Well, Hades 2’s second patch is here, and it’s a pretty damn beefy one. What’s on tap, you ask? Well, revamps of all of Melinoë’s nocturnal arms, plenty of tweaks to what Daedalus Hammers do, and some other changes that’re also quite interesting.
All in all, Supergiant’s followed up patch one’s revisions of sprinting and resource gathering with a lot, and hopefully – alongside futher tweaks that’ll be coming soon – it’ll help mould the game into exactly the kind of experience the community’s looking for.
“Among the improvements in this patch, look for many new UI icons as well as weapon-related balance changes aimed at enhancing core combat and related choices,” the studio wrote in the notes for patch two. “Your feedback and volunteered gameplay data help inspire our changes, so thank you for playing! Stay tuned for Boon updates in our next patch.”
The biggest changes right now are to Melinoë’s five main weapons. They’re easiest to express in list form, so here you go:
- Witch’s Staff: Special knocks foes away, but is slightly slower; Omega Special is faster
- Sister Blades: Special staggers standard foes longer; Attack visual FX better match the hitbox
- Umbral Flames: Attacks are stronger and faster; Omega Attack channels faster and uses less magick; Special gives a speed boost, but has reduced damage; Omega Special can be channeled while moving
- Moonstone Axe: Reworked Special provides a lingering barrier; Omega Attack channels slightly faster; Omega Special channels faster
- Argent Skull: Omega Attack channels faster and hits a larger area
Plenty of aspects of those five armaments have also been retooled. Aside from that, the game’s Daedalus Hammers have had their effects comprehesively overhauled, with a bunch of the existing ones having been cut from the game entirely and replaced with fresh ones.
There are also some tweaks to enemies, including some guardians, with a certain boss I won’t name for spoiler reasons having been rendered less likely to be “patently unfair”. Perhaps my favourite change, aside from the fact “you now are likely to find one more Boon or other major reward while in Erebus”, is this one: “All timers now pause while in the presence of Charon”. Yep, Chronos cowers before the mumbling merchant. You love to see it.
If you’re still somehow wondering whether you should jump into Hades 2 while it’s in its early access phase, check out our thoughts on that very conundrum here.
