Quick question: how often do you listen to video game soundtracks? I ask because it was while listening to the soundtrack for Hades 2, via Spotify (not an ad), that I had the idea for this article. More specifically, it was while chopping vegetables to the beat of Rock and a Hard Place that I thought to myself, “Scylla is the most quintessentially Supergiant boss fight that Supergiant has ever created.”

As a quick primer on Hades 2 for my mum, and the 5 other people who clicked on this article without knowing about it prior: Hades 2 is the 2025 follow-up to Supergiant Games’ Hades. Both titles are Action games with a Roguelike structure meaning the abilities you find, and enemies that you fight are randomized each time you play through the game. This, coupled with a short 30 minute runtime, means Hades 2 is ideal for consecutive repeat playthroughs, which is how players are expected to engage with it.

It’s also worth noting that both games are very heavily influenced by Greek mythology. Though, I’d hazard that much was obvious given they’re named after one of the more well known Chthonic Gods of the Greek pantheon.

Regardless, not all of the characters from Hades are Gods as evidenced by the inclusion of Scylla. For those not in the know, she’s a sea monster from The Odyssey who is portrayed as the counterpart of Charybdis. Put a pin in that for later though, because her first appearance in Hades 2 sees Scylla accompanied by 2 siren companions, Jetty and Roxy, and the trio perform together as a rock band.

Scylla, and her merry band of sirens.

Look – it’s a video game. It’s ok for Hades 2 to take some creative liberties.

Anyway, the first time players encounter Scylla and her compatriots they’ll be treated to the following background track named Coral Crown:

By all accounts, Coral Crown is a cool song. It’s exactly the kind of thing that I’d expect to hear while fighting a rock band of sea monsters. The combination of the heavy bass, and string instruments pairs for a title track that feels like something out of a 1980s American rock concert.

Were Hades 2 made by any other studio, Coral Crown playing in the background while you fight Scylla would’ve been enough. Fortunately, Supergiant’s Audio Director, and Lead Composer Darren Korb loves to add various musical flourishes to all of their games. For example, in Transistor the player character Red can be heard humming along to the background music while she’s not engaged in combat. This doesn’t add anything to Transistor from a mechanical or story-telling standpoint, but it gives the game a ton of personality. And the boss fight against Scylla is the clearest representation of this kind of personality that Hades 2 has to offer.

For starters, portions of the song stop playing mid-fight when you defeat the associated member of the band. What I mean by this is that when you defeat Roxy, the group’s drummer, all of the percussive elements within Coral Crown will silence for the duration of the fight. Similar to Red’s humming, this doesn’t make the game better on a mechanical level, but it does leverage the game’s audio to suck players further into the experience in a way that simply wouldn’t happen were the track blaring at an even tempo throughout the fight.

There’s also 3 additional songs that the band will perform during subsequent encounters, which is frankly insane. Better yet, the tracks tie into the ongoing subplot that unfolds between the game’s protagonist Melinoë, and the musical triumvirate.

To elaborate, Mel quickly becomes annoyed with Scylla for impeding her journey to Tartarus every night. As such, Mel complains that if the group are going to get in her way, they could at least write some new material, so she doesn’t have to hear the same performance every evening. 

Understandably, Scylla doesn’t take kindly to Mel’s remarks, nor does she appreciate her performance (repeatedly) being ruined. Instead of defying her, Scylla decides to oblige Mel with a new song that allows her to voice her growing frustrations with the fledgling God:

As a brief aside, I think I’m Going to Claw (Out Your Eyes Then Drown You to Death) is my favourite track in the entirety of Hades 2. As a standalone piece of music it’s fantastic, but it’s elevated by the context of its creation within the game’s narrative. It’s quite literally a diss track by a frustrated artist confronting their biggest critic. That’s great on so many different levels even if it’s a little meta.

However, not everyone in the band feels so outwardly hostile towards Melinoë. In fact, one of the group members, Jetty, starts developing a bit of a crush on Mel, and decides to express her feelings via the group’s third song, Bewitching Eyes:

I believe songs like this are called power ballads, which was also a popular style of song for American Rock groups to write during the 1980s. And I’d be lying if I said that Bewitching Eyes didn’t remind me heavily of songs like November Rain (Guns N’ Roses), Dream On (Aerosmith), and Alone (Heart). Either way, Bewitching Eyes ties into the group’s established musical flavour, while expanding on the evolving relationship between Mel and the Sirens.

Finally, we’re going to cycle back around to that bit about Charybdis that I asked you to put a pin in for later with the fourth song Rock and a Hard Place. This song plays for the first time when players opt into a harder version of Scylla’s boss fight, which pits them against Scylla and Charybdis simultaneously. Fittingly, you start the fight pinned between the 2 infamous sea monsters, so there’s a nice bit of cohesion between the song title, and the encounter’s design.

It’s also worth noting that the setup of this fight mirrors how Scylla and Charybdis are portrayed in The Odyssey. Either side of the narrow Straits of Messina are guarded by one of the pair, and Odysseus is forced to sail closer to one of them so he, and his crew aren’t subjected to the fury of both. 

While I realize that not every game, nor every boss fight needs to have this level of detail, I appreciate its use here. Scylla is nowhere near the most mechanically complex of Hades 2’s bosses, but the various musical flourishes cause it to stand head, and shoulders above the rest of what the game has on offer. The evolving narrative between Mel and the band being reflected through ongoing additions to their setlist is exactly the kind of nebulous detail that allows a game to live rent-free in my head for months on end, and I love Hades 2 all the more for it.

Also, before I close things out, I’d be remiss to not mention Erin Yvette’s stellar vocal performance across all 4 songs. She absolutely brings it, and is a vital component in ensuring that each song lands as well as it does.

What about you though? Which boss fight from Hades 2 was your favourite? Scylla was quite obviously mine otherwise I wouldn’t have written over a thousand words gushing about the musical elements of the fight. Regardless, I’d love to hear from you in the comments if you’re willing to share.

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