Should Time Be Stopped?: Speculating on the Direction of Hades II’s Story and Future Gameplay Additions

I don’t have to tell you that expectations were sky-high for Hades II after the astronomical commercial and critical success of Hades. I also don’t have to tell you that Hades II has surpassed every reasonable and unreasonable expectation with flying colours; less than six months into its presumably year-long+ stint in early access, it already boasts markedly more content than its predecessor and, as far as fun is concerned, my ~325 hours of playtime speak for themselves. Hades II’s future is brighter than Apollo’s sunny smile and, channelling the god of prophecy, I intend to divine some of the details of that future today.

As Below…

Chronos’ design is exceptional. The hourglass shape. The artful combination of youthful and aged — even withered — features. The kintsugi showing how he reformed after being cut into pieces and resembling the river of golden sand flowing through Tartarus. The incorporation of time symbols that aren’t goofy or hamfisted. The simple, regal dress and palette. The poise in his pose and expression. Tens across the board.

Melinoë’s purpose — the one thing Hecate and her cadre of legendary witches, genius dead, and vengeful gods have trained her for all her life— is to defeat her grandfather, Chronos, the Titan of Time, who rose from Tartarus when she was an infant and assumed control of the House of Hades— imprisoning its staff and her family in the process. Now an adult, Mel fights to free them and reclaim her ancestral home. The problem is, no matter how many times she kills Chronos, he just keeps coming back, as gods are wont to do. Until Hades II launches in 1.0 sometime next year, we won’t see this story resolved. Currently, Mel and her mentor are devising an incantation — the Dissolution of Time — that would prevent Chronos from reconstituting after death. However, this plan presents several narrative and mechanical problems:

1. Out-of-universe, we can’t have an infinitely replayable roguelike without a final boss. Hades’ success was owed in large part to its perfect marriage of linear narrative and looping gameplay, despite the two typically being at odds; being employed as the head of Underworld security was a satisfying and believable reason for Zagreus to continually escape the Underworld, for the Olympians to continually support his efforts, and for Hades to continually confront him on the surface. The core of the gameplay never changed, only its context. Who would challenge Mel if Chronos were gone for good? Emotionally, it would be dissatisfying for the primary antagonist of a roguelike to disappear forever after ~10 wins: we spent all that time (or very little time, depending on how quickly you reach ~10 wins) getting to know him—to love and hate him — and now we won’t see him ever again? What if he had cool dialogue we didn’t get to hear!? Mechanically, it would be dissatisfying because the Chronos fight is fun, and part of the appeal of roguelikes is fighting the same bosses with different builds until you’ve perfectly honed your skills. This is especially true considering Hades II’s Fear system, which will likely introduce Extreme Measures in a future update, revamping the Chronos fight with new attacks and a brand new third phase.
2. Thematically, permanently killing Chronos would be a bit of a left turn. Hades was a refreshing take on the classic Greek patricide narrative, wherein the dysfunctional Chthonic and Olympian families accepted that our lives and the people we share them with are complicated, mistakes happen, and sometimes it’s better to kiss and make up than to burn all your bridges forever — and it is forever when you’re a god, which makes forgiveness seem much more appealing than the spiritual poison of an eternal grudge. So, the importance and resilience of familial love are core themes in the Hades-verse. Dissolving Chronos could actually be a compelling thematic counterpoint: Hades was a shitty dad, but Chronos was an abjectly evil one, eating his children and then going to war with them when they were liberated from his guts. Now he’s imprisoned the residents of the House of Hades and started a new war with Olympus, wreaking havoc on humanity in the process. Some deeds are truly unforgivable, and Hades II could explore that sentiment. But then, consider one of the main themes of Hades II, which expands on Hades’ spin on the patricide narrative: ending the cycle of violence. Mortalkind has largely forsaken the gods, enticed by Chronos’ promise of a new Golden Age, and several Olympians are prepared to wipe humanity from the Earth for their insolence. Others, however, are more understanding of mortalkind’s faithlessness given present circumstances, combined with the historically capricious temperament of Olympus. When Odysseus asks Hecate how they can prevent an endless war between mortalkind and the divine, her only response is Melinoë: no other being, be they from Heaven, Hell, or in between, is capable of ending this ancient cycle of violence. That being her charge, dissolving Chronos would be thematically dissonant. One of the other core themes of the game is learning to live with time: coming to terms with the past, changing as a person, and being comfortably uncomfortable with the sometimes unfair and often unpredictable happenstances of life. Brokering some sort of peace with Time itself would go a long way to delivering on that theme narratively.
3. In-universe, things probably wouldn’t end well for anybody if time itself ceased to exist — Chaos and Homer themselves say as much. The game’s tagline is ‘Time cannot be stopped,’ and the end screen after beating Chronos asks ‘Can Time not be stopped?’, but the real question this game poses is should time be stopped?

