We’ve spent plenty of time battling the lost souls of the dead and exploring the world of Hades II. So far we’ve been nothing but impressed.
Hades II has you play as Melinoe, princess of the underworld. Daughter to Hades and Persephone and the younger sister of Zagreus, Hades’s previous protagonist. As Melinoe you will battle against the angry souls of the undead as you battle back towards the House of Hades. A new assortment of spells, weapons and boons are at your disposal as you fight your way towards hell before your final encounter with [Redacted].
It’s difficult to talk about Hades II without mentioning its predecessor. Supergiant managed to set the bar incredibly high with the release of Hades. A near perfect game, fantastic for both new and old fans of hack and slash games and roguelikes. The events of the game follow on from the end of Hades and will task you with finding out exactly what has happened during the time between them. Engaging gameplay paired with beautiful art and a stellar soundtrack, Hades II is much more of the same.
Hades II looks absolutely fantastic.
Trying to improve on perfection
Hades II features many of the places and personalities we’ve seen before but with a huge helping of fresh new faces and locations. Both gods and goddesses of old, as well as some other more primal entities, will assist you during your runs. You’ll collect upgrades for weapons and powerful boons during each run. With some fantastic combinations available which will allow you to strike down the mighty monsters and tough bosses that stand in your way.
Hades excelled at creating an immersive gameplay loop with an impressive focus on narrative progression. Roguelikes can sometimes become quite frustrating, such as dying to the same boss over and over. Hades II has excellent progression to help alleviate this. New conversations with the other residents at the Crossroads, the games base of operations -if you will, will become available as well as new incantations, crops and shop items designed to help you progress further on your next run. In short, they’ve pretty much managed to make losing fun or at the very least, managed it feel just a little less tedious.
A whole array of spells, tools and weapons.
Hades was a phenomenal game meaning that Hades II has some titan-sized shoes to fill, which so far, they’re doing an amazing job of. There are plenty of new additions and improvements from the first game. Similar to the Mirror of Night, which allowed Zagreus to swap up and change his abilities, Hades II features a customisable deck of arcana cards. These cards allow you to pick and choose which abilities you take with you into battle such as extra health, more lives or the ability to change which boons are available to you.
The music and the art style of Hades II are incredibly impressive, which makes sense considering the talent behind Supergiant. My own personal gripe with the game, which is still subject to change, is the lack of the musician Orpheus. Being sent back to the starter area after either a successful or unsuccessful run just isn’t the same without Orpheus strumming his lyre for all of the underworld to hear.
Hades II has some amazing character design.
A mountain of a challenge
There is so much available already within the game to keep you preoccupied for the foreseeable future. The new magic attacks as well as having to manage your mana mean the combat stays fresh and doesn’t feel as repetitive. All this being said, Hades II is still in the early stages of its Alpha and is expected to stay this way until the end of the year. This only means that the game is only just going to get better and better. Balances will be brought in to keep the weapons, boons and bosses in check. The temporary placeholder art will no doubt be replaced with gorgeous character art that will match the stunning voice acting found within the game.
There are some minor issues with the game so far but they haven’t stopped us stepping up and beating all of the available paths in the game’s current state. Some rooms, specifically boss fights, can feel a little crowded. Huge attacks, from both the foes and the player sometimes end up creating a whole bunch of visual clutter. It’s likely many of these minor issues may be addressed and it’s far from a serious issue within the game -sometimes it’s a little more difficult to safely navigate across the locales, especially those riddled with traps.
If you’re not a fan of the idea of waiting until the end of the year for the game to be released from its alpha, or you’re yet to play the original release, we couldn’t think of a better time for you to dive in.
