Hades 2 Review

Hades, in a lot of ways, always felt like the title Supergiant Games was building towards. While Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre are all excellent in their own right, Hades felt like the culmination of all the learnings from those games put into a beautiful blend of clever narrative mechanics and a deeply addictive roguelite loop.

The question of where the deeply talented developer would go next lingered - where do you go after making one of the most beloved games of the last 10 years? Well, Supergiant Games decided to kick that can down the road to some date in the future and, for the first time, make a sequel.

Hades 2, like the first one, has been gestating in Early Access for over a year, improving on community suggestions to finally get it to this 1.0 state. Like many, despite being excited for Hades 2, I’d vowed not to play it until it was ‘fully out’. Five years after the launch of its predecessor, it’s here. And what Supergiant has cooked up is a title that is befitting the immense legacy of both the developer and the franchise’s name.

View Full-size

As with the original, the cast of characters is nothing short of amazing in Hades 2.

Story

Hades 2 begins sometime after the conclusion of the first, and somewhat in medias res. You take up the role of Melinoë, the princess of the Underworld, who in real Greek Mythology was noted as being tied to nightmares and madness.

In Hades 2, you’re the much younger sister of the previous protagonist, Zagreus, and the daughter of Hades and Persephone. As you come to learn, Melinoë was entrusted to the witch Hecete as a baby in a moment of haste as the House of Hades was imprisoned by Chronos, the Titan of Time (and Hades’ father). Ever since Melinoë grew up, she’s been entrusted with the ‘task’ of killing Chronos and restoring her family to their rightful place.

It’s a really inventive continuation of the story, forgoing just another adventure with Zag, and expanding the world and family of Hades, which feels fitting for the sprawling and bloodline-intensive nature of Greek Mythology. Hades 2’s story definitely ratchets up the stakes and cleverly plays on the heartstrings of those who played the first. While some might be annoyed that many of their favorites aren’t heavily featured here, it’s easy to buy into the cause of this main goal, as, like Melinoë, you have an emotional investment in seeing them freed. Dealing with Titans and godly clashes, the scale of this story is far bigger than the first, too, with ‘Death to Chronos’ feeling like an enticing, revenge-laced guiding light as much as it seems a valediction between the characters.

View Full-size

Melinoë is a fantastic protagonist.

Characters

In terms of those characters in your gallery, while you may miss your favorites, Supergiant knows how to make you care about their characters. While that sense of longing for the old is used to drive you on your ultimate goal, Melinoë comes with her own equally likable entourage for you to get lost in. The vastness of the Greek pantheon is on display here, with Supergiant easily filling out its sequel with recognizable names, and it’s always fun to see how the developer puts its touch on them.

Without going deep into spoilers, standouts include Hecate, your stern but loving mentor and paternal figure, Nemesis, your strong-headed and jealous rival, as well as Eris, the goddess of strife, who is likeably unlikeable. There are many more, and it’s a real treat to get to experience building relationships once again in Hades - making it feel fresh, rather than retreading old ground with the cast of the first.

This setup, in turn, means that when characters from the previous game inevitably start turning up, it comes with relief. Seeing an old friend is always welcome, and here it acts as a reminder for what you’re fighting for as you move toward revenge against Chronos with each and every run. It’s a clever conceit that is both welcoming to new players with no previous connections and invigorating a stronger sense of vengeance with those who did.

View Full-size

As always, the characters you meet will shape the story.

View Full-size

It’s always rewarding to speak to everyone after a run is over.

Gameplay

Hades’ character work and story have always been the wind in the sails pushing you to do more and more runs, but what of the act of sailing itself? Hades 2’s core retains everything that made the first so instantly playable, and if you’re familiar, there’s nothing here that should shock you. You’re tasked with doing elongated runs through various subworlds, each with its own boss, all on the way to an ultimate boss.

As you move through rooms of enemies in bullet-hell arenas, you procure more power, whether that be through upgrades for your weapons, increasing your stats, or boons from the Gods of Olympus. While some Gods have been traded out and some return, it’s a really nice mix, with many providing exciting new possibilities for your runs. While Hades’ core is intact here, Supergiant has added things like the Cast. This is a circle you can put on the floor that draws characters in, and you can imbue it with powerful elemental abilities, which provides a meaningful change to how you control these enemy-dense spaces.

As someone who adores build crafting in just about any game, Hades 2 does such a wonderful job of tapping into the joy of that process, without you having to go into hours of YouTube videos to understand its systems. This is build crafting on the fly, with you making quick decisions about things you want to experiment with, all while getting that sense of becoming more and more powerful as you progress.

While eventually you will learn what Boons you favor and can use trinkets and Arcana Cards to be able to manipulate runs more easily, that time of experimenting and discovering what you like is intoxicating. It’s the very heart of what makes Hades 2 so special. That’s even before the wider structure reveals itself and you begin to get access to new weapons, and even Aspects of those weapons that meaningfully transform all of them. While more active playstyles are always great, there’s also a special kind of joy in building a loadout that almost plays itself. Being able to display your mastery over the game’s tools - in those moments of immense power, that’s where real satisfaction can lie.

