Released in 2020, Hades is a fast, combat-forward roguelike action RPG developed and published by Supergiant Games, built around repeated “escape attempts” from the Underworld that remix enemies, rooms, and rewards on each run. Its public launch followed an Early Access period, and the game has lived across a wide spread of platforms, from PC storefront releases to major console versions and later mobile distribution.
As a speedgame, Hades works because the core loop is already structured like a series of timed segments: compact combat chambers, rapid transitions, and a movement kit that rewards clean execution. Runs are shaped by tight dashing and attack timing, quick target selection, and the ability to turn scattered “good enough” rewards into a cohesive damage plan on the fly. Because each attempt is short and restart-friendly, runners can iterate relentlessly, hunting for both mechanical consistency and the kind of early-run setups that make the rest of the route snowball.
What makes Hades speedrunning distinct from many other action roguelikes is how heavily the route lives inside decision-making under randomness. Room choices, boon offerings, and upgrade rolls constantly ask runners to balance risk, pace, and damage scaling, which is why the scene supports both approaches that embrace variability and approaches that intentionally control it. On top of that, timing conventions often account for the game’s own clock alongside real-time methods, and leaderboard structures commonly reflect seeded vs. unseeded play as well as version policy and major update splits.
Hades grew into a speedgame while it was still being built in public. Supergiant Games launched it in Early Access first through the Epic Games Store and later through Steam, which meant the earliest serious running culture was PC-centered and closely tied to the same streaming and video-upload ecosystem that helped other modern indie speedgames cohere quickly. In that phase, the scene’s “public record” took shape around speedrun.com, where categories and filters made it possible to preserve different eras of the game without forcing every run to compete across changing builds.
The first widely standardized goal for full-run play settled around what the community framed as a single successful escape attempt, which became the baseline definition for the main Any% style category on the leaderboard. The timing conventions that formed around that goal were also unusually clear for a roguelike: runners leaned on the game’s in-game timer for several categories while also using real-time timing for others, with external tools like LiveSplit often used to display and compare real-time performance. That early split between in-game time and real time helped keep comparisons meaningful in a game where pausing and certain room types can affect what the game clock measures.
Because Early Access was explicitly designed around frequent content and balance updates, early routes were never just “found” once. They had to be repeatedly rebuilt as weapons, boons, room patterns, and encounter tuning shifted, and as the community refined what counted as a consistent start and finish for competitive timing. In practice, that history is still visible in how the leaderboard preserves separate Early Access-era categories and, later on, uses “major update” and version-based filters rather than treating all runs as one continuous ruleset.
Because Hades is both popular and highly repeatable, its speedrunning culture formed in the same places where modern runs are usually learned in public: streams, VODs, and community chat. Conversation tends to live in real-time hubs, with Discord serving as the practical center for day-to-day routing talk, tech questions, and troubleshooting. The scene’s public-facing discussion also spills into Reddit threads and Twitch chats, which often act as “front doors” that point newcomers toward the more organized resources. Speedrun.com guides for Hades explicitly direct learners to check dedicated Discord channels for tech and to study leaderboard runs as a baseline for building competence.
The community’s knowledge base is preserved through a mix of living documents and durable posts: starter guides that explain what “routed” running means for Hades, curated compendiums that collect weapon-specific or build-specific resources, and tutorial videos that turn strategy into repeatable practice. This is the kind of game where a newcomer can watch a run, read a route outline, and immediately see how decision-making is organized around a few stable priorities, like early damage scaling, fast room clears, and minimizing risk during boss patterns. The guides hosted on speedrun.com function as a stable archive for that learning material even as individual discussions move quickly in chat.
For recordkeeping and verification, speedrun.com operates as the public record: runners submit attempts to the appropriate category with supporting evidence (typically video), and volunteer moderators review and accept runs that meet the rules and timing standards. Site guidance also helps set expectations for how that process works, including norms around patience and queue handling, since moderation is volunteer labor and submissions are processed over time rather than instantly.
On Speedrun.com, Hades speedrunning is organized around what an “escape attempt” looks like when you turn it into a measurable run: a single clear as fast as possible, a clear at a set “Heat” level, or an endurance-style series of clears chained together in one sitting. The main family of boards reflects those different goals, with categories like Any Heat, high-heat clears (32 Heat, 40 Heat, 50 Heat), file-based starts (Fresh File and FFTC), and longer marathons that require multiple victories in sequence (3 Weapons, All Weapons, and the aspect-focused challenge categories).
