Recent reviews by MinusHumann

When can I play this version on my calculator?

Not as shallow as Diablo IV, and as complex as PoE. Right in-between. Great.

I hate to say this but so far, for me, the game has been a disappointment in so many aspects that I can't write a positive review. I love this franchise and want it to succeed, so I hope most of the personal issues I have with the game (that I'll cover here) will get addressed in the future.

Let's start with the positives:
-Content: There is a healthy amount of content for an EA game. There are two "campaigns," with one of them is almost fully finished. The other one, the surface , is not done yet.
-Areas: New and returning areas are well-designed, fun to traverse, and visually stunning.
-Art Style: The visuals and animations are slightly improved compared to the first game.
-Audio: Fantastic voice acting, music, and audio engineering. I'm not really surprised with this one given Supergiant's track record.
-Activities: New activities like mining, gathering, and planting add variety. Some might hate these activities, but I like it as a pace-breaker after a run. However, when combined with reading dialogue, it can be a bit too much sometimes.
-Animal Companions: Cute addition. Not much to say about this one.
-Optimization: Runs smoothly on both PC and Steam Deck.

Now the issues:
-Combat and Movement: Combat is slower and more punishing, losing the snappy, responsive feel of the first game. Movement is less smooth, and changes to mechanics are largely negative. The new Sprint mechanic feels clunky and poorly integrated, offering no natural transition into combat.
-Abilities and Mechanics: Special abilities now require holding buttons, disrupting game flow. I also hate that you can't destroy enemy projectiles or deflect them anymore, increasing the challenge and making the game feel more like a bullet hell. Unless you have the "destroy the projectiles while sprinting" boon, you'll have to constantly pay attention to the projectiles and dodge them. It's exhausting.
-Boons and Resources: Boons feel weak, less diverse, and don’t scale that well. There’s also a scarcity of boons in the early stages, making it hard to build effective strategies. The first region feels like you are just given resources. Also, starting your run with Selene (hex) is such a bummer.
-Enemies and Difficulty: Enemies are faster, more annoying, and have over-tuned attacks. The game is harder and more punishing, especially early on. The artificial difficulty added to the game with the curse (which is slightly tuned in a recent update) increasing damage taken, feels cheap.
-Weapons and Aspects: Weapons are way less fun compared to the first game, reducing overall enjoyment. No weapon in this game is as fun as the weapons from the first game. I feel like the "witch" theme has been very detrimental to weapon design in this game.

-Conclusion: Gameplay and combat feel like a downgrade, lacking the smooth and satisfying experience of the first Hades game. Despite these issues, the game has potential, so I'm sure it'll be in a much better spot at release. Will it be better than the first game for me? Not very sure about that.

Addicting

Valve casually releases the best VR game and disappears again.

Good stuff.

Good game with a solid foundation. There's still a lot to be improved in terms of trinket balance and overall content. Also, do not expect it to be DD1. This doesn't play like the first game at all.

Doom Eternal meets Hades. Pure greatness.

Highly recommended. Zen was kind enough to transfer tables I owned on another platform to Steam.

I don't think those who said "just keep playing FX3" here played the tables enough to understand the physics or visual differences. Physics are VERY, VERY different compared to that of FX3, especially on Williams tables (I exclusively play Williams tables). For example, the kickback in the left outlane on Getaway: High Speed won't kick the ball into the tunnel on FX3, but it does on FX, which is identical to what the actual table does. There are many more such differences. Graphics-wise, there's not a ton of differences but lighting is done way better on FX.

There is also a discount for those who would like to buy the tables they owned on FX3. If you're interested in using the cabinet mode, you won't need an activation key for that like you did for FX3, which is another plus.

Simply great. Multiplayer is ton of fun.