Even in Early Access, Hades II makes a compelling case for being the greatest roguelike ever made. Supergiant has done what seemed impossible — improve on a masterpiece.
Where Zagreus was built for momentum, Melinoë — the new protagonist — is built for precision. Her spellcraft-focused moveset represents a deliberate design pivot from her predecessor's combat style. Channelled omega attacks require brief windups but unleash devastating crowd control. The result is combat that rewards patient positioning rather than relentless aggression. It is a smart way to differentiate the sequel without invalidating the original's identity.
The map is structured around surface and underworld routes from Melinoë's witch-training hub, the Crossroads. Each path tells a different story and introduces different mechanical challenges. The structure avoids the repetition trap that plagues many roguelikes — the promise of genuinely new content on subsequent runs, not just shuffled rewards. This structural ambition is what separates Hades II from its competition.
Greg Kasavin and Supergiant's writing team continue to set the standard for character writing in games. The returning cast is deeper than ever; the new cast — Hecate, Nemesis, Moros — are immediately memorable. The romance writing is more mature and less adolescent than the original, and the Olympian politics are genuinely funny. No game has better understood how to serialise narrative across infinite runs.
Large sections of the story, endgame content and balance passes remain unfinished. Some boons need rebalancing. The final zones are under active development. But the fundamentals are so strong that even at this stage, Hades II outclasses the majority of finished roguelikes. Early buyers will watch it improve over months with free updates.
Buy it now, play it now. Hades II is already better than most finished games. Supergiant has done what seemed impossible: improved on a masterpiece. The full release is one of the most anticipated events in gaming.
https://ninth-art.de5.net/reviews/hades-2/