Summary
Supergiant’s upcomingHades 2has a lot of potential. It’s the studio’s first-ever sequel and serves as a follow-up to 2020’s critically acclaimed, dense roguelike. Although the first game was a landmark title for the genre, it’s possible thatHades 2can improve upon the foundationsit set by adding new features and expanding upon what already works.
While plenty of information still needs to be revealed about the game, it seems likeHades 2will be at least somewhat connected to its predecessor. Players will assume the role of Melinoe, Zagreus’s sister, as she faces off against Chronos. Naturally, famous icons and creatures from Greek mythology will be making a return, but Supergiant has stated that the sequel will have a greater focus on witchcraft, which opens the door to a number of different possibilities. While there are somelimitations that come withHades 2’s new premise, the game has the chance to improve upon certain elements from the first game, such as the cast of bosses.
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Hades 2 Should Have More Boss Battles
The structure of aHadesrun is relatively straightforward: players fight their way through a number of different rooms, gather upgrades and abilities, and finally fight a boss which serves as the culmination of the region. This process is then repeated a few times until the player reaches Hades, the final boss. The pattern makes for an engaging gameplay loop, but long-time players might wind up feeling like the collection of unique bosses is somewhat lean.
There aren’ttoo many boss battles inHades. All told, there are seven boss encounters in the game, with one being a secret fight with Charon and three being fights with one of the Furies, which can feel similar to one another. The game bolsters this selection of boss fights through the Extreme Measures Pact of Punishment, which allows for bosses to be strengthened with new phases or abilities. In many ways, this quality-over-quantity approach works in the game’s favor, as each boss battle is well-crafted and enjoyable, especially with the new additions brought about by Extreme Measures.
Still, the sequel could offer a massive leap forward by offering an expanded roster of bosses.Hadesis incredibly replayable, but fighting the same handful of bosses time and time again can get a little stale, even if Extreme Measures keeps things feeling fresh a bit longer.Hadesis meant to be played for dozens of hours, so this is less than ideal.
That’s not to say thatHades 2needs to have a dizzying number of boss battles, though. The game can still be more contained, but it should aim to offer at least a bit more than its predecessor. This would help with the issue of variability, but it would also help the game stand out against what came before it, giving players a similar experience, but one that is stepped up a couple of notches. WithHadescharacters being based on Greekmythology, there is a wealth of potential for inventive, mechanically interesting battles, andHades 2should capitalize on that by adding more boss encounters, and potentially a few more secret or optional ones as well.
The studio’s other games, while critically acclaimed, have been one-off titles, so it will certainly be interesting to see what the company does with a follow-up game.Hades 2has some god-like shoes to fill, as the first game set the bar sky-high. There are a number of ways this sequel can stand out, and bolstering the collection of bosses on offer is just one of them.
Hades 2is in development.
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