Artemis/Zeus/Poseidon lost their personality with their new art

[Couch Radish]

Not in the sense that the artwork is “bad” as the overall quality has a major step up from the first game, but for a sequel whose lore has much higher stakes compared to the first game the art for Artemis, Zeus, and Poseidon are far weaker in terms of posing, body language, (shading for Artemis in particular), ends up with very generic characterization compared to the first game.

Look at Aphrodite and Demeter, two positive examples. The casual stances and clothing has been replaced with armor, weapons, and body language that sells the larger stakes: they’re now at war and are dressed and acting as such. Even Skelly has turned from a silly training dummy to a seasoned teacher.

But Zeus, Artemis, and Poseidon? The characterization in their new art is near gone compared to the first game.

Zeus turned from a regal and godly patriarch to a guy in a gold chestplate (complete with nipples and abs that would make Batman Forever blush) with his hands on his hips. He has the posing of a copyright-dodging Halloween costume which is a serious downgrade from before where he looks like he’s ready to throw lightning bolts off the peaks of Olympus. The details of his gauntlets and the stylizing of his beard as Greek clouds are gone. It’s a far weaker design overall with nothing I can point out as a better change.

Poseidon gained more details on his trident and shawl (which are good changes) but again, the posing has lost any dynamic features it had in the first game. He no longer has the playful energy to stand out from his more serious brothers, left to nothing more than sort of standing to one side with his hair billowing, a pose you wouldn’t find out of place next to the covers of self-indulgent smut novels and webpage ads for mobile games that exist as storefronts barely disguised as city builders/RPGs.

Artemis sadly seems to have gotten the worst treatment out of the three I’ve mentioned. The strong greens and browns of her original design have been thoroughly muted. The massive cloak has forced her hair from a single braid flowing behind her to double braids that lazily droop on each side of her head. The crescent moon details of her headpiece are gone which remove the white accents. The war paint on her face was removed (which makes little sense considering the story for this game). Her posing has turned completely passive and stationary compared the active and dynamic posing from the first game. And strangest of all, her entire body seems almost entirely covered in shadows which mutes her muted colors even further - an odd artistic choice that seems to exist solely for her.

Supergiant said they’re looking at fan feedback so I hope they see this. These three having art that are such downgrades compared to the first game feels like a major missed opportunity.

[TripSin]

Here is the feedback I hope they listen to: The artwork is great. No notes. Fine as is.

[Wintermute]

Majority of olimpians look low-quality, like they are unfinished. Hestia with her weird beever teeth, Hephaestus with whatever the ♥♥♥♥ is in his hair - is it horns? Demeter is just bad. Like, take any of them, and compare them to the unseen.

[Cunin]

I'd not mind the old from Hades 1 being reused and only the new gods etc. being added with new artwork.

The current is a pretty clear downgrade, bit like seeing work in progress pieces and certainly before any postwork is done (which can be pretty substantial).

[󠁥⁧⁧ Wind]

I genuinely agree and would also like to add that the new gods are kind of mehh. Hestia as a goddess of fire with her appearance and those fire-related jokes are just so lame. Why make here so obsessed over fire jeez, she's not just the god of fire tbf. Also, her design is not really suited for the war. I get it, she would rather not help much, but still.

[Calamity Heart]

I do agree that the art could definitely stand to be a bit more polished and dynamic. I definitely see where the opinion comes from about the first game's portraits for these characters having more charm and better characterizing who they are. They look more like they're just standing for a cover shoot when they could probably be rocking cooler action shots, what with them being at war and all.

They feel like a good start that could stand to be a lot better in the future. Maybe these portraits could be shaped up and they could also have an additional portrait or two that show off more dynamic poses. I want Zeus to be holding his thunderbolt again, it's really weird to me that he's not.

[Chry Ceph]

I fully agree with regards to Zeus. He looks plain silly compared to the first game. Needs his lightning bolt back.

I somewhat disagree with regards to Poseidon - think he's probably my favourite Olympian (and one of my favourite characters) in the game from a design standpoint. I suppose it would be cool if he got a more fluid pose like he had before, but the design is solid enough that I honestly hadn't noticed/cared until you pointed it out.

I'm ambivalent about Artemis - she is filling quite a different role in this game compared to the first one, as a friend and confidante of the protagonist and a character that you actually talk to in person rather than simply receiving their messages. That being the case I think it makes a lot of sense for there to be less emphasis on "divine grandiosity" and have a design that is in more equal footing with Melinoë herself. Furthermore, in my mind, the muted colours make perfect sense for her role in the game and the war, which seems to be as a guerrilla fighter acting behind enemy lines, in contrast to the other gods who are holding the frontline on Olympus.

As for the other gods, it's a mixed bag. I adore Hera and Demeter, and Aphrodite definitely takes the "most improved" award, going from one of the worst designs in the first game to one of the best. I'm less enthused by Apollo and Hestia, the former being too bland, and the latter being too cluttered/visually confusing.

[Couch Radish]

Originally posted by Chry Ceph:

I'm ambivalent about Artemis - she is filling quite a different role in this game compared to the first one, as a friend and confidante of the protagonist and a character that you actually talk to in person rather than simply receiving their messages. That being the case I think it makes a lot of sense for there to be less emphasis on "divine grandiosity" and have a design that is in more equal footing with Melinoë herself. Furthermore, in my mind, the muted colours make perfect sense for her role in the game and the war, which seems to be as a guerrilla fighter acting behind enemy lines, in contrast to the other gods who are holding the frontline on Olympus.

Whether or not the muted colors make perfect sense in the lore doesn’t mean much when from a visual perspective she’s the only god who doesn’t have a strong color theme.

Someone recolored her current art to bring back the bright greens of her first appearance and you’ll see how much of a difference this alone makes.

[ｃｏｏｌｄｏｗｎ]

I'm glad i'm not the only one that noticed this. everyone is in a flat medium angle for their portraits. Compared to the originals which are oozing with personality

[Demon Swords]

I think the only ones that look good are the non-human ones: Arcenie, Echo, and Dora with a lesser extent Scylla, Narcissist and the Cyclopes (I also like Circe's look but since its unfinished they could still ruin it.) It really helps that each one has slight variations to the base art style that help show there personality and differentiate them.

[4accenter]

For me it doesn't matter. I'll click away from it as quickly as possible anyway to progress and playing.

[Super Buu]

This is absolutely 100% accurate in regards to Zeus. He looks like he's distracted or something.