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The sudden release of Hades 2 into its early access has been a huge success. Not only has the game reached all-time highs of over 100,000 players, but it’s also been critically acclaimed–not just by us, but by almost the entire industry too. If you’re a gaming content creator, as we are, you’re probably making content on Hades 2. It’s a fantastic game, and it deserves every ounce of your attention you can muster, but so do the other games that have been left behind in the wake of Supergiant’s release.
Lots of people out there are saying that Supergiant Games “shadow-dropped” Hades 2, which is a bit of a grey statement. The game’s Technical Test was laid out well in advance, though it was only recently that the Early Access period was confirmed. There was not an announcement laying out a release date, and even fans of the Hades series were caught off-guard when it went on sale.
2024 has been a tough year to work in the games industry. It feels like this has been a year in which lay-offs and studio closures are on the tip of every tongue, and it’s been just as difficult for independent developers too.
Crow Country launches today
Crow Country, developed by SFB Studios in London, is a 3D survival horror title with an art style somewhere between Resident Evil 1 and Final Fantasy VII, as they’ve put it. If you like the retro charm of PS1 aesthetics, then you will be able to enjoy it on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Tom Vian, one of the developers working on the game, tweeted out a tongue-in-cheek comment that this was a good period to launch their game, followed by a comment that they’d previously joked that “Hades 2 was hanging like the sword of Damocles.”
It seems as though SFB Studios have taken the sudden release of Hades 2 well, and I imagine when their game launches it’s going to see all the success it deserves.
Devolver Digital lapped up the opportunity with a pretty funny tweet
Devolver Digital are the team behind Loop Hero, an impossibly addictive roguelike that fuses deckbuilding, auto-turn-based-combat, and base building. While the game has aged a few years, it’s recently released onto mobile, which has given me a good idea about what I’m going to be doing on my lunch break today.
Heading Out launched a day after Hades 2
Heading Out is very unique title, spinning roguelike mechanics with the wheels of a driving sim. It’s a gorgeous visual novel too, bringing a black, white, and red color palette to the American road-trip.
So far, the game has received a Very Positive review aggregate on Steam, and while I’ve not played it yet, I certainly would like to.
Cryptmaster releases today, too
Another exciting independent title is Cryptmaster, a dark RPG dungeon crawler meshing typing game with spooky exploration. The team behind it includes Paul Hart and Lee Williams, the latter of which worked on Valheim.
Hades 2 did seemingly appear out of nowhere, and indie devs who had previously been planning their launches have a very just reason to feel slightly disadvantaged. If you can, throwing a little support their way could help them massively, and you will likely have a wonderful game to enjoy too.
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