Hades 2 is not only bigger, but bolder. Supergiant Games avoided complacency and, instead of rehashing gameplay systems, crafted a wonderful experience that exists to complement the original, not replace it. To the untrained eye, it might seem like “more of the same,” which in and of itself wouldn’t have been bad. That said, everything about the sequel is so distinctly unique while retaining a sense of familiarity that even after spending hundreds of hours with Zagreus, I found myself immersed in Melinoe’s journey for double that time, eventually realizing that I may have stumbled upon a new personal contender for favorite game of all time.
Casting aside Zagreus was an incredibly brave choice, considering the popularity and devoted fanbase online the Prince of the Underworld has garnered. This time, we found ourselves in the shoes of Melinoe, a chthonic goddess in Greek mythology who’s referred to as a witch, trained by her headmistress Hecate for the sole purpose of bringing down Chronos, the Titan of Time, who has returned to enslave the House of Hades and enact vengeance upon those who wronged him. It’s a setup worthy of the ambition shown by Supergiant in every aspect of the game: from system mechanics to character progression.
The setup for the story also retains that cleverness from the original while raising the stakes significantly, like any good sequel should do. Whereas Hades was a much more personal affair that revolved around Zagreus trying to find his mother and where he really came from, Hades 2 is an epic, a journey of an underdog that has all cards stacked against her and her companions while trying to bring down a larger-than-life threat, one that is simultaneously keeping the Underworld under his command and weakening the forces from Mount Olympus, putting the likes of Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon with their backs against the wall.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t time for delving deep into character motivations, backstories, and much-needed breathers in between runs. If anything, those small pockets of time feel much more soothing. As the looming threat of Chronos casts a shadow all over the Crossroads, your new base of operations, which is a far cry from the lavishness of the House of Hades, you’ll have the opportunity to commune and converse with a plethora of incredibly well voiced acted NPCs. I don’t want to spoil too much in case you’ve been purposely waiting for 1.0, but if you loved the NPCs in the first one, the second one hides some very interesting characters and familiar faces making a return.
All that said, if you’re unfamiliar with the gameplay, Hades 2 is a roguelike action dungeon crawler. Meaning you’ll die a lot. You’ll get to choose from two distinct paths, one in which you’ll dive deep into the Underworld to directly stop Chronos and one that will see you aid the Olympian Gods on your way to the summit. Both have four unique biomes. They’re diverse in structure, scope, and visuals, making sure to avoid the repetitiveness that can get tiresome from roguelikes. Each biome culminates in incredible boss fights, with none missing the mark. How you tackle each will depend on your build and playstyle. I can’t wait to see people’s reaction to the things Supergiant has cooked up, particularly with the Oceanus biome boss.
During each run, you’ll be able to harness the power of the Gods and other helpful allies that will aid you via boons or incantations, which will empower an aspect of Melinoe and the weapon you’ve chosen for that specific run. Melinoe can use a basic attack, a special attack, and she can use her witchcraft expertise to summon a cast that keeps opponents at bay. She also utilizes Magick to empower all of these to create Omega versions of each. Her mobility is also excellent, particularly because both her initial dash and subsequent sprint (one of the many new mechanics in Hades 2) can also be buffed by the aforementioned boons.
The variety of weapons is extremely fun, ranging from the close-combat Sister Blades (personal favorite of mine) that will require you to stay sharp to avoid incoming attacks consistently, to more ranged weapons like the Moonstone Axe, which allows you a safer approach at the cost of your attacks being much slower. You’ll also find more exotic weapons like the Umbral Flames, which take some time getting used to as it’s a projectile-based weapon that eats through your Magick incredibly fast, so if you’re not used to juggling resources, you’ll have a hard time making the most of it.
As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock unique Aspects. In many cases, these drastically alter how a weapon can be used. For instance, one Aspect of the Witch’s Staff (the initial weapon that Melinoe weilds) makes the staff fire Omega moves three times after you cast one. There are secrets to uncover here, with each boasting a unique hidden Aspect. These are by far the wildest in the entire game and will require you to put some time into the progression of Hades 2. Speaking of which, it’s fantastic and so, so addictive.
