Supergiant Games has never made a sequel. Instead, it’s a studio that has consistently iterated and innovated with each subsequent game, arguably culminating in the team’s greatest work to date: Hades. The engrossing roguelite dazzled with tight and engaging combat, an iconic visual presentation, and novel take on a persistent narrative that interweaves the progression of its story with its repeating gameplay loop. If Supergiant Games were ever going to commit to a sequel, Hades definitely provided the most fertile ground for further development, ensuring that its follow-up has a strong foundation established in a proven hit. Hades II’s technical test is a small slice of the game and a very quick look at how Supergiant plans to build on the success of the first game, but it’s already clear that it is anything but a safe improvement on what has come before.
There are lots of questions as to how the established base of Hades will enrich the new areas that Supergiant Games plans to add in the near future, and how well the freshly introduced mechanics hold up over much longer, and hopefully complex, runs. But if this is the foundation that Hades II is to build off over, it’s exciting to think where it’s eventually going to end up.