Hades 2 is freshly out of early access and once again reminding everyone why Supergiant Games is an indie darling. As Game of the Year talks begin to stir and people pick their sides on the brewing Hades vs. Silksong conflict, we here at Skydive are bypassing such discussions and instead taking a trip back to Supergiant’s debut title: Bastion, released in July 2011 for the Xbox Live Arcade and ported to Steam a month later. We look back on the seventh console generation with mixed feelings nowadays, but one true positive was the increasing availability of digital platforms that allowed indie developers a chance to better put a spotlight on their games. 

Games like Braid and Limbo were among the darlings of this wave of indie releases, but for my money, Bastion has them all beat. Playing this at the time of release was almost like a spiritual awakening for me, and showcased the many ways that a short and sweet game like this could really be creative in how it used the medium of games to tell stories in unique ways. Not only that, but many staples of Supergiant’s design philosophies all got their start here in Bastion. No part of the buffalo is wasted in a Supergiant game; art, music, sound, writing, and gameplay considerations all receive their due in each of their titles. Modular difficulty systems and gentle nudges that reward the player for experimenting out of their comfort zone are still present in every Supergiant game right up to and including Hades 2, but it’s all here in Bastion too.

Frankly, I love Bastion. It arrived at a time in gaming when my favourite game genres were in decline, and I was starting to feel disillusioned with the way the industry was going. And… both of those things are still true, but! Bastion represented something I could latch on to and find joy within this hobby, and served as a catalyst to lead me more deeply into the world of indie games. There’s a direct through line from Bastion that leads me to being here, writing and discussing games professionally like I do. It’s a very special game to me, and so once I was given the reins on Skydive, I knew it was a game I’d have to tackle.

So join us for the September 2025 episode of the Skydive podcast! (Ed note: Which is being published in late October, because of Reasons! Please understand.) I’ll be dragging the rest of the Skybox editing team through a round table discussion where we break down Bastion, digging into its design niceties and clever story details. Not one of us sounds as delightful as Bastion‘s narration by Supergiant’s in-house voice actor Logan Cunningham, but we’ll be having an interesting podcast nonetheless! Here’s a brief introduction from my esteemed Skydive co-hosts:

Brian:

“The Calamity Failed, But I Won’t”

“A Portable Genocide Machine”

Bastion is one of those few, pure games that also got the attention it deserved. Very focused, dialed-in, and trying to do something specific; tell a story about the choices we make for safety, what we are willing to forgive, and the sacrifice it takes to break the cycle of oppression in a system that benefits us. The way it tells its story was a revelation at the time, and that ‘live narration’ conceit still works wonderfully today. A few games have tried it, but none have come close to the game that put Supergiant on the map. It has aged beautifully, remaining one of the essential games that showed the greater gaming audience what indie games can do.

Lucas:

Bastion is interesting for its position on the indie games as blockbusters timeline, and for its narrative framing device that pushes to be more than just a technically impressive gimmick. I appreciate it for the reasons my co-hosts have already gone over, but I didn’t come into this recording with nearly as much enthusiasm. I have issues with the way Supergiant approaches game design, issues that haven’t really gone away from Bastion to Hades. So here’s a perfect episode if you, potential member of the audience I’ve made up in my head, might be worried Skydive is merely about gushing over things we all love. Come for the praise and the insight, but stay for the off-kilter vibes of a hater in the room and the surprise invocation of a decade-plus-year-old anecdote about Ys that snares me like a bear trap in the woods.

Will:

I’ve played Bastion three times: once when it hit PC in 2012; once on PS4 for work in 2014; and now once for Skydive. I’ve appreciated it more each time. It’s a remarkable game, simultaneously of its time and timeless, an important step forward for the indie scene and something that almost feels like it could be made today (I say “almost” because in 2025, Bastion would probably be a roguelite). 

In a world where games are terrified to be about something, Bastion is unapologetically pointed. It is about stories and who gets to tell them and how those stories shape our perception of history. It is about hatred and fear of other people, other cultures, and what they can drive us to do. It’s about what we’d give for another chance, to start over, and what that means. It’s a simple game – the story is told in real-time and through narration, save for one cutscene – but that doesn’t mean it isn’t an ambitious one. We don’t get games like this anymore. Bastion is a game out of time, but one that demands yours nearly a decade and a half later, and in my mind, it’s still Supergiant’s best. I hope you’ll revisit it (or play it for the first time) with us.

Everything we do at Skybox is made possible by the generous contributions from our backers on Patreon. Check out our page to sign up and get access to the Skydive podcast (as well as Into The Skybox, our other Patreon exclusive show)!