Hades 2’s creative director explains how they turned bugs into “awesome” features

Following on from the original, Supergiant Games had to make sure to freshen up the formula for Hades 2 enough so much that it felt like a new game. While the obvious changes include setting and character, much of the core gameplay loop has remained the same. What’s interesting, though, is that some of these in-game features were actually borne from bugs, and are now integral mechanics in the game.

In an interview with Edge, Greg Kasavin – Creative Director at Supergiant Games – detailed a particular issue with Nemesis’ behaviour, and how it transformed into something entirely new. “There was a bug where Nemesis just ran into a Chaos Gate. And my immediate impulse was: no, let’s disallow that. The story does not account for Nemesis going into Chaos. But then we were like, wait a minute — that’s awesome.“

Despite the fact that this was never an intended feature, Kasavin and team rolled with and spun it into a feature that made logical sense in-game. While Nemesis was never really meant to encounter Chaos before, now it’s a whole new story. Melinoë will respond with adequate surprise, while both Nemesis and Chaos will respond with equally unique responses on your next encounters with them both.

This kind of bug, much like the origins of Minecraft’s creeper, are the type of creative innovation that make games shine, and while the bug with Nemesis running into a Chaos Gate isn’t anywhere near as game changing as say, the creeper, it’s still a lovely touch. We don’t make mistakes, we make happy accidents, as Bob would have put it.

Kasavin further justified the transformation of bug into feature: “Every so often, we’re surprised by the dynamism of these systems and then have to make that decision of, like, should this even be allowed?” He finishes off by stating “that’s the fun part of the process,” which is a pretty sweet way to end it.

Source: Edge Magazine #398, in print.