The leaderboards also make a clear distinction in how time is measured. Hades runs commonly use IGT (the in-game clock) for single-clear categories, because the game’s timer intentionally pauses in specific situations like menus and certain transitions, while multi-run formats are commonly measured in RTA (real time) because they are continuous marathons that include file management and between-run overhead. You can see this baked into both the community guidance and the site’s presentation, where boards show IGT alongside an overall “Time,” and guides explicitly flag that Fresh File and All Weapons are treated as RTA-focused categories.
Most of the “big rule decisions” that shape Hades leaderboards are about repeatability and fairness in a game with heavy RNG. The community uses a seeded versus unseeded split to separate routed, pre-mapped attempts from “random seed” attempts, and it treats seed behavior as something runners must actively prove on video. Because using “Give up” can preserve a seed and allow repeated retries, unseeded submissions typically require showing a death or post-victory exit before the run begins to demonstrate that the next attempt is on a fresh seed.
Category definitions are built around specific start and end points, not just “beat the game.” For Any Heat (and the high-heat variants), guides describe timing as beginning when you gain control of Zagreus at the start of an escape and ending on the final boss kill, with the category name determining whether you are free to choose any Heat setting or locked into a high-heat target. Fresh File is framed more like a traditional Any% run, starting from creating a brand-new save and ending on a final boss kill across however many attempts it takes, which is why it is treated as strictly unseeded and timed in real time.
The longer “marathon” categories extend the same logic into multi-clear endurance runs. 3 Weapons lets the runner pick a subset of weapons for back-to-back clears, while All Weapons requires a clear with each weapon once in a single continuous run, and both are described as unseeded RTA formats rather than IGT formats. FFTC, as documented in the community’s guide compendium, is “Fresh File to Credits,” a category built around clearing a full set of runs from a new save as quickly as possible.
Finally, Hades has several “identity” rules that protect verification integrity. Runs submitted for the boards require full video, and the run needs to show the Victory at the end. The community also rejects edge cases where the game’s story progression might allow an escape sequence that does not produce a proper victory screen, because that breaks the basic verification requirement.
Hades speedrunning matured first by turning what looks like chaotic combat into repeatable chamber clears. As runners got faster, the “time save” stopped being a single trick and became a style of movement and positioning that treats every room like a flowchart: enter with a plan, spawn enemies where you want them, and finish the final kill already aligned with the next door or shop. A common efficiency skill is using the game’s spawn indicators and then shaping the next wave by where you stand and what the camera can see, since enemies tend not to appear too far off-screen and can be centralized by hugging walls between waves.
As routes refined, the scene leaned harder into build planning as a speed skill rather than a “nice bonus.” That meant tighter weapon-and-aspect identities, more deliberate Mirror setups, and decision-making that is practiced the same way execution is practiced. High-level running increasingly treats boon menus, wells, and shops as places where hesitation is the enemy: you decide ahead of time what you are looking for, what you are willing to spend to get it, and what your fallback is if the game refuses to cooperate.
The biggest strategic split in Hades is how the community learned to work with randomness instead of merely enduring it. Unseeded play emphasizes fast resets and adapting on the fly, and the rules culture around seeds exists because the game can preserve the same seed if a runner uses “Give up,” while a death (or the post-victory exit that counts as a death) generates a new seed for the next attempt. On the other end, routed running treats RNG as something that can be mapped and manipulated: the route is constructed as a predetermined sequence where the runner can know rooms, rewards, and even boon rarities in advance, and community documentation describes how door transitions and RNG increments can be manipulated to steer what happens next. That routed style also encouraged specialized tooling, including a routing mod pack described in community guides as a way to display seed and increment information to support consistent manipulation.
Tooling and documentation matured alongside the gameplay. Live timing conventions became cleaner with widespread use of external timers like LiveSplit, plus category-specific split files and an autosplitter that can automate starts and splits for runners who want standardized comparisons. At the same time, knowledge consolidation became a pillar of improvement: the community’s guides compendium collects weapon and aspect breakdowns, tech playlists, and format-specific resources so that “how to run fast” is preserved as a shared library rather than scattered across individual streams.
