The sequel to the acclaimed roguelite is currently still in early access, but the first major update adds a lot of new content.
For fans of the roguelite genre, there is hardly a way around Hades, and the second part is already getting a lot of positive feedback in early access. With the Olympic Update, players now have something new to do in Hades 2, because it even includes a complete new region.
Olympic Update for Hades 2
Among the highlights of the update is Mount Olympus,also known as the Mountain of the Greek Gods. You can reach it via the overworld path. There are two new characters and several hours of new dialog waiting for you there.
On Mount Olympus, you will meet two gods that you may already know from the prequel. With the update, Athena and Dionysus return and bring new keepsakes into play. In addition, there is a new enemy, who is probably the Titan Prometheus.
With Xinth, the Black Coat, there is a new weapon in the form of gloves that can fire missiles, among other things. Also new are two more animal companions : Raki the raven and Hecuba the dog.
For the
You can read the complete patch notes with all the changes on Steam or have them read to you by the game’s narrator in a YouTube video, if you like it a little more dramatic. You can also find all the changes on page 2 of the article.
The Olympic Update is already live on both Steam and the Epic Games Store and can be downloaded.
Future plans
In another post on Steam, developer Supergiant Games comments on the future of Hades 2. The first major content update will be far from the last.
A new batch of fresh content is scheduled for release in early 2025, but there is no new information on the planned length of Early Access. Accordingly, the full release of Hades 2 is still in the stars.
Hades 2: Olympic Update patch notes
Highlights
- New Region: Can you reach Mount Olympus, the mountain of the gods? And if you do… can you save it?
- New Weapon: Wield the unearthly power of Xinth, the Black Mantle—the last of the Nocturnal weapons
- New Characters: Seek out two new allies in their native lands and win their favor
- New familiars: You can now befriend two new animal companions… once you’ve found them!
- Crossroads Renewal: Unlock dozens of new cosmetic items to liven up Crossroads any way you like
- Expanded Story: Discover hours of new dialog as the plot thickens once you reach the new region
- World Map: Take note of this new visual representation as you transition from one region of the world to another
- Mac Support: The game now runs natively on Macs with Apple M1 or later
Nocturnal Weapons and Abilities
- Witch Staff: Special ability has been redesigned to be faster and jump between enemies
- Sister Blades: Special ability has been redesigned to pierce enemies and return to you, potentially hitting enemies multiple times
- Shadow Flames: Special projectiles spin left or right depending on your movement
- Moonstone Axe: Revamped special is an ascending slash that hits multiple times, but no longer blocks enemies
- Black Cloak: new! Fight back and strike with powerful attacks so that no special ability escapes
- Your sprint is inherently faster and more responsive
- You can now sprint out of certain enemies’ attack stun effects more reliably
- It should be easier to aim certain abilities with the gamepad
Aspects of the Nocturnal Weapons
- Moros’ Shadow Flames: Rescaled upgrades; slightly reduced blast damage at full upgrade
- Medea’s Argent Skulls: Increased attack and special damage; improved upgrades; grenades now recharge faster
- Black Mantle: added three unlockable and upgradeable Aspects
Crossroads Cauldron
- Eyes of Night and Darkness: new! Sometimes causes Lunar Monuments and Invisible Seals to spawn in locations, as detailed below
- Earthly Fortune: new! Enables you to recycle unneeded resources at the Wretched Broker, gaining prestige in exchange that is used for decorative items
- Summoning the Musical Rhapsody: new! Required to summon the Music Maker, which allows you to unlock various pieces of music to play at the crossroads
- Spreading Ash: new! Allows you to store multiple Arcana arrangements in the Altar of Ash
- Favor All Keepsakes: new! Allows you to designate a keepsake to automatically equip in the Training Grounds
- Reflections of the Abyss: new! Enables you to retry Chaos Trials you’ve completed and records your fastest times
- Familiar Spirits’ Courage: new! Now required to upgrade your pets
- Ascended Sites: new! Sometimes causes Infernal sites to appear in surface locations
- Desecration Ponds’ Rise: new! Sometimes causes cleansing ponds to appear between underworld regions
- Frozen Source of Life: new! Sometimes causes a well chamber to appear in the new region
- Adjusted the requirements and costs of several summons
- Melinoë and Hecate now sometimes complete summons in unison
Ash Altar
- Enchantress: reworked – makes Omega movements faster; previous effect now on Silver Wheel (Hecate)
- Fast Runner: no longer makes your sprint faster, as this effect is now innate
- Death: added new UI indicator for the effect
- Strength: reworked to now provide a global damage boost when you have no Deathly Hallucination effects
- Adjusted upgrade costs for various cards
- Improved contextual hints for upgrading Grasp
- Clearer description text for various cards
Souvenir
- Each of the two new allies you may encounter has a unique keepsake that can be obtained through the usual means
- Silver Wheel (Hecate): reworked – now slows everything around you while channeling omega movements
- Gold Pouch (Charon): now affected by gold-boosting boons like Prosperity (Chaos)
- Improved feedback and fixes for when certain keepsakes expire overnight
- Adjusted the placement of some keepsakes in the display case (to make room for the new ones!)
