Supergiant, Let Me Fight Zagreus To The Death Please

Like many other people, I’ve been having a blast with Hades 2 Early Access. I really love a lot of the changes to gameplay, Melinoë is very appealing to me character-wise (it’s the anxiety), and I’m bisexual and everyone is hot.

This is my first ever Early Access game, so going in I didn’t know what to expect, and so far the experience has been so polished it took me a while to register that certain things were placeholders for final sprites. 

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It feels like a complete experience while also leaving a lot up in the air for what’s in store and I want to make my pitch: We should get a boss fight with Zagreus.

Fighting your previous player character is a time-honored tradition. Pokemon did it and it’s considered one of the coolest fights in the series. Fire Emblem made a whole mildly disappointing spin-off game around the concept.

It’s a fun way to challenge your players and give them a cool emotionally resonant fight as your own moves get used against.

You sort of get this in the fight with Eris, who uses one of Zagreus’s older weapons. When she stands in the middle of her reticle, you know she’s about to get a damage boost because that’s what you did.

It’s equal parts frustrating and exhilarating to have your own moves used against you, and it would be the perfect way to highlight just how Zagreus and Melinoë’s fighting styles differ.

There’s already foreshadowing for it if that’s the direction they want to go. In a conversation with Moros, it’s brought up how the Nocturnal Arms are meant to keep Zagreus’s Infernal arms in check, and you already fight one of them as part of Eris’s boss fight. Nemesis has Stygius and you don’t fight her directly but you do compete against her, so that’s four Infernal Arms unaccounted for.

It seems unlikely Chronos would just toss them aside, and after you defeat Chronos the first time, he threatens to take your family out of the cold storage if you keep antagonizing him. Considering he’s already corrupted the Underworld and made you fight Cerberus, he’s not above brainwashing his grandson to kill his sister, using the very weapons made to originally defeat him.

I’d even go a step further to suggest Zagreus serve as the final boss on OlympusIn the first game, Zagreus lies about trying to meet his family on Olympus, but because of Chronos’s influence, he’s there now to conquer it against his will. 

Maybe Chronos gets inspired by Melinoë breaking the family curse to go up to the surface and decides to use Zagreus to turn the tides on Olympus. 

It would also be fitting for Melinoë’s character and arc. Melinoë constantly struggles with her feelings about trying to save a family she doesn’t know, she’s constantly hearing about her brother and his accomplishments, and one way to make her grapple with those harder is to have the brother she doesn’t know try to kill her.

While it might not make much sense for Zagreus to still be on Olympus in the post-game, that part of the game is already up in the air (I cannot see killing Chronos for fun family bonding being where this goes) so I’m not too concerned about it. And hey, maybe Mel can just share the incantation, and he fights his way up there and then they hang out. 

Whatever happens, I’m sure Supergiant will blow me away more than they already have regardless of if my theory/wish comes true. I just think fighting a corrupted Zagreus whose moveset can change each run would be a fun challenge for the player as well as emotionally painful. 

I want to cry when I see my baby boy for the first time, Supergiant.

PS: While I’m here I might as well add a request from one of my friends regarding the final design of Narcissus (whom I love platonically): “If that twink doesn’t have a mirror in his hands I swear--”

What I’ve Been Playing: Stray Gods Orpheus came out! It’s so much fun going back into this world, and the new songs are great. I also love Erika Ishii’s little high pitched squeak-laugh.

What I’ve Been Reading: A Talent For Murder by Peter Swanson. I think definitionally if the book tells you the culprit it’s a thriller, but either way I’m engrossed so far.

What I’ve Been Watching: A new Dimension 20 season has dropped, and I’m so excited for the concept of all the players playing two characters. It’s pretty much Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle in TTRPG form, and my interest is piqued.