Hades II Review (Switch)

Supergiant Games have a reputation for creating games which are nothing less than amazing, and most of the time highly original and unique to boot. Bastion remains a masterpiece of isometric action adventure, Transistor a stylish mix up of turn based and hack and slash and Pyre is just nuts in about every way. The one thing they haven’t done until now is produce a sequel, I mean where can you go when you’ve already perfected what you are trying to achieve which each title?

So, it’s brave decision to not only make a sequel, but a sequel to one of the most highly regarded indie games of all time in Hades. It’s a good thing then that they have done it right.

Hades II, thankfully doesn’t stray away from the ancient Greek roots of the original. While that story focused on a son trying to escape the depths of hell (and the grasp of his father), Here we have a female lead, Melinoë the princess of the Underworld, trying to defend her home against Chronos the Titan of time. There are a host of new characters here for the studio to play with and each is beautifully written- if you wish to really dive into the law and setting.

Of course, the real heart of the original Hades was the Rogue-like structure and the flexibility of the combat. In this regard not much has changed in terms of the scope. This is still a Rogue game where each run is designed to have you gather resources for permanent upgrades which in turn allow for players to get ever so slightly closer to their goal on the next run. If anything, there are perhaps too many resources to manage here. There are seemingly endless things to change and upgrade and numerous currencies and trinkets to collect and trade for other currencies and trinkets, which in turn can be used to invoke spells, create new areas in the hub world or upgrade your character, weapons and several hundred other things. It really did take a good few hours for us to start to get to grips with everything that was going on.

In terms of your arsenal, you start out with one weapon and unlock other options as you progress. Each of these react differently with the various attacks you have. Players can perform and chain basic attacks, perform a ‘cast’ which creates a ring on the floor which can be used to halt or entrap enemies (among many other things). Special attacks can be initiated by holding the attack button down, and there’s a range of close combat moves as well. You can also pick up a ‘hex’ attack which needs to be charged in each location and has its own development path as well. If you are going to master all this, it’s really going to take a while and for those of you that thought Transistor was complex you are in for a shock. Oh, and you have a dash/dodge as well.

At the outset Hades II is quite a tough proposition. Our first few runs didn’t really yield much progression at all. But as these things go, you slowly start to break the back of the first area and suddenly more options open out to you. The game does seem tougher than the first one though with the second level being a real baptism of fire on the first few runs. But while you may be beginning to get frustrated at not getting past a rock band made of Sirens, the game has something else up its sleeve. You see, the hub world is the crossroads and, initially, you can only descend into the depths. But after casting a particular spell at the cauldron it removes the ward on the stairs that go up as well.

From that point you can continue to forge your way down to Hades or alternatively head to the surface and make for Mount Olympus. This initially comes with a curse which drains your heath, but once you have cleared that the surface world provides a very different approach to the game.

While the downward dungeons remain much in the same format as the original game, the surface world mixes things up a fair bit. The first area for instance, is set in a city of interconnecting rooms. Here you can roam the central areas and decide which door you are going to go through in whatever order you wish. After besting a Cyclops, you are sent to the docks where instead of changing rooms you decide which direction to steer the ships. These surface realms are much larger and wider and require some consideration in approach if you have been used to the cramped caves of the subterranean route. It provides some much-needed flexibility and variety if one location is causing you a lot of issues.

Overall, Hades II is as good as its predecessor in its own ways. It takes a slightly different approach but retains the soul of the core concept and develops it well. It doesn’t make the original game obsolete as it feels different enough while also being strong enough in its own right for both new players and those familiar with the original to dive right in.  

Overall 9/10