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I famously find it hard to nitpick things I love, and Hades 2 is no exception. Try as I might to resist the rose-tinted veil that falls over Melinoe's journey every time I boot the game up on my Steam Deck, I'm still firmly under its thrall after many hundreds of hours spent at the Crossroads. I was aghast when my colleague and fellow Greek mythology fanatic gave the new game 4.5 stars in his Hades 2 review. How could something I love so much in all of its godly, witchy, titanic power be anything short of perfection?
Such was my (admittedly black and white) way of thinking until Hades 2's console launch update. Reading the patch notes, the shimmering shroud of pure blind devotion settling over my eyelids once more, I prepared myself for greatness. An update! I love those things! I'm going to love this one so much! And for the most part, I did. From Dream Dives to expanded relationships, Hades 2 is still one of my favorite games I've ever played. But it also has one glaring post-game letdown that feels, after all the wonderful ways the game builds on elements of Hades 1, like a very big oversight.
Grind is not life
I'm pretty deep in my post-game Hades 2 experience at this point. Mel's great task has been completed, order has been restored to the House of Hades, and all that's left to do is tie up a few loose ends and decorate the Crossroads to my immortal heart's content.
Between tending to the last remaining tasks on my Fated List of Minor Prophecies, an interesting discussion arises with Headmistress Hecate. She mentions something about the goddess Nyx – queen of the night, child of Chaos, and mother of a handful of my deific beaus (don't judge me, everyone is hot and I am weak-willed) – and how I might curry her favor by raising my notoriety as a shade-slayer. I fail to see how 230 runs isn't notorious enough for the great primordial goddess, but I intend to be an excellent daughter-in-law thrice over. So, I head over to the cauldron to perform the only new incantation available to me.
Now, I'm able to head to the Spirit Mixer in the taverna, upon whom I can bestow Kudos (one of my many, many in-game currencies, earned by selling unwanted reagents) and other ingredients in order to earn ranks. Each spending spree increases my notoriety, earning me a special little badge on every victory screen after completing a successful run up to the Surface or down to Tartarus. I also get a polite round of applause from the watering hole's denizens upon each rank-up; think of Melinoe as something of a Bard, regaling pint-slingers with grueling tales of battle while they toast her continued good health.
But here's the thing: after pumping pretty much all of my Kudos into my rank, rising straight to the top of the starter Wraith category in one fell swoop, nothing actually happens. I run out to do a quick Pitch Black Stone challenge, hoping that I'll get some new dialogue about my escapades to share with Hecate – or, dare I dream it, with Nyx herself – upon my return. Instead, I get the usual smattering of generic chats with my fellow Crossroad-dwellers.
Unseen victories
My rank feels little more than a pat on the back I have embarrassingly given myself
Maybe it was my fault for getting too swept up in things. The first Hades had postgame rankings, too, and they also had no actual gameplay function save for putting some of your hard-won resources to use once all other avenues were exhausted. It was nothing more than a prestige system – a totally private one, given that both Hades games are single-player ventures. But I really expected developer Supergiant to have expanded it for Hades 2, and doubly so due to the fact that Nyx herself was mentioned in tandem to it.
As one of my favorite Hades characters ever, her elusive presence in Hades 2 compared to her co-starring role in the first game means my ears prick up whenever she is mentioned. When Hecate suggested that Nyx herself might take note of my exploits through raising my rank, I thought it was a tacit hint from Supergiant that doing so might make her appear in the Crossroads. I've come across her in Chaos' domain after entering their portals out on a run, but if she's ever appeared at the Crossroads itself following the game's true ending, I've probably forgotten already (see: 230 runs total).
It made perfect sense to me for this to be a significant post-game story node, considering the game already expands upon so many of the original's systems. Hades 2's familiars enhance the resource collection mechanics, for example, while arcana upgrades refine the Mirror of Night's build creation, Fear upgrades Heat for tougher challenge modifiers, and Hades 2 has a wider range of gods and boon-givers in general.
So it's a little demoralizing that the Nyx namedrop might have been nothing more than a contextual hook with no post-game story implications. In theory, it gives Melinoe a reason to strive for higher rankings and not give up the fight just because it's technically over. But what if we could see more of Nyx and her children's interactions as she encourages them to aid our cause? What if she became a secret boon-giver herself? What if we got literally anything for all that resource-dumping?
Well, I guess there is one tiny reward, if you can call it that. I've learned that Nyx does have some unique dialogue that triggers once you reach the upper echelons of Unseen (the highest rankings band) but I hope you'll forgive me for not chomping at the bit for a throwaway piece of acknowledgement. Her words are kind, but it doesn't change the fact that my rank feels little more than a pat on the back I have embarrassingly given myself. Truthfully, I regret parting with all those precious resources when they could have gone into my interior design habit instead. (Hey, Odysseus could always use a new rug.)
Hades 2 is one of the best roguelikes of all-time, but there's plenty more to choose from.
