I recently touched on Heroes of Hammerwatch 2 and the fun gameplay loop. I was recently reminded that I have spent over 110 hours playing another early access sequel: Hades 2. The reminder came in the form of a big update, adding a new area and a new boss. I spent only 98 hours in the original Hades and it is one of my favorite games of all time, so I did not hesitate when Hades 2 Early Access was announced.
Hades 2 has you in the shoes of a new protaganist, Melinoe, and her battle against Chronos (time) who has taken over the underworld and imprisoned Hades (the foil from the first game) and Zagreus (the protaganist from the first game) and the rest of the family.
There are new weapons, new abilities, new companions.. new pretty much everything except the similar gameplay loop – enter the underworld (or overworld, eventually), fight things, get boons from Gods, upgrade your skills and weapons (permanently and temporarily) and fight to Kill Chronos.
The gameplay is slick and tight, the graphics are great, and the stylized art is easy to look at for hours (and hours..). While the gameplay loop is go in, fight, upgrade, try to win – the macro aspect is you workign on relationships with the gods, your companions, and even some of your enemies. This happens by gifting (and only a couple kinds of gifts – no guessing here) but at these moments the art once again shines and the better relationship you have the better upgrades and opportunities you get.
There is enough here to last you hours (apparently, hundreds – and I’m not even done the game yet!) and the sheer size and scale of the game will have you longing for “just one more run”. Don’t let the Early Access tag fool you here, there is a full and complete game already, just missing the way to really “win”. And even when you win in Roguelikes, most find a way to keep you playing. (YEs, there is decorating here too.)
It is a “twitchy” game, you have several attacks types, need to dodge a lot of attacks, and movement and analyzing a bunch of stuff going on all at once is a big part of the game. As a 50+ gamer, I like challenge but not challenge that is unfun or feels punitive. Thankfully, Hades 2 (and Hades) has a mode called “God Mode” that makes the game a little bit easier everytime you die (to a point) that you can toggle on or off. This way, you can enjoy the loop, get better as the game gets easier, and get to experience the whole game regardless of your skill level. It does plateau (I believe its at 80% difficulty) but I’ve been able to beat everything the game has out in this mode. And I proudly leave it on as it’s a reminder I like games that respect my time (and lack of skill, oftentimes)
You can’t go wrong, go play it, if Roguelikes are you thing.
I ran out of free AI credits in WordPress, so I don’t get “free” generated images – so I used ChatGPT for this one!