Witchin' it Up

I'm a firm believer that waiting is almost always worth it...even if it's really hard.  I thoroughly enjoyed Hades and it's truly one of my favorites and the only roguelike/lite that I've ever stuck with.  When Hades II was announced it was extremely tempting to hop into early access.  Personally, I'm not a big fan of playing during early access.  Sure, there is some value in being part of the development process and seeing how all the pieces fall into place, but I would much rather just wait for the finished product rather than the stop and start process of playing during EA.  I'm finally playing Hades II and it has definitely been worth the wait.

The first thing that I'll report is that I'm not great at it.  I still haven't managed to take down either of the big baddies (fun fact--there are two this time around!) but I definitely feel like I'm making progress.  Hades is such a classic that they've kept most of the base gameplay--you're still navigating through an everchanging set of rooms to reach your ultimate goal of facing off with a boss at the end of each zone.  Between bouts of fighting, Melinoe returns to her Crossroads base where she can invest resources to unlock special items/events that can appear during certain parts of each run.  And, of course, there are plenty of new companions to chat up and befriend--the legendary witch Hecate, the brave adventurer Odysseus, the friendly shade Dora, the openly hostile Nemesis...and others who appear.

Fighting in Hades II mostly the same as in the first game with a few notable changes.  Melinoe has the same basic attack and special attack but also can use special, powerful magick attacks that consume magick (a new resource that refills at the beginning of each encounter).  Magick attacks can be a bit tricky because they take a few precious seconds to launch and constant movement is almost required.  Successfully incorporating magick attacks definitely throws a new element into the gameplay.  Another semi-controversial change that I've barely even noticed is the fact that Melinoe cannot dash as constantly as Zagreus.  Fights are still very movement/dash heavy so it's vital to add in Melinoe's unique ability to drop a magickal circle that can stop/slow enemies.

My, my lord Dionysus...nice bulge you got there.
(*he's noticeably missing from the gods that grant boons)

The cast of gods and goddesses you meet in Hades II features many of the favorites from the first game--Zeus, Poseidon, Aphrodite (a much less clothed version), Hermes, and many, but not all of the originals.  There are also a few new faces like Hephaestus, Hestia, and Hera (the H crew!).  Hestia (goddess of the hearth) offers up boons that include a scorch debuff that serves as damage over time and is my new favorite.  Not to say that Hephaestus and Hera don't also have some great new boons--Hephaestus offers abilities that have a slightly longer cooldown, but can do an impressive amount of damage.  Hera's boons involve a new debuff called "hitch" that will split damage among all the enemies that are afflicted by it.

As you befriend the classic and new gods and goddesses they grant you a new set of keepsakes to test out.  One of my new favorites is the glass onion--a handy trinket that will grant up to a certain amount of health throughout a zone (it starts off at like 25 and then increases as you level it up).  It's handy for keeping your health topped up throughout a run, but is pretty useless once you've burned through it.

One of my favorite new boss fights features Scylla and the Sirens.

One of the new (*which might not be new, but that I didn't unlock in the first game) aspects of gameplay that I'm enjoying is the ability to befriend animal familiars who will accompany Melinoe on runs.  Each familiar has a specific combat ability and can also make gathering certain resources simpler.  So far I've unlocked three and they each offer up something different--Frinos, Melinoe's favorite amphibian friend, slows projectiles and can hypnotize spirits for their psyche; Toula, a stray cat, can periodically attack foes, can catch fish, and offers up an additional death defiance, and Hecuba, Hecate's canine familiar, periodically stuns foes and can dig up buried resources.  There are even more to find and unlock!

Even though I'm basically an abject failure at Hades II and haven't managed to accomplish the main goal, everyone knows that the best part is the journey.  Befriending your allies and all the gods and goddesses is like gradually unraveling a story.  The thing that Hades does well is making you want to keep playing even as you don't always have success.  I'm looking forward to my continued journey and DEATH TO CHRONOS (...someday!)!