- Clarified the description text for several keepsakes
Blessings and boons
- Each of the two new allies you may encounter has their own boon to aid you in your quest
- All Together (Hera): Renamed from “Elementary Particles”; now her legendary, no longer a Hestia duo
- *Cherished Heirloom (Hera x Demeter): Now also improves your current memento, not just later ones
- Spiteful Strength (Hera x Hephaestus): Removed from the game, this effect can now be found in the Wells of Charon in the new item, the Danaid Dagger
- Brave Face (Hera x Hephaestus): This is now a duo and is no longer offered by Hera alone
- Glowing Aura (Hera x Hestia): new! Whenever you restore magic, damage surrounding enemies
- Frosty Veneer: reduced effectiveness (increased minimum damage you can take)
- Ocean’s Bounty (Poseidon): Ash and Psyche rewards are now guaranteed; updated visuals
- Plenty of Food (Demeter): reduced health gain
- Snow Queen (Demeter): no longer blocks damage from Oath of Time (Oath)
- Love Handles (Aphrodite x Hephaestus): increased effectiveness
- Heart Breaker (Aphrodite): Heartthrobs now do less damage and require more magic to appear
- Smithy Sprint (Hephaestus): removed; replaced with…
- Stamp Rush (Hephaestus): new! After dashing, occasionally creates an explosion around a nearby enemy
- Mint Condition (Hephaestus): reduced invulnerability duration
- Grand Caldera (Hephaestus): Fixed Heroic rarity, which previously was no stronger than Epic
- Crispy Coating (Hestia): Removed from the game; replaced with…
- Hot Pot (Hestia): new! You have a chance to evade damage, doubled against enemies with burns
- Cinerary Circle (Hades): new! Whenever you use enough magic, summon Soul Urns around you that deal area damage when destroyed
- Last Gasp (Hades): Slightly reduced bonus damage, but now scales with the number of Death Defiance effects used this night, not just the number missing
- Pom Pom Pom (Echo): new! Double the pom level of your boon with the highest pom level
- Boon Boon Boon (Echo): now you can choose one of three random boons from the previous night
- Customized names and descriptions for several boons
- Other minor fixes and adjustments
Table of Contents
Daedalus Hammer upgrades
- Brand new upgrades added for the new weapon
- Hook Knives (Blades): Removed from the game as this effect is now innate; replaced with…
- Reaper Knives (Blades): new! Your special attacks have bonus strength and do damage in a larger area
- Empowering Guard (Axe): Removed from the game; replaced by…
- Siege Shredder (Axe): New! Your special attack strikes further ahead and deals bonus damage
- Progressing Whirlwind (Axe): removed from the game; replaced by…
- Seething Marauder (Axe): new! Each of your attacks also deals damage to surrounding enemies
- Named and described several Daedalus Hammer upgrades
Hexes & Path of Stars
- Overflow: new! Using Lunar Ray in an area around you deals damage
- Impact: new! Lunar Ray has a bonus strength for each first damage dealt per encounter
- Saturation: new! Using Lunar Water instantly triggers your Omega spell
- Consequence: new! Whenever Total Eclipse hits a Guardian, your next use is partially charged
- Eminence: now makes Total Eclipse an enhancement of Sublime quality, causing an increase in Magicka cost
- Tenacity: now upgrades Wolf Howl to Sublime quality, and causes an increase in Magicka cost
- Frenzy: now upgraded to Bright quality for Wolf Howl, and no longer causes an increase in magick cost
- Several upgrades adjusted to use the condition. After using your Hex in this encounter, instead of While your Hex is not ready
- Clear descriptive text for various upgrades of the Path of Stars
Well of Charon & Shrine of Hermes
Well of Charon
- Danaid Dagger: new! Your attacks and special attacks are stronger as long as they are not enhanced by blessings; previously this effect was on the blessing Malicious Strength (Hera x Hephaistos)
- Sacrificial Anthem: new! Sacrifices are offered as quickly as possible and your next gift is stronger; previously this effect was on the blessing Family Deal (Hera)
- Dung Veil: new! After using magic, it is quickly restored up to a limit; previously, this effect was on the Keepsake Silver Disc (Hecate)
- Shattered Shield: new! Recovers some armor
Shrine of Hermes
- Fresh Food: new! Restores some health
- Fresh Food MAX: new! Restores even more health
