Hades 2 hits 100K concurrent Steam players, crushing the original's record a day after its early access launch

After a surprise early access release yesterday, Hades 2 has already hit over 100,000 concurrent players on Steam, tripling the first game's record on the platform.

Hades 2 hit 103,567 concurrent players earlier today and is hovering around 100,000, according to SteamDB. Hades 1 only reached 37,749 concurrents in 2020, a few days after its full launch on Steam.

The first Hades is one of our favorite roguelike action RPGs and has won several awards, including a few BAFTAs. But its 2019 early access release was exclusive to the Epic Games Store; it didn't come to Steam until it was finished. Hades 2, however, is available on both from the start, which helps explain the larger turnout.

All the fans of Hades' flirty Greek gods and goddesses and satisfying combat are probably showing up, too. And it helps that Hades 2's early access release is far more complete than I think anyone expected it to be.

Supergiant Games has already spent three years working on it, and it shows: There are several characters to speak with, regions to explore, weapons to wield, and materials to find. Supergiant says it has «more environments, foes, and fully-voiced characters than the full version of the original Hades game.»

Supergiant expects to keep Hades 2 in early access «at least through the end of 2024,» according to an in-game roadmap, and plans to add another region, weapon, and a decoration system for your forest encampment in a few months.

After spending some time with Hades 2, it feels closer to a beta, where most things are finished and just need polish, than your typical swiss cheese early access release with holes where entire systems should be. The only obviously unfinished stuff are pieces of art, like the character portraits and the Keepsake items. Unless you want to see the endings—which Supergiant says are not in the game yet—there's no real reason to wait until the final release. And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks so.

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