The Hugo Awards have been honoring the greatest achievements in fantasy and sci-fi for almost 70 years, and for the first time in history they’ve honored the best video game in those genres. The winner? Scoring another win like Zagreus vanquishing the furies yet again, it’s Hades, Supergiant’s roguelike opus that is still racking up awards well after its release.
This is an immense honor for our team. Not only are the #hugoawards a true legend in fantasy and science fiction, this is the first year that the awards are recognizing the video game category. Thank you so much, and we salute all our wonderful fellow nominees! https://t.co/sgGVMFXeWi
— Supergiant Games (@SupergiantGames) December 19, 2021
Hades beat out some other very high profile games — Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Spiritfarer, Blaseball, and The Last of Us Part II — to clinch the honor. Writer and Creative Director Greg Kasavin accepted the award remotely, offering a speech thanking the Hugos and hoping that they continue to recognize creative games.
Wish I could have attended the #HugoAwards in person. I wasn't able to make an acceptance speech there on behalf of the team though did have a few words here. I'm grateful that the awards are recognizing work in this category, much less the work we did! pic.twitter.com/S9bfSp1i8H
— Greg Kasavin (@kasavin) December 19, 2021
While it’s exciting to consider the prospect of future Hugo-winning games, at the moment the honor is a one-time special award — though the possibility is quite open for it to become a regular category. Given how many video games lean into some sort of fantasy or sci-fi element, I hope that the Hugos continue the honor going forward, even if the idea of Hades being not merely the first Hugo Award winning video game but THE Hugo Award is something we can all get a kick out of.
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Written by Amelia Fruzzetti
A writer and Nintendo fan based in Seattle, Washington. When not working for NinWire, she can be found eating pasta, writing stories, and wondering about when Mother 3 is finally going to get an official localization.
