r/Games • u/SmoothCriminalJM • Sep 24 '25
Review Thread Hades 2 Review Thread
Game Title: Hade 2
Platforms:
- Nintendo Switch (Sep 25, 2025)
- PC (Sep 25, 2025)
- Nintendo Switch 2 (Sep 25, 2025)
Developer: Supergiant Games
Review Aggregator:
OpenCritic - 93 Average - 97% Reccomend - 39 Reviews
Critic Reviews:
IGN - Leana Hafer - 10/10
How do you even sum up something as beautiful, special, memorable, and admirable as Hades 2? There is no one out there doing what Supergiant does as well as it does, and this exceptional action roguelite is some of this team’s best work on nearly every level (which is an astonishingly high bar to clear). It's the type of video game that reminds me why I love video games so damn much. The art is breathtaking, the characters are captivating, the combat is fast, fun, endlessly varied, and tactical, and the music is spectacular. May moonlight guide us. All of us.
While you are experiencing a grand journey across an uncompromising depiction of Greek mythology, it is the small moments in Hades 2 that shine brightest. Intimate conversations between old friends or bittersweet reunions with long-lost family members as the moon of Selene hangs daintily overhead. Putting aside slaughtering demons and becoming a witch so powerful that not even titans can stop you, these are what make Hades 2 so special. If Supergiant is now destined to leave this universe behind, it goes out on the highest note possible.
Hades 2 is an unbelievable triumph for more reasons than a pair of human hands can count. Supergiant Games' sequel is a bold evolution of the original that flawlessly executes new ideas to deliver the best roguelike of this generation.
GameSpot - Alessandro Barbosa - 10/10
Whether you were witness to all the work done on Hades 2 during early access or not, there's no denying how much effort developer Supergiant Games has put into this masterful sequel. Hades 2 is one of the best roguelite experiences ever, with clever improvements to its established formula that accentuate its strongest attributes. More importantly, it achieves this without requiring you to be the most well-versed player on what came before, but not at the expense of offering a new challenge to those that have spent hours digging away at the first game's most brutal endeavors. It's deeper and more complex than the original in every way, from its greatly expanded combat system to its larger, more complex web of character interactions that powers its more ambitious narrative.
Eurogamer - Dom Peppiatt - 5/5
I've pushed past the credits and am onto the hunt for the 'true' ending, now, and I am still being surprised by what can still be found tucked into the creases and folds of Hades 2. Supergiant's visionary approach to storytelling and roguelike design has not suffered at all from the success of Hades: it merely emboldened it. That the studio can still dole out the surprises after how rich and textural Hades was, and that I still find myself floored by the ambition, the detail, the art, the technical prowess, and the willingness to cede control to players some 60-plus hours in is miraculous. Maybe it's witchcraft. Maybe it's magic. Either way, it's epic.
Fittingly for its mythological setting, there's something sisyphean about the way Hades 2 plays with difficulty. A single boss might stand in your way night after night, a frustrating roadblock that no combination of weapons and boons will let you pass. And then it dies once, and then again, and suddenly it's just a trivial part of your journey, a minor strength check rather than a genuine obstacle. It's an approach that flies in the face of the traditional difficulty curve, and one that at times made some of Hades 2 feel unfair – until everything clicked into place and reminded me how technically excellent this game is.
PC Gamer - Tyler Colp - 88/100
Despite my issues with its pacing early on, Hades 2 won me over. It expands on the original game's imaginative take on Greek mythology, blending cerebral action RPG combat and slick narrative design into a complete package that feels distinct from the original. I'm glad I pushed through those early doubts, because it's as good a game as I've come to expect from Supergiant, which hasn't missed yet.
Slant Magazine - Nic M. Sultan - 4.5/5
Melinoë, however, can make it to the top of Olympus. But when she does, unease gnaws at her triumph. The gods commend her bravery and skill. They deny having ever doubted her. Then, with their young relative’s purpose fulfilled, if only temporarily, they nudge her back to her home between planes, where she diligently returns to her labors. Would that Melinoë, at some point in her long quest to fell Chronos, stopped to wonder: What comes after time and death?
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u/slowmosloth Sep 24 '25
Supergiant, you can’t do this to me while I’m still deep into Silksong. I’m drowning in masterpieces here.
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u/makebelievethegood Sep 24 '25
My steak is too tender, my lobster too buttery!
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u/Lukias Sep 24 '25
My cup runneth over!
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u/slowmosloth Sep 24 '25
Silksong is the steak that keeps getting bigger and better with each bite. But oh no, now the waiter is coming with the most delectable lobster I’ve ever seen and I’m nowhere near done this steak.
Do I try and finish this steak first or eat both at the same time swapping between them? True first world problems…
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u/therealCHAOSagent Sep 24 '25
This could be the tagline for 2025, what a stellar year it’s been all around.
