Okay, let’s talk about looking into the shaders for Hades 2. It wasn’t exactly straightforward, but it was interesting.
Getting Started
So, I was playing Hades 2, you know, right after it hit early access. The art style, same as the first one, just really grabs you. Those character illustrations are amazing, but what really caught my eye this time was how everything looked in motion. The environments, the spell effects, Melinoe herself. I got curious about how they made it all look so painterly but still clear and dynamic. Naturally, my mind went to the shaders.
First Steps and Some Hurdles
First thing I did was just play the game more, but like, really looking. Pausing a lot, especially during big fights with lots of effects. Took a bunch of screenshots. I wanted to see if I could spot patterns, maybe guess what techniques they were using just by looking.
Then, I thought, maybe someone online has already dissected this? Went searching around forums and communities where people talk about game graphics. Found lots of praise for the art, but not much deep technical breakdown yet. Makes sense, the game was brand new. No magic “here’s how the Hades 2 shaders work” guide popped up.
I considered trying to peek into the game files myself. I’ve done that for other games sometimes, just to see how things are structured. But honestly, it often ends up being a complicated mess, files packed in weird ways, and you don’t always find what you’re looking for. Plus, I didn’t want to risk breaking anything or messing with the game install. So, I decided against digging deep into the technical files directly this time.
My Approach: Observation and Breakdown
So, back to just observing. I focused on a few specific things:
- Character Outlines: They have this distinct, sort of sketchy black outline. I spent time just looking at how it behaved on different characters, how it changed thickness, if it reacted to lighting. It seemed pretty consistent, maybe like a post-process effect?
- Environmental Effects: Things like the mist, the glow on magical plants, the way surfaces looked wet or dusty. Tried to see how light interacted with them.
- Spell Effects: This was the big one. Melinoe’s attacks and casts have this gorgeous, almost watercolor feel sometimes. Lots of layered colours, soft edges but still impactful. I tried breaking down a single effect frame by frame (using screenshots) to see the different visual components. Like, okay, there’s a bright core, then a softer glow, then maybe some particles.
I wasn’t using any fancy tools, really. Just the game, screenshot button, and maybe Paint to zoom in or compare images side-by-side. It was more about visual analysis than technical reverse-engineering.
What I Figured (or Guessed)
Okay, here’s what I kinda pieced together, just from looking:
It feels like they use a lot of hand-painted textures, obviously. That’s the base. But the shaders seem to do heavy lifting with lighting and effects to blend everything. The outlines look like a smart post-processing layer that probably detects edges. For the painterly effects, especially spells, it looks like clever use of textures panning across simple geometry, maybe combined with particle systems that also use those hand-painted looking textures. Lots of transparency and blending modes are definitely involved to get that layered look.
It’s not like I cracked the code or anything. I didn’t write a single line of shader code that replicates it perfectly. But the process of just sitting down, observing intently, and trying to deconstruct the visuals was pretty rewarding. You start to appreciate the artistry even more when you try to figure out the ‘how’. It’s like appreciating a painting by looking closely at the brush strokes.
So yeah, that was my little adventure trying to understand the Hades 2 shaders. No big breakthrough, just a lot of looking and thinking. It was a fun exercise though!
