By this point, those who have been playing Hades 2 since its release have likely already completed its main story. After dealing with both Chronos and Typhon, one might wonder what else there is to do in the game. Thankfully, there's a lot of post-game content to enjoy.
One of them is the Vow of Rivals, an option in the Oath of the Unseen that changes the Guardians of every region, so much so that the fights against them feel completely different and are much harder than ever before. Longtime fans may find that the feature is similar to the original Hades' Extreme Measures, and they'd be right to feel that way, given that the two are essentially the same.
However, after experiencing both, I can confidently say that the Vow of Rivals outshines Extreme Measures, and it's because of two big reasons. The first is that while they were meant to change Guardians and make them more difficult, the feature that allowed you to do so in Hades 2 did a much better job.
As for how, the answer is that it took what Extreme Measures did and improved upon them to an absurd degree. Everything from hazardous environments and even a two-on-one situation makes a return, and the Vow of Rivals made sure that they punish you harder than they ever did in the previous game. I've actually lost several runs because of how much harder the bosses become, something that Extreme Measures wasn't able to do, proving that the sequel's feature was not messing around.
Also, the changes to the fights themselves feel more significant in the optional Hades 2 feature, as it provides Guardians with a lot of new attack patterns that can easily catch anyone off guard. Extreme Measures also did that with its own, especially when it came to the God of the Underworld, but not to the extent that its sequel did.
The next and probably biggest reason why I think Vow of Rivals is so much better is that it affects both Underworld and Surface runs. In the original Hades, you were only limited to the one route Zagreus had to escape his home, meaning you'll be running into the same four bosses repeatedly, which can get boring even with Extreme Measures changing them.
However, Hades 2 provides Melinoe with two different areas to take on, doubling the number of Guardians to face from the first game. This provides the Vow of Rivals with more variety, ensuring players have more ways to mix things up that will help keep them interested in playing, which is enough to tell me that it's better than Extreme Measures.
Hades 2 surpasses its predecessor in many aspects, and its method of changing Guardian boss fights is certainly one of them. The Vow of Rivals is essentially just a much harder and more improved version of Extreme Measures, and for those who doubt that claim, I implore you to give both a shot to better understand why I made it.
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