So, for several mechanical and narrative reasons, it seems unlikely that Mel will commit to using the Dissolution of Time incantation. Maybe she does use it, then everything goes sideways, and she whips up a second counter-incantation to bring Chronos back, or even entreats Chaos to recreate him. Maybe she just uses the threat of the incantation to browbeat Chronos into surrendering. Either way, Chronos isn’t disappearing on us. I see the end playing out something like this:

In their ‘final’ confrontation, Chronos becomes sympathetic: life under Uranus’ rule was traumatic, he was left to do the dirty work of deposing him, he wasn’t ready to give up on the Golden Age after fighting so hard to secure it, and hurt people hurt people. Mel convinces him to come to terms with the past (his youth was hard but starting the cycle of violence with his own kids didn’t help anybody), changing as a person (the Golden Age and his rule ended epochs ago, it’s only natural that his children and grandchildren should succeed him), and being comfortably uncomfortable with the sometimes unfair and often unpredictable happenstances of life (the future could hold non-imprisoned/dissolved possibilities for him if he made peace with his family, even if they aren’t the outcomes he first wanted). These themes are explored on a smaller scale with Moros’ introspection, his adjustment to life without the Fates’ constant instruction, and properly socializing for the first time in his immortal life. Time is change; Chronos refusing to adapt to the modern era is not only unhealthy for himself and catastrophic for everyone on Earth, but a betrayal of his quintessence. So, Chronos realizes that he isn’t doing the Time shtick properly. He surrenders, dedicates his life to the work of redemption, and sticks around in Tartarus to spar with Mel whenever she wants.

There are two messages here. First, it is unnatural for things to stay the same. The gods stagnate, willingly or otherwise, because they are gods: immortal beings purposefully created to embody timeless concepts and forces of nature. They know no other way of being and are perfectly self-contented. Even so, Melinoë is a witch: someone who uses magic to affect impossible change, shaping the world with their intentions. Hell, she has the power to unravel Time itself. With her encouragement, even history’s most dysfunctional family can come together, and the most stubborn gods can meaningfully re-evaluate their identities and lifestyles. Second, forgiveness is earned and sometimes never given, but rehabilitation is morally superior to, and more practically efficacious than, punishment— which only perpetuates the cycle of violence. The gods are in this mess because they are, to a self-destructive fault, prideful, selfish, capricious, and vengeful. For all of their good qualities, nothing comes more naturally to them than cruel exercises of power. Trials of the gods exemplify these problematic tendencies: even during an existential war, the gods will continuously do their best to destroy Melinoë over perceived slights, then offer a thoughtless apology if she survives their wrath. If they want to survive the war, the gods need to realize that cursing, smiting, and tormenting are not appropriate solutions to every problem or interpersonal drama.

Taking these messages to heart, Hades begins rethinking the structure of the afterlife and Nemesis becomes a champion of rehabilitative justice. This would become the thesis statement for another Hades-verse theme, first explored when Zagreus was voiding or renegotiating Achilles’, Orpheus’, and Sisyphus’ contracts with Hades, and elaborated on by interactions with Arachne, Narcissus, and Echo: the arbitrariness of punishment and the inappropriateness of a single person acting as the arbiter of justice, something that has come up in conversation with Nyx’s children several times. What right do the gods really have to pass judgement on mortalkind, and to punish them so extremely in the process? Shouldn’t they use their supreme power to help rather than hurt?

Please, my wife… she desperately needs several organ transplants… or to at least undo her belt two notches. Nemesis’s design is fantastic, but the narrowness of her midsection beggars belief. Any thinner and Violet Chachki would be shaking in her heels.

