There are terms within the gaming industry that irk fans the wrong way. Live service, gacha, free-to-play (with predatory monetization systems), or even early access. However, one developer and franchise are making right by consumers utilizing early access how it should be: Supergiant Games and Hades 2.
Initially, early access was a gateway for smaller developers to get their games out the door in a pre-release state. This helped creators start monetizing their titles while allowing fans to be a part of the development process, seeing how the game would evolve until the final 1.0 release.
Sadly, the feature was slowly used as a means for a quick buck. There are a lot of egregious examples of games stuck permanently in early access, with unbeknownst users buying into the hype without knowing that the thing they're purchasing might not even get another update, let alone a proper release.
Earlier in the year, Valve updated the Steam storefront. It now allows players interested in purchasing a "work-in-progress" game to see if the title has received any recent updates or if the developers have abandoned the project.
If there was ever a game to justify early access as a concept, that's Hades 2. Unsurprisingly so, considering Supergiant Games had a similar process with the first game.
I often hear friends and fellow enthusiasts saying that they'd rather wait for the full 1.0 Hades 2 release to enjoy the game properly. My usual response would be: "yeah, that's fair." For Hades 2, there's a compelling case against that.
Supergiant Games does a magnificent job of keeping the community in the loop. Their developer-to-player communication is top-notch, with constant concrete updates as to what fans can expect from future updates, tentative release dates for what they call Major Updates, and of course, plenty of new content being added to the game.
The magic of seeing a game like Hades 2 evolve as Supergiant works alongside the community to tweak and improve aspects of it is worth your time. Due to the nature of the Hades being a roguelike which features a wide variety of boons from different gods to help you in your fight against Chronos, Supergiant can get a little experimental, making the experience a refreshing one each time a patch drops.
Some things might work, and others might need a fix or two. It's a fascinating look at how game development works, at least on a surface level. It's not just about using players as guinea pigs to see how a certain weapon interacts with a specific boon, for example, but also collecting feedback from a passionate fanbase to steer the game in a direction both developers and players ultimately enjoy.
When a new patch drops and Supergiant shares the notes via Steam, a small megaphone icon next to a change added to the game signifies that community feedback was taken into consideration. More often than not, even the smallest of updates come with community-petitioned changes added.
One of my favorite and quaint features that will likely not make it to the final release was essentially a small easter egg featuring Chronos. In a now-removed fourth-wall-breaking power move, the Titan of Time prevented you from pausing the game during your confrontation against him. Supergiant removed this due to accessibility issues, instead giving Chronos some sass to taunt the player while they bring up the menu.
I fully understand if someone wants to wait for the full 1.0 release. You might want to avoid burnout, play it on a different platform besides PC, or are simply too wary of paying for what is still an incomplete experience. But trust me, if there was ever a time to do the early access song and dance, it's with Hades 2.