Hades II

Hades II is the sequel to the acclaimed roguelike from Supergiant Games, this time casting Melinoë, daughter of Hades and Persephone, in the lead role as she fights against the Titan Chronos. The player once again plunges into repeated runs through the underworld and the surface world, collects boons from the gods, and assembles a build from weapons, spells, and abilities that change with every run. Combat is faster and more varied than in the first game, with the addition of incantations, potion brewing, and an expanded map with more biomes through which the player gradually fights their way toward the Titan himself. Between runs, Melinoë returns to the Crossroads, where she grows herbs in her garden, brews potions, and builds relationships with other gods and figures of the underworld. The game also introduces the Arcana system, sets of cards with permanent passive abilities that replace the Mirror of Night from the first game and let players fine-tune their build even before entering the underworld.

On PC, Hades II first launched on May 6, 2024, as early access exclusively on Steam, meaning as an actively developed game without a definitive story ending. Supergiant Games gradually expanded the version with new characters, weapons, areas, and narrative based on player feedback, before bringing the game to its final form in 2025, which was subsequently received by the other platforms as well. Whoever bought the game at this early stage followed its development in real time, could influence the direction of balance changes through community discussions and surveys, and effectively helped shape the game themselves. During early access, the game went through several major updates that added new weapons, gods, and story chapters, before reaching version 1.0 in 2025.

Why play it: For fans of the first Hades, this is a logical continuation with a new heroine, a faster combat pace, and a fresh mythological story. Anyone who enjoys watching a game come together from the inside and shaping its development with their own feedback will appreciate this particular PC version, with a long history of updates that no other platform ever got. Developer notes and regular updates also offer a glimpse into the process of how a balanced roguelike game is born, step by step.