What happens when Chronos is ultimately defeated? Our family and friends are all released from Time Prison, and the House of Hades is restored to its former glory. When we fight our way to the bottom of the underworld, we return to the House and talk to its denizens, strengthening our relationships with gifts of nectar — I fully expect Hades, Persephone, Zagreus, Cerberus, Nyx, Thanatos, Megaera, Achilles, Patroclus, Orpheus, Eurydice, Dusa, and Sisyphus to return as permanent NPCs, and for all thirteen of them to give us keepsakes. It would be incredibly jarring and unfathomably disappointing if we went to the trouble of saving these beloved characters from Chronos’ clutches, and then couldn’t interact with them regularly. After all, Mel’s entire motivation is to reunite with her family: what’s the point if she doesn’t get to know them? I desperately want Theseus and Asterius to come back, too, but I’m not sure how that would work narratively, nor where you would encounter them.

If these returning characters give us keepsakes, what might some of them do?

• Hades: Hades’ call (from Sigil of the Dead, his previous keepsake) gave you the Invisible or Unseen conditions, which made you invisible, invincible, move faster, and deal bonus damage. Hades’ Unseen Ire boon in Hades II gives you the Dark condition after taking damage, which functions similarly to the former conditions. I expect his new keepsake to be similar to Patroclus’ Broken Spearpoint, giving you ~2 seconds of Darkness after taking damage on a ~10-second cooldown.
• Persephone: Pom Blossom was a fan-favourite keepsake from Hades, even if it wasn’t particularly strong, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it return with just a tweak or two, especially since there’s nothing else like it in Hades II. I think it would be more interesting, though, if Perse’s new keepsake related to collecting resources somehow, speaking to her hard-working, salt-of-the-earth independent spirit; a bonus for every seed dug up, flower picked, ore mined, fish caught, and ghost pacified.
• Zagreus: Being the god of blood and rebirth, it would make sense for Zag’s keepsake to interact with health or Death Defiances, but we already have Ghost Onion and Luckier Tooth. He could just give you increased max health like the Old Spiked Collar, but that’s the sort of basic effect that would be disappointing (and a little useless) to receive from an endgame item. Alternatively, it could modify your cast, seeing as bloodstones (casts) were Zag’s signature move.
• Thanatos: In Hades II, Than is represented by omega move critical chance (the Death arcana and the Aspect of Thanatos). It wouldn’t be shocking if his keepsake had something to do with that, then, but it would also be a little redundant and hard to balance if you could stack all these crit chance sources. Eris’ Discordant Bell has replaced Pierced Butterfly as the ‘scaling bonus damage with a penalty’ challenge-type keepsake, so I don’t expect something similar from Than. Maybe particular enemies are marked for death and you get a bonus when fighting them/for killing them? Or you could execute enemies when damaging them below a certain health threshold? Or a bonus for every enemy killed? There are tons of possibilities when it comes to Death.

I haven’t got any ideas on hand for the rest, but I couldn’t be more excited to see them! While on the topic of keepsakes, there are already 27 in the game, with Hypnos, Hades, and Cerberus yet to give us one, for a total of 30. Then we’ve got at least two more NPCs coming (one for each of the final two biomes on the surface) and three more Olympian gods (Athena, Ares, and Dionysus), for a total of 35. I also imagine we’ll get a keepsake from the Fates when we rescue them from Chronos. If we also got keepsakes from all the House NPCs, there would be 47 keepsakes in Hades II, nearly double Hades’ 25! Consequently, I expect an upgrade in the future that allows us to equip two keepsakes simultaneously. Otherwise, we’d never have the opportunity to play with everything, let alone level them all up.

So Above

Who saw a journey to Olympus on the cards for Hades II? Plenty of people clamoured for alternate biomes leading up to the early access release, but did anybody genuinely expect a full four-biome alternate route, let alone one that took us to meet our extended family in the heavens? Besides the magick system, the surface route is what truly sets Hades II apart from Hades. So far, we’ve battled through the necropolis of Ephyra and the tumultuous Rift of Thessaly, with two more biomes awaiting us in future updates: Olympus and whatever comes after. That means we can anticipate the arrival of at least two more bosses and (semi-)friendly NPCs. Although there have been no teasers as to these characters’ identities, I think I know who we’re going to meet, and I could not be more excited.

