Hades 2 Is "Standalone" From The First Game

thegamer.com:

Hades 2's producer, Greg Kasavin, has revealed that it's intended to be a "standalone" experience from the first game that can be played by newcomers.

One of the biggest debates that seems to surround most new games in an established series lately is whether those who didn't play other entries can use it as a jumping-in point. We've seen it with Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and plenty of other sequels this year alone, and it seems to be something that we're going to keep hearing more discussions about throughout 2024.

One game that has already made its stance clear on this debate is Hades 2. Despite carrying on from the first game and involving some of the same characters and evolving on its game mechanics, it seems that Supergiant Games considers it "standalone" from the original and something that can be played without any prior knowledge of who Zagreus is.

This comes from Hades 2's producer, Greg Kasavin, who recently spoke to Portuguese site Jovem Nerd about the upcoming sequel just as the original game joins Netflix. During the interview, Kasavin made it clear that, while Hades 2 is a "direct sequel that builds on elements from the first game", it's also something that can be considered "standalone" and a game that can be jumped into "without having played the first".

Although we've not seen all that much of Hades 2 just yet, we do know from the original reveal trailer that it's going to star Melinoe, the younger sister of Zagreus, as she sets out to rescue Hades from his own dad, Chronos. The return of Hades and the protagonist being related to Zagreus makes it clear that, even if Hades 2 is something that can be standalone from the original game, it's still going to have lots for fans to uncover.

Of course, even if Hades 2 is meant to be a "standalone" experience, that doesn't mean you shouldn't play the original as it's one of the best roguelite games out there.

That wasn't all that Kasavin had to say, however, as he also revealed