I am gonna claw out your eyes, then drown you to death. I AM GONNA CLAW OUT YOUR EYES, THEN DROWN YOU TO DEATH. So goes the chorus to the hit single Hades 2 girl group Scylla and the sirens have been rehearsing in lethal fashion for a year and a bit. It’s one of the most pervasive earworms I’ve encountered in my 26 years on this Earth, the kind of ditty that’d make the Backstreet Boys blush.
Within an hour of returning to Hades 2, now that it’s morphed into its full 1.0 release form, those words were just as firmly lodged in my skull as they were when I defeated Chronos for the first time during the roguelike’s early access phase. By all rights, I should find the purposefully mocking tune annoying, but I don’t. Much like the rest of Hades 2, no matter how many runs I make through the depths of the underworld and to the summit of Olympus, moments when it’s actually, properly grated on me have been few and far between.
That’s not for any lack of trying on the part of its mythical monsters, gabbing gods, and tetchy titans. Hades 2 is plenty tough, especially for those who dare not to reach for the breakable glass surrounding its God Mode, which gradually frees the stuck by dialling up princess protagonist Melinoë’s ability to tank through damage. In my return to Supergiant’s supergiant sequel, I’ve spent most of my time exploring the lengthy endgame section with it turned on to various degrees.
I know, especially fresh off that whole Hollow Knight: Silksong discourse, shame on me. Except the nature of Hades 2’s God Mode, the fact it works in reaction to the player’s failure, means I’ve still been able to experience plenty of the supposedly sweet struggle that’s so exalted in games that opt to whip out the stick. You can argue that the struggle isn’t the struggle if it’s on the player’s terms, but be warned that I may respond with a joke about bondage dungeons.
Dragging the tone back into respectable territory, one of the things that makes Hades 2 so infinitely loveable – despite its willingness to put you on your bottom whenever you prove too weak or make a mistake – is that it wields the carrot just as deftly. You’re stopped in your tracks, but you never feel like you’re running in place. Each death comes with countless new strategies to try, ways to change or improve your situation using whatever riches you do manage to net each night. As in the original Hades, Supergiant’s beautifully-crafted commutes through the realms of Ancient Greek prose, full of false walls and hidden paths just waiting to be revealed whenever you get a few runs in (or brew up a revealing spell in The Crossroads’ cauldron).
Having already defeated Chronos that one time last year, and been rewarded with a note that essentially read ‘Ending can’t come to the phone right now, please leave a message after the tone,’ I first jumped into Hades 2 1.0 via the save with that victory under its belt. What followed was the bulk of Melinoë’s true task – not just recording one fluke win over the Titan of Time, but ending him and the siege of Mount Olympus by his legions for good. So, I started battling my way back to the house of Hades, all the while hunting for the ingredients I needed to brew an elixir that’d allow Mel to overcome her lethal surface world allergy and start battling through the whole new run added in 2024’s Olympic update.
While my muscle memory took a bit of time to reform, Hades 2’s cast of characters quickly reminded me why I was so fond of them the first time around. Sure, Mel’s not quite got her brother Zagreus’ meteoric levels of sark and sass, but stick her in a chat with the likes of those pesky sirens and she can dish out some sharp and witty verbal daggerings. Her step-mum and dad, Hecate and Odysseus, help shepherd her along in her lifelong mission to topple Chronos, who’s kidnapped her family and the forces of fate as part of his own elaborate revenge scheme.
Wherever you look, there are distinct personalities, delivered with excellent voice acting, for Mel to bounce off of and add colour to the world. The likes of sarky household shade Dora chuck some comedic relief into the pot, counteracting the serious chat about fates and destinies, and an array of new and returning Olympians pop up to offer boons like a quirky aunt or uncle with a selection of flashy gifts. Plenty stick out, but my favorite has come to be Nemesis, the surly older sister figure who’s always ready to toss a bucket of water over Melinoë’s enthusiastic exuberance with the aplomb only a moody sibling could muster. She’s grown on me as she grows on Mel, starting out as what could easily be a one-dimensional grouch, then morphing into the ideal friendly rival as you ply her with nectar and bath salts.
You’ll sometimes bump into her during your runs, ready to dish out a challenge to take a hit from her or beat more foes in a time limit to earn a begrudging pat on the head. Then, you can turn the corner and find yourself walking in on god of wine Dionysus casually hosting a pool party as Olympus’ invaders swarm all of the chambers you’ve just battled through. Next door, there might be a giant automaton, the bulging eye of a fearsome beast, or a very angry rat with a massive health bar waiting to bash you about and prove it’s the boss. The bone structure of the two paths – one leading to Chronos, the other to a fight with mountain-sized monster Typhon that’s almost comically teeming with ways to die – stays the same, but every trick and twist in the box is pulled out to ensure you’re still running into things you’ve never seen before by your fifth or tenth trip through.
