Indeed. While I have yet to play Hades (my plate has been quite full of late), I am eager to see whatever Supergiant comes out with in the next three years.
I think it's fair to treat it as the end for now given that it's as far as we can go, but I agree I don't think Supergiant is done making amazing games by any means.
@@AtomicBananaPress I'll be interested to see where they go from here. With Hades being such a refinement of the Bastion/Transistor style, I'm not sure I can imagine how they'd improve on it. Maybe they'll try to take a different direction with whatever they put out in 2023? Honestly, I would be interested in how they'd pull off an SRPG, since they kinda dabbled in turn-based mechanics with Transistor.
honestly Hades does feel exactly like you summed up: a peak of what all Supergiant has done. but by far the best thing Hades has done is set a blueprint for making the Roguelite/Roguelike genres worth "putting up with". these are hard genres to get into in that they're based in that arcade level toughness that you have to over time adapt and learn how to overcome. and that means you will die, a lot. and Supergiant's solution is so simple and elegant: take the sting off death. make it so starting another run *is* the second best part of the game. each 'return' to the House of Hades just means you get to learn more about the world, get another round of chats, maybe something new will happen next run. and it becomes this addicting formula of it's own. and even after you've been winning, the fun doesn't stop and it gently entices you to go further and crank up the heat. some of the challenges of doing this even trigger new dialog, such as Hermes talking about how he suggested specific rules about the pact of punishment you incurred on yourself.
I'm a bit miffed that you spent 20 minutes talking about Super Giant and didn't mention Darren Korb once - his soundtracks are always on-point, and the music in Transistor especially is what made it my favorite title from the studio (up until Hades).
I kinda get it because it doesn't seem to be this channel's focus/strength but yes, the audio aspects in Hades are top-notch and you can also trace their evolution throughout all of Supergiant's games. I would have loved for that to have been discussed in the video from the use of various audio cues to implementing dynamic stems depending on player input. Like, in Bastion, it was really cool that Zia's song had more reverb the farther away you are and was louder in one ear depending on your positional relation to her. And then they kept doing that sort of thing but more for each game onwards. Special shout out to the humming in Transistor and Pyre's different ending song based on your choices.
@@retrograderiding3486 Pyre also did this really neat trick where the Liberation Rite used the same song but with different lyrics depending on which team you were playing - and when they got the orb it would shift over to a remix incorporating that team's theme. Hades makes use of a more straightforward bit of mixing - when you enter a new section each encounter adds another layer to the instrumentation, until you get to the sub-boss/boss and you get the full effect. It might have made the video overlong to talk about it all, but at the very least Darrin Korb's name should have been mentioned, since he's voicing Zagreus on top of the soundtrack duties.
It made me chuckle for sure, but IMO there are many games that are funnier like Paper Mario, Undertale, Monkey Island, Psychonauts, Conker, Portal and The South Park RPGs.
What I think is the best thing about Hades is Zagreus as both the medium the players experience the world and as the MC. The Charming personality, His character development throughout the game, how he builds his relationships and interacts with the other characters, how he feels great at play when you play as him (especially those little comments as you enter a new room!) and how by playing as him you come to accept Zagreus as a part of you in the story. It's simply genius writing and gameplay design that keeps me coming back for more.
The only thing I fear is that, with Hades, Supergiant Games have set high expectations for their next game into their fans. They have set the bar really high now. I admire them.
That's fair. I think what I hope from them for now (at least with the current state of the world) that they just expand on Hades a bit. It's a game designed for additional content so additional dungeons biomes, new types of boons and some additional storylines would be cool to see. Plenty of room for expansion for sure. Looking at it from the outside, that's probably the easier choice compared to starting from scratch with quarantine going on and the team being unable to have face to face conversations.
As someone who had to hear my friend fawn over Supergiant for YEARS now, I'm glad their newest game finally made me sit down and find out why he was so obsessed with them. Hades is a _masterpiece_, and the most unexpectedly pleasant surprise I've had all years, hands down. I cannot wait to revisit this company's older games now that I've been introduced to their best, even if the other ones can't quite compare :)
Hades MAY be their best, but it's due to the great design and polish, it's certainly not an outright winner. For me it's probably a three way tie between Hades, Pyre and Transistor (Bastion is cool, but not quite as amazing as those other games), each doing something different than the others. I hope you enjoy the others as much as I did :)
Hades was an awesome surprise for me too btw. While I loved Supergiant already, I don't usually like Roguelikes/lites, so when I heard they were making Hades rogue-lite I was disappointed. But of course, they are so masterful with their game design, characterisation and polish that I now see what roguelites can be! They have opened my eyes to the possibilities of the genre.
