https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/hades-2-will-likely-be-in-early-access-until-2025-with-first-big-update-to-add-new-enemies-maps-and-features
According to creative director for roguelite sequel.
Then I shall wait until 2025 to play it.
Supergiant Games is probably my favorite studio out there but I just can't do early access anymore. If I play it now, I know I won't go back when it's released to see the stuff that changed...
Feel free, I think it'll be a great game when you check back in.
I'm a big Hades 1 fan, and played that game in it's early state as well. Hades 2's early access feels roughly 90% or more complete, it's missing pictures for some items (placeholders for now), some character portraits of some of the lesser-interacted-with NPCs. I think there will be another weapon because there's a slot for it, and there's seemingly some more boss content. Gameplay, basically at 100%
So if you're likely to finish and not check back in, definitely wait because the game should be in pristine condition by then, with it being this polished already. Love this studio, love this game
It will definitely be great - I just won't check back in if I play it now.
Supergiant has never made a game I didn't like!
I hear you, but I caved lol. You will NOT be disappointed. EA is such a weird choice for this one. It's where I'd call it well past beta (a true beta, not the marketing betas that we usually see where there's no time to fix anything). Like it truly is "early access" but we're so used to that term meaning "somewhere in dev".
If they're targeting 2025 release this thing will be incredibly polished by then.
I know, I know. Supergiant can't miss so I'm positive I would love it....it's just that I don't ever replay games like this and I'd rather wait a year for the polished version than get my fix now.
Is the story or voice acting done tho? It was my understanding with the first one that basically all the story and stuff came as hades completed early access. I feel like you can't call it even 90% if the story isn't there or its going to change or is incomplete. And what i loved most about the first one was the storytelling. I'm pretty sure thats why most ppl loved it.
I don't know when the person above you played, but I didn't notice any of that (got it last week, binged it, 35ish hours). I didn't notice any missing graphics, and yes there are some spots where you can tell somethings coming, but it doesn't feel janky, it feels exciting. With game loop being all about upgrades, you can tell there's a few that aren't available, but there's so much meat their absence feels like part of the loop not part of the dev cycle.
The voice acting is all there, the mechanics are all there. I think I had like... One line of repeated dilouge? There's a good breadth of characters and they've got that same slow, well thought out progression they did in Hades I. With only one exception that I can't mention due to spoilers, you could tell me this a complete game with free DLC inbound.
Bug wise it's almost entirely free. I had some crashes but I think that was due to a bad HDMI cable repeatedly becoming unstable, and making the game freak out as to what screen it should be on. I haven't had an issue since I fixed the cable and it's the only bug I encountered.
I definitely feel like I got my money's worth.
They've done the incomplete artwork well.
For example, a lot of the characters you meet along the way during your runs have the same hooded NPC model. Those are all incomplete.
When you actually talk to them, most of them have the static artwork done though.
It took me dozens of runs to even realize that was happening. It really doesn't feel incomplete.
Several characters, all keepsakes, all fish except, I think, one, at least one background element...
The voice acting is all there
I'd be very surprised if the number of voiced characters isn't significantly higher in the finished game. And, of course, we're missing the top end of the relationship interactions with all characters, which will definitely be voice acted.
the mechanics are all there
I wouldn't be surprised if we get some new mini games in certain parts of the map we can't access yet.
Apart from these minor nitpickings, however, I completely agree (well, except that I haven't had any crashes or significant bugs); I'm already enjoying the game as much as the first one, and I definitely feel I got my money's worth, which is sadly quite unusual for too many supposedly complete games these days.
The only crash like I said was almost certainly due to a multi-monitor display and one monitor disconnecting and reconnecting. I didn't even bother submitting a report.
And yeah there's definitely going to be a few extras. Its wild, like I never play games at launch, specifically because they always ship broken, and here this thing is with the stones to call itself early access when it's so polished narcissus would gaze at himself in if.
There are parts of the story and maps we simply can't get to because they aren't there yet (I imagine about 30 to 50%), and there's a limit to how much we can improve our relationship with the various characters (which means that there's probably a significant amount of voice acting we can't hear yet), all of this clearly indicated as provisionally cut content ("you might be able to do this in the future", "can't go there yet", "what happened after this is, for now, literally indescribable", that kind of thing).
There's also what's clearly provisional concept art from time to time, and plenty of placeholder character models and art (plus keepsakes, and fish, the later even having generic descriptions), and there's almost certainly missing gods and characters (though there's no indication of which those might be and in which number).
So, yeah, it's not complete, by a long shot.
That said, I'm fairly certain that there's already as much content and story as in the complete first game, if not more, or at least it feels like it. And it's just as fun.
Supergiant is probably the only studio I'd still buy an early access from, even day one. Even when I end up not liking it that much (like Pyre), it is interesting enough to be worth the asking price.
To this day, Hades is still my most played game on the Switch (I even managed to get a physical copy), and I will probably do the same with Hades II... Maybe on the Switch 2, who knows 😆.
Oh I'm sure the game will be great! I just don't want to "burn out" on it in early access and never go back like I have a tendency to do.
I'm going to use this as an excuse to go back and play Hades 1. I bought and binged it when it first released EA, and never went back to play the released version.
I think they might have interpreted "Hades 2" as 2 times Hades 1. Which I very much appreciate
I cannot believe how much stuff is already in the game. It’s baffling and incredibly ambitious. I love it.
Frankly given what they've promised and what's already in there it could easily go to 3x. It's fucking bananas. I was 30 runs in, and still finding new NPCs and events.