Hades 2 absolutely rips, but that isn't surprising in the slightest. It's a really exceptional game, and a surprisingly fresh follow-up to what is one of my favourite games ever.
I think the shift in stakes is what's made this one feel so unique. Rather than being a pretty insular tale of Zagreus escaping hell in search of his mother, the scope of the mission has broadened for his sister Melinoë, tasked with defeating Chronos, the Titan of Time, and insodoing, save her family from imprisonment. It's unclear what the fate of the House of Hades is exactly at this point, but I'm confident in whatever Supergiant decide to cook up here.
Regardless, the tone switch to one of saviour rather than rebel is tantalising, and the ways in which that burden weighs upon our new protagonist is making for some delicious character drama. The denizens of our new hub area, the Crossroads, are all fun to interact with, and their motivations are just as compelling as what has come before. I think the interactions are a little different this time, with a fresh-out-of-hiding Mel much more likely to come across fresh faces than Zag who, having lived in the Underworld his whole life, knows pretty much everyone already. I'm not sure if I'm as fond of the new approach, given that I think Supergiant excels most in writing relationships and their backstories as mysteries to be solved through repeated conversation, but the writing is still so bouncy and fresh that I can't say the difference is too noticeable to me.
The game plays pretty much the same with some differences to the way certain mechanics operate, but for the most part it's been quite easy to slip back into the signature Hades feel. I like the changes to how boons work, with Selene the Moon Titan working as the dedicated God Call - now called Hexes - and being able to customise that Hex accordingly. I like the new boon additions too; the inclusion of new gods like Hera, Hestia, Hephaestus and Apollo is neat and it's cool to see Supergiant's gorgeous artistic interpretation of them.
What I'm less sure about is the new resource gathering system. On the one hand, I understand it; the original Hades only really had a small handful of options to use as currency for upgrades, so I get the impulse to diversify that aspect of the game. That being said, it has now created a brand new frustration in that it's entirely possible to be missing a really specific material you can only get in a late game area, and depending on how unlucky you get with your build in any given run, you can spend ages throwing yourself at the same situation again and again, to get to an area where the thing you're looking for doesn't even show up. I get that this design is supposed to incentivise repeated runs, but I think the promise of possible friendly encounters, fresh dialogue in boss fights, and just the base level fun of playing the game, is more than enough incentive, at least for me. As it stands, it feels like an unnecessary roadblock.
Ultimately though, the game is still in early access so much can change. Supergiant have already said that they're likely to keep tweaking the game balance all the way up to release, so until that day, we'll have to withhold judgement I think. As it stands, Hades 2 is awesome, and between the success of this and Baldur's Gate 3, the future of self-published games is looking bright. I hope the game only improves with Time.
I think the shift in stakes is what's made this one feel so unique. Rather than being a pretty insular tale of Zagreus escaping hell in search of his mother, the scope of the mission has broadened for his sister Melinoë, tasked with defeating Chronos, the Titan of Time, and insodoing, save her family from imprisonment. It's unclear what the fate of the House of Hades is exactly at this point, but I'm confident in whatever Supergiant decide to cook up here.
Regardless, the tone switch to one of saviour rather than rebel is tantalising, and the ways in which that burden weighs upon our new protagonist is making for some delicious character drama. The denizens of our new hub area, the Crossroads, are all fun to interact with, and their motivations are just as compelling as what has come before. I think the interactions are a little different this time, with a fresh-out-of-hiding Mel much more likely to come across fresh faces than Zag who, having lived in the Underworld his whole life, knows pretty much everyone already. I'm not sure if I'm as fond of the new approach, given that I think Supergiant excels most in writing relationships and their backstories as mysteries to be solved through repeated conversation, but the writing is still so bouncy and fresh that I can't say the difference is too noticeable to me.
The game plays pretty much the same with some differences to the way certain mechanics operate, but for the most part it's been quite easy to slip back into the signature Hades feel. I like the changes to how boons work, with Selene the Moon Titan working as the dedicated God Call - now called Hexes - and being able to customise that Hex accordingly. I like the new boon additions too; the inclusion of new gods like Hera, Hestia, Hephaestus and Apollo is neat and it's cool to see Supergiant's gorgeous artistic interpretation of them.
What I'm less sure about is the new resource gathering system. On the one hand, I understand it; the original Hades only really had a small handful of options to use as currency for upgrades, so I get the impulse to diversify that aspect of the game. That being said, it has now created a brand new frustration in that it's entirely possible to be missing a really specific material you can only get in a late game area, and depending on how unlucky you get with your build in any given run, you can spend ages throwing yourself at the same situation again and again, to get to an area where the thing you're looking for doesn't even show up. I get that this design is supposed to incentivise repeated runs, but I think the promise of possible friendly encounters, fresh dialogue in boss fights, and just the base level fun of playing the game, is more than enough incentive, at least for me. As it stands, it feels like an unnecessary roadblock.
Ultimately though, the game is still in early access so much can change. Supergiant have already said that they're likely to keep tweaking the game balance all the way up to release, so until that day, we'll have to withhold judgement I think. As it stands, Hades 2 is awesome, and between the success of this and Baldur's Gate 3, the future of self-published games is looking bright. I hope the game only improves with Time.