Hades 2 has an early access release window, and we'll be heading into the underworld again starting from Q2 2024.
In a new development update, Supergiant Games confirms that "we're planning for Hades II to launch in Early Access in Q2 2024 on Steam and the Epic Games store." For those keeping score, that means we'll get our first taste of the roguelike sequel sometime between April and June.
Supergiant says that it'll have more details on date, price, and system requirements closer to launch, but also mentions that "Hades II will have at least as much content from day on in Early Access as the original game did." For the original game, that was the first two worlds, so we should get a pretty robust roguelike experience from the very beginning.
The studio goes on to say that "even though Early Access inherent means a game is not yet complete, we still want to do everything we can to make sure Hades II is worth your while as soon as you can play it in any capacity." Supergiant claims that "we believe the timeframe we're planning for will be the 'sweet spot' where the game is far enough along that player feedback won't mostly consist of stuff we already know isn't there yet, but isn't so far along that it's too late in development for us to act on the feedback we receive."
While there'll be at least a six-month wait for early access, there'll also be a technical test "with a limited sample of players" shortly before launch. That will contain "much less content" than the early access drop, and it sounds like you'll have to be something of a Hades superfan to get access.
It's an impressively transparent update, giving a decent amount of insight into the early access approach that Supergiant had so much success with when it came to the original game. It's also enough to get me freshly excited. The original Hades was our Game of the Year in 2020, and while we're not returning to Zagreus for the sequel, the studio is certainly saying all the right things at this point. Unfortunately, there's no real sense of when we'll get to a full 1.0 launch, but there'll be multiple major updates between early access and full release.
What mythical poems and dead gods could tell us about the story of Hades 2.