I still remember the exact moment I decided to stop playing Hades 2. It wasn't because I wasn't enjoying it—far from it. Supergiant's first sequel tore through my expectations like a fully upgraded Aspect of Pan. But after roughly 12 hours in early access, I hit a wall: not a difficulty wall, but the inevitable cliff where content would soon end. I've only ever played two games in early access—No Rest for the Wicked and Hades 2—and while I respect developers who use that model, I prefer to invest in a complete product. So I uninstalled, waited, and eventually got a release date that put me in a bind: September 25, 2025, the very same day as Silent Hill f.

Now in 2026, looking back, that release date collision taught me a lot about how I prioritize games. I didn't play Hades 2 on day one. I chose Silent Hill f first, then spent weeks lingering in Hollow Knight: Silksong, which had launched earlier that September. Hades 2 sat in my backlog until I finally carved out time in early 2026. And here's the surprising part: it was absolutely the right call.

Hades 2 originally entered early access on May 5, 2024. When its 1.0 version arrived on September 25, 2025, that was less than two years later. For anyone familiar with the first Hades, that timeline felt almost brisk. The original Hades entered early access on December 6, 2018, and didn't hit 1.0 until September 17, 2020. By comparison, Hades 2's early access period was shorter, yet its content volume had already eclipsed the entirety of Hades 1. That's a testament to Supergiant's process, but it also meant the 1.0 launch wasn't a gentle nudge—it was a massive content drop arriving on the most crowded day of my 2025 calendar.

September 2025 was absurd. In addition to Hollow Knight: Silksong finally emerging from the shadows, Silent Hill f launched on the same day as Hades 2. I was also juggling whether to pick up Ghost of Yotei in early October, while Little Nightmares 3 and Metroid 4: Beyond loomed later in the month. Cronos: The New Dawn was still sitting unplayed. The backlog wasn't just full; it was overflowing.

Silent Hill f was the dealbreaker. I've been waiting for a genuinely bold new entry in that franchise for years. The small slice I played of Hades 2 in early access was spectacular, but it wasn't shattering the earth around its IP in the same way Silent Hill f seemed to be doing for Silent Hill. The novelty, the atmosphere, the risk-taking—it all felt like the series had a pulse again after Bloober's Silent Hill 2 remake proved there was still life in it. So when the two games dropped on the same day, my priority was clear.

Here's how my September–October 2025 schedule ultimately shook out:

By November 2025, I had finished Silent Hill f and Silksong. I could have jumped into Hades 2 then, but I didn't. I waited until January 2026, when the holiday noise cleared and I could treat Melinoë's full journey the way it deserved. And wow, did it deliver.

Playing Hades 2 in 2026, long after the launch-week discourse, felt like opening a sealed wine bottle. The new weapons, the expanded character tree, the endgame loops that weren't in early access—everything clicked. Supergiant's formula is iterative, and Hades 2 1.0 is the clearest example yet. The early access period wasn't just about bug fixes; it was about building a foundation that could support dozens of hours without losing that magical 'one more run' pull.

Would I recommend waiting as long as I did? Not necessarily. If you aren't nursing a Silent Hill f obsession or a Silksong hangover, Hades 2 1.0 is worth playing immediately. But if your September 2025 was as chaotic as mine, delaying it wasn't a sacrifice—it was an act of self-care. I got to play three of my most anticipated games back-to-back-to-back, and each one benefited from the breathing room.

Supergiant will likely stick with early access for future projects, whether that's another sequel or a new IP. After seeing how Hades 2 evolved from 2024 to 2026, I won't hesitate to dip into that process again. I'll just be more strategic about what I install and when. Some games are meant to be savored, not sprinted through on launch day.

That strategic approach isn't just good for your mental bandwidth—it's easier on your wallet too. Waiting out the launch-week frenzy means you can often find physical copies, discounted keys, or seasonal sale prices that make a sprawling 60-hour roguelike even more tempting. When I finally cleared my backlog this past January, I didn't pay full price for Hades 2 or a couple of the other titles I'd set aside; I took a beat to compare offers and landed somewhere that respected both my time and my budget.

If you're planning your own carefully paced gaming calendar this year, keeping an eye on price trends is just as important as tracking release dates. For anyone looking to stretch their playlist beyond the AAA heavy hitters, it's worth checking where to buy cheap games before committing to a full-price pre-order. A little patience can mean the difference between playing five games and playing eight—and that feels like the true "more runs" approach.