Hades II
The first-ever sequel from Supergiant Games builds on the best aspects of the original god-like rogue-like dungeon crawler in an all-new, action-packed, endlessly replayable experience rooted in the Underworld of Greek myth and its deep connections to the dawn of witchcraft.
BATTLE BEYOND THE UNDERWORLD
As the immortal Princess of the Underworld, you’ll explore a bigger, deeper mythic world, vanquishing the forces of the Titan of Time with the full might of Olympus behind you, in a sweeping story that continually unfolds through your every setback and accomplishment.
MASTER WITCHCRAFT AND DARK SORCERY
Infuse your legendary weapons of Night with ancient magick, so that none may stand in your way. Become stronger still with powerful Boons from more than a dozen Olympian gods, from Apollo to Zeus. There are nearly limitless ways to build your abilities.
MINGLE WITH (MORE) GODS, GHOSTS, AND MONSTERS
Meet a cast of dozens of fully-voiced, larger-than-life characters, including plenty of new faces and some old friends. Grow closer to them through a variety of new interactions, and experience countless unique story events based on how your journey unfolds.
EVERY RUN IS ITS OWN ADVENTURE
New locations, challenges, upgrade systems, and surprises await as you delve into the ever-shifting Underworld again and again. Reveal the mysteries of the Arcana Altar, tame witchy familiars, and gather reagents using Tools of the Unseen to get closer to your goal.
THE PERKS OF IMMORTALITY
Thanks to a variety of permanent upgrades and the return of God Mode, you don’t have to be a god yourself to experience whatHades IIhas to offer. But if you happen to be one, you can brave escalating challenges for greater rewards, and prove just how divine you really are.
SIGNATURE SUPERGIANT STYLE
Rich, atmospheric presentation and storytelling fused with responsive action is the hallmark of Supergiant’s titles. Vivid new hand-painted environments, even smoother real-time 3D characters, and an electrifying original score make this mythic world burst with life.
BUILT FOR EARLY ACCESS
The originalHadeswas designed for Early Access from the ground up, and the same is true ofHades II. Player feedback will help shape a number of Major Updates that introduce new features, characters, environments, and more as the game gets closer to completion.
Steam User 616
Generally, when the continuation or 2nd series of a created content comes out, it is not as beautiful or enjoyable as the first product. Always the first series remains in the mind and hearts. But the hades series is a game that breaks this vicious circle. In my opinion, this 2nd game is more enjoyable, more polished and more striking than the first game. Although the game is in early access, I quite like it even in this form. So beautiful.. <3
Steam User 674
TLDR: If you're particularly unskilled. Hades II really took a lot of tools away, and it really doesn't want you to clear it. Or it wants you to spend many, many runs grinding for advantages.
Yes, this game is recommended for MOST players. It has great music and dialogue. It's beautiful, and has a lot of bold build decisions over Hades. Weapons definitely take longer to figure out.
HOWEVER. The game is not for everyone. The game is designed defensively, as though Supergiant games was upset about how fast people progressed through Hades. Runs take longer. Bosses have more invincibility phases. Everything takes longer to unlock. They've diversified resources and given you two options about what you do each run, which is cool! Strangely, the layers are actually EASIER with only a couple bosses being a problem, but what a problem they are....
Hades II has a slightly lower rating than Hades, and I suspect that's never going to change. They made the game harder. They made death defiance MUCH harder to get. The final boss is tremendously harder than Hades. They took out multiple dashes. The game tried to "fix" how "easily" people could get through it, and I think the difference in positive reviews are just the people who've been left behind.
I'm middle aged, blind, and very slow. Double dashes producing buckets of i-frames were pretty much the only way I could keep progressing in Hades. I've fought Chronos eight or nine times. I no longer think I can beat him. His tells are very hard to read. The models in this game are very small, and he's a gold figure on a gold background. He's ALSO very fast. Even if I wanted to do God Mode I'd be looking at a dozen or so runs before the bonuses stacked up enough for me to kill him. The whole time the run up to him would be getting duller and duller and duller....
