This year, something special happened with the Hugo Awards - something that may become relevant to video games in the future. It was announced early in the year that the 2021 Hugo Awards would include a video game category, and now the winner has been announced.
For those not in the know, the Hugo Awards are a series of literary awards given to novels, editors, artists, etc. revolving around the science fiction and fantasy genres. As such, the games nominated were some of the best released in 2020 falling into those categories, including The Last of Us 2, Spiritfarer, and Hades.
Out of five games with exceptional gameplay and story, the latter of which is most important for a literary award, it was Hades that emerged victorious. Considering its competition and the level of quality the Hugo Awards deals with on a regular basis, that's quite an accomplishment. That said, it's not exactly surprising that Hades would ultimately emerge victorious. The Hugo Awards honors fan work in its own category, and Hades is essentially an enormous piece of comprehensive and beautiful Greek mythology fan fiction. Not every game lets players reunite lost lovers Achilles and Patroclus in the afterlife, after all.
Furthermore, Hades has a unique spin on how it presents its story to the player. As a roguelite, Hades has players dying and restarting a lot, and for many such games this is a total block on progression. Hades, however, progresses its story whenever the player returns to its main hub, either through death or the rarer successful run. It also progresses the story depending on what the player has done and said previously, making for an expanding tale that feels dynamic like few others. It's one of the reasons Hades took home prizes at the Industry Game Awards in 2020.
On top of that, the writing for Hades is fantastic overall, with characters being fun, interesting, and surprisingly heartwarming when they interact. This ranges from the deep heart to hearts of the romance options to the excitement of each God as they offer Zagreus their legendary boon.
Hades is not just a game with a great story, it is a game filled to the brim with great story and unexpected things. There are still things players don't know they can do in Hades, and maybe even more to be discovered. This award was a one time thing, but if there's enough interest, perhaps it will become a semi-permanent or permanent Hugo Awards category.
Hades is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.