The iconic indie roguelike game Hades has its sequel’s full release coming out on September 25, 2025.
Developed by Supergiant Games in 2020, Hades was a hack-and-slash dungeon crawler based on Greek mythology where players portray the son of Hades, Zagreous. Throughout the years, Hades has been critically acclaimed by both critics and general audiences for its fast pace and tight controls, along with the item variety that comes with being a roguelike. Hades has been nominated for best action game and best indie game of the year at the Game Awards. As of 2024, the sequel to Hades, Hades 2, was released under pre-release, meaning the game was released lacking some content for game testing purposes before the full release.
Even from the pre-release, Hades 2 has shown to be mechanically independent from its original, expanding on the gameplay and combat to warrant the sequel. The core gameplay of the series, being fighting through a dungeon wave of enemies, gaining more and more power from the gods and dying only to try again from the start, is maintained in Hades 2. While Hades 2 is able to keep the core aspects of the series, it provides a large assortment of new aspects like weapons, a resource mechanic and interactable characters to draw power from. The story is set after the events of the original game, with the Titan of time, Chronos, invading the House of Hades and taking it as his domain, leading you as Melinoë, Zagreous’ sister, to rebel against his influence over the underworld.
Hades 2 accomplishes in expanding all aspects of the original, and that has led to a difference in opinion for both. Hades 2 has a larger focus on ranged attacks and a new magic meter, while Hades has its focus on more close-range fighting. This is supported in aspects like Hades 2 changing the three dashes and projectile attack (Cast) to being a single long dash with sprinting and an attack of an area bind (Cast) to support a more careful attacking style. The magic system in Hades 2 allows for an extensive and destructive arsenal, but leaves you vulnerable to charging attacks.
The bosses and a wider selection of permanent upgrades support a more player-friendly difficulty curve that encourages the player to improve more based on creating a successful build rather than full technical skill. This contrasts with the original, which mostly aims for the exact opposite, yet is far easier as a result. Despite this, Hades 2 has overall significantly more content than Hades, though both offer their own unique experiences under the same core gameplay.
Hades 2 is a massive expansion on the original Hades, taking its gameplay style and changing every other aspect of it to provide a new, fresh experience. The game has been created to be less based on growth in skill as in the original, but growth in understanding the mechanics and using your abilities to the fullest. The large amount of new content gives consumers more than enough of a reason to get this game.
I would rate the game a 5 out of 5 due to its flawless execution of its genre and being a sequel. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys the roguelike genre and high difficulty, or people who enjoy Greek mythology and the stories that can be told with it.
