Hades 2 creative director Greg Kasavin has explained how Hades 2 spent less time in Early Access than its predecessor, despite being a far bigger game.
As Supergiant Games' first sequel, it was unexpected to see Hades 2 follow up the previous game by launching first into Early Access before a full launch followed. Hades dropped in December 2018 and took just under two years before it was released in September 2020, while Hades 2 arrived in September 2025, a year and four months after its Early Access launch.
Speaking to GamesRadar+, Kasavin was asked how Supergiant managed to double the size of the original game while somehow leaving Early Access in less time. "We launched into Early Access relatively later in development compared with the original game, when we had more content compared with the original." Kasavin explains, "as we had a clearer sense of what needed to be in this game before our Early Access development could begin."
Kasavin adds: "Deciding when to launch a game into Early Access is an important decision for a developer." He elaborates, saying, "You want your game to be far enough along that it can be played and enjoyed without a lot of caveats, but you don't want your game to be so far along that you don't have time to respond to all the feedback you get."
However, it's easy to forget that we actually found out about Hades 2 way earlier than we did for the first, with Supergiant announcing it in December 2022. Deciding not to do the surprise announcement and immediately launch into Early Access like it did with Hades 1 would allow the studio to get feedback ahead of it launching into Early Access and have a better idea of what players want from an Early Access release.
