The Hex: A love letter to (and some critique of) video games, a story that simply cannot be told in any other medium. There are hits and misses here, but there's no denying Daniel Mullins is quite the creative... and he needs help ending his games.
The Hex is a lot of things in one, I guess I'd describe it as a meta-narrative puzzler at its core. The “meta” and “puzzle” parts are pretty solid (though “puzzle” gets too absurd), but the “narrative” could use some work.
For meta, expect references galore. There's direct references to older games like Mario, Sonic, and even Tapper, and then some to newer games like Hotline Miami and PUBG. A pompous developer makes light of crunch culture, you'll see a Twitch chat and Steam reviews while you play, and GameShark-like cheat codes will help you even the odds. You, the player, will be referenced and spoken to directly. This is clearly a favorite concept for Daniel, I think he's 3 for 3 with this.
For puzzles, there's a few layers here. There are plenty of puzzles in the game to solve, including ones that'll have you using your cursor on screen to block lights as though it was a physical hand. Plenty of this sorts of stuff. But linking back to “meta”, if you want to know how far the rabbit hole goes with The Hex, you need to download and play an entirely different game (on Steam) just to find codes that work here. It's ambitious, but I think it's also absurd. I downloaded that other game but then decided I'm not going through the rigamarole, thank god for YouTube. This should be reined in a bit.
I found the narrative to be the least interesting part. Since I don't want to spoil anything, I'll say obviously this game is far more than its Steam page says. Starting with the easy surface stuff, I wasn't super interested in any story to keep me going, more so just wondering what the next gameplay change or meta reference would be. You can go way, way down in the story behind the scenes, and after reading up on it a bit I still don't care very much. It barely gripped me while I played the game, so it's not likely to grip me afterwards.
The ending bit with the walking simulator was a total drag. The voiceover sucks and obviously that's the intent, but knowing I'm not supposed to like what I'm experiencing doesn't help me all too much in these moments. So for the game to just slow way down before an ending I don't care about? I don't know, just not a very strong exit, here. As previously mentioned, I felt this with other games by Daniel Mullins: I don't remember much of Pony Island's ending except for not liking it, and Inscryption goes into this fourth wall-break shit even deeper for a longer time. Really, this may be my favorite final act of any of his games, but I don't like it. So.
The Hex is very interesting in many ways. This kind of game is more of a mystery than most are willing to delve into; layers upon layers and even a companion-piece game is needed to get a semblance of a final picture. You can read on its Steam discussions how far down this whole thing really goes. For me, I simply wasn't hooked enough to get that absorbed.
Check out The Hex if you love games, especially light horror ones that play with your head a bit. I guarantee it's not like anything else you've played, but it's up to you to decide if that's good or bad. I'm still not totally sure, but Daniel? Keep making games, please.
The Hex is a lot of things in one, I guess I'd describe it as a meta-narrative puzzler at its core. The “meta” and “puzzle” parts are pretty solid (though “puzzle” gets too absurd), but the “narrative” could use some work.
For meta, expect references galore. There's direct references to older games like Mario, Sonic, and even Tapper, and then some to newer games like Hotline Miami and PUBG. A pompous developer makes light of crunch culture, you'll see a Twitch chat and Steam reviews while you play, and GameShark-like cheat codes will help you even the odds. You, the player, will be referenced and spoken to directly. This is clearly a favorite concept for Daniel, I think he's 3 for 3 with this.
For puzzles, there's a few layers here. There are plenty of puzzles in the game to solve, including ones that'll have you using your cursor on screen to block lights as though it was a physical hand. Plenty of this sorts of stuff. But linking back to “meta”, if you want to know how far the rabbit hole goes with The Hex, you need to download and play an entirely different game (on Steam) just to find codes that work here. It's ambitious, but I think it's also absurd. I downloaded that other game but then decided I'm not going through the rigamarole, thank god for YouTube. This should be reined in a bit.
I found the narrative to be the least interesting part. Since I don't want to spoil anything, I'll say obviously this game is far more than its Steam page says. Starting with the easy surface stuff, I wasn't super interested in any story to keep me going, more so just wondering what the next gameplay change or meta reference would be. You can go way, way down in the story behind the scenes, and after reading up on it a bit I still don't care very much. It barely gripped me while I played the game, so it's not likely to grip me afterwards.
The ending bit with the walking simulator was a total drag. The voiceover sucks and obviously that's the intent, but knowing I'm not supposed to like what I'm experiencing doesn't help me all too much in these moments. So for the game to just slow way down before an ending I don't care about? I don't know, just not a very strong exit, here. As previously mentioned, I felt this with other games by Daniel Mullins: I don't remember much of Pony Island's ending except for not liking it, and Inscryption goes into this fourth wall-break shit even deeper for a longer time. Really, this may be my favorite final act of any of his games, but I don't like it. So.
The Hex is very interesting in many ways. This kind of game is more of a mystery than most are willing to delve into; layers upon layers and even a companion-piece game is needed to get a semblance of a final picture. You can read on its Steam discussions how far down this whole thing really goes. For me, I simply wasn't hooked enough to get that absorbed.
Check out The Hex if you love games, especially light horror ones that play with your head a bit. I guarantee it's not like anything else you've played, but it's up to you to decide if that's good or bad. I'm still not totally sure, but Daniel? Keep making games, please.
