Hades 2: 7 Ways Melinoe Plays Nothing Like Zagreus Did

With the Technical Playtest of Hades 2 now available to a select few, we were lucky enough to get a chance to try out this highly anticipated sequel thanks to a code from Supergiant games. Granted, Hades 2 isn’t even in early access yet, so any opinions and takeaways on the game are subject to change.

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But, in our time with the Technical Playtest, there were a lot of differences we could glean between Zagreus’ fighting style and Melinoe’s. So, for all those wanting to know exactly how Hades 2 is different from the first game, let’s take a look at Melinoe in-depth.

7 If Zagreus Is A Standard ‘Warrior’, Melinoe Is A ‘Mage’

She Has a Lot More Mechanics Around Casting Spells

First and foremost, the core design of Melinoe is different from Zagreus. She’s literally trained by Hecate and known to be a ‘witch’, which means she is much more of a mage than she is a warrior. As such, Melinoe’s ‘default’ playstyle is much more centered around casting abilities or spells to hit enemies from afar.

In Hades 2 these are known as Omega versions of each attack, those being her Omega Attack, Omega Cast, and Omega Special. Of course, only two weapons are available to use in the Technical Playtest, so there will likely be at least one or two weapons with much less focus on charged attacks and casting abilities, but with what is currently available this is Melinoe’s sort of ‘iconic’ playstyle.

6 Omega Attacks, Omega Specials, & Omega Casts

Everything Has a Charge

Speaking of which, let’s go into the Omega variants a bit more. In the first Hades game, Zagreus also had the ability to charge a wide variety of his attacks whether this was stuff like drawing the bow, charging up a Bull Rush, and more. But, a lot of these charge abilities were also intermixed with abilities that weren’t chargeable, or at the very least only allowed Zagreus to aim where they went when the input was held down.

In Hades 2, almost every single attack option Melinoe has gets a Charge variant AKA an Omega version. The standard versions of these attacks typically don’t use any mana, but the Omega versions almost always do, pretty much cementing these as her ‘spells’.

5 Melinoe Can Really Run

Her Sprint Mechanic is Brand New

This is a mechanic games-tradition/”>that is brand new in Hades 2 and likely something longtime Hades players are going to have to get used to. When players start games-hard-but-fair/”>getting up their Heat Levels in Hades, they’re going to be pressing the dodge input constantly, using it as a sort of ‘connector’ between strings of attacks as well as a gap closer. A lot of times, their standard input loop will look something like attack, attack, dash, attack attack, cast, dash, attack, attack, dash, and so on.

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So, introducing a mechanic that has players press the Dash input and then hold it afterward is going to mess with their muscle memory a bit. Still, the Sprint mechanic in Hades 2 already has some Boons designed around it, and it’s another way to avoid incoming attacks while also covering ground a lot faster, so it’s worth learning.

4 Melinoe’s Cast Ability Is Entirely Different

Zagreus Wishes He Had Her Magic Circle Cast Ability

In the first Hades game, Zagreus had access to the entirety of the Infernal Arms. And, these Infernal Arms also came with multiple aspects that would change their appearance and general playstyle. However, it doesn’t really make sense for Melinoe to also have Infernal Arms in Hades 2 (since Zagreus apparently had seen them all) and it’s very likely that Supergiant games will be using a different mechanic instead of the Infernal Arms system.

Because of this, it’s not entirely clear if Melinoe’s standard Cast ability will be the same on every weapon. But, for now, on both The Sister Blades (Lim and Oros) and The Staff of Dusk it is the Ensnare & Destroy ability. Instead, Melinoe’s Special, Omega Special, and Omega Attacks seem to be better for ranged combat while the new Cast is much better for crowd control and AoE damage.

3 Arcana Cards, Psyche, & Grasp Meter

The Basis of Melinoe’s Spells

Another completely new system seemingly unique to Melinoe is the Grasp/Arcana system. Essentially, Melinoe can use a variety of resources games-dying-rewarded/”>between each death to unlock new Arcana Cards which she can then use pips of her total Grasp Meter to activate. It’s pretty comparably similar to Zagreus’ Abilities gained from the Mirror of Night in the first game, but not entirely the same.

2 Arachne’s Dresses

Melinoe’s Ability To Wear New Attire Mid-Run

First of all, before going into this next new system it needs to be said that Arachne might be one of the best new characters introduced in Hades 2. She’s such an adorable little spider and so seemingly pure (though this probably isn’t entirely true). In any case, when Melinoe comes across an Arachne room in a run, she can choose between three different clothing options offered by Arachne.

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These clothing options will give Melinoe varying amounts of buffer damage she can take before losing actual health. This buffer is the clothing’s ‘durability’ that, once emptied, means the dress and effect disappear along with it. Not only do these new threads change Melinoe’s looks visually (which is a great touch) but they also grant a variety of shockingly powerful passive effects.

1 Resource Gathering

More Than Just Fishing

Lastly, Resource Gathering works a bit differently in Hades 2. Not only does there seem to be a lot more variety in the resource types in this sequel, but it’s a bit more difficult to gather them as well. In the first Hades game, Zagreus didn’t really have to worry about bringing the right tools for gathering in his ascent out of Tartarus, but Melinoe does.

If she doesn’t bring a pickaxe, she can’t gather Silver, if she doesn’t bring a shovel she can’t get more Nightshade seeds, and so on. This does mean that players will have to be a lot more conscious of their current resources and which ones they need for their next upgrade in Hades 2, but thankfully Supergiant recognizes this and has included a way for players to track the resources they currently need at all times.

Hades 2

Franchise

Hades

Released

2024-00-00