so mote it be

[kabaab]

I don’t get what happened with Hades 2’s designs. Hades 1 had it right—simple changes, nothing too wild (I’m no expert, so go ahead and hate if you want). But now? The designs are ridiculous. Zeus, Aphrodite, Poseidon, and Artemis barely changed, which is fine, but then you have Apollo looking like he got too close to the sun and turned into charcoal. Hestia? She’s practically obestia. Hephaestus? Looks like he hasn’t done anything for himself. In the myth, he built automatons, so why wouldn’t he at least have invented some prosthetics for himself?

And just to make it clear, I’m not bothered by skin color or relationships—Achilles and Patroclus in Hades 1 were great, same with Zagreus and Thanatos. But these designs are just too much. Greek gods should represent strength, beauty, power—stuff that’s inspiring. Now Hestia and Hephaestus look like people you wouldn’t want to aspire to be. "Built like a Greek god" used to mean something, but now it just feels wrong.

What really gets to me is that it seems like almost all Western gaming studios are jumping on the "woke" bandwagon these days. Look at the new Naughty Dog game—totally pushing that agenda too. It feels like they’re more focused on ticking boxes than actually making good, original content.

[Calamity Heart]

Hephaestus does have a prosthetic leg in his portrait. For all we know, he might actually use it when we're not seeing him in his chair. That is a thing, people can and do have both a prosthetic limb and a wheelchair for circumstantial aid, and considering that mythical Hephaestus was thrown from Olympus to crash-land on an island, it's not really too ridiculous a notion to wonder if maybe he's more injured than we can see, and no amount of prosthetic enhancements will ever put him back the way he should be, just like no amount of magic or reconstitution will put Chronos back in his prime or erase all those scars, or give Mel her old arm back. Some injuries just don't fully heal, even for gods.

Apollo is not "turned into charocal", he's just dark-skinned and halfway in the shade. It's a striking design, sure, but don't be weird about it.

I'm not the biggest fan of Hestia's design, either. I like most of what she's working with, but I think she's just hitting a really unflattering angle with the puffed-up sleeves (occurs to me now that this could be hot air that's filling out that part of her robe and hood and not just her having disproportionately massive arms) that chunks up her silhouette more than it should.

Greek (or Greek-inspired) gods as icons of physical perfection is definitely one way to tell a story, and it's not necessarily a bad way. But it's not the only way, and Hades in general is presented in a way where that's probably not the ideal story to tell. The gods aren't perfect, they're characters. In-game, they're closer to our peers than our betters. They're family to Mel, as they're family to Zag. Honored and understood and cooperated/bonded with (or getting to that point), not necessarily worshiped and idolized.

In that sort of meta sense and context, I feel there is more freedom and flexibility in how to interpret and portray them. They can (and should, if they're going to be characters and not just icons) be relatable as well as inspirational. There's no need for every character to be something that you look at and either thirst for or think 'They're everything I wish I was', or both. Those are boxes, too. Ticking them doesn't necessarily make good, original content, either.

[iSurvivedRKelly]

Yes, everything is woke.. but you so called guys crying about it all the time is probably more irritating than the agenda itself.

Harden up..

[Crater]

Originally posted by Calamity Heart:

Greek (or Greek-inspired) gods as icons of physical perfection is definitely one way to tell a story, and it's not necessarily a bad way. But it's not the only way, and Hades in general is presented in a way where that's probably not the ideal story to tell. The gods aren't perfect, they're characters. In-game, they're closer to our peers than our betters. They're family to Mel, as they're family to Zag. Honored and understood and cooperated/bonded with (or getting to that point), not necessarily worshiped and idolized.

In that sort of meta sense and context, I feel there is more freedom and flexibility in how to interpret and portray them. They can (and should, if they're going to be characters and not just icons) be relatable as well as inspirational. There's no need for every character to be something that you look at and either thirst for or think 'They're everything I wish I was', or both. Those are boxes, too. Ticking them doesn't necessarily make good, original content, either.

This is stretching it too far, clearly. In one of the dialogues, Dionysus literally tells Mel "we're gods, we can't die" shrugging off the need to go to war. So yeah, the whole gods thing is there, and gods have characteristics. Unless we go full postmodernist and say words are meaningless and anything can be anything we want it to be, it is inconsistent to portray them as weak / handicapped / out of shape. You could say "well maybe they don't all need 6 packs" - fine. But out of shape? That's stretching it too far. You could say "here's a guy who can lift 800 pounds, he doesn't have six pack" - that would still be strength. But overweight?

