Everyone’s Hot As Hell In Hades II, As They Should Be

Melionë has two arms to love Nemesis and Moros at the same time. Image: Supergiant Games/Kotaku

The The Game Awards took place yesterday but we are not here to talk about it. What we’re here to discuss, true believers, is that Supergiant Games is surprising everyone by breaking its “no sequel” tradition in announcing Hades II and quickly tread on the gaming world’s collective neck with the appeal of its characters, once again. And they’re not just hot, they have an interesting historical story behind them to boot.

While 2020’s action-roguelike Hades saw Zagreus fighting from Hades (the place) to meet his distant bio-mother, Persephone, Hades II sees Zag’s sister Melionë descend into the underworld to defeat their dear old grandfather, Chronos, the Titan of Time. Somewhere along the way, she’ll likely be tasked with freeing Hades (the dude) from bondage.

“Like his sibling Zagreus from the original game, Melinoë is not a character of our own invention and is based on an ancient underworld deity believed to be related to Hades,” Supergiant Games wrote on Hades II FAQ Page. “The little ancient mythology that exists about him was more than enough to make us want to explore his history and his connection to his family, and in doing so, expand our view of the Underworld.”

Read more: Hades: The Kotaku Review

Supergiant Games

As you’d expect from Supergiant Games, the character designs for the cast of Hades II are all 11 in bloody goodness (and sound). But before we start craving shamelessly for Melinoë, the princess of the underworld, praise to her, and what one might assume to be her love interests, Nemesis and Moros, let’s open our Greek mythology textbooks and read them so to better educate ourselves.

As Supergiant Games mentioned in their FAQ, there isn’t much written about Melinoë in Greek mythology. However, what is written about his birth will probably not surprise you if you have fleeting knowledge about Zeus and his trashy sexual adventures. Similar to Zagreus in Greek mythology, Melinoë’s mother is Persephone, the goddess of fertility and spring. His father, however, is not Hades but Zeus (who happens to be Zagreus’ real father in ancient lore). After taking the form of his brother, Zeus slept with Persephone and now we have Melinoë. No one knows why she is known as the bringer of nightmares and madness. Excuse me while I cough violently to the sky.

The mountain of a woman known as Nemesis, as one might assume from her name, is the Greek goddess of revenge. The parentage of Nemesis is not an agreed thing in Greek mythology. According to Latin author, Gaius Julius HyginusNemesis is the daughter of the Gothic goddess of the night, nyx. Alternative literature says she is another daughter of Zeus. PS, don’t research Helen of Troy’s parentage if you don’t want a Zeus-related headache. Similar to Hades’ overbearing Megaera, Nemesis fashions a whip and sword in battle.

Moros, brother of Thanatos, is the Greek god of Fate. Coming out of the trailer, Moros could also play a narratively similar role to Thanatos: one of the guys Melinoë encounters whenever you meet your untimely demise. If Supergiant Games is feeling particularly ambitious in its game design, Moros could also give you a glimpse of what’s to come in future stages, given that it has historically has the power to let people preview their death. How thoughtful.

Read more: Why Everyone Is Excited For Hades

As we wrote in our previous post explaining everyone’s excitement for Hades, we have Supergiant Games Art Director, Jen Zee, to thank the ungodly appeal of its new characters. The other reason you might feel bodily reactions to the Hades II trailer is the stellar vocal performances of his voice actors. Much like in the original Hades, the cast of Hades II implement hoarse vocals to complement their voices to complement the sizzle of Zee’s character portraits. For the science, here’s a video of Megaera’s voice actor, Avalon Penrose, explaining how she gets into character. Marvellous.

Hades II doesn’t have a release date, but Supergiant Games says it expects it to hit PC and consoles whenever it does. For now, we can all make some sweaty fan art from the trailer to keep ourselves busy.