Hades 2 has been out of early access for a week and I can’t stop playing it. I haven’t rolled credits yet, but so far it’s exactly as enthralling and habit-forming as the first one was. Death to Chronos.

Supergiant’s first hotfix for version 1.0 is out now, and it’s mostly a lot of minor fixes for issues like “Olympian Keepsake effects not activating again after their Boon is skipped” and “Fated List Prophecies related to Hidden Aspects not clearing in specific circumstances”. I suspect some rebalancing will follow these patches, but right now one miniboss has been hit with a super specific nerf and I’m glad of it: “Fixed Phantom (Fields) being able to drain Life from your raised servants”.

A couple of the minibosses in Hades 2 present as much challenge as the Guardians who act as each zone’s bigger final boss, and the Phantom sure is one of them. This life-stealing mongrel heals after attacking you and isn’t easy to dodge, especially when surrounded by allies and the flashy visual effects a typical fight in Hades 2 is accompanied by.

This was made even harder if you’d selected the moon goddess Selene’s hex that lets you raise the last enemy you killed to fight on your side. Setting one of the Phantom’s friends against him seems like a good tactic, until you realize you’ve just handed him a big juicebox full of bonus hitpoints to suck down. As of this hotfix that won’t happen, though the Phantom will still be an absolute pain in the ringhole to defeat.

The full patch notes are below, but beware of some boss identity spoilers. Unfortunately they’re not being read aloud by Logan Cunningham like the early access changelogs were, but I can’t blame anyone at Supergiant for taking a break after the huge amount of work they’ve put into this massive game.

Hades 2 v1.0 Hotfix 1

Fixed most Olympian Keepsake effects not activating again after their Boon is skippedFixed Phantom (Fields) being able to drain Life from your raised servantsFixed Fated List Prophecies related to Hidden Aspects not clearing in specific circumstancesFixed the Achievement Soothing Soak not unlocking from events with MorosFixed the Achievement So Mote It Be unlocking sooner than expectedFixed Gorgon Amulet (Athena) using up the effect of Yarn of Ariadne (Charon) when it shouldn’tFixed not resetting certain random Keepsake effectsFixed an interaction between Uncommon Upbringing (Hera) and Concave Stone (Echo)Fixed key visual effects sometimes not playing on some systemsFixed randomized appearing sooner than expected in some casesFixed Lone Shades from sometimes being able to hit MelinoëFixed Canines spawned from Lycaons unexpectedly activating Unseen Ire (Hades)Fixed an issue where Melinoë could be forced to Return to Shadow at the same exact time as she vanquishesFixed Hecate not speaking about when expected in a certain situationFixed several narrative scripting issues with specific events involving HecateFixed an issue where you could not exit the final Location in Erebus in a certain caseFixed a rare issue where the fight against would not end correctlyFixed a certain situation in which Polyphemus would not react to when expectedFixed an issue where the player could not complete key Incantations due to modified dataFixed cases where taking Armor damage with Trusty Shield (Hephaestus) could damage your semi-permanent Armor insteadFixed a rare issue that involved claiming Gemstones then immediately using one of Homer’s Inspect PointsFixed Hecuba running back and forth in the chamber with NarcissusFixed several rare crashesUpdates to translations in some languagesImproved compatibility with Chinese Input MethodOther minor fixes

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