Hades 2 races past Helldivers 2 in Steam Charts as player count soars

The last week has been intense in the gaming industry. PlayStation almost killed Helldivers 2 with its restrictive PSN ruling, while Supergiant Games dropped a massive bombshell with its Hades 2 Early Access release. Since then, the game has catapulted itself up the Steam Charts, knocking Arrowhead Studios from its perch.

Our review for Hades 2, despite the fact that it’s still in Early Access, has nothing but songs of high praise and adoration for the game. Combinations of powerful storytelling are blended with an cohesive and utterly rewarding gameplay loop, and to tie it all of, it just looks fantastic. There’s no questioning why exactly Supergiant Games’ latest instalment has been able to pip Helldivers 2 on the Steam Charts list, partly due to the recent regional restrictive policy which has since been repealed.

Whether or not this is going to have long-term devastating on the Helldivers franchise is uncertain. At the very least, we know that the development team were not responsible for this act, but it instead lied with the publishing company behind the game.

Hades now firmly sits at 16th on the Steam Most Played charts, with nearly 15,000 more current players than Helldivers 2. This is in the early hours of the day though, and we imagine that as we get into the evening we could see both game’s player counts rise again.

Bearing in mind, too, Hades 2 is only in Early Access, much like Manor Lords, which it has also overtaken. Typically, Early Access games see a huge spike followed by a gradual drop off as content wanes.

Hades 2 has an extremely committed fanbase, with the game having exceeded cult popularity, and is now a household staple within video games, and roguelikes especially. The roadmap for the game lays out its plans succinctly, with new plot and mechanic features being added gradually. While we don’t know exactly when the game will leave early access, it’s going to be before the end of 2024 at the very least.