Supergiant Games

Amir Rao, co-founder of Supergiant Games, in 2012

Supergiant Games was formed by Amir Rao and Gavin Simon in 2009. Both had been working at the Los Angeles studio of Electronic Arts, involved with the Command & Conquer series. In 2009 they agreed to quit their job, move into the same house, and begin to work on a new game together. At that time, they had also hired musician Darren Korb for audio and music work. They also used a number of freelancer programmers and developers they could call on for help at various times during the development of this first game.[2][3][4]

Their first game, Bastion, received high critical praise, including being listed among several "Game of the Year" lists from game journalists. It was first shown in mid-development at the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo as part of its "PAX 10" highlight ten upcoming independently developed games.[3] This attracted several publishers who wanted to help distribute the game, but Supergiant Games found that Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment shared the same vision they had for the game. Supergiant selected them as their publishing partner, enabling them not only to distribute the game to Xbox Live Arcade but as a premiere title during the 2011 "Summer of Arcade" promotion.[5]

In March 2013, Supergiant Games announced their next title, Transistor, released on May 20, 2014. A promotion video was released March 19.[6] The game features a female protagonist, Red, in a cyberpunk-like city, who has acquired a powerful weapon that she is nearly killed for possessing. The game features a similar isometric viewpoint to Bastion.[7] Transistor was similarly met with critical acclaim.

In April 2016, Supergiant Games announced their third game Pyre, released on July 25, 2017, for Microsoft Windows, Linux and PlayStation 4. It was described as a party-based role playing game.[8] In a break from their previous games, Pyre does not use an isometric viewpoint; the player's party travels across a 2D overworld, and combat takes place on a separate arena. The combat system is also very different, being described as "fantasy basketball".[9] Pyre was again regarded fondly by critics and was named Game Informer's best indie game for that year.

Supergiant's next game, Hades, was revealed at The Game Awards 2018 and released on September 17, 2020, following an early access release from December 2018. Hades is an action roguelike game based on Greek mythology, where the player character Zagreus uses a combination of weapon, magic, and abilities to defeat enemies in procedurally-generated dungeons and escape from his father, Hades. Hades was met with critical acclaim, reaching “universal acclaim” status on Metacritic;[10] with several awards won and was nominated for nine awards at The Game Awards 2020, winning two including Best Independent Game and Best Action.

• Official website