Hades 2 review — Stopping time

After a year of training, the time has finally come for the Princess of the Underworld to defeat time itself, the Titan and Father of the gods - Chronos. Hades II released into Early Access on PC back in May of 2024, and while unfinished it was still an absolute blast, taking everything that worked in the original game and turning it up to 11. It’s Supergiant Games’ first sequel, but you wouldn’t think it because of how polished and natural it felt; again, all in Early Access. A bit over a year later, and the full game is finally here. In all honesty, it’s a bit hard to tell what’s different between the most recent early access version and the final product other than access to the true ending, console versions, and such. However, I do think that speaks to just how high quality the game already was, and just like the original we’re going to be putting a ton more time into Hades II even after we hit publish on this review. 

Hades II follows Zagreus’ sister, Melinoë, as she attempts to defeat Chronos, rescue her immediate family as well as the rest of the pantheon, and restore the status quo to the heavens and underworld. As a witch, she’s trained for this task for her entire life, but it won’t be easy, and she’ll need multiple attempts to learn, grow, and eventually succeed. This is a rogue-like after all, and it would be pretty boring if you killed Chronos on the first try, right?

You begin each attempt at the Crossroads, a safe haven for the living and the dead sitting betwixt the two realms. Here, you can speak with your allies (and some enemies), prepare spells to aid you in future runs using materials, purchase said materials with various currencies, grow some plants, and more. Once you’ve made the rounds, you can start preparing for another run for real by visiting the Altar of Ashes, the Silver Pool, and our friend/training dummy Skelly.

First, the Altar. Here, you can activate Tarot cards for various bonuses, such as increasing your HP and MP, gaining more Death Defiances (extra lives), and even more specific buffs like nullifying a hit or two when facing a boss. The number of Tarot cards you can activate depends on how much Grasp you have of the Arcana, increased using Psyche. Each card has a cost associated with it, 0-5, with some cards only activating with other cards. For example, Divinity can’t be turned on by itself, but will trigger automatically if you activate a full row or column of other cards. It’s an interesting system, and that’s before you even get into upgrading the cards with Moon Dust and other materials. The Arcana forms the base of your strength and growth, but there’s much more to Melinoë than stats.

Much like in the first game, there is an arsenal of weapons to unlock as you progress, summoned forward through the use of the Silver Pool. Each of these Nocturnal Arms have their own movesets and playstyles, so you’re likely to find at least one to fall in love with. These extend beyond just having different attack speeds, with each weapon also sporting two mana fueled special attacks. For the quickly slashing Sister Blades Lim and Oros, one will allow you to teleport behind an enemy for a lethal attack while the other releases a fan of knives to strike at multiple foes. For the Witch’s Staff Descura however, you’ll be casting long range spells to smite your foes while charging up linear bursts of spellpower. Each weapon really feels like they have their own personality, and I often found myself switching between them whenever I felt like exploring a new playstyle.

Eventually, you can unlock different aspects for each weapon too. Each of the Nocturnal Arms begin in the Aspect of Melinoë, granting fairly standard bonuses such as Lim and Oros doing more damage from an enemy’s rear. Normally, the Moonstone Axe, Zorephet, is pretty slow to swing, but switch to the Aspect of  Thanatos and you’ll start swinging much faster. It provides further customization for each of the already unique weapons, letting you find niches within niches.

Once you’ve chosen your arms for the night, perhaps influenced by a Bones bonus for using that weapon, you can get to grips with its moveset. Every weapon has normal, special, dash, and Omega attacks. Normal attacks are on the left face button, while special are on the top. Dash attacks can be performed by dodging with the bottom face button then immediately pressing normal attack. Omega attacks are new, and can be performed by holding down one of the attack buttons to charge, then spending some MP to unleash. This is how you activate that teleport and fan of knives moves for Lim and Oros we mentioned earlier. Omega moves, just like regular moves, vary greatly between weapons, and some may even focus on Omega moves over their regular attacks, like Ygnium the Umbral Flames. Omega moves are well worth considering when planning a loadout, especially if you’re using the card that grants a damage bonus when not at full MP. 

