I’m sure we’d all like to wind back time to experience Hades for the first time. The airtight gameplay paired perfectly with its sharp art style, charming voice cast, and rocking soundtrack by Supergiant’s resident composer Darren Korb. Just when I’d thought I’d escaped the realm of Hades (with over a hundred successful runs, mind you!), they pull me back in with Hades II and point me back to not only the depths of Tartarus, but to the peak of Mount Olympus! I will avoid further spoilers, but be warned that track titles can spoil concepts and characters to the Greek mythology-savvy.
With double the game content, it’s appropriate that Darren Korb’s Hades II soundtrack is nearly twice the length of the first game’s. Just as the Hades-oriented route retraces some familiar sites and faces, the first quarter of Hades II’s soundtrack delivers much of the same characteristic instrumentation—shimmying shaker percussion, electric guitar noodling, and light orchestral flourishes run through with a near-constant theremin melody. Tracks like opener “Death to Chronos” and hub theme “The Crossroads” evoke the first Hades’ title theme, “No Escape,” though rife with scratchier industrial elements more befitting the new protagonist, the witch Melinoë.
It’s interesting to hear extended (seven- or eight-minute) region themes like “Edge of Erebus” or the ticking-clock “Into Tartarus,” considering the in-game music restlessly shifts with every seconds-long encounter with varying enemies, boon-granting gods, and supporting characters. When the soundtrack is given room to breathe apart from the breathless sound design, it’s a wholly different listening experience. At times, I found long tracks a tad repetitive (especially elements already thoroughly covered in Hades), but I was often impressed by the complex melodic layering I missed during gameplay.
I love the moments when Hades II’s music steps outside of its comfort zone. The Oceanus region themes — “Song of the Sirens” and “Song of the Deep” — are uncharacteristically ambient and haunting, with soft, creeping vocals foreshadowing the region boss. The storm breaks with rock anthem “Coral Crown” or its embittered rematch track, “I Am Gonna Claw (Out Your Eyes Then Drown You to Death).”
Similarly, an early Olympus-route region track, “The Necropolis,” ensnared my attention with its increasingly unhinged flute solos courtesy of Josh Plotner, as did late-game tracks like the urgent and imposing choirs of “Mother of All Storms” and the fiery brass of “Olympus Aflame,” both featuring VGM composer-superstar Austin Wintory. Notable, too, are the various uses of ticking clocks on Chronos-related tracks, particularly the urgency in “Visions of the Past.”
Hades’ difficulty modifying Extreme Measures, used to beef up bosses with new movesets, returns in the form of Hades II’s Vow of Rivals, which also beefs up boss themes! “Rock and a Hard Place” and “The End of Time” stand out, with their double-pedal kick drums amping up their rock elements to metal levels. Lastly, Hades II ramps up the number of NPC characters with their own chambers or who will intrude on your own run. Tracks for these encounters are a breath of fresh air and often levity, creating strong impressions of the characters they represent.
“Lap of Luxury” is a lounge-style muzak track, “Fading Fading” intertwines its tragic character’s fate with its melody, the woodwinds on “Winged Apprentice” are youthful with a hint of foreshadowing melancholy, and “Reflection Affection” (you can guess which mythological figure that belongs to) has a gorgeous classical guitar performance by Pau Figueres.
Playing Hades II is a restless, albeit pleasant barrage on the senses, and considering each run can be as short as ten or fifteen minutes, the sonic throughlines in its music make sense. The theremin, say, will be there to guide you through the bursts of character themes and action tracks that may last for only a few seconds. Pinning this wild beast of a soundtrack down into comprehensive songs and a tracklist must have been a real challenge.
This is a rare case where you should play through the game’s upward and downward runs first and meet (and hear) all you can before listening to the soundtrack on its own to better appreciate its breadth. But, hey, who could ask for a better prescription than playing Hades II?
Hades II Original Soundtrack was first made available for digital purchase as of May 2024 with its early access release. The complete, four-hour OST was made available for purchase and streaming in September 2025. Recommended tracks include “The Titan of Time,” “The Necropolis,” and, of course, “I Am Gonna Claw (Out Your Eyes Then Drown You to Death).”
Death to Chronos.
