Supergiant pushed another final Hades 2 patch ahead of the roguelike’s eventual 1.0 launch — yes, another final update, after the previous final update on July 2. I was ready to crack a joke at this latest patch, comparing Supergiant to certain musical artists who perform a dozen farewell tours before turning up in Las Vegas for another decade of shows. Then I realized this decision is indicative of something much more important than just the slew of tiny adjustments outlined in the patch notes.
On the one hand, you look at notes between Patch 10 and Patch 11, the current patch, and get a sense that Supergiant might be overthinking things a little. Take a few adjustments to one of Melinoe’s weapons, for example. Patch 10 slows down projectile speed for the Umbral Flames, and Patch 11 increases speed for the Umbral Flames’s special attack.
But then you play it, feel the difference, and think no — this was entirely for the best. All of Supergiant’s little nerfs, buffs, and tweaks over the last 12 months have been, even if some of them (weakening Hestia’s boons, for example) seem designed to attack me, personally.
Supergiant appears to understand what pain points drive its players mad, not just the big stuff like making Chronos less of an obnoxious gimmick boss. Little things, like getting the balance of enemy numbers on Olympus and the Summit just right and adjusting movement and reaction times, are just as important, if not more so.
I dropped Hades 2 before the Warsong update and wanted to wait until version 1.0 entirely because Olympus was so annoying at that point. The amount of time it takes to get there, only to be overwhelmed by an army of enemies so large and powerful that you can’t learn their patterns without dying and doing it all over a few more times? Ain’t nobody got time for that. I’m willing to give it another try after Patch 11, though, and it makes me even more excited for the eventual launch of version 1.0.
The impressive thing is that most of Supergiant’s changes aren’t even prompted by community feedback. A megaphone in the patch notes indicates community-inspired changes, and there are some good ones in there, such as reducing how long it takes for Hexes to activate. Most of them are, seemingly, just born from the development team’s understanding of what makes their games feel good to play and what you’ll want and need before you even realize it yourself.
Throughout Hades 2’s early access period, and again with the release of Patch 10, Supergiant promised to make Hades 2’s 1.0 launch the best it can possibly be. With the glut of games releasing in early access over the last few years that stay there for ages, never launch, or even “unlaunch,” it’s easy to forget this period of refinement and minute adjustments is the point of early access. And it’s ironic how Hades 2 Patch 11 juxtaposes with 1047 Games’ recent announcement to “unlaunch” Splitgate 2, a decision studio CEO Ian Proulx even admitted was born from failing to understand not just what their players want, but, based on a Reddit thread Proulx referenced, from not realizing what potentially makes your game worth playing to begin with as well.
So take your time, Supergiant, and push as many last updates as you need. The wait is agonizing, but I’m happy to endure the pain.
