Back when we first revealed Hades II at The Game Awards in 2022, we said to expect more information on our plans for Early Access sometime in 2023. It's time we shed some light on those plans!

Early Access Starts Next Year

We now can confirm we're planning for Hades II to launch in Early Access in Q2 2024 on Steam and the Epic Games Store. We'll have more details on the exact date, pricing, and system requirements closer to that time.

Thank you for your patience as we gear up for this launch! You may be wondering, why can't we launch in Early Access, like, right now?! The game looked pretty far along in the first trailer! The reason is, Hades II will have at least as much content from day one in Early Access as the original game did back when it launched in Early Access on Steam. And, even though Early Access inherently means a game is not yet complete, we still want to do everything we can to make sure Hades II is worth your while as soon as you can play it in any capacity.

You can add Hades II to your wishlist on Steam or the Epic Games Store and join our email mailing list to find out as soon as our Early Access is available.

Prior to That: The Hades II Technical Test

Also in Q2 2024, shortly before we launch in Early Access, we're going to run a technical test with a limited sample of players. The purpose of this test will be to find and solve any technical or compatibility issues we might have missed, to ensure anyone who tries Hades II in Early Access can have a smooth play experience. To that end, this technical test will contain much less content than what's in store for the Early Access launch, and likely be limited only to a relatively small subset of players who express interest in participating. We'll announce more details about the Hades II Technical Test closer to when it's ready.

More About Early Access & Beyond

Early Access was vitally important to the entire idea behind the original Hades -- we decided it would be an Early Access game before deciding literally anything else about it, such as the Underworld setting. We've approached development of Hades II knowing Early Access will be no less important this time, though now knowing a bit more of what to expect from Early Access development, as well as more about what a Hades game needs to be. We believe the timeframe we're planning for will be the "sweet spot" where the game is far enough along that player feedback won't mostly consist of stuff we already know isn't there yet, but isn't so far along that it's too late in development for us to act on the feedback we receive.

Similar to how we approached Early Access with the original, following our Hades II Early Access launch, we'll have several Major Updates adding the rest of the game's core content and refining what's there based on player feedback. The story will expand with each update, as we introduce more characters, and deepen relationships with existing ones. This process will culminate in our v1.0 launch, which will feature the conclusion to the story and any other finishing touches.

We don't yet know exactly how long it will take us to get to v1.0 of Hades II, as our experience developing in Early Access has taught us (among many things) to expect the unexpected. For now, our focus is to keep building core content -- environments, characters, weapons, Boons, story events, music, and more -- as we gear up for our Technical Test and Early Access launch in Q2 this coming year. Thank you again for your patience and support as we work to ensure our first sequel meets our standards, and hopefully yours, too!

We are looking to pick up some more moderators to help out with !games@lemmy.world. Things aren't too hectic moderation-wise; what we really need is those willing to help with some community engagement. Things like helping find relevant news to post, helping construct pinned discussion posts, and the like.

The only requirements are being somewhat active on Lemmy and having a Discord account - we use Discord to organize and communicate. Reply below if you are interested!

Back again! We are going to shuffle around the days we do these discussion posts, if you're paying attention.

This week's topic is 4X games. 4X is a subgenre of strategy game that is defined by the "four Xs" that make up the genre name: EXplore, EXpand, EXploit and EXterminate. In these games you must explore surrounding territory, expand your empire or faction to claim it, exploit the resources found there, and exterminate other empires or factions. These games also sometimes feature auxiliary concepts like robust economy management, technology trees, and inter-faction diplomacy. Grand Strategy games are a subsubgenre (heh) under 4X that specifically involve an even larger and more detailed scope and often pit the player's faction against dozens of others, often times with an asymmetrical playing field.

Here are some questions and subtopics that I encourage people to discuss:

• What are your favorite 4X games?
• Which "X" of the 4X genre is your favorite?
• What setting/background do you prefer for 4X games?
• Do you enjoy Grand Strategy games, as a subgenre of 4X?

Also feel free to bring up anything you like related to the topic! If you have suggestions for future discussion topics, leave them in the suggestion thread.

Another week, another topic. I think I will settle into alternating a game genre with a game concept, it seems to have been working well so far.

