The hub area of Hades 2 is the Crossroads, a junction between the surface and the underworld. While cosmetic upgrades are coming later in early access, you can buy some useful additions to the Crossroads, like a garden where you can plant all the nightshade you’ll need for various concoctions.
You can also buy a hot tub.
The recipe for the Rite of Vapor-Cleansing will appear at your cauldron a few nights into your playthrough, and that’s the incantation you need to incant to unlock the hot springs for a cost of two moly, two lotus, and two nightshade. As well as building the hot springs, that ritual will give you your first set of bath salts.
To make use of the hot springs you need to interact with Hades 2’s favor mechanics. Just like in the first game any friendly NPC—and a few initially unfriendly ones—can be given gifts. You open with a gift of nectar in return for a keepsake, and go on from there. Once you’ve talked to a character often enough they’ll appear in your codex. Press C to open it and you’ll see a row of hearts beneath their portrait representing your level of rapport. Each gift colors in another heart, and the text will tell you what gift you’ll need for the next one.
While later hearts will require ambrosia and fishing trips to unlock, the hot springs hearts come much earlier—it’s usually the second or third, though some characters are more standoffish. If the heart has a clock timer and the text says you need to get to know someone better, you’ll have to talk to them more on subsequent runs before the next gift. If it says they’re ready to receive a gift of bath salts (which are also available for purchased from the wretched broker for 50 bones), then you can invite them to join you in the hot springs.
Note that while some of these sessions are a bit saucy, they’re not all romantic. As befits characters from Greek myth, the cast of Hades 2 have quite a European attitude to saunas and nudity, and hanging out with your coworkers while full naked is apparently par for the course for them. Don’t stare, you weirdo.
Here are all the characters you can invite to the hot springs so far:
- Odysseus
- Dora
- Nemesis
- Moros
- Hecate
- Eris
As well as showing you a fun little conversation, using the hot springs has the advantage of advancing time. If you’re waiting for plants to grow, an incantation to complete, or a shipment to come in from Charon’s underworld Amazon delivery service, the hot springs will bring it a little closer.
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