Hades 2 is the much awaited sequel to the hit roguelike Hades which was initially released into early access in December of 2018 and then had a full version 1.0 release around September of 2020 with a complete story and superb combat.
The developers SuperGiant Games aren’t keen on making any sequels for any of their titles but in this case due to how well Hades was received they decided to create the sequel. Hades 2 which happens after the events of the first game. Hades 2 is currently in early access on PC and MacOS and soon will enter its version 1.0 launch.
It’s Much More Serious Now
While most of the gameplay has remained the same, this time we play as a new protagonist Melinoe, who is the sister of Zagreus, the protagonist from the first game. The events of this game take place sometime after the events of Hades 1 and after the birth of Melinoe.
Notably this time around we don’t get to see Melinoe’s parents or Zagreus due to them being imprisoned by the Titan, Chronos. Melinoe was fortunately taken away and put under the care of a witch called Hecate who then trains us to prepare to fight against Chronos.
We make our way from the Erebus back into the House of Hades which is where Chronos resides, where in the original game we have to escape the House of Hades. Notably there are now two distinctly different paths available for Melinoe to take, one leads to the House of Hades and other to the Summit of Mount Olympus.
The Newest Update
SuperGiant Games have been giving minor and major updates to Hades 2 after releasing it into early access, the last Major Update was called the “Olympic Update” adding Prometheus as one of the toughest obstacles to the summit of Mount Olympus and the inclusion of Athena and her boons which were missing from the beginning in Hades 2.
The newest Update, Warsong adds the final god who was missing all this time even though a war is raging in Mount Olympus. Ares finally makes his appearance in the game, bringing his set of unique boons to the pool for Melinoe to utilize.
The update also adds the final confrontation that takes place at the summit, which is the monstrous giant beast Typhon. The summit itself is a relatively short area to cross compared to the other zones that are available but the enemies we fight in it are extremely tough and can inflict tons of damage if mistakes are made.
Plethora Of Gameplay Changes
Other than the inclusion of Ares and the final boss of the route to the summit, the update also introduced lots of changes to the arsenal of weapons Melinoe has available. The Witch Staff, the Argent Skull and the Black Coat weapons have been reworked and offer a different style of play than before.
The Altar of Ashes, which is the passive system that we get to customize before each run, also received reworks such as the “Eternity” card now makes everything slower when we channel our Omega moves. “The Messenger” card now allows us to move faster when we channel our casts and also makes us invincible. “The Wayward Son” card now has a better base life recovery than before making it a more viable choice.
A lot of the Olympian gods had minor changes done to each of their boons, Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Hermes all received either new boons or had changes made to their existing ones based on player feedback. Hermes in particular received a new legendary boon called “Paid Dues” which triggers whenever we take a hit, taking away our gold instead of our life.
Conclusion
As per their steam page, they are already planning the 3rd major update that is set to release some months from now but they’ve made it clear they aren’t sure when they will officially launch version 1.0 of the game.
SuperGiant Games have proven themselves to masters of their craft, combining beautiful artwork with complex gameplay and an engaging story. Hades 2 no doubt is a culmination of the skills they gained from their previous work. For now dedicated players can enjoy the warsong update which completes the surface route and introduces a bunch of weapon reworks to play around with.
