(Image courtesy of SteamDB. “Melinoe wields weapons and witchcraft alike in ‘Hades II’.”)

Aaron Preziosi
Connector Editor

Riding the success of 2020’s “Hades”, Supergiant Games released its sequel “Hades II” earlier this year on Sept. 25 following a four-year development cycle and a year-and-a-half of early access on Steam.

Much like its predecessor, “Hades II” is a top-down hack-and-slash roguelike where players take control of a Greek demigod fighting their way through a mythological world with a growing arsenal of weapons, spells, and upgrades. What sets it apart from “Hades”, however, is how much Supergiant has refined “Hades II” and expanded upon what made the first game so great.

Taking place sometime after “Hades” “Hades II” sees players taking control of Melinoe, “the immortal princess of the Underworld” in Supergiant’s own words, as she works with a cast of Olympian gods and other figures of Greek myth to drive out the influence of Chronos, the Titan of Time. After breaking free from his prison in Tartarus, he took control of the underworld and imprisoned the titular God of the Dead, as well as Melinoe’s brother and protagonist of the first game, Zagreus. It is up to Melinoe to fight her way back to Tartarus using legendary weapons of the night, and dark witchcraft, as she slowly builds her power and that of her allies over the course of several “runs”, in which she progresses through several diverse areas and encounters increasingly difficult foes.

When players are ready, they can select their weapons, upgrades and difficulty modifiers, then head out on another run. However, unlike the first game, “Hades II” allows Melinoe to explore the surface extensively thanks to her adeptness with witchcraft, whereas Zagreus perishes after just a few moments. This easily doubles the content available to players and results in being able to explore two unfolding plotlines that intertwine in interesting ways, as things happening in the underworld are reflected on the surface, and vice versa. It creates the sense that the world is much larger than it was before and sells the idea that Chronos is much stronger than anything players may have faced previously as he was able to conquer both worlds with ease.

Should players perish on the way, Melinoe is sent back to the safety of her enclave where she can converse and mingle with allies, recoup her resources, purchase upgrades, and progress the overarching plot. Dying is sometimes even necessary to move forward allowing Supergiant to maintain a steady pace for the game’s extremely well-crafted and fully voiced story regardless of players’ skill levels.

There are dozens of unlockable features and challenges to be found as well; the previously mentioned upgrades being a foundational part of players’ progression. As runs are completed, regardless of whether players triumph or perish, they can earn points and use them to unlock persistent upgrades for Melinoe. As she grows stronger, she can use more upgrades at a time, some being more expensive to enable than others. This synergizes greatly with Melinoe’s moveset, consisting of slightly different although familiar actions from the first game, as well as a fleshed-out Magick system which sets her apart from her brother Zagreus. She can perform stronger, charged attacks by expending Magick, with different effects depending on which of the game’s six unlockable weapons players have equipped. Different weapons promote different playstyles, for example, the Witch’s Staff Melinoe begins the game with feels like a solid all-rounder choice for a balanced playstyle, whereas the Moonstone Axe is slower and hits harder, and the Sister Blades are nimble and fast but do less damage.

Also returning from the first game are the almighty Boons. Throughout a run, as Melinoe makes her way through each chamber, various mythological figures may choose to send down a Boon. These allow players to choose from multiple upgrades for Melinoe which empowers and change her actions for that run only. Each god has associated gimmicks, such as lightning for Zeus, knockback for Poseidon, fire damage for Hestia and so on and so forth. The gods may even comment on what Boons players have already chosen and change their offerings to reflect that, allowing players to choose potent Duo boons, which make use of each relevant god’s gimmicks. Careful Boon choice is paramount to success in “Hades II” as enemies only get stronger and the stakes only get higher the deeper into the underworld or higher onto Olympus Melinoe ventures, requiring players to consider their weapon choice, upgrades, and upcoming challenges.

On top of all the tightly designed gameplay, “Hades II” features stunning hand-drawn 2D art blended with smoothly animated, stylized 3D models for each character and environment, as well as full voice acting for all faces players come across. Such details add to the game’s atmosphere and improve the already-rich storytelling and presentation. Regardless of skill or dedication, “Hades II” unfurls its story for anyone who is willing to hear it and has plenty of challenges and engaging mechanics along the way.

Grade: A