[Crater]

Originally posted by iSurvivedRKelly:

Yes, everything is woke.. but you so called guys crying about it all the time is probably more irritating than the agenda itself.

Harden up..

The woke literally cried their way into game design (and corporations in general). Go find a time machine and tell *them* to can it.

[Crow Buddy]

OP already received about the nicest possible reply one could expect from the Steam forums from Calamity Heart, still out there doing the good work. I don't have the energy for it anymore, the woke thread thing is exhausting.

[iSurvivedRKelly]

Originally posted by Ice:

Originally posted by iSurvivedRKelly:

Yes, everything is woke.. but you so called guys crying about it all the time is probably more irritating than the agenda itself.

Harden up..

The woke literally cried their way into game design (and corporations in general). Go find a time machine and tell *them* to can it.

So be the bigger man and learn to not give a $hit.

[uRBAN_Spaceman]

You dont make steam posts about them. You just point and laugh at them as you walk by them like everybody else has been for the last 6 years. Life goes on.

[NegativeZero]

Originally posted by Ice:

Originally posted by iSurvivedRKelly:

Yes, everything is woke.. but you so called guys crying about it all the time is probably more irritating than the agenda itself.

Harden up..

The woke literally cried their way into game design (and corporations in general). Go find a time machine and tell *them* to can it.

All I see these days are anti-woke bigots crying and whining everywhere. It's so absolutely pitiful how the bigots just ♥♥♥♥ up all video game forums with their incessant crying and hate campaigns. Can't even discuss anything anymore without brainwashed bigots having to whine about woke this or DEI that every minute of their miserable lives.

[juliesticky]

hmm. I found Hestia to be my favorite boon, I think she fits as smiting fire god. Think about it.

[Sacko]

the old greek mythos is one of the queerest things in history, like ever.

[DesiredPotato]

You're whining about "good, original content" while also whining about how the gods aren't stereotypes from ages past. I guess the "anti woke" really can not make up their minds,and see that as a boon instead of a demerit.

[Bancho]

The character designs are an absolute disaster, and this is before I got to the multitude of fat women alongside the sexual fit Dionysus character design. Clear zoomer agenda

[Neo NiGHTS ®]

Originally posted by Exemplary Bancho:

The character designs are an absolute disaster, and this is before I got to the multitude of fat women alongside the sexual fit Dionysus character design. Clear zoomer agenda

Multitude of fat women... You mean, like.. TWO? Hestia and Circe, although I think Circe is a nice chubby one :~~~~

And sexualized Dionysus is very much in character.

[XFatedReaper]

I'm a bit mixed on Hestia's design (I more so dislike the hearth sitting on her head than anything else), but I really like everyone else's designs. I agree that going the historically accurate route is valid. But at the end of the day Hades has never tried to be totally 100% historically accurate. It's a piece of fiction and the creators are free to make designs as they see fit. So while you're free to dislike any and all of the designs, Historical accuracy isn't really an entirely fair way to judge the character design.

[German Potato]

I understand your point, but there should also be room for interpretation and different design choices freedom. If you're gonna base the designs of the gods on reality itself I can see why you're upset about their looks but maybe try to look more towards how they're being portrayed. If you're upset about these design choices because they are not realistic then I suggest you never watch the Hercules movie from Disney then.

In my opinion the design choices are really good and leave a lot of room for interpretation. Like Calamity Heart mentioned(and really good answer btw), I can definitely see the way they tried to go for more of a ''family'' look from Mels perspective. Hestia gives me the vibe of one of those aunts that they're warm and protective when you're on their good side, but if you push your luck they will burn you down, same as playing with fire.
Apollo doesn't look like charcoal and I do think you're going a bit too far on this one. He's the god of the Sun and Light and it's completely fine to have a darker skin, he definitely looks like he can decide when and if he's gonna have a darker tan if he so desires.

And well, if you're still stuck on the ''realism'' of the gods, the way I see is that they tried to reflect that time of stress and war in the gods portrait and you could also see some subtle changes here and there based on real historical events. They even used to say that when you're at war the days seem much longer, which would make sense for Apollo having a darker skin than before since the Light time would hit harder.

I absolutely love the design choices and think they're definitely on the right track. I'm really curious about how Narcissus will look