Hades 2 Devs: Sequel Wasn't About the Smart Business Choice

Ever wondered why Supergiant Games decided to make Hades 2? You'd think a sequel to their biggest hit was a no-brainer, right? Well, according to the devs themselves, it almost didn't happen.

In a new Noclip documentary that dives into Hades 2's development history, studio director Amir Rao admits he initially thought they "almost certainly would not make a sequel to Hades." That's right — the smart business move wasn't the plan. Instead, Supergiant took a step back to figure out how they felt about the original game and what lessons they'd learned. They considered lots of projects, and a direct sequel wasn't a lock.

So what changed? Art director Jen Zee and others on the team saw the potential in returning to the world they'd built. "We still have enthusiasm for this world that we've been exploring," Zee says. "The Greek pantheon is so vast. It just felt like, 'Oh, there's this beautiful orchard and there's so much fruit left on the trees. Like, we should maybe consider harvesting.'" That creative hunger, not dollar signs, became the driving force.

In fact, the challenge of following up a game as beloved as Hades was part of the appeal. "We approach sequels with a fair amount of skepticism because we do love exploring new worlds and we've never done it before," Zee explains. "I would say that was actually one of the appeals of making a sequel, as well – because we'd never done it before. We're real thrillseekers here. We're like, 'What if we did a sequel? No one would expect that.'"

Every dev who speaks in the documentary echoes that sentiment: the creative challenge came first, business benefits second. As Rao puts it, "If making the sequel is the right financial decision, we have made the dumb decision many times in a row." He admits success factors in, but so do expectations. "For us, we always have to ask ourselves, 'Are we ready for this?' Even if it was the right decision, we had to creatively get ourselves to a place of excitement because otherwise it's just a non-starter for the studio."

So there you have it: Hades 2 exists because the team fell in love with the idea all over again, not because it was the safe bet. And honestly, that's the kind of risk-taking that gave us Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre in the first place.

What do you think — does knowing the sequel was a creative gamble make you more excited to play it? Will you be picking this up?