Hades II Preview

Recently, I’ve had the absolute pleasure of playing the Hades II Technical Test, and I loved every second of my time with it. It’s an incredibly pure sequel, not deviating from any of the things that made Hades so good but adapting and expanding each facet into a fresh new experience.

Hades II takes place years after the first game, and this time follows Melinoë, the daughter of Persephone and Hades and the sister of the protagonist of Hades: Zagreus. The Titan of Time Chronos has attacked Olympus and seemingly killed the rest of Melinoë’s family, and it’s up to her to take down the Titan and save her family. The characters in the first game were highly praised, and while many of them return, I’ve already fallen in love with many of the new additions: Dora, Hecate, and Melinoë herself are an absolute joy to spend time with, and seeing how they develop and build their relationships together is something I’m incredibly excited to see. This carries to the returning Gods from Hades too, who give you your Boons as they do in the first game, along with new additions, such as Hephaestus and Selene, who are wonderful additions to the roster.

Each run plays out nearly identically to the first game, taking Melinoë through a series of different regions (only the first region, Erebus, was available in the Technical Test), collecting upgrades and resources along the way. These resources can be used to concoct incantations for permanent unlocks and additions and to unlock new weapons and tools, along with a few other lesser uses. The upgrades typically consist of Boons: themed upgrades given by different Gods with unique abilities, which can be upgraded with Poms of Power, that are found whilst progressing in the same vein as the Boons. There are also the Daedalus Hammers which make unique alterations to parts of each weapon's moveset. Charon’s shop returns, allowing you to spend the Gold you’ll earn in each run on assorted goods and help you get as prepared as possible for the bosses you’ll find at the end of each region. In the Technical Test there’s only the first boss available to fight, but it’s a very good fight, both visually striking and mechanically interesting, making it feel new and entertaining to learn, despite my experience with the previous game making it a little easy, but by no means a joke.

Melinoë’s moveset is an interesting change from that of Zagreus, with not only new and unique weapons but an overhaul of how she functions at a base level. Her cast has been changed from the previous game, now being an area of effect which holds enemies in place, which can be augmented with Boons and Daedalus Hammers, and each weapon has an attack, dash-strike and special as you’d expect. The biggest change is the existence of Melinoë’s Magick gauge, allowing her to cast enhanced versions of her attack, special, and cast, known as Ω (omega) attacks. These have unique properties, rather than just being a higher damage version, and contribute to fun resource management and character-building options. The Magick meter doesn’t natively refill, except for when you move to another room, so it’s important to use your Ω attacks wisely until you have ways to refill it. The main choice for each run in terms of moveset options comes from the selection of weapons. In the Technical Test there were only the Sister Blades and the Witch's Staff, and of the two, I found the Sister Blades more interesting to use and also notably stronger. The Witch’s Staff felt designed as a safer option, with longer-ranged options, while the Sister Blades felt like they were supposed to be higher risk, yet its Ω attacks mitigated so much of that risk they simply felt far stronger. This may be a balancing thing, or potentially just my runs with the Sister Blades ended up stronger, but it wasn’t even close to game-breaking, and both weapons were an absolute blast to use anyway!

From a technical standpoint, I was pleasantly surprised. With it being a Technical Test, I had expected some bugs, crashes and more miscellaneous issues, but I had absolutely no issues to note over the five completed runs the test recommended. Visually, I was blown away; Hades was already a gorgeous title with a very distinct style, yet Hades II takes its look to further extremes and is an absolute masterpiece. All the character portraits are well designed, and the atmosphere of the areas was intense, helped further by the fantastic music and sound design.

Overall, my experience with Hades II’s Technical Test was overwhelmingly positive, and for those wanting more of the Hades world and gameplay, this is the perfect start to its sequel.