Saturday Morning Gaming: Hades II First Impressions
I had intended to discuss an entirely different game this week.
A co-worker asked me if I ever played the original Hades and my response was something to the effect of “OH HECK YEAH I DID!” and he told me that I should give Hades II a look.
“I thought it was in Early Access”, I said.
“Oh, it is!”, he told me. So I scoffed and said that I would wait until it was released.
And then I saw that it was on sale at the Steam store… And I was going to be buying it anyway because the first one was so good…
Okay, fine. I’ll just check it out.
And then I got to the title screen…
(Warning: I’m not going to give any real spoilers but I have no problem talking about stuff you find out in the first five minutes of the game. If you don’t want to know stuff about the main boss or the weapon types, press your back button.)
Do I remember how to play? I asked myself… so I went back to the original and did a handful of runs and I finally maxxed out the last upgrade of the last of the six weapons (it was the Hestia build of the Adamant Rail, if you want to know) and amassed enough gems to purchase the Princely Theme from the builder.
I killed Hades once on a zero heat run and ran into the same brick wall that I hit last time on my 13 heat sword run and 13 heat bow run.
Okay, I thought. I am now ready to never play Hades again… and I loaded up Hades 2.
In this one, you play Melinoë, sister of Zagreus, and the final boss is *NOT* Hades but Cronos. You’re in the Crossroads and, under the tutelage of Hecate, you’re going to take Hades *BACK* from Cronos and… well, I’m not sure what the final gameplan is. Along the way, you’ll get help from some of the various Olympian gods you remember and a handful of new ones that you didn’t meet in the first one. The weapons are all new but you’ll recognize the first few types. The long-distance pinger, the short-distance fast attack weapon, the short-distance slow heavy hitter… and a couple of “what the heck is going on here?” weapons that I have no idea how to use well yet.
Once again, there are a bajillion kinds of currency. To unlock a pick that will help you mine silver or copper, you’ll need to spend ashes. To unlock a shovel that will help you gather seeds to plant (and generate new units of currency), you’ll need 10 silver. You may idly wonder if there is a fishing pole to unlock and, I can tell you, there is. You can catch fish that you can exchange for yet another different kind of currency.
So after saying “well, I’ll just check it out…”, I’ve now unlocked all of the weapons, discovered multiple gods that only start showing up once you reach a certain new plateau, and holy cow I can’t believe that this game is already taking over my life even though it’s still in early access.
The game is even better than Hades.
Dang it.
So… what are you playing?
(Featured image is the Hades II start menu. Screenshot taken by the author.)
This Means Warp is on sale so oldest boy and I bought copies and I gifted a copy to youngest boy so the three of us can play together. Think of it as a slightly-lampoonish multiplayer version of FTL. We tried our hand at it last night and had a lot of fun figuring out who should be doing what job on the ship and how to keep our own hull intact while destroying the enemy ship, but we keep getting blown up in pretty much the same spot, so we know we’re missing something vital. Pretty fun, though. You can hire crew to help you in single-player mode but this game’s strength is in getting four friends together to crew a ship.Report
I keep looking at Barotrauma and thinking that that would be an absolute blast but… other people…Report
Epic Game Store’s free game until 9AM tomorrow is Orcs Must Die 3.
Orcs Must Die is one of my desert island games (depending on whether it’s a top 3 or a top 5) so play those first, but then play 3!Report
I have started Orcs Must Die a few times, and I have enjoyed it, but for some reason I have never really stuck with it. I bet it would be a good fit for the Steam Deck though. Maybe I will install it for when I want a quick session.
I played a decent amount of Hades, but I never reached the final boss. I should probably remedy that at some point. The last time, I finally reached the Temple of Styx. No point getting 2 if I never finish 1, though.
I am near the end of Persona 5 Royal. I have a little bit of time to kill, and there are two more dungeon dives to do, then the final boss fight. After tomorrow, the rest of the week is vacation, so I think I will finish by the end of the weekend.
I have also been dabbling in a few other games. I got Slay the Princess. I have played a couple hours, and I am still not sure what it’s about. It is purely a visual novel. You are on a mission to slay the princess. After you resolve the task (successfully or not), it loops, and you get to make new decisions, and slowly learn what is going on. Also, a little bit of Gundam Breakers 5 and Forza Horizon 4.Report
Hades is an *EXCEPTIONALLY* frustrating game. I’d compare it to, oh, Elden Ring, maybe.
You have to learn how to dodge and how to use your weapons and if your timing is off, you’re boned… but you can pick up upgrades and tweaks and bonuses that will let you hit new plateaus and you will feel yourself figure out how to beat this or that boss.
The first time I beat Hades? I let out a loud whoop.
I understand that the game might not be for everybody but… man, the joy of figuring out a sweet combo for this or that weapon? That was awesome.
I remember not being able to do *ANYTHING* with the bow and then someone told me “put lightning on it” and, suddenly, I was cutting through enemies like a knife through hot butter.
Lemme go back and look at my numbers. I didn’t beat the first boss until playthrough #7.
I didn’t beat the second boss until playthrough #26.
I didn’t beat the third boss until playthrough #37.
I didn’t beat the game until playthrough #81. With the Twin Fists. Win #2 happened on playthrough #100 with the spear.
Dang, that was a great game. Figuring out how to beat the game with each of the six weapons was a delight. Okay, let’s do it with an Ares build this time. Let’s do it with a Dionysus build this time…
Anyway, I’d say try it again. (But I was playing Hades in the middle of a global pandemic. That made it easier to just, you know, play a dozen games in a single sitting.)Report
Woo! I beat the big boss on playthrough #74!
Without getting into any spoilers, I’ll pull a John Madden. You’ve got to do the most damage while being protected against the damage of your foes (whether it be through defense or dodging). Oh, and there’s an item that *REALLY* helps.Report
I went back to Last Epoch after giving POE 2 some serious play-time. It’s just not fun.
My son who also pushed through stopped playing too. We talked about what they’ve lost from POE1 and our working theory is that the Dev team is playing the game ‘backwards’. That is, they start with the assumption that we’re at end-game maps and project backwards to a game that they didn’t build. Another way to put it is this: if you make the *journey* to your endgame build a dick-punch… then there *has* to be fun pay-offs along the way. You have to *enjoy* playing a build that has no end-game synergy while fighting bosses that are overly tuned and don’t drop rewarding loot. What made POE1 work is that the end-game progression became increasingly impossible so that people who like being punched in the nether regions could get that rush… while normal people could push a ceiling and see if the build they had was worth ‘investing’ in further… or just start another concept on an alt. The journey from concept to end-game was fun at each stage of power growth… and end-game provided a sort of endless ladder you could climb or just farm for materials for your next build. Win-Win.
What they are *really* missing is that all ARPGs are first Pimp My Build games which are augmented by Loot… and if you can’t get to your build with an experience that makes you want to log-in to get to your end-game build… then you potentially have very serious issues that you won’t see until after the initial adrenaline rush of new-game-itis.
Some of this is fixable with spreadsheet adjustments; but, some of the bigger issues require tossing parts of The Vision (TM) into the bin. I’ve started to develop a loathing for the lead Game Designer that I haven’t felt in 25-yrs since back in the early MMO days.Report
Sifu is the New Year’s Eve free game from the Epic Game Store.
This is the game that’s based on the hallway scene from Oldboy. I was planning on picking it up once it hit 50% off or so but it’s *FREE* until 9AM tomorrow. GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!Report
And if you’ve never seen it, well, know that it has several different content warnings associated with it.
But here it is.
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