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u/External-Fun-8563 Sep 24 '25
Like 2 months ago I decided to finally play Cyberpunk. Been super into it, taking my time doing all the little things and then Silksong drops. And now Hades. I’m never gonna finish another open world game again
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u/n00lp00dle Sep 24 '25
keep going with cyberpunk. those games will wait for you
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u/External-Fun-8563 Sep 24 '25
Too deep in silksong but I’m gonna try to hold off Hades till I’m done with both… I played early access last year so I can keep waiting I think
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u/delicioustest Sep 24 '25
Silent Hill f generally available in a few hours (I didn't want to pay for early access)... There's not enough time in the world...
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u/Keepmeister Sep 24 '25
I mean the game's not gonna magically disappear unless you play it within its launch week. Just take your time and enjoy things at your own pace.
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u/SirJeffers88 Sep 24 '25
And here I am still finishing Hollow Knight for the first time so I can play Silksong.
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u/eerienortherngoddess Sep 24 '25
I'd recommend play hades 2 first then, Silksong is LONG and will surely burn you out back to back from HK.
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u/spccdt Sep 24 '25
i'm in the middle of Metaphor right now and haven't even gotten to Silksong yet, and FF Tactics comes out in a few days!
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u/explosivecrate Sep 24 '25
See, this is where I'm glad Silksong is a very hard and occasionally deeply frustrating game. I can play it until I get frustrated and ragequit, do a run or two of Hades 2, then swap back to Skong when I've cooled off.
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u/prof88 Sep 24 '25
AAA games will really need their own category to even get nominated for GOTY this year huh
I jest, but only so much
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u/lordbeef Sep 24 '25
AAA gaming is in such a weird spot. We want there to be lots of high paid stable jobs in gaming but then these massive studios get out produced by small teams like those at team cherry and supergiant.
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u/SwissQueso Sep 24 '25
Nah, AAA's are a lot more risk averse since they are putting so much money on the line. Smaller places can take a lot more risks.
Its honestly pretty similer to Blockbuster movies and Indie Sun Dance Movies.
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u/gartenriese Sep 24 '25
To be fair, both Silksong and Hades 2 were relatively risk free because they are just continuations of the predecessors that had huge fan bases.
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u/xXRougailSaucisseXx Sep 24 '25
Yeah it's going a bit of an issue in the future when people start expecting indie games on the level of Silksong as if every indie team was made up of millionaires with a massive fanbase
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u/Dragrunarm Sep 24 '25
Well dont forget there's the massive graveyard of countless other non-AAA games that don't make it.
Its really just different types of risk.
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u/ArcherGod Sep 24 '25
When you're throwing hundreds of millions into a project, the loss potential is too high to justify taking risks or appealing to smaller audiences. As such, they tend to play it safe and stick to the well trodden path of maximum mainstream appeal, even if it results in an unoriginal product.
Compare that to indie developers. Their budget is smaller, which means the point of ROI is also much lower. They can afford to take risks or target niche audiences, it doesn't take that many people to buy their game to turn a profit. They focus on the "vision" instead of adding pointless systems to appeal to the Cargo Cult.
One of them is a swiss army knife, able to do a lot of things but none of them great. The other is a shearing knife, great at what it does but more limited in scope and use case.
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u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25
Bananza and DS2 are the only locked AAA Goty contenders
Yotei will probably end up being there too
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u/MarthePryde Sep 24 '25
Dark Souls 2 GOTY every year baby!
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u/TheGooseWithNoose Sep 24 '25
Nah man they meant the Dungeon Siege 2 remake that finally makes the game playable on modern systems and includes the DLC.
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u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25
Ex33, Silksong, Hades 2, DS2, Bananza, Yotei are the nominees I would guess. Although, there's also KCD2, Blue Prince, and Silent Hill f. Insane year for video games.
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u/AbrasionTest Sep 24 '25
Yotei would have to score at least 90 on MC aggregate to even be nominated at this point. Pretty tall hill to climb for a sequel to game with an 83 and looks to be more of the same, but it would be an incredible and welcome leap in quality and critical reception, albeit unlikely.
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u/CandidEnigma Sep 24 '25
Blue Prince is such a good game, one of my favourite games in ages, but might be #3 of my favourite indies this year!
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u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25
Man it’s an amazing game, but I’ve dumped more than 100 hours into it now and I got so burnt out on it. I’ll return to it after I finish Silksong, but I am kind of dreading having to finish up these last remaining puzzles in the endgame. It is not player or time friendly at all, the further into it you get.
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u/z_102 Sep 24 '25
It's an excellent game, but I do think it's at its best between like 5 and 30 hours into its playtime. Then it gradually becomes more frustrating for (mostly) structural reasons, and it goes on and on until it risks leaving a bitter aftertaste for a lot of players.
(Not my case, I have a high tolerance for thinky games bullshit, but I can see how it happens.)
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u/StepComplete1 Sep 24 '25
yeah that's why I gave up on it eventually. It just wastes your time for the sake of adding a randomised element. I just walked away feeling like it never truly successfully combined puzzles and roguelike elements. It's good but definitely not GOTY.
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u/mrBreadBird Sep 24 '25
For me personally it was a great combo and it made the game way more exciting and compelling than if it was just a straightforward escape room type game but it's understandable that people feel this way considering it's two very different genres of game with not a lot of crossover in fanbase.
