Hades II Technical Test preview — So mote it be

All of Supergiant’s games are masterpieces, but Hades took the world by storm. Its addictive rogue-like gameplay, compelling story and characters, and gorgeous artwork and music kept me and many others hooked on climbing up through the underworld for hundreds of hours. But, after putting your father in his place dozens of times, unlocking all the weapons and abilities, and reuniting two pairs of lovers, Achilles and Patroclus as well as Orpheus and Eurydice, eventually your godly adventures would come to an end. With the announcement of Supergiant’s first direct sequel, however, those adventures aren’t quite over. We’ve been graciously invited to the Hades II’s Technical Test before it enters early access, and it seems Zeus’ lightning will strike twice.

In Hades II, you play as Melinoë, daughter of Hades and Persephone, brother of Zagreus, and Princess of the Underworld. After her birth, the Titan Chronos attacked Hades’ domain, killing all but Melinoë (as much as you can kill a god anyway) in a bid to overthrow the gods of Olympus. Taken in by the witch Hecate and raised to be a Titan killer, it’s finally time for her to descend to Tartarus, take revenge, and save Olympus.

Hades II feels familiar, yet very different. Mel isn’t quite as cocky or sassy as Zag, but she does have a similar sense of humor and way of speaking. She also controls almost exactly the same, but with a few tweaks and differences. For one, you can now sprint after dodging with A, and a trail of darkness behind Mel will show you the timing of her invincibility. Her cast is no longer limited by an orb anymore either, though you can only have one at a time on the field. There is one big addition that can completely change your playstyle though: the Omega attacks.

Each attack type (normal, special and cast) can be charged by holding the respective button. This will consume magic power and takes time to charge, but is crucial for controlling the battlefield. Let’s use the Sister Blades Lim and Oros as an example. Their normal attack is a flurry of slashes, but charging it will allow you to dash through an enemy, damaging and appearing behind them. The special is a simple knife throw, but charging it will throw multiple knives in a cone ahead of you. Mel only has one cast type in this test, but its effect can also change greatly with certain boons. By default, it’ll immobilize any enemies in a circle you place down for a time, but charging it will have the circle deal damage as well when it wears off.

I found the charge cast especially effective on the first area’s boss, Hecate. She has periods of invincibility where you need to defeat some additional enemies, but placing a charged cast under her just before she comes out of her invincibility can deal a lot of damage basically for free. Magic power regenerates to full between rooms, so while you can make liberal use of it in a run you still need to keep an eye on your meter and use it wisely. These additions and changes are a ton of fun, polishing what was already a diamond to shine even brighter.

Circling back to boons, most of the usual suspects return to aid you in your runs. Just like the first game, speaking with a god after clearing a room will allow you to choose from one of three boons for the rest of your run. Overall, I found boon effects to be much more subtle this time. In the first title, some boons could completely change your playstyle, and while some are pretty powerful here, I haven’t encountered any that are quite that game changing. Some might have bonuses for a certain amount of magic power spent, making me charge more than usual, but in general boons are more add-ons than things you build a run around. The same goes for your super moves, called Hexes and granted by Selene, goddess of the moon. They’re nice when you have them, but it never really changed combat much.

Slightly more effective are dresses made by Arachne. Just like boons, hexes, or hammer upgrades, you choose from one of three. These give Melinoë a new look and a shield that will take damage in place of her health bar. Each dress also provides a special effect just like a boon, such as restoring 2 HP each time you exit a room, doubling cast damage, and so on. The shield is incredibly useful, especially when combined with the aforementioned healing effect from a boon or a card before you start a run, allowing you to recover from low health while still playing aggressively.

While we only have access to the game’s first area, Erebus, in this test, there’s a ton to see and do here. The Technical Test is considered “finished” after defeating Hecate five times, but I still plan on going back for more after I’m done writing this. There are materials to collect for cauldron spells, cards to acquire to change Mel’s stats, a vast amount of NPC dialogue to listen to, and I have a spectral new best friend to shower in Nectar. I managed to hold myself away from the first game until I had a review code for the full game in hand, but I don’t think I’ll be able to do that now that I’ve had a taste of the sequel. Supergiant will continue casting their spell over me for the foreseeable future. So mote it be.

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