Dying to return: ‘Hades II’ Review
Six years ago, I reviewed Hades on the site. It was the first video game reviewed on the site and it’s hard not to think about how much gaming trends, the gaming industry, and my gaming habits have and haven’t changed since. Of the things that have grown is the appetite for Supergiant Games’ very first sequel after a career of original, upwardly ambitious indie games. But does the sequel do enough to justify itself to new and old players? Or does it fade into safe, same, monotony?
What I can tell you is as of this writing, I have 105 hours played on the Switch 2 and have done virtually every task and challenge I am interested in. I was a big fan of the “rogue-like, isometric, hack-and-slash adventure game steeped in rich Greek mythology” (Ricafort, 2020) of the first game and Hades II smartly doesn’t try to reroll a new Sisyphean boulder through its gameplay.
One major difference is the focus on Melinoë, Zagreus’ younger sister witch-in-training. Melinoë’s more curious temperament shakes up the attitude of the game along with stakes that feel much more merciless than the first. Melinoë’s new tools at her disposal are as varied and interesting as the original, my particular favorite being the devilishly anachronistic Black Coat. Melinoë also has access to Arcana cards and Familiars, two new RPG-ish elements that augment your build prior to your run.
Joining Melinoë are a cadre of new gods, goddesses, semigod, demigod, god-adjacent, and god-maligned characters. Hecate, Melinoë’s witch-mentor, guides you through the Crossroads, your new central hub on a journey to find your family. The threat this time is the god of time itself: Chronos, your grandfather, who has relitigated vengeful daddy issues with all of his divine offspring. Reimaginings of Eris, Odysseus, Nemesis, and Icarus aid or at times amplify Melinoë’s tribulations.They are equally, if not more, compelling than the original roster of immaculately voice acted characters, who virtually all return to assist Melinoë with familiar boon archetypes, but entirely new synergies.
It’s hard not to appreciate the level of detail the Supergiant team imparts on the character design, world building, writing, and music. These are the aspects that made Hades such an immersive experience years ago, and if you only wanted more — it’s all here and then some. I love watching the shimmering lighting effect on each character, and I still let the voices play more than I don’t.
In terms of challenge, Hades II is no slouch. I would say the first ten percent of the game feels oppressive. I actually had to put it down and decompress with other games for about a month before I returned. But the game definitely opens up, and the way it does with the branching campaigns creates a more satisfying gameplay loop that tops the linearity of the first game. With enough time, memorization, and practice, you can surmount your Nth battle with the next big bad. And when you rise to the occasion, there are plenty of opportunities to amp up the difficulty. You can tell that the cooking the game spent in early-access did a lot to help define more expansive quirks, even if not all of them like decorating or armor feel that deep.
For new players, I would say you are pretty brave to enter this game over the first one — not because you’ll be missing significant lore, but because the compounded value of playing the first one and this one create a much richer context of what systems and features have been focused on and refined. It would be a little hard to step back to the original. But maybe we’ll find out for sure in an inevitable YouTube retrospective a few years down the line.
Hades II is an awesome game. There is no denying the value of this game and delving deeper into a delectably designed world rife with relational strife. The formula still works, and I am most interested to see the staying power of this game. Speaking into existence now, could a Hades trilogy round out this era for Supergiant? Either way, the current duology of games is an unparalleled rogue-like experience that continues to bless its most death-defiant fans.
Hades II is developed by Supergiant Games and is currently available on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo Switch 2.
