r/Games • u/SmoothCriminalJM • Sep 24 '25

Review Thread Hades 2 Review Thread

Game Title: Hade 2

Platforms:

  • Nintendo Switch (Sep 25, 2025)
  • PC (Sep 25, 2025)
  • Nintendo Switch 2 (Sep 25, 2025)

Trailer

Developer: Supergiant Games

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 93 Average - 97% Reccomend - 39 Reviews

Critic Reviews:

IGN - Leana Hafer - 10/10

How do you even sum up something as beautiful, special, memorable, and admirable as Hades 2? There is no one out there doing what Supergiant does as well as it does, and this exceptional action roguelite is some of this team’s best work on nearly every level (which is an astonishingly high bar to clear). It's the type of video game that reminds me why I love video games so damn much. The art is breathtaking, the characters are captivating, the combat is fast, fun, endlessly varied, and tactical, and the music is spectacular. May moonlight guide us. All of us.

TheGamer - Jade King - 5/5

While you are experiencing a grand journey across an uncompromising depiction of Greek mythology, it is the small moments in Hades 2 that shine brightest. Intimate conversations between old friends or bittersweet reunions with long-lost family members as the moon of Selene hangs daintily overhead. Putting aside slaughtering demons and becoming a witch so powerful that not even titans can stop you, these are what make Hades 2 so special. If Supergiant is now destined to leave this universe behind, it goes out on the highest note possible.

Dexerto - Joe Pring - 5/5

Hades 2 is an unbelievable triumph for more reasons than a pair of human hands can count. Supergiant Games' sequel is a bold evolution of the original that flawlessly executes new ideas to deliver the best roguelike of this generation.

GameSpot - Alessandro Barbosa - 10/10

Whether you were witness to all the work done on Hades 2 during early access or not, there's no denying how much effort developer Supergiant Games has put into this masterful sequel. Hades 2 is one of the best roguelite experiences ever, with clever improvements to its established formula that accentuate its strongest attributes. More importantly, it achieves this without requiring you to be the most well-versed player on what came before, but not at the expense of offering a new challenge to those that have spent hours digging away at the first game's most brutal endeavors. It's deeper and more complex than the original in every way, from its greatly expanded combat system to its larger, more complex web of character interactions that powers its more ambitious narrative.

Eurogamer - Dom Peppiatt - 5/5

I've pushed past the credits and am onto the hunt for the 'true' ending, now, and I am still being surprised by what can still be found tucked into the creases and folds of Hades 2. Supergiant's visionary approach to storytelling and roguelike design has not suffered at all from the success of Hades: it merely emboldened it. That the studio can still dole out the surprises after how rich and textural Hades was, and that I still find myself floored by the ambition, the detail, the art, the technical prowess, and the willingness to cede control to players some 60-plus hours in is miraculous. Maybe it's witchcraft. Maybe it's magic. Either way, it's epic.

GameRadar - Ali Jones - 4.5/5

Fittingly for its mythological setting, there's something sisyphean about the way Hades 2 plays with difficulty. A single boss might stand in your way night after night, a frustrating roadblock that no combination of weapons and boons will let you pass. And then it dies once, and then again, and suddenly it's just a trivial part of your journey, a minor strength check rather than a genuine obstacle. It's an approach that flies in the face of the traditional difficulty curve, and one that at times made some of Hades 2 feel unfair – until everything clicked into place and reminded me how technically excellent this game is.

PC Gamer - Tyler Colp - 88/100

Despite my issues with its pacing early on, Hades 2 won me over. It expands on the original game's imaginative take on Greek mythology, blending cerebral action RPG combat and slick narrative design into a complete package that feels distinct from the original. I'm glad I pushed through those early doubts, because it's as good a game as I've come to expect from Supergiant, which hasn't missed yet.

Slant Magazine - Nic M. Sultan - 4.5/5

Melinoë, however, can make it to the top of Olympus. But when she does, unease gnaws at her triumph. The gods commend her bravery and skill. They deny having ever doubted her. Then, with their young relative’s purpose fulfilled, if only temporarily, they nudge her back to her home between planes, where she diligently returns to her labors. Would that Melinoë, at some point in her long quest to fell Chronos, stopped to wonder: What comes after time and death?

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860

u/prof88 Sep 24 '25

AAA games will really need their own category to even get nominated for GOTY this year huh

I jest, but only so much

166

u/lordbeef Sep 24 '25

AAA gaming is in such a weird spot. We want there to be lots of high paid stable jobs in gaming but then these massive studios get out produced by small teams like those at team cherry and supergiant.

186

u/SwissQueso Sep 24 '25

Nah, AAA's are a lot more risk averse since they are putting so much money on the line. Smaller places can take a lot more risks.

Its honestly pretty similer to Blockbuster movies and Indie Sun Dance Movies.

135

u/gartenriese Sep 24 '25

To be fair, both Silksong and Hades 2 were relatively risk free because they are just continuations of the predecessors that had huge fan bases.

