Smart. I’ve got at least a week’s worth of Hades left to play, and I literally hadn’t heard of this game. Now, I’ll probably check it out when it drops.
I have been watching the Prince of Persia game, but I would absolutely have glazed right over its release while entranced by Hades II, so yes, I agree with you, it’s a very smart decision on their part.
(Also, can I just say, holy shit is Hades II some good value. It’s basically two games worth of content in one. More than twice the size of Hades I. Utter insanity.)
This has been the trend since early 2010. More and more games made by small companies are exploding and outselling AAA games. Stardew Valley had its all time peak 2 months ago despite being 8 years old, Dave the Diver popped off last year, Helldivers 2 broke records before Sony decided to fuck it up and subsequently get dragged through the mud, and Hades 2 is apparently awesome.
The slow death of AAA games has been great to watch. There’s so much more variety than 5 years ago and you don’t have to give your money to soulless corporations to enjoy them.
Went for Hades because of the sale and I love a rougelike. I happen to have a copy of FTL from a previous Steam sale, so I’ll give it another go! Midnight Suns looks great, but the cost right now isn’t doing it for me.
I see the contradiction. And I’m not saying the game was AAA-sized, although live service, multiplayer, or ongoing support are not requirements for the term. It’s a budget classification. Hi-Fi Rush had 1,400 people in its credits.
My comparison to Balatro was more in the line of “Cleopatra lived closer to present day than the era the Great Pyramid was built.” We’re talking about massive gaps in scale, and gaming communities tend to have trouble reconciling that. Balatro is not Hades, Hades is not Hi-Fi Rush, Hi-Fi Rush is not Starfield.
The best controller I arguably thing is the 360 controller. It just feels right to use in fighting games and fps. I like xboxs layout with the analog sticks....
I really wanted to like the OG steam controller but the touchpad-joystick-analogue makes it basically impossible to play any of the games I’d want a controller for. It’s a great controller for using on things that aren’t really intended for controller. Want to play an FPS leaning back in your chair? It’s great for that. Want to play Hades? I’m gonna pass and plug in my dualshock instead.
I actually revisited it recently and gave it a second shot after getting used to the steam deck pads, but unfortunately it’s still not really doing it for me personally.
For some listeners on the call, it was a surprising goal: Microsoft had just shut down the Japanese developer Tango Gameworks, which was coming off the small, prestigious hit title Hi-Fi Rush.
When rumors swirled that it wasn’t doing well commercially, Aaron Greenberg, vice president of Xbox games marketing, wrote on X that Hi-Fi Rush “was a break out hit for us and our players in all key measurements and expectations.”
“While there are titles we can’t announce yet,” Spencer said in the September 2023 interview, translated by VGC, “we are currently developing new games in collaboration with Japanese companies.” It’s worth wondering if that’s still the plan now that Tango is shut down.
Even the original Hades is climbing back up the Steam charts, breaking its all-time peak player count record just today almost four years after its initial release.
While we don’t know exactly what sales goals Microsoft had for Hi-Fi Rush, clearly there is a demonstrated appetite for this kind of game, with Tango Gameworks positioned perfectly to deliver it.
With Hi-Fi Rush, Tango Gameworks gave Microsoft just what Booty says he wants: a small, creatively unique, highly praised, award-winning game.
The original article contains 621 words, the summary contains 194 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I’ve been playing the Hades 2 beta recently, and I keep thinking about how incredible it is that this game is already better than any AAA title I’ve played in the last like 8 years. And it’s still in beta and made by just 23 people. Call of Duty, FIFA and the like will keep the big studios running for a while, but indie has definitely overtaken the industry and I’m all for it.
It is! You can go to the Steam store > New & Noteworthy > Most Played to see current player counts for the top 100 games. Hades II is currently #6, ahead of Helldivers even!
I understand the sentiment and I generally agree with you but I think I can make a case for Hades as an exception.
I picked up the first one in ea because I was thirsty for a new roguelike and some friends raved about it enough to me, and it was already a great game. The changes that came over the period I played were additive in the sense that they just opened more options in a game that already felt complete to me (mostly anyways, but more on that in a sec). But to defend it I can’t just say “oh well it felt like a finished game” there also needs to be a tangible benefit to playing it in early access. And there was! The early access versions of the game included meta banter between the narrator and Zagreus, little jokes about new things appearing or things that should be there but aren’t, references to the fact that pieces of the story’s scaffold were still being set up. It sounds small but it was just more of the wonderful character charm that oozes from every corner of that game and I actually kind of missed it a little bit once the full release came. Anyways I haven’t picked up Hades 2 yet (been making more of an effort to clear my backlog lately), but I’m thinking about it. And as far as the ostensible “point” of early access—community feedback and income to support development—Supergiant has given me ample reason to trust that they’ll make it worth it for me as a player if I don’t want to wait for the polished final product.
A Supergiant game in Early Access is more finished than most fully-released triple-A titles.
Plus, as with the first Hades, they work the continued development into the narrative of the game.
Nice. Won’t be playing it till the full release, I still have Hades 1 after all, but all this attention will probably make the game even better than the original
Some art will probably be replaced too. I remember Charon in the original hades had his generic robed character portrait replaced with a better one. Zagreus even complimented him on his new look when it was added to the game, which was a nice touch.
Yes, it’s unfinished, but my experience with the original Hades is that Supergiant knows how to make sure their product is at a certain level of polish before making EA available. I haven’t played much, but they seemed to hit the mark again.
That’s pretty much what God Mode is. The option that gives you a small permanent defense % boost after every single death. I’m too old to git gud so I’ve used it to boost my progression in Hades. The feature seems to still be present in Hades 2.
Cyberpunk 2077 director thanks fans as the game hits a 95% positive review rating on Steam (www.eurogamer.net)
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The Rogue Prince of Persia has been delayed to avoid being overshadowed by Hades 2 (files.catbox.moe)
Source: twitter.com/Studio_Evil/status/…/1
EA gonna EA (lemmy.world)
EA is looking at putting in-game ads in AAA games — 'We'll be very thoughtful as we move into that,' says CEO (www.tomshardware.com)
Need a game for a flight
Flying to Greece this weekend and it’s my first flight with my OG Steam Deck....
Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio (www.theverge.com)
Favourite controllers
The best controller I arguably thing is the 360 controller. It just feels right to use in fighting games and fps. I like xboxs layout with the analog sticks....
Microsoft says it needs games like Hi-Fi Rush the day after killing its studio (www.theverge.com)
Making good, profitable games 'will no longer keep you safe': industry expresses fury and heartbreak over closure of Hi-Fi Rush and Prey studios (www.pcgamer.com)
Hades 2 early access launch on Steam reaches over 100k concurrent players 24 hours after launch (www.eurogamer.net)
Hades II gets Steam Deck Verified and a surprise Early Access release (www.gamingonlinux.com)