- Shield Amulet: new! Recovers some armor
- Aegis Amulet: new! Recovers even more armor
- Kiss of Styx: now also drops from the Shrine of Hermes (if you can use it)
- More likely to drop a regeneration item
- Adjusted the costs of various items
Enemies and hazards
- Added various enemies to match the brand new region, including new guardians and a new guardian
- Made various adjustments to enemies on the surface route due to the addition of a third region
Chronos: reduced downtime between phases; other minor adjustments - Eris: various adjustments; in a surprisingly rational twist, she is no longer as prone to being on fire
- Infernal Beast: Spawns earlier after the first phase of the battle; various minor tweaks
- Polyphemus: No longer summons elite enemies; other minor tweaks
- Charybdis: Reduced number of phases; flail with increased intensity and reduced downtime
- Headmistress Hecate: Now loses her invulnerability earlier after her Sisters of the Dead are defeated
- Fewer simultaneous shots from certain ranged enemies
- Various other minor changes to enemies and combat encounters
Special Encounters
- Lunar Monuments: New! These can appear after summoning “Eyes of Night and Darkness” and challenge you to defeat a powerful elite enemy for a special reward
- Invisible Seals: new! These can appear after summoning “Eyes of Night and Darkness” and challenge you to defeat a group of enemies without taking a hit to receive a special reward
- *Reduced the duration before rewards can be collected from the Hellish Loot
- *Nemesis no longer appears in place of Echo after the first time; is less likely to abruptly rush through exits; is less likely to purchase items from Charon
- *Heracles’ combat intensity has been adjusted; his first kill no longer spawns near location entrances as often; he now leaves the location earlier; he may now sometimes spawn in the new region
- Icarus is more effective against your usual enemies; he may now sometimes spawn in the new region
- Hermes’ Boon can now be offered in the options menu when you set out each night
- Chaos Gates can appear earlier than before on the surface route after a certain point
- The intensity of encounters in the Trial of the Gods on the surface has been adjusted; they no longer take place in smaller locations
Pet Companions
- Raki the Raven: new! Pecks enemies, making them vulnerable to critical damage
- Hekuba the Dog: new! Adds more magic, stuns enemies, and digs up useful items
- You can now upgrade pets more than once per night if you have the resources
- Improved visuals for various pet interactions
- Toula no longer appears in Erebus before you’ve bonded with her, but instead will appear farther away…
- You can no longer upgrade Frinos in the area behind the tent; you must now do so in the training area
- Customized names and descriptions for various familiar upgrades
Level design and environments
- An entirely new region and various new locations within it have been added
- New locations have been added to several other regions
- A purifying pool now appears in the room before Tartarus
- Fishing spots in various locations are now easier to reach
- Various minor fixes and improvements in various locations
List of minor fortune tellings
- Mistress of Battle: new! Reward for choosing different blessings from her namesake
- Mistress of Festivities: new! Reward for choosing different blessings from her namesake
- Mistress of the Hunt: new! Reward for choosing different blessings from Artemis
- The Black Cloak: new! Rewards you for choosing from various hammer upgrades for the new weapon
- At Home at the Crossing: new! Rewards you for using Prestige to remodel the Crossing
- Bared Fangs: new! Reward you for defeating enemies with each of the different Vow of Fangs perks from the Oath of the Unseen
- Customized requirements and rewards for completing certain prophecies
Resources and reagents
- Added several new collectible resources, especially in the newly added region
- *Darkness is more abundant in Chaos; it is now offered earlier than before
- Adjusted the amount of gold that can be found in Ephyra and the Rift of Thessaly
- Other minor adjustments to the drop rates of some resources
- Updated inventory hints and details for some resources
Oath of the Invisible
- Vow of Panic: Removed from the game; replaced with…