I give the game a good rating, because it is excellent in so much of what it does. I just wanted to point out that it has left people behind. It's harder, grindier, and takes away strategies that the unskilled used to compensate. But statistically, you are younger and better at games. You should definitely pick this up. It's a real gem.
Steam User 97
This is my first time buying a game in Early Access and it surpassed my expectations. Its content is both high-quality and abundant. I haven't come across any glitches or technical problems in the 15 hours I've spent playing so far. The incorporation of a gathering system into a roguelike is an unexpected yet delightful touch. It's unobtrusive and seamlessly integrates with the rapid monster slaying action. New weapons and an upgraded boon system keep the sequel fresh without losing the familiarity of the original. With Supergiant Games at the helm, one can anticipate nothing short of excellence in music, art style, and voice acting, and Hades II certainly lives up to those expectations.
I'm eagerly anticipating the release of version 1.0, where they'll introduce fresh new areas, expand the story line with additional voiced dialogues, introduce new weapons, and add other exciting gameplay features to enhance the overall enjoyment.
Steam User 70
Should you buy it in Early Access?
That's kind of the big question. There's quite a lot of content available in the game right now and I've unlocked everything major. Hades 2 is a ton of fun, but as you might expect from early access the content abruptly ends at some point and you'll have to wait until the next update. While it is fun, there are also some kinks and pacing issues that will be ironed out over EA, so I would recommend waiting if you're not impatient like me.
The big issue with EA is obviously the story. When you beat the final boss, the story abruptly ends and you don't get to know what happens next. There's a couple of unresolved side stories as well,
Gameplay-wise, Hades 2 is awesome. It's as satisfying as you might expect from a sequel to Hades 1. The bosses are also a massive step up in quality, they're a lot more fun and creative.
There's some balance issues but something that really needs tweaking is omega abilities (charging attacks). If you base your build around charging attacks the combat becomes kind of tedious since you slow down time every time you charge, and you're incentivized to use your mana actively but it can feel like it takes forever to use it up.
You won't run into this in most runs, but when you have an omega attack build you'll quickly realize you have to hold attack for one second, release, and repeat 20 times until combat is over. All the while time slows down, which can bring the pacing of the combat down with it and it turns into a bit of a waiting game where you stand still and spam. Supergiant have acknowledged this and I trust they'll figure it out in time.
The one thing I am a bit worried about is the writing. The story is still excellent of course, but like others have mentioned it feels more dry than Hades 1. Melinoe isn't as interesting as Zagreus, her mission comes down to "I want to kill Chronos" and isn't very personal.
Hades 1 had a lot of fun dynamics like Zagreus' spiteful relationship with his father, his awkward friendship with Dusa and Meg, his funny rivalry with Theseus, etc. This game is lacking a bit of that energy. A lot of dialogue feels empty and a lot of Melinoe's relationship with others is just "good luck on your quest to kill Chronos we're rooting for you". Maybe this will improve as they add more content and the story evolves a bit more.
Still, the story's pretty good when it kicks off and I'm eager to see where it goes.
In short: Hades 2 is a worthy sequel. There's still some stuff that can (and probably will) improve. That and the fact that the story is incomplete means you should probably wait until release unless you're impatient like me.
Steam User 72
Love it. Enough similar to Hades 1 to feel familiar and enough new to be interesting. Wish i liked any of the weapons as much as i liked the murder mittens in Hades 1 but I'm holding out hope for future improvements there.
Dumb things i wish were included:
Chaos should pet the cat. Cats are great at causing chaos, they should be friends.
Charon should pet the cat. Every sailor knows it's good luck to have a ship's cat. Maybe he has churu in his pocket, you wouldn't know.
