"Hades 2" mini-review: Its all Greek to me.

[F-ZeroOne]

(I know this is a bit after the fact, but its been a while since I've had the urge to write one of these... )

"Hades 2" is the sequel to the MEGA SMASH HIT VIDEO-GAME "Hades". For those unfamiliar, "Hades" was a "Rogue-like", a type of game evolved from one of video-gamings earliest takes on role-playing adventure. In most "Rogue"-style games, you descend into a dungeon, encountering various foes and gathering items that will either help or hinder you in your encounters with the dungeons denizens. The twist with most Rogue-likes is that usually the events are entirely random or semi-random, so you're as likely to pick up a Sword of God-Slaying +100 on your first play-through as you are to run head-first into the maw of a Dragon Zombie on your initial move. The original Rogue-type games were turn based, largely because thats what you could do on a time-sharing mainframe, but more modern ones have evolved into "Gauntlet"-style action games. "Hades" take on the genre is to inject it with a heavy dose of Greek mythology, of which more on that later.

In the original "Hades" you played dashing Prince of the Underworld Zagreus as he tried to escape - many, many times - from the Underworld. In "Hades 2", you play his younger sister Melo - Melly - Meli - Mel. This time round, the Realm of Hades itself has been conquered and its various inhabitants exiled. Zagreus is missing, along with the rest of Mels family, and as it turns out she and UK railways share a mutual common enemy as the new ruler of the Underworld is Chronos - Titan of Time.

Gameplay is similar to the original, with inevitable tweaks, in that you descend INTO HELL ITSELF and battle through a sequence of locked rooms, spawned at random, encountering various foes and the occasional boss. The Underworld is divided into different realms and defeating the... er... Boss boss of a realm will unlock the next one, where a different set of baddies awaits. Mels ultimate goal is to find out what happened to her family, and along the way rip Time a new one. On her travels Mel will encounter various gods, goddesses and entities from Greek Mythology who will often help you in some manner, usually with some form of power-up.

The problem with "Hades 2" is that I am not very good at it. I am Mr. Ageing Below Average Gamer, and this is a game that largely relies on reactions, quick wits and speed. If I ever had any of those, I don't any more. Theres a reason I like my games turn-based and preferably full of giant waifu robots with anime hair. As with any Rogue-like, defeat isn't the end of the game, its the point. You will die (or more accurately be teleported back to a safe hub), and learn a little something new for your next run. The randomness will either make things much easier or turn what should be a cake-walk into a crawling-over-barbed-wire marathon. Having said that, "Hades 2" is rarely unfair, with enemies telegraphing their attacks in ways you can memorise and so far only Chaos - suitably enough - when you meet hi... he... i... them might screw you over in minor ways. I am likely never going to get past the second realm, let alone finish the game (you have to complete the game in one sitting; this is less onerous than it appears as the actual levels are fairly short but good luck doing that your first, or even hundredth, go through!) .

So why do I keep playing it?

Well, for one thing the art is gorgeous. Like, where can I get a poster gorgeous. The various characters of Greek mythology - some familiar and some probably less so - are all rendered in beautiful hand-drawn depictions. They don't move much, other than blink, but boy are they something to look at (and thats leaving aside Aphrodite, just as she appears to have done with her clothes). And you will interact with them many times, and gradually learn their personalities, quirks, likes and hates and build relationships and even learn some mythology on the way. Some of these peop - er, gods - are depicted in refreshing new ways (some of which will make certain corners of the internet declare that Ancient Greek Mythology is now officially WOKE NONSENSE!); Arachne, for example, is portrayed here as the cutest little Drider [1] you will likely ever meet.

It also controls wonderfully. This is a game which demands good response, and you won't be able to blame that here. Everything moves just as you'd want with suitably crunchy feedback from hitting stuff and occasionally new enemies will be encountered in old areas to mix things up a bit.

And then theres the bits in-between your runs. The developers knew you would be going through things again, and again, and again, so they've carefully crafted a steady drip feed of new stuff to find, discover, and interact with in-between. New personalities show up, new lore makes itself known, and resources you collect can be used to upgrade the hub area (and yes, anime fans, one of these upgrades includes a hot spring). Theres almost always something to be getting on with when you've failed yet again to take down Chronos, and its amazing how much of it there must be. The script for this game must be the same height as some buildings.

And thats why I enjoy playing "Hades 2", even though it eventually hands me my arse in an Amphora every try. Theres always more to see, and what there is to see is beautiful.

Take heed, Chronos. Melonië [2], Slayer of Titans, is coming for you. However long it takes. I will catch you, I'll be waiting, Time after Time...

[1] A word completely and totally safe to look up on the internet. Trust me [3].

[2] Well, thats the first time I've used "Alt+0235"!

[3] DON'T trust me!

[rowan]

I've been playing this since just after Christmas too, after one of my nephews said it was well worth it if I liked the first.
To be honest it's not grabbing me much though.

I loved the 1st, playing it again & again with nothing else between until clocking up a total of 210 hours & losing interest.

The 2nd, I'm finding the narrative & characters less interesting, I don't much like the new magic which you're forced to use. I find myself more interested in reading fesshole or the smegging news than firing it up most days although when I do get stuck in I'll give it a good few hours.
I'm tired of the overacted voiceovers too, I mostly just read the text & skip the speech. They try to sound all erudite and clever but mispronounce the odd words and, well, I think they're just a bit pretentious.

Maybe it's just too similar [and not long enough] since I was playing 1, although steam tells me last played April 2021.
I just sound like I'm thread pissing really which I don't mean to do - it IS a great game and the graphics [as always with them] are absolutely beautifully drawn.
I think I'm just still a bit Hadesed out from 1, despite the almost 5 year gap.


Also, [slight spoilers] keep at it...:
It sounds as if you are a little bit behind where I am - I've got 21 hours & maybe I'm around night 30?
The progress did seem to be rather tardy for a bit but last weekend, all at once I unlocked night & day aspects & arcana powerups and my character became at least twice as powerful and I just utterly wasted the 2nd boss for the first time and got right through to the end of the level after on that run and gave that boss a good run for their money.
Then went upstairs and gave the boss there a shoeing etc.

[F-ZeroOne]

I also played the first but nowhere near to the same extent as you; again, it's not my usual type of game and I don't think my skills are up to it. As I say I do enjoy the games style though. For me, it's also a bit of a palate cleanser from the type of games I usually play, something a bit different.

I've just unlocked the Arcana upgrades but not the other one you mentioned. We'll see.