Hades 2 is here, and per our Hades 2 review, it's very, very good. But it could, and undoubtedly eventually will, be better, hence the whole Early Access thing. To that end, developer Supergiant says it's preparing the roguelike's first big patch, not including minor hotfixes for "rare crashes and progression" which didn't even get dedicated patch notes, which should arrive "later this month."
With Hades 2 patch 1, Supergiant says in a Steam post, the devs are "looking for improvements we can make in the near term, in a way that makes Hades 2 better for everyone and come closer to realizing our goals." So far, two goals have been singled out.
The first deals with resource gathering, which is one of Hades 2's bigger additions to that classic Hades gameplay loop. It sounds like the devs want it to always be a fun side goal, not a material grind that risks distracting from the action. "We want Hades 2 players to focus on goals that are important to them, though don't want resource gathering to feel too frustrating, such as if you didn't bring the right gathering tool along for the ride," Supergiant says.
The patch is also looking at the simple act of "getting around" – that is, how it feels to move around as Melinoë, particularly in her movement abilities. "It's important to us that Melinoë has her own distinct style, and for players to be able to navigate her battles and other interactions in a nimble, responsive, expressive way," Supergiant says. "We have ideas for how to improve her Dash and Sprint."
One thing that probably won't be in this first patch is a big set of balance changes. Hades 2 is still fresh and players are still figuring out what's strong, so while Supergiant does "love making balance changes," it's "still gathering feedback and data that helps inform the kind of changes we like to make, so don't expect too many such changes just yet."
The devs say they'll have finer details and "comprehensive patch notes" when the time comes, though there's no set timeline for Hades 2's first update just yet.
