‘Hades 2’ surprise Early Access release has been a hit

8 May, 2024

Screenshot of 'Hades 2'

Hades 2 launched in Early Access earlier this week (May 6) and the roguelike dungeon crawler has quickly become a hit.

The original Hades was released by Supergiant Games in 2020 and following a technical test last month, Hades 2 has now been released into Early Access. The sequel has already doubled the highest concurrent player count for the original as well.

According to SteamDB, 103,567 people were playing Hades 2 at the same time shortly after its release, while the peak for the original Hades was 37,749.

A string of positive reviews has also given Hades 2 an “overwhelmingly positive” rating on Steam. “It’s like Hades, but they did it again,” reads one review while another says they “accidentally played for 11 hours straight.”

Hades 2 is the first sequel Supergiant Games have ever made, with the game “building on the best aspects of the original god-like rogue-like dungeon crawler in an all-new, action-packed, endlessly replayable experience rooted in the Underworld of Greek myth and its deep connections to the dawn of witchcraft.”

According to the FAQs, “Hades 2 in Early Access already has more environments, foes, and fully-voiced characters than the full version of the original Hades game. But it isn’t complete, and key areas, characters, foes, narrative events, and systems are still to come.”

The game had been due to launch in Early Access last year but Supergiant Games pushed the release back in a bid to make sure the game was “worth” the time players would invest in it.

Going forward, Hades 2 will receive major update every few months containing new features and content, with the Early Access period set to last until at least the end of 2024.

Speaking about their decision to release in Early Access, Supergiant wrote: This Early Access launch is an extraordinarily exciting moment for our team as we begin the process that we expect will help us realize this game’s potential. As with the original, we designed Hades 2 for Early Access from the ground up, and look forward to hearing your feedback about all that we’ve built so far, and integrating that feedback into our plans for the rest of production! This is a game with many interconnected parts, and your feedback helps us ensure everything from the balance to the narrative are working as well as possible.”

In other news, Microsoft has confirmed a number of Bethesda Studios are being closed down, with in-development projects getting scrapped and staff being let go.

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