@@moocowp4970 That is EXACTLY how I felt! I can't stand roguelikes/lites, but this completely changed my perspective - and I wouldn't be surprised if this permanently altered roguelikes/lites in the future, either
@@moocowp4970 I just bought Transistor and Bastion on the Nintendo Eshop sale last night so I could try them! Unfortunately, Pyre's not on there (even though that looks the most interesting to me, whomp). So we'll most certainly see!
@@randomguy6679 That's because wrestling is basically maximizing narrative. I'm thinking more European soccer, where celebrity players are on par with actors and politicians in fame.
Pyre is one of my favourite games of all time - I think they did something really special with that game making the "combat" and story interesting and the characters engaging and relatable, and you really felt like every loss and every win had an impact which was awesome.
I really want to check it out, it sounds so cool. The only time I’ve seen a game with no game over state was with something like Heavy Rain or Until Dawn. I never expected it from a story-driven pseudo-sports fantasy game (nor have I ever heard of another story-driven pseudo-sports fantasy game, unless you count Blitzball I guess lol)
Super Giant was a studio that I was always aware of and respected but Hades is the game that made me fall in love with them. I've been going back through their library of games that I had picked up but never finished with an almost archaeologyic look at the titles. For all my love of Indie titles most of the studio's behind them don't actually catch my attention like Super Giant did. The last studio to do that for me was That Game Company (RIP). Sukeban Studio is really the only studio that I've been following as of late waiting for their Sophomore title.
@@gavo7911 I've actually started playing Hollow Knight in the last few weeks. It's super empressive here's hoping Team Cherry pulls Silksong off. I'm pretty sure they well.
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.
I can’t stop playing this game ever since it came out. I never liked rouge likes before, but I can’t help but call this one of the best games of the year.
I absolutely love this game. It really does feel like the best Supergiant has made thus far. It's story and narration got me way more interested in greek mythology than I've ever been before and they're really loyal to the source stories. It's also really cool how they handle romantic relationships in this game. They don't shy away from same sex romantic relationships between male characters and it's the first game I've ever seen where a character turns down a player's romantic advances. Another studio worth mentioning in terms of one that's progressed like Supergiant, Atlus. The persona games in particular keep improving mechanically one over the next. Everyone will have their own preferences in terms of stories and characters but the mechanics just get better from game to game.
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).
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.
My favorite developer is easily Insomniac. The way they can continue to evolve through genres as the industry shifts, from Spyro to Ratchet & Clank to Resistance to Spider-Man, and make some of the best games of the genre nearly every time continues to impress me with each new release. Even their less successful titles like Sunset Overdrive are criminally underrated.
This is the perfect game for me as I sank 150 hours into Hades, loving every second of it. So I decided to play through Supergiant's other games. Completed Bastion and halfway through Transistor. Neither grabbed me as quickly as Hades, but they get better and better as they move along. I loved coming up with boon and hammer synergies in Hades and Transistors function combinations are similarly fun. Looking forward to Pyre after this. Great video, btw.
I went the other way around. Started with Bastion and worked my way up to Hades (mostly because all previous 3 games combined were cheaper than Hades alone in the last Steam sale), I loved every one of them. I'm still playing Hades (or rather, I'm just getting started, since I haven't cleared a run yet. Still dying in Elysium), so it's hard to say where it will fall on my preference, but the first 3 were all incredibly unique and resonating experiences on their own. Pyre is completely different of the other 3 though. Since not only it has a completely different combat system, but iit's less customizable. You have, eventually, up to 9 party members to pick from, each with 3 basic abilities (a jump, a dash and an offensive spell) that work differently for each, with a small skill tree being available at level up that either upgrades those basic abilities or gives some neat passives. It's way less than Transistor offered in ways of customizing, but the fun of Pyre's gameplay is figuring out the best synergy between party members (the game encourages you to rotate your active party members often, so figuring out which character combinations fit your playstyle is important), learning to use their skills and positioning, getting good at reacting to what happens during the matches and so on. It took a while for me to get into it while with Bastion, Transistor and Hades I was immediately in love with the gameplay, but it really grew on me, and I plan on doing a harder run after I'm done with Hades to see the story unfold in a different way (because I sure as hell won't be winning as often as I did on normal mode...).
@@42Caio I wish I'd done it in the order you have as I do think Hades is significantly better than the others. But I am enjoying them all for different reasons. The music is the most consistently good part in all the games. I can't wait to see what Supergiant makes next.
I absolutely love SuperGiant Games as a studio. They're all incredibly creative and just an overall inspiration. They do phenomenal work. This video was a pleasure to watch. Awesome work.
Probably my favorite thing about Hades is EVERYTHING is useful. Everything you do on a run with either be useful for that run or permanently. There's never a bad reward, and everything encourages experimentation
I loved being able to recognize the DNA of previous Supergiant titles all over Hades. I still think its strongest point is the way the story and gameplay are intertwined in the feedback loop you mention. Now that I know that aspect previously existed in Pyre as well, I may have to check out that more niche title...
