The cover of Hades 2, released this May 7 in early access. Supergiant Games
The first part, extremely popular, won numerous awards, including the Bafta for “best game”, the Game Award for “best action game” and the Pégase for “best foreign independent game”.
“HADES IS HERE”. It was in a tweet that went viral that the Supergiant Games studio announced, by surprise, this Monday, May 6, the release in early access of the sequel toHades, on PC, on the Steam and Epic Games Store platforms.
In 2020, the first opus ofHades , released in the middle of the Covid crisis, caused a sensation. The player played as Zagreus, son of the Greek god of the Underworld, Hades, seeking to escape the Styx. With a challenge: the player had to start his entire journey again each time he failed. The graphics, the narration and the variety of its fights had attracted many players. According to the most recent figures communicated, Hades had sold, in just two years, one million units.
Since this success, the studio has remained discreet about this highly anticipated second part. Only one trailer, released in 2023, presented Mélinoé, a Greek goddess of nightmares and granddaughter of the titan Chronos. A dive, as with the first part, into the heart of Greek mythology.
Internet user frenzy
Internet users quickly expressed their joy at the surprise release of the game. “I know what I’m going to do with my long weekend”, testifies a user, still in shock from the announcement. At the stroke of midnight, four hours after its release, Hades 2 already had more than 75,000 spectators on the live video platform Twitch.
At the time, Hades had not only won numerous awards – including the Bafta du “best game”the Game Award “best action game” and the Pegasus of “best foreign indie game” -, but also popularized the mysterious rogue-lite genre.
In this punishing genre, the player character must die to progress. As he loses, the player acquires new skills, new powers and an increase in his statistics, to face the powerful enemies who block his path. Despite its repetitive aspect, rogue-lite type games are constantly renewed, thanks to randomly generated levels. And, with each new game, a new portion of the scenario is revealed to the player. With this surprise release, Supergiant Games seeks to establish its dominance in this niche game genre.
