The gaming gods graced Hades fans with the gift of early access in May, providing gamers with their first official opportunity to try their hands at the long-awaited Hades II.
The first game, released in 2020 to overwhelming praise from gamers, has been widely lauded for its unique mechanics, gorgeous gameplay, and endlessly entertaining (and challenging) combat. The roguelike release has been dubbed a “masterpiece” by nearly everyone who’s ever played it, and four years was far too long to wait for its successor.
That successor is officially upon us in the form of Hades II, which released to early access on May 6. The game plunges players back into the depths of the underworld where a lineup of gripping figures, gods, and monsters from Greek mythology await them. Its presence in early access is spectacular news for fans of the rogue-lite original, but not everyone will have their chance at the game during its first release period.
Can you play Hades II on Switch during early access?
Games often release in different ways depending on the developer, style of game, and funding behind their creation. When a game is released to early access, it gives players a chance to try it out before it’s fully polished, which also provides the developers with funds to continue honing the final release. It sometimes leads to glitchy gameplay or missing elements initially, but gamers can flag these gaps to the devs, allowing them to create a more streamlined and perfected version of the game ahead of its official release.
That likely won’t come for at least a year or so, as developers reportedly intend to keep Hades II in early access through 2024. That gives gamers with access to the game a nice long stretch of time to enjoy it, and the developers plenty of space to further refine, but unless you’ve got the right hardware, you won’t be among the lucky players diving back into the underworld.
According to the game’s developer, Supergiant Games, early access won’t be available to everyone. Anyone accessing the title on PC will have the chance to enjoy it through early access, but anyone looking to try out the game on console is out of luck. Hades II reportedly won’t be coming to Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X, or PS5 during its early access period, which leaves anyone functioning exclusively on console with a long wait ahead of them.