Hades II

Hades 2 is an undoubtedly excellent game, but it can't quite escape the shadow cast by the original – I just know I won't be playing this one as much as the first. That's okay, of course, but it has me once again looking forward to Supergiant's next new idea, not what they're doing now.

Hades 2's art is breathtaking, its characters are captivating, the combat is fast, fun, endlessly varied, and tactical, and the music is spectacular.

I've pushed past the credits and am onto the hunt for the 'true' ending, now, and I am still being surprised by what can still be found tucked into the creases and folds of Hades 2. Supergiant's visionary approach to storytelling and roguelike design has not suffered at all from the success of Hades: it merely emboldened it.

Hades II improves on nearly every aspect of its phenomenal predecessor with deeper combat and customization, a substantially larger world, and creative witchcraft abilities.

Hades 2 is one of those games that perfectly encapsulates the best traits of its genre and manages to cleverly work around its harshest weaknesses. It’s the kind of project that has so much passion to all of its details that it’s worth coming back for more every single time. Whether struggling against the odds or acing it quickly, the experience will stay with you as long as you don’t give up and pay attention to everything it has to offer.

More importantly, it achieves this without requiring you to be the most well-versed player on what came before, but not at the expense of offering a new challenge to those that have spent hours digging away at the first game's most brutal endeavors. It's deeper and more complex than the original in every way, from its greatly expanded combat system to its larger, more complex web of character interactions that powers its more ambitious narrative.