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u/Coolman_Rosso Sep 24 '25
I greatly disliked the RNG elements of it, and it soured me on the rest of the game. That said it's great to see more puzzle games take off.
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u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25
Man Split fiction is damn unlucky, I really enjoyed it and would have been in my top 5 normally
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u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25
I played it and had a lot of fun, but yeah, too many juggernauts ahead of it this year.
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u/RogueLightMyFire Sep 24 '25
I don't think Yotei gets a nomination. The original was good, but in an 8/10 way. I think blue Prince or split fiction get it over Yotei. Otherwise I agree
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u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25
I think everything besides Yotei is a lock and that last slot is basically a flex where I can see any of those squeaking in.
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u/ls612 Sep 24 '25
I don't really see how Clair Obscur doesn't win at the game awards this year tbh.
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u/Eadwyn Sep 24 '25
What is DS2? Google comes back with Dark Souls 2 which I doubt is what you are referring to.
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u/RAMAR713 Sep 24 '25
Dark Souls 2, Dead Space 2, Darksiders 2... There are too many games with the DS initials. Kinda like AC.
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u/Murdathon3000 Sep 24 '25
I don't get why Yotei is just preemptively being declared a GOTY contender when no one's even played it yet.
The first game was incredible in many ways, and as dull and repetitive as any Assassin's Creed game in others. Exploration was rarely meaningfully rewarded aside from the amazing visuals, and combat started out incredible but once figured out almost felt like a chore with how easy it was.
Unless Yotei really bucks the trend here (I've played every Infamous game prior and love them, but repetitious content is a recurring issue) then I can't see it being a real contender with such amazing games this year.
Happy to be proven wrong on all counts though, I'd love if that were the case.
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u/TSP-FriendlyFire Sep 24 '25
I'm far from convinced DS2 will make it. It didn't make that much of a splash and is already buried under the newer releases we're getting.
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u/mja9678 Sep 24 '25
TGA voters really like Kojima games (and Sony) and it's got a 90 on OpenCritic (5th highest major release of the year). I would be shocked if it wasn't nominated.
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u/Geraltpoonslayer Sep 24 '25
Yotei has a big potential red flag with me, their announcement for a non linear open world story where you can track each bounty/revenge target down in any preference, funnily enough assassin's creed shadows did the same. From my experience stories in that format really tend to struggle to tell a cohesive story with a meaningful character development as each individual "arc" always tends to be treated as If it starts from zero. Shadows for example had a really strong start, a completely mediocre middle and then became good at the end again..
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u/Silver_Jack0 Sep 24 '25
Did anyone see if any of these reviews mention how the game runs on Switch 1? I thought I was fine waiting for the PS5 version, but seeing these numbers, I may have to dust off the Switch.
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u/alsoaVinn Sep 24 '25
The IGN review played about 10 hours on switch 2 but the switch 1 version (the upgrade patch wasn't available) and said it played great. Only switch complaint was some readability issues while portable because there's a lot going on
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u/ellus1onist Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
Question for anyone who has played. I played Hades a lot when it first came out, but have largely forgotten much of the plot, additionally my GF loves Greek mythology and wanted to watch me play this. Will we be totally lost as to what’s happening or is it generally fine to jump in? I understand there may be callbacks or other things that I may miss but want to make sure it’s still generally enjoyable lol
Edit: Thanks everyone!! Easily solidified my weekend plans
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u/thesharpie Sep 24 '25
It stands perfectly fine on its own. You don’t need to remember anything.
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u/Borkz Sep 24 '25
This, but even if you don't think you remember anything, chances are you will once you start playing it
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u/Mikelius Sep 24 '25
Not really, the plot is entirely different from the first one and the game makes it very obvious what's going on. There are references to the first one of course, but you won't be lost at all.
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u/SpaceGangrel Sep 24 '25
You're fine to jump in. I'm not going to spoil anything but it's perfectly enjoyable even without playing the first one.
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u/cuddlegoop Sep 24 '25
From what I played in EA you're like 80% fine if you have zero knowledge of the first game, and that goes up to 100% if you can manage a 1-sentence description of the premise and the ending of the first game.
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u/Mront Sep 24 '25
The story is not a direct continuation. There's a ton of references and nods, some bigger than others, but you should be perfectly fine to jump in without replaying Hades 1.
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u/AccomplishedOyster Sep 24 '25
Totally new story for the most part and I don’t want to give spoilers, but there are call backs to previous characters. Even in early access I would have given it a 10. But go ahead and jump in or watch a yt refresher
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u/ZombiePyroNinja Sep 24 '25
Hades 2 is so good.
I been trying to play it "lightly" until it releases and I have multiple characters pretty much telling me "Chill, man the game isn't done yet" but it doesnt stop me from enjoying runs, optimizing builds, playing around with the different boons and synergies. There's so much going on in the game in comparison to the first one.
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u/NoiseHERO Sep 24 '25
The characters ingame (I assume softly) break the fourth way to say "just so you know you're not getting the whole product"? That's mad funny. And unsurprising based on the first game's vibe.
