Iro
@Iro

It's a good thing Supergiant's had good game feel, good art, good music, and good writing across four different games, because otherwise I would not fucking bother with this at all.

I played enough to beat the first zone's boss five times, like the pop-up says is the intended limit of the technical test. It's alright, maybe a little easy if you're really good at Hades (I consider myself Okay at Hades, and once I got through 2/3rds of the upgrade deck I won three times in a row). The new gods/goddesses are cool - Jen Zee and crew's art is as amazing as ever - but I feel like Zeus's art in particular is a bit of a downgrade. I hate the Banshee enemy that just projects a damage zone in front of itself and chases you; I imagine it's meant to force you to learn how to sprint and use your rooting cast ability. I'm also iffy on the charge attack mana bar mechanic because so much else relies on you using it.

Otherwise, I mean, it sure is more Hades. There are more Boons, more abilities, more resources, more unlockables, more characters, more biomes, more bosses, whatever. It's Hades II; it's exactly what it professes to be. I think the first game sold more than the rest of their catalog combined. People love that shit. And that's like, fine, you know. It's... safe.

I cannot begrudge that in these times. But I do find it creatively unfulfilling after each other Supergiant game to date was a fascinating new world, building mechanically and thematically upon the last. Perhaps they were always just seeking their own Don't Starve type release that could sustain the studio indefinitely. Who can say.

I'll still probably play it when it comes out, but I'm liable to grumble while I do.


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in reply to @Iro's post:

i'm very much hoping the game gets more subversive in some way further on, reading this. i was initially groaning at the announcement for much the same reasons you outline here but got won over after i looked into how much care they put into Melinoë's weaponry.

i was pleased that they bothered to depict Hephestus as disabled and fat considering how...safe, the designs were in Hades 1 for comventionally attractive characters. waiting to see if i get into the technical test myself.

Has anyone understood why there is a technical test? Early access of early access for a solo game is a bit much

And yeah I was already worried about the sequel being too safe, especially because for me Hades is their worst game :(

i understand what you mean but there is also a neurotic part of my brain that's saying "actually i believe all of their games are on the same engine". please understand

I'm defo part of the problem in that I'll gobble out Hades 2 no matter what. But I really hope there's bigger swings that we just can't see yet: maybe they could be setting up a change in mentor/hub partway through with the tension between Mel and Hecate, maybe the "postgame" will look totally different as Mel isn't solving a divorce but rather fighting a war, who knows...

Sometimes people just enjoy what they made, and want more as much as people who didn't make it enjoyed it.

I mean, it definitely just sounds like playing it is gunna be awful for you, so I wouldn't exactly recommend you play it and grumble while you do.

Supposedly (I just read someone say this in a Discord, I don't have a quote) the studio justification for a Hades 2 was that they explicitly wanted to work on a sequel game project where a bunch of groundwork already had been laid so they could have a more complete game to playtest from the beginning. I'm understanding of that, but it definitely doesn't look like a particularly interesting game and I hope this project doesn't take too long to wrap up and that they do something new again next time...

I totally understand there are many reasons why they would make a Hades 2 and I expect I will play and enjoy the game but I cannot help but yearn for something new

Yeah, I'm fully skipping this one myself, I played a dozen hours or so of the first one and felt satisfied. I hope the wait for something different from them again doesn't get too long.