Amazing video. I'm myself a fan of Supergiant games, but I haven't yet played Hades. All the elements of their games are so purposefully created that It's almost impossible that they deliver a bad game.
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
So im about to get a switch in a couple weeks. At first I was most excited to play Zelda, Witcher, the other big games. I mean I stil am. I have a list of games I'm picking up. After more and more research and RUclips those triple A titles are now at the bottom..my list starts with like 10 indie eshop games and supergiants entire library. Im so so excited to play bastion, transistor, and now hades. Wow. Thanks for this video and content.
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.
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.
Greek dude: OMG Hades SUCKS! My girlfriend just died! Hades trying to explain that he's the god of the dead, not the god of death: *scatman intensifies*
I honestly wanted to make a video just like this, because I saw all of this too. You probably put it into words better than I ever would have though. Supergiant are definitely my favorite team and I am going to follow everything they do
So many harsh critic channels seem to have complimented this game after coming out of early access, including yourself, so I think I’m sold! I just didn’t expect it at all!
It's crazy how high-level their output has been. Pyre is one of the few games to actually make me cry, because you become so attached to the characters throughout it. You want them to earn their way out... but you don't want to lose them, either.
Jen Zee’s art is such an inspiration to me, Logan Cunningham’s voice is honestly awe-inspiring, and Darren Korb’s music is worth listening to thousands of times over. Supergiant is by FAR my favorite game developer and I can’t wait to see what they do next! (Btw Transistor is my favorite game ever, so amazing)
I didn't like Bastion when I first played it back in the day, never played Transistor nor Pyre but maaaaan, I fell in LOVE with Hades and impatiently waited to finally play it. It never disspointed me. I should revisit Bastion soon though
Hades is probably my favourite game of all time, and I found it only because I saw it mentioned on your channel. So, ya know, thanks! I am still baffled by how utterly amazing this game is, and I'll probably need a while before I could properly comprehensively explain why, but there's a LOT there
Worth talking about external inspiration too; Pyre was conceived to fix the XCOM problem where doing well makes the game get easier while doing poorly makes the game become harder. Losing your best team members becomes your goal rather than a failure. Hades was inspired in part by Slay the Spire (and in particular the Heat system was designed as a more customisable version of STS's Ascension system).
Very few companies have a handle on my wallet like Super Giant. Randomly picked up Bastion on my phone based on the art, and now one of my most anticipated games is Hades II. Consistent and beautiful.
Hades is the pinnacle of what Supergiant Games has done up until now, and is an absolute masterpiece that allows for great different ways to play both in (builds, playstyle, weapons) and around the game (self-assigned rules for speedruns, competitive and coop modes). I cannot wait to see their next pinnacle, I am sure that Supergiant Games will live up to the expectations already set on them, and keep their title of pillar of the indie industry.
My first supergiant game was hades I started playing last night. Bastion looks so good and fun. The other 2 pyre and transistor don't look as good to me but I'd love to play them. Over the years starting with indie games and Xbox arcade games on Xbox 360 I've continued to really dabble in, appreciate and play so many indie or AA games. Never have I ever regretted it.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing Hades. Maybe for future games they can explore other mythologies. For example, Norse mythology escaping from niflheim to asgard or in Egyptian mythology escaping from the Duat to the Field of Reeds
So we're not gonna talk about Darryn Korb's amazing contributions to Supergiant Games? No? Okay, well that dude is a master at his craft and I absolutely love his tracks. They bring out the best in SG games.
I honestly expected more from this video. I mean, sure, it shows how Supergiant refined their formula from game to game, but it doesn't go into specifics of how that refinement process takes place. I mean, come on, I expected to come out of this video with some insights on how to polish my game to a shine. Maybe I'm just an idiot, and have to rewatch the whole thing to make sense of it, or maybe it's not my fault. Not sure which, though.
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!
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.
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
One design choice in their games is the level of difficulty you have to face, things that make the situations harder (and usually give better rewards) are kind of staple on Supergiant games.
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.
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 ☺️🤤
9:24 I completely missed that you could control your dog in my playthrough! I guess I kinda rushed through so I could move onto other games I had queued up including Hades!
I really like that they included God Mode, but it only makes you resist damage and nothing else. It doesn't affect the strength & number of enemies or luck, so it doesn't feel too humiliating, but at the same time it still is easier. after hitting my head against a 30 run brick wall where I saw the Bone Hydra THREE TIMES, it allowed me to finally get a foothold on the game. After I got the ten successful runs needed to, well, you know, I turned it off, and found out it had given me the space not to really need it. Unless I'm tired or the build ends up garbage, or I'm using the bow and the build isn't S-tier, goddamn the Bow is frustrating.