By meditating at the Altar of Ashes, Mel can realize her latent powers through her set of Arcana, an ancient Greek twist on the major arcana of tarot cards. Each card represents a figure from Greek myth and, funnily enough, almost all of them have appeared (or are certainly going to appear, in the Fates’ case) in Hades or Hades II. There are three glaring exceptions: The Centaur, representing Chiron; The Seer, representing Tiresias; and The Titan, representing Prometheus.

Chiron, the Centaur

Anyone who has read Percy Jackson (which I imagine is a vast swathe of the Hades playerbase) will be well familiar with Chiron, first and greatest of the centaurs. The son of Chronos and the Oceanid Philyra, Chiron was abandoned by his birth parents and adopted by Apollo, who taught him medicine, nature, archery, and the arts. As a mentor to the legends, Chiron passed these skills on to many of Greece’s greatest heroes, including Achilles, Jason, and Medus (son of Jason and Medea). Given his parentage, connections, and occupation, it makes perfect sense for Chiron to be defending Olympus against Chronos’ onslaught, and to aid us when we reach its summit.

Twenty-one of the 27 keepsakes currently in the game are intended to be used for a single biome, then swapped out. I think Chiron’s keepsake will join the six you can wear permanently, with benefits scaling over the course of your run; Chiron is a teacher, after all, and learning is a lifelong process. This combat training concept is reflected in his Arcana card, The Centaur, which grants you five max health and magick after every five locations completed. As an NPC, I see him giving gifts similar to Patroclus’: relatively straightforward stat-boosting, combat utility, and healing items, getting you in peak form to fend off Olympus’ assailants.

Tiresias, the Seer

Oh, Tiresias the blind prophet? I thought you said Terezi the blind prophet.

Tiresias, a Theban man, was granted oracular abilities, transformed into a woman, and stricken blind. Typical of myth, the ‘who did it’ and ‘why’ of these events vary widely between authors, as does their sequence. What’s important is that he was blessed and victimized several times by several gods. Beyond the stories of his own strange life, Tiresias’ most significant appearance in myth was in book XI of the Odyssey. Tiresias was allowed to retain his gift of prophecy in death, so, at Circe’s behest, Odysseus entreated his spirit for guidance on his journey home. Now, he’s helping us defeat Time. Depending on how Supergiant explores his unique relationship with gender and sex, he could be a really compelling character. The Seer refers to Tiresias as “she,” so we already have some idea of their direction. I think Tiresias will be the NPC for the surface’s fourth biome — whatever it ends up being — and that their role in the story will be guiding us towards the secret location where Chronos has imprisoned the Fates. A prophet who embodies dramatic change helping rescue the Fates from the clutches of stagnant Chronos? Couldn’t be more perfect.

Let’s consider mechanics! The Seer gives you Changes of Fate that you can use to reroll reward doors and boon offerings, which is a straightforward translation of prophesying. However, Changes of Fate are an obvious choice for the Fates’ keepsake, so who knows what Tiresias’ keepsake will do? Regarding NPC gifts, choosing your next room reward from a list of three—Tiresias using their oracular gifts to help you take the most fortuitous—would be simple but powerful.

Prometheus, the Titan

By some accounts, Prometheus, the Titan of fire and forethought, crafted man (as in men, specifically) from clay. What he is ubiquitously known for is his role in Hesiod’s Theogony: when mankind and the divine convened at Mecone to decide what would be proper for men to sacrifice to the gods, Prometheus tricked Zeus into accepting a sacrifice of ox bones over a sacrifice of ox meat, allowing mankind to keep its food. Unimpressed by this ruse, Zeus stole fire from mankind, only for Prometheus to steal it back and return it to his creations. Zeus retaliated in two ways: first, he had Hephaestus craft Pandora, the first woman, from clay, and sent her to ruin the lives of men (because women are scary and evil, duh). Second, he chained Prometheus to a rock and had an eagle peck out his regenerating liver every day for eternity. Years later, Zeus would recant, allowing Heracles to slay the eagle — though Prometheus remained chained to the rock, so this was a relatively small kindness on Zeus’ part. I bet if Chronos released Prometheus from that rock, he’d be willing to lead an army of scorned, discontented mortals against Olympus.

