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Though it’s solely been 5 years since its predecessor, roguelite recreation Hades 2 feels long-awaited. The weight of expectation on developer Supergiant to surpass the huge success of Hades should have loomed extra dauntingly than the sword of Damocles itself. So, how do you construct on a recreation rating among the many greatest roguelites in trendy historical past?
Review information
Platform reviewed: Nintendo Switch 2
Available on: Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
Release date: September 25, 2025
With a refreshed solid of Grecian heroes and gods, Hades 2 carves its personal tackle mythos, making for a recreation that feels each acquainted and wildly completely different to Zagreus’ story.
For one thing, gameplay mechanics have been boldly reinvented, and there’s a whole lot more variety in each run. In Hades 2, range and placement can make or break your strategy; the addition of Magick gives Melinoë an entirely different moveset to Zagreus, and with less mobility than her brother, it’s all to play for on the battlefield.
The stakes are immediately high, and nothing encapsulates the shift in priorities better than the art and world-building Supergiant is so famed for. An inventive array of new foes, friends, and plenty of frenemies make for a captivating narrative that rarely strays into “wall-of-text” territory, and it’s a breathtaking journey from start to finish.
With war brewing at the home front in Tartarus and on Olympus, a war of the gods has begun once again, but will the Princess of the Underworld be able to defeat Time itself?
Generational trauma
The game begins at a crossroads – the crossroads, in fact, between the surface and the road to Tartarus. Readying for battle in this liminal space between life and death, Melinoë, daughter of Hades and Persephone, prepares to battle primordial powers to rescue her family.
Your foe is Chronos, the Titan of Time and father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades – for the nerds, yes, that’s an amalgamation of Chronos, the primordial concept of time itself, and Kronos, the leader of the Titans; two different figures from mythos. It’s fine, I’m not mad about it.
Before the events of the game, Chronos captured his chthonic son, along with Persephone, Zagreus, and a host of other underworld dwellers. Thankfully, Melinoë was whisked away just beforehand and into the care of Hecate, Witch of the Crossroads, to be trained in the art of witchcraft and, hopefully, rescue her relatives – and thus the story begins, and the generational trauma continues.
For your first few runs, you’ll venture towards Tartarus through Erebus (and Oceanus, if you can trounce the first guardian), but after these first two more linear levels, there’s a lot more diversity in chambers and encounters.
However, you’ll also quickly unlock access to the Surface, where Chronos’ goons are mounting an attack on Olympus. Having two options to venture keeps the game feeling fresh, removing the frustrating feeling of repeatedly falling at the same hurdle, and it’s a welcome change to the formula.
There’s a lot of ebb and flow to the game’s two pathways, and each region offers dynamic maps with plenty of ways to progress by gathering resources, meeting with allies, and finding familiars to recruit. Some regions can feel a little gruelling; Tartarus’ Fields of Mourning, in particular, forces you into repetitive waves of enemies to cash in on multiple rewards per encounter, but you often only really want one of them.
However, other levels like the City of Ephyra play on the level design to push you to think harder about your build’s foundations, choosing six of ten possible rewards; both examples dismantle the classic two-door choice convention and keep the game varied.
Along the way, various gods from Hades – plus some new faces – will appear to deliver Boons: powerful upgrades to your attacks, movement, weaponry, chance modifiers, and beyond. These feel improved on Hades’ strong foundations; there’s a great variety on offer, and it’s rare that I really need a re-roll to find something useful.
Another noticeable difference is the increased focus on resource gathering. Doing away with the trade mechanics makes for much more rewarding progression materials, and there’s a lot more to find within each region. Your familiars can help you here, with each specializing in a different resource (spirits, seeds, fish, and foliage) as well as helping out during combat.
Which witch is which?!
Oft characterized in non-game lore as the goddess of ghosts, spirits, and sometimes nightmares, Melinoë is a wildly different protagonist from her brother Zagreus. She bears a glowing, enhanced arm able to wielding varied Arcana card power-ups, and might use Magick to cost and solid enhanced talents via Omega spells.
Like your common talents, Omega spells have an extra set of Boons, permitting you to construct round your highly effective charged assaults as a substitute of simply amping up your base injury. Alternatively, you may just about ignore your spells altogether should you want button-mashing your customary assault, particular, and solid; the sport rewards you for enjoying effectively, not for enjoying each function.
Now, the solid has switched to an space of impact (AoE) crowd management transfer; you may sit in it to slash at enemies on the border or construct it as much as be a damage-dealing lure to your enemies. This is important, and definitely essentially the most important change to fight at a base degree. Using it effectively, and sometimes, is essential to surviving with sufficient power for larger battles, particularly in later ranges the place you’re contending with hordes of the undead or fiddly ranged attackers.
There’s an awesome, gradual development arc to energy up all through the sport, and I discovered myself genuinely shocked on a number of events that there was nonetheless extra to unlock.
Once once more, there are keepsakes, weapon unlocks, and enhancements you may construct into your runs to make your assaults hit even more durable.
