Hades 2 Ending Sparks Major Backlash From Players

While Hades 2 is undoubtedly one of the best games of the year, its story has not been popular with many Switch 2 players. Fans of the roguelike are angry at how the game’s ending treats the game’s protagonist, Melinoe.

Players Think Hades 2 Ending Is Terrible

Although Hades 2 technically launched as early access in 2024, the roguelike only recently saw its final release as a Switch 2 timed-exclusive on September 25. However, despite only being a few days old, rabid fans have already managed to reach the end of the game’s campaign. Unfortunately, many Switch 2 players have discovered they are not happy with Hades 2’s ending.

Editor Note: Below contains spoilers for the ending of Hades 2. Read at your own discretion.

One of the major plot moments of the game is the return of Hades protagonist Zagreus. While on paper this sounds awesome, fans of the series feel that the character ends up taking over Melinoe’s own story. However, the bigger criticism many players have about the Hades 2 ending is that Melinoe doesn’t end up accomplishing much of anything. Everything she sets out to accomplish in her mission at the start of the game ultimately gets swept aside.

“Chronos’ redemption was too sudden for it to land. Melinoe didn’t have enough agency in the story as she should have had (being that she’s the protagonist of the game, not Zagreus),” a user on Reddit wrote. Another player vented, “Melinoe sidelined in her own game is brutal.” One comment even argued, “The worst part of the ending for me was how they stripped away all of Mel’s agency in the story. As a female player, it felt like a slap in the face to watch Mel’s journey and mindset changes throughout the game just for a man to step in to save the day without her input.”

Hades 2 Ending Controversy Grows Online

It’s not just a vocal minority of players who hate Hades 2’s ending either. On forums such as X and Reddit, you can find countless threads of users complaining about how the game’s story concludes. The backlash has become so severe that some subreddits have even had to lock new threads on the topic due to the volume of new posts about the situation.

Even the official Hades 2 Discord server has been bombarded by complaints from players. The ending has also sparked an interesting discourse about games that decide to use new protagonists in sequels. Many Hades 2 fans specifically have argued that the ending has further fueled toxicity from players who always hated Melinoe and wanted the sequel to star Zagreus instead.

“What also sucks about this ending is that it rewards the players who have been hating Mel from the start and demanding to play as Zagreus. They got to have their favorite character come to save the day and keep the argument that she’s a bad character,” a passionate Hades 2 player wrote on the Hades subreddit.

While this was not likely the intention of Supergiant Games, disappointed players have felt that the Hades 2 ending ultimately establishes that Melinoe wasn’t the main protagonist of her own story. And yeah, as someone who loves the new protagonist, that is pretty brutal.