One of the defining milestones for Hades as a speedgame was how quickly it learned to preserve its own past. Rather than forcing every improvement into one continuous ladder, the main leaderboard structure keeps distinct “eras” visible, including Early Access boards and later filters that separate major update baselines. That approach let the scene treat rule changes and balance shifts as part of the historical record instead of an obstacle that erased earlier achievements.
Another watershed was the early standardization of what a “full run” measures in a roguelike. The community’s core definition of a single-clear attempt (Any Heat) established clear start and end points and normalized the idea that Hades can be timed in different ways depending on the category, most notably in-game time versus real-time. That decision shaped everything that followed, because it made comparison meaningful even when runs involve pausing, menus, and room types that affect the game clock differently.
The biggest route-level paradigm shift came when routed play was formally separated from blind, random-seed play. By splitting Seeded and Unseeded boards (and requiring Unseeded runs to demonstrate a fresh seed through pre-run proof), the community created space for two distinct skill sets to coexist: improvisation and reset discipline on the unseeded side, and deterministic execution built around consistent manipulations on the seeded side. Tooling accelerated that second path, with routing resources and mod packs designed to reveal seed state and help runners keep their RNG “on script,” while leaderboard legality still emphasized unmodded submissions as a baseline standard.
Hades also crossed a visibility threshold when it became a marathon showcase game. Appearances at Games Done Quick events, including runs featured at Awesome Games Done Quick, helped cement it as a “watchable” speedgame: fast enough to be exciting, readable enough to be explained, and flexible enough to demonstrate different categories and approaches to RNG under pressure.
As the player base broadened, another quiet milestone was the normalization of cross-platform participation under one public record. Even with PC remaining central for routed tooling, the leaderboard presentation and run listings reflect a multi-platform ecosystem, including runs recorded on platforms like Mac and Switch alongside PC entries. That widened the funnel for new runners and reinforced the need for rules that describe what the game is measuring, not just what one platform happens to enable.
ProfTimbo — Any Heat (Unseeded, v1.0, Unmodded) — 8:25 IGT (22:45 RTA) — 5 years ago (≈2021) — PC / v1.0 — A snapshot of the early v1.0-era route identity, before later version splits and refinement reshaped common resets and expectations.
AngeL1c — Any Heat (Unseeded, v1.37+, Unmodded; Nemesis) — 6:26 IGT (16:19 RTA) — 4 years ago (≈2022) — PC / v1.380xx — Represents the scene settling into faster, cleaner post–v1.37 routes where consistency and fast early chambers matter as much as the late-game boss line.
JDN — Any Heat (Unseeded, v1.37+, Unmodded; Chaos) — 8:58 IGT (23:38 RTA) — 2 years ago (≈2024) — PC / v1.371xx — Notable as a “barrier” style run (sub-9) that reflects how runners talk about benchmarks and breakthrough pace even when it is not a top-of-board placement.
SatanIsAChillGuy — Any Heat (Seeded, v1.37+, Unmodded; Beowulf) — 2:27 IGT (21:04 RTA) — 1 year ago (≈2025) — PC / v1.382xx — A clear example of the seeded branch becoming its own “laboratory,” where the run’s structure and repeatability drive extreme optimization and different risk tolerance than unseeded play.
oldmcjonald — Any Heat (Unseeded, v1.37+, Modded; Eris) — 5:46 IGT (16:43 RTA) — 3 years ago (≈2023) — PC / v1.382xx — Shows how modded boards function as a parallel space for experimentation and “tool-assisted” practice conventions without rewriting the unmodded leaderboard identity.
Vorime — Fresh File (Normal Mode; Sword) — 21:44 — 5 years ago (≈2021) — PC / pre-v1.37 — A landmark-style Fresh File entry from an early era of category definition, where the community’s idea of “from nothing to credits” shaped routing docs and practice standards.
Vorime — FFTC — 4:29:21 — 3 years ago (≈2023) — PC / v1.382xx — A representative long-form milestone that highlights endurance formats and the way verification standards adapt when runs become multi-hour commitments.
