PC HADES 2 **Early access

[rikwebb]

Can be a hype slayer, yeah – has to be for some. I think early access a newer thing and some even argue it a FOMO marketing ploy tacked on to more traditional playtesting of alpha and beta production builds. Early access might have benefits in concept but here, for example, Supergiant has said it will run at least until January 2025, at what rate I have to think overexposure, no? Long time.

On the contrary, Baldur's Gate 3, iirc, had a lengthy early access (years?) and that went on to do extremely well. I'm a registered playtester for two studios but no-one has ever said, yo, play this for 12 months and submit your feedback, aaayyy.

Going to have to leave it at not being the target demographic myself for early access. In MP and GaaS titles, there'd be more early access pull for me if exclusive vanity or swag was awarded but for SP rogues, it's genre diehards only, I have to think.

The first game had Early Access for nearly two years and still sold 700,000 before full release on PC

 

[Ashen One]

Well, I beat the final boss and have accessed the alternate (yet incomplete) route up to Mt. Olympus.

It is late so I will edit or post again on how I feel this sequel compares to the original.

 

[Valhoven]

Well, I beat the final boss and have accessed the alternate (yet incomplete) route up to Mt. Olympus.

It is late so I will edit or post again on how I feel this sequel compares to the original.

Respect, Ash.

 

[Ashen One]

Okay. After a few more various runs and unlocking almost everything so far I can give a proper review as of the current state of the game.

1. The question you ask first: How does it hold up to the original?
A: Just fine. It improves on mechanics but provides a different playstyle as well.

2. How are the upgrades/boons?
A: Same as the first game although quite a few require buffs atm being as it is in Early Access

3. Bosses/enemies
A: MUCH tankier than before and late game can provide some frustrating encounters. Learning enemy attack patterns are more important than ever. Armored enemies are MUCH worse than in the first installment. Bosses do have quite predictable moves though.

4. Keepsakes and upgrades.
A: Well, THIS is my biggest gripe. In Hades 1 you could max out everything in the mirror and have an ideal build even without a proper loadout. This time around, you BETTER choose your "mirror" or Arcana this time for each specific weapon.

5. What's different?
Quite a bit. You can now sprint after your dodge. Your cast isn't reserved to crystals and works MUCH differently. More currency types. Different type of the "Mirror" upgrades work as something called Arcana Cards. There is also an alternate path up to Mt Olympus but that is incomplete so far.

Overall, for it being in Early Access, the game is a 9 alone based just off of content. I fully expect them to balance and patch weaker boons as well as damage for enemies.

 

[Makani]

Still has a ways to go to match Hades 1, but decent foundation. Boons feel a lot more boring now, feels like too many of them are weird Buffs that don't do enough against Bosses or are solely to keep your Mana up. Not having iframes after you get hit means you can lose an entire HP bar to 1 bad decision, and there are less ways to get lives back. Some weapon Aspects feel super strong and some very boring. The Scylla bossfight is pretty much the only good one, you can tell they worked on it a lot. I have 300 hours in 1 and think it was a much tighter package, but they have time and credibility, I'll wait and see.

I think a lot of people wanted some more adventures with Zagreus and the old cast, it's kind of a shock just having them all captured from the get-go, a lot of the new characters just don't have much going on yet to suck you in. I never skipped dialogue in 1 but I skip Eris, Nem and Odysseus quite a bit.