Supergiant launched Hades II in Early Access yesterday (May 5), and it’s already off to an impressive start. Per SteamDB, the roguelike has peaked at 103,567 players.
That puts it at over double the peak of the first Hades’ Early Access when it came to Steam in 2019. It first arrived on the Epic Games Store in 2018 as a timed exclusive.
Both Hades games have been the studio’s only forays into Early Access. In Hades II’s case, Supergiant said it’d have more content than the first Hades, with more content in the coming months. It expects Early Access to last throughout 2024.
During its two-year pre-1.0 period, Hades sold 700,000 copies. At time of writing, Supergiant has revealed how much Hades II has sold.
Supergiant is in Early Access for the long, hellish haul
Before launching yesterday, Supergiant held a small technical test for Hades II in late April. Given that it was the first real piece of news about the game since its reveal, it quickly caught players’ attention.
Not every game can be a hit in Early Access. But in Supergiant’s case, it helps that roguelikes often build up momentum through that release model.
While it may be a year or more before Hades II has a 1.0 version, the game will likely have legs until then. The original was a big success, and hearing that a new one is out will draw in more players over time.
And if that doesn’t happen, it’ll get players to refresh their skills with the original. At time of writing, Hades’ current player count on Steam is 36,043 players, just shy of its peak of 37,749 players back four years ago.