad that both games enjoy the success.
I am the complete opposite, I liked both, but Hades easily is the winner for me (and I am saying that as one of the very very early dead cells backers). Because they managed to refine the roguelike gameplay to almost-perfection, but the storytelling and writing are on a whole other level compared not only to other roguelikes, but a lot of games in general.
I'm going to try to pick up Hades again. Perhaps notably, the previous games like Bastion didn't grab me for whatever reason, but it might be because I needed to let go of some preconceived gaming notions I had as a traditional action-RPG lover.
Bastion is a bit different. I liked the music and art a lot, but the story was kinda basic (despite the great delivery), and the gameplay was just "satisfactory" imo. In Hades, gameplay itself takes the prime spot, despite the rest of the aspects being also great. With Hades, you can enjoy the game even if you don't care about the storytelling or art at all. With Bastion, that would be a really questionable proposition to play it just for gameplay.
My advice for Hades is to give it about 2-3 hours of try, and then decide if you want to play more. Mostly because it takes about an hour or two until the game gives you all the essentials before releasing you into the world where you can play it "for real". Sort of like a less extreme version of Red Dead Redemption 2, which requires you playing 10+ hours to finally to be able to play it "for real" (referring to having to get to chapter 2 or so, before you can free roam and enjoy sidequests and start doing things at your own pace).
I am the complete opposite, I liked both, but Hades easily is the winner for me (and I am saying that as one of the very very early dead cells backers). Because they managed to refine the roguelike gameplay to almost-perfection, but the storytelling and writing are on a whole other level compared not only to other roguelikes, but a lot of games in general.