Indie devs react to Hades 2's stealth launch: "Good thing we picked a quiet news week to launch a video game"

Hades 2 early access players can poke around to "find clues" about the roguelike sequel's coming updates.

As many an indie-game developer has already attested – Hades II’s stealth launch into Early Access caught a lot of people off-guard. But then why not start as you mean to go on? After all, surprise is one of the most important ingredients of a Roguelike. And when you’re making a sequel, springing such shocks becomes that bit harder. 

The rogue-like action of ends when you beat a run, but only one path you unlock is considered the ending of the game. As Zagreus ends up back at the House of Hades again and again, you learn how to better reach the surface toward a hidden truth. Only by reaching the surface many times will you reach a satisfying conclusion to the story of the Underworld's Prince.

Greek god pulverizing simulator Hades 2 is getting its first patch "later this month", say the developers. Two things are on their to-tweak list. First, something might change about the way resource gathering tools are used (the pickaxe you use to mine silver during a run, for example). Second, and perhaps more significant, is an upcoming change to the way Melinoë's dash and sprint work. We don't know exactly what that change is but, according to Supergiant, it has something to do with your witchy batterer's "distinct style".

Upcoming 2D roguelite The Rogue Prince of Persia has been delayed from its May 14, 2024 release date to avoid competition with Hades 2, which was released into Steam Early Access on May 6.

Role-playing musical Stray Gods is getting DLC in which you'll play as sorrowful ghostly rocker Orpheus, the developers have announced. You briefly meet Orpheus in the base game while playing as leatherclad muse Grace, finding him moping in the underworld, eyes dripping with glam rock mascara. In the DLC he makes a musical comeback on earth, alongside messenger god Hermes. I've not stumbled on Orpheus in the other mythical game of this season, Hades 2 (he showed up in the first Hades but there's no sign he's reappearing in the sequel). So it looks like fans of the ancient Greek sadboi will have to flock to Summerfall's expansion when it comes out this summer.

While tens of thousands of gamers are enjoying Hades 2’s recent early access release, thousands more are looking back to indie developer Supergiant Games’ previous titles. While Hades 2 has quickly become the indie developer’s most-played game of all time, the first installment of the Hades franchise has also just broken its all-time peak concurrent player record, four years after launch.

Hades 2's final boss battle has an unexpected easter egg that stops you from pausing the game, with an incantation even becoming available later that stops a certain big bad from messing with you.

Hades 2 Early Access has reached over 100,000 concurrent players 24 hours after launch, beating Hades' all-time peak player count on Steam. 

With the launch of in Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store, Supergiant Games, the game's developers, have provided a general roadmap for updates leading up to the official, full release. A roguelike based on Greek myth, is the first direct sequel to be developed by Supergiant, a studio known for its strong lineup of standalone games like,, and. As a direct sequel, however, represents an opportunity for the studio to more directly build on the mechanics and narrative of the first game.

Following the early access release of Hades 2, fans have mixed feelings about Chaos' redesign. Developer Supergiant Games surprised fans after shadow-dropping Hades 2, even surpassing a major player milestone in less than 24 hours. Now, more players are experiencing Melinoe's adventure and meeting new characters, albeit still unfinished.

During the first few minutes of playing as Hades 2’s Melinoë, players encounter sights like a bubbling cauldron, the silhouette of a pointed witch’s hat, and the glowing lines of a summoning circle. Between the new gameplay and the story, Hades 2 goes all in on the dark magic — and that’s one of the biggest differences between it and its predecessor, Hades.