- “Vow of Fangs”: new! Elite enemies also get a host of nasty perks
- “Vow of Suffering”: removed from the game; replaced by…
- “Vow of Shadows”: new! Guardians also have shadow copies to make things harder for you
- Vow of the Void (formerly Denial): now has multiple tiers that reduce your Grasp limit
- Vow of Hubris (formerly Arrogance): reduces fear of the second tier; reduces Magicka per tier
- Added new testaments for the new weapon and region
- Updated menu layout with improved feedback and more contextual hints
- Adjusted names and descriptions for several vows
Art & Visual Effects
- Added world map presentation when transitioning between regions in the underworld or on the surface
- Added tons of new environmental art, 3D models, animations, visual effects, and more for the new region
- Added dozens of decorative cosmetic options for the crossroads, unlocked by a new system
- Updated visual effects for the Blessings of Hephaestus
- Updated portrait art for Charon
- Updated portrait art for Echo, but we still have to wait for Narcissus; her 3D model is still a placeholder
- Updated portrait art for Medea
- Updated portrait art for Circe; her 3D model and her pigs are still placeholders
- Updated portrait art for Hades
- Updated portrait art, 3D model and animations for Icarus
- Updated 3D model for Hermes (if you’ve seen him, you won’t see him again for a while…)
- Updated environmental graphics outside of Hades’ house
- Updated visual effects for various enemies in the Rift of Thessaly
- Added icons for all the many different fish and fish-like creatures you can pull from the depths
- Updated most remaining placeholder UI icons
- Added new background graphics for dialog scenes in Oceanus
- Added more unique visual effects for some aspects of the Nocturnal weapons
- Some of the panoramic vistas near the entrance of each region are now easier to see
- Updated the appearance of fountains in various locations
- Improved the appearance of spectral gates between ships in the Chasm of Thessaly
- Improved appearance of the captains’ steering wheels falling apart on ships in the Thessaly Rift
- Added more animations for Odysseus
- Various other minor visual improvements
Voice and Narration
- Almost 2,500 new voice lines have been added, including new dialogue events for most characters
- More narrated Homer outcomes have been added upon successful completion
- You can take a new approach to waking Hypnos from his endless slumber after a certain point has been reached…
- Expanded subplots about Narcissus and Echo, Arachna’s curse, and Dora’s past
- Added Ambrosia gift events for Dora and Hecate
- Updated names and descriptions of various fish and other aquatic creatures you can catch
- Melinoë now more frequently identifies nearby enemies
- Melinoë no longer receives credit when Toula catches a fish or fish-like creature
- More characters have more reactions to resource interactions in their environment, such as fishing
- They can no longer gift Nemesis or Heracles while they are shopping (they are busy…)
- Various fixes and improvements to various events
Music and SFX
- Added several new pieces of music to accompany the newly added region and all its splendor
- Most of the game’s instrumental music can now be played at the Crossroads once unlocked after summoning Musical Rhapsody
- Added brand new sound effects for the new weapon, some of the Blessings of Hephaestus, and more
- Improved audio feedback for various other Blessings, aspects, interactions, and abilities
- Updated sound effects for using spectral gates between ships in the Fissure of Thessaly
- Adjusted effect on Melinoë’s voice after selecting Circe’s Word of Lesser Stature or Greater Girth
- Updated pick-up sound effect for Eris
- Audio mixing improvements and other minor changes
Menus and UI
- The main menu has been updated to reflect this major update
- The organization of the Silver Pool content has been updated
- *The aspects menu for each weapon has been updated and progress has been split between Underworld and Surface routes
- *The Archived Trivia screen has been updated with more at-a-glance data and other improvements
- *The Past Deeds screen has been updated in a few ways; Chaos Trials no longer count as losses; all Keepsakes used each night are now listed
- As part of the above changes, the Surface Route release times are now being reset as it has been extended