For those who love to build, theorize, and try new things, Hades 2’s combat is a smorgasbord of toys to play with in a seemingly endless toybox. It assures that every time you reach in and pull something out, you’re almost always going to get something new or find a new dynamic that was meaningfully different from the last run.

View Full-size

Hades 2’s combat features a number of new features, such as the Cast ability.

View Full-size

Boss fights are as exhilarating as ever.

Structure

For those who played the first, it will be no surprise to learn that Hades 2 is a compelling game. I mean that literally, too. After every run, it literally compels you with a new reason to jump right back into a run. Maybe it’s a new concoction in Hecate’s cauldron. Maybe you can unlock a new aspect of a weapon. Perhaps you’re ready to fully upgrade an Arcana card. All of these can be a big boost in power, which the game handles masterfully.

You’ll never be weaker than you are at the start, and every moment after that is used towards empowering you to be an unstoppable killing machine of even the strongest deities in the Greek pantheon. I lost hours at a time without meaning, just going in for ‘one more run.’ When you find yourself saying that in any game, you know you’re in banger territory.

One thing that Hades 2 introduces is that after a little while of doing Underworld runs, a new path will open up. Without getting into spoilers, you’ll then be presented with two paths at the start of each night. Do you want to focus on this path, or mix it up and do another? While an argument can be made that the sequel potentially loses some of the laser focus of the first with this, I found it to keep things fresh.

If I’d just been through a long, grueling run in the Underworld, why not try another path this time around for a bit of variety? That’s before you even get to the secret third, short burst way of playing. The point is, there’s always a way to play Hades 2 to suit you, whether you’re marathoning runs or just doing a couple. And much like the first, you’ll always find a reason to be doing a run past the sheer fun of it itself. Mix those unlocks and upgrades with engrossing narrative threads, and Hades 2 might just be one of the most compelling games out there. And thankfully, if you want to, you can be at it for a long while.

What starts as a simple task at the beginning quickly expands, and when you think you have a handle on it, it only expands again. Hades 2 understands getting more powerful is fun, and will weaponize that against you to keep playing - and you’ll love it for it. The immensity of scale in the unlocks, getting to the power you want, the scale of the upgrade systems - this is a game you could play for tens, potentially even hundreds of hours, and likely still find some reason to do ‘just one more run.’

View Full-size

Arcana is just one of the many new features you can use to get more powerful between runs.

Supergiant

While Hades 2 is a joy of a sequel, it’s not a particularly surprising game. While a little reductive, ultimately, Hades 2 is a lot more Hades. For lovers of the first like me, that’s plenty fine. It’s been five years since I put meaningful time into the franchise, and I’ve adored revisiting it with this sequel. That said, it’s fair to say that Hades 2 is maybe the first time Supergiant has really played it ‘safe’.

In each of the previous games made by the studio, there was an experimental spirit. While Bastion, Transistor, Pyre, and Hades are unmistakably Supergiant, each had a focus and interest very different from what came before. Hades 2 is the first time the developer has returned to a formula it knew worked, iterating and improving, yes, but still very much keeping close to the original recipe.

For some, that might not be what they want. If you straight-up disliked Hades, there’s very little in Hades 2 that’s going to convince you where the first didn’t. For lovers of the studio, they may also lament the loss of always getting something new from a truly special developer. It’s a completely understandable critique, and one I expect some might adopt.

Hades was the culmination of the learnings of Supergiant and was a trailblazer in the genre. That game felt so fresh and exciting that its effect still lingers five years later. Hades 2 has the burden of familiarity, instead being a return to explore a familiar formula - meaning it can feel like less of a powerful flash of Zeus’s lightning and more like the tinkering of Hephestus on an already great piece of armor.

View Full-size

Hades 2 may feel safe, but it perfects an already brilliant formula.

Conclusion

That’s mostly a philosophical grievance with the game, which, while relevant, is maybe a little academic. Hades 2 is an absolutely stellar sequel that I dare say improves on a classic. That’s even before I’ve mentioned the game’s radiant art direction and furious boss battles, which return too. Fans will likely go back and forth on small details about what they prefer between the two games, but don’t get it twisted - if you loved the first, Hades 2 is an absolute must.

There’s so much clever design in here, from how the story is set up to provide new space to explore the setting, to small combat improvements like Casts and Arcana Cards - it’s everything someone hungry for more Hades will want. On those terms, it’s a pure triumph.

While it can feel a little safe, it doesn’t matter. This game is too fun, too compelling, too stellar in its design to be anything but an enormous recommendation. You could argue you had your fill of this formula - but for me, I’ll keep drinking this ambrosia for as long as it keeps tasting this good.