Hades II’s audacious, invigorating spin on Greek myth makes it worth playing right now

Developer Supergiant Games has released its hotly anticipated sequel to 2020's Hades in an early-access, unfinished state - but its powers are already godlike

Time comes for us all, and in Hades II, even the gods are not spared its wrath. This epic Greek-mythology-themed action game is the first sequel by arthouse studio Supergiant Games, meaning it has the tough task of surpassing a progenitor that won countless awards and widespread critical acclaim. Fortunately, time is on the side of the developers: while you can buy Hades II right now, it's under the guise of early access", meaning that there's still some placeholder content in here. Its creators are amassing feedback from players in the hope of eventually releasing a finished game that lives up to the impossible hype.

Perhaps the closest parallel to what Hades represents within the world of video games is Emily Wilson's translation of The Iliad, which came on the heels of her highly regarded interpretation of The Odyssey. Where Wilson's work helps recontextualise Greek myth for modern audiences, the Hades series has the audacious aim of expanding those myths. The first game starred Zagreus, son of Hades, a rarely cited figure from the pantheon who sought to escape the grasp of the underworld. Hades II takes a similar route, placing players in the shoes of Melinoe, a character so obscure that scholars muse that she may be a syncretisation of Persephone. Esoteric figures like these are fertile ground for Supergiant Games, which has set up a familial drama that's only possible when it involves a cadre of bickering gods.