Can I humbly ask of you to talk about the first 2 Oddworld games (Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus)? I think they're severely underrated and have done a lot of things right.
I think currently Klei games is my favorite studio. Mark of the Ninja, and don't starve were my favorites, but I've liked every game they've made and they have a lot of wildly different games. Abit different that Supergiant where you can see the same DNA in each game.
Yeah, but I personally like Supergiant in that their games are more accessible (Like, all of Klei's games except invisible, Inc felt like they were trying to act HARDCORE, as in Don't Starve is HARDCORE survival and Mark of the Ninja is HARDCORE stealth), and the overall narrative and visual design is WAY better.
I don't know if this is a good idea, but you can talk about the history and development of crafting systems in games. You briefly talked about it in your "How do you stop item hoarding" video, and I would like to hear more about it. Sorry if it is a terrible idea.
I guess it is no surprise to anyone that it leads to the Release of a superb game if you keep in contact with potential buyers, open up development to the customers and start very early with quality assurance by letting players play with the beta as early as a year before Release... I guess the only surprise is that almost no big developer has understood this truth until now....
I have a love hate relationship with square as my favorite developer. They released nothing but quality in the 90s, and so quickly. The ps3 - ps4 era was a disaster, with ff15 and kh3 being some of the worst AAA RPGs I’ve ever played, and after comically long development periods. FF7R was fantastic though, especially the combat, and gives me hope that maybe they can finally get some momentum going forward. I hear 14 is really good, I’m just not an mmo person.
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.
Yeah honestly like, as someone who has played hades since early access, my opinion of the game even now is "It's a decent roguelike, that shines for it's narrative. I can play something like the binding of isaac or enter the gungeon and have a fun time much like hades, but hades delivers on a progressive world and narrative in a way no roguelike really has, while also still delivering on a good gameplay experience. 10/10
It's not like it does anything super new or unique, it's just well polished visuals, strong animation and ui, and importantly, an incredible story and sense of immersion.
The first 1000 people to use the link will get a free trial of Skillshare Premium Membership: skl.sh/designdoc10201
It feels weird to call hades an endpoint, because I fully believe in super giants ability to make an even better game following this one.
Indeed. While I have yet to play Hades (my plate has been quite full of late), I am eager to see whatever Supergiant comes out with in the next three years.
I certainly hope they keep making cool stuff.
I think it's fair to treat it as the end for now given that it's as far as we can go, but I agree I don't think Supergiant is done making amazing games by any means.
They've learned from every game they've made thus far. I cannot wait for their next one.
@@AtomicBananaPress I'll be interested to see where they go from here. With Hades being such a refinement of the Bastion/Transistor style, I'm not sure I can imagine how they'd improve on it.
Maybe they'll try to take a different direction with whatever they put out in 2023? Honestly, I would be interested in how they'd pull off an SRPG, since they kinda dabbled in turn-based mechanics with Transistor.
honestly Hades does feel exactly like you summed up: a peak of what all Supergiant has done. but by far the best thing Hades has done is set a blueprint for making the Roguelite/Roguelike genres worth "putting up with". these are hard genres to get into in that they're based in that arcade level toughness that you have to over time adapt and learn how to overcome. and that means you will die, a lot. and Supergiant's solution is so simple and elegant: take the sting off death. make it so starting another run *is* the second best part of the game. each 'return' to the House of Hades just means you get to learn more about the world, get another round of chats, maybe something new will happen next run. and it becomes this addicting formula of it's own. and even after you've been winning, the fun doesn't stop and it gently entices you to go further and crank up the heat. some of the challenges of doing this even trigger new dialog, such as Hermes talking about how he suggested specific rules about the pact of punishment you incurred on yourself.
Fully agree
Hermes even makes a comment after you turn on the run timer from the options menu. Happy you're trying to improve your speed :).
Children of Morta is the closest I've seen to Hades' story system, but Hades goes so much further and more in depth it's fantastic.
Yeah I really like that there are even combos that aren’t obvious like Meg reacting to 40% Forced Overtime and basically calling Zag a reckless fool
I'm a bit miffed that you spent 20 minutes talking about Super Giant and didn't mention Darren Korb once - his soundtracks are always on-point, and the music in Transistor especially is what made it my favorite title from the studio (up until Hades).
I kinda get it because it doesn't seem to be this channel's focus/strength but yes, the audio aspects in Hades are top-notch and you can also trace their evolution throughout all of Supergiant's games. I would have loved for that to have been discussed in the video from the use of various audio cues to implementing dynamic stems depending on player input.
Like, in Bastion, it was really cool that Zia's song had more reverb the farther away you are and was louder in one ear depending on your positional relation to her. And then they kept doing that sort of thing but more for each game onwards. Special shout out to the humming in Transistor and Pyre's different ending song based on your choices.