This week we will be talking about Emergent Gameplay. This term is, like the previous week's, fairly self explanatory; it describes gameplay (puzzle solving, narratives, etc.) that arises naturally as a result of combinatory game mechanics and systems rather than having been hardcoded or otherwise directly intended. It is most common in simulation-based games and games involving procedural generation, but can crop up anywhere. Immersive Sims are known for this, and it is one of their core design philosophies - to give the player tools and let them come up with their own solution, one that works as the logical consequence of a series of actions rather than hardcoded. Emergent Narrative is a term used as a subset of Emergent Gameplay, to specifically describe when a story or narrative sequence of events is born naturally through gameplay, often driven by the player's involvement but not deliberately implemented by the devs.

Here are some questions and subtopics that I encourage people to discuss:

• What are some of your favorite games that encourage emergent gameplay and/or emergent narrative?
• What instances of emergent gameplay have you been most proud of executing?
• What emergent narratives have you encountered and/or engineered that you found particularly interesting or compelling?
• What game design elements do you feel are most conducive toward generating emergent gameplay? What hinders it?
• Have you had any instances of emergent gameplay crop up from games that you wouldn't've expected it to occur in?

Also feel free to bring up anything you like related to the topic! If you have suggestions for future discussion topics, leave them in the suggestion thread.

Going back to broad strokes genres, this week's topic concerns the FPS (First Person Shooter), a staple of the overall gaming scene.

A First Person Shooter is the type of game where you play from a first person perspective (big shocker) and focuses around shooting (bigger shocker there), whether that's other players or NPC enemies. It's nice for a genre to be so plainly self-descriptive! FPS games also involve the navigation of a 3D environment, and often times incorporate standard concepts that are ubiquitous at this point like ammo management and loadouts of different weapons. This genre was heavily shaped by Doom (the original, released in early 90s), to the point where before the name FPS fully took hold, one term often used was "Doom clones". Nowadays there are many subgenres and styles paired with the FPS - class-based shooters, "boomer shooters", milsim and/or tactical shooters, twitch shooters, and others.

Here are some questions and subtopics that I encourage people to discuss:

• What are some of your favorite subgenres or styles of FPS, and your favorite games from them?
• Do you enjoy secondary concepts often associated with FPS games like ammo management and loadout adjustment?
• What genres do you like to see crossed over with an FPS?
• Do you prefer multiplayer or singleplayer FPS games? For multiplayer, Co-op or PvP?
• What are some of your favorite weapons from FPS titles? What's been memorable?

Also feel free to bring up anything you like related to the topic! If you have suggestions for future discussion topics, leave them in the suggestion thread.

Steam News link

Paradox Forums link

It's time for the second ever weekly discussion topic, everyone! Before we continue, I'd like to thank everyone for all the interesting engagement we got on the last post. I was unsure if anyone would even comment at all, so seeing it be so active was really nice. Anyway, let's get to it; this week's discussion topic is Game UIs.

A UI (User Interface) is something that everyone should be familiar with nowadays; It is the visual and tangible way that we interact with computers, whether that be games or other programs. Specifically in relation to gaming, the UI represents the HUD (Heads-Up Display), the menus, and other things like status bars and dialogue boxes which all fall under the general term "UI". (This discussion was actually originally just going to be about HUDs, as it is the UI element you will be seeing the most in a lot of cases, but I thought to expand it to encompass all elements as they often go hand in hand.) UIs can range from minimalistic to works of art in their own right, depending on the type of game and the design philosophies of the UI developers. A good UI should be easily navigable for the player; ease of selecting different options, clear display of critical information, and minimal confusion as to what any given button or toggle will do. The amount of information that must be displayed by the UI can range from minimal in a puzzle or traditional FPS game to massive in a simulation or a strategy game. It is an aspect of games we play that many don't give a second thought to, but is very important for both accessibility and style.

Here are some questions and subtopics that I encourage people to discuss:

• What games have you favorite UIs? What about specifically favorite HUD, or favorite main menu?
• Do you prefer more stylish UIs or more utilitarian ones? What games have a good union of form and function when it comes to this?
• How much do you value the customization of the UI? Do you often find yourself fine-tuning the HUD and other elements in games that allow it?
• Do you prefer maximum information conveyed by the UI, even if it's at the cost of easy readability?
• When toggling subtitles, should the options for it be under Audio Settings or Video Settings, or its own category? (This single specific question has been a raging debate for many years in gaming circles.)

Also feel free to bring up anything you like related to the topic! If you have suggestions for future discussion topics, leave them in the suggestion thread.