Early Access is coming, well, early.
Hades 2 is looking sick as hell already, which shouldn't surprise anybody familiar with Supergiant's absurdly high pedigree—or the pecs, uh, I mean, perks of the first game's long stint in early access. It had its technical test recently, and from what I've seen it's certainly hitting the same thighs—I mean, highs—as its predecessor.
Said technical test will be shutting down today, however, Supergiant has promised that Hades 2 will be back in Early Access soon enough. Your hot gods will return soon.
"Thank you for your patience during the Hades II Technical Test," the announcement reads on the game's official Twitter, "which helped us identify and address a number of key issues we weren't able to find before. We plan to start winding down the Test on Monday, then launch Hades II in Early Access relatively soon after that!"
While this might seem like a quick leap from technical test to early access, the first Hades game was in the same state for a while, hitting Epic Games in early access early December 2018 before getting its 1.0 version in September 2020, nearly two full years later.
As before, players will be able to get their mitts on the game by buying it, Supergiant clarifies: "You will be able to purchase the Early Access version like any game on a digital storefront. We will keep updating that version, eventually with the full v1.0 update, so you wouldn’t have to purchase the game again later or anything like that."
Supergiant hasn't revealed what "relatively" means, though I'd imagine it has plenty of feedback from the testing period to pore over before it starts charging money. Then again, as fellow PC Gamer writer Tyler Colp wrote when he tried the technical test out: "Even though it's clearly in an unfinished state, it's good. Like, really good," which sounds like it may be ready to go sooner rather than later.
Personally, while I definitely plan on dipping my toes in for a while, I imagine I'll be interacting with early access in the same way I did with Baldur's Gate 3—muck around for a bit, see what I have to look forward to, then lock myself away in a godless cabin for a year or so while waiting for it to arrive proper. I want the full experience rather than a drip feed—but that's just me, and Supergiant's early access gambit has certainly paid off for it before. Until then, there's always the first game.
