The already multiple award-winning video game “Hades” is now the first computer game ever to win the prestigious Hugo US literature prize. The rogue-like prevailed among the participants of the 79th World Science Fiction Convention, which took place in Washington DC until Sunday. The Hugo Award is actually one of the most important prizes in science fiction and fantasy literature; the award for the best computer game of the past year was introduced once at the end of 2020 for the 2021 award ceremony. Given the level of interest, it is not unlikely that the category will be retained.
Well-known competition
The Hugo Awards have existed since 1953 and have been presented annually since 1955, with the record winner being Robert A. Heinlein. The award is given to the best books and texts from the fields of science fiction and fantasy, and all participants in the Worldcon have a say. In recent years, many have been added to the most prestigious category of the best novel, including for the best fan magazine, the best comic, but also films and TV series. In this last category, “Best Dramatic Presentation”, video games could already have been awarded, but that has never been the case. To do this, a separate category first had to be created, which was done for this year’s round. It was a one-off event for the time being, but it is not yet known whether the category will be retained.
“Hades” from Supergiant Games won the vote against “Animal Crossing: New Horizons”, “Spiritfarer”, “Final Fantasy VII Remake”, “The Last of Us: Part II” and “Blaseball”. 945 votes were cast, about half as many as in the election for the best novel (“The Network Effect” by Martha Wells) and only slightly less than for the best comic (“Parable of the Sower” by Octavia Butler). “Hades” had already secured dozens of game awards before the Hugo Award, including two Game Awards. Not only the atmosphere and the fast, varied gameplay are praised, but also the characters. The game has also been available for the latest consoles from Microsoft and Sony since August. Author Greg Kasavin expressed his thanks for the latest award Video posted on Twitter.
In “Hades” you control Zagreus, the son of the eponymous god of the Greek underworld. He wants to flee to the realm of the living and has to slaughter his way through the underworld and lots of opponents. If he is defeated, it starts all over again – so far, so normal for the genre. The special thing is that Zagreus can not only collect permanent weapons and skills during the escape attempts, but also gets to know his relatives on Mount Olympus, who help him. At the same time, an ever-growing story reveals itself to him about divine intrigues, forbidden love affairs and Zagreus’ origins. Even after dozens of hours there is always something new to discover, even after the actual end you can continue to play for a long time.
(mho)