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The kissable frogs and sparky combat of Hades 2 looks set to bewitch fansImpressions of the “technical test”
Impressions of the “technical test”
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games
Hades II - Reveal TrailerWatch on YouTube
Hades II - Reveal Trailer
What’s new is extra. Holding down each face button instead of furiously tapping will add some “magick” to your attacks (or, in the case of your dash, it lets you sprint). Long lines of powerful purple will spill forth when you hold down the basic attack, for example. A glowing orb of hurt will bowl across the arena when holding down your ranged attack. Your ward-like “cast” ability, which normally stops enemies on the spot, will erupt in a painful blast when you give it the ol' magick charge treatment. And this is all for one weapon, a witch’s staff. The magick of other weapons will be distinct. It’s classic risk/reward stuff, as magick-bolstered attacks also momentarily slow our witchy hero to a crawl.
And what of this new gal? Melinoë is the younger sister of moody smirker Zagreus, he of the first game. She spends her days at the “Crossroads”, a purgatorial hangout zone between Hades and (I’m guessing) Olympus, alongside the remnants of the underworld who’ve been dispossessed of hell. The unlucky fate of Zagreus, Persephone, and Hades himself is hinted at but not fully revealed. For now, Melinoë is introduced as a capable but naive assassin. Whereas Zagreus wanted to escape his hellish home, Mel wants to murder the Titan that reportedly brought her family (and much of the Underworld) to ruin. “Death to Chronos” has been repeated so often among these refugees that it has become a form of salutation.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games
There are new faces too. Apollo, conspicuous in his absence during Hades the first, shows up to give boons of light. Hestia, the Goddess of fire, is another boonifier. Others seem there for fun and games. Dora is a shade haunting your tent who flips between adorable housemate and FURIOUS HARBINGER OF THEDARK. For those who grew tired of Zagreus' red robes, the presence of Arachne will be welcome - she is a spider who weaves various silk miniskirts for our hero to wear. In other words, there is no shortage of horny deities and cute pals. I think we can all sense the strange ships coming into harbour here.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games
But the most important new face (aside from Melinoë herself) is our hero’s adoptive mum and determined murderwitch Hecate, with a voice you might recognise asthe narrator from Baldur’s Gate 3. Witches continue to be en vogue, as Alice B briefly mentioned ina recent Electronic Wireless Show episode on gaming trends.Hades 2is going all-out in this regard. You grow nightshade in a herb patch. Your “headmistress” hangs out at a big cauldron where you concoct potions. In one fight you are briefly transformed into a sheep. You may or may not routinely kiss a frog who welcomes you home after each death. And, in more practical terms, there is a meditation pedestal where you flip Tarot-style Arcana cards to upgrade your character’s attributes.
These have the kind of names that belong in a Rider-Waite desktop folder marked “unused Greeks”. The Huntress, The Furies, The Wayward Son, The Titan, and so on. Flavourful monikers for upgrades that grant you the ability to briefly slow time, or heal passively between rooms, or simply buff your health and magick bars. I only saw nine of these cards during the demo but I wouldn’t be surprised if more show up. You can only have a limited number of these active at any time but collecting “Psyche” during runs will increase the number of cards you can have active. It’s a simple but effective skill tree.
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So, it’s shaping up to be more of what fans like. The differences in movement, in attack and escape, feel subtle. I get the feeling the appeal lies mainly in keeping the well-tuned combat intact (it was one of ourbest action games, why mess with things?) while renovating the cast and their mythical misgivings.
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Supergiant Games
And this is what I find most interesting about Hades 2. Supergiant have a knack for narratively stylish games, and much of the studio’s success comes from being inventive, never resting on a single world, a single idea. This is the first sequel they’ve made, so it’s fun to see how they’re applying that inventiveness within an established world, bravely doing away with entire characters to focus on new faces and new themes. If Hades was about a father and son at long-term loggerheads, perhaps Hades 2 will be about a mother and daughter in a crumbling cahoots.
That iconoclastic sequelising also allows for leaving favourites longingly on the bench, eliciting an emotion games don’t often tap into: the feeling of missing someone, of smarting from their absence. But with the cast of Hades, that is bound to happen. People will yearn for Meg or Zagreus or the Minotaur or whoever. If and when such beloveds show up, this will act as payoff, as relief, as joy. And if they don’t? A continuous yearning, a new perspective. Either way, the omens look good. The potential is here for another emotionally resonant Supergiant tale.
