Hades 2 technical test "winding down" in a few days, but don't be too sad – Supergiant says the roguelike's early access launch is "relatively soon after that"

Hades 2
(Image credit: Supergiant Games)

It is officially too late to ask how to access the Hades 2 technical test. Developer Supergiant Games says it's planning "to start winding down the test on Monday [April 29]," but there's unambiguously good news to go with that. The roguelike sequel's full early access launch is planned to arrive "relatively soon after that," meaning everyone will get a chance to play the game and technical test participants will get access to a bigger, more polished experience. 

I'm assuming that "winding down" the technical test means that access to the current playable build will be entirely revoked come April 29. At exactly what time, and whether it will roll out in waves or for the whole player base all at once, remains to be seen. 

It's also unclear when exactly Hades 2's early access launch will arrive. Supergiant previously said that it's hoping to get into early access in relatively short order after acting on the feedback from the technical test. When the test was first rolled out, the dev explained: "The nature of the Test is such that we don't know exactly how long it will last, though our estimate is 'longer than a week, shorter than a month'. We likewise don't know exactly when we will launch Hades 2 in Early Access, since that will depend on how long we end up running the Technical Test."

It certainly sounds like the test was helpful. "Thank you for your patience during the Hades 2 technical test, which helped us identify and address a number of key issues we weren't able to find before," Supergiant said today.

When the plans for Hades 2's multi-stage release were first announced, Supergiant teased that its early access launch build would have substantially more content than the original version of the first Hades, which was an Epic Games Store exclusive. The original game's first Steam release had a lot more content, and apparently Hades 2's debut Steam early access build – which of course isn't an exclusive – will have "at least as much," which is mighty exciting. 

If you missed the technical test, read up on the smorgasbord of details we got from a surprise Hades 2 developer stream earlier this month

Austin Wood

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.