Supergiant Games announces Hades II

This year's Game Awards kicked off with many stirring tributes and welcome surprises, but one pleasant surprise stood out among the rest. Developer Supergiant Games just announced Hades II, a sequel to their 2020 underworld roguelike dungeon-crawler hit. Instead of Zagreus, however, we are introduced to a female protagonist—Melinoë, daughter of Hades and immortal princess of the underworld. Check out the announcement trailer now. By the looks of it, production is pretty far along.

What’s interesting about this announcement is that Supergiant has been reluctant to do sequels for any of their previous games, regardless if they were hits. Releases like Bastion and Transistor left fans languishing for follow-ups that never came. A massive hit like Hades appears to have changed that stance.

New faces, new places

There are lots to love in the new trailer. The art and voice acting greatly resemble the original game, as does the combat. Also retained is the witty and expressive writing style that allowed Hades to win the Hugo Awards.

What’s new, of course, is the character of Melinoë, who has a bone to pick with Cronus, the Titan of Time, for imprisoning her father. Expect to do combat with time-based enemies and environments. 

Another interesting aspect of Melinoe is that she is “an immortal witch and sorceress with powerful magical abilities.” Hades II seems to dwell on the dawn of witchcraft in Greek mythology, which means we’ll see more magic incorporated into our attacks and godly boons. 

There is no release date yet announced for Hades II, but Supergiant Games did state that the game will be available on early access next year, much like they did for Hades. Stay tuned for a Hades II PC key at our comparator. And if you have yet to experience the original award-winning game, check out Hades as well.