While still in Early Access, Hades 2 is taking the world by storm as one of the best games of 2024. But how exactly does it compare to its successful predecessor?
The Early Access release of Hades 2 on May 6, 2024, achieved a peak of over 79,000 concurrent players on Steam in the first 24 hours. In comparison, the original Hades earned only 37,749 simultaneous players in its lifetime peak, which shows how highly anticipated the sequel was. Does this make it a better game overall? Let’s see!
Graphics and art style
Although Hades 2 features the same art style as the prequel, it introduces significantly enhanced depth of visuals and updated character designs. The same goes for the noticeably cleaner user interface.
The sequel doesn’t shy away from making everything even more polished and pleasing to the eye, which is a change no one asked for but everyone needed.
The music and voice acting also share the prequel’s style, featuring similar themes with one exception – Melinoe dubbed by the outstanding Judy Alice Lee, whom some of us may know from Diablo 4, Fallout 76, Ghost of Tsushima, or Starfield.
Gameplay mechanics
According to the developer’s post on Steam, Hades 2 offers ‘more environments, foes, and fully voiced characters than the full version of the original Hades game.’
We already know the game gives us a highly diverse selection of locations to explore, with Oceanus, Surface, Erebus, and Fields of Mourning among the most important ones. However, Crossroads – Melinoe’s safe haven – is the standout location. Hades 1’s protagonist, Zagreus, could use the House of Hades to his heart’s content – but it didn’t offer as many fun activities as Crossroads.
Melinoe can now use her base to grow plants, bathe in a hot spring, enjoy the Arcana Card meditation spot, or bond with other characters. It is so packed with activities that players rarely want to leave it.
Melinoe arrives with an entirely new and thrilling combat system involving the Magick bar and the sprint ability. As a witch under Hecate’s training, she can cast powerful incantations and moves capable of dealing impressive damage over larger areas.
All this comes with brand-new weapons the protagonist can unlock throughout the game. And if that’s still not enough, Hades II expands the companion system. In Hades 1, the companions operated on the principle of summons – now Melinoe can freely recruit cute animal familiars, like Frino the Frog and Toula the Cat.
There are also dedicated tools for resource harvesting, like Rod of Fishing, Crescent Pick, Silver Spade, and Tablet of Peace. All these features are already more than the prequel had to offer, and there is definitely more to come in the future, as the game is still in Early Access.
Story and characters
In addition to Melinoe as the game’s protagonist, Hades 2 features a rich array of familiar and completely new characters – much more than the prequel.
While we can’t expect the charming company of Dionysus, Ares, Nyx, or Athena, there will be Apollo, Selene, Hephaestus, Hestia, Hera, Eris, Nemesis, Moros, Hecate, and, of course, Chronos as the main antagonist. In addition to all these characters, Hades 2 includes Medea, Dora, Arachne, Icarus, Odysseus, Narcissus, Echo, and Heracles.
The presence of all these personalities makes sense because, as the Princess of the Underworld, Melinoe is tasked with defeating her grandfather, Chronos.
It is a direct continuation of Hades 1’s plot, allowing us to discover what happened to Hades and what the Titan of Time’s current plans are for Olympus and the gods. The story is neither worse nor better than the prequel – it’s a similarly fascinating adventure.
Challenges and boss fights
Many players point out that although Hades 1 is faster and contains more enemies, Hades 2 is a more complex game. Combat requires strategic thinking, as enemies have more moves – but so does Melinoe.
In this game, confronting bosses is even more addictive because they often drop ingredients necessary for future incantations and upgrades. Without them, the protagonist may not have a chance against powerful bosses like Hecate, Chronos, Eris, or Charybdis.
Replayability
Hades and Hades 2 go head to head regarding replayability. The sequel definitely incorporates the experience the developers gained by releasing the first part, which many players have played for even hundreds of hours.
Considering all the challenges, boons, characters, unlockable weapons, and combat strategies, both games are almost as replayable as the champion of this category – The Binding of Isaac.
Conclusion
So, is Hades 2 better than its predecessor? When it comes to popularity, yes. But in reality, this game is an evolution of the roguelike masterpiece we experienced in the prequel.
Its overall improvement is due to the introduction of proven solutions and mechanics that have been further refined. Don’t forget that while both Hades games can be played separately, they represent a narrative whole that tastes best one after another. The final verdict?
It is a tie, and we highly recommend both titles, conquering the indie gaming scene at an astonishing rate.