@@retrograderiding3486
Pyre also did this really neat trick where the Liberation Rite used the same song but with different lyrics depending on which team you were playing - and when they got the orb it would shift over to a remix incorporating that team's theme.
Hades makes use of a more straightforward bit of mixing - when you enter a new section each encounter adds another layer to the instrumentation, until you get to the sub-boss/boss and you get the full effect.
It might have made the video overlong to talk about it all, but at the very least Darrin Korb's name should have been mentioned, since he's voicing Zagreus on top of the soundtrack duties.
That’s good enough a subject for an entire essay
Hades easily wins the award for most times i laughed in a single player game from dialogue.
FR! I chuckle so much, even at lines I've heard before!
It made me chuckle for sure, but IMO there are many games that are funnier like Paper Mario, Undertale, Monkey Island, Psychonauts, Conker, Portal and The South Park RPGs.
What I think is the best thing about Hades is Zagreus as both the medium the players experience the world and as the MC. The Charming personality, His character development throughout the game, how he builds his relationships and interacts with the other characters, how he feels great at play when you play as him (especially those little comments as you enter a new room!) and how by playing as him you come to accept Zagreus as a part of you in the story. It's simply genius writing and gameplay design that keeps me coming back for more.
Every time a new song started playing, my immediate thought was "Oh yeah, that's still a great song."
The only thing I fear is that, with Hades, Supergiant Games have set high expectations for their next game into their fans. They have set the bar really high now. I admire them.
That's fair. I think what I hope from them for now (at least with the current state of the world) that they just expand on Hades a bit. It's a game designed for additional content so additional dungeons biomes, new types of boons and some additional storylines would be cool to see. Plenty of room for expansion for sure. Looking at it from the outside, that's probably the easier choice compared to starting from scratch with quarantine going on and the team being unable to have face to face conversations.
@@DesignDocIt's a good thing they decided to do a sequel, then. XD
You missed the opportunity to show Athena over the "spring fully formed from the head" line
Shit...you’re right. Wasn’t even thinking about that.
As someone who had to hear my friend fawn over Supergiant for YEARS now, I'm glad their newest game finally made me sit down and find out why he was so obsessed with them. Hades is a _masterpiece_, and the most unexpectedly pleasant surprise I've had all years, hands down. I cannot wait to revisit this company's older games now that I've been introduced to their best, even if the other ones can't quite compare :)
Hades MAY be their best, but it's due to the great design and polish, it's certainly not an outright winner. For me it's probably a three way tie between Hades, Pyre and Transistor (Bastion is cool, but not quite as amazing as those other games), each doing something different than the others. I hope you enjoy the others as much as I did :)
Hades was an awesome surprise for me too btw. While I loved Supergiant already, I don't usually like Roguelikes/lites, so when I heard they were making Hades rogue-lite I was disappointed. But of course, they are so masterful with their game design, characterisation and polish that I now see what roguelites can be! They have opened my eyes to the possibilities of the genre.
@@moocowp4970 That is EXACTLY how I felt! I can't stand roguelikes/lites, but this completely changed my perspective - and I wouldn't be surprised if this permanently altered roguelikes/lites in the future, either
@@moocowp4970 I just bought Transistor and Bastion on the Nintendo Eshop sale last night so I could try them! Unfortunately, Pyre's not on there (even though that looks the most interesting to me, whomp). So we'll most certainly see!
@@homesteadhero yeah I was sad to hear they decided not to re-release Pyre on the Switch
Pyre is what a sports game SHOULD be. We don't watch sports for the games. We watch sports for the narrative that builds over a sports season.
Fully agree
Almost felt like a wrestling game
@@randomguy6679 That's because wrestling is basically maximizing narrative.
I'm thinking more European soccer, where celebrity players are on par with actors and politicians in fame.
I'm sorry for being THAT guy, but it's Olympian, not Olympic. Olympic only refers to the sporting event.
And the mountain range in Washington
Pyre is one of my favourite games of all time - I think they did something really special with that game making the "combat" and story interesting and the characters engaging and relatable, and you really felt like every loss and every win had an impact which was awesome.
I really want to check it out, it sounds so cool. The only time I’ve seen a game with no game over state was with something like Heavy Rain or Until Dawn. I never expected it from a story-driven pseudo-sports fantasy game (nor have I ever heard of another story-driven pseudo-sports fantasy game, unless you count Blitzball I guess lol)
Super Giant was a studio that I was always aware of and respected but Hades is the game that made me fall in love with them. I've been going back through their library of games that I had picked up but never finished with an almost archaeologyic look at the titles.
For all my love of Indie titles most of the studio's behind them don't actually catch my attention like Super Giant did. The last studio to do that for me was That Game Company (RIP). Sukeban Studio is really the only studio that I've been following as of late waiting for their Sophomore title.
