Hades

A game by Supergiant Games for PC, Mac, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X/S, and iOS, originally released in 2020.

Hades is a roguelike actioner where you take on the role of Zagreus, the prince of the underworld and son of Lord Hades. Zagreus is attempting to escape the underworld, despite his father’s insistence that such an act is impossible. Still, Zagreus does not relent in his attempts and takes joy in defying his father and witnessing his displeasure. Each time he is killed, he returns once more to the House of Hades, rising up from a pool of blood and standing in a line of souls awaiting their meeting with the god of the dead.

Along the way, Zagreus makes many friends, all of whom are pivotal figures in the Greek pantheon. Some of these folks, like Achilles and Nix, hang about the House of Hades, while others like Sisyphus and Charon wander the underworld, and still others communicate with Zagreus from upon Mount Olympus, offering gifts to aid him in combat. By furthering conversations with these individuals – and offering them gifts – Zagreus slowly begins to learn more about the world around him, and about his own origins.

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 2020, iOS, Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Supergiant Games, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox X/S

Pyre

A game by Supergiant Games for PC, Mac, Linux, and PS4, originally released in 2017.

Pyre is set in a strange and colorful world known as the Downside, a purgatory where criminals are exiled for their crimes in the Commonwealth. Only by competing in a series of rites, which play out as 3-on-3 arena sports games, may those in exile earn the opportunity to be pardoned and returned to the Commonwealth. It may seem odd that the developers behind the successful action-RPG’s Bastion and Transistor would follow them up with a sports game… except that’s not at all what this is.

Pyre is a narrative-focused action-RPG where combat plays out in 3-on-3 arenas, but the bulk of the game is played by speaking with NPC’s, making decisions in dialogue and travel destinations, and discovering or purchasing items that grant stat boosts during the game’s combat segments. Throughout your journey, you interact with dozens of characters, and your interactions have consequences further down the line, leading to thousands of possible narrative combinations and endings.

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 2017, Linux, Mac, PC, PS4, Supergiant Games

Transistor

A game by Supergiant Games for PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Switch, and iOS, originally released in 2014.

Transistor tells the tale of Red, a singer who has lost her voice. Things begin in medias res with Red on rooftop, standing near a man with a large sword sticking out of his torso. The sword speaks, glowing as it does so, and says: “Red… We’re not going to get away with this, are we?” The player then takes control of Red as she dislodges the object from the body of her companion, and finds that his consciousness has been transferred to the sword-like object, known as the Transistor.

The game takes place in what appears to be a virtual world, although this is not overtly stated. This setting is enforced by the fact that bits of “reality” are being altered by mechanized creatures that roam the environment, and the language of the game consists largely of programmer-speak, with battles being called “processes”, areas carrying names like Empty Set and Floating Point, and your various attacks being called “functions” with names like Ping() and Crash().

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 2014, PC, PS4, Supergiant Games, Switch

Bastion

A game by Supergiant Games for PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS4, Vita, Switch, and iOS, originally released in 2011.

A bastion is essentially protected place, or a safe haven. The game of Bastion begins after a great Calamity that has torn the world apart, leaving behind only a series of floating islands. You play the part of “the Kid” who is working to build a safe haven for the people who remain. The world is short on resources, and numerous factions are vying for it, which is the basis for much of the aggressive behavior that you encounter on your quest. Your enemies aren’t necessarily the “bad guys” out to stop you; they’re just trying to get what they need to survive, which oftentimes puts their goals at odds with yours.

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 2011, Browser, iOS, Mac, PC, PS4, Supergiant Games, Switch, Vita, Warner Bros., Xbox 360