Summary
I had two close friends who told me to playHadesevery week in the two years it was in early access. “Aye, I’m sure it’s great,” I’d reply a hundred times before moving back to whatever game had my attention at that moment. I trusted these two friends implicitly, their tastes were largely similar to mine, but I didn’t want to take the risk. I didn’t really know what early access was, and, at this point, I didn’tgetroguelikes.
I’d played a couple of games in the genre before Hades, but none of them had struck me. I hated losing my progress, I hated playing through samey runs over again, and I didn’t want to pay good money for a game like this that wasn’t even finished. I should have listened.
My friends devoured every update thatSupergiantmade to its now-iconic game. They tested out new weapons, discussed changes to boons, and thirsted over Gods and Goddesses as they were added to the game. I’m certain their feedback, among the feedback of thousands of others, shaped the game that they swore was going to be a Game of the Year contender two years ahead of its release. “They just love Transistor,” I thought, “Hades won’t bethatgood.”
It wasn’t all good. Sometimes characters were cut from the game, narrative threads were snipped off rather than tied neatly in a bow as the developers decided what parts of the game they could expand upon, and which would be left on the cutting room floor. I can only imagine how gutted they felt when stories were cut. Hades is a masterclass in generative storytelling, and the relationships you form with the eclectic cast of characters every run is probably my favourite aspect of it. Imagine if Thanatos or Sisyphus were removed as you were halfway through counselling them through their issues.
It was like they were playing a roguelike within a roguelike, where each update would reset certain progress and buff others. And, now I’ve seen what an impeccable game Supergiant produced, I want to be a part of that.
Hades 2is an interesting premise. Supergiant’s first ever sequel, a lot of the groundwork can surely be magicked over from the first game. Things like assets, animations, and the like are easier to adapt than create from scratch. Take the technical test for example: it’s incredibly polished, yet clearly unfinished. We’re not playing launch-eraCyberpunk 2077here, we’re testing finished portions of the game as it’s developed. There are so few opportunities to get this close a look at game development, even if you report on the industry, and even fewer to actually shape a game as it develops through your feedback.
Even the small slice of game available in the technical test has got me salivating – and not just because of the (vastly improved) character designs. Supergiant has iterated on its impeccable combat mechanics using a magic system, I’m delighting in testing new weapons and chatting to new characters, and I’ll see Nemesis in my dreams tonight. The improvements are already clear to see, but it’s the empty spaces that are even more exciting.
What are these moon sigils for? Will we summon Selene – who has already been mentioned a couple of times – in the full game? And this crude pentagram I found on my first run, what’s that all about? I don’t even have a mythological guess for what this mechanic will involve. There’s a fishing area for when we craft a rod, Hypnos is locked in a mysterious eternal slumber, and I can’t wait to find out more.
This is the beauty of playing a game in early access. You’re forced to wait until the developer reveals its mysteries, you have a constant guessing game of potentials and maybes. This creates discussions in the community, excitement and a fervent buzz. That’s something that I want to be a part of. That’s something that I can’t miss out on. Not again.
