My relationship with Hades 2 is very much a “fuck you and I’ll see you tomorrow” situation. Do I endlessly complain about minor things that I don’t like about it, in its mechanics and its story? Yes. Am I going to play another half dozen hours of it tonight? Also yes. As I continue to go deeper and deeper, as compelled as I am by essentially just getting more of Hades, it strikes me that so many of the returning features are basically the same, but just a little worse. Case in point: the romances.
I am a known dating game lover, and I found the romance options in the first Hades to be delightful, especially because of how unexpected they were. It’s already a narrative-heavy roguelike, stuffed to the brim with characters—being able to have a deeper connection to two of my favorites, Thanatos and Megaera, was a delight. And you could complete both of these romance arcs at the same time, and neither character would get mad at Zagreus!
In Hades 2 you get double the romances, which I should love. The issue is that all these characters feel extremely similar to each other.
If you’re romancing women, you have the options of Nemesis and Eris. While they’re quite different from each other in terms of the way they talk and interact with the world, when it comes to player character Melinoe, the relationship is defined by high-key just hating her. Nemesis thinks that she should be the one to take down Chronos, who has taken over the underworld, and Eris is literally the goddess of strife and discord. So that’s my options for gay romance: two women who hate me.
The men aren’t much better. While I like both Moros and Icarus, they suffer from their personalities being too similar. Yes, they have different backstories and their stories with Melinoe play out differently, but they’re also both these sensitive, wilting men who leave me longing for a contrasting character. Like the women romances, their relationships with Melinoe are just too similar for me to have much of a motivation to seek them out. Like much of Hades 2, there’s more options, but it’s difference without distinction.
What’s so annoying is that there are other new characters who I would love to romance but pointedly cannot. Heracles and Odysseus are both probably too old for Melinoe, but they’re very different from each other, and from the existing romance options. Heracles, as you might imagine, is muscled and gruff, and while he also doesn’t like Melinoe on first blush, he respects her once he sees her in action. Odysseus is positioned as an older brother or uncle type, but he also spends the entire game calling Melinoe “goddess” in a way that makes me, the player, quite flustered—both in myth and in this game, Odysseus has rizz. Most importantly, they are just different types of guys. They are different from each other, and from the existing romances.
I’ve also wanted to romance Artemis since the first Hades, where her Olympian siblings teased her for having a crush on Zagreus. In Hades 2 Artemis is once again a close friend who aids you in your struggle, and she’s also still gentle and sweet. I would love to have a chance to romance a female character who actually likes talking to me and being around me.
Mostly I feel like I’ve lost out on characterization for Melinoe because all these romances are so similar. With both Nemesis and Eris, the main conflict in the romantic subplot is that they don’t like Melinoe, and they have to learn to get along. With Moros and Icarus, both these characters kind of already have a crush on Melinoe and have to learn to get over their shyness. With Zagreus, the romances expanded his character and allowed you to see him from different sides. With Melinoe, I feel like I’m just seeing the same aspects of her character explored over and over—the way she clashes with women, and the way that she doesn’t see how reverent men are of her power.
Oh well. I guess I just have to play this game for another hundred hours.
First Appeared on
Source link
