Hades 2 developers left all of the roguelike’s code “exposed” says iconic indie dev, making it “the easiest to mod game ever”

Supergiant Games may have made every Hades 2 modder’s dream come true by allowing easy access to all of the roguelike’s code.

Jason ‘Thor’ Hall, former Blizzard security specialist and indie developer behind iconic RPG Heartbound, spotted something intriguing while browsing through his Hades 2 files. It seems as though Supergiant Games, the early access title’s dev, deliberately left all of the game’s code open. In a recent stream, Hall reveals this. “You ready to see something wild?” Sharing his screen, he shows how upon going through your official Steam folder into your Hades 2 files, you can find its “scripts” – all of the game’s code.

Hall notes that it’s not only accessible but that it’s also written in Lua, a lightweight scripting language that allows for a painless modding experience. Furthermore, Supergiant’s comments are all available to read alongside the code meaning that curious modders and players can better understand the dev team’s process. “All of it is written in Lua,” Hall explains while scrolling through Hades 2’s scripts. “It has all the comments in it. All of it is exposed.” He then declares that Supergiant has effectively made “the easiest to mod game ever.”

This is no novel phenomenon by any means, however – especially not for Supergiant. A fan on Reddit noted that players could easily edit Hades 2’s files after discovering the same thing as Hall: the scripts were written in Lua and open to access via Steam’s directory. Other users took to the post’s replies to say that the original Hades functioned similarly. “It’s the same as the first game,” one response reads. “I used to edit NPC spawn chances so I could progress their quest lines.” Under Hall’s own clipped stream, you’ll find comments stating the same. “The first Hades did the same thing.”

Supergiant Games itself addressed the topic back in 2020 during a Discord Q&A, explaining that “many aspects of the game are easily moddable because the data is all exposed.” The team’s messages described how Hades players “can change all the text and all the numbers and add types of content to the game” due to its accessible scripts. Much to modders’ delight, it appears that the same applies to the sequel. While devs continue work on Hades 2’s first “Major Update,” we may just see new content come in the form of mods first.

Check out our Hades 2 review to learn what we think about the early-access roguelike.