u/HeppyHenry

Look I wanna preface this by saying that I do recognize that romance was never intended to be a major part of the plot in either game. So it’s not a huge deal by any means.

That said - and this has probably been discussed before but oh well - after just now seeing all four romances in Hades 2, I really wanted to express just how all of them pale in comparison to Hades 1’s two romances, and it did slightly worsen the experience for me.

Supergiant seemed to really want to hit home that gods see “romance” differently compared to mortals for some reason, which I guess translated to only allowing Melinoë to have one night stands? Even Icarus, whose route feels the most romantic and intimate of the four options imo, essentially ends with him and Mel just agreeing to occasionally enjoy each other every now and then while being close friends.

I also don’t particularly appreciate how both male options are framed as more romantic in nature, while both female options are framed as just “getting it out of their systems.” I was expecting there to be way more to the story after Mel’s first time with Nem and Eris, but other than a few more dialogues, that’s essentially it. It’s quite jarring, especially considering Hades/Persephone and Zag/Meg/Thanatos are literally right there and have very intimate and committed relationships no problem. For Melinoë to be portrayed as such a wise and mature character for most of the game, only to act like a college freshman in regards to views on intimacy, it was very off-putting.

TLDR: Hades 2 has a very cynical idea of what romance should look like between gods compared to Hades 1 and it’s really odd, considering how top notch the rest of the game’s writing is. Just goes to show that quality beats quantity.

I feel like I’m going crazy because every review l’ve seen of this game has done nothing but praise it to high heaven. So far, nothing about this game feels all that original or fun.

The combat is incredibly dull and repetitive. Once you’ve fought the first enemy, you’ve fought them all. Just spam R1 and your different skills, juggle, dodge, and if you ever get low you can always just use items (which the game constantly throws at you, of course). Even on the hardest difficulty, the combat itself is pretty braindead, the enemies are just huge HP sponges.

The story and characters are fine… but again, nothing I haven’t seen a dozen times before. I was at least expecting the slow-burn relationship between Iron Mask and Shionne to keep me engaged, but even that completely falls flat for me. Their “dislike” for one another is so forced; for every scene you get of them showing tolerance and even appreciation for another, literally the next scene will have them going “yeah we’re never going to be friends” because the writers forgot that this is a 60 hour game and they can’t have them getting close too soon. I found myself laughing at how often the writers feel the need to remind you that they definitely don’t like each other.

Not to mention that the narrative in general is so repetitive. Every dialogue scene just talks about the same five things. Iron Mask has amnesia, Shionne is a tsundere who likes to eat, there are 5 lords to defeat, yadayadayada. Once I got to the snow area and found myself pressing X through the cutscenes, I knew my time with this one was coming to a close.

I don’t intend to sound upset or angry, but I feel like I got totally ripped off and I bought this on sale. I’m just a bit disappointed. Should I grind through it until (if) it gets good or just go with my gut and move onto something else? And did anyone else feel similarly about this one?