What Is Your Favorite Supergiant Game?

I love their whole catalog but Hades is one of my favorite games of all time.

I need to finish Transistor and Pyre.

But Hades just did something for me last year. I work a lot and it was so easy to be able to sit and play a run after work, even if I didn't get very far, because the other elements of that game just really worked for me. My husband and I bonded over it, he beat it before I did, and I even saw and watched a lot of the exchanges between Zagreus and other characters, but I still wanted to put in the time and get to all of that myself. Love the look, the feel, the voice acting, the music, it all just really appealed to me. It was the first game in a while that I really genuinely looked forward to playing everyday and it held excitement from me for a few months actually. It's also the roguelike I keep going back to, even though my runs are fewer and farther between these days.

Anyway, that was a bit of a rant, but I just really enjoyed Hades. Bastion's obviously great, and I liked what I got to play of Transistor and Pyre, but Hades was just it for me.

I think it's Hades, which is more a factor of its repeatability than anything. Bastion still probably hit me the hardest of any of their games on first playthrough; I think Transistor has the most interesting design and mechanics, as well as probably my favourite of their soundtracks; and Pyre is where I'd say my favourite character work of theirs lies.

But as a complete package Hades kinda has it all - it's maybe not the best of their games at any one thing (aside from gameplay, perhaps), but every aspect of it comes close to their best work in that area. Plus I'm just someone who wants more of the things they like, and Hades is that kind of game to an absolute tee, right down to its fine-grained customisability on the difficulty and challenge of the runs you're doing.

Transistor would be the closest to it for me, but I've run through past the epilogue on Hades, done two more full playthroughs past credit roll, and just started it up again now that it's come to Game Pass... and I'm enjoying it maybe even more than I was when I first got into it. Managed to get a win on my third escape attempt yesterday after starting fresh on GP, which I was super happy about.

Hades is hard to get away from because in many ways it's a culmination of their efforts from the earlier 3 games but ultimately I give the nod to Pyre. It's not the best gameplay of the bunch (though its still very fun!) but the way that game interweaves narrative, choice and the actual gameplay is incredibly special and sets it apart from Hades just enough for me.

Pyre. I feel like I was done with Hades before it was done with me. I didn't feel like I gained much out of finishing the run as many times as was required to see credits. I was onboard with Pyre the whole time. Transistor was cool, but I don't think it left much of an impression on me after I finished it. I played Bastion for the first time years after it released, I think between the release of Pyre and Hades, and it just didn't hit the same for me as it probably would have when it was new.

I voted Transistor even though I didn't finish it and I've spent far more time with Hades. I think Transistor had some really interesting, innovative mechanics, but mostly I voted for it because of this song. I literally get chills at the end.

I loved Hades. I still enjoy the soundtrack to Bastion. (I need to play Transistor)

But Pyre.

The game, the writing, the ART. All of it is still stuck in my head.

Caveat that I haven't played Hades yet, but I loved Bastion. It's probably my favorite indie of all time. It felt really good to play and the music was awesome. Plus, I want Logan Cunningham to narrate my life.

Equally, I absolutely hated Transistor. That game goes to show how fine a balance game development is. It's basically 99% of the same stuff as Bastion, but being that 1% off really moved the game into "immediately, viscerally, dislike this" territory for me.

Pyre was fine, but I'm not really into sports games, even fantasy sports games, so while I thought the writing and narrative were really cool, the gameplay just wasn't doing anything for me. It felt like the sort of thing I might have enjoyed more as a visual novel.

I'm kind of surprised that Transistor is in last place so far. I think that was my favorite of their games until Hades.

I agree with the sentiment that they're one of the best developers around right now. They will have my attention any time they announce a new project.

Transistor is a solid second place for me but it's all just because of the vibes for that one.

Transistor is top of my list by virtue of never playing the others. I'll get round to Bastian and Hades eventually. Not sure about Pyre.

I will caveat this by saying; Hades is far and away the best game Supergiant has made. With minimal exception, every design choice is flawless, the music is flawless, the story is flawless. It is endlessly replayable, the mechanics are engaging. Its as close to a perfect execution of a project as you can get.

I still voted for Bastion because Bastion means something to me in a way that's difficult to express. Is it as clean a project? Hell no. A ton of fun, and very well designed, but its the first game from a new team so of course there are some gremlins. But the way the music and story blend together, the moment to moment experience, is superb. And the message at the end (granted, from one of the endings) is something so rarely seen in media it knocked me on the floor. It was the first game I can think of that carried a message of moving forward instead of endlessly trying to cover for mistakes. For me, personally, that is special. So Bastion.

But Hades is a superior game in every way. You really can't go wrong.