Also i think you should be able to acquire hats for your familiar. You even collect wool from Polyphemus, you could totally craft a felt hat. Look i want to put silly hats on the frog ok? Bowler hat. Sailor hat . Top hat . cowboy hat. Pirate hat. Picture it, it would be great.
Anyway I'm loving it, great job, 5 out of 5 stars.
Steam User 79
This is one of the greatest Early Access releases of recent times:
• Optimization is on-point (90FPS on Steam Deck with the highest settings and 6 hours battery life? yo?) ;
• Bugless, no glitches at ALL;
• Tons of content (I didn't play much but mechanics are a ton and they keep being introduced while also being A LOT different from the first Hades);
• Story, setting, characters, pacing is incredible: everything gets introduced in a seamless way, dialogues are fast, lore is very well placed and doesn't interrupt gameplay costantly;
• The soundtrack. The soundtrack is something else.
• Combat has improved a LOT: way more diverse with the magic spells, button pressures and power combinations... generally feels way more snappy than the 1st Hades which already had a GREAT combat system.
Can't complain when a sequel is a "more of the same" improving in every aspect of its predecessor in such a magnificent way.
Not a fan of Early Access as selling system but I support the way Hades II has been thrown on the market 'cause it feels way more polished and complete than most games coming out in their 1.0 versions.
Steam User 107
Supergiant's highly anticipated roguelike, Hades 2, exceeds expectations whilst still preserving the essence that made the original so beloved to begin with
For their first sequel, Supergiant had to choose a truly special game and Hades was the perfect choice. Even though the game is still in its Early Alpha stage, it shows tremendous promise. As the game evolves I just wanted to put down a few words what has captivated me so far into my many runs in my never ending trials to take down Chronos.
Doesn't skip a beat
Hades 2 has completely enchanted me, gripping me with every mythological element it can muster. Developer Supergiant has nailed the genre's 'one more run' loop so effectively that I find myself wanting to squeeze out that extra time whereever I can find it just for another encounter with Chronos.
For the sequel, they have truly gone all out, refining everything that made the first game great. As a series veteran, comparing the early access of Hades 1 to the current state of Hades 2 is like night and day.
Unlike starting from scratch with the original, Hades 2 feels almost like a fully complete game even in its current state. Hades 1 began with only one level and a single boss encounter, requiring months of updates to expand. Hades 2, however, jumps straight to the logical next step for the series. It feels like a 2.0 update, packed with additional content and variety, making every run meaningful and significant for progression.
Out with the old in with the new
Supermassive has never been afraid to acknowledge the shortcomings of their previous titles. Personally, I always appreciated the variety of weapons they offered, especially the bow, which stood out with its unique mechanics and required precise timing for it to be effective, if you managed to master it then it would prove to be a formidable and unique weapon to have in your toolkit.
In this installment, they are taking a more cautious approach by directly incorporating fan feedback. However, I believe some of the criticisms from the first game, like the decision to remove the bow, were unwarranted. Interestingly, I did recently come across a fourth wall break in the game that references the negative reception of the bow in the first game, which did manage to get a chuckle out of me at the time, despite my positive experience with it.
What's next?
As this game is still in very early Alpha and things are continually evolving I am not going to be able to go into further detail on it and reluctent to post screenshots and information that may spoil things for newcomers to the series and the sequel alike. However I can say with certainty that not many games have managed to captivate my attention to this degree for a long time, therefore this game warranted a brief blurb to deliever a thumbs up from my end as Hades 2 has already far exceeded my already high expectations I had for it.
I hope to be able to do a full review on everything this game has to offer once it is actually out but I can say without a doubt that if you enjoyed the first you will love this game and if you never played it but enjoy roguelikes it's a must buy. It's more of what you love plus making it different enough to be it's own thing alltogether. So far it's shaping up to be one of the best games I have played in a while and it may just be the game to shake me out of my burnout rut I have been stuck in for a little while now.
Death to Chronos!