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[TurboDwarf]

weird. I haven't heard anything about the game 'till this thread, and still don't know what the game is all about. Some kind of city builder? shrugs.
Which is funny because i tend to like games like that.

[Persus13]

I think it's just good ol' fashioned marketing. IIRC Legend of Total War got his copy for free from the devs. So they probably hit up a lot of people in the scene with free copies, and probably have a competent marketing department that knew how to talk to Steam. Steam does clearly pick winners in the top banner ads. And it may not even be total wishlists but by how fast it gets wishlisted. And there could also just be plain paid placement. All that, combined with it actually looking like a decent game, can go a long ways toward shaping perception.

Good marketing is certainly a factor, and Hooded Horse is a publisher that's got a good track record of interesting strategy games (Against the Storm, Terra Invicta, etc.) but not at these numbers. Skill is certainly a factor but luck is as well.

All sorts of games have positive press coverage, good demos, and give free copies to YouTubers. But that doesn't always translate to 3 million wishlist and 1 million sales in the first week.

Also from what I can tell, it's a solo dev project, although he's certainly being helped by a good marketing department as you said.

[Jopax]

Hades 2 just hit EA.

It is fun as hell, everybody is hot and the stuff they added/changed from the first one is pretty nice. Best things so far is the big fuck-off axe that's super satisfying to use and the second region bossfight which has the sickest music so far.

Whole thing feels surprisingly complete too, compared to the original. Like, there's stuff that's clearly not finished or hasn't been added yet, but it feels like at the moment the game has about as much stuff as the fully completed original did, which is pretty neat.

[Mephansteras]

Huh. Maybe I should get around to actually finishing the first Hades...

[nenjin]

I loved Hades but I dunno, I'm just not interested in Hades 2. I think because I'm not really about the story this time. Escaping Hades and fighting your dad made sense to me; this feels like trying to put lightning in a bottle again. Mechanically I'm sure it's an upgrade. I just don't know if I really want to sit through the dialog I'm not interested in though.

[Buttery_Mess]

No disrespect to the Manor Lord devs but....the game looks wildly over-hyped.

I've been playing it for a day or two and it's really nice. It's like the Settlers meets Cities Skylines.

It's close to being the game I've been fantasising about for decades. Yeah, it's unfinished, but it's good. I'd imagine fantasy elements could be modded in.

I think if it's the sort of game you've been wanting but never had, it probably hits the spot; it doesn't need to be everything to everyone.

[None]

I know we had a thread for it a lifetime ago, but...

I picked up AI War: Fleet Command again. I'm hooked. I'm so hooked. I'm 'whoops it's well past midnight, just five more minu-one thirty?!' Cracktorio, if Factorio was realtime/grand strategy. Can't believe I've been sleeping on it for so long; I'm trying to get some friends/acquaintances to play with with small success.

Tension of a tower defense, decisions with ramifications, several fronts to fight the fight on, different requirements to tackle different planets, give-and-take as the AI reprises against your assaults, big blob of spaceships...

[quinnr]

I loved Hades but I dunno, I'm just not interested in Hades 2. I think because I'm not really about the story this time. Escaping Hades and fighting your dad made sense to me; this feels like trying to put lightning in a bottle again. Mechanically I'm sure it's an upgrade. I just don't know if I really want to sit through the dialog I'm not interested in though.

I found the Hades 2 announcement a little disappointing. Gotta sell what sells, but I've always deeply appreciated the unique care that Supergiant puts into building a whole world with its own character and narrative for each game. Bastion was fun, but the narrator's charm is really what carried it for me. Pyre I wasn't a fan of the gameplay but I loved the dialogue trees. But I'll have to give it a try, I did enjoy Hades but more for the gameplay than the plots which carried their other games.

[Il Palazzo]

Hades 2 is fun. It is very much what it says on the tin: the same game as Hades, only more of it.
If, having completed H1 you thought to yourself that you'd fancy a few more runs but you've already mastered all the mechanics, met all the cast, and the sense of purpose is gone anyway - then this one's for you.

ed: although, I gotta say, the hammy time puns are getting on me nerves

I picked up AI War: Fleet Command again.

First one or 2nd?

[None]

The original. I went and bought the second while it was on sale for future enjoyment (plus it's nice to support Arcen), but I'm still enraptured with the first. It doesn't have to look great, and while a couple of the keybinds are a little kludgy, and while the game hitches for a millisecond when directing a thousand ships, there's plenty still for me to get out of it.