Hades II Early Access is coming and the game is developer Supergiant’s first sequel. I adored the original Hades, and after putting roughly 30 hours into its sequel I’m happy to report that this one might already be better. Let’s get into it in our in-progress Hades 2 review.
Melinoë, Daughter of Hades and Persephone
Hades II features a new protagonist, Melinoë. She is Zagreus’ sister and a powerful witch. The game’s setup is understandably different from the first. In that one, Zagreus had to defeat his father, Hades, 10 times to see the story through. In the end, the family was reunited and in between titles Hades and Persephone had another child. The titan Chronos, Hades’ father, has broken free and taken over the underworld. Melinoë was the only one to escape, brought to the crossroads by the titan Hecate and kept in secret as she trained for decades to defeat her grandfather.
As the game starts you begin your journey from the crossroads as you attempt to reach the underworld and defeat Chronos. It’s a fun change from how Zagreus was attempting to reach the surface, though there are far more paths in this sequel which after thirty hours I’m yet to unlock (and one of them goes up, hmm). Melinoë is a night sister witch, and thus she deals with a few different Gods than her brother did. The writing, voice acting, and music are all top-notch and even though this is early-access the game is already more fleshed out than most full releases.
More choice, more numbers to go up, more things to unlock. That is the core of Hades II’s biggest improvements. Melinoë will craft spells to empower herself and the crossroads camp, plant seeds to gain items for crafting/spell work, offer up gifts to those around her, unlock weapons, trinkets, boons, paths, and tools, and it all feels so God damned good.
Gameplay
Melinoë has a vastly different weapon-set than Zagreus, though the overall gameplay feels similar. Playing on PC, as the game is unlikely to hit the console until version 1.0 hits in 2025, I averaged roughly 600 frames per second on my powerful rig. I ended up mostly playing on a Lenovo Legion Go, getting a locked 120fps in performance mode and a locked 60 when using a mere 15 watts of power. Hades II is a lean, mean machine. Combat is varied with some lightning-fast weapons and powerfully weighty with others.
Your starting weapon is a staff, though you’ll quickly unlock daggers, axes, skulls, and more. Supergiant has stated they want to add one more weapon type to the game before 1.0 as well. For all weapons, X is your melee and Y is your ranged ability. Holding down either one casts a more powerful attack that uses up your mana. Mana doesn’t regenerate at first though you can quickly unlock Arcana which lets it do so, or find boons mid-run that do the same. The right trigger is used to cast your Hex, which must be unlocked each run by talking with Selene, Goddess of the Moon.
There is a tool system that forces you to choose which items you’ll farm on a particular run. There is a shovel to get seeds, which grow over a set number of levels. I mostly used the pickaxe, which lets you mine ore and is necessary for crafting new weaponry. Each zone has unique resources to gather and it’s another choice that adds a lot to the feeling of progression over time.
For anyone who played the original you know the setup of how runs work when it comes to boon and lesser buffs. The new system is the Arcana. It’s a series of cards that give passive buffs and work on an energy system called Grasp. You will need one item to unlock cards, another to upgrade your maximum energy (Grasp), and another to empower each card. As you progress through the surprisingly large number of cards you’ll need boss items and other various things found during runs to unlock cards and it’s a fantastic power-curve to chase.
I mostly focused on empowering my cast and doing what I could to maximize how quickly I could regenerate mana. Every run is a randomized chaos in which various rooms appear, shaping your build as you make a binary choice of “Zeus Boon” or “Extra HP” rewards, for example. There is a nice variety to the looks and feels of each of the game’s main stages, with one more promised to be added before version 1.0 by the devs.
Combat feels fantastic, faster, and more responsive than the first game if that’s possible. Higher framerates generally mean lower input latency, so I hope they include a 120fps mode on consoles this time around. The game is difficult but never feels cheap. Enemies give large windups on their attacks and whenever I died I knew it was because I made a mistake and not because the game cheated me in any way.
Stellar Production
Supergiant is known for its excellent writing, voiceover work, and music. They are at the top of their craft with Hades II. It can be tough to believe that this is an early access launch, as the vast amount of high-quality, full voiced-over writing is as good as anything they’ve done before. Melinoë is immediately likable, with a chip on her shoulder as she desperately attempts to save the family she never got to know.
Side characters and Gods all have distinct personalities with voices and character designs that match things well. Hecate and Selene are two of my favorites, as Melinoë’s main teacher and source of strength. The game does a great job of slowly but surely introducing new Gods, Titans, and other varied characters as you progress. Every time your health reaches zero instead of dying Melinoë casts a spell that safely transports her back to the crossroads. How witchcraft works and the decades in hiding are key plot points. Your family on Olympus had no clue you had survived Chronos’ takeover of the underworld.
Hades II remains a horny game, with Aphrodite saying to hell with all clothing and barely covering herself with hair in her cutscene artwork. Eventually, you’ll unlock a spring bath and get to see lots of half-nude portraits as Melinoë and those around her discuss things. I love it, personally, because it makes sense. The plot, setting, and writing all play off of things well and America’s overall prudishness is something I’ll never understand (despite being born and living here my entire life).
Wrapping Things Up
Hades II Early Access launch is better than I could have hoped. If this was version 1.0 it would be better than 95% of games launched in the past decade. As is they’ve said they’ll be working on the full launch through the end of 2024. If you enjoyed Hades then know that the sequel is, somehow, even better.
Hades II Early Access
Played on
PC (Steam)
PROS
- Graphics
- Music
- Writing
- Progression
- Variety
CONS
- None
Hades 1 was really good. Incredible build flexibility and combat. Hope for more different kind of enemies and that’s a little bit harder without using the pact of punishment. Just not on the level of Enter the Gungeon please lol.
Btw I don’t know if you played it, but is the card system similar to Hands of Fate ? Like making your card deck before starting the game. @Doncabesa
The review took 35 hours to do, the SEO piece took 15 minutes. Always a bit depressing. Thanks to all the @XboxEra.Patron members though, you’re the ones funding us still focusing on reviews, streams, and podcasts instead of just SEO news.
Awesome to hear how it’s coming together - this is definitely one of my most anticipated games at the moment.
Good read!
The game is not for me, haven’t even played the first one, but it seems to be high quality for those who enjoy this genre.
The first one surprised me, I’d not have thought it was for me but got it in game pass and then loved it enough to buy when it left. I still have a few achievements to clean up and think I’ve got a couple story bits still, but it surprised me with how well put together it was. Absolutely loved the music too. I do vaguely wonder if that game shortened the lifespan of my controller though, I actually picked up one of the fight pads for when I go back to it because I figured it is made for a bit more abuse…