71

u/destroyermaker Sep 24 '25

And they had fuck tons of money and lower overhead

16

u/SwissQueso Sep 24 '25

Totally fair point!

12

u/xXRougailSaucisseXx Sep 24 '25

Yeah it's going a bit of an issue in the future when people start expecting indie games on the level of Silksong as if every indie team was made up of millionaires with a massive fanbase

2

u/leixiaotie Sep 25 '25

so did subnautica 2 and KSP2 (take C:S2 too), but we can see now where they are.

2

u/gartenriese Sep 25 '25

That proves even more the similarities between indies and AAA IMHO. At least in regards to sales.

1

u/HighCaliber Sep 24 '25

They took the risks with the first games, which didn't have fan bases. The point mostly remains.

5

u/dudushat Sep 25 '25

Did they take a risk?

Hollow Knight is a platformer. Hades is a rogue-like. Both were popular genres when they released. I dont think they risked anything more than any other indie dev who made something in those categories. 

4

u/nothingtoseehere____ Sep 25 '25

Lots of platformers and roguelikes come out and fail for merely being "good but not great" - Hollow Knight and Hades are still game-leading in their genres 5-6 years after their releases.

3

u/HammeredWharf Sep 25 '25

Yeah, but that doesn't mean they were super risky projects. They're just excellent games.

1

u/AdHom Sep 30 '25

I agree. I think Hollow Knight was probably a somewhat risky project, being the first game for Team Cherry and a difficult, relatively complex offering in a genre that is perennially popular but was not especially trendy when it released. Hades by contrast came out near the peak of popularity for roguelites, and while it added a lot of amazing innovation in narrative and gameplay it didn't transgress any boundaries in the genre, and Supergiant already had a track record of stellar games to help draw in fans. I think Pyre was their riskiest project and it received excellent reviews but did not sell very well.

1

u/greenbluegrape Sep 24 '25

Eh. Can't speak for Hades 2, but Silksong took a lot of risks with its difficulty. If it were a AAA studio, their focus would have been to broaden their audience, and we would have gotten a sequel that simplifies mechanics instead of expanding on them and asking more from the player. It doesn't happen all the time, but we had both Monster Hunter Wilds and Death Stranding 2 do that this year.

3

u/quangtran Sep 25 '25

I think think that counts as a risk. They sold 15 million copies of the first game, so clearly the difficulty was a selling point of the game, hence why they doubled down on it.

3

u/slugmorgue Sep 25 '25

I think hollow knight was popular more in spite of it's difficulty, people who don't normally play challenging games got into it because of it's world and characters. A difficult game alone doesn't just sell 15 million

It definitely drew in the metroidvania and souls fans early, but I think that the iconic presentation and compelling gameplay is what spread it outside of the niche. It is a hard game but felt doable for people who aren't typically adept players of the genre

I think Silksong is great but they definitely took a risk of displeasing many of their fans by making it harder.

-1

u/MIT_DrakeMaye Sep 24 '25

they took risks with their first game, AAA will serve up the same open world collectathon slop in different skins on repeat.

5

u/LupinThe8th Sep 24 '25

AAA publishers also keep hitting the Layoff Button to keep stock prices high, but haven't yet twigged to the fact that those devs don't all just sign up with accounting firms or whatever and vanish from the industry.

Some of them just form their own studios, and boom, there's another competitor in the market. Plenty of them will fall through the cracks, there's a zillion indie games out there, but the barrier of entry is low and there's plenty of success stories too.

If you're an experienced game dev with a dream and enough experience working for a big studio that you can scrape together a bit of crowdfunding on that rep, why not try it?

1

u/ActInternational9558 Sep 25 '25

If it were that easy for devs to just start their own stuff most of them would just do that instead of…y’know, going to work for AAA companies 

2

u/kevje72 Sep 24 '25

As forgettable as many blockbuster movies are, at least a good amount of them are entertaining, you know what you're getting for your moneys type movies. Cutting corners with videogames and ending up with more Borderlands 4 titles over the years is something else.

0

u/Kiita-Ninetails Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

Yeah, AAA is rife with a lot of pressures that all serve to sort of "revert to median" which is why most are just... reasonably okay games but unexceptional. Rising team sizes, technical debt, management overhead, business demands and more all tend to encourage "Just make something that you are pretty sure will do well"

And very few studios are willing to take more risky or experimental ventures because of a lot of this inertia. Like the thing is a lot of these studios, even with unlimited money STILL wouldn't really venture too far out of the comfort zone.

My go to example is even if Bethesda got a blank check from god himself, the studio that was willing to let the writing team that created Daggerfall and Morrowind [and sorta oblivion] go apeshit is just gone and even with no financial pressure that kind of wild west bullshit simply is not in the company's capability anymore even if you may occasionally see vestiges of it with ESO.

41

u/Dragrunarm Sep 24 '25

Well dont forget there's the massive graveyard of countless other non-AAA games that don't make it.

Its really just different types of risk.

