How Can Hades II End? (Spoilers)

[morlagunas]

As I've been playing through this frankly fantastic sequel, one thing has been nagging at me: I have no idea how the game's narrative can be resolved through its mechanics and framing.

In the first game, the plot's stakes are pretty personal. Though Zag has to fight his own father to the death (technically) time and again just to talk to his mum, nothing fundamentally changes about the Underworld. That's not to diminish the change Zag does inspire. He reunites Orpheus and Achilles with their respective lovers, nurtures his own relationships with Than and Meg, and most consequentially he saves his parents' marriage, leading to the birth of his sister, and starts healing the rift between the cthonic gods and the olympians.

But these are all based on character growth and development, and the realms and workings of Hades continue as they have been. Hades II, conversely, has much greater stakes. Chronos has taken Hades' throne and trapped almost all of the characters we came to love in the first game, and is using the dead and the fates to wage war on Olympus. In a traditionally linear game, I can imagine easily how this threat could be resolved. But like the first game, this is a rogue like. Though characters and overarching plot beats may evolve, the levels and loops can't. So if Melinoe is somehow able to defeat Chronos and save her family, how can the game explain her fighting the same enemies and forces of Chronos, including the titan himself if she has won? This isn't a flaw yet, as we have yet to see the full game, but I'm honestly stumped as to how the story can end in a way that's satisfying and logical.

[UNBREAKABLE]

Melinoë is the goddess of nightmares in Greek mythology. So my best bet is we're going to trap Chronos in a dream somehow in order to prevent his body from reforming, fighting him over and over again. Hypnos could be involved in that since we know from Hades 1 he can put gods to sleep. Not sure how they would explain the surface though.

My non-dream theory is that there may be some twist at the end that makes Chronos look less bad. It's already sort of implied he is more in favor of giving mortals "golden age" while the gods generally treat mortals like crap. Most of the main character's knowledge is given second hand, so it could take one new fact to break her view. Not sure though, he is difficult to redeem with what he's already done and the context we have.

[Wintermute]

Going off the previous Supergiant games.

We know from weapon aspects that other religions exist in the world, and eventually it all gives way to christian God and Lucifer.

There is no victory. Time can not be stopped, and the age of Olimpians is at its end. It can only be prolongued by fighting Chronos in the loop he created, but breaking it means the end for Greek gods as a whole. The best you can do is make your peace with your family, including Chronos himself, before it all ends and the new world begins.