Crepes — 50 Heat (Unseeded, v1.0, Unmodded; Heat 51; Hestia) — 21:08 IGT (42:24 RTA) — 5 years ago (≈2021) — PC / pre-v1.37 — A strong “early high-heat” reference point, useful for documenting the category’s older risk profile and build expectations.
AngeL1c — 50 Heat (Unseeded, v1.37+, Unmodded; Heat 64; Zeus) — 19:24 IGT — 2 years ago (≈2024) — PC / v1.382xx — Illustrates the later high-heat direction where pushing Heat upward changes what “optimal” even means (setup reliability, room control, and survival routing).
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Supergiant Games. “Hades: Now Available on Steam Early Access!!” Supergiant Games (blog), December 10, 2019. https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/hades-now-available-on-steam-early-access/
Supergiant Games. “Hades: Now Out of Early Access!” Supergiant Games (blog), September 17, 2020. https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/hades-now-out-of-early-access/
Supergiant Games. “Hades FAQ.” Supergiant Games (blog). Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/hades-faq/
Supergiant Games. “Hades: Latest Updates.” Supergiant Games (blog). Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.supergiantgames.com/blog/hades-updates/
kid_zomb (developer). “Hades – Early Access Patch 037 — v0.24965.” Steam Community, January 22, 2020. https://steamcommunity.com/app/1145360/discussions/0/1736635816358716309/
SteamDB. “Hades Patches and Updates.” SteamDB. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://steamdb.info/app/1145360/patchnotes/
Speedrun.com. “Hades.” Speedrun.com. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades
GuardianRoborn. “{OUTDATED} Hades Speedrunning FAQ.” Speedrun.com Guides. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guides/qz4uh
GuardianRoborn. “Hades Speedrunning FAQ (Google Doc version).” Google Docs. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MhZZAD5lcz3FyU9MGiWEWfnO3Zve0KXb0NQhyGuG0xA/edit?usp=sharing
Jerds. “Starting Speedrunning in Hades.” Speedrun.com Guides. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guides/a4gee
c_gull. “Introduction to Routed Runs.” Speedrun.com Guides. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guides/jxpkj
Speedrun.com. “{RECOMMENDED} Hades Guides Compendium.” Speedrun.com Guides. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guides/1i726
Speedrun.com. “Introduction to Livesplit.” Speedrun.com Guides. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/guides/tvxz3
LiveSplit. “LiveSplit: A Timer for Speedrunners.” Accessed February 12, 2026. https://livesplit.github.io/
LiveSplit. “LiveSplit.AutoSplitters.” GitHub. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://github.com/LiveSplit/LiveSplit.AutoSplitters
ProfessorTimbo. “Any Heat in 08:25.” Speedrun.com run submission. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/runs/y8rpo8dm
AngeL1c. “Any Heat in 06:26.” Speedrun.com run submission. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/runs/ywke43py
SatanIsAChillGuy. “Any Heat in 02:27.” Speedrun.com run submission. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/runs/zxqe3wkm
Vorime. “Fresh File in 21:44.” Speedrun.com run submission. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/runs/mk8kpd1m
Crepes. “50 Heat in 21:08.” Speedrun.com run submission. Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.speedrun.com/hades/runs/z09p5wez
Games Done Quick. “Hades by Vorime (3 Weapons) in 1:00:14.” YouTube video (Awesome Games Done Quick 2021 Online). Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhyaDZqV1L0
Games Done Quick. “Hades by arcalena and trash_lapras in 45:16.” YouTube video (Awesome Games Done Quick 2024). Accessed February 12, 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djMbPyOqj4Y
Nintendo Life. Henry Stockdale. “Feature: Blessed By Hermes – A Peek Inside the Hades Speedrunning Community.” Nintendo Life, February 2, 2021. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2021/02/feature_blessed_by_hermes_-_a_peek_inside_the_hades_speedrunning_community
PC Gamer. Tom Senior. “Hades makes for an unlikely esport, but that hasn’t stopped the Hermes Cup.” PC Gamer, November 3, 2020. https://www.pcgamer.com/hades-makes-for-an-unlikely-esport-but-that-hasnt-stopped-the-hermes-cup/
Kotaku. “The Hades Speedrunning Scene Is Full Of Surprises.” Kotaku, February 2, 2021. https://kotaku.com/the-hades-speedrunning-scene-is-full-of-surprises-1846199981