After a brief technical test that whooped so much ass, acclaimed developer Supergiant Games has announced that Hades 2 is in Early Access, which is expected to last until the end of the year. What does this mean? Simple: You can head over to the Epic Games Store or Steam and purchase it right now for $30.
On the game’s Steam page, Supergiant Games outlined what you can expect from Hades 2's Early Access, with major updates coming every few months.
“Hades II 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.”
While there’s no end date planned for Early Access yet, and the studio isn’t exactly sure when Hades 2 will get its full 1.0 release right now, Supergiant said the final game will include “a more-complete, more-polished set of features and content” with things like Steam achievements and the tale’s “true” ending.
Supergiant Games said in September 2023 that the Greek-themed roguelike’s Early Access would kick off in “Q2 2024,” placing its release window between April and June of this year. Well, now that it’s May, the California-based studio has surprise-dropped Hades 2 into Early Access so folks can play it. Of course, this is only on PC, which means console players—like myself—will have to wait a while.
It’ll be worth the wait, though. Kotaku senior editor Alyssa Mercante, who wrote impressions of the action-RPG roguelike’s technical test, said Hades 2 builds on the excellence of its 2020 predecessor while feeling “familiar and fresh.” It adds some changes, including focusing on new playable character Melinoë, but maintains a similar formula to create a sequel that Mercante said is “exactly what it should be, and then some.” And now, you don’t have to just take our word for it. Go play it for yourself. (Oh, it’s also Steam Deck verified.)
With the game being in Early Access, Hades 2 is still sure to see a litany of changes and additions before its full, official release. Remember that Hades launched in Early Access in December 2018 before getting a full 1.0 release nearly two years later. In that time frame, Supergiant both expanded and polished the action-RPG roguelike, resulting in a refined game that garnered heaps of exceptional reviews and myriad awards. Maybe the same thing could happen with Hades 2 after it gets a full 1.0 release, whenever that happens.