We’ve talked about Hades in the past; specifically, how well the developers Supergiant Games were absolutely crushing it in terms of keeping the community informed and involved throughout the Early Access journey.
It seems like something that we wouldn’t have to applaud too readily, but Early Access manages to stump a lot of developers in terms of how, and what, they should communicate with their fans. Some titles knock it out of the park: Deep Rock Galactic from Ghost Ship Games readily comes to mind along with Dead Cells from Motion Twin.
We can now readily add Supergiant Games to the growing list of developers that do Early Access right: with clear statements and dates to inform players when the next big update would be coming, in-depth videos showing development and theory behind the title, it’s all enough to make a Star Citizen fan green with envy.
https://twitter.com/steam_hunk/status/1306711519535792128
Roadmaps and discussion, schedules and responsiveness, who would have thought this would be the path to success in Early Access?
Regardless of the rest of the industry, Hades has developed into a strong contender for one of the better roguelikes to come forward in recent memory, steeped in rich mythology that only occasionally wavers from nuanced sources as you play as the young prince of the underworld, Zagreus as he battles Hades himself to attempt to escape his coil and figure out precisely how his backstory fits into the rich pantheon of the gods.
With a multitude of weapons that all encourage unique playstyles, bosses that recall how well your last bout went with them (and their friends), and a rich risk versus reward schematic that appears often enough to taunt even the stoutest and safest of players, Supergiant has released a massive title that can easily stand the test of time.
Surprising for many, considering that it started as an Epic Games exclusive for the first year of its Early Access life before shifting over to Steam, where it began to gain a bit more momentum as it began popping up on the radar of a far wider player base.
Supergiant Games stated in the press release on Steam that accompanied the title’s 1.0 launch that the team will be monitoring and patching anything erroneous that happens to come up, and then the team will be taking a much needed break before coming back and recharging.
After that, they will begin planning on what’s next for Hades and the studio in general, which is when they’ll open that discussion up to the public.
For now, however, we have a wildly successful journey from concept to Early Access to release, a monumental figurehead for other indie developers to attempt to emulate to the same success that Supergiant Games has found.