Review: The Hex (2018)

Original post: https://misthold.dreamwidth.org/13485.html

The Hex (2018) is a multi-genre mystery game starring six protagonists from different fictional video games. The main story is a murder mystery (sort of), but each protagonist has their own goal which then culminate into a wowzer of an ending. They're also self-aware– they know they're video game characters– and their creator also plays a part in their story. The more you unravel their backstory, the more interesting and exciting it gets.

It was super fun getting to try out different genres, actually. I normally only play adventure/puzzle games, so it was neat to try out shooters and strategy games. And despite switching genres with every character, it's actually pretty easy to play. That's great for people who don't normally play certain types of games, as it means you won't get stuck somewhere too long. And if you die, it just resets to immediately before your death. Nice!

The best part was finding the different pieces of the story and unraveling the protags' stories and the ACTUAL main story of The Hex. There's tons of stuff to find, like weird glitchy things, “hacking” into game parts, secret clickable things, etc. A lot of it involves “breaking” the game in some way, or doing things totally incorrect for whatever genre you're currently in.

For instance, in one part of the game you get a power-up from the villain, which then breaks the normal game mode but allows you to do things necessary for The Hex's storyline. In another part, you literally go “behind the scenes” to the game creator's bedroom. There's lots of little things to find, all very meta to The Hex's game and the video game industry.

It's obvious that The Hex was made by someone who really loves video games, and who loves playing around with the <i>medium</i> of video games. I really enjoyed playing it!

Apparently there's a second secret ending if you play through again, too. I haven't done that yet, but I'm definitely adding it onto my “sometime in the future” list.

Price: $10

Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. I played it on macOS and it took me about 8 hours to finish.

This was part of the Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality.