I, as many others, was really excited when I heard the news that Hades 2 was finally launching. I spent tens of hours with the first game, ransacking the depths of Tartarus as the godly teenager Zagreus, so when the sequel hit the PS5 stores, I purchased it without hesitation. After spending close to 100 hours in the game, I can safely say that Supergiant Games have not broken their streak of successful games: Hades 2 truly delivered what was promised and more, while also managing to secure its own identity.
I assume that most readers have already played the original Hades (if you haven’t – what are you waiting for?) and know that the game’s tone is overall lighthearted and wholesome. Hades 2 kicks it up a notch by delivering a more serious premise: Titan Chronos, lord of Time, managed to escape from his imprisonment beneath Tartarus and overthrew the House of Hades. After conquering and transforming the Underworld, he then launches an assault on Olympus, aiming to imprison the gods and usher in a new Golden Age. You are Melinoe, daughter of Hades, who was rescued by the witch Hecate. Trained in the arts of Witchcraft and magic at the Crossroads, your target is clear.
I loved the cast of the first game, but I think I love the new characters even more. Starting with Melinoe herself, whose seriousness and determination stands in a stark contrast to the quippy Zagreus. Do not think that she is some sort of teenager Kratos – despite her task, Melinoe remains a hopeful and charming character. The supporting characters are also phenominally written, and my favorite probably being Hecate, this old witch who is a tough yet loving teacher, willing to sacrifice everything for her student. Melinoe is also supported by the Great Tactician Odysseus, her rival Nemesis the goddess of Retribution and the mysterious shade Dora, a sarcastic ghost who loves to haunt Melinoe and is the snarkiest roommate one could have. You can interact with these characters and advance your relationships with them via the traditional exchange of Nectar, Ambrosia, asking them out for a fishing night or even for a visit at the local spa.
Each of these characters are supported by impeccable voice casting, as expected of a Supergiant Games production. There’s even a sneaky Ben Starr voice acting placed in the game, see if you can spot him!
In fact, you could expect every bit of quality in all areas of Hades 2: the animations are incredibly crisp, the characters are very detailed and even the choice of colors – green, blue and gold – fit the theme of the game. Although, while stylish, there must be said that the choice of colors sometimes makes it difficult to see where your character is on the map whenever there’s too much going on on-screen.
If there’s one section where the game absolutely deserves all the praise, it’s in the soundtrack department. If you thought the original Hades sounded good, just wait until you play this game! I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that most of the earnings from the first game’s sales were used to fund the production for the second game’s soundtrack – it’s just that incredible! Most of the tracks are played by an orchestra and you will even have the chance of facing a rock band boss called Scylla and the Sirens. The song “I am gonna claw out your eyes” might sound weird as a song title… until you actually fight this boss. It’ll become an unforgettable one!
The gameplay is more nuanced in this game. In Hades, Zagreus had an “up close and personal” playstyle, relying on dashes and quick attacks for dispatching most enemies. Melinoe is a witch, and as a result she is way squishier. The enemies in Hades 2 also feel more vicious, so it’s recommended to play more defensively, adopting hit and run tactics and not rushing in unless you are sure you won’t get hit. She cannot chain as many dashes as Zagreus could, but she can sprint out of danger by holding down the dash button.
In this regard, Melinoe has a new kit of abilities. You can now charge all of her attacks, called Omega Attacks, which are powerful versions of the regular abilities at the cost of mana. She also has an entirely new ability, the Cast: Melinoe puts down a witch circle, which slows down the enemies inside of it. The Cast is one of Melinoe’s most important abilities, mainly because it’s the perfect tool to group up and debuff enemies while you hit them with your main skills.
Melinoe has access to a total of six weapons, with each of them having three aspects (playstyle variants, if you will) and a hidden fourth aspect that can be unlocked as you progress further in the game. You start with a which staff which acts as a spear, then later on you will be able to unlock a pair of daggers, fireball throwing torches, a massive two handed axe, an exploding skull and a cloak with some fun abilities that I won’t disclose. These weapons, while powerful, are more gimmicky compared to the ones in the first game, and it might take a bit longer to get used to their playstyle.
This is also why I personally believe the weapons in Hades 2 are not as fun and satisfying to use compared to those in the first game. With the exception of the cloak, I found the weapons in Hades 2 to be rather underwhelming or straight out not fun to use at times. Even after tens of hours, I found myself only picking up a maximum of four aspects for my runs and largely ignoring the others. But this is a case by case scenario, so my experience with the weapons might not match that of other players.
