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Have you played Hades yet? I think it’s my game of the year. Supergiant is no stranger to fantastic action games. Hades is the endpoint in a long line: Pyre, Transistor, and Bastion. Hades is an amalgamation of everything they’ve accomplished – laser-focused and polished to a mirror shine. Let’s talk about the road to Hades, how to refine a game, and how Supergiant turned something good into something great.
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#Hades #Bastion #SupergiantGames
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The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: https://skl.sh/designdoc10201
Also, seemingly unrelated, I've used Skillshare. It is affordable. However, "high quality" is not a word I would use to describe them. Their classes are between mediocre and decent (which is expected for the low price they ask for.)
Transistor's story is really haunting. It's lingered long after I finished it.
Transistor is the first of their games I tried
I will get all, eventually
XD
Hey!
Crazy idea…
A game you play turn-based
But you then see the results in real-time
Something like Katana Zero? That shows a real-time replay of the last slashfest? XD
I absolutely adored Bastion, but I couldn't really get into Transistor. From there I skipped Pyre cause the concept didn't appeal to me, but it does look like an interesting game. Been playing Hades for a couple weeks now though and I really enjoy it. It's the only Roguelike that keeps me from burning out after several runs by giving me all that cooldown stuff I can do when I get back to the House. It's absolutely wild to me how much dialogue is in this game and the voice acting is stellar.
Supergiant is my favorite game studio actually. I adore everything they’ve made they’re all so good!
Mediocre?
You know, you don’t have to bash Youtube tutorials but you still did. Ugh. 😡
I started playing Hades about a week and a half ago and I’ve been loving every second of it. I was worried because I’ve never played a roguelike/roguelite before. The idea of a failure state resetting the majority of my progress always put me off of them. But here I would say Hades has two things that make me feel better about dying, the fact death is not a failure state, and God Mode. Death not being a failure state but being rewarded eases a lot of the frustration, I look forward to going home to redecorate the house, hang out with characters and pet the best boy boy boy. And God Mode is an interesting take on an “easy mode”, as it’s a toggle and the only thing it does is reduce damage. I appreciate that it can be activated at any time too. This game has been an absolute joy, my wife has been watching me play and we’ve had a lot of fun, as she and I will discuss which path to follow or boons to get based on setup. Also the Coronacht, Malphon, and Exagryph’s backstories give me life.
The problem with hades: it's a roguelike, you can have a fun run with good upgrades or you can have a run where athena don't give you the dash reflect and dionysus refuses to give you any poison ability, I thought we were as close as grapes Dionysus! I going full Artemis…
Less than 5 minutes into this video, and I can already tell i need to play Bastion as soon as possible and then Hades shortly after.
Edit: turns out I need to play all the games.
I'm really proud to have played this game since the start of its early access. it feels good to see the game gain tons of appreciation.
So glad someone is finally talking about the devs behind these games, I was there when all they had was Bastion. It's been awesome seeing them grow into what they are today. The art, storytelling, and voice acting is so good in every one of their games, if you told me I'd actually enjoy a sports game (Pyre) before I played it, I wouldn't have believed you. But no matter how questionable the gameplay choices are, they're always a blast to play. And now, Hades has the best of both sides. Amazing story/art, and perfected gameplay mechanics.
It's so hard for me to decide my favourite Supergiant game. I'm loving Hades currently and probably already have played it longer than Pyre or Transistor, but there is something about those games I love too.
Transistor's combat system is the coolest combat system in any action game ever. I still don't know how they managed to build it tbh. So much variety, so much choice, so much means of expression. While Hades has even more variety, and does a better job of making you adapt (rather than settling into your fav build), I ultimately think Transistor's system is cooler in how your abilities/attacks fundamentally change how they work based on your build (whereas Hades, for the most part, just has buffs for your constant abilities).
Finally, Pyre, I suspect is the black sheep in their games for most people. But, for it feels like they went into my brain at night, ask me what my dream game would be, and then made it. A fantasy based action-sports-microRTS game that incorporates awesome characterisation and RPG elements? Um, yes please! (I just wish my other friends played it so I could Vs them).
SuperGiant's next game: a fantasy/sci-fi action sports game roguelike/lite where you choose your team's players' load out in between bouts and each load out part fundamentally changes how the other load out parts work (Transistor style). Commentated with a voice over as if you are playing out a documentary about the sports team, and fluid commentary in the bouts Bastion-style. Heavy characterisation of course.
I'm drooling just thinking about it ☺️🤤
I've been a fan of Supergiant since Bastion and each new game has been absolutely brilliant in its own way.
I really like arkane studio's games like dishonored and prey. Looking forward to what they do with deathloop.
Well articulated.
Isn't every game on a technicality, always in beta? Because beta-testing is where you give it to end-users and they can give you feedback.
For instance, Overwatch has an Experimental mode, where Blizzard implement changes for characters, and you can give feedback on if you liked the changes or not. That's a beta test, however you slice it.
I get a little tired why people today only use 'beta' to mean 'pre-release' and 'alpha' to mean 'our game isn't quite finished but we're still selling it for money but we told you it's not finished so the reviewers can't complain'. Alpha is only the coding stage, I thought?
Platinum games, i don't even know where to start with them…so good.
Supergiant is the only company I have an instabuy policy with. When a game of theirs comes out, I purchase it. No questions asked, no waiting for a sale, I don't even look at the store page. So far I haven't regretted it.
I never really liked Transistor's combat system because I quickly settled on a boring but efficient style – Hades gives almost as much customization but avoids the problem, because I can't build the same thing every time! It's incredible.
i beat this and i was left wanting more AND MORE
this NEEDS dlc and honestly i would do anything to get it I want more to the damn story this has so much going for it
having not played any supergiant games before, i appreciate the clips of their older ones because it really shows how they've stuck to their style but have polished it beautifully
bro ive found a new indie studio to love, thankyou!! i personally enjoy team cherry, hollowknight being masterful and simple and incredible compelling (even though i am very bad at metriodvanias) and silk song looks like it will be a blast. while I wait i guess ill be diving into the underworld though, see you there!
Favorite indie developers are Supergiant, David Szymanski and Ghost Ship Games. My favorite AAA developer is Tech Land.
Great video! Loved your analysis of how Supergiant grew over time. Honestly, I only tried out Transistor and didn’t finish it because the combat felt a little too janky for my taste. You’ve convinced me to buy Hades.. and maybe give Transistor another shot.
"You know whats good? you!"
flattery will get you everywhere