Hades 2 is finally coming to Xbox and PS5, and console players might get the best version

I think Hades 2 is the cleanest sequel of the decade, and console players got lucky

I am going to lead with the take, because that is the only honest way to write about Hades 2 in May 2026. Supergiant made the cleanest sequel I have played in ten years. It is not a remix, it is not a soft reboot, it is not the same game with a new coat. Melinoë controls differently from Zagreus, the Olympian boon system has been pulled apart and put back together, and the ratio of permadeath frustration to forward progress is, and I do not say this lightly, better than the first game. That is the bar I am holding it to. The first Hades is a 93 on Metacritic. The sequel is sitting at 92 with more reviews on file, which in this market is essentially a tie.

The thing that nobody is saying out loud is that the Xbox and PlayStation crowd, who spent eighteen months watching Switch 2 and Steam owners post webms, are about to get the best possible version of this game. The 1.0 launch in late 2025 was already a polished build. Every patch since, and there have been five major ones, has gone into balance, accessibility, and quality of life. The console port is going to ship with all of that work pre-applied. I cannot remember the last sequel where a delay actually paid off for the people on the back end of it. Usually you wait an extra year and you get the same launch bugs everyone else already complained about. Not this time.

If you have been holding off because you do not have a Switch 2 or a gaming PC, you have been holding off correctly. The version landing on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S later in 2026 is going to be the definitive one out of the gate.

Why the multiplatform delay actually helped Supergiant, and hurt nobody

Supergiant has never been a big studio, and they have never pretended to be. Hades 2 spent more than two years in Steam early access. They were upfront about why: small team, single internal build, philosophy of shipping when it is ready and not before. The Switch 2 simultaneous launch with the Steam 1.0 in October 2025 was the first time the full game existed anywhere. Console ports came after, and Supergiant outsourced the heavier port work the way they did with the original Hades.

I think this is the right way to do it, even though I know the PlayStation and Xbox crowd was annoyed in 2025. The early-access window meant the team got tens of thousands of build-iteration hours from real players before the sequel was ever judged by a critic. The Switch 2 version benefited from all of that. The PC version did too. By the time Sony and Microsoft players get the build, the controversial weapon balancing is already settled, the late-game scaling problems from the Christmas 2025 patch are fixed, and Hephaestus boons no longer eat your run.

The flip side: Supergiant left money on the table. They almost certainly could have done a Series X|S parallel launch in 2025 and grabbed the Game Pass placement. Instead they went small first, big later. I respect it, and the review scores prove it worked, but anyone who thinks Microsoft did not notice the missed opportunity is fooling themselves.

Hades 2 is already beating Hollow Knight Silksong on the only scoreboard that matters

Silksong launched in late 2025 too, and the indie discourse was supposed to be a duel. It has not been. The Steam concurrent numbers I saw in March 2026 had Hades 2 still pulling north of 80,000 concurrent users on a normal Tuesday, while Silksong had settled into the 25,000 to 35,000 range after its launch surge. That is not a knock on Team Cherry, Silksong is great. It is a comment on Hades 2's stickiness. Roguelike loops eat hours that Metroidvanias do not, and Supergiant built the most replayable run-based game on the market.

The Switch 2 sales numbers tell the same story. Hades 2 was the best-selling third-party Switch 2 game of Q1 2026, ahead of Silksong, ahead of every non-first-party title Nintendo had on the platform. That is a Supergiant studio with ninety people doing what Activision-sized studios cannot. Word of mouth carries this game. Streamer hours carry this game. You do not need a marketing budget for Hades 2 because every patch generates its own discourse cycle.

I think this is also why Microsoft and Sony want it on their consoles in 2026 even though the launch window has closed. A guaranteed top-twenty seller for a year that needs no marketing is not a thing they get offered every quarter.

Here is the part that makes me cranky, the Steam vs console price gap

Steam has Hades 2 at $29.99. That is the actual sale price as of early May 2026. That is also the price most PC gamers paid during early access, and Supergiant has not raised it. On Switch 2, the digital price is $29.99 and the physical edition is $39.99 to $44.99 depending on whether you want the standard cart or the Collector Edition with the soundtrack and art book. I do not have confirmed Xbox or PS5 numbers yet, but based on the original Hades' pricing and what every other indie that has gone through this has done, expect $29.99 digital with a physical that bumps to $39.99.

That ten-dollar gap matters. Not because it is a lot of money, it is one lunch, but because it is the kind of price decision that reveals what platform you want to live on. If you are buying Hades 2 to actually play it for two hundred hours, Steam is the answer. The Steam Deck OLED runs it beautifully, you get mods, you get cloud saves that work without paying a subscription. If you are buying it to keep, the Switch 2 physical edition is the only version with a long-tail collectible value. Console digital is the worst of both worlds.

I am specifically not telling anyone to wait for the Xbox or PS5 version unless they truly do not have any other option. The Steam build has been mature for six months.

What I'd actually do right now

If you have a gaming PC or a Steam Deck, buy it on Steam today. $29.99. No reason to wait. The build is locked in, mods exist, performance is excellent on every tier of hardware. If you have a Switch 2 and you do not PC game, the physical edition is the move, about $39.99 from Amazon, and it will hold its value better than any digital purchase. If you are stubbornly waiting for Xbox or PS5, the wait is not going to kill you, but understand you are paying the same money for a game that has been out for nineteen months by the time you get it.

I would not buy the Collector Edition unless you actually love the soundtrack. Darren Korb scores Hades 2 the way he scored the first one, which is to say it is one of the best video game soundtracks in the last decade, and if you want it on vinyl that is a separate purchase. The Collector cart bundle is not a great deal compared to buying the standard cart and the soundtrack vinyl separately.

Verdict: buy on Steam, buy physical on Switch 2, skip the Collector unless you are a soundtrack person, and do not wait for the PS5 or Xbox version unless you have to.

Related coverage

More on the Switch 2 ecosystem and where the platform is headed: read our breakdown of why Marvel Rivals confirmed a Switch 2 port at /consoles/marvel-rivals-confirmed-switch-2-port and the reporting on the Switch 2 handheld mode boost at /consoles/switch-2-handheld-mode-boost-1080p-original-games. For more on the indie roguelike scene and what is moving on Steam right now, see our writeup at /gaming/rpg-optimization-finally-hits-gold-standard-on-steam-deck.