Supergiant Games will soon be selecting a handful of players to be the first to try out Hades II. The hotly anticipated sequel to 2020’s roguelike darling is on the top of a lot of gamers’ wishlists, but not everybody will get a chance to try out the technical test. To spread the love to those fans who aren’t selected, developer Supergiant held an impromptu livestream that gave the public a look at what they can expect when Hades 2 does eventually enter Early Access. Here’s what we learned.
As revealed in the game’s original trailer, Hades 2 is moving away from original protagonist Zagreus and the familiar settings players have fought through countless times. The sequel stars Zagreus’ sister Melinoë, the princess of the Underworld. She’s fighting her way through new biomes to take down the titan of time, Chronos, as he wages a war against the Olympians. A fun twist on the original is that instead of escaping hell, Melinoë appears to be trying to break in and take back her home. As mentioned during the stream, Hades 2 is a direct sequel to the first game, though it seems like it’s set a good deal later, as Melinoë wasn’t even born yet in the first game and she’s now a young woman.
The first thing that many viewers will notice is just how similar Hades 2 is to its predecessor. It’s still a roguelike rendered in an isometric perspective and populated by gorgeous art. You once again have a home base you’ll return to when they die, called The Crossroads. Here we see new characters like Hecate, Nemesis, and Odysseus. However, we also see some familiar faves in the game’s base of operations, such as Hypnos, the god of sleep.
Throughout the stream, we saw a lot of familiar mechanics like different weapons, attacks, and special moves, though everything is slightly different to cater to Melinoë. Instead of Zagreus’ Mirror of Night, for instance, Melinoë has the Altar of Ashes, which will let players upgrade certain skills. A new mechanic for Hades 2 is Magick, which appears as a second bar above Melinoë’s health bar. Using Magick, Melinoë can unleash powerful Omega attacks, but it also adds a second resource players need to manage.
The livestream showed off two weapons, the Witch’s Staff and the Sister Blades. The former is good for keeping enemies at bay while the latter is perfect for getting up close and personal with enemies. Supergiant confirmed that these would be the only two weapons that players have access to use during the technical test. In addition to weapons, Hades brings back boons, the randomized powers granted by the Olympians. The livestream reintroduced some familiar faces, such as Poseidon, Aphrodite, and Demeter. The gods all have new looks, all of which are much more suited for war than the looks we see in the first game.
Of course, we have some new gods to encounter as well, and the livestream showed off a few new faces, Apollo (god of the sun), Hestia (goddess of fire), and Selene (a titan and goddess of the moon). Selene, and all the new characters we’ve seen, confirm Hades 2 will be filled with just as many hotties as the first game. For the time being Hestia has a placeholder portrait, though her voice acting gives us a great characterization even without a visual.
We even got a look at the final boss of the Erebus region during the livestream. Turns out it is none other than Hecate, Melinoë’s mentor who serves as the de facto leader of The Crossroads. She isn’t evil; rather she is testing Melinoë’s abilities for the battle that awaits her. We know that the technical test will only contain Erebus, and if players do manage to beat Hecate they will be encouraged to stop playing and wait for Early Access. After losing the fight to Hecate, we get a surprising look at the story of Hades 2 in the form of a flashback showing Melinoë as a little girl. It touches on one of the big questions many fans might have: where is Zagreus in the sequel? We still don’t know, but you can look forward to learning more when the game eventually enters early access once the technical test is complete.
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