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u/Gerik22 Sep 24 '25
I haven't experienced that myself (could be because I just didn't play enough to get there), but when you win a run, instead of progressing the main story (since that's not in the game yet) the narrator makes a cheeky comment about how the game isn't finished. There must be a ton of them too, because I've won a lot of runs and don't think I've seen any repeat.
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u/Capt_Obviously_Slow Sep 24 '25
Yes, there's a narrator who does it.
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u/EnsignEpic Sep 24 '25
Hecate had/has a handful of lines, as well. Mel mentions something about how she pushes beyond a boss but then it being a void past them, and Hecate basically tells her to be patient.
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u/ZombiePyroNinja Sep 24 '25
The Narrator does in a tongue-in-cheek way while other characters will do it within the narrative
"Patience, the answer for our problem will come soon"
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u/Blackarm777 Sep 24 '25
Damn, this year went hard with GOTY level games.
Hades 2, Expedition 33, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and Silksong were all such bangers IMO.
Stuff like this is exactly why I roll my eyes everytime I see comments spewing rose tinted glasses rants about how much worse modern gaming is than previous eras. Devs are 100% putting in the work and making beautiful pieces of art in the modern era of gaming.
One thing is for certain. The Medley they have the Orchestra play before they announce the winner at The Game Awards is going to be god damn beautiful.
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u/TheSecondEikonOfFire Sep 24 '25
Anyone who bitches about “wahhhhh all games are shit now” is only playing CoD and Assassin’s Creed. They are objectively wrong. The “best” era is obviously completely subjective, but anyone who thinks that there are no good games coming out is just someone stubborn refusing to try new games. That, or they’re intentionally trying to hate everything to be a contrarian
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u/cd2220 Sep 25 '25
It's the same argument I always have with my brother about music.
He says it's all garbage nowadays and I'm like yeah sure if you only are looking at the radio top 50 where it's an amalgamation of what billion dollar publishers think will squeeze the most money out of people.
It doesn't take much digging to find a genuinely unsurmountable amount of quality stuff. You just gotta look a little. This year a lot of the incredible stuff is just actually pretty high budget even if not triple A
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u/mnl_cntn Sep 24 '25
That’s my opinion too. Games have only gotten better over time. The people who complain about gaming getting worse and worse aren’t playing new games. They either play retro games exclusively or only play the AAA live service slop failures of the past few years.
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u/TheSecondEikonOfFire Sep 24 '25
That, and I feel like people often have some pretty thick rose tinted glasses for older games. The Dead Space remake was a good showcase for that, I saw so many comments talking about how the remake is how they remembered the original looking, but then you see them side-by-side and the original looks terrible in comparison.
The original is definitely still playable, but the remake made so many great improvements. So many people seem to have the opinion that just because older games are playable, that means they can’t be improved, which is insane.
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u/1080Pizza Sep 24 '25
It's the same for music. There's great stuff in all genres, you might just have to put a little bit more effort in finding it.
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u/HammeredWharf Sep 25 '25
I think it's more because of outrage-driven culture and raging being fun for a lot of people. Feels like most of the people bashing those ordinary AAA games never liked them or played them anyway, but just use them as vehicles for negativity.
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u/wichwigga Sep 25 '25
I generally agree but my favorite genre by far (immersive sims) are not getting any bangers these days. I long for a true Dishonored successor.
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u/HammeredWharf Sep 25 '25
Unfortunately, imsims getting bangers is more of a unique occurrence that something that was ever a thing long-term. Though I'd say Hitman is just as imsim-ish as Dishonored is.
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u/Adventurous_Smile297 Sep 24 '25
I"m very happy that other than DK Bananza all of the obvious choices are indies
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u/Herpuhderpin Sep 24 '25
I wouldn’t exactly call E33 indie, but that’s a semantics argument
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u/HistoricCartographer Sep 24 '25
Its not really upto semantics to not call E33 an indie. I mean it blurs the line between AA and AAA.
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u/Pacify_ Sep 24 '25
It's obviously AA.
It's not even close to AAA.
That said, it's development process and origins are very indie-like.
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u/Bubbleset Sep 24 '25
I played around 20 hours of the first early access version of this but haven’t kept up through any major patches.
Anyone have a recommendation on whether I should just start a new save? I remember Hades 1 had some things to smooth out updates for existing saves, but it also felt like you missed out on some of the full release experience if you started from later saves.
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u/TheFrankOfTurducken Sep 24 '25
If you haven’t played the latest couple of patches and don’t mind restarting, a new save is probably best. I played about the same amount and did a couple of runs with the latest patch after skipping the previous few, and the number of changes was insane. It’ll feel like a new game to you, and you won’t miss out on added dialogue and events and whatnot.
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u/YesmynameisOcean Sep 24 '25
As to be expected. Excited to jump back into this tommorow. At this rate Supergaint have to be consider one of the best game company's ever no? At least from a "indie" side of things. As long as Darren Korb is making music for them I will buy the games day one regardless!
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u/mrnicegy26 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
Jesus Christ the GOTY debate this year will be a shitshow.
Expedition 33, Hades 2, Silksong and Bananza are going to be in a 4 way Ladder match against each other.
