What Story Will Hades II Tell?

Lately, I’ve been playing a lot of Hades, mostly because it has been a while and I can play a few runs before bed. However, I’ve also been prepping my muscle memory (and refreshing my actual memory) so that when Hades II comes to Early Access, I’ll be ready. While playing through Supergiant Games’ take on Greek mythology, a question kept rolling around in my head. What story is Supergiant Games’ first sequel going to tell?

I’m going to try and break this down with minimal spoilers. However, the main story (and post-game epilogue) of Hades deals with a variety of storylines. The biggest one is the mending of a broken family. However, other characters such as Orpheus and Eurydice have smaller storylines that don’t just re-tell their myths, they expand upon them and allow you to give them a resolution.

There are also a number of “missing” Olympians from the original game’s roster. The biggest one I noticed during the first time around was Hephaestus, who briefly gets mentioned by Aphrodite in a small piece of dialogue. However, other Olympians such as Hestia, Apollo (confirmed to be in Hades II), Hera, and a variety of minor gods are mentioned but are never explicitly shown.

Another interesting element is that the three Fates (Atropos, Lachesis, and Clotho) are mentioned in various dialogue segments, and even have a gameplay mechanic around them. Yet they themselves are never shown specifically. We also don’t see Heracles (the proper name for Hercules), Perseus, or a variety of other heroes. Prometheus is also mentioned in passing.

Why is this relevant? Well, we know that Hades II is a direct sequel (Supergiant Games’ first) that will take place at some point after the first game. We don’t know how long after, but we know that instead of playing as Zagreus, we’ll play as Melinoe. For reference, Melinoe is known in mythology as the Chthonic goddess known for being the bringer of nightmares and madness.

Of course, as with the stories of Zagreus, Melinoe in mythology has a variety of depictions, and I have no doubt that Supergiant Games will have their own take on Melinoe. Witchcraft will have a larger focus in Hades II, and we currently don’t know whether Melinoe was born after Zagreus brought the family back together in Hades, or if she was a child Hades and Zagreus didn’t know about somehow.

Chronos, the titan of Time will be the central villain this time around it seems. Technically, since Chronos is the father of the Olympians (at least, the oldest Olympians) I’d wager that there might be some family dynamics at play in the plot. We already know from the original game that the Olympians dismembered the Titans and scattered them throughout Tartarus, so I wonder if we’ll also see other Titans.

We also know that Hecate will play the role of Melinoe’s mentor, much like Achilles was Zagreus’ mentor. Other characters such as Nemesis have been shown in passing too, though I wouldn’t be surprised if we see characters like Prometheus and other heroes of legend. There is a lot to play around with, and according to Supergiant Games, we’ll get to explore more of the world “in and around the Underworld” than before.

I can see why they chose Hades II as their first sequel. Their world-building is rich and there are a lot of myths they can build off to craft the story. While I’m curious as to how Hades himself will fit into the story, and what myths will factor in, I’m very excited for Hades II. Hopefully, we’ll find out more about the Early Access release date soon.