Supergiant promised the Early Access roadmap would be “substantial,” but nobody expected them to quietly rewrite the entire endgame in a single patch. The Surface route – previously a brutal gauntlet that ended most runs at the first boss – now spans three full biomes and culminates in a fight against Chronos that makes the original Hades finale look like a warm-up. Melinoë’s moveset received twenty-seven new weapon aspects, each with its own voice-acted NPC who reacts to your performance in real time.
The biggest mechanical shift is the Oath system. Every god now offers a binding contract that permanently alters core gameplay in exchange for massive power. Accept Aphrodite’s Oath and all heart pickups become damage buffs, but you can never heal again. Take Hestia’s and your cast builds hit like trucks, but temperature mechanics turn the Underworld into a survival game. Breaking an Oath mid-run triggers a “Divine Trial” – optional superboss fights that currently have a 0.004% clear rate across Steam.
Romance options expanded too. Thanatos and Eris both have full arcs now, complete with dates in the new hub area and jealousy mechanics that affect boon selection. The community discovered that gifting Nemesis enough nectar unlocks a secret “frenemies with benefits” path that has already produced more fan art than the original game managed in four years.
Performance improvements are massive – the game now runs at locked 120 fps on Steam Deck OLED with zero stuttering during the new Chronos phase transitions. Supergiant still insists 1.0 is “at least a year away,” but the update feels suspiciously like a complete sequel wearing Early Access clothing. If this is what they consider a content patch, the final release might actually murder us.
