Witchy woman, she's got the moon in her eye

Hades (2020), despite taking place in Hell, told a somewhat light story about family drama. Hades II wastes no time establishing more dire stakes.

Chronos has returned, and he's not especially happy with his children. The underworld's been overthrown and Hades, Persephone, and Zagreus have all been taken captive -- but Melinoë, newborn daughter of Hades, was smuggled away. And after being raised and trained by the witch Hecate, she's ready to enact her own revenge plan. Death to Chronos.

So where Zagreus fought his way through hordes of the dead, from the Hall of Hades up to the surface, Mel essentially does the reverse: fights through Chronos's hordes on her way down to the Hall, to face the Titan of Time. And, like her brother, she wields a variety of mythical weapons with distinct techniques and tactics; collects helpful boons from the gods of Olympus; and when overwhelmed, retreats to her home base to recuperate and power up.

Yeah, it is the same formula as last time. Hades II isn't interested in changing what worked, or up-ending the successful balance of action and storytelling that Supergiant found before; other than Melinoë's omega-moves and mana bar (effectively replacing Zagreus's bloodstones), jumping into Hades II felt just like I was playing more Hades. Which I was already happy with!

But what's remarkable about Hades II is how much more it does with that formula. More combat abilities, more progression mechanics and collectibles, more between-run activities, more characters to chat up... even more levels to run through!

(In addition to the underworld path - the journey downward to Chronos - Mel can take a surface-world path to defend Mount Olympus! And can unlock partially-scripted "Chaos Trial" challenges! And "Dream Dive" runs which randomly re-order the map regions every run!)

Hades II expertly combines old and new content, so that even when Melinoë sees a familiar face, it never feels too familiar.

And it's the same with her mid-run powerups: returning boon-givers have exciting new bonuses, plus all-new blessings like sun-powered stuns from Apollo! and Hestia's blazing flames! (and more!) There are new ways to build strength through complementary boons, including Infusions which become more powerful with boons of appropriate elements. And then there's Selene, whose Path of Stars boon is an entire damn upgrade tree itself.

My one gripe with Hades was that unlocking NPC conversations, and finally seeing the epilogue, took more and more runs -- I thought the dialog blocks could've been more streamlined. But Hades II solved that problem in a surprisingly different way: by giving me so much to do - so many upgrades and prophecies and character bonds to fulfill, so many choices of what to do for my next run, there are fucking farm plots to plant seeds and grow spellcasting ingredients - that I had no problem sustaining the motivation to keep playing.

This is of course on top of the same incredible art, music, writing, and voice acting that Supergiant has become known for.

"I Am Gonna Claw" is a particular highlight of Hades II's soundtrack, along with several other catchy tunes from Scylla and the Sirens.

I got so into Hades II that I even tried some of its more-difficult post-game content, using the Oath of the Unseen and unveiling statues of Night's Champion. ... not all of them, 'cause I'm still not that "good" at the game's fast and tactical combat, and continued relying on God Mode's damage reduction like last time. But I legitimately enjoyed getting to see each boss's alternate Vow of Rivals form.

Not since Portal 2 have I been so thoroughly impressed by a sequel that doesn't change the original. Like, it's not trying to appeal to a new audience or invent a new style of play or re-visit how the first game works -- it's just more. So much more. And I can scarcely imagine what could possibly follow it.

Better than: Hades (2020)
Not as good as: really, I can't think of what could be better at what Hades is doing.
I'm serious about those catchy siren songs: and almost felt bad when defeating Scylla interrupted them.