Hades II Is Half-Out

There are shortage of games for the roguelike genre these days, but out of the millions of options, Supergiant Games’ Hades is definitely one of the most popular. Introduced in 2020, this tale of the prince of the Greek underworld battling a pantheon of beasts and gods won countless fans and had people begging for a sequel nearly instantly. Four years later, Hades II is finally here….sort of.

Technically, the original Hades was playable all the way back in 2018 if you count the Early Access version. Since most people consider the release of the full version — and the console version — the actual release date, it’s reported instead that Hades came out in 2020. It’s a similar deal here. They’ll tell you Hades II is out, but it’s just in Early Access, which is kind of different. The game is unfinished: effects are missing, some character portraits aren’t there, and the game currently has no ending. (We’re told New Game+ is accessible regardless.) There is also no console version — you must be a Steam user to play the game. Fortunately it’s verified for Steam Deck, so there’s that.

Despite its half-finished state, Hades II is still winning critics over. Mitchell Saltzman of IGN gave the beta version a 9 out of 10 and said “it already has just about everything I want from a sequel to one of the best roguelite action games of all time. Hades II manages to keep everything that made the original such a masterclass of design, but it does so in a way that changes up how each of the pieces fits together and gives it its own unique identity rather than feeling like a glorified expansion.”

Unfortunately Supergiant has confirmed the finished 1.0 version of Hades II will not be released this year. So you can choose to play the Early Access version of Hades II, or you can wait for the more polished, more complete version in 2025. If you’re a console gamer, you kind of have to.