Hades 2 is incredible! Early access keeps you entertained for hours

Hades 2 is one of the most anticipated games since its announcement, especially for those who played the first one, which was among the most awarded in 2018 and took the Roguelike genre to a new level.

Recently released in early access on PC, the sequel brings new characters, already has a lot of content and, after playing for many hours, we can say: it deserves your attention! Come and understand why.

Familiar but different

At first glance Hades 2 is very similar to its predecessor. The fast, precise and varied gameplay in each incursion is very familiar, taking just a few minutes for veterans of the franchise to feel at home and start blasting the new bosses.

But familiar doesn't mean more of the same or derivative here, on the contrary. Starting with the narrative, this time we control Melinoe, sister of Zagreu who was unknown to the Gods and is seeking to free her family from the hands of Chronos in a direct continuation of the previous game – although you can enjoy the story here without playing the first Hades.

A whole new cast of characters is included in this journey, from classic names from Greek mythology, such as Odysseus, to the children of the goddess Nyx, less known but also extremely powerful and important to the campaign. Interacting with each of them, especially from the perspective of a new character, leaves everything new and with the freshness necessary for a sequel.

It's just as impactful and fun as it was in 2018, but with even more detail and enough narrative variation to impress. After more than a hundred incursions, still coming across so many different dialogues is scary.

What impresses even more, and again, is how competent Supergiant Games is with the art direction, which greatly enhances the story. The representations of the gods and characters are all incredible and very detailed. Each art is worth minutes just observing every detail. And all of this remains consistent through the scenarios, animations and even menus.

Still talking about the changes that Melinoe brings to this sequence, one of the biggest is the fact that the girl is a witch. Her weapons are therefore very different from those of her brother, she starts with a staff for example, but they are equally deadly and evolve as new floors are reached and bosses are defeated.

Basically, this girl archetype also brings interesting news to the gameplay. She can make enchantments in a cauldron and change the properties of different biomes she visits, activating runes, statues and many other improvements, including capturing pets, to become increasingly capable of advancing. There is a new seed planting system to generate ingredients, new ways to interact with characters and even how to fish.

Insane content

Based on this, you've already seen how much content is available. There's so much stuff, both in terms of story and improvements, including weapons, accessories and a new card system, that most of the time it doesn't even feel like you're playing early access. Especially because the level of polish is very high, with no relevant bugs that I remember after dozens of hours of playing, everything is very well finished. The only exceptions are some characters, like Narcissus, who still don't have their 3D models and 2D art, but they are very few and go almost unnoticed.

Each raid is totally different from the last. There are six different weapons that completely change the way you play. Add this to all the possibilities of blessings from the gods, cards, enchantments, changes in biomes and characters that appear and that's it, fun that borders on infinity. This is very rare for games released on this model, especially running this well.

The crazy thing to think about is that there are more biomes, bosses and story content here than in the first game, and the final version should only be released at the end of this year at the very least, maybe next year. Imagine what is yet to come. There is so much that you can easily pick up the game now, spend dozens of hours and consider everything added later as quality free DLC. Also because the game should cost more at launch, which adds even more value now.

So there's no way around it, we highly recommend it both for those who played the predecessor and for those who have only come to know Hades for now. The opportunity here is to play earlier and with great quality, a game that will certainly be among the best of the year it is released.