When I was playing bastion It was in high school that I first felt that American video games could be art. Most of the games I knew either overtly dealt with how efficiently I could kill a living thing, or their color palettes were a horrible combination of brown and gray. bastion stood out as a beautiful dungeon crawler with a catchy soundtrack. I was similarly rewarded when I bought the next release from creator Supergiant Games, transistor. His poignant vision of dystopia made me cry in my college dorm until 5am. I was heartbroken to realize that none of these games would ever have sequels.
The developers have previously stated in job interviews that they didn’t want to make sequels for money. “I don’t know if we’ll ever go back to the world [Bastion]but if we do, it will be at a time when the team wants to do that more than anything,” said Supergiant writer Greg Kasavin Eurogamer. “It can’t just be a financially motivated decision, because that’s not how it works bastion was created in the first place.”
“Supergiant Doesn’t Do Sequels” became a salve for fans hoping their favorite games would get more love and attention. Supergiant was better than those crass studios that made “unnecessary” games for money. Commercial art has always been about compromise. These developers seemed to be that rare group of creatives above these petty mortal concerns. Fans admired her for it and hoped that rebellious streak would last as long as the studio made games.
Then released Supergiant Hades in 2020, a roguelike that broke all of the company’s previous sales records, reaching one million copies sold almost immediately after it transitioned from Early Access to its full release. It received general critical acclaim (its metacritical score currently sits at 93) and has had the most dazzling awards tour an indie game could hope for. It was arguably the most successful game the studio had ever released redefined the roguelike genre. Not only was it a fun and stylish game — it also showed that American developers could find mainstream success in two stigmatized genres: visual novels and roguelikes. Beyond gaming, it is the first video game to win a Hugo Prize. Hades is not only the star of indie games, but arguably of the creative potential of all video games.
Despite this, the mythology of the supergiant remained ubiquitous without a sequel. Many of its most dedicated fans just didn’t think that such massive mainstream success would change the ethos of a studio that valued art over recognition or money. So it came as an exterior shock to many (including the my city employees watching trailers in the office). Hades II got introduced at The game prices.
Most Hades fans were happywhile some Supergiant Stans who also loved the game were dismayed what they saw was a Departure from the studio independent spirit. Both the gameplay and the story seemed to be similar Hades, that’s not how the studio usually approaches game design. Even the name seemed like an open surrender to the realities of marketing this tweet suggests. When the developers of the bold original pyre If you could capitulate to the lure of money and success, what hope was there for the rest of the gaming industry? Last night wasn’t just a celebration of Hades II. It was a time of mourning for fans who held Supergiant to impossible standards.
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Even the official FAQ to the Hades II nods to this concern:
With each of our projects over the years, we wanted to take on a new challenge that challenged the creativity of our team and taught us more about how to make good games together. One such challenge that we’ve thought about for a long time was trying to make a sequel that could somehow recapture the sense of wonder and joy of its predecessor. Some of our absolute favorite games have achieved this! The question is can we?
The quote brings some clarity to Supergiant’s official stance on sequels. They will make sequels if they find the challenge creative enough. The game definitely looks and sounds like the first one Hades, but there’s not even a release date yet. Despite the impressions made by the reveal trailer, it’s entirely possible that the gameplay feels very different from that of the first game, or that it’s full of surprises and innovations that we don’t see coming.
What if not? What if the developers just settled on an IP that reliably prints money? I think that’s ok. That doesn’t mean the developers will never work on their own original projects again. Supergiant prides itself on being self-funded and perhaps financially stable Hades II will allow them to create another new world. Every indie game you’ve ever played has been shaped by its financial circumstances. Just because developers haven’t announced which features have been cut due to budget constraints doesn’t mean those cuts and compromises haven’t happened. Even the classic supergiant titles you loved have always been tainted with dirty profits. That’s why they played so well and looked so damn good.
my city turned to Supergiant to ask if the success of Hades contributed to the decision to make a sequel and received no response as of publication time.
Supergiant Games has a high standard because it presents itself to the public. The marketing copy is conversational, the community strategy relies heavily on word of mouth, and the studio is scrupulous in limiting its public appearances. But the studio isn’t a band that grew out of someone’s garage. Its co-founders were veteran developers at EA and bastion was published by entertainment giant Warner Bros. Connections and money have always been a key part of what made Supergiant’s games so successful. Does it detract from the artistic achievements of these games? Absolutely not.
But it’s important to be clear about what it actually means to be an “independent studio”. It means existing in a volatile environment where developers don’t know if their employer will exist in a few years. It means making concessions and pretending everything was intentional. It means carrying the weight of the game’s artistic soul, even if you never asked for it in the first place. And I just don’t think it’s reasonable to hold a studio to rigid expectations based on what a developer thought of their games in 2012. Ten years have passed and the gaming industry has changed significantly from then. Supergiant doesn’t have to carry the creative torch. There are so many fascinating and unique games developed by crappy studios that you have never heard of. It’s about time we try to discover some of them instead of tying Supergiant to fanciful expectations.
There is no such thing as an indie studio that is not tied to the physical conditions of the industry. So I don’t mourn what Supergiant Games could have been. I’m glad I had a chance to play a game like this transistor at all. It was always a wonder that Supergiant was what it was for so long. Some studios seem to work more miracles than others. I hope so Hades II is still one of them.
