Games of the Year: Hades

Bastion, Transistor, Pyre and Hades. How many software houses can show off 4 titles of this quality in just 11 years of life? Most people will never play them in their entire existence but I have to admit that the real question that haunts me is another: why did it take so long for Supergiant Games to finally become mainstream?

If you go beyond The Last of Us: Part II, which with 99 awards seems to compete in another category, Hades is the game with the most Game of the Year (27) of this 2020. Better than Ghost of Tsushima, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy VII Remake and other great AAAs much more famous. Bastion, Transistor and Pyre don't even come close to this wave of high praise, not even adding all the accolades.

Watch on YouTube. Proving that roguelites can also offer a very varied and exciting narrative for dozens of hours, the Californian team has not only challenged the dogmas of a genre but also itself, agreeing to leave their comfort zone to narrate the adventure of Zagreus and his escape, or at least his attempt, from Hades.

The development in Early Access, the difficulties of a different type of experience that historically neglects storytelling (Supergiant's workhorse) and the need to create an interweaving that takes into account the different games of the players in order not to fall into an annoying whirlwind of repetitions, they pushed 20 video game artisans beyond their limits but always keeping in mind a motto, a vocation, a mission.

Maybe that's why Hades represented the mainstream consecration after three pearls, it's true, but "only" niche. Not just a project to be framed but the sum of past creations with the courage to demonstrate that gameplay, storytelling, replayability and artistic refinement can be applauded at the same time even in a genre that normally does not fully allow it.

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Artistic refinement, satisfying gameplay, absolute replayability and level storytelling. Supergiant didn't miss a beat. And then there's always that mission we mentioned, that North Star to follow blindly: "Supergiant Games is a small development studio with big ambitions. We want to create works that spark your imagination, just like the video games you played as children. ".

Maybe that's the secret.