Genre-hopping Hades 2 studio doesn't want to make a game that's bigger and better than the last: "We're trying to make a game that has the potential to be someone's favorite game from us"

Supergiant Games studio director Amir Rao says the studio's goal isn't to make games bigger, but rather it aims to make something that could end up as someone's favorite game from the studio.

Supergiant Games has one of the best pedigrees of any indie studio. And while Hades may have been its breakout hit in many ways, previous titles like Bastion and Transistor are incredibly beloved, with many preferring them over the Hades games. But the thing about Supergiant is that – with the exception of Hades 2, obviously – no two titles in its library are really the same.

At a GDC panel attended by GamesRadar+, Rao explains, "For us, it's like, we've made a lot of games that people have responded really well to and they love. And for us, we're not trying to make a game that's better than the last game and bigger than the last game in all these ways." He continues, "We're trying to make a game that has the potential to be someone's favorite game from us."

Rao continues with a musical analogy, saying, "Think about the bands you love, right?" He explains: "You come in on an album, and it's really hard to beat that album, I feel. That was the album that got you into that band. And, you know, they may make stuff that you like more, they may make stuff you like less, but you're returning for something, for that sound, or for whatever they'll do next."

The studio director says that the thought process that "everything must be bigger, better in some way, than the last" is something that he thinks "gets you into a lot of trouble" as you figure out ways to expand upon what you've done before. He explains, "We have our own internal definition of what we want our games to be like when they are done."

Slay the Spire 2 has delayed Palworld 1.0 "at least a whole day," jokes publishing head.