Wouldn’t that be perfect? The creator and champion of mankind, who did not originally side against the Olympians in the Titanomachy, finally joining Chronos’ cause after eons of unjust divine punishment — both his own and humanity’s. Of course, Prometheus has a bone to pick with Zeus. Of course, Prometheus wants a new Golden Age for mortals. He relates perfectly to the themes we’ve been discussing and acts as a genuine advocate for humanity, slotting directly into the center of the narrative puzzle. His forethinking, which some authors/scholars interpret as mundane and others as magical, complements Chronos’ embodiment of time, giving the antagonists a unifying theme and/or powerset. Further, it qualifies him as a war tactician, something Chronos’ army of shambling dead desperately needs. Pandora, Hephaestus, Heracles, and Zeus are all present, so there’s no end to the juicy interactions we could have about their grim shared history—I imagine our confrontations with Prometheus will be the catalyst Dora needs to finally recall her past, realizing in the process that she was an unwitting pawn in the cycles of violence between Olympians and Titans, and gods and mortals. Unlike Chronos, Prometheus didn’t originally undermine Zeus because he wanted more power, but because he didn’t want the Olympians to abuse their own power, depriving humanity of their needs and pleasures. Unlike Chronos, he is aware of the cycles of violence at play in this story and has the motivation to end them; while Chronos is determined to unthinkingly repeat the past, Prometheus’ forethinking tells him that the cycles will always ultimately victimize mortals. Consequently, we can reason with him.

Prometheus also shares a compelling connection with Chiron. Some sources claim that Chiron was accidentally pierced by an arrow of Heracles, coated with an incurable, agonizing poison. Due to his immortality, what should have been a quick death became instead prolonged torment. When he could endure the pain no longer, he went to Zeus and ‘gave his immortality to Prometheus’ (whatever that materially means, considering Prometheus was already immortal (Pseudo-Apollodorus, please tell me what it means); some interpret this as Chiron entreating Zeus for Prometheus’ freedom in exchange for Chiron’s life). Upon his passing, Zeus transformed Chiron into the Centaurus constellation. Obviously, I think Supergiant is going to avoid this version of events—or at least play fast and loose with it—because I expect Chronos to have freed Prometheus, and for Chiron to appear alive and well as the Olympus NPC (though he could be a shade). Even so, a similar event could be referenced or some other dynamic could be created between Prometheus, Chiron, and Heracles, which I look forward to exploring.

So, how does Prometheus’ story resolve in such a way that we can fight him forever on Olympus? Interestingly, where Chronos has to be forgiven by the Olympians, the Olympians have to be forgiven by Prometheus. If Mel sorts out all the family dramas, maybe he’ll decide to stay on Olympus permanently and spar with her whenever she comes to visit.

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If Prometheus is our third boss, who’s the fourth?

Typhon, the Storm Giant

Homestuck has a picture for everything (except Chiron and Prometheus 😔)! This guy is actually Typhon, too.

Of all the fearsome deities and beasties in Greek myth, who among them could pose a genuine existential threat to the Olympians? Who could have both gravitas and narrative gravity comparable to Chronos, the Titan of Time, father to the eldest gods and instigator of the Titanomachy? Who could successfully play prison warden to the Fates? Typhon, son of Gaia and Tartarus, mate of Echidna, and father of several infamous monsters (two of his most notable offspring being Cerberus and the Lernaean Hydra). Nobody hates the gods more than Typhon does: Gaia conceived him as an anti-Olympian superweapon after the Olympians killed all of her children, the Giants, in the Gigantomachy. Can somebody say ‘cycle of violence’? By Apollodorus’ account, Typhon was the single greatest threat the gods ever faced, causing many to turn tail — literally, as they transformed into animals — and flee to Egypt. After a protracted battle, Zeus alone defeated Typhon, trapping him beneath Mt. Etna or in Tartarus. In my mind, he’s the clear frontrunner for our surface route’s final boss: he’s got the BBEG chops, Jen could have a field day with his design, and the fight would be epic. He might not be foreshadowed by an arcana card (yet), but I’m convinced we’re going to be fighting a giant snake monster come Hades II 1.0.

Who Doesn’t Love a Family Reunion?

