The last patch is never the last patch. CD Projekt have been teaching us that lesson for about a year with Cyberpunk 2077, and now Hades 2 is the latest game to have its devs go ‘no, wait, one more’. To be fair to Supergiant, they did specify that the roguelike’s previous update would “likely” be the last one before full release.
It wasn’t. An eleventh early access patch has hit the underworld, but the devs swear it’ll be the last one for realsies this time.
Taking a gander at the notes for patch 11, there’s still no release date for Hades 2’s full launch, but Supergiant are clearly full steam ahead in their dungeon run towards that goal. The headline note in the patch is some direct prep, with the devs reminding folks that when the game’s “True Ending” is deployed, any crafting materials like zodiac sand or void lenses you’ve collected will be converted to prestige automatically when you first load up your save in 1.0.
Beyond that, there are a bunch more changes to the Nocturnal Arms’ abilities and aspects, with the Umbral Flames, Moonstone Axe, and Black Coat all receiving nice buffs. As usual, those tweaks are accompanied by a bunch of fiddling with boons, blessings, and Daedalus hammer upgrades.
Hexes’ll now be quicker to cast and I’m glad to report that Supgiant have buffed a cat. Well, Toula the wildcat, whom Melinoë can recruit as a familiar in Erebus, but same difference. They’re all furry, purry, and wouldn’t really care that much if you died, yeah?
The devs have also dialled down the amount of enemies you’ll face in any single wave while battling through Olympus, on the summit, or when running into Icarus. The former’ll also have more places for you to take cover. There are tweaks to a bunch of common enemies, and Supergiant look to have done more tuning down than tuning up.
You can also no longer die in the time it takes Athena to rock up after she says she’s on her way, which sounds handy in avoiding instances of goddesses saying ‘Oh nuts, you alright there kiddo?’
Here’s hoping we do get that full release date soon, since this (fingers crossed) does look to be the final Hades 2 patch before 1.0. Or maybe it’ll just shadow-drop at 3AM on a random Tuesday. As Greek lad Socrates once said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
