I finally bought Hades 2 after waiting for weeks for free time to start playing (hello winter break) and it's so much better than I thought it might be since we all know sequels can be repetitive or lacking creativity.
It feels like two games in one - what with the upper and lower levels. All I knew going into the game (I avoid most trailers and spoilers) that Melinoë was doing a reverse trip into Hades but I didn't know how or why.
It's a compelling story! I love that there are new characters and added components like witches, familiars, shades (as back up), and other changes with materials, boons, the book of knowledge, etc.
I haven't beaten the game yet so I don't know if they'll do a similar thing like with Zagreus where it can be replayed even after beating the final boss and "winning".
I've only gotten to Grandpa Chronos twice so far and died so terribly that I can't imagine how I'm supposed to beat him on my own. Unless that's the point and I'm not supposed to be alone (do we get the gang back together for the final showdown?).
On this note - I really appreciate that even though Mel goes to the house of Hades, it's all completely different paths. It's reminiscent but not identical which adds a freshness to the gameplay and a hint of nostalgia (the first time we got sent to Asphodel I got so excited).
I've also yet to beat Eris but I'm getting closer I feel it. I don't know what comes after her but this game is good at keeping me hooked on playing (the last 24 hours has been nonstop playing this game).
The only things so far that I am not liking much:
1) It's still really hard for me to know which boons go in which spot. Some of them I can tell - like the foot is the dash. But then there are others (like cast and magick) that are harder for me to differentiate. I think part of that is because there are so many new boons that it's not guaranteed the ones offered will fill those core spots. Also the graphics/icons are too similar. Whereas in Hades 1, it was pretty easy to pick up on the boons and where they go and how they operate. I think this will just take time for me to get proficient in reading.
2) sometimes when fighting a boss (like Cerberus) the screen will zoom out and that makes it a bit harder to fight. Also when this happens I feel like everything gets a lot slower? I don't know if that's just lag or by design but it can be very frustrating.
And 3) there's too much dialogue that I have to listen to/read. I'm not anti-story or anti-reading but the dialogue feels so much more than in the first game and there's no indication about the length of the conversations. I think 2 (no more than 3) clicks to advance the speaker in a convo is enough, anything more is excessive, especially since it's just banter...all the characters say so many words at one time.
Overall, I loved Hades 1. It was so fun and I still play it frequently. I had low hopes for Hades 2 but I think I may like it a bit more. Just because it's offering something mostly different while also keeping some things consistent across the two games. Also it reminds me a bit of TOTK which we love (still need to beat that game omg).