Best bit
Eris is an actual ache to sort out the primary few occasions, however hoo boy, is it enjoyable to thrash her when you be taught the ropes. She’s not as punishing as late-game bosses like Prometheus, however there’s a satisfying knack to timing your dodges and touchdown hits.
From an unlimited, badass battle-axe to skulls that land with a “BOOM!”, Melinoë makes use of a mixture of ranged and melee weapons to sort out her foes, however with manner much less mobility than her older brother. There’s no extra double sprint, however you may at all times use the brand new infinite dash to zoom away from hazard. Still, fight feels satisfyingly snappy, simply with a higher emphasis on positioning.
Mel additionally swaps God Calls for Hexes, items from Selune that may be upgraded by way of a talent tree as you journey onwards. Personally, I’m a fan of the well being regen Hex, which might be leveled to stack throughout areas and ship big quantities of well being; significantly helpful once you’re working with a squishier Mel construct.
Each of those modifications feels significant, and never simply to distinguish Hades 2 from its profitable predecessor. Plus, there’s a lot selection and depth to every run that there’s no level in banking on particular builds; your Keepsakes can assist pave the way in which for particular Boons, however you’re up towards higher odds than in Hades.
That’s doubly true once you take care of the good number of enemies, mini-bosses, and managers. There’s nobody method to play Mel, and the combatants need you to do not forget that; some punish you for an over-reliance on dashing, some for sitting too nonetheless or getting too shut; others, you simply need to hope you’ve constructed round strongly sufficient to kill earlier than they will get you first (Prometheus, I’m taking a look at you. I’m judging you, in actual fact. Relentlessly.)
On the road again
Calling the crossroads a liminal space feels at odds with the teeming life, love, and emotion housed in the battle camp Mel and her associates call home, but perhaps that’s exactly the point. Here, in a space designed for passage, a band of heroes, villains, and gods alike from mythos find refuge and comfort from a world in a perpetual state of pre-apocalypse. Of course, that’s all tinged by the undertones of the dysfunctional Olympian family tree, but if you can look past the bickering siblings, Mel and Hecate’s mommy issues, and, of course, the many mortals left in the wreckage of godly pettiness, there are some beautiful bonds formed at the crossroads.
From shopping to decorating and even gardening, there’s a lot to do between runs. Hecate’s cauldron offers permanent upgrades both in and out of runs, and there are more interactive spaces like the salt baths and the fishing pier. There’s a huge amount of unlockable content and interactions here; characters react to the outcome of the previous run and even the items Mel takes with her to the field, making it genuinely rewarding to sit through dialogue.
Eris, Nemesis, Moros, and Icarus are the romancable options (at least, the only ones I’ve encountered), but I’d really encourage forming bonds with all of the main cast. Deep secrets and connections to other figures in mythos mean characters like Dora expand the universe even further and teach you more about Mel’s history and identity. Greg Kasavin was not messing around when he put pen to paper for Hades 2, though I do share some fans’ criticisms of the slightly rushed ending.
The world is, of course, more than its writing. Darren Korb’s tremendous musical talents are once again in full force, providing a dramatic underscore to the on-screen action with even greater zeal. Jen Zee also delivered with some excellent refreshed character designs, each with subtle hints to the more militant themes in the game.
Even Aphrodite now bears arms (though clothing still appears to be optional), and Zeus is armored up in preparation for the great battles on the horizon. New animations for character cards breathe life into the designs, aided of course by another stellar cast of talented voice actors.
Rolling credits for the first time is only the beginning; there’s a lot more you’ll want to eke out of these relationships on your road to the ‘true’ ending, and that’s the real magic of the Hades 2 formula. It takes repetition and makes it a thematic driver, pulling you deeper into the world of the Gods and their follies.
Hades 2 absolutely surpasses its predecessor in almost every way, building on its success reservedly but meaningfully, and it’s a must-play game for all to enjoy. It’s a masterpiece in its own right, though Mel’s story is inseparable from Zagreus’ successes in more ways than one.
Should Supergiant choose to revisit the land of the gods with a sequel, I’m once again left wondering how it could withstand its legacy, but with a fresh confidence that they can once again go the distance.
Should you play Hades 2?
Play it if…
Don’t play it if…
Accessibility
Within the settings, you have the option to toggle ‘God Mode’ under the Gameplay tab, which reduces the difficulty in the game, offering more damage resistance the more often you die. Alternatively, you can customize features like Auto-Fire/Auto-Sprint, Aim Assist, Dead Zones, and more to make gameplay more accessible. There are subtitles for both speech and song, as well as changeable vibration settings and visual effect settings.
How I reviewed Hades 2
I got 50 hours of the game, unlocking both the main ending and rolling credits on the ‘true’ ending of Hades 2 using a Nintendo Switch 2. I performed it in each docked and undocked mode to see if legibility or efficiency is impacted by the display screen dimension, evaluating my expertise towards different roguelites, together with Dead Cells, The Binding of Isaac, Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree, and, after all, the unique Hades.
I attempted completely different settings, together with God Mode, to see the influence on the sport’s accessibility and efficiency, and tried taking part in each with a Corsair Void Max Wireless v2 headset and thru the Switch 2 audio system.
First reviewed September 2025