Team Cherry is also great, Hollow Knight is one of the best indies ever IMO. Can’t wait for Silksong
Didn’t That Game Company do The Unfinished Swan? Or were they the guys who did Journey, Flow, and Flower?
@@Road_to_Dawn they did Journey, Flow and Flower. Unfinished Swan is Giant Sparrow who also did What Remains of Edith Finch.
@@gavo7911 I've actually started playing Hollow Knight in the last few weeks. It's super empressive here's hoping Team Cherry pulls Silksong off. I'm pretty sure they well.
@@RomnilWater Ah, thanks!
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.
I can’t stop playing this game ever since it came out. I never liked rouge likes before, but I can’t help but call this one of the best games of the year.
I absolutely love this game. It really does feel like the best Supergiant has made thus far. It's story and narration got me way more interested in greek mythology than I've ever been before and they're really loyal to the source stories. It's also really cool how they handle romantic relationships in this game. They don't shy away from same sex romantic relationships between male characters and it's the first game I've ever seen where a character turns down a player's romantic advances.
Another studio worth mentioning in terms of one that's progressed like Supergiant, Atlus. The persona games in particular keep improving mechanically one over the next. Everyone will have their own preferences in terms of stories and characters but the mechanics just get better from game to game.
Logan's wonderful voice is a reason to keep coming back over and over to Supergiant Games.
"You know whats good? you!"
flattery will get you everywhere
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).
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.
My favorite developer is easily Insomniac. The way they can continue to evolve through genres as the industry shifts, from Spyro to Ratchet & Clank to Resistance to Spider-Man, and make some of the best games of the genre nearly every time continues to impress me with each new release. Even their less successful titles like Sunset Overdrive are criminally underrated.
Transistor's story is really haunting. It's lingered long after I finished it.
Same
This is the perfect game for me as I sank 150 hours into Hades, loving every second of it. So I decided to play through Supergiant's other games. Completed Bastion and halfway through Transistor. Neither grabbed me as quickly as Hades, but they get better and better as they move along. I loved coming up with boon and hammer synergies in Hades and Transistors function combinations are similarly fun. Looking forward to Pyre after this. Great video, btw.
I went the other way around. Started with Bastion and worked my way up to Hades (mostly because all previous 3 games combined were cheaper than Hades alone in the last Steam sale), I loved every one of them.
I'm still playing Hades (or rather, I'm just getting started, since I haven't cleared a run yet. Still dying in Elysium), so it's hard to say where it will fall on my preference, but the first 3 were all incredibly unique and resonating experiences on their own.
Pyre is completely different of the other 3 though. Since not only it has a completely different combat system, but iit's less customizable. You have, eventually, up to 9 party members to pick from, each with 3 basic abilities (a jump, a dash and an offensive spell) that work differently for each, with a small skill tree being available at level up that either upgrades those basic abilities or gives some neat passives. It's way less than Transistor offered in ways of customizing, but the fun of Pyre's gameplay is figuring out the best synergy between party members (the game encourages you to rotate your active party members often, so figuring out which character combinations fit your playstyle is important), learning to use their skills and positioning, getting good at reacting to what happens during the matches and so on. It took a while for me to get into it while with Bastion, Transistor and Hades I was immediately in love with the gameplay, but it really grew on me, and I plan on doing a harder run after I'm done with Hades to see the story unfold in a different way (because I sure as hell won't be winning as often as I did on normal mode...).
@@42Caio I wish I'd done it in the order you have as I do think Hades is significantly better than the others. But I am enjoying them all for different reasons. The music is the most consistently good part in all the games. I can't wait to see what Supergiant makes next.
I absolutely love SuperGiant Games as a studio. They're all incredibly creative and just an overall inspiration. They do phenomenal work. This video was a pleasure to watch. Awesome work.
“Comment your favorite game studio” as though we weren’t already talking about it haha
Good video! Liked the analysis of the growth
Haha exactly! I was like "hmm, I guess Nintendo, but otherwise Supergiant, they only ever hit home runs" haha
Glad to see a new video up. Hades feels like a peak in the rouge like genre and super giants work, dare I say indie games in general!
Probably my favorite thing about Hades is EVERYTHING is useful. Everything you do on a run with either be useful for that run or permanently. There's never a bad reward, and everything encourages experimentation
I loved being able to recognize the DNA of previous Supergiant titles all over Hades. I still think its strongest point is the way the story and gameplay are intertwined in the feedback loop you mention. Now that I know that aspect previously existed in Pyre as well, I may have to check out that more niche title...
Amazing video. I'm myself a fan of Supergiant games, but I haven't yet played Hades. All the elements of their games are so purposefully created that It's almost impossible that they deliver a bad game.
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
I've been a fan of Supergiant since Bastion and each new game has been absolutely brilliant in its own way.