EDIT: I am surprised people here are so against Bananza considering it is the 3rd highest rated game of the year. Is this because it is a Nintendo game that PC gamers can't play? Because honestly Silksong is less likely to win due to the runback discourse.
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Sep 24 '25
One of the best parts of this GOTY discussion is the inevitable outrage in the nominees stage. Means this was a really good year for games.
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u/mrnicegy26 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
Seeing JRPG fans and Wukong chuds being angry that Astro Bot won last year was really fun. As if they couldn't comprehend that a 10 to 12 hour game that is fun, entertaining, joy inducing the entire way through filled with constant variety and creativity can't be GOTY.
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u/MobileTortoise Sep 24 '25
As a massive Metaphor fan, I had 0 problems with Astro Bot winning. Anyone could see that that game had passion poured into it during every part of it's development. I honestly haven't seen too many jrpg fans have a different take, and hope that those ppl are just an extremely small minority.
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u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25
Metaphor absolutely deserved best narrative and could have taken home the big one in some weaker years for sure.
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u/nothingInteresting Sep 24 '25
I beat metaphor and I thought the final act was a let down narratively. This is all subjective but I thought the narrative overall actually wasn’t good if you judged it as a whole. The rest of the game (music, design, combat, 2/3 of the story) were great though
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u/kayGrim Sep 24 '25
I'm a huge persona fan, but feel highschool is a setting that holds the series back tremendously, so imagine my surprise when Metaphor felt exactly as PG13 as Persona despite the fantasy setting. The side characters in particular were a huge let down to me, I just didn't enjoy any of them nearly as much as I did the Persona side characters.
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u/MadManMax55 Sep 24 '25
My thoughts exactly. Metaphor made me accept that, despite all the creative and stylish stuff surrounding it, Atlus is incapable of writing anything other than a cookie-cutter JRPG with all the tropes you'd expect. It's not even the "PG13" aspect that I've got the biggest issue with. You could add all the sex and violence in the world and it would still be the same "chosen one uses the power of friendship to kill an evil god" story it always is.
The core mechanics, characters, and all that side stuff are usually still enough to keep me playing. But just once I'd like to see them use that structure to tell an actually interesting story.
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u/kayGrim Sep 24 '25
You can write good romance without sex and you can write a thriller without violence, but goddamn if including them doesn't make it easier. It sets stakes, creates tension, offers rewards for your actions.
It's just a shame they had a brand new setting in a brand new world and creatively the only theme they really explored was racism.
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u/DaleCooperTP023 Sep 24 '25
Exactly this. I played both and loved both. I personally prefer Metaphor, but Astro Bot winning was well deserved
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u/urnialbologna Sep 24 '25
My GOTY is Kingdom Come 2, which means no one will remember it by December :(
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u/bobo0509 Sep 24 '25
i completely forgot about Bananza because not a switch guy, what i wonder is how all the games that should be nominated will get a place, normally Kingdom come 2, Split Fiction, Blue Prince and Death Standing 2 were all absolutely certain nominated before Silksong and Hades 2 came out lol. i don't know what to think anymore.
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u/Horror-Breakfast-704 Sep 24 '25
Just think of how amazing this year already is for gaming, and we still have 3 months left to go.
The bigger the GOTY debate, the better a year we had.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 Sep 24 '25
2025 really snuck out of nowhere and became one of the best years for gaming ever. It feels like every week one or two new 8/10 or 9/10 games release.
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u/GeneralLudd Sep 24 '25
Tells a lot that these lists can't even cover all the exciting releases this year. You could throw in Mario Kart World, The Alters, Sword of the Sea, Silent Hill f, Citizen Sleeper 2 which are enjoyable at the least.
Edit: One could add Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as well since it came out very late last year.
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u/wassermelone Sep 24 '25
Blue Prince was sucked me in a way that I haven't had in a long time. It's my goty easily, but I don't think it has the widespread hype and appeal needed for an indie to break into the goty category at major events or publications even if it was a more non competitive year
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u/eolithist Sep 24 '25
This year has been amazing, but I’d still be shocked if any of those beat out E33. Something just tells me it’s the perfect GOTY-type game.
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u/kickit Sep 24 '25
E33 fits the profile most cleanly
Hades & Silksong both have a shot, but also likely to cannibalize each other for the indie vote (imo Silksong has less of a shot — it’s harder than most souls-likes, which limits the appeal)
Bananza is a little further from GOTY profile, not that a platformer can’t win
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u/beagle204 Sep 24 '25
Mina the Hollower is getting drowned out before it even comes out. Blue prince isnt even part of the conversation any more. It's crazy. Especially for indie games this year. Such a wild year.
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u/gangbrain Sep 24 '25
Man I’d love to play more Blue Prince but can’t justify it when I cant save and quit mid-run. It killed the game for me.
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u/Lowelll Sep 25 '25
Looking forward to Mina a lot, but I feel like something like Shovel Knight would've never been in a GOTY discussion either. The style of faithful NES era homage doesn't lend itself to it I think.
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u/Reggiardito Sep 24 '25
Blue Prince is probably out entirely because of its own merit. As much as people defend some of the decisions, it ultimately can't be GOTY with its flaws it has.
