Hades 2 surprises fans with its first big expansion: the roguelike's Olympic Update is out now with more gods, a new jetpack weapon, and half-naked Dionysus

Oct. 16, 2024

Fan-favorite god Athena is also back, contrasting Dionysus with full plate armor

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

The first major update inHades 2’s early access journey is here: Supergiant shadow-dropped the Olympic Update today, adding a whole mess of content and characters to its in-progress roguelike.

The fullOlympic Update patch notesare unsurprisingly massive. The headliner is a new region which you may have guessed from the title. We’re going to Olympus, baby, and we can bring a new weapon called Xinth, the Black Coat – a pair of jetpack gauntlets and the last of Melinoë’s Nocturnal Arms.

With the release of Olympus, we can now run into two gods returning from the original Hades: Athena, whose boons were always some of my favorites, and Dionysus, who’s turned up wearing nothing but a leopard-print speedo. Other new characters include the apparent area boss Prometheus, a Titan known in Greek myth for stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humanity.

This gives the surface route its third boss, “bringing it closer to the Underworld route’s level of completion.” These and other characters will tie into fresh story events that push the game’s narrative further, with Supergiant promising “close to 2,500 new voice lines” total.

Existing weapons, boons, and other upgrades have received a laundry list of changes ranging from added bonuses to total overhauls. On a core level, Supergiant says “your Dash is innately faster and more responsive” and “you now can more reliably Dash out of hit-stun effects from certain foes' strikes.” Native Mac support is here, too, plus improved gamepad precision. Perhaps most importantly, there are two new animal companions to befriend.

I’m especially intrigued by some of the new special encounters. Moon Monuments and Unseen Sigils may appear after the Eyes of Night and Darkness incantation, respectively challenging you to beat one strong enemy or, without taking damage, a group of enemies. Likewise, there are additional and redesigned Vows for the Oath of the Unseen available to players seeking greater difficulty after beating the base game a zillion times.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

“Early Access has already been an invaluable and eye-opening experience for our team as we continue working to complete this game,” Supergiant adds. “As we move forward, we intend to keep making additions, changes, and improvements in an effort to create the biggest, most replayable, most feature-rich game we’ve made yet, and — most importantly — a worthy successor to the original Hades.”

Hades wears the crown on our list of thebest roguelike gamesfor a reason.

Balatro creator says the business aspect of making his hit roguelike is something he’s still “learning the ropes” of

The Witcher 4 may not have Geralt after all: his actor was “slapped by CD Projekt” for accidentally sharing a rumor that he’d be in it, just not as the protagonist