Hades 2's unique regions are the unsung heroes of its replayability

Roguelites have to be built with replayability in mind, and I've already discussed one of the big successes for Hades 2's replayability in my extensive impressions piece. (Spoilers: it's the second route). But today, I want to get into why Hades 2 still hasn't gotten boring for me after multiple victories on each route: region diversity.

Even roguelites that have incredible build diversity and weapon choice – like the first Hades – suffer from the fact that these games are designed to take you through the same four or five locations, start to finish, every run. Hades 2 does this as well. Even with the multiple routes, you're always starting in Erebus or the City of Ephyra. And if you're failing relatively often in the middle of your runs, you're going to see a lot more of those early regions than the later ones.

Hades helped differentiate these different locations with drastic changes to the art – and, as we all know, Supergiant's games offer some of the best visuals out there. But, really, what's the difference between Tartarus and Asphodel outside of trading traps for lava and doors for rafts? The enemies are different, of course, as are the bosses, but the gameplay loop and decision making are the same.

Hades 2 takes its varied regions much further than most roguelites. Erebus and Oceanus both fall into that category of a "normal" Hades region, where the doors of Erebus are replaced with holes in the ground. The Fields of Mourning, however, is wholly unique. Instead of jumping from room to room, it's field to field. And each new field has multiple rewards (and minor upgrades) for you to find before moving on.

This new approach already drastically changes how you have to interact with the game. Suddenly, Boons and Keepsakes that go off every time you enter a room are now far less powerful, and your mana won't instantly return to you between each reward, so you have to prepare yourself accordingly. On the flip side, you can get your upgrades in the order you prefer, and you have a lot more space and prep time before entering into combat.

The return to Tartarus offers a more normal approach to moving through the map, but Supergiant still manages to make it more interesting than the earlier zones. Instead of choosing rooms and eventually reaching the boss, you have to go through a set of reward-less rooms to reach Chronos, and any side rooms you go into for upgrades will simply elongate your trip. It's risk vs reward. Are you willing to trade an opportunity to lose a bunch of health for some extra Pomegranates? Or would you rather go into Chronos healthy, but with fewer upgrades? If you had to fight the boss right now, how happy are you with your build? It engages the brain differently than the other three locations along the route, and that ensures it stays fresh.

The underworld has some decent examples of increased ingenuity when it comes to regions, but the surface route is where things really get interesting.