So im about to get a switch in a couple weeks. At first I was most excited to play Zelda, Witcher, the other big games. I mean I stil am. I have a list of games I'm picking up. After more and more research and RUclips those triple A titles are now at the bottom..my list starts with like 10 indie eshop games and supergiants entire library. Im so so excited to play bastion, transistor, and now hades. Wow. Thanks for this video and content.
I came here to find the entrance to the underworld smh.
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.
Am I still salty about Limbo overshadowing Bastion as the indie darling of the year? Naaaah.
(I am, immensely so)
Mt favorite studio is Team Cherry, and they've really been improving on how long they can delay their games.
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.
Supergiant never fails to make great games. Can't wait to check out Hades for myself.
Greek dude: OMG Hades SUCKS! My girlfriend just died!
Hades trying to explain that he's the god of the dead, not the god of death: *scatman intensifies*
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.
I regret not playing it late last year and nominate it for Steam awards.
I honestly wanted to make a video just like this, because I saw all of this too. You probably put it into words better than I ever would have though. Supergiant are definitely my favorite team and I am going to follow everything they do
Didn’t expect to see you here! I love your FF14 leveling videos.
Hades truly is their Magnum Opus. Excited to see if they can top it or perhaps add to it!
Same
Supergiant is my favorite game studio actually. I adore everything they’ve made they’re all so good!
One of my favorite studios is Shin'en, with the Touryst being their current triumph in game design. Excited to see what they do next.
My favorite developer (at least recently) has to be Team Cherry. Hollowknight is the best game I've played of it's kind. And I can't wait for Silksong
So many harsh critic channels seem to have complimented this game after coming out of early access, including yourself, so I think I’m sold! I just didn’t expect it at all!
It's crazy how high-level their output has been. Pyre is one of the few games to actually make me cry, because you become so attached to the characters throughout it. You want them to earn their way out... but you don't want to lose them, either.
And now we finally have Hades 2 in early access. Nice.
Pyre is VASTLY underrated. A gem among gems. If you haven't yet, play it.
Jen Zee’s art is such an inspiration to me, Logan Cunningham’s voice is honestly awe-inspiring, and Darren Korb’s music is worth listening to thousands of times over. Supergiant is by FAR my favorite game developer and I can’t wait to see what they do next! (Btw Transistor is my favorite game ever, so amazing)
The characters all look so cool.
4:39 Jen Zee legit sounds like the name of a Riddle School character.
I didn't like Bastion when I first played it back in the day, never played Transistor nor Pyre but maaaaan, I fell in LOVE with Hades and impatiently waited to finally play it. It never disspointed me. I should revisit Bastion soon though
Hades is probably my favourite game of all time, and I found it only because I saw it mentioned on your channel.
So, ya know, thanks!
I am still baffled by how utterly amazing this game is, and I'll probably need a while before I could properly comprehensively explain why, but there's a LOT there
Worth talking about external inspiration too; Pyre was conceived to fix the XCOM problem where doing well makes the game get easier while doing poorly makes the game become harder. Losing your best team members becomes your goal rather than a failure. Hades was inspired in part by Slay the Spire (and in particular the Heat system was designed as a more customisable version of STS's Ascension system).
Favorite indie developers are Supergiant, David Szymanski and Ghost Ship Games. My favorite AAA developer is Tech Land.
Transistor is the first of their games I tried
I will get all, eventually
XD
Very few companies have a handle on my wallet like Super Giant. Randomly picked up Bastion on my phone based on the art, and now one of my most anticipated games is Hades II. Consistent and beautiful.
Hades is the pinnacle of what Supergiant Games has done up until now, and is an absolute masterpiece that allows for great different ways to play both in (builds, playstyle, weapons) and around the game (self-assigned rules for speedruns, competitive and coop modes). I cannot wait to see their next pinnacle, I am sure that Supergiant Games will live up to the expectations already set on them, and keep their title of pillar of the indie industry.
My first supergiant game was hades I started playing last night. Bastion looks so good and fun. The other 2 pyre and transistor don't look as good to me but I'd love to play them. Over the years starting with indie games and Xbox arcade games on Xbox 360 I've continued to really dabble in, appreciate and play so many indie or AA games. Never have I ever regretted it.
Lovely Video! Hades perfectly paces out the experience without you even noticing it 😄
Perhaps after several more years and similar games, Soldak will finally create the most perfect Diablo clone.
I just hope it'll be a Drox game.
I can’t even imagine what their next game will be like, I can’t wait. Everything they make is top tier and only gets better over time
I thoroughly enjoyed playing Hades. Maybe for future games they can explore other mythologies. For example, Norse mythology escaping from niflheim to asgard or in Egyptian mythology escaping from the Duat to the Field of Reeds
I really like arkane studio's games like dishonored and prey. Looking forward to what they do with deathloop.
