A video game has finally won a Hugo award. Hades, a roguelike developed by Supergiant Games, managed to win the award in a one-off category over other titles like The Last of Us 2, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Blaseball.
The Hugo awards have been a long-running annual literary award since 1953. Since that time, the award has been used to recognize standout literary works in the science fiction and fantasy genres that continue to help shape the way we think of and tell stories. Previously, there’s never been a best video game category. However, the World Science Fiction Convention decided to include it as a one-off category this year, and now it’s also considering adding it as a permanent category, per Eurogamer.
Other winners of Hugo Awards this year include “The Old Guard” for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form, and “The Murderbot Diaries” for Best Series. You can see all the winners of the 2021 Hugo Awards on the official website.
Hades was originally released in early access in December of 2018. The game’s full release wouldn’t come until 2020, though, when it launched on the Nintendo Switch. The latest port for the game came in August of 2021 when Hades made its official debut on the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
In Hades, players take on the role of Zagreus as he tries to escape his father’s realm in the Underworld. Throughout his quest, Zagreus works alongside the Gods of Olympus and his adoptive mother Nyx. As he works his way through the Underworld, Zagreus comes face to face with multiple bosses and unlocks various Boons that give him access to special powers. The game is a roguelike, which means when players die they start over from the beginning and have to replay through different areas of the game.
Despite being a roguelike, Hades is packed with lore and character backgrounds that help bring the world that Zagreus calls home to life. It’s a modern-day Greek epic in the form of a video game.
To celebrate the award, Supergiant Games’ creative director, Greg Kasavin, tweeted a short video. “I wasn’t able to make an acceptance speech there on behalf of the team though [we] did have a few words here,” Kasavin wrote in his tweet. He then went on to discuss the award and what it means to the team.