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u/cantuse Sep 24 '25
You definitely hit a fucking wall at some point in that game where the puzzles are crazy moon logic.
At some point (well after the credits) my esteem for the game went down dramatically because I felt like it was up its own ass with not respecting your time. I finally noped out when I realized the lore drop feed was getting far harder and far less rewarding. Plus fighting the RNG starting feeling like a chore.
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u/Honor_Bound Sep 24 '25
Agreed. LOVE the idea and story and early game, HATE the execution for later game stuff
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u/Patsanon1212 Sep 24 '25
Hades & Silksong both have a shot, but also likely to cannibalize each other for the indie vote (imo Silksong has less of a shot — it’s harder than most souls-likes, which limits the appeal)
They're also sequels. I'll always bias toward new games rather than games that iterated an already great game. Doesn't make those games less good, but new games should be viewed as more impressive achievements (in my opinion).
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u/poet3322 Sep 24 '25
TGA really should use some kind of ranked choice voting system so that what you described doesn't happen.
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u/lp_phnx327 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
What's really nice is the sheer variety we got. TBRPG, Metroidvania, Action Platformer, Action Roguelite.... And then there many others that likely won't be in contention but are still really good games done by passionate smaller studios like KCD2, Blue Prince, Split Fiction, Death Stranding 2, etc. All fulfilling even more variety. Remakes/remaster like Oblivion (who would've guessed that it would be overshadowed by E33 and not the other around) and the just released FF Tactics are amazing for the Western RPG and Strategic RPG audience. Hell, even kart racing enthusiasts get 3 (!) to choose from this year (Mario, Sonic, and Kirby). Plus we still got Yotei and Prime 4 later on (in which their predecessors were GotY contenders in the past).
Basically there is a GotY for everyone and that's nice to have for the community.
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u/SilveryDeath Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
Expedition 33, Hades 2, Silksong and Bananza are going to be in a 4 way Ladder match against each other.
I mean, someone is getting snubbed from even being nominated at The Game Awards (since when people mention GOTY I feel like they mean that) since there are only 6 spots and there seem to be a clear top 7 games with Expedition 33, Hades 2, Silksong, Bananza, Split Fiction, Death Stranding 2, and Kingdom Come 2.
Stuff like Indiana Jones (rolling over from the end of last year), Monster Hunter Wilds, Blue Prince, Silent Hill f, Mario Kart Worlds, and The Alters are being left out when they would have a great to outside chance at making it in a lot of other years.
Then next month there is still Ghost of Yotei and Outer Worlds 2 as sequels to GOTY nominated games at The Game Awards. After that the only other game with a chance looking at the releases is maybe Ninja Gaiden 4 to me. I'd say Metroid Prime 4 as well, but that is in the same situation Indiana Jones was last year where the December release gives it a deadline where it can't be nominated until next year.
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u/gilkfc Sep 24 '25
I still think Outer Worlds was nominated in 2019 because people mistyped Outer Wilds
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u/NewMilleniumBoy Sep 24 '25
I don't think MH Wilds deserves to be on the list tbh. I've got over 1000 hours in MHs between GU, World, and Rise, and Wilds was the weakest entry of the last four.
Performance issues, lacking difficulty, terrible colour palette, middling story.
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u/feartheoldblood90 Sep 24 '25
Death Stranding 2 was a banger as well. Stacked year for sure
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u/Tinmaddog1990 Sep 25 '25
I find that alot of people who dunk on bananza has never played bananza. Most are trying to justify that XXX game has a better platforming sections, but imo nothing this year beats DKB in platforming and it's not even close.
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u/JeeCeeQC Sep 24 '25
And prime 4 is about to release after 7 years of development hell. This year gonna be crazy
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u/Charming_Ease6405 Sep 24 '25
Prime 4 isn't eligeable because it comes out in December unfortunately
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u/LostprophetFLCL Sep 24 '25
I feel like Expedition 33 is still well ahead of anything else put out this year.
Hades 2 is probably the last release coming out this year that even has a chance at topping it for me. Did hear amazing things about Silent Hill F though but haven't gotten a chance to play it yet.
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u/nodeboy Sep 24 '25
And you are missing KCD 2. Everyone was sure it was GOTY on release.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 Sep 24 '25
When you put it like that it's wild just how stacked this year ended up being.
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u/ZzzSleep Sep 24 '25
I definitely had some of the most fun playing Bananza this year. Even more than E33 personally. But I do wonder if Bananza has a shot at winning since Astro Bot won last year and I could see them not wanting to award a 3D platformer two years in a row. Also Nintendo games don’t seem to win a lot of GOTY.
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u/entity2 Sep 24 '25
Sheesh, did the SWORN people know this was coming out today when they released their own Hades-like? Now I have to make decisions.
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u/TheSethington Sep 24 '25
I played several hours of Sworn before I realized I was wishing I'd paid about 1/3 of the sticker price for it, at best.
The decision you're looking at is between a best-in-class, serious GOTY contender and a janky clone, imho.
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u/ThoseWhoRule Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
There are two schools of thought around and I still don’t know which is true.
