Hades has added yet another prestigious award to its collection, having just picked up the one-time Hugo Award for video games over the weekend. This is the first time in history a game has ever won what is arguably the most esteemed award in fantasy and science-fiction.
Last November, it was officially announced that the 2021 Hugo Awards would feature a category for Best Video Game. Alongside Hades, the other nominees were The Last of Us Part II, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Spiritfarer, and Blaseball.
The thing is, Best Video Game was added as a special category. Basically, the World Science Fiction Society bylaws allow each year’s voting committee – called a Worldcon – to add a single category of their choosing to that year’s Hugo Awards lineup. For that year, it’s treated just like all of the other categories, although it won’t necessarily be made permanent.
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Interestingly, the announcement from last year specifically addressed this idea, stating that this isn’t the first time the possibility of a Best Video Game award has been floated.
“While there is no permanent category for video games in the Hugo Awards, a committee of the WSFS Business Meeting has been studying the possibility of adding such a category for several years now,” the post reads. “The 2006 Worldcon (L.A.con IV), offered a Best Interactive Video Game category using their special-category authority for the 2006 Hugo Awards, but dropped it from the final ballot due to lack of interest.”
Hades is a stylish, narrative-driven roguelike from renowned indie developer Supergiant Games, whose previous pedigree includes fan-favorite hits like Bastion, Transistor, and Pyre. It’s set in the Underworld of Ancient Greece and centers on Zagreus, son of Hades, as he attempts to escape his chthonic prison to reach the livelier side of his family on Mt. Olympus.
In an acceptance speech posted on Twitter, Supergiant Games creative director Greg Kasavin shared his thoughts on receiving the award, saying, “I’m grateful that the awards are recognizing work in this category, much less the work we did!”
https://twitter.com/kasavin/status/1472409078680879106
“We are incredibly honored to be the first ever recipient of a Hugo Award in the category of Best Video Game. We – myself included – grew up experiencing these classic works of science-fiction and fantasy, from Ursula K. Le Guin to Philip K. Dick. That’s when we first came across the Hugo Awards name as kids.
“To have earned this distinction all this time later, especially alongside such an incredible slate of nominees, games of all shapes and sizes, from teams big and small – it really means the world. Video game storytelling has come a long way over the years and games are really unique as a medium in that they’re interactive. You can really inhabit one of these fantastical worlds and see as it reacts to your every move.
“At Supergiant, we’ve tried to marry the traditions of fantasy and science-fiction literature with that unique interactive component and create these worlds that feel as though they’re alive as you navigate through them. We’re so grateful that our work on Hades has stood out in that way and we hope that the Hugo Awards continue to recognize the amazing work being done in this space.”
Kasavin concludes by thanking his colleagues, all of their friends and family, and “the Greek gods themselves.”
Written by Cian Maher on behalf of GLHF.
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