Overall I'd recommend this for fans of metroidvanias. If you're a fan of just cute looking games but don't have a lot of skill or patience, even with the assist settings, I'd recommend you stay away until you're ready.

The visuals and soundtrack are both stellar; my eyes and ears were delighted throughout the entire journey (my save file says exactly 11hrs after the credits rolled). I have saved the soundtrack on my Spotify and will be listening to it for the next few weeks. Absolutely crushed it in the audio/visual department.

I've noticed quite a few reviews saying that this game was very hard and in some ways unfair. I would disagree, but maybe I'm just really good at these kinds of games now? That being said, the game wasn't a cake walk, but I think its actual difficulty stems from different areas that I haven't seen people talk about.

First things first before diving into the difficulty: you do not come with a standard way to self heal in this game. To heal, you must go to a healing station, go to your respawn point which also respawns all enemies, or have the correct modifications equipped (I'll get into mods later). This can be unforgiving, but also isn't as bad as people make it out to be, particularly due to where the heal stations are placed throughout the world (I tended to find them before challenging areas, but maybe that's just me).

In terms of combat, the game starts simple and... kind of stays simple. While some boss fights incorporate new movement abilities you gain, most don't need you to use them all. It really comes down to using your standard combo over and over on bosses. Learning their move sets is not a difficult process, as I found that the way bosses telegraph their attacks is very readable. This can be good if you find that you struggle with games like this, but bad if you've come looking for a challenge. General enemies I don't believe were too hard outside of 2 or 3 of them. 2 of them that comes to mind are crazy difficult compared to everything around them, which is quite strange to me.

In terms of movement and environmental challenges, that's where the difficulty really cranks up. At first, learning and exploring with your new movement is really fun, but as you get to exploring some of the harder to reach areas, the challenge can ramp pretty fast. You'll find yourself going through sections where you don't touch the ground for like 20 or so seconds. Taking a hit and respawning all that ways back isn't that bad on it's own, buuuuuut when you take into consideration that you cannot self heal, finally getting through a troublesome section can immediately be made moot by another difficult section or a random enemy that removes that last sliver of health you had, putting you aaaaaall the way back at a respawn point. Obviously, the solution is just "get gud", but I found it a bit odd (and at times frustrating) that the actual challenge in the game wasn't coming from enemies, but the environment itself.

The in-game modifications can be used to build a playstyle that will benefit you on your journey, and maybe I should've spent more time playing around with it to see how the "healing" you get from that works. But I just went straight damage, which also may be a reason bosses weren't difficult for me. Even the final boss took me only 4 or 5 tries because I can just overwhelm them with damage. I don't have to learn every single move in their arsenal perfectly, only dodge enough to pummel them faster than they can kill me.

Run backs aren't that bad; there are plenty of shortcuts you can unlock as you progress, cutting that run back time down quite a bit. You just have to keep checking where you are on the map and ensure you're unlocking them.

I feel like this is more of me yapping instead of properly reviewing this, but I think when I am recommending this to someone, I feel like I'm talking to one who plays metroidvanias and understands what I'm saying. If you don't play metroidvanias, I would NOT recommend this be your first. Again, there are some assist settings, but they can only get you so far.

The story is pretty alright. I like the lore of the world more than I do the story that drove it forward. Take that as you will.

I had an overall positive experience with this game, particularly carried by a phenomenal soundtrack and beautiful visuals. I hope the devs make another game similar to this; I would like to see what else they're capable of cooking up.

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Post "True Ending" Update

Some of the bosses get more difficult. The actual final boss is easily the best fight in the game. The attacks are still readable but the amount of attacks the devs gave them added a suitable amount of challenge for that last fight. Still, the environment proves to be a more difficult challenge than the enemies themselves.

There's still more for me to hunt down, and I'll probably do it. I like this alt ending a lot more; wraps up the story better imo. I love the lore of this game. I still think the lore is better than the story moving it forward, but I don't really think that's a bad thing anymore.

My recommendation stays the same. If you like metroidvanias, this is worth your time. But do not make this your first; come into this with experience from others, and you'll appreciate how different and unique this feels (and you'll be ready for the challenge ahead).

I have reached the point where the narrator has killed me because the rest of the game isn't done yet, so I should review now on what's in the game.

It's better than the first one.

Honestly, what more should I say?

I think the only thing I don't like about this game are the weapons. I like how unique they are and don't feel anything like the first game. But I also don't really like the feel of any of them. But that's honestly just how I feel and I don't think the majority of others will feel that way. I think I might like the character designs of the returning gods in the first game a bit more? Maybe the design of some of the environments? But I like how the environments play out in this one.

Honestly I'm struggling to say anything negative. Because there really isn't anything wrong with this. It's an improvement on the first in nearly every way. Not even compared to the first one's early access, I mean the full release of the first game. And this game isn't even done yet.

It's already worth the buy, do NOT wait for a sale. Buy it full price. If you really want the full experience before hopping in, you better buy day one.

POST EPILOGUE EDIT

The first Hades was really fun. This one improves on that formula by adding more without making it bloat: more dialogue, more characters, more options, all combines into more fun. Hades II is without a doubt better than the first.

But what I didn't expect as I wrap up the Epilogue now is how much the writing would truly improve.

There's a lack of urgency in the first game due to the nature of the story, and that is fine. It's fun to unravel it but no one in the story is rushing you to the end; it's just more lax. That is not the case with the second game obviously, and it helps it feel like a stronger sequel with the stakes being much higher than the first. This is just the surface of Supergiant's writing improvements however.

I am so rarely floored by twists and reveals now, and this was the last place I expected to be. The epilogue ends what was already an extremely engaging story with an absurd amount of heart that I dare say this game didn't even need, yet I feel so blessed that it does. It amplifies the rest of the story further as you reflect upon the journey now that you're at it's end, and I love endings that provoke that within their audience.

Accompanied with the amount of polish that you'd expect from this studio, Hades II 1.0 cements this as not an excellent sequel, but a phenomenal one. As I have grown, experienced different stories, and refined my ability to thoughtfully critique and review, I rarely give anything a perfect 10/'10. This game will stick with me for a while, and I cannot think of any good reason not to bestow it with that perfect rating.

Thank you Supergiant.