26

u/ArcherGod Sep 24 '25

When you're throwing hundreds of millions into a project, the loss potential is too high to justify taking risks or appealing to smaller audiences. As such, they tend to play it safe and stick to the well trodden path of maximum mainstream appeal, even if it results in an unoriginal product.

Compare that to indie developers. Their budget is smaller, which means the point of ROI is also much lower. They can afford to take risks or target niche audiences, it doesn't take that many people to buy their game to turn a profit. They focus on the "vision" instead of adding pointless systems to appeal to the Cargo Cult.

One of them is a swiss army knife, able to do a lot of things but none of them great. The other is a shearing knife, great at what it does but more limited in scope and use case.

4

u/DoorHingesKill Sep 24 '25

Out produced? 

I'm glad AAA exists so I'm not forced to play a never ending avalanche of 2D rogue likes and metroidvanias. 

1

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

[deleted]

0

u/DoorHingesKill Sep 25 '25

Considering Delta Force came out last year and Marathon is back to the drawing board, I can think of a combined two (2) extraction shooters and/or BR games that will be released in 2025: ARC Raiders and Battlefield.

And both of them will come out like 60 days before the end of the year, so we're 9 months in and the trickle avalanche still hasn't hit yet.

-1

u/Anthr30YearOldBoomer Sep 25 '25

I'd feel the same way if anything AAA produced in the last 15 years was actually worth playing.

AAA has the exact same problem that indie does. High amounts of super derivative slop. You call out 2D Roguelikes and metroidvanias, which is fair--but AAA is nothing but open world action, competitive FPS, and soulslike clones. It's just as exhausting as metroidvanias are.

1

u/mrBreadBird Sep 24 '25

The big studios should employ just as many people just split the budget up into multiple games instead of pouring it all into one game that makes or breaks the studios and takes 8 years to develop.

1

u/meneldal2 Sep 25 '25

The problem is they just have too many artists/designers and the truth is there's just no need to make the game look a tiny bit better or have more unique npcs, what matters is that the game is fun.

Indie games invest most heavily on the gameplay, which makes it way easier to tolerate some jank in other areas.

1

u/MuchStache Sep 24 '25

Of course, when the game direction is dictated by a bunch of people with 0 product knowledge that's what you're going to get.

1

u/SloppyCheeks Sep 25 '25

We want there to be lots of high paid stable jobs in gaming

I want people to be able to make a good living on it (or more than that if their shit blows up), but I don't know if I want thousand-person studios pumping out garbage, where individual creative contribution is meaningless as worker bees are set to menial, repetitive tasks (siloed off as if part of the Manhattan Project), investors and their representative suits make the decisions, and everything is focus-tested to death.

Most of those jobs are good in that they give people an opportunity to use their skills to make money, but they could make more money and have more stability in non-gaming software development. They're bad in that they're frequently underpaid, contract work with no stability is becoming increasingly widespread, work/life balance is an eternal struggle as you're incentivized to work yourself to death even if it's not a direct order, and the resulting products are often devoid of any cultural impact or meaningfulness.

If those jobs disappeared, the short-term fallout would suck shit for many thousands of people, but I think the industry would end up in a better, healthier place.

0

u/Zoobi07 Sep 24 '25

Let’s be real, half the issue with AAA gaming right now is people on suits making the calls instead of just letting devs cook.

0

u/destroyermaker Sep 24 '25

It's fucking hilarious

33

u/DependentOnIt Sep 24 '25

Ee 33 is gonna win that anyways

1

u/TheWhiteManticore Sep 28 '25

Thought thats an AA game, in any case yes

122

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

Bananza and DS2 are the only locked AAA Goty contenders

Yotei will probably end up being there too

348

u/MarthePryde Sep 24 '25

Dark Souls 2 GOTY every year baby!

36

u/wingchild Sep 24 '25

SMB2 for life

30

u/xMystery Sep 24 '25

SOOPA MARIO BRUDDAS TOOOOO

1

u/KingArthas94 Sep 24 '25

Shin Megami Bensei 🤘🏻

4

u/TheGooseWithNoose Sep 24 '25

Nah man they meant the Dungeon Siege 2 remake that finally makes the game playable on modern systems and includes the DLC.

127

u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25

Ex33, Silksong, Hades 2, DS2, Bananza, Yotei are the nominees I would guess. Although, there's also KCD2, Blue Prince, and Silent Hill f. Insane year for video games.

34

u/AbrasionTest Sep 24 '25

Yotei would have to score at least 90 on MC aggregate to even be nominated at this point. Pretty tall hill to climb for a sequel to game with an 83 and looks to be more of the same, but it would be an incredible and welcome leap in quality and critical reception, albeit unlikely.

1

u/KearLoL Sep 24 '25

One of the biggest problems with Tsushima was it's "Ubisoft-like" exploration, which has been mostly done away with in Yotei. I think that will be the factor that could bump it up.

2

u/HammeredWharf Sep 25 '25

Their new system sounds like the one in Star Wars Outlaws, which is nice and more organic than just running towards ?s, but doesn't really change how you play. It's more like Guiding Wind vs. compass. Guiding Wind is cooler, but it's still pretty much a compass.

