Hades, which left early entry again in 2020, is without doubt one of the finest and most influential roguelikes of all time, so there’s maybe no larger signal of the expertise at Supergiant Video games that their very own follow-up, Hades II, blows it out of the water. The formulation is refined into its final type; the fight is extra advanced (however simply as intuitive), and the story is grander and extra thrilling. Hades II is the head of the roguelike style, a place I beforehand granted its predecessor, however one which its sequel has handily earned.
For the unfamiliar, the Hades video games are motion roguelikes, the place every run has gamers gathering an arsenal of upgrades (often known as boons) to show their character right into a god-slaying weapon. After every run, most of which is able to finish in a loss of life, the participant instantly returns to their house base, the place they will speak to their companions to entry new story content material and use the rewards from the final try and make themselves even stronger. Like a lot of the design within the Hades video games, it is a easy but genius gameplay loop, turning losses into fast gratification and fueling you to do one other run as quickly as doable.
Hades II takes place an undisclosed variety of years after the primary sport, and now facilities on Melinoë, the youthful sister of Zagreus and a daughter of the titular god of the underworld. That god, together with many of the underworld’s inhabitants we got here to know and love in Hades, has been imprisoned by Chronos, his time-wielding father. Fairly than get away of Hell, Melinoë begins every run by breaking into Hell, working her method right down to Tartarus to thwart her grandfather. The way in which Hades II recontextualizes acquainted places and characters jogs my memory of the connection between The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (a comparability I don’t invoke frivolously), the place I am equally excited to attempt new issues as I’m to revisit previous favorites.
Melinoë is armed with six new weapons, every utterly completely different from the final, starting from a pair of magic wands to a heavy-hitting battleaxe. To make fight much more advanced, every assault additionally has an omega type, unleashed by holding down the assault button, which creates extra highly effective, typically utterly completely different strikes. A standard assault with the dual blades, for instance, unleashes a combo of slashes and stabs, however the omega model teleports you behind the closest enemy for one explosion of harm. It is such a easy and intuitive mechanic that I typically overlook it is not current within the unique.
The quantity of latest content material in Hades II could possibly be overwhelming, but it surely’s launched at such a gentle fee that it by no means feels that method. On my fortieth run, in a save file the place I had already fought each boss the sport needed to supply, I unlocked the sixth weapon and encountered a god whose boons I had by no means seen earlier than. Even 40 runs in, I found components that make the sport really feel completely new. There’s a finite quantity of enhancements – it is solely a sport, in spite of everything – but it surely incentivizes discovery a lot that you just really feel like there’s one thing new to unlock round each nook, and for a lot of, many hours, that is true.
The rationale Hades II has its hooks in me, above all else, is the best way it rewards the participant. This constant introduction of unlockables, together with weapons, boons, arcana playing cards, familiars, companions, fish, seeds, minerals, and extra, implies that even while you fail a run, that one failure is promptly interrupted by a stream of rewards. It is onerous to go away a session of Hades II feeling annoyed as a result of it is explicitly designed to make you’re feeling the other, and I gladly welcome the relentless flood of dopamine.
The plot is equally structured round defeat, with every loss unlocking new dialogue with these round you. This was additionally the case within the first sport, however Hades II is bigger in methods I will not spoil, and the truth that the narrative feels utterly seamless and linear no matter your actions is further spectacular right here. And regardless of Hades II increasing the dimensions of this world of Greek gods considerably, dialogue and story preserve their character-first method. You typically be taught who an individual is and what they care about earlier than even studying their identify or relationship to the principle characters, and I tremendously desire that. The narrative, whereas pretty easy, ends in a spot I didn’t count on, however liked, particularly its mythological tackle generational trauma.
These characters additionally proceed the collection custom of being superbly designed, with every new god or titan launched blowing me away with their putting, trendy designs. General, the sport appears and runs gorgeously, and that features my Change 2 copy, the place I observed no efficiency points. I additionally want to say the music; Darren Korb has achieved it once more, and I particularly loved listening to themes from the primary sport being reimagined in new methods. There’s additionally one dynamic, musical boss combat that is significantly spectacular, with the backing observe altering when the respective musicians are faraway from the battlefield.
Sixteen months of early entry have sculpted Hades II into a really unforgettable expertise. After roughly 50 hours and 53 runs between its first iteration and last launch, I am one way or the other nonetheless itching to return for extra. Melinoë’s journey showcases Supergiant’s professional world-building, fight design, and sharp dialogue to a level that one way or the other surpasses considered one of my all-time favourite video games. Godlike, certainly.
