A sequel in every sense of the word. This game is essentially another hades 1. I think it makes some improvements with the core issues I had with Hades 1: the lack of re-playability. The builds here seem more interesting and diverse, however it suffers from the same fate as hades 2, once you find a build you like, why change it? I still don't think it holds a candle to other 10/10 roguelikes (i.e. ROR2, Binding of Isaac, Dead Cells, etc.) as those games you can put 1000's of hours into, and for me at least, Hades will be a 100 hour game.

No spoilers, but after unlocking everything, I know I'm gonna be playing this for another 300+ hours.

The most exciting thing for me about this game is that it's not quite just "Hades again but more": the base mechanics are evolved, the progression feels different, and just overall the environment has such a different vibe.

Maybe that is just "Hades I but more". Oh well. Can't in good faith give it 5 stars yet since it's still incomplete, but will patiently wait for 1.0 to come out and dive back in to re-experience the whole story.

Things may change since still early access, it's still good but after completing the ea content at the moment the first one is just way better. Just some thoughts:

don't like how the combat is slower, holding x,y,b for abilities/cast slows the game down too much.
don't like the weapons in this one, especially the 2 torches
boons are not as cool as in the first game, in general upgrades, boons, keepsakes, aspects etc that are supposed to change playstyle/attacks are pretty flat compared to H1.
Story and dialogue is not as strong as H1, areas look mostly the same, not visually as good as the first

just play the first if you haven't, or just wait until 1.0

It's insanely good but this is the definition of early access. All the content here is absolutely fantastic but the lack of some is very jarring. Major content missing, placeholder models and portraits, balancing issues etc. Playing it now is very interesting and it's gonna be really fun when the updates start rolling but unless you're absolutely craving for more Hades I would recommend holding off until the full release. This here's a masterpiece in the making, just gotta wait till the making is done.

(Review of the early access, I doubt I'll finish it before the full game comes out, but I might play it here and there)
First off, this game will be compared a lot to the first hades in this review. While there are some aspects that this has over 1, a lot of the changes to progression and gameplay I just find lacking. OfCourse this all can change or be improved upon in the full release, and I hope that's true.
I like the changes to the combat; it feels good and fluid while keeping the basis of the first game. The axe is a really fun to use, but the rest of the weapons are not as good as it or the ones from hades 1. Also, the encounter rewards aren't as fun as the first game. From what I've played I haven't had as much fun making different builds or experimenting with boons that just might work well together. The number of boons you get feels a lot less and it doesn't feel good coming across rooms that just give you the currencies that you can only use in your next run through. I have no idea why they don't let you switch keepsakes across areas like Hades. And while I've only just finished the second area, the bosses don't feel fun to play against. I hope just for the sake of making it different, the devs don't remove the features that made Hades so fun.