Hades II is a massive success on Steam. But gradually, the criticism is mounting – and this could deny Hades II its biggest award.
Hades II is one of the big games of 2025 and has met the expectations of most fans. This wasn’t easy, as the predecessor, Hades I, is considered one of the few games that have reached the “God Tier” – games that received over 95% positive ratings and thus belong to the absolute hits. We had already presented 10 of these God Tier games on Steam.
However, Hades II could stumble at this hurdle. The ending is now the subject of criticism – and the more players reach it, the more negative reviews roll in. But is that fair?
What causes negative reviews? Looking at the reviews for Hades II, the overwhelming majority are clearly positive. There is much praise, the gameplay is fantastic, and the amount of content before things actually become repetitive is enormous. However, when filtering the reviews by “negative”, one point in particular is harshly criticized: The story, or more precisely, the ending. This causes a lot of controversy and leaves some clearly dissatisfied.
SPOILER: This is how the story of Hades II ends
In Hades II, you constantly try to permanently destroy the titan Chronos. After many hours of work, you finally get the chance. Melinoe contacts her brother Zagreus, and through various time manipulations, Zagreus can already find the titan Chronos before he regains power. However, Zagreus does not kill Chronos but chooses the path of reconciliation: He wants Chronos to accept his family and live together, rather than oppose Hades and Olympus.
Zagreus is successful in the past, which causes Chronos to be suddenly flooded with memories during the fight against Melinoe, memories he didn’t have before – a pleasant life with family. Chronos recognizes his mistakes, submits to the judgment of the Olympian gods, and subsequently assists Melinoe in freeing further timelines from Chronos, so that “the mere possibility of this future” is erased. This is also the reason why, after the game’s ending, you can still fight against the two bosses Typhon and Chronos, even though they are actually defeated.
This is what the negative reviews say: Looking at the negative reviews, almost all of them exclusively refer to the story and especially the ending of the game. Here are some excerpts from Steam that represent many others:
- “It pains me to write a bad review for Hades II (…). I admired Hades II, recommended it to everyone, and defended it against criticism. (…) Then I saw the ending. What the hell, Supergiant?! (…)
The ending feels so confusing??? The entire game is good until then. Supergiant was right before the finish line, then suddenly makes a turn and goes in the completely opposite direction.” – moonjellyfish - “The ending of the game ruined the whole experience for me. The narrative feels completely meaningless, as if they built up this dramatic story and then just didn’t know how to lead it to a meaningful or fulfilling conclusion. It left me with no ambition to continue playing the game afterwards. (…) If I could wipe this game from my memory, I would.” – Twilight
- “As a beta player from the beginning of early access, even the thought of the worst possible ending I had for the game doesn’t even come close to what they did here.” – lurkershark
Does Hades II fail to achieve the God Tier on Steam?
Currently, Hades II still stands at 96% positive reviews and thus still meets the criteria for the “God Tier” on Steam. But with time passing and more people finishing the story, there could be more negative reviews to come later. Particularly in the Hades subreddit, the ending is heavily criticized and could trigger a wildfire that might end up having the effects of a small review-bombing.
Cortyn says: Honestly, I am a bit surprised by the negative reviews. Because even though the ending is indeed controversial and can be discussed at length – and you don’t have to like the ending – it seems hardly likely that this could transform the game from a positive experience into a negative one. Sure, the ending of a story can have a significant impact on the overall rating, but to rate Hades II as “negative” just because you didn’t like the story’s ending seems plainly unfair to me.
Hades II does so much well, and until you reach the end – and long after that – the gameplay and the other dialogues in the game are simply wonderful, motivating, and in the most positive sense addictive. Those who conclude that the ending has turned the entire game from a positive into a negative experience after the game’s provisional story ending have little understanding from me.
Aside from that: I found the ending good and was satisfied with it. If I hadn’t looked at the reviews, I wouldn’t have even noticed that this apparently poses such a big problem for some.
How do you like Hades II? Have you already completed the story and how satisfied are you with the outcome of the plot? Did you find the ending as disappointing as some of the critical reviews? Or can even a (subjectively) weak ending not spoil the gaming experience? We found that Hades II feels like picking up right where part 1 left off.
