Found em'!

(Spoilers ahead for Hades II end game--read with caution!)

My ultimate goal in Hades II was to locate the missing three fates.  Chronos, in his fit of evil, cast the weavers into the timeless abyss and intimated that there was really no way to find them.  As a result, Melinoë has to cast about killing fragments of Typhon and Chronos that are still lurking in other timelines.  I killed them both repeatedly and there were very few conversations about locating the fates.  I supposed that I just needed to continue venturing into the underworld.

It turns out that finding the fates is tied to one of the tasks on the fated list of minor prophecies.  Unfortunately, I have no idea which one--I think its one related to befriending various characters and especially Lord Moros.  It was after I had completed that task that I randomly noticed that the prophecy about the fates had changed--before it had simply said that you needed to find the fates and now it actually had instructions on how to do it.  It's not a matter of just repeatedly killing the big baddies, but rather a specific sequence where you need to equip Moros's keepsake (the engraved pin), activate it (by bringing you health down to 0 and then clearing the room within 10 seconds) in three successive chambers within Oceanus.  Then, you simply die and voila, there's a new cutscene where you meet the mysterious fates.  The fates decide that they're just going to leave the humans alone and let things happen without any intervention or prophecies.  There's a nice ending cutscene and an achievement about reaching the epilogue.

A magnificently inaccurate statue.

Now that I've completed my main goal, I'm not sure how much more I'm going to continue with Hades II.  There are still plenty of story and combat achievements that I am somewhat interested in seeing how they play out.  I decided to go for the first "champion of the night" challenge (it requires you to complete the surface and underworld with a certain amount of fear from the Vows of the Unseen) and managed to complete it fairly easily.  The reward?  A rather unrealistic statue of a very muscular Melinoë.  I haven't managed to develop deep bonds with everyone and somehow have wound up in a sort of romantic relationship with Lord Moros.  This whole "romance" thing is something I don't remember from Hades, but I guess it adds some flavor to the characters in the game.  I'd like to discover why Hecate seems reluctant to fully open up to Melinoë and figure out how to life Arachne's curse...so maybe I'll keep playing.

When it's all said and done, Hades II has turned out to be a great second entry.  The combat is challenging and enjoyable and the characters, voice acting, and story are well-designed to keep you playing even after you've accomplished your main goal.  I expect that it will take home some hardware in the upcoming gaming awards...and it's definitely well deserved.