One last addition to this game combat-wise are the pets. You can rescue up to six animals that will assist you either with gathering resources, in combat or by enabling buffs. They are not critical by any means, but it’s better to have them with you. For instance, Frinos the adorable frog offers a buff in health and mana, while Toula the cat can give you a Death Defiance buff which revives you after death. Pretty useful I’d say!
Melinoe is not alone in her godly endeavor. Similar to her brother, she is assisted by the gods of Olympus, now having a personal stake since they’re being assaulted by the forces of Chronos. This time around you will have the full force of the Pantheon backing you up. Besides the usual Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, or Hermes, you’ll be aided by some new gods as well. Hestia, the goddess of hearth and fire, is this funny grandma that is always eager to burn everyone to cinders. Hephaestus will lend you his hammer whenever he’s not building a new suit of armor or automaton, while the goddess Hera will bless you with her regal presence and her broken boons. Matching the boons in Hades 2 is incredibly fun, and Melinoe becomes a powerhouse as soon as she gets the right combination.
However, given the roguelike-structure, some runs won’t necessarily go your way. The game can be straight out evil and give you the worst boon combination ever, such as Poseidon appearing just to give you resource boons, or Demeter refusing to infuse your cast with Ice powers. You’ll have to figure out the most optimal build on the fly and rely on your knowledge of the enemies and bosses in order to succeed.
Speaking of, the bosses are absolutely amazing in this game. They’re outright bastards, don’t get me wrong, but they’re so well designed that I can’t help but love them. Supergiant Games overdid themselves with these entries, especially since now there’s twice as many bosses you have to deal with.
There is an extra strategical addition in Hades 2: due to your witch powers, you can now go to the surface in order to save Olympus. During each run, you can pick whether you want to go to the Underworld and deal with Chronos, or go to the Surface and attack his invading forces. This adds a layer of complexity to the game, since both paths yield different rewards and resources. I have to say though, as weird as it sounds, dealing with Chronos is way easier than trekking through the surface – the enemies and bosses that are attacking Olympus are a special brand of difficulty and I will admit that I was awfully unprepared when I first faced them.
But dear Gods they are so cool!
In true roguelike fashion, during each run you gather resources and solve quests. When you return to the Crossroads, you will use these resources to either craft magical items or rituals in your Witch Cauldron, or upgrade your Arcanas. Arcanas have a similar function to the Mirror of the Night, where Melinoe gets some permanent buffs to help her in the future runs. There’s only a limited space for the Arcana Cards, so you will have to choose which cards suit you best for the runs that will follow.
Later on, you will be able to increase the difficulty of your runs via the Oath of the Unseen chart. This mechanic allows you to add various buffs to your enemies and debuffs to yourself, to make your run harder but also more rewarding. The most interesting Oath however is the Vow of Rivals, which affects bosses. It gives them a massive damage increase and a completely new set of attacks. The bosses become incredibly hard though so make sure you are well prepared for the task ahead.
With all the resources, options, spells and oaths, paired with the additional run to the Surface, Hades 2 has the slight downside of becoming a bit grindy and dull during the late portion of the game. The trophy list for the game is incredibly grindy also, twice as big as the one in the predecessor in fact, and think that Supergiant Games added a bit too much content to their game, as wild as that might sound. I believe that the game would have been better without as many resources and sidequests. Factor in the RNG aspect and your time spent in the game might even double – I spent too many runs, desperately trying to find the NPC Circe, so that I could finally unlock the final aspect for my staff. She either didn’t appear (NPCs are not guaranteed to appear during any run) or she straight out refused to give me the secret sentence for my quest. It was quite annoying, to say the least.
And another purely personal opinion – I wasn’t as invested in Hades 2 as I was with the first Hades. I preferred the smaller scale story of the original, and the hubristic nature of Zagreus, which was in line with all the Greek Gods stories. In comparison, Melinoe feels a bit “flawless”, so to speak, which makes me not like her as much as I liked her older brother. This is simply a matter of taste, obviously, no game is for everyone.
Even considering the personal taste, there’s no way around it: Hades 2 is a masterpiece. It’s one of those products that push the idea that “videogames can be considered art”. Design, voice acting, soundtrack, intricate gameplay, a fantastic cast of characters and the love and care that was put towards this IP… Hades 2 deserves all the praise it can get. And yes, I wholeheartedly recommend it.
