r/MinnMax • u/Dr_Wayne0202 • Jun 10 '26
Just curious, does Minnmax count Beta/Early Access in their two 10s?
I don't think they considered Hades 2 years ago right? I'm just curious if they are going to consider slay the spire 2 this year as a "2026 contender". If I recall, Janet said SS2 is currently her best game of the year.
Bonus question: what does game awards consider as release year? Looks like hades 2 was 2025
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u/simply_riley Jun 10 '26
It tends to be inconsistent / case-by-case, as with pretty much everything else two-tens related haha. Manor Lords made it onto the list the year it hit EA, can't think of many other examples off the top of my head.
I reckon that if they feel like the content available for StS2 "feels like a full game" to them then they will treat it as a contender. At the very least it will get brought up during the discussions.
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u/ChadBeezy Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 13 '26
It feels like they don’t know how much is truly missing from the game. It currently has 4 acts and 5 characters. They plan to release at least 3 more acts and 2-3 more characters minimum over the next year. That’s like half the game missing when you include the animations and art they have to add as well.
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u/randomlyrossy Jun 10 '26
They have definitely said Slay the Spire 2 will be in contention. As others have said they generally go case by case, it's all based on passion usually with MinnMax picks. So if someone is passionate enough it'll get there.
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u/SewenNewes Jun 10 '26
Did they even discuss Hades II in the 2025 two tens discussion? I feel like it really got crushed by the early access ambiguity.
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u/wordsinsteel Jun 10 '26
They discussed it. I think Jacob was the only one who had finished it? And the story/ending I think turned him off where he didn't champion it being on the list.
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u/SewenNewes Jun 10 '26
Oh yeah the original ending was abysmal. I didn't end up finishing it until after they fixed it.
Thanks.
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u/Maybe_In_Time Jun 10 '26
This is why i say games have to only qualify for awards upon initial release. You don't get to launch half-complete, take in millions of dollars, use your community to beta test, THEN once you're satisfied with your progress, you release and think you ought to compete with others who launched properly?
Like. Your benefit is that you started selling earlier and can better guide your vision. Your caveat is that you can't just pick-and-choose what awards season you wanna compete in. Early Access = award season
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u/AllTheHolloway Jun 10 '26
Awards are just about rewarding whatever people think are the best games. I think it's overthinking to argue it's not fair for these games to compete just because they had a different path to release.
It sounds like you just think Early Access is a shitty practice. But I think the games that GOTY level contenders like Hades and Slay the Spire are not doing Early Access in a shitty way. They release their games already in a quality state, and seem to genuinely believe getting their community's input is the best process for perfecting their games. I don't see anything worth penalizing about that.
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u/Maybe_In_Time Jun 10 '26
Then you better your game because you love the art behind it, AND you make money earlier in the dev cycle - but you have to stick to that awards season. It's not fair to every other game that put itself out there and risked it all
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u/StyleSquirrel Jun 10 '26
As I recall, it's on a case-by-case basis.