Even if you haven’t played Hades II yourself yet, you’ve likely seen the internet losing its collective mind over Apollo, Hephaestus, Hestia, and Hera, the newcomers to our pantheon of boon-giving gods. What you might not have noticed is the conspicuous absences of Athena, Ares, and Dionysus. Said absences aren’t entirely unsurprising: Hades didn’t launch with all its gods either, adding Dionysus, Hermes, and Demeter throughout early access. Rest assured, your favourite gods will return to your screens in the near-ish future. Several gods have commented on Athena and Ares being too busy with war to speak to us at the moment, and needing to find Dionysus who, having the least appetite for war among his kin, has gone into hiding. Since its creation, the Steam page for Hades II has advertised “becom[ing] stronger still with powerful Boons from more than a dozen Olympian gods.” What we can be less certain of is what form each god will take when they do return.

Athena

I can’t wait to see her in a full suit of armour. Hopefully, she won’t be as cinched as Nemesis, which has been a bugbear of mine since she was revealed.

As the goddess of war and wisdom, Athena is understandably preoccupied with defending Olympus from Chronos’ relentless siege. I imagine we’ll first encounter her in person when we summit the mountain, the same way we encountered Hera for the first time when journeying to the surface. Narratively, I expect Athena to be running her mountaintop like the Navy, even sterner than she was in Hades, barking at us to take her blessing and put it to good use while we’re at it. Let’s brainstorm some mechanics:

• Athena’s previous core boons revolved around Deflect, which I expect to come back in some form but not to be her primary mechanic. Divine Dash—arguably the most powerful boon from Hades — has been replaced in parts by Soot Sprint and Nitro Boost, and I don’t know how Deflecting could be reimagined for her attack and special. I could see Deflect on sprint if it cost magick every time an attack or projectile was blocked. Outward-facing Deflect on the perimeter of your cast would be cool, transforming it from a CC tool to a safe zone. A Funeral Pyre-like tier 2/duo/legendary boon where you periodically Deflect around yourself while channelling omega moves would be great too.
• Unlike Hades, Hades II lacks native backstabbing, which seemed an odd choice at first, but it makes sense if they wanted to bring back Exposed. As the goddess of (essentially) battle strategy, Athena needs to make you feel like you’re hitting enemies where they’re most vulnerable. The only way to achieve that feeling in a hack and slash is backstabbing or crits, and not only are crits already Artemis’ thing, but a regular boon-giver focused on crits is a challenge to balance. Exposed or tier-2 boons could also incorporate bonus damage to armour or against undamaged enemies.
• As in Hades, I expect Athena to be the premier defensive option, with several boons conferring armour and damage resistance, complementing Hephaestus’ kit.
• My money is on Athena’s boons having the Earth and Air elements (one of two currently unrepresented elemental combos), and her infusion boon depending on Air — bringing us to three Air-based infusion boons.

I could also see Athena getting the Artemis treatment, appearing in person once a run to give us a single powerful boon (though your mileage may vary on the current power level of Artemis’ offerings). Of all the gods, she’s one of the most preoccupied with the war, and, like Artemis with her crits, her design space is relatively narrow and problematic; Hades II already has a lot of defensive options, especially with the introduction of armour, so Athena’s iconic Deflects and damage resistance might be a little too strong were she a regular boon-giver. Being a limited boon-giver would entail a mechanically unique keepsake like White Antler or Metallic Droplet, rather than the typical, formulaic Olympian style of keepsake. Considering the relatively small selection of defensive keepsakes in the game at present, there’s room for an Athena keepsake to shine.

Ares

Put the helmet on! Cover him in ichor and blood!

At one point, Eris asks Mel how it must feel to be Ares right now, and I think the answer is going to be ‘pretty shit.’ Ares loves a good war, but only when people die and stay that way. What’s the point of a fight that nobody can lose? With Thanatos imprisoned and the Doors of Death left open, an endless horde of zombies marches on his home, and he can’t be too happy about that. He may still take some pleasure in the proceedings but, like Athena, I expect him to be irate when we meet him. Will his mood improve once the war ends, or will he be disappointed? Moreover, what does the war ending even look like in an infinitely replayable roguelike? Once Hades has reclaimed his throne, Thanatos is freed, and the Doors of Death are sealed, what zombie pirates will be left for us to fight? Is Ares ever going to get a break?

