Supergiant Games has announced that Hades 2 will launch in early access in Q2 2024 for PC.
The indie studio behind one of the best indie games, Hades, shared a development update last night to shed some light on its early access plans for the highly-anticipated rogue-like sequel, revealing that it’s looking to release the game in Q2 2024 for Steam and the Epic Games Store, which could be somewhere between April and June of next year.
“You may be wondering, why can’t we launch in Early Access, like, right now?! Supergiant said. “The game looked pretty far along in the first trailer! The reason is, Hades II will have at least as much content from day one in Early Access as the original game did back when it launched in Early Access on Steam.
“And, even though Early Access inherently 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.”
HADES II Development Update! ????????????????????We’ve been making steady progress since our reveal at The Game Awards, and getting close to an Early Access launch some months from now, in Q2 2024.More details and answers to your questions here:https://t.co/qioX4wKUuU pic.twitter.com/GomZuQLPyFSeptember 14, 2023
Supergiant went on to explain that it will be running a technical test with a limited amount of players “shortly before we launch early access.” This test will be able to find and solve technical compatibility issues ahead of the test so players have a smoother experience.
“To that end, this technical test will contain much less content than what’s in store for the Early Access launch, and likely be limited only to a relatively small subset of players who express interest in participating,” the studio said.
In terms of how long early access will last, Supergiant said it doesn’t know just yet how long it will take to get to Hades 2 v1.0, but for now, it will be focusing on building “core content” such as environments, characters, weapons, Boons, story events, music, and more.
Additionally, following the early access launch, the developer will have several major updates that will add to the game’s core content, which will “culminate in our v1.0 launch,” the same way the first Hades was approached.
Hades 2 was announced last December and will feature Melinoë as the playable protagonist – the Princess of the Underworld and sister to Hades‘ main character Zagreus. Aside from a beautiful teaser trailer, we know that Melinoë is on a quest to save her father from Kronos, who in Greek Mythology is the father to Hades, Zeus, and Poseidon.
For more, check out our essential guide to every upcoming game of 2023 for PC and console, as well as the best single-player games to sink your time into.