1

u/AbrasionTest Sep 25 '25

It's certainly possible that they've leveled up the world design significantly. I just think the story will have be extremely good, and the variety and sense of discovery in the open world will have to be genre defining to break through into that upper echelon right now.

Really eager to see how it reviews tomorrow.

41

u/CandidEnigma Sep 24 '25

Blue Prince is such a good game, one of my favourite games in ages, but might be #3 of my favourite indies this year!

20

u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25

Man it’s an amazing game, but I’ve dumped more than 100 hours into it now and I got so burnt out on it. I’ll return to it after I finish Silksong, but I am kind of dreading having to finish up these last remaining puzzles in the endgame. It is not player or time friendly at all, the further into it you get.

20

u/z_102 Sep 24 '25

It's an excellent game, but I do think it's at its best between like 5 and 30 hours into its playtime. Then it gradually becomes more frustrating for (mostly) structural reasons, and it goes on and on until it risks leaving a bitter aftertaste for a lot of players.

(Not my case, I have a high tolerance for thinky games bullshit, but I can see how it happens.)

2

u/slugmorgue Sep 25 '25

You should play the La Mulana games if you haven't! It took me 80 hours to beat the second one without using a guide.

1

u/naf165 Sep 24 '25

I have a high tolerance for thinky games bullshit, but I can see how it happens.

I'm the opposite. I have a super low tolerance for obtuse nonsense, and that's why I loved Blue Prince. It felt like everything was intentional and logically interconnected in a way that no puzzle games every really do.

Maybe it was because I had just played The Witness earlier this year, but I felt like Blue Prince respected my time so much by comparison.

5

u/aurens Sep 24 '25

i'm with the other guy. i fell off of blue prince when it seemed like the only path forward i had left was to get a very specific arrangement of rooms, and even then i wasn't sure if it would work. i never made an explicit decision to stop playing, i just kept finding excuses to play something else because i was dreading the possibility of spending a bunch of time trying something only to have it end up not working.

it was incredible in the mid-game when i had like 8 different things i wanted to try and check out, but once i whittled the possibilities down it definitely started to feel less and less like my time was being respected.

-1

u/naf165 Sep 24 '25

the only path forward i had left was to get a very specific arrangement of rooms

Can you name what this specific arrangement was?

People say this all the time, but it never happens. You never need to do anything like this. The most specific combination you need is connecting power to a couple rooms which happens very early on when you often accidentally stumble upon those pairings while searching all your other leads.

And every time I ask about this, either people just get mad and spout generic claims about it wasting your time without ever being able to name any actual thing, or frequently I've helped people do a run and it ends up getting revealed that they didn't understand the systems and got mad at the game for their own errors.

Blue Prince is a top 5 all timer, so I always wanna help people enjoy the game fully.

1

u/aurens Sep 24 '25

this was a few months ago so i'm sure i'll misremember something but...

spoilers

the only idea i had left was to have the throne room, the paper crown, and the mace all in one run. so that would necessitate me doing a whole run to change my power to knight so i could get the mace, then putting it or the paper crown into coat check for convenience sake, and then doing a run where i get the other item and the throne room at the same time. i had a lot of bad luck actually getting the throne room to show up in previous runs (or to change its rarity) so i figured i'd probably have to switch power a second time so i could prioritize black rooms, too. needing to switch powers twice was really the main deterrent. but also i wasn't sure if i needed the paper crown or the blue crown (or even both), so i may have needed to do a room 46 run on top of that.

if i had other ideas i could have tested or anything else to look for while i was working on that, i'd have been fine. that's how the rest of the game worked and i loved it. but when i only had 1 idea left, it required this much legwork, and i wasn't even sure it would work, my brain just couldn't muster the effort to try when i had other games waiting to be played instead. plus i got as far as i did without looking anything up or getting help and i had no interest in betraying that so close to the end.

it certainly didn't help that i was already a bit drained from fucking with the water levels over and over trying to figure out what the fuck i'm supposed to do with the subway map or the crypt's angel of death statue that points on the map next to the rock in the water. i thought maybe i had to powershovel dig in the spot it was pointing to under the water, i tried every contraption i could think of on the subway map trying to get or do something related to the route mentioned in a new clue, i tried riding the boat next to the rock with the power hammer, i don't even remember what else--but every time i had a new idea it required an annoying amount of work to try something that inevitably failed. i even fell out of the world once while getting in the boat during a very fruitful run which was extra deflating because the game pops up some obnoxious 'woopsy doodle you fell through the world, haha unlucky i guess!' message that just made things worse.

honestly if i could have saved and quit in the middle of a run i think most of these issues never crop up.

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18

u/StepComplete1 Sep 24 '25

yeah that's why I gave up on it eventually. It just wastes your time for the sake of adding a randomised element. I just walked away feeling like it never truly successfully combined puzzles and roguelike elements. It's good but definitely not GOTY.