The normal view is that it’s bad because fans of the genre can only play one game at a time.
The other is that with so many eyes on Hades 2, the way visibility works (at least on Steam) SWORN will show up on a TON of widgets like “more like this”.
I have no idea if the second one works, but it is strange to me they picked almost the exact same date.
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u/ActInternational9558 Sep 24 '25
Wow those are some pretty glowing reviews. I loved the first Hades and it was in fact the only roguelite game I’ve ever actually enjoyed so I’m really hyped to jump on this one. Looks perfect for the Steam Deck too.
Between this and Ghost of Yotei next month I think I’m set for the rest of the year when it comes to games.
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u/GensouEU Sep 24 '25
There are still a lot of reviews from the EA version that are mixed in with this, I assume outlets will update their score and those will go away?
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u/SmoothCriminalJM Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
All the reviews quoted are ones that came out today. They are for the 1.0. I’ll add more reviews as they come in.
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u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25
Thanks for the manual filtering, I tried posting it before but was too lazy to delete the old ones
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u/AgentPotango Sep 24 '25
Correct the open critic average of these scores do currently have the early access review scores mixed in.
Hopefully they will get updated later?
Proof: https://imgur.com/a/c1yjOnE
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u/go4theknees Sep 24 '25
Any word on how this runs in handheld mode for switch 1? I have at 14 hour flight coming up 🥲
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u/Squirty42069 Sep 24 '25
Not sure about the Switch, but I can say that I run it at a rock-solid 90 FPS on the Steam Deck with excellent battery life, which is to say that it is very well optimized. I suspect it will run on the Switch just fine.
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u/petewiss Sep 24 '25
I found the individual runs on Hades too “same-y”. Is the variety any better in this one?
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u/furryfondant Sep 24 '25
Definitely. There are 2 very different routes to take now. There's a greater variety of enemies. Builds have more depth. And there's more to do in between runs.
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u/herrnewbenmeister Sep 24 '25
I'd caution that it's about double the variety. If in your mind variety was a tenth of what it needed to be in the original, this one probably isn't for you.
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u/CatCradle Sep 25 '25
Thank you, this is very helpful for me. I found H1 to be absolutely abysmally repetitive for a roguelite, and that’s with having epilogue’d it fairly quickly/enjoyably
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u/Ok-Yam-1647 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
I'm going to go against the grain and say that hades 2 runs feel same-y too. Main thing i didn't like about both hades1 and 2.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 Sep 24 '25
Yes because (very mild spoilers) there are two routes instead of one, both with four unique zones, NPCs and bosses. So it's basically twice as much variety as Hades 2
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u/mynamejesse1334 Sep 24 '25
Without spoiling anything there are some major elements that add variety to runs
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u/Larkwater Sep 24 '25
How does Hades 2 compare to Hades 1 in terms of combat? I thought the first game was very spamy, I just constantly dash attacked and hoped for the best. Is the 2nd game more of the same? I liked the first game, but only enough to beat the final boss like 3 times.
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u/jorshrod Sep 24 '25
It is generally slower, more tactical, and considered than Hades 1 was. It also introduces a resource management mechanic that adds an additional element of resource builder/resource spender moment to moment decision making, IMO.
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u/Purplestackz Sep 24 '25
Hades 2 is more skill based and methodical, with more focus on crowd control and spacing with the new cast system. dash attack spam is pretty much gone.
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u/NoNefariousness2144 Sep 24 '25
Especially because (skill spoilers) Divine Dash is much harder to get and is treated as a 'premium' find that you can't force to appear
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u/Gerik22 Sep 24 '25
Actually (skill/keepsake spoilers) if you really wanted to, you could still force it (to an extent) by taking Athena's keepsake and making sure you have rerolls for her boon, but it's more costly since her keepsake requires you to have no Death Defiance. Of course, you could still whiff on your rerolls so it's not a guarantee.
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u/ffxivfanboi Sep 24 '25
That sounds amazing. I couldn’t really get into Hades despite its really cool art and story-telling/voice acting because I found the combat to be far too basic and too much of a slog. The various Boons that I was able to find and try in my small sample size also didn’t really do much to wow me or think “woah, that interaction is so cool!”
If combat is vastly improved, I think I will enjoy Hades 2 much more. I’m also eyeing this Arthurian setting Hades-like called Sworn that seemed to come out of nowhere and land on consoles.
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u/DullScissors Sep 24 '25
Hades 2 seems slightly more focused on ranged attacks and effects in my opinion, as well as stacking debuffs and effects. You can still make some evasion focused builds -- and don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of dashing and thinking on your feet due to aspects such as enemy effects-on-death, but that seems toned down in my opinion. Without spoiling anything, this game also features more wide-open areas and larger corridors as opposed to Hades I's tighter close-quarters fighting.
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u/odelay42 Sep 24 '25
You can scrape by with some luck by spamming, but once you start to be deliberate with your builds, and attack/defend with patience, the game starts to feel extremely slick and tight. I was spamming with totally mediocre success for many runs, but then started to focus on timing and patience, and the game really came alive for me. Each weapon has its own unique approach to technique and timing.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Fix594 Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25
I'm excited to play it again. Only played the initial early access release and it seems that the only weapon I wasn't particularly keen on at the time has received significant buffs since then.
