by theygamesDespite being in an incomplete early access form, Hades 2 is already a contender to become one of the best roguelikes ever. We’ll need to wait until it’s totally finished before judging it against its exquisite, genre-leading predecessor, but Supergiant appears to be doing everything right so far. A brand new major update – the second of Hades 2’s life so far – has just arrived, and not only does it flesh out, rework, and improve many key systems, it also adds in a final encounter for the surface route that sees you reach the top of Mount Olympus. However, despite the huge amount of content being added, Supergiant says it’s still not confident enough to talk about 1.0 plans for Hades 2 just yet.
This new major update for Hades 2, titled The Warsong Update, is a pretty big deal for the roguelike. It’s been roughly four months since the last major update, and even though there has been a sprinkling of smaller patches in between, they’ve been nowhere near as transformational as what you’ll find in Warsong.
As mentioned, the big headline feature here is the addition of The Final Confrontation – a new final encounter and ending to your journey on the surface. This will show you what lies beyond Prometheus, the Guardian of Mount Olympus, letting you scale the mountain all the way up to its summit. Supergiant is being intentionally secretive about what you’ll find up there, but it’ll no doubt be brutal and rewarding. The studio says that the Underworld and the Surface paths are now “fully intact” and content complete, and while it may still make small tweaks to Hades 2’s realms, its focus in future updates can now lie solely on the game’s core systems.
That doesn’t mean that such improvements aren’t found in Warsong. Today’s update adds a new god for you to invoke in Ares, the “violence-loving” god of war. A new familiar awaits you too – Gale the polecat “grants Dodge chance and move speed, [and] blocks damage a few times per Region,” according to the patch notes.
Arcana Cards have also been given a makeover with some gorgeous new art. Some even have reworked or tweaked effects, so make sure you check them out carefully the next time you jump into Hades 2.
Elsewhere, Boons have had a big overhaul – lots of existing ones have received balance changes, but many have been completely cut from the game and replaced with completely new ones. Hermes has undergone the most substantial rework, with six brand new Boons. Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo and Hestia, Demeter, Athena, and Artemis have all had one Boon cut and one new Boon added.
On top of all of this, there are over 2,000 additional voice lines for new character interactions, fresh content has been added to The Crossroads hub area, resource gathering has been improved, and so much more. Read the full patch notes here, or listen to their “dramatic reading” above.
Despite the enormous size of the Warsong update, and the fact that both the Underworld and the Surface are now completed, don’t expect early access to come to an end any time soon.
“We’re excited to have launched this Major Update, since it includes numerous ideas we’ve been eager to implement since we started working on Hades 2 years ago!” Supergiant says. “But we’re not finished yet, and have already made plans for our third Major Update, which we intend to deliver some months from now. Note it’s still too early to share our plans beyond that, including when our v1.0 launch will be.”
The Warsong update for Hades 2 is live right now. After almost certainly getting re-hooked on Hades 2 for the next couple of weeks, why not move on to some of our favorite RPGs or action games that will still put your combat and buildcrafting skills to the test.
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