The arc as you do so is the usual Hades one. Earn boons that imbue your base abilities with twists themed around the spheres of different gods, slice in some extra tool sharpening from Daedalus hammers, chew on centaur hearts to boost your max health. Dash around rooms full of enemies hacking and slashing, a whirling dervish of energy and vibrant colour. If you’re so inclined, make use of Hades 2’s addition of magick, a new bar next to your health that powers beefier versions of your strikes, casts and specials. These take more time to fire, much to the chagrin of my well-honed original Hades desire for all of the damage, right now, he’s gonna kill me, AAAAAAGHHHHH. As a result, it took me a bit more time than it should to get into the habit of using them, but once I did, I never looked back.
Prior to that, plenty of boons and other abilities offered something powerful in exchange for locking off a portion of these magick reserves, meaning that the bar has use for even those who prefer sticking to insta-reward button mashing. I generally found that I’m in that camp when hacking and slashing with the Sister Blades, the weapon in Melinoë’s nocturnal arsenal I used most early in my playthrough. As I delved a lot deeper into the endgame of repeat runs to Tartarus and Olympus, though, I branched out and had a lot of fun with other armaments.
Supergiant have done an excellent job of tweaking and balancing each of the six main weapons on offer throughout Hades 2’s early access patches, as well as giving you plenty of ways to upgrade them with special abilities that encourage different approaches to combat. Despite typically being averse to slower swings, I’ve really dug the weighty scything of power attacks with the Moonstone Axe’s Aspect of Thanatos variant. Specials are also what make the revolver-esque Argent Skull really sing as you fire busts of shells at foes, especially when you opt for its Aspect of Persephone version. It says a lot that since unlocking the most powerful of these arms, the punchy and missile-firing Black Coat, it’s formed part of a regular rotation rather than taking over as the go-to.
I wouldn’t say there’s an obvious weak link among any of the gods offering you boons either, with pretty much every run netting you a loadout that’s got something cool going for it. Having really dug Demeter’s freezing powers early on, my best builds have typically fused any combination of those, Zeus’ lightning powers for some handy repeat damage, Hestia’s hearth handouts for lingering built-up burn damage, or Poseidon’s wave attacks for some extra knockback punch. As you get into the later stages of the game, fresh boons from the likes of Ares and Hera are uncorked, giving you a much-needed extra dose of variety just as you verge on having tried everything the rest have to offer.
On the other hand, unless there’s a specific god I’m keen to get more boons from, I’ve found I tend to rely on the same keepsakes at certain stages each run. So, perhaps some more alluring alternatives to the likes of the Silken Sash, Evil Eye, and knuckle bones might have helped shake me out of that. I also had mixed feelings about Selene’s hex, a spell aimed at very magick-centric builds that can be fun when the chance to turn enemies into sheep pops up, but boasts a beefy upgrade tree that lacks the satisfying simplicity found in applying the various other augments.
Regardless of the implements you use to battle your way through Hades 2’s beautifully illustrated regions, my favourite of which is a clever series of fights across the decks of ships in the Rift of Thessaly, as of 1.0 you can finally achieve Hades 2’s much-hyped true ending. How is it? Well, I’ll try not to stray too far into spoiler territory (though consider this your spoiler warning), but I think it’s one that might prove a bit polarising. On the one hand, Hades has always been a series about bringing families back together, and on that front the ending delivers no matter which way you slice it. On the other, given how often the motto “Death to Chronos” is repeated throughout, the manner in which he ends up defeated arguably isn’t as satisfying a form of retribution as is built up over all of those hours.
Overall, though, the ending isn’t what defines Hades 2. The journey is the thing, and now that it’s fully formed, it’s as epic in scope and ever-evolving with fresh surprises as I’d hoped. Even if you jumped in for a run to Chronos when it first came out in early access, there are myriad reasons to and rewards for returning to a worthy successor to the throne of the roguelike underworld. As with its siren song, Hades 2’s a game that by its very composition constantly runs the risk of grating on you throughout your repeated delves, but has been masterfully crafted to ensure it’s too loveable to do so on all but rare occasions.
As much as Melinoë matter-of-factly describes her quest to defeat the Titan of Time as her task, Hades 2’s greatest strength is that, thanks to Supergiant’s substantial effort tweaking and adding elements over the past year or so, playing it hardly ever feels like hard work.