One of the best new ways combat is changed from the first game is the modification of casts and the introduction of hexes. Regardless of your current weapon, you have the ability to channel a cast on the ground, which will root enemies within its radius. Zagreus had a similar ability, and this can be modified throughout a run in familiar ways. One of my favorite combinations of upgrades allowed me to fire a ball of fire that deployed a casting circle upon the ground, which would then grow in size over time whilst scorching any enemy trapped inside. There are a ton of dynamic ways that you can upgrade your cast throughout a run, and it was definitely my favorite ability only second to the Hex.

The protagonist Melinoë is not just the princess of the underworld, she is also a Silver Sister under the guiding grace of the Moon Incarnate Selene. In similar fashion to the boons of Olympus, you will also encounter Gifts of the Moon that allow you to unleash powerful abilities called Hexes. These range from utility spells like Phase Shift and Moon Water, which slow down time and grant you healing respectively, to devastating curses like Total Eclipse that blast a target area with searing moonlight. Each Hex can also have the possibility of being upgraded further if more Gifts of the Moon are encountered in a run, offering them even more wells of power. 

If all of those tools at your fingertips weren't enough — and it won’t be to defeat Chronos or save Olympus — you can further power up with Boons from the gods in each run. These Boons are really what you’ll be forming your playstyle around, because while they are temporary - lasting only for that run - they’re incredibly powerful. One of my favorite builds is using Ygnium’s ranged Omega attack barrage alongside a Boon from Zeus that spawns lightning bolts that bounce between foes every time you hit.  This creates an absolute mess of projectiles that can honestly make it a bit difficult to see what’s going on. Add in a Boon from Hestia (my personal favorite Greek god) that makes enemies explode upon death, and encounters with normal enemies become trivial. Bosses, on the other hand, are still pretty difficult as those two boons won’t really affect a single foe with a ton of health. 

Builds in Hades II feel like they can be much more diverse, ranging from hyper specific to more generalized. In the first game, I pretty much always went for an HP vampire build with the sword as it offered the most survivability and allowed me to mash without thinking. As far as I’ve found, there’s no one-size fits all build like this, making for a much more balanced experience. Make no mistake, Hades II is hard. It took me almost a dozen attempts to even beat the first phase of Chronos. No matter what Boons you have, it really all comes down to skill and practice. You can certainly make things easier with upgrades, but the outcome is still entirely in your hands. 

Speaking of in your hands, I’ve mostly been playing the Switch 2 version for this review. I was able to bring my Early Access save from PC over no problem just by logging into my Steam account, and continued exactly where I left off. Saves will automatically transfer so long as you press quit in the menu instead of closing the game with the home button, making it incredibly convenient to hop between platforms. I still see myself playing the Switch version most often, however, as it looks and runs incredibly. In portable mode, you get a medusa-style, rock solid 60 frames per second at 1080p. If you want to go even higher, docking the system will automatically activate a 120 fps mode (also at 1080p) so long as your display supports it. While many may be disappointed that you are limited to 1080p in the age of 4k, I really don’t see much need to go higher as the game is stunning regardless. Supergiant Games masterfully combines 2D and 3D art for a unique look, both in menus and in gameplay. The first game rendered 3D models into 2D sprites, while Hades II appears to just use 3D models for characters to allow them to look smooth at those higher frame rates. If I hadn’t done research though I wouldn’t have been able to tell, I thought the first game was also in 3D. Regardless of the methods, mediums, and techniques, it’s a beautiful game. 

It can be a bit too beautiful at times. Like I said earlier, with certain boons or just making it far enough in a run it can be difficult to parse what’s happening on screen. This led me to run into enemy projectiles or attacks more often than I would like. The game has some great accessibility options, such as a God Mode if you just want the story, but nothing to help further distinguish enemy attacks. I had this same issue with the original game, and while Hades II is a bit better about it it’s still not perfect.