It may seem daunting with plenty of resources to keep track of. As you keep familiarizing yourself with the systems, you’ll start messing around with Arcana Cards, Keepsakes, Cauldron Incantations, and even Animal Familiars.
The first thing you’ll want to do early on is check out what the Arcana Cards have to offer, as these will grant you some powerful modifiers that will allow you to create more win conditions during your runs. The beloved Death Defiance mechanic makes a return via Arcana Cards, a few grant you health once you clear a room, or more critical damage percentage. Each card has a cost associated with it, with the number of active cards depending on your level of Grasp, which you can upgrade with Ashes.
Keepsakes are gifts from various NPCs with various benefits. Some make a God show up faster and let you increase the rarity of a selected boon, others make you skip encounters during a run, or act as an extra Death Defiance.
Cauldron Incantations are varied. You’ll require a few for story progression, some unlock quality-of-life upgrades, including a handy compendium. Finally, Animal Familiars are cutesy companions that grant unique benefits, which are also upgradable.
You’ll eventually get a whole set of Arcana Cards, upgraded Animal Familiars, and other helpful tools that will make you breeze through the biomes. Enter the Oath of the Unseen, a massive tablet that will let you enact Testaments of Night. Adding a few modifiers will add Fear to your run, granting you better rewards at the cost of making it harder. It’s a perfect way to keep the game engaging as you become more familiar with all the upgrade systems at your disposal.
Right out of the gate, you can feel the Princess of the Underworld is a more versatile character, yet I wasn’t really feeling it at first. You see, Melinoe plays somewhat differently from Zagreus, and as someone who invested an ungodly amount of time into the first game, that period of adjustment was frustrating.
During my first few runs, I yearned for the dash-based mobility of the original Hades. I missed my beloved Heart-Seeking Bow, my Artemis critical boons, and my Athena dash (both are in Hades 2, but are special encounters instead of regular Gods). I vented my grievances with friends about the new system mechanics and how I wasn’t enjoying them as much. I didn’t interact with the Magick system; the cast was often an afterthought. I wanted to keep it simple and closed myself off to the wealth of possibilities the new mechanics and weapons offered, cursing the fact that you can’t get more dashes, going as far as booting the first game to feel that dopamine rush of zipping through hordes of enemies while reflecting all their projectiles.
Then, I simply decided to leave behind my notions of what Hades 2 should be and started enjoying it for what it offered. Supergiant Games made the deliberate decision to shake and expand the core foundations of buildcrafting to avoid stagnation. It’s not a coincidence that Artemis and Athena were removed from the general pool of Gods, as they were the two strongest in the previous game. They swung for the fences with each weapon, and everything clicked as soon as I stopped wanting a one-to-one equivalent to the previous game. I saw it as an exciting challenge. I started to grow fond of the new Gods and the buffs they offered: Hestia’s Scorch, a powerful damage-over-time curse that can reach a ridiculous percentage of DPS, Hephaestus' blast effects, which can wipe the screen of enemies in an instant, or Hera’s Hitch, a top-tier crowd control curse. Even familiar faces got some new tricks up their sleeves.
As I rolled credits following dozens of runs using almost every Aspect of each weapon, I realized how everything ended up clicking at the end and how brave Supergiant was for diverting from the formula ever so slightly.
One thing I want to mention is how at home Hades 2 feels on the Nintendo Switch. I played the Switch 2 version (bringing my Steam save via cross-save) mostly in handheld mode and the colors just pop on the screen while the game runs at a buttery smooth 60FPS. If you're a Switch owner, you'll still get the 60FPS albeit at a lower resolution, but fret not, if you do upgrade to a Switch 2, Supergiant has a free upgrade waiting for you.
It might not hit for some fans of the original, and if you’ve played it and didn’t enjoy it, then don’t expect Hades 2 to change your perspective on it. However, if you’re a newcomer or someone open to the challenge Melinoe’s adventure offers, you’ll find a game that’s polished to perfection with dozens of hours worth of content, including a lengthy post-game that I can’t wait to wrap up.
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A Nintendo Switch 2 code was provided by the developers for the purpose of this review.