Following the announcement of Hades II at last year's The Game Awards event, Supergiant Games told fans to wait for further instructions on the game's release at some point in 2023.

　　That moment has now arrived. In a blog post published today on the studio's official website, the developer said Hades II will launch in early access at some point in the second quarter of 2024.

　　There's a good reason for that, anyway, as Supergiant promises that the early access debut will include at least as much content as the first game's full release. Just like with Hades, Supergiant will slowly add new features and content to this sequel over the course of early access, with the story's conclusion coming with the 1.0 launch. The developers don't know exactly how long the game will stay in early access.

　　A small selection of lucky players will have the chance to play a limited build of Hades II before the early access launch in a technical test. More details on how to sign up for the technical test will be shared at a later date.

　　Hades II is considered a direct sequel set after the events of the first game, which earned many Game of the Year Awards in 2021. The protagonist has changed, though: instead of Zagreus, players will step into the role of his sister Melinoë, a Princess of the Underworld and immortal sorceress who will fight the forces of the Titan of Time.

　　She will have boons provided by the various gods of Olympus at her disposal, including Apollo and Zeus. Supergiant said there will be 'nearly limitless' character builds available to players.

　　The cast of Hades II includes over a dozen characters, some of which are returning from the previous game. All are fully voiced, and Melinoë can look forward to interacting with those characters and experiencing 'countless' unique story events.

　　The roguelike dungeon crawler will debut on PC via Steam and Epic Games Store, though console releases are also planned. It'll be the first sequel ever made by Supergiant, which grew its team to over 20 members for this project.