(Except for Transistor, but that's a personal thing that if prompted I can go into)

I think it’s Transistor for me although I haven’t played Pyre yet. Hades is a great game but some aspects of it didn’t work as well (for me personally).

Transistor is the first one I played and is my second favorite. As my first impression of Supergiant, it was a very strong one. The style, the music, and the game mechanics all bowled me over. I really enjoyed Pyre, but after liberating my favorite character, I kinda dropped off. I hope to return to it someday. I tried to go back to Bastion, but lost motivation to continue it. That's entirely on me. It's good, but felt very stiff after having played a lot of Hades. Unfair comparison unfortunately.

I like run-based games, so Hades is drugs to me. Weaving charming characters and fulfilling narrative into that structure really pushes it over the top for me. One of my favorite games of all time.

All of their games are great, but Hades feels to me like a culmination of what they had been working towards with all of their previous games.

I haven't gotten around to Hades yet, but I've played all their others and Transistor is my favorite. I think hearing all the hype for Bastion set my expectations too high and it didn't quite live up to them. I liked what Pyre did with the story and characters, but I wasn't a huge fan of the celestial basketball.

My attachment to Transistor is probably as much about the soundtrack as anything. It's one of my favorite game soundtracks ever, I still have songs from it on my regular spotify rotation. I also liked the setting and art quite a lot.

i've played all of them except pyre- and think it's gotta be bastion for me. that one hit the hardest, no doubt.

hades is probably their most competent game, but it was also the one i was least surprised by. every component of it (art, gameplay, music) is excellent- but i did one complete run and hung up the gloves. to be fair run-based games don't hold my attention for very long- but even still something about hades didn't resonate with me as deeply as it seems to have with others.

maybe it's time to dive into pyre. seems like it remains the biggest creative risk, which i tend to disproportionately value over other aspects these days.

Pyre is last because I could never figure out how to play that basketball game. At all.

I fell off Transistor quickly, it just didn't hit me at the time I played it for some reason although it was clearly a well made game. Pyre was fun and weird but it didn't blow me away. I played Bastion for a few hours on an iPad during a flight and thought it was excellent, but I never went back for some reason.

As you can possibly tell though, Hades is my choice. Superb game. It felt to me like they put the best parts of each of their previous games into Hades.

They are all good, but hades grabbed me and would not let go for three months, then a month after that got me back in of a whole fourth month. I broke my Xbox one controller from griping too hard and hitting those sticks like a madman, which sort of sucked actually, but worth it. I’m usually a narrative guy, and Hades delivered that, but also hit some of the best fast action gameplay I’ve literally ever played. It scratched almost every itch I have for a game. It’s literally one of the best game I’ve ever played, and I’ve played almost every sort of game other than sports games since the NES was new.

Hades is fucking great. If supergiant can somehow top that with their next game, I’ll honestly be surprised. This is a hell of an act to follow, even as their own.

Hades by default, since I spent far and away the most time with it. I didn't click with any of their other games and while I put a fair few hours into it, I stopped Hades well before escaping even once, since roguelikes, even extremely well made and pretty roguelikes, inevitably infuriate the hell out of me. I respect Supergiant and their art is gorgeous but I'm just not particularly drawn to anything they've put out.

All of their games are great but Hades is an all time great.

@tartyron: man the Xbox controller story is really funny and relatable to me. I haven't broken a controller yet but I have gone to bed with sore thumbs and a sore right forearm several times due to this delightful yet taxing game.

@sethmode: I don’t know why, but I feel the need to say it was on pc, not on Xbox. Not that it matters, my controller still got broke. Gave me the impetus to upgrade to a elite v.2, which I like except just like Jeff g, the cap on my back trigger throw adjustment switch fell off and now is all pointy on the back, and only 8 months into having it.

Also, I got that in January. Jesus, this year is going so fast it almost doesn’t exist.

To be clear, I feel like this is my deficiency, not Supergiant's, but I have tried every one of their games and they just don't click with me. Beautiful art and music, but the feel of their stuff does absolutely nothing for me. Hades is their best game in that regard, but I really had no desire to continue after playing an hour or so.

I can appreciate the narrative structure they've built around the run-based game here, but I get no satisfaction from the combat in Hades, Transistor, or Bastion. I really liked the concept of Pyre, too, but the part where you play the sport felt awful to me.

Pretty sure I'm the only person on the internet that feels this way lol.

@banefirelord: I guess I'm not the lone denizen of the internet that feels that way!

Really hard to answer. The easy choice is Transistor, so that's what I voted. But the hard choice would be Pyre, which I've played through four times and love the variablitity of and yet...just never clicked with the game part of the game to the point I could comfortably engage. Then there's Hades which is, y'know, Hades, and Bastion which is in many ways, y'know, Bastion.