So we're not gonna talk about Darryn Korb's amazing contributions to Supergiant Games? No? Okay, well that dude is a master at his craft and I absolutely love his tracks. They bring out the best in SG games.
Hades is so fucking good man I just love it so much
I honestly expected more from this video. I mean, sure, it shows how Supergiant refined their formula from game to game, but it doesn't go into specifics of how that refinement process takes place. I mean, come on, I expected to come out of this video with some insights on how to polish my game to a shine.
Maybe I'm just an idiot, and have to rewatch the whole thing to make sense of it, or maybe it's not my fault. Not sure which, though.
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!
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.
This reminds me a lot of Zachtronic games and how they reiterated on previous ideas multiple times to make better and better games.
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
Platinum games, i don't even know where to start with them...so good.
One design choice in their games is the level of difficulty you have to face, things that make the situations harder (and usually give better rewards) are kind of staple on Supergiant games.
This was super interesting! Learning more about a fantastic dev studio like Super Gaint Games was really fun!
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.
Apart from bastion, I am really loving their aesthetic. I haven't played any of their games, But I have heard great things about every one of them.
If you were to implement the death mechanics of Hades into a Soulslike title you might have a winner on your hands.
Next game?
Of course the end card music is Impossible!! Best boss music EVER!! ❤️💙
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 ☺️🤤
9:24 I completely missed that you could control your dog in my playthrough! I guess I kinda rushed through so I could move onto other games I had queued up including Hades!
I really like that they included God Mode, but it only makes you resist damage and nothing else. It doesn't affect the strength & number of enemies or luck, so it doesn't feel too humiliating, but at the same time it still is easier. after hitting my head against a 30 run brick wall where I saw the Bone Hydra THREE TIMES, it allowed me to finally get a foothold on the game. After I got the ten successful runs needed to, well, you know, I turned it off, and found out it had given me the space not to really need it. Unless I'm tired or the build ends up garbage, or I'm using the bow and the build isn't S-tier, goddamn the Bow is frustrating.
2:06 "or if they weren't paying me.."
Can I humbly ask of you to talk about the first 2 Oddworld games (Abe's Oddysee and Abe's Exoddus)? I think they're severely underrated and have done a lot of things right.
"And then, he falls to his death." - Narrator Guy
I think currently Klei games is my favorite studio. Mark of the Ninja, and don't starve were my favorites, but I've liked every game they've made and they have a lot of wildly different games. Abit different that Supergiant where you can see the same DNA in each game.
Yeah, but I personally like Supergiant in that their games are more accessible (Like, all of Klei's games except invisible, Inc felt like they were trying to act HARDCORE, as in Don't Starve is HARDCORE survival and Mark of the Ninja is HARDCORE stealth), and the overall narrative and visual design is WAY better.
@@vedsona8707 true. I cant deny the quality of super giant. My hades log alone proves that
I don't know if this is a good idea, but you can talk about the history and development of crafting systems in games. You briefly talked about it in your "How do you stop item hoarding" video, and I would like to hear more about it. Sorry if it is a terrible idea.
great video. hades is fantastic
I’m really excited to give Hades a shot when I have the time!
0:28 Missed opportunity to show Athena here (who sprang forth from Zeus' head or something)
I guess it is no surprise to anyone that it leads to the Release of a superb game if you keep in contact with potential buyers, open up development to the customers and start very early with quality assurance by letting players play with the beta as early as a year before Release... I guess the only surprise is that almost no big developer has understood this truth until now....
I have a love hate relationship with square as my favorite developer. They released nothing but quality in the 90s, and so quickly. The ps3 - ps4 era was a disaster, with ff15 and kh3 being some of the worst AAA RPGs I’ve ever played, and after comically long development periods. FF7R was fantastic though, especially the combat, and gives me hope that maybe they can finally get some momentum going forward.
I hear 14 is really good, I’m just not an mmo person.
The guy who made ff14 is making ff16 so is single player fans may get to enjoy the square renessaince
3 isn't too bad if u slow down and enjoy all the little things and world environments. Especially the toy story world. Now I don't hate kh3 as much
Well articulated.
Supergiant Games is the best studio, hands down
"former EA employees"
EA could learn a thing or 2.
Hades was the first Supergiant game that actually had a good ending. . . .
I would kill to see an episode about Path of Exile.
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.
Yeah honestly like, as someone who has played hades since early access, my opinion of the game even now is "It's a decent roguelike, that shines for it's narrative. I can play something like the binding of isaac or enter the gungeon and have a fun time much like hades, but hades delivers on a progressive world and narrative in a way no roguelike really has, while also still delivering on a good gameplay experience. 10/10
It's not like it does anything super new or unique, it's just well polished visuals, strong animation and ui, and importantly, an incredible story and sense of immersion.