Is Early Access a Good Thing?

My answer, like with most things in this industry, is, “Well, it depends.” According to Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler, though, it’s an unequivocal yes, and he called the early access release of No Rest for the Wicked “one of the best decisions” his studio has ever made.

He even asked for Sony and Nintendo to embrace the release model more, which is pretty bold, considering how much they both value being buttoned up and ultra polished when releasing most things.

On the consumer side of things, it can feel a lot more like a gamble, though. Most people don’t like spending $10 for the promise of a full lunch in a year; they usually want that lunch right now. I’m sure some of you reading this now can recall the last time you or a friend backed an early access game, only for it to not release at all—or even worse, release in a disappointing state.

It’s not as big a gamble as crowdfunding though. Early access lives up to the name, giving you a beta version (or whatever you want to brand it) that constantly updates. More importantly, it’s updating based on the opinions of the best stakeholders: the earliest adopters.

Players get a taste of a game they might really like, and developers get valuable feedback (and a QA workforce for free). Everything gets polished (and hopefully better) for that 1.0 release. There’s really no better poster child for the boons of early access than…

Hades II Is Already Impressive in Early-Early Access

Our writer Tyler Chancey spent 10 hours with the technical test (thanks, Supergiant!), and he absolutely loved it. Granted, Hades II is still in its early days, but despite being a huge departure from Zagreus’s play style, this sequel is shaping up to be really promising, to no one’s surprise.

Melinoë plays more like a mage, hurling long-range attacks at enemies (at least, in Tyler’s time with the game). There’s mana to keep in mind, but you’ll still be selecting boons from various Greek gods to alter your playstyle. The sky’s the limit here, and I’m eagerly awaiting to try it out in early access when it comes out this year.

Is the Razer BlackShark V2 Pro Worth It?

Razer sent us a review unit of the BlackShark V2 Pro, the latest high-end headset it just released for consoles. The PS5 version I tested was an impressive experience, and you can hear more about it in this week’s podcast.