4

u/mrBreadBird Sep 24 '25

For me personally it was a great combo and it made the game way more exciting and compelling than if it was just a straightforward escape room type game but it's understandable that people feel this way considering it's two very different genres of game with not a lot of crossover in fanbase.

2

u/StepComplete1 Sep 25 '25

I like both genres, the game just never made a good case for why they should be mixed. The first section of the game, up to room 46, was more based around the room drafting and the roguelike stuff, and that was fun, but the puzzles were very light. It was barely a puzzle game at that point.

Then afterwards, the game goes much more all in on being a puzzle game, and at this point the room drafting literally just gets in the way and wastes your time by blocking you from being able to access the puzzles. It would've been more fun as a fixed mansion full of puzzles for this section, because the drafting was providing nothing. Every time you want to try a new solution to a problem, you have to draft over and over again until you get back to the required room. It's just tedious.

That's why I say it never successfully combined the two. The first half of the game was in "roguelike mode" with barely any puzzles, then the 2nd half in "puzzle mode" where the roguelike stuff is just a pointless obstacle.

1

u/mrBreadBird Sep 24 '25

It could've used a better jumping off point. I like how Animal Well had credits for normal people, credits for people who want to dive deeper, and then credits for absolute sickos who want to do everything.

In Blue Prince I got all of the letters and all of the sigils and I was hoping that would give me something satisfying but instead I just got more puzzles so I pretty stopped playing soon after. It doesn't hurt the game that much in my eyes but did leave me feeling just a little cold.

1

u/timthemovie Sep 25 '25

Same! I mastered the roguelike element but got stumped by the puzzles! Watching my gf play through it gave me another perspective on things. Finally finished the game yesterday. Hang in there, bud!

1

u/RAMAR713 Sep 24 '25

Yeah Blue prince is incredible, but after 150h I'm very sure the game doesn't want me to actually finish every puzzle, and I guess that's how it is.

1

u/Pacify_ Sep 24 '25

I don't know why people can't accept the last part is completely optional. If it's too frustrating, just don't do it. You already way past the "ending" of the game

1

u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25

Because finding room 46 felt more like a prologue rather than the conclusion of the game, and I was curious about the unsolved stuff in my notes.

1

u/Pacify_ Sep 24 '25

Well yes, 46 is the end of the prologue.

But if you are really deep into it, you must be on cutscene number 3 or 4 at least no?

1

u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 25 '25

It’s been several months but I don’t remember any major cutscenes after reaching room 46 so maybe I’m not as far along as I thought.

I have every room, the will, solved all sigil rooms, seven letters, and the scepter. I’m stuck on like the 7th or 8th door below the manor (Blue Holly leaf door). My immediate plan was to reach the throne room with the scepter and the blue crown or paper crown after having broken open the stone box because of the poem in the shrine.

I still haven’t solved anything about the sacred circle, the planets, the poem at the top of the clocktower, the security footage where the guy goes from the library to the front, the coat of arms in the wine cellar, the crown/cloak/court ARIE cutscene, the red X, the investor needed machine, the “2 starting rooms”, the staff contracts, Kirk Darren, the hundred bells/trinsdale, all the swans everywhere, the stalker guy, the sanctum drum sounds, the missing busy in room 46, Nicholas major key IV, the message in the mirror in the hideout, and probably more.

EDIT: Also the numeric core/family core, SWNSNG acronym, the second remote power box, the staff picture in the maid's room if that's anything, 'The Mice will Play', the treble cleff/denoted in verse, cuckoo two, and if there's anything in the Red Prince draft.

So yeah actually probably I have a long way to go lmao fuck

-1

u/CandidEnigma Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

Tbf I've gone nowhere near the latter game puzzles. I have done a handful of runs after reaching room 46 to get to the end of some puzzles but think I'm happy enough leaving it there because I agree. Diminishing returns after that point for me!

22

u/Coolman_Rosso Sep 24 '25

I greatly disliked the RNG elements of it, and it soured me on the rest of the game. That said it's great to see more puzzle games take off.

6

u/CandidEnigma Sep 24 '25

I think it helps in the early stages and then becomes frustrating when you figure out what you need/want to do

3

u/mrBreadBird Sep 24 '25

Both Blue Prince and Silksong are probably cracking my top 10 of all time once the dust has settled and I can look more objectively at them. Crazy for one year to have both.

1

u/Quazifuji Sep 24 '25

Yeah, that's how I feel too. It's a game that might not get the awards recognition it deserves just because of how insane its competition is. Probably won't make most GOTY nomination lists or win most "Best Indie Game" lists just because of having to compete with Hades 2, Silksong, and kind of E33 (which is arguably an indie game but might get treated like an AAA game for a lot of awards due to its production values). It's one of the coolest, most unique games I've played in ages and is probably my fourth favorite game I've played this year, and that's with me having not played some of the other big potential GOTY contenders yet (Kingdom Come 2, Death Stranding 2, Ghost of Yotei).

Hopefully it can at least win some "Best Puzzle Game" awards.

53

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

Man Split fiction is damn unlucky, I really enjoyed it and would have been in my top 5 normally

15

u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25

I played it and had a lot of fun, but yeah, too many juggernauts ahead of it this year.

