Hades 2 review: A sequel that adds in both quality and quantity

It takes a lot for a roguelike to stand out to me these days. I used to really love the genre, but every indie developer trying their hand at the formula, combined with a bunch of triple-A devs including a roguelike mode in their titles, has made me tired. However, there was one new roguelike that was always going to make me sit up and pay attention: Hades 2, which much like its predecessor, has that extra special something.

The story and characters were definitely the strongest suit of the first game, and Hades 2 is no different. Just about all the characters who lived in the House of Hades from the first game are gone, trapped away somewhere by this game’s big bad, Chronos, the titan of time, who has come along and shattered the happy ending you worked so hard to achieve in the first game. Zagreus is no exception, and you’ll instead be playing as Hades’ younger daughter, Melione, who was saved from Chrono’s wrath as a baby and has been raised by witches as she trains to overthrow the titan and reunite with her family.

This setup is perfect for a sequel, as getting rid of most of the characters you’re familiar with stops it from retreading the same ground. Now you have a whole new load of characters from Greek mythology to bond with as you discover their stories. 

The writing is just as strong as the first game; you don’t have to talk to the new characters long to get a full sense of the upbringing Melione has had and what relationships she’s established with these people. You don’t need to be told it in flashbacks either; you just innately understand it from your interactions. Hecate is Melione’s surrogate mother, Nemesis is her rival, Odysseus is her kindly uncle, and Hypnos is asleep. Admittedly, that last one wasn’t particularly hard to get across.

You get to interact with them in new ways as well. The Crossroads that you use as your home base is more expansive than the House of Hades, and you unlock more of it as you progress. You start off with the same method of gifting characters Nectar to deepen your bond, but you can also give the Bath Salts to invite them to the hot springs, or Bait to take them fishing, and it helps mix up these bonding scenes while exploring all sides to these characters.

The other benefit of clearing out the first game’s cast is that, when you do get glimpses into how they’re doing, or get new stories of their past from the new cast, those moments stand out so much more because the game understands how much it made you care about everyone, even when making you fall in love with all these new personalities.

It helps that the art style is just as strong as ever. The hand-drawn portraits for every character are works of art in themselves, but the world design is strong too. This game has a much more muted color palette on the whole, but that’s part of the tone the game is going for. Zagreus lived in a lavish palace, while Melione has been raised in what is essentially a camp in the woods, having to live in hiding on the border between the surface and the underworld her whole life.

It makes the game’s use of more vibrant colors even more meaningful though, as each of the gods stands out as a powerful and regal figure with their primary colors, and Melione’s stark orange stops her from getting lost in all the visual noise combat can create.

Speaking of, even the tight combat of the first game is improved. The new arsenal of weapons and Melione’s disposal are so much fun to play around with. Each weapon has a base moveset of a melee attack and a ranged attack, but if you hold down the button for either of those attacks, you’ll charge up and spend mana to cast an Omega version of the attack, which is much more powerful at the cost of being vulnerable while it charges. To help with that, you also have a cast, which plants a magic circle around you on the ground that traps enemies that step on it, leaving them vulnerable to your attack.

It gives you a lot to think about in combat, as you’re not just dodging attacks and looking for openings, but also actively controlling the battlefield as you assess what enemies need to be dealt with first, trapping them with a cast and unleashing literal hell upon them. All of the gods and their various boons are still around too, and the ways in which they can modify all of your moves create endless variety when it comes to builds. Even if you like to religiously stick to the same weapon for every run, these modifiers ensure that no two runs feel quite alike.

What also helps runs feel more varied is the fact that you don’t have to do the same run every time, as Hades 2 takes its ‘2’ seriously, and there is now a second run that you’ll need to beat multiple times to complete the game’s story. While your main objective is to descend into the depths of he underworld and defeat Chronos in the former House of Hades, after a bit of legwork, you can also ascend to the surface and defeat the monstrous threat attacking Mount Olympus.

It gives you a lot of different challenges to undertake, and that’s before you unlock the special altars that let you make the game harder for greater rewards, or set you specific loadouts to complete a challenge run. It’s not just gameplay variety it adds though, as it also lends a new dimension to the narrative. You’re juggling two threats at once, and the stories behind each feed into each other, especially as the various gods and allies that are aiding you in your quest have different priorities for what they want you to focus on.

Your priorities for what is more important frequently shift too, as the game’s incantation system requires you to gather a huge variety of resources to unlock new locations, allies, and bonuses in both the Crossroads and out on the field, and most resources are locked to a specific region in either the underworld or the surface. So each night, you’ve not only got to consider which run you’d like to do, but what will yield the greatest rewards for progress. It makes sure you keep mixing things up and don’t get stuck in a rut of trying the same thing over and over.

I don’t know what more you could ask for from a Hades sequel. Everything that the first game did so well, Hades 2 does it even better, letting you enjoy the story and characters of this world on a more intimate level than before while the game’s combat, encounter, and level design feel more refined as you control the battlefield and slay Chronos’ minions by the hundreds. It all comes together to remind you that Hades and Hades 2 really are the ultimate roguelikes.

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