Introduction
How could one not like Greek mythology? It has been popular again recently. When having an academic background in the humanities and western literature, one could not avoid having lessons and subjects regarding Greek mythology. It, thus, came to me as a surprise that this type of knowledge is currently mainstream in the gaming world. A few big games of Greek mythology involve God of War, which is exclusively available to the Sony consoles (e.g. Sony Playstation and the earlier Sony PSP), Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Immortals Fenyx Rising. Another big shot is the Hades series produced and released by Supergiant Games. The following short article shall discuss the second instalment in the franchise: Hades II for the Nintendo Switch 2.
I must confess that I was not familiar with the Hades series until recently. The Nintendo Store suggested the game to me based on my previous titles. After seeing the trailer, I was sold. I do not know what it was, but after hearing Hecate epically say:
‘Well, daughter of Hades, Princess of the Underworld, it would seem that you are finally prepared, but time itself is against us. War has come to Mount Olympus’.
My inner Greek mythology fan awakened. It is sometimes funny how a cool cinematic voice could inspire and sway potential buyers over. I had the same experience when viewing the trailer of Hades II.
Greek mythology
When looking at the Greek mythology in the game, I was intrigued by the ‘Princess of the Underworld’. I could not remember the fact that Persephone mothered two children: one of Hades and one of Zeus. The game explicitly makes both children Hades’. Yet, Greek mythology remains a bit doubtful whether both children were not conceived by Zeus disguising himself as Hades. Zeus would have tricked Persephone — mind you, his daughter — twice into sexual intercourse. Although I cannot truly believe that this trick worked twice for dirty ol’ Zeus, there must have been a fault in translation or in transcription when referring to Persephone’s children.
Supergiant Games delivered two games that boldly broke the never-ending discussion. They chose both Zagreus and Melinoë to act as brother and sister to each other, while Hades and Persephone parented them. For major Greek mythology lovers and geeks, this decision may prove fatal for them to play the games at all. Such a personal verdict may not be too fair for the overall games (and their amazing gameplay and designs). I shall not indulge myself now in Hades (I), although it shall sometimes be inevitable to not do so, but I shall remain true to my analysis of Hades II.
What Makes Hades II So Good?
I have been questioning this a lot myself, as I found myself instantly hyped and hooked after playing the game for the very first time. The voice in the introduction, which later appears to be Homer, sets the stage and tone perfectly, allowing the audience to get to know the name of the protagonist and her role as Princess of the Underworld. Despite that, this seems a pretty straightforward approach to any video game, _Hades II_’s power resides in failing. Homer already speculates and tells how Melinoë must defeat Chronos, her grandfather and Titan of Time, to save her family. To defeat him, she requires defeating time. How could one even destroy time? What kind of world shall there be left without time? It is a question which Melinoë questions herself consistently, when Hecate pushes her through and demands this task of her.
Ruthless
When you fail in this game, it is where the narrative becomes ‘alive’ and more comprehensive. You shall get flashbacks from Melinoë’s upbringing, and every failure (or later success) allows for you to chat with the NPCs that stand ready for you at the Crossroads. Each failed or completed run lets you speak once with one of the NPCs, which miraculously tend to have numerous dialogues ready. Although there may arise a moment sometime in the future, I could not detect any duplicates in dialogue yet. Returning to my previous question, as to why this game is highly engaging, one could imagine that these various dialogues contribute immensely to this gaming experience. Even at the end of the game, Hades II offers dialogues that are anticipating the player’s overall clearance of the game. The developers must have had a keen eye for detail and a player’s need.
Hades II seems to adhere perfectly to the rogue-like genre in video games. I was personally not well-acquainted with this specific genre before starting Hades II. Rogue-like video games tend to be games that lets players analyse and strategise their approach in a difficult dungeon crawl. Hades II lends itself splendidly to this definition. At first, the game could be deemed hard, and it is even to such an extent difficult that Eris pops up to you, whenever you already hit a next floor; she grants you a ‘buff’ that makes any enemy’s strike significantly more painful and lethal. The game does feel limited by such, as it forces you to fail. But then again, it is from this failure that the story could truly envelop.
Where Is the Humour?