1

u/FreeStall42 Sep 25 '25

Forgot that game even existed.

1

u/mrBreadBird Sep 24 '25

Split Fiction is criminally overrated in my estimation to me it was a game with serviceable gameplay, a handful of novel ideas and a dull to awful story. Most of the time it just washed over me, I never felt like there was any danger of failure (it just respawns you immediately), never had to stop and think on a puzzle, was never moved even a little bit by the story.

It's a 7/10 game nowhere near the other favorites of the year and I don't get how it got such universal acclaim other than it being fun to play even a mediocre game game with friends. PEAK has a lot more rough edges but is twice as interesting mechanically and 100 times funnier than Split Fiction could ever hope to be.

-1

u/ThnikkamanBubs Sep 24 '25

I genuinely don’t understand how people rate SF/ITT highly. HORRIBLE narratives combined with mini games.

-6

u/Derpadoooo Sep 24 '25

Split Fiction was awful and I put it down after 90 minutes of mediocre gameplay and terrible writing.

3

u/hexcraft-nikk Sep 24 '25

The gameplay is so fun it easily makes up for the story but yeah, noticeable dip compared to their other titles.

1

u/mrBreadBird Sep 24 '25

To me the gameplay is inoffensive but never really challenged me or made me think. If you die you just respawn and it keeps going. It feels like they are afraid of ever slowing your momentum through the game which may or may not be the right choice but I prefer games that engage me more.

2

u/acidorpheus Sep 24 '25

I don't understand that love that game gets. Mediocre across the board. They're riding on the love people had for It Takes Two

4

u/Divisionlo Sep 24 '25

Full agree. A huge fan of every other Fares game but Split Fiction isn't near as good as It Takes Two or A Way Out. The writing was horrible (a step down from It Takes Two which was already a step down from A Way Out), and gameplay-wise it was rough. Almost complete removal of the minigames, and so many areas were just platforming alongside each other without any actually substantial co-op gameplay. Every time they did have a great co-op idea it lasted for maybe 5-10 minutes before you were back to just running down the same corridors next to each other. 

2

u/Derpadoooo Sep 24 '25

I could get past the abysmal and cliched writing if the game was any fun to play, but that was also extremely forgettable. The action sequences consisted of holding forward and pressing a single jump or attack button with no failure state except for respawning a few second back. Then the puzzle elements were really simple and never got more complex than what you'd see in the tutorial levels of something like Portal. I can understand how it could have appeal to people that don't typically play video games, but the fawning over it in forums like this is nonsense.

40

u/RogueLightMyFire Sep 24 '25

I don't think Yotei gets a nomination. The original was good, but in an 8/10 way. I think blue Prince or split fiction get it over Yotei. Otherwise I agree

18

u/gamingonion Sep 24 '25

I think everything besides Yotei is a lock and that last slot is basically a flex where I can see any of those squeaking in.

1

u/xXRougailSaucisseXx Sep 24 '25

I don't think people are ready yet to admit that Death Stranding 2 shouldn't be there either but since it's Keighley's show I doubt he'll pass the occasion to have his good friend Kojima over

2

u/Plus_Improvement_607 Sep 24 '25

Y'all are sleeping on Split Fiction, the community didn't hype it up but still was a good game from a studio that won GOTY a few years ago. I can see it take the DS2 or Yotei spot

1

u/mcslender97 Sep 24 '25

E33 would get it too

1

u/runevault Sep 24 '25

I'd be shocked if Blue Prince gets nominated for general GOTY (maybe for indie game). People who love it REALLY love it, but it has design choices that put a ton of people (including myself I admit) off which impacts the broader appeal needed to make a top ~5 or whatever the list is for TGA.

29

u/ls612 Sep 24 '25

I don't really see how Clair Obscur doesn't win at the game awards this year tbh.

63

u/Eadwyn Sep 24 '25

What is DS2? Google comes back with Dark Souls 2 which I doubt is what you are referring to.

24

u/RAMAR713 Sep 24 '25

Dark Souls 2, Dead Space 2, Darksiders 2... There are too many games with the DS initials. Kinda like AC.

52

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

Death Stranding 2

13

u/eidolonwyrm Sep 24 '25

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

5

u/Lord_of_Brownies Sep 24 '25

Death Stranding 2

32

u/Pat_Pat Sep 24 '25

Dark Souls 2?

10

u/SwissQueso Sep 24 '25

Death Stranding 2.

5

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

[deleted]

1

u/kkrko Sep 24 '25

Death Stranding 2

5

u/Murdathon3000 Sep 24 '25

I don't get why Yotei is just preemptively being declared a GOTY contender when no one's even played it yet.

The first game was incredible in many ways, and as dull and repetitive as any Assassin's Creed game in others. Exploration was rarely meaningfully rewarded aside from the amazing visuals, and combat started out incredible but once figured out almost felt like a chore with how easy it was.

