I start a lot of reviews of games that don’t neatly fit into any particular definition by saying they’re hard to summarize. Hades II is not one of those games. This is the kind of sequel that makes incremental improvements throughout the experience without radically changing anything. If you liked Hades, you will almost certainly like this even more. If you didn’t, I doubt anything here will change your mind.
The biggest changes to the Hades experience is the introduction of a second route you can chose at the start of a run. You start out limited to playing through the Underworld like before, but gain access to the surface after playing for a while. This is its own set of four regions and bosses that plays very differently from the Underworld experience. It does come with a cost in that there’s nothing like the Furies boss that can be randomly different in each run, but it’s hard to complain about getting twice as many regions to fight through. The lack of boss variety is also partially mitigated by an optional challenge mode that gives bosses a tougher alternate form, but you’re unlikely to use that setting unless you’re going for completion or really want to raise the stakes since it’s a significant difficulty spike.
Hades II also adds a Hex you can use after finding a Selene boon in each run. Your first boon lets you choose from three different powers, and then each additional boon lets you progress through an upgrade tree to make it stronger. These seem like relatively small changes at first glance, but as you play more and unlock upgrades, your Hex can become the centerpiece of your strategy. It’s a great system that adds variety to every run, but it does feel like some powers are notably weaker than others.
The other changes are more incremental. Upgrades take on different forms than the first game, but still have the same general feel. Keepsakes are more numerous and varied. Weapons can now be upgraded in addition to unlocking forms, and even companion summons get their own levels. None of these changes are revolutionary, but as the saying goes, you don’t fix what ain’t broken. Hades was already an incredible experience and incremental improvements only make it more so.
Nearly everything else about the game is very similar and still just as good. Hades II features excellent writing, the same quality of music that Darren Korb has always delivered, and some of the most satisfying character building of any roguelite. Boss fights are largely excellent, upgrades drive a constant feeling of meaningful progression, and optional modifiers let you play at whatever difficulty you want. None of it is really new, but it also still doesn’t really have a competitor after five years.
That said, there are a handful of new drawbacks. It’s fun to try to win without upgrades in a roguelite, but Hades II features a lot of enemy patterns that are hard to react to without having seen them before, particularly on the surface. It often feels like you’re meant to lose or take heavy damage on your first encounter with certain enemies, which is somewhat disappointing. This also sees the return of voiced lines for basically everything like in previous Supergiant games, but it can start to feel excessive when you’ve heard a sixth god make a slightly different comment on the same thing you did three runs ago. It’s impressive that they have so many different voice lines and I appreciate both the effort and the fact that they’re skippable, but I’d have preferred to see them either used a little more sparingly or to more consistently add something to the story. Too many of them are just background noise. Lastly, I have mixed feelings on the true ending. I get what they were going for and it was fairly well executed, but it takes a somewhat jarring turn from the story prior to that point.
Conclusion
It really all boils down to “more of the same, but better”, though. I had a blast in my 40+ hours with the game and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone who enjoys action roguelites. Some frustrations with the pacing kept me from bumping its score any higher than what I gave the original, but there’s nothing wrong with being a bit more excellent than an already excellent experience. If nothing else, there’s certainly no better way to end up with the phrase “I’m gonna claw out your eyes, then drown you to death” stuck in your head for days.
Rating: 90%
Time to beat: 44 hours to get the true ending and most of the side content
Price: $30
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