I found that some reviewers said that Hades II lacks the comic characteristic of its predecessor. Although I played the first instalment a bit later than the second one, I could say that I would like to attack these reviewers’ opinion. Hades II contains a lot of humour. Melinoë seems to be the main target for these reviewers, as she tends to be less funny and perceived as more serious than her older brother. While this may ring a certain truth, her humour rests particularly in its dryness. Her approach is much more serious than Zagreus. But who could truly blame her for this? Unlike Zagreus, she never had the opportunity to meet her family. Her only goal in life seems to be to kill Chronos and have a ‘normal’ life. Melinoë’s current ‘normal’ comprises training for murdering her grandfather. This training is led by Hecate. Her serious tone, therefore, could be easily traced back to this. Whereas Zagreus felt like a rebellious teen trying to escape his father’s grasp, Melinoë’s plot encourages a lot more dedication and a serious approach to the matter of things. One could argue that the writers addressed her character accordingly to this.
Too serious?
Despite her seriousness and sometimes good charm, Melinoë’s character may not be the one who could make someone smile instantly (although I still had moments where I could not help myself but laugh about her dialogue). There are some other eccentric characters that fulfil this act. They are found among the Greek god pantheon. Even, Chronos seems to be a joker at times. A few of the most hilarious characters involve Narcissus, Hades, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Dora, Hestia and Polyphemus. As you could see, humour is not banned from Hades II. It holds true that Melinoë is a more serious character than her older brother, though. Yet, despite this, her character does often shine in her seriousness, which made me laugh more than a couple of times. As some have argued that it falls short in humour regarding its predecessor, I would like to doubt this premise or even conclusion to some. Could you really say that the humour died in Hades II? No, I do not think so.
The Good, the Bad…?
Many people also tend to be upset about the ending in Hades II. To be fair, I could understand their perspective. Some argue that the game’s ending does not make any sense, since Melinoë’s entire life and training was to slay her ol’ grandfather time. Without spoiling too much, which I am unfortunately forced to do now, the true ending lets Melinoë play nice again with her grandfather and the rest of her family. Although it is enjoyable that she finally realises her goal of reuniting her long-lost family, it is peculiar that Melinoë’s certain training dissipates as snow in the burning sun.
Good versus evil?
Like I mentioned before, I understand where people are coming from when having such a critique on the game’s story. Yet, this does not stop me from defending the writers of this game. I do not know whether the plot was written by a single mind or by multiple ones, but they did an excellent job for having this ending instead. I, too, must admit that I still find it weird to see Chronos grandfathering Melinoë. Yet, the plot gained depth rather than letting it fell under a simple and plain kill the bad guy scenario. The writers of the game made it more ‘modern’ and humane to approach a villain like this. Naturally, when considering the characters of the chthonic world, they already tend to have a certain ‘villain’ name to them. Supergiant Games succeeds in breaking this stereotype and make them instead of the villains the heroes. What I want to say by this is that the line between the traditional ‘good’ and ‘evil’ stands at a very thin thread in this game. Where underworld figures are villains in all other Greek mythology video games, Hades II turns this around. It is not surprising that the authors just as easily made Chronos from the big baddy to the good granddaddy.
Verdict
I want to end this short article by saying that Hades II literally blows my mind. The game seems to have a never-ending structure to its core. There is one thing that stands as a bit of a turndown to me, and this is the fact that the game seems to repeat itself over and over again. After having spent several of the same runs, the game could become a bit tedious, even though that there seems to be innovation in dialogue after every run.
There is, however, a possibility to make your runs more challenging. These involve night oaths. They allow, for instance, your enemies to be stronger and more lethal. Yet, I could imagine that, even though that these challenges could enhance your gaming experience, someone could grow bored after fighting the same enemies over and over again. Did the game surpass Hades I? Yes. Some say that Hades I has a much more potent storyline, which I beg to differ. Yes, its story is not too complicated (save your family from a dreadful and strong villain), but its complexities rest in the story’s ‘weird’ tidings (such as forgiving Chronos and letting him become a true grandfather). The story, therefore, acts as a much deeper one than its predecessor. Would I recommend Hades II to anyone else? Yes, I definitely would! It remains one of the few games on my Nintendo Switch 2 that I played with quite an amount of playtime.