The Hugo Awards is a premier convention during which the best works of science fiction and fantasy from the last year are awarded. It’s a yearly event and the best contestants receive awards in several locations around the world. This year, the Awards took place at the World Science Fiction Convention in Washington, D.C. The winners were chosen by the members of the convention.
However, until 2020, video games were never considered for an award, although they are an interactive and engaging source of science-fiction content consumption, unlike other media. Thankfully, Hugo Awards 2021 included video games as a new category. The nominees were declared on April 13, 2021, and the awards were given out on December 18, 2021.
The Nominees
The nominees for the first-ever Hugo Video Game Award were Hades, The Last of Us Part II, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Spiritfarer, and Blaseball. All titles pack heat, and we did expect tough competition during the Awards.
The Winner: Hades
On the 18th of December 2021, Hades made history as the first video game to win a Hugo Award. The award was not unexpected as Hades was a great game. In fact, it’s easily one of the best titles from 2020.
Hades was developed by Supergiant Games. It entered early access in December 2018, and was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Switch in September 2020. A PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S port was released in April 2021. The game was a huge commercial success. Critics admired the game and several media houses gave the Game of the Year award to Hades last year.
After the game won the Hugo Awards, Supergiant Games’ creative director and writer of Hades, Greg Kasavin, tweeted regretting his inability to attend the show. He also mentioned that he was “grateful that the awards are recognizing work in this category.” This statement is quite true. We remind you, the Hugo Awards only considered literary works and did not take video games into account until this year.
Hades belongs to an age-old genre, a roguelike dungeon crawler. Players control Zagreus, the prince of the Underworld. He wants to run away from the realm, away from his dispassionate father, Hades. The game is played from an isometric view with Zagreus in the center of the screen. It is a single-player game and packs some action RPG aspects besides being a dungeon crawler. It over-delivered, despite being an indie game.
Hades is now available on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and Series S.