Paradise found: ‘Hades’ maker takes on gaming goliaths

Paradise found: ‘Hades’ maker takes on gaming goliaths

SAN FRANCISCO: No work email after 5:00 pm on Fridays, mandatory vacations: The outfit behind role-playing video game sensation "Hades“ doesn't believe you have to go through hell to reach the top. Yet the tiny, independent Supergiant's own-way approach seems to be working as it gains on the goliaths of the multibillion-dollar gaming industry.

"Hades“ snagged five honors this year at Britain's prestigious BAFTA Games Awards and is short-listed for a major Hugo science fiction prize. "If what makes our games special is the particular people who work on them and how they work together, then the whole studio culture needs to be about supporting that over the long term,“ Supergiant co-founder Amir Rao told AFP.

In an industry slammed for punishing workloads and playing it safe with sequels to blockbusters, Supergiant has focused on a love of old-school games. Unlike massive role-playing experiences with film-like graphics, "Hades“ is a "dungeon crawler“ that challenges players to fight their way through chambers rife with demonic adversaries to escape the underworld. Graphics are akin to an animated cartoon, starring a rebellious son of the Greek god Hades intent on escaping his disapproving father's domain. Characters in the game are based on Greek mythology, with