Of all the Game Awards announcements, none were quite as exciting as Hades 2. A developer that's never really made a sequel before, fans weren't expecting to get a Hades 2 out of Supergiant Games, but thankfully, they were proven wrong. After a while in early access, the first Hades managed to reach monumental heights on its full launch, with critics and general audiences praising practically every aspect of the game. And now, Hades 2 is set to break the gaming world once more, and this time there's a new villain for players to relentlessly throw themselves at.
In the first Hades, players assumed the role of Zagreus, the titular Greek god's son as he tried repeatedly to make his daring escape from the underworld. Hades 2 seems to up the stakes a little bit, introducing a new player-character, Melinoe, and their daring mission to stop the Titan Chronos from waging war on the pantheon of Greek gods. While Hades and his minions of the underworld served as great enemies in the first game, Chronos and his Titan siblings give the sequel a much grander scale.
The Titans' Role in Hades 2
In Greek mythology, Titans are some of the first beings to ever exist. At the start of the universe, there were two primordial entities, Gaia, the Earth, and Uranus, the sky. Eventually, the two had children, birthing the Titans. Chronos was one of these Titans, and like most of his siblings, he had control over a specific domain, that of time.
As well as the 12 Titans, Gaia and Uranus also birthed gigantic, 100-handed beings known as Hecatonchieres, and one-eyed beings known as Cyclopses. Disgusted by their appearance, Uranus hid these children away in the depths of the Earth, a place of the underworld known as Tartarus. Horrified by this, Gaia fashioned a powerful sickle, and asked her sons to take revenge on their father. Chronos was the only son to agree, and he ambushed his father, castrating him and taking on the mantle of ruler alongside his older sister Rhea.
Convinced that his future children would betray him just as he had done to his own father, Chronos ate his children the moment they were birthed. But Rhea had one child in secret, and hid him on the island of Crete. Called Zeus, this boy was trained in combat for decades, until he was finally ready to confront his father. Zeus forced his father to vomit, which released his eaten siblings. Together, the Greek gods, led by Zeus, began a war with the Titans known as the Titanomachy. Though the war raged for centuries, the Titanomachy ended with the Titans losing the fight, and those who weren't killed or hadn't swapped sides were imprisoned in Tartarus.
In the first trailer for Hades 2, it's revealed that Chronos has somehow managed to escape Tartarus, and he now plans on waging war with Olympus and the entire pantheon of Greek gods, including Zeus, Hades, and the rest responsible for starting the Titanomachy. Though it hasn't been confirmed yet, it seems fairly likely that Chronos won't be alone in his efforts to enact revenge. With the rest of the Titans likely being trapped in the underworld as well, it seems like a safe bet to assume that players will get to face off against a range of Titans, perhaps in a series of boss battles. Players may also end up running into Titans that swapped sides during the Titanomachy, such as Metis and Themis. Hades 2's witch mentor, Hecate, may even be of Titan descent herself.
Hades 2 is in development, with Early Access planned for 2023.