Mechanically, I have no idea what form our god of war will take. Zeus’ Blitz has essentially replaced Doom. That’s not to say that Ares couldn’t have a new burst damage curse, but it would have to be meaningfully different from Doom, Blitz, and Hephaestus’ Blasts, so it seems unlikely. Here are a few alternative curses I prepared earlier:

• Bleed: would work similarly to Hangover. The most basic curse I could think of and, depending on what they do with Dionysus, the least likely (I can’t imagine 3 distinct, well-balanced DOTs working in this sort of game).
• Burst: victims would explode on death, damaging nearby enemies. I love chaining explosions in video games (Bloodsplosion Krieg was my jam in Borderlands 2), but Hestia and Hera both have boons that daisan no bakudan Bites Za Dusto enemies already, so Burst might feel a bit redundant.
• Brutalized: victims would suffer increased damage from attacks and specials. Bland on paper, but getting a percentage damage increase on both attack and special for the cost of one boon allows you to take non-percentage increases (Blitz, Scorch, Blast, Splash, potentially Dionysus) or lower-value percentage increases guilt-free.
• Wounded: victims would take more damage the lower their health was. It could be a continuously ramping increase (probably a pain in the ass to code, balance, and efficiently communicate to the player) or a flat increase triggered by a threshold e.g., when below 50% health.

I want it on the record that I successfully predicted Hitch (receipts on the official Hades Discord), so hopefully there’s a similar nugget of foresight in one of those ideas.

Otherwise…

• Blade Rifts are too iconic not to return. Just as Poseidon’s Aid became Breaker Sprint, Ares’ Aid should become a sprint boon. The Blade Rift would persist for the duration of the sprint and either do low damage for free, like Frigid Sprint, or high damage for a magick cost, like Breaker Sprint. Blade Rifts are also ripe for Controlled Burn and Geyser Spout-like boons, attaching them to omega moves for a bonus magick cost.
• Calling it now that his gain boon is called Blood Gain or Pain Gain. Initially, I had thought it would work like the post-patch 3 iteration of Hearth Gain (restoring x magic per base attack or special hit). Since that’s off the table, it could restore x magick each time you deal y damage instead. Considering how quickly you can deal a lot of damage in this game, x would be a small number and y would be a big number, but it would still end up competing with Born Gain for first-in-slot due to its ability to restore magick while using omega moves.
• I’d love a boon that gives your Attacks and Specials extra power based on your max magick, and Ares is the perfect god to offer it — an offensive counterpart to his brother Hephaestus’ Uncanny Fortitude.
• Also like his brother, his boons will have Fire and Earth elements, and his infusion boon will depend on Fire — bringing us to three Fire-based infusion boons.

Dionysus

How can this design get better?

God, I love Dionysus. Leopardskin is always chic. Having bunches of grapes growing in your hair is awesome. So many uses for a thyrsus… Need anything else be said? For the like-minded, I recommend reading up on the myth of Prosymnus, if only because it’s one of the stories that Supergiant (probably) aren’t going to reference — it might involve a trip to the Underworld, but it also involves the invention of the dildo, which I don’t see getting the spotlight in an SGG game.

Anyway! The war setting and Dionysus’ apparent discomfort in the war setting are the perfect backdrops to explore Dionysus’ insanity domain. A more serious, highly-strung, neurotic Dio would be a fantastic contrast to his previous surfer/stoner/party-boy incarnation and the other wrathful or flippant Olympians. I want to see Dio angry. I want to see him genuinely scared. All of the Olympians are certain of their victory and revenge on mortalkind/the restoration of the status quo, so show me one who isn’t.

I have very few ideas for Dio’s mechanics, which is exciting! As much as I enjoyed Hangover and Festive Fog, a lot of Dio’s boons were toilet wine in Hades, and I’m ready for champagne in Hades II.

• I don’t know how they could reimagine Hangover, so I’m expecting a new curse. That said, if Ares doesn’t get a DOT, I’m sure Dio will because we can’t have ten or eleven dedicated boon-givers and only one DOT curse.
• I think we’ll get something similar to Festive Fog, probably on the sprint and/or omega cast, like Smithy Sprint and Geyser Spout.
• His boons will have either Water and Fire elements (one of two currently unrepresented elemental combos, and alcohol is colloquially referred to as fire water) or Water and Earth elements (Water for wine, Earth for vegetation); either way, his infusion boon will depend on Water, bringing us to three Water-based infusion boons.

