Even though Hades 2 is still in early access, it already has a couple of different endings for players to pursue – abrupt as they may be. A sequel to the original, Hades 2 is also based on figures and locations from Greek myth, following up on Zagreus’ journey. But instead, Hades 2 focuses on Zagreus’ sister Melinoë. Variously portrayed as both a nymph and a goddess, Melinoë is the patron of nightmares and mental unrest. In Hades 2, as the princess of the Underworld, Melinoë has complicated motivations and a story all her own.
[Warning: This article contains spoilers for the endings of Hades & Hades 2.]
Set after its predecessor’s events, Hades 2 centers on Melinoë, daughter of Hades and Persephone. It begins with her birth, when her parents (and the rest of the Greek pantheon) are suddenly captured by Chronos, the vengeful Titan of Time. Melinoë sets out to escape the Rift of Thessaly, find her parents, and rescue them from the clutches of Chronos. But she eventually discovers a curse of Fate that keeps her bound to the underworld, and makes breaking it as her primary goal. Much like in the original Hades, players will have to complete multiple loops through the Underworld in order to see all available endings.
In short, the final boss of Hades 2 depends on how each run ends: Chronos for the Melinoë ending, and Eris for the Fate ending. Considering the requirements for each, players will inevitably see the Melinoë ending first, so getting vengeance on the Titan of Time will be their first final boss fight. Although Eris may have him beat in certain stats, Chronos is arguably the hardest boss in Hades 2. During his first phase, he mostly stands in place, spawning area-of-effect damage spells and spawning adds.
The best strategy is to take out the smaller mobs as they come, and chip away at Chronos’ HP until he enters his second phase. From there, he’ll start teleporting around the room, firing projectiles and occasionally floating towards Melinoë while emanating damaging auras. Dodging is the player’s best friend here. Once his HP is fully depleted, Chronos will enter a third phase. This starts as a one-on-one, with the Titan pulling off incredibly fast combos and peppering the battlefield with AoEs. Toward the end, he’ll start spawning adds again until he finally falls.
A popup then encourages the player to explore the surface as Melinoë respawns and restarts the loop once again. By siding with Hecate and satisfying her conditions, Melinoë will eventually be able to open a way to the surface, where they’ll be stopped by Eris, the goddess of strife and the true final boss. Again, while Eris beats Chronos in some categories, her boss fight is a lot simpler and shorter, especially considering how much more experience players have by the time they face her.
Eris mostly just teleports around and blankets the arena with AoEs, but she leaves herself wide open while doing so. As long as Melinoë keeps up, she should be able to chip away at Eris’ health bar pretty reliably. After defeating either of these bosses, a few story scenes will follow, depicting one of two endings to Hades 2‘s story.
Once Melinoë defeats Chronos, the player will be treated to the Melinoë ending. Chronos falls in disbelief at the princess of the Underworld’s strength, but promises to return before long – after all, no one can stop time. Melinoë promises that, as many times as he returns, she’ll be there to strike him down again. Chronos then threatens her parents, a provocation which, realizing that she has bigger problems, Melinoë abides. She admits she doesn’t really know her parents any better than Chronos does, so she doesn’t really care what happens to them.
Melinoë then goes to Zagreus’ messy bedroom from the original Hades. As soon as she enters, she dies and respawns back at the beginning of the loop, while a popup urges the player to continue exploring and try to reach the surface. This could be considered the bad ending of Hades 2 – it leaves a lot of questions unanswered, and only really concludes part of the story. There’s a much bigger journey to be had, and that leads players all the way to Eris.
Once she’s opened a way to the surface and defeated the cyclops Polyphemus, Melinoë finds a way to the surface. However, Eris, the goddess of strife, blocks her way. Eris simply explains that she’s always hated Melinoë, and now that she’s prepared to progress in her journey, Eris has shown up to stop her. After a pitched battle, Eris gives way, and Melinoë is able to access what is, for now, Hades 2‘s post-game area: the surface.
This could be considered the true ending of Hades 2, at least in early access. It’s more satisfying than the Melinoë ending, and grants access to a pretty expansive area. From there, the story kind of grinds to a halt – but there’s reason to believe there may be more on the way.
Much as the original Hades‘ true ending set up a sequel, the true ending of Hades 2, as it exists right now, seems to hint at more content coming for the game soon. The epilogue text that appears in the Fate ending suggests that there’s more to Melinoë’s journey. Her next destination is Mount Olympus, where she intends to face off against Chronos’ forces gathering there. And the popup that appears after Melinoë defeats Eris is addressed directly to the player, and encourages them to explore the surface and get as close to Mount Olympus as possible.
So it seems that’s what’s next for Hades 2: a whole new area in the form of Mount Olympus. Whether this will just be another postgame challenge or a meaningful story expansion remains to be seen. However, the way the popup is worded suggests that Mount Olympus will be added as new content during the early access period of Hades 2. The epilogue admits the story is incomplete and unsatisfying as-is, but that more is to come soon.
That new content could further change the story as it exists today. Although these are the endings and final bosses available in Hades 2 during the first days of early access, this could change as more story content is added later.