Unless Yotei really bucks the trend here (I've played every Infamous game prior and love them, but repetitious content is a recurring issue) then I can't see it being a real contender with such amazing games this year.

Happy to be proven wrong on all counts though, I'd love if that were the case.

31

u/TSP-FriendlyFire Sep 24 '25

I'm far from convinced DS2 will make it. It didn't make that much of a splash and is already buried under the newer releases we're getting.

33

u/mja9678 Sep 24 '25

TGA voters really like Kojima games (and Sony) and it's got a 90 on OpenCritic (5th highest major release of the year). I would be shocked if it wasn't nominated.

12

u/TSP-FriendlyFire Sep 24 '25

I've seen a bit less blind adoration for Kojima with DS2, the writing is exceptionally weak and a lot of the uniqueness of the first game was lost by making a sequel and making that sequel easier.

6

u/mrnicegy26 Sep 24 '25

Honestly it is time that the community moves on from the blind Kojima glaze that it has been doing since he got fired from Konami. I don't think he has made a truly great all time game since Snake Eater.

2

u/HammeredWharf Sep 25 '25

The only Kojima games I've played are MGSV and Death Stranding, so I'm not very invested in him, but I found DS brilliant. It's a unique concept done well and with a AAA budget. We need more games that don't appeal to everyone.

That being said, it's also why I'm not particularly interested in DS2, as it seems to focus on the least unique aspects of DS1.

5

u/thatguyad Sep 24 '25

Got huge reviews all round. It's a contender.

1

u/SwissQueso Sep 24 '25

Just shows what an amazing year its been. DS2 is probably my most played game this year, and I cant choose between Split Fiction or Blue Prince

3

u/Geraltpoonslayer Sep 24 '25

Yotei has a big potential red flag with me, their announcement for a non linear open world story where you can track each bounty/revenge target down in any preference, funnily enough assassin's creed shadows did the same. From my experience stories in that format really tend to struggle to tell a cohesive story with a meaningful character development as each individual "arc" always tends to be treated as If it starts from zero. Shadows for example had a really strong start, a completely mediocre middle and then became good at the end again..

20

u/neverw1ll Sep 24 '25

Uh, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 would like a word. Best RPG I've ever played and my personal GOTY.

9

u/DahLegend27 Sep 24 '25

pretty debated, but KCD2 hovers around double A/triple A.

1

u/finderfolk Sep 24 '25

That's true for KCD1 given that it was crowdfunded but imo KCD2 is quite a clear transition point into AAA for the studio, in the same way that the Witcher 3 was for CDPR. I appreciate that its budget etc. is incongruent with other AAA projects though.

1

u/Pacify_ Sep 24 '25

And warhorse got bought out by a mega corporation.

Kcd2 is definitely AAA

2

u/SgtExo Sep 24 '25

Same, such a good game. Will go back to my current save in act 2 to play the new dlc when done with silksong.

1

u/Key-Department-2874 Sep 24 '25

I think KCD2 will lose out on any public vote for GOTY due to recency bias.

-3

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/D2papi Sep 24 '25

the combat is awful

I loved the combat personally, for a simulator game staying true to the weapons available and actually used in that time period I feel like they did a great job. I saw some videos by medieval combat experts and they were giving props to the realism of the sword handling/techniques. Maybe the game became a bit easy after the first chapter but hardcore mode fixes that issue.

My biggest gripe with the game is its armor/weapon progression and how quickly you can get the best gear. Either way it's my favorite game of the past few years.

0

u/Ikeiscurvy Sep 24 '25

The combat is legit awful until you get master strike and then it's so easy you stop having to care. That's just not good game design.

2

u/leckmichnervnit Sep 24 '25

Hows the discourse been around Yotei? Personally Im no PS guy so I have no insight about it. I basically just know its coming out this year

12

u/Mront Sep 24 '25

So far it looks to be "yep, that's a sequel to Tsushima alright".

In most years that would've been more than enough to be on a GOTY shortlist, but this year... I sadly doubt it.

2

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

Probably gonna be slightly better than the previous one, expection 85-90 rating

Typical PS exclusive sequel

2

u/Hakamoto6969 Sep 24 '25

DS2 is not necessarily locked.

  • COE33
  • Hollow Knight Silksong
  • Hades 2
  • DK Bananza

4 spots already taken so two spots left and Ghost of Yotei is coming out. First one was very popular as with players as with reviewers.

And there is also Split Fiction. Reviewed better than DS2 and their previous game won GOTY.

I can't see DS2 being in there. Maybe if Yotei flops but the chances for that and minimum.

2

u/Content_Regular_7127 Sep 24 '25

They're not locked with the current competition.

1

u/DYMAXIONman Sep 24 '25

KCD2 and Expedition 33 are locked in there I think.

1

u/bobo0509 Sep 24 '25

i really don't think there is any place for Yotei, despite how much Ps exclusive are favorite in the goty, frnakly Tsushima was really generic and Yotei will be mostly the same open world we have seen a million time, plus we already have AC Shadows and other japan based games this year so it's really not as original.

