Hades II will launch in early access in 2024

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By Jay Peters, a news editor who writes about technology, video games, and virtual worlds. He’s submitted several accepted emoji proposals to the Unicode Consortium.

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We’re going to have to wait a little bit longer to play Hades II. The sequel to one of the best roguelikes out there will be launching in early access in Q2 2024, developer Supergiant Games announced on Thursday. You’ll be able to get the early access version through Steam or the Epic Games Store.

“You may be wondering, why can’t we launch in Early Access, like, right now?!” the developers wrote in a blog post. “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.”

However, there will be a “technical test” that takes place “shortly before” the game launches in early access, Supergiant said. Not many people will be able to try it, though; it will “likely be limited only to a relatively small subset of players who express interest in participating.” More details will be announced “closer to when it’s ready.”

After Hades II hits early access, Supergiant’s plan is to release “several Major Updates” that will add more content and refine the game. “The story will expand with each update, as we introduce more characters, and deepen relationships with existing ones,” Supergiant said. “This process will culminate