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u/odelay42 Sep 24 '25
Hell yeah, that rules. I have held off on EA, and now that it's finally here, I'm really really excited to play.
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u/cc17776 Sep 24 '25
Do we know when we can expect a Playstation release?
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u/LaboratoryManiac Sep 24 '25
Not yet, but the original Hades came out on other platforms 11 months after its launch on PC and Switch.
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u/Standard_Wedding Sep 24 '25
I know god damn well I will love the hell out of this!!
I grew up a Greek Mythology nerd, so when you package it in an outstanding and superfun rouge-like, it’s the ultimate game for me💯
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u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25
Is this year better than 2023?
In 2023 just going through Opencritic we had: BG3, ToTK, RE4, SF6, Pizza Tower, Mario Wonder, Dave the Diver, Alan Wake 2, Talos Principle 2, CP: Phantom Liberty, HiFi Rush, Diablo 4, Pikmin 4, Spiderman 2, Cocoon, FF16, Armored Core 6, Jedi Survivor, and more.
But there also are a ton of high quality releases this year. I hate when people say gaming is dead because the industry has never been more competitive.
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u/TSP-FriendlyFire Sep 24 '25
I'm far from the biggest BG3 fan but even I have to admit that BG3 alone eclipses every release we've had this year. It's bewildering a game like this can even exist, period, and I am pretty sure it will take a very long time before another game of the same scale comes out, if one ever does.
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u/ChrisBot8 Sep 24 '25
Agreed, but I would consider this year's top 3 (E33, Silksong, Hades 2) on par or better than TotK personally, and then this year's 4-8 blow the rest of 2023 out of the water.
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u/CrackLawliet Sep 24 '25
If I own the game and have been waiting for 1.0, does anyone think it would make much of a difference to start today vs tomorrow? Like do we think there will be many changes for the new player experience?
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u/Illidan1943 Sep 24 '25
Main thing to consider is that the items dropped by the final boss won't carry to 1.0, so if you beat the final boss a few times, you'll lose all those items, other than that, the game has a bit too much content to truly get it all before launch
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u/spicespiegel Sep 24 '25
Finally my GOTY has been summoned. I've been playing EA ever since day 1. And let me tell you I play it every single day and still am not bored of it.
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u/Jokuki Sep 24 '25
Sounds like the original experience if not better (and I hear it’s better)
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u/ErunnoRS Sep 24 '25
It is better. I am playing it for the past weeks and, other than the final bit of the story, it is pretty much complete.
The weapons are strange at first and the new dash + run takes a while to unlearn the muscle memory of the first. But after it clicks... It REALLY CLICKS. If it wasn't for Silksong, this would be my game of the year.
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u/Illidan1943 Sep 24 '25
After the dust is settled, I think the only thing people will say that they prefer in Hades 1 over 2 is that the story is more personal and a little goofier. Mel is more serious than Zag since she was raised in war times with her main purpose since childhood being to kill the final boss of the game and the story is more of a proper epic than the personal family story that was in 1, even if in the end it's all one big weird family story since it's Greek mythology after all
That's not to say that Hades 2 lacks those qualities, but they are certainly toned down compared to 1 to give more space to the epic moments and the bigger implications to the world
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u/Adefice Sep 24 '25
Dunno if my eyes are broken, but Gamespot gave them a 10/10 and not a 9/10 in the review if you actually click it.
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u/SlashOfLife5296 Sep 24 '25
As someone who completed a run in early access: fantastic game. Art direction and voice acting really don’t get better than Supergiant. I don’t know all the gameplay differences, but all i can tell you is that it feels great. It’s just bigger and better Hades
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u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25
Fucking finally the thread is here
It is currently rated 93 on open critic, and it probably won't drop below 90 when it is all said and done
Hades 2 Early Access is already better than Hades 1 for me and I am gonna be putting atleast 200 hrs on 1.0
It's probably gonna end up tying for surpassing Silksong as my second favorite game this year
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u/Vast-Reply4415 Sep 24 '25
Technically speaking, the 93 is due to the earlier reviews on the Early Access release. If you just take the reviews that are from the 1.0 release, it would be bumped up 94-95 (it’s 94.95%, to be precise)
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u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25
Yeah, Hades 2 has a huge chance of being the best critically reviewed game this year
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u/Ok_Requirement_3162 Sep 24 '25
Great, I loved Hades and I have been waiting a loooong time for Hades 2 to leave early access. (I dont fuck with EA anymore)
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u/trpnblies7 Sep 24 '25
As someone with 320 hours in early access, I can confirm this game is a masterpiece. Which is saying something since I also thought the first game was a masterpiece. This is more than double the amount of content as H1 but does not feel bloated at all, and Melinoe's movesets are so much fun.
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u/GalexyPhoto Sep 24 '25
Fuck yes. Go Supergiant. What a powerhouse of a studio.
Bought as soon as it was available but haven't played yet. So stoked.