When Hades 2 was announced at The Game Awards in December 2022, the people went wild. Hades—depending on who you ask—is simply one of the best games ever made.
The combat is phenomenal, the characters and their stories are engrossing, the music is killer, and there’s enough variation in its roguelike format to keep enticing you to go on yet another run. But no one was really expecting Supergiant Games to release a sequel.
Now that the sequel has been announced, however, I feel like a kid in the backseat on my parents’ car, constantly screaming, “ARE WE THERE YET? ARE WE THERE YET?” But when even is “there,” exactly? Especially in a situation where there are multiple different definitions of “there?”
Meli-who?
Hades 2 won’t be another walk in the underworld park in our boy Zagreus. Instead, our hero (and playable character) will be Zagreus’ sister, Melinoë. Lady protagonist for the win! And while melee combat is still present (there’s a knife and sickle in the logo), the teaser trailer refers to Melinoë as a “witch,” meaning there might be an extra emphasis on magic this time around.
Like Zagreus, Melinoë is a rather obscure figure in Greek mythology, with not much known about her. And so, like Zag, Supergiant Games has a golden opportunity to play around with and expand her character. (Google image search “Zagreus”—you’ll only get pictures of the version from Hades.)
All of these details serve merely to get you even more excited. When will you actually be able to open up Hades 2 and play as Melinoë?
Technical test vs. early access
Supergiant announced in September 2023 that the early access version of the game is slated for release during Q2 of 2024—meaning sometime between April and June of this year. And unlike a certain other highly anticipated indie sequel, Supergiant’s conjecture seems to be right on the money. A “technical test” version of Hades II released on April 16, 2024.
However, a “technical test” and an early access release are different. A technical test, or beta test, is essentially the last step before an early access launch, when the developer recruits volunteers to play an early version of the game in an effort to, in Supergiant’s own words, “find and solve any technical issues [they] might have missed.” A technical test is also not as widely playable as early access. For a technical test, anyone can volunteer via Steam, but participation isn’t guaranteed. On the other hand, anyone can play a game in early access.
In the announcement of the technical test, Supergiant assures fans that they are “getting close to launching Hades II in early access.” It’s highly possible that the early access version of Hades II will release sometime closer to the end of Q2, like June, since the technical test released right at the beginning.
The fact that Supergiant is doing a technical test shows that they’re taking the early access version very seriously, but it bears repeat that early access is not a finished version of a game—there might be features missing, or there still might be bugs. Early access allows developers to get feedback from players and raise community (and cashflow), so there’s good reasons to do it. But with the first Hades game, there was two years between the early access version and the official release. So keep that in mind!
I personally usually avoid early access. I like to wait for the final presentation of the work, but for Hades 2, something tells me I’ll make an exception.
(featured image: Supergiant Games)
Correction: This article previously stated that early access would begin in Q4, 2024.
