Hades

The roguelike structure is load-bearing for the story in a way I hadn't seen done before. Zagreus dies constantly — that's the mechanic — and the narrative is built around the repetition rather than against it. Each run reveals a new fragment of relationship or backstory. Death is progress.

Supergiant figured out how to make a game about failure feel like a game about persistence. The writing is sharp throughout and the voice cast commits fully. One of the few games I finished and immediately wanted to start again.