Before Hades became what many are calling the game of 2020, its developer, Supergiant Games, has created a trio of critically acclaimed titles that showcase the team’s impressive range. Everything from each title’s setting to their respective gameplay was vastly different from the others, resulting in an electrifying series of games from one of the most exciting indie developers working today. Nowadays Supergiant is working on it Hades IIa sequel that currently rivals the original game in scope, despite only being in the earliest version of the Early Access release. But while the team builds on this foundation to deliver the full game next year, why not catch up with Supergiant’s brilliant previous titles?
GOG is currently hosting a sale ushers in the start of fall and there are tons of cool new games on offer as well as plenty of classics. However, among the many things, I discovered it bastion, transistorAnd Pyrethe first three games from Supergiant, and all standalone, exceptionally original titles that defined the indie space in the 2010s. A lot of people played bastionwhich made a big impression when it appeared on 2012. That’s why I’m here now to represent them all.
bastionwhich is currently $3.74 on GOG, is where this journey started for many of us, so there’s no better place to start than there. This lively isometric action game follows the child on the trail of an apocalypse called Calamity. After said cataclysm splits the land of Caelondia apart and turns many of its inhabitants into dust, Kid takes it upon himself to put the world back together, one landmass at a time. At the time of its release, it received widespread praise for its art direction and music, as well as the prominent role of its narrator. You see, the narrator is there bastion reacted to certain actions of the child and often commented on his judgment and therefore that of the player, and that was huge at the time. Games weren’t usually about breaking the fourth wall in this way and looking inward, and one could argue that bastion helped popularize this meta quality found in many video game narratives in the 2010s.
In a way bastion is obviously the studio’s most inoffensive release, but its ambitions also formed the basis for the evolution of Supergiant’s house style. Even though they all take place in different worlds, bastions distinctive and painterly style has been reflected throughout the team’s catalog ever since. Darren Korbwho composed bastion As his first video game music, he managed to do that too incredible music for every subsequent release from them, and this track also marks the beginning of Korb and Supergiant’s partnership with singer Ashley Barrett, who recurs on every single release. Much of the mechanical depth of bastionincluding its numerous weapons that play in completely different ways and its elements that allow you to change the game’s difficulty to gain additional rewards, have defined future Supergiant releases. In other words, this Is the blueprint, and it’s still worth taking a look at today.
Supergiant followed bastion with one of my absolute favorite games, transistorsomething just recently turned 10 years old. Set in a distinctive cyberpunk city called Cloudbank, transistor is about a singer named Red who suddenly wakes up to find her lover trapped in a giant sword that looks like a microchip. This allows him to speak and act as the game’s narrator, and his voice can emanate from your controller if you want to take it a step further. While transistor is, like its predecessor, presented from an isometric perspective (another hallmark of Supergiant’s games), its action is far more strategic in comparison bastionis a fast-paced real-time battle. transistor can be played in real time, but largely benefits from Red’s turn ability, which stops time and allows her to move around the arena and use abilities when her dwindling stamina allows. It’s a system that allows for precision and finesse while emphasizing Red’s precarious nature, as she’s not exactly trained as a fighter but manages to show overwhelming strength against all odds.
transistor is a slightly deeper role-playing game than bastion too and features one of my favorite skill systems. In it, you unlock moves called features, and each feature can be added as an active ability on your toolbar, a modifier for another skill, or a passive ability for Red. For example, the move “Ricochet” can either fire a projectile as an active function, cause ability chaining as a modifier, or allow Red to block some damage as a passive shield. There are sixteen abilities in total, resulting in a staggering number of permutations, so it’s not difficult to create a build that feels completely authentic.
As an added dimension, these features are all tied to characters in the world of transistorand equipping them in different ways unlocks parts of their biographies, expanding the game’s backstory while encouraging experimentation. transistorIt’s fucking awesome and you can buy it for $5 on GOG.
Supergiants third game, Pyreis quietly the studio’s best, and we wouldn’t have done that Hades‘ tremendous storytelling and villainous structure without it. Pyre is also kind of bananas in that it takes place in a world where roving gangs of fantastical creatures play a spiritual game of basketball. The player is an unseen character known only as the “Reader” who joins a crew originally consisting of a normal-looking human named Hedwyn and a talking dog named Hedwyn Rukey Greentail (what a great name) and a giant horned lady named Jodariel, but in your travels so many of Supergiant’s best characters join your team, the Nightwings. There’s Volfred Sandalwood, a wise tree man, the one-eyed worm knight Sir Gilman and of course Ti’zo.
PyreThe group of Exiles are some of the warmest characters I’ve encountered in any game, but they’re also fearsome players in the game’s rites. In these ritual battles, the player takes three of his teammates and plays ball. Each character has a unique shape and a protective aura around them, often depending on their size. The aura roils and disintegrates any enemy that passes through it. But it can also be focused into an explosion, which can achieve the same effect. The goal of the game is to grab the ball in the middle of the field and throw or throw it into the opposing team’s pyre until they run out of HP. At the end of the game, the winners advance in the tournament, which spans multiple regions, while the losers fight their way back up.
Pyre However, there’s another twist: If you win the entire tournament, you win freedom… one person at a time. At the end of a victorious run, you must sacrifice a player, balancing your affection for them and your desire to see them free against your need for their skills or movement abilities. It’s messy and it’s a cycle that you’ll repeat a few times throughout the game Pyre spins an impressive story React to your decisions, victories and even your losses. You now understand why it is so important for the development of Hadesthat manages to tell little stories, no matter how successful a Zagreus run is. Pyre is unfortunately Supergiant’s most overlooked game, but you can make up for it by purchasing it now for $6 on GOG.
If you appreciate Supergiant’s latest and critically acclaimed work, you owe it to yourself to take another look at how the team got there. Supergiant’s history is one of constantly punching above its weight and knocking it out of the park. These three titles are some of the most beautiful things I’ve encountered in my decades of playing games, and feature some of the most touching music and singing I’ve ever heard. They represent such a brilliant era of games that I continually miss, and they can be yours for about $15.