If you put a gun to my skull, it's Hades. If you injected a serum into my heart, it's Transistor.

For me, I love each of them almost equally for different reasons. So I will award them with the following:

Bastion: The OG Award - Without Bastion there is no Supergiant and any of the following games. It established Supergiant as a key indie dev and really defined the overall style of all their games to follow. Jen doing the art, Darren doing the music, Logan establishing himself with godlike VO; all of these elements have carried into the next games in some fashion as the core and heart of SG Games. Plus Bastion is the most similar to Hades with varied combat styles and action, so Hades has Bastion (and to some extent Transistor and Pyre) to thank for its addictive gameplay.

Transistor: The Aesthetic Award - I think Transistor has the most cohesive and immersive world of any of Supergiant's games. The art direction combined with the sound effects and music really drew me (and I think many others) into the world with relative ease and maintained its aesthetic throughout better than any other title from them.

Pyre: The Best Music Award - When comparing the entire soundtrack to Pyre against any other soundtrack from Supergiant's OSTs, I think Pyre takes the cake without a shadow of a doubt. Pyre's OST has tons of range, and also was really the first time Darren went absolutely buck wild with some of the choices. I highly recommend a listen to Dread Design and Thrash Pack back to back to get an idea of what I mean. I also love Pyre's gameplay and story and still wish it had online multiplayer, tho Steam Remote Play works alright from time to time.

Hades: The Magnus Opus Award - Hades is that masterpiece shit, you feel me? From the first day in early access I could tell this game had a ton going for it and I got to live through 3 years of early access Christmas that felt like it would never end, but in a good way. Hades takes lessons from all 3 of SG's previous titles and weaves them into a beautiful tapestry of incredible gameplay, story, VO, music, art - EVERYTHING rips from start to finish.

Supergiant is easily my favorite developer today and has been probably since Transistor in 2014. Once I understood the level of quality to expect from them game after game, I was in. And I've only become more and more enamored with their games since.

I love all of their games, and I like them almost equally. But I like Hades a little more.

Pyre.

Its just so awesome, love the cast of characters and the game looks beautiful.

Never played Bastion.

Transistor is cool, but I always got confused with the final act.

Pyre is also cool, but didn’t get too far into it since the basketball never really clicked for me.

Hades is my GOTY last year.

I like the one with the isometric cartoony style and the great OST. No. Not that one. The other one.

Hades could not happen unless they had cut their teeth on the previous three games. It's a culmination of everything they've learned and experienced making games since their inception, and as such it is their greatest work.

I enjoyed Bastion but the plot lost me by the end. Transistor never grabbed me since the storytelling was too esoteric and the gameplay never really clicked. I finished both of them though. Hades (I bought the PS4 version last week) also has its faults - I think "unlocking" relationships and Heat levels takes way too long and requires too many trips to the surface, but the gameplay clicked, the story is lovely (and a treat for someone who enjoys Greek mythology), and the various weapons and boons have made my 25 attempts pretty varied. I have cleared the game with every weapon except the machine gun and I think I'm getting close to the real end. I will NOT unlock all the relationships or all the various Heat levels for each weapon, but the game will keep me playing for a while longer.

It made me buy Pyre so I will check that one out when I'm "done" with Hades.

The only one I've played is Bastion and I thought it was just OK. Probably not my kind of game. I guess I was completely overhyped after listening to GB and many others constantly praise it. I also purchased Transistor but never got around to playing it. I haven't heard about or seen much of Pyre. Of course, I've heard a million people say Hades is the best game ever but that makes me wary of it because my expectations would be sky high. I hate roguelikes, but I do love Greek mythology and I like that they've included some form of "easy" mode. Maybe I'll pick it up at a deep discount.

I loved Pyre (Pyre made me care about a sportsy-kinda game for once in my life!) and was expecting to love Hades but something about the pacing of Hades just did not do it for me. The action is very fun and the controls are very tight, the art is nice, but the character relations/social stuff didn't hook me at all the way it did in Pyre. I don't think I was interested in any of the characters maybe because supergiant (imo) didn't take a particularly unique spin on any of the classic greek mythic beings. I think the fact that Zag already has established relations with most of them makes me less curious, whereas in Pyre i was like learning about my companions, our relationships were changing, evolving and could even be ended

Also something about the pacing of Hades felt off to me, and maybe this is only me, but when i died in Hades i wanted to get back into the action right away if i could, i didn't have a lot of incentive to talk to whoever was hanging out in the starting hub. Pyre was like the opposite of that for me, the action felt important and had real stakes in the story but there was ample time to reflect and talk to characters. it was structured better imo.

I did not play Bastion or Transistor, though i think they're in my steam library.