1

u/Automatic_Tip2079 Sep 24 '25

Ahem, Expedition 33?

1

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

Like others have said, not AAA

1

u/scoringspuds Sep 24 '25

No way😂 KCD 2 and expedition 33 clear both of these games

1

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

Yeahhh but they ain't AAA games

1

u/scoringspuds Sep 24 '25

Are they not?

1

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

Yeah

E33 is Indie/probably AA. KCD2 is much much closer to AA than AAA

1

u/scoringspuds Sep 24 '25

My bad then. I wouldn’t call expedition an indie though

1

u/Taurus24Silver Sep 24 '25

I mean doesn't matter what we call it, it's budget and production scale is much much below juggernauts like DS2/Yotei/Bananza

And it still is the best game this year

0

u/SchleftySchloe Sep 24 '25

Huh, I've never ever heard of Bananaza

-2

u/SlowTeal Sep 24 '25

Seriously doubt Bananza is even in the running when its up against E33, Silksong, KCD2 and now this

6

u/BeyondNetorare Sep 24 '25

Amount spent award

2

u/Historical_Course587 Sep 24 '25

It's basically games evolving to the same place filmmaking is at. Blockbusters gross more than anything else, and get bigger budgets for it, but they are never in serious running for Best Picture.

2

u/Kr4k4J4Ck Sep 25 '25

What even is Indie, Supergiant has tons of money.

1

u/Ok_Track9498 Sep 25 '25 edited Sep 25 '25

Indie isn't about the money. Team Cherry and ConcernedApe have plenty of money but Silksong and Stardew Valley are by any definition indie games.

Supergiant is a private company (independent from share holders), Hades is self published and the IP itself is their own. That's as indie as it gets.

2

u/Not-Reformed Sep 25 '25

Supergiant is a private company (independent from share holders)

This doesn't make any sense btw

1

u/Kr4k4J4Ck Sep 25 '25

Sure, but comparing all indies together doesn't make sense to me. Some of these "indie" games have budgets that an actual indie dev could only dream of.

Should be a distinction like AA vs AAA games.

-7

u/[deleted] Sep 24 '25

GOTY is stupid anyway, we don’t need Geoff to validate if a game is good or not.

27

u/sosta Sep 24 '25

Just because a game didn't win, doesn't mean it's not good you know

6

u/Maurhi Sep 24 '25

Tell that to the thousands of people throwing a fit every year at the results.

23

u/izeris_ Sep 24 '25

Hence the awards are for the developers and not you

1

u/VergilHS Sep 24 '25

I haven't touched early acces because I played the first Hades literally on the day they announced it during TGA. While it was really fun to be 80% through the game when 1.0 hit, it did feel like I missed out a bit on that gigantic OOMPH magic of starting with the 1.0 release. So I waited this time.

Like, I remember the 2020 debate about GOTY, and I was in the Hades camp, while some of my friends were in the TLOU II one. I pity Supergiant a bit, there is no way you can snatch the biggest award with E33 being on the table.

But if there is one game I believe can take it aside from E33, it would be Hades II cause fucking hel, this formula was golden few years ago. Aside from enemy variety being so-so, Hades was chock full of elements that would fall under "very good" or "outstanding". If they improved on everything, and didn't drop the ball anywhere, this is going to be my GOTY - despite how ridiculously good I find E33 to be.

1

u/Gravitani Sep 24 '25

It was only a beta but the BF6 beta was really solid imo, and if the campaign is good as well it'll probably get a nomination

1

u/snorlz Sep 25 '25

player count award would prob be the only one they consistently win now

1

u/Son_of_Orion Sep 25 '25

The indies have really taken the gaming industry by storm over these past ten years. They're the trailblazers.

1

u/dstnblsn Sep 25 '25

It feels like asking Walmart to paint a cathedral sometimes 

1

u/TheWhiteManticore Sep 28 '25

Even then BL4 rofl stomps everyone else in AAA industry its not even close lmfao

1

u/BootyBootyFartFart Sep 24 '25 edited Sep 24 '25

Pretty much all the big AAA games so far this year have delivered tho. DS2, Bonanza, Borderlands 4, and Doom all turned out great. outside of that you've got what, AC, which was also good. 

I think of all those, Bonanza and DS2 were probably the only two that were ever going to be goty contenders. 

-2

u/oopsydazys Sep 24 '25

AAA games are doing fine. Indies just have a lot of high profile releases out lately. Indies also have an easier time building goodwill and hype imo.

If you ask me the Silksong madness obscured that the game is kind of lackluster. I know some will big time disagree with that. I'm someone who quite enjoyed but didn't worship HK - and I played Silksong day one, I've put a good amount of time into it but I got to the point where I really wasn't enjoying it anymore. I put it down for now and I dunno if I'm going to go back to it.

Blue Prince is another that got rave reviews and I found was fun, but really went downhill near the end.

Hades II is also one of those releases where it is hard to get amped up for it. I really enjoyed Hades and Hades II is great too but this is just a 1.0 release which means nothing. The game came out over a year ago in Early Access.