The Sixth Nocturnal Arm

More core to the gameplay loop than even keepsakes and boons are the Nocturnal Arms and their aspects. Currently, we have five of our six weapons and none of the hidden aspects — those aspects representing mythological figures from non-Greek cultures, which are unlocked through specific interactions and transform the weapons in their entirety. Of all the pre-1.0 content we’re expecting (or not expecting) to receive, I might be most excited about the eventual weapon update.

The Nocturnal Arms have been dramatically different from their sibling Infernal Arms, so it’s safe to say we won’t see Mel wielding a longsword, spear, shield, bow (which Mel has textually ruled out), gun, or pair of gauntlets. Mel’s arsenal contains three melee weapons — the Witch’s Staff, the Sister Blades, and the Moonstone Axe — and two ranged weapons — the Umbral Flames and the Argent Skull. Distinguishing between melee and ranged can be a little arbitrary, though, as every weapon has viable close and long-range options. Ergo, the sixth weapon could be primarily melee or ranged and still have the moveset necessary to satisfy fans of either playstyle. The real question is whether we’ll get a more conventional or unconventional weapon: besides the skull, the weapons have been fairly conventional in-universe and, even then, the skull is just a little quirky. Narratively, aesthetically, and mechanically, the anachronistic Adamant Rail was wildly unconventional in the fiction of Hades. Hades II is missing its Rail.

On the conventional martial weapon front, we’re a little limited. We can’t have a longsword, a shortsword wouldn’t be all that different, and the Arthur-like moveset of a broadsword is already accounted for by the axe — which, in addition to the staff, also eliminates all other polearms. Bladed weapons in general are out, considering the dagger and sickle of the Sister Blades. Hammers are always a popular choice and would be a cute throwback to Bastion, but again, the axe takes up the heavy weapon slot for me; Mel is meant to be a nimble witch-assassin, so several slow, unwieldy melee weapons might unduly strain her character fantasy. For that reason, a club, mace, or flail also seem unlikely. A crossbow isn’t impossible but may be too similar to the bow to be interesting (or appeal to infamous bow-hater Mel). Ultimately, my prime candidate for a conventional weapon is the whip: medium range, speed, and damage. The Aspect of Megaera, complementing the Aspect of Thanatos, is obvious. Who the second aspect would belong to is anyone’s guess — Eris and Hestia never had guns, so we have carte blanche to make these things up.

On the unconventional front, the sky’s the limit! Here are a few unlikely candidates that I would love to see:

• Chainsaw: not expecting a return on this bet, much as I would like one. My best friend (a horror junkie who had been playing Bayonetta 3 and recently bought me a Chainsaw Man anime poster at the time) suggested this and I haven’t been able to get it out of my head since. Like the rail, hilariously anachronistic. It would work like a melee version of the torches, rapidly channelling your omega attack to chew through enemies while implacably running them down. The Aspect of Hephaestus could transform it into an angle grinder or something. Like scythes, I just think chainsaws are neat weapons despite their impracticality.
• Lyre: my first choice, and one I’ve wanted since Hades. Music is a load-bearing Doric column of ancient Greek culture and Supergiant Games both, so it could not be more fitting for us to fight with an enchanted instrument. Again, I imagine it working like the torches, where your primary move is the omega attack. While channelling your omega moves, you’d play a simple melody in time with the game music. The Aspects of Orpheus and Apollo are freebies.
• Runners: this one comes courtesy of Josh Cotts at Game Rant. Yeah, it’s kind of ridiculous. I read the article and scoffed. But the next day I got a voiceline from Hermes talking about how Hephaestus made his sandals and footwear was going to catch on, and I thought… well, maybe Mel will get a deadly pair of kicks. Would they get away with the Aspect of Nike?

Once the sixth Nocturnal Arm joins our arsenal, all that’s left is to unlock the hidden aspects. Unfortunately, I won’t be speculating on these or discussing them any further as they’ve already been datamined, which does take the sport out of it — especially when Supergiant have asked that datamined content not be shared around. Of course, these things are subject to change, but they seemed pretty far along, so I don’t expect they will. Without giving anything away, I can say I’m absolutely thrilled with what we’re likely to get.

That’s all for now! See you when the update releases (or a couple hundred hours after).