You may have heard the name Hades from last year’s Game Award. Hades took home both the Best Action Game Award and the Best Independent Game Award. It is a roguelike 2D action game that features fast-paced combat, with its story revolved around Greek mythology. You play as Zagreus, the son of Hades, as he tries to make his way out of the Underworld to reach Mount Olympus after countless deaths. The game was a major hit in 2020, and it became the first video game in history to win a Hugo Award on December 18th, 2021.

Congratulations to @thehugoawards winner for Best Video Game, Hades by Supergiant Games!@SupergiantGames#Worldcon2021 #Worldcon #DisConIII #Hugos pic.twitter.com/FP9b6wxdn4

— DisCon III – The 79th Worldcon (@worldcon2021) December 19, 2021

Supergiant Games’ creative director Greg Kasvin tweeted his response to the award and expressed how grateful he was for winning this Hugo Award, and for the fact that The Hugo Awards are recognizing works in the video game category.

“Video game storytelling has come a long way over the years and games are really unique as a medium in that they are interactive. You can really inhabit one of these fantastical worlds and see as it kind of reacts to your every move. At Supergiant, we try to marry the traditions of fantasy in science fiction literature with that unique interactive component and create these worlds to feel as if they are a live as you navigate through them. We hope that Hugo Awards continue to recognize the amazing work being done in the space.”

The Best Video Game category was a new category added to The Hugo Awards this year. The other nominated games for this year’s Hugo Awards were: Spiritfarer, The Last of Us 2, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Blaseball. This isn’t the only signal that the society is giving more attention to the video game industry, as The Game Awards also breaks its viewership records again this year, with a total of 85 million livestreams.