- Longer subtitles now scroll automatically, leaving room for another subtitle if necessary
- Improved handling of cases where there are an unusually large number of blessings and upgrades in the “Blessing Info” menu
- * Reorganization of seeds and plants in the inventory menu
- * Added an alternative icon when you have sufficient resources that are tracked with a forget-me-not
- * Added location reward preview icons when the Vow of Decay (formerly known as the Vow of Bitterness) takes effect
- * Added in-context tutorial for upgrading pets and reviewing their upgrades
- * Improved feedback on some menus that span additional pages
- * Reduced blinking when selling resources at the Wretched Broker
- * Removed redundant familiar UI from the right side of the in-game HUD
- * Improved usability of the settings menu and its submenus
- * Reorganized some settings in the Gameplay and Accessibility menus
- * Improved scrolling in the Recent Notes and Credits menus
- * Various other fixes and improvements
Settings
- *Dash At Cursor: new! Alternative way to dash with mouse and keyboard
- Auto-Sprint: new! Keep your sprint on without having to press and hold
- Crosshair Magnetism: new! Adjust the degree to which targeted skills stick to enemies
Miscellaneous
- A certain companion will now help you redecorate the Crossroads after a certain point
- The ever-merciful Chronos no longer forcibly interrupts the game during combat, but still lets you know what he is thinking in such situations
- The Victory Screen now appears when you successfully complete the Overworld Route, not just the Underworld
- Added entries to the Book of Shadows for new characters, enemies, and more
- Updated the relationship ads in the Book of Shadows and the hunches from Empath’s intuition (Kettle)
- Improved art for starting, failing, and passing Chaos Trials
- *At the Wretched realtor, you can now press and hold to quickly sell or recycle
- Adjusted the placement of emotional animations on various character portraits
- While brooding over the family portrait in the Crossing, you can now break out even faster
- Improved visuals when Nemesis and Heracles suddenly disappear after their encounters
- When a fishing peg is present, you can now fish before speaking to Arachne or other characters
- Adjusted visuals when Heracles or Icarus appear
- Schelemeus can now withstand more punishment before falling to pieces
- Hecate now teaches how to access aspects of the Nocturnal Arms in the crossroads, not just the Rim of Erebus if you have been focusing on the surface route
- Improved tutorials for some hexes
- *Adjustment of small visual details in the Hades flashback
- Minor tweaks to default settings for Dead Zone and similar
- Added compatibility and bookmarks for Steam’s Game Recording feature
- Updated credits to include dozens of musicians who contributed to our music for the new region
- Updated development roadmap to reflect our progress and plans for the next major update
- Updates and fixes to translations in all languages
- Improved error messages that we hope no one will ever see
- Additional optimizations made to save files
Bug fixes
- *Fixed: Glamor gain (Aphrodite) continued to work even after swapping
- *Fixed: Argent Skull Grenades sometimes went over the edge in the Charybdis fight
- Fixed: Wand (Momus) performed Omega moves without the corresponding sound effects
- Fixed: Shadowflames (Moros) interactions with Heat Gain (Hestia) and The Huntress (Arcana)
- Fixed: Poms of Power unexpectedly removing the effect of Vow of Hubris (Oath) from Boons
- *Fixed: Deep Serpent not spawning as expected when affected by Charm
- Fixed: King Vermin’s name not displaying correctly after a certain point
- Fixed: Wheat in the Mourning Fields not making a sound when crossing through it
- *Fixed various weird interactions between different boons
- Fixed certain boon effects not activating correctly in the Mourning Fields or Rift of Thessaly
- Fixed fishing rod bob not being visible when fishing in some locations
- Fixed: Pom Slice would sometimes apply its • 1 Lv. to boons that were not beneficial
- * Fixed: various text and voiceover bugs
Patch quote
“The more he watched over and mingled with his creation, the more Prometheus was convinced that fire was what they needed. And he knew where to find it.”
~Myth: The Greek Myths Reimagined (S. Fry)