Toda carreira artística carrega um pouco de quem a faz, né?
Como aqueles livros " a vida e obra de fulano" chegam a ser redundantes.
Nossas obras refletem nossas vidas, refletem quem você foi no especifico momento em que deu luz aquela ideia e a executou. Era você ali, apesar de uma versão morta sua.
Sabendo disso, como vai se ver ao olhar nos olhos desses espelho colorido que você criou de si mesme?
A obra se torna viva por essas memórias, por esse pedaço de humanidade que deixamos escapar em cada uma delas (mesmo nas vazias ou industriais), assim sendo como lidamos com ela?
The Hex sabe brincar com camadas do imaginário que acessam essa humanidade nas obras.
Brincar com essa autorreferência é de se esperar do Mullins, mas usar isso para envolver esse conceito de arte viva é convincente e instigante, ainda mais quando lidamos e controlamos (ou vivemos) essas obras e esses personagens, É difícil não sentir que cada um deles tem um pouco da humanidade deixada pelo personagem que os criou no jogo.
Só é uma pena um jogo que em sua camada interna fala tanto dessa humanidade, deixar sua própria humanidade de lado.
Senti falta de uma abertura nesse jogo, de uma conversa próxima, aberta, verdadeira e vulnerável.
No final das contas, uma conversa humana nunca será substituída pela vida e obra de um personagem que nunca viveu.
Fosse esse jogo sincero e real ao seu final em sua humanidade, teria um impacto gigantesco.
Como não é, se torna um jogo hipócrita e que luta para sobreviver nos resquícios de humanidade não intencionais.
Como aqueles livros " a vida e obra de fulano" chegam a ser redundantes.
Nossas obras refletem nossas vidas, refletem quem você foi no especifico momento em que deu luz aquela ideia e a executou. Era você ali, apesar de uma versão morta sua.
Sabendo disso, como vai se ver ao olhar nos olhos desses espelho colorido que você criou de si mesme?
A obra se torna viva por essas memórias, por esse pedaço de humanidade que deixamos escapar em cada uma delas (mesmo nas vazias ou industriais), assim sendo como lidamos com ela?
The Hex sabe brincar com camadas do imaginário que acessam essa humanidade nas obras.
Brincar com essa autorreferência é de se esperar do Mullins, mas usar isso para envolver esse conceito de arte viva é convincente e instigante, ainda mais quando lidamos e controlamos (ou vivemos) essas obras e esses personagens, É difícil não sentir que cada um deles tem um pouco da humanidade deixada pelo personagem que os criou no jogo.
Só é uma pena um jogo que em sua camada interna fala tanto dessa humanidade, deixar sua própria humanidade de lado.
Senti falta de uma abertura nesse jogo, de uma conversa próxima, aberta, verdadeira e vulnerável.
No final das contas, uma conversa humana nunca será substituída pela vida e obra de um personagem que nunca viveu.
Fosse esse jogo sincero e real ao seu final em sua humanidade, teria um impacto gigantesco.
Como não é, se torna um jogo hipócrita e que luta para sobreviver nos resquícios de humanidade não intencionais.
The best way to talk about this game is by spoiling absolutely nothing. I'll just say that it's very much worth playing based on the unique premise and interesting directions the story takes, and Daniel Mullins is perfectly equipped to handle both. That being said, I do have one nitpick to get off my chest. The strength of the genre parodies is WILDLY inconsistent , and just in general how much you'll get out of them depends on how familiar you are (or aren't) with the games they're spoofing. There is somewhat of a justification for this, but I guess it was worth noting. There are times where moments of the game can feel scattershot and directionless but trust me, it all comes together in the end. A game like this is only going to appeal to a very specific type of nerd (like myself) and definitely isn't for everyone, but I'm glad it exists and that I got to experience it. It's just kind of hard to rate this as a "video game" for reasons that only make sense if you've played all the way through it.
It's very unique due to mixing various genres for certain portions of the game and not to mention it's made by Daniel Mullins which already gives it a shit ton of lore, secrets and args
Not bad, but certainly not as good as inscryption (though, I'm not surprised about that at all)
The awkward middle child of the Daniel Mullinsverse: crude, unvarnished, and lacking much the mechanical depth that would define something like Inscryption (which could be appreciated even without tumbling into the bottomless rabbit hole of batshit lore). Easily the weakest of the trilogy, but still worth checking out.
This is an odd one. It's good, sort of, but something about it just didn't feel right. The homages to specific games, genres, developers and the gaming zeitgeist as a whole were well done and often elicited a chuckle. It just wasn't very fun to actually play.
You can see the design ethos that would lead to the excellent Inscryption much clearer than in his previous title, Pony Island. This was definitely a stepping stone for Mullins as a creative. However, Inscryption does basically everything The Hex was going for but much better, and crucially, there is an enjoyable game balanced with the meta Mullins-ness.
You can see the design ethos that would lead to the excellent Inscryption much clearer than in his previous title, Pony Island. This was definitely a stepping stone for Mullins as a creative. However, Inscryption does basically everything The Hex was going for but much better, and crucially, there is an enjoyable game balanced with the meta Mullins-ness.
While I do continue to appreciate this outsider perspective to a meta-narrative that we get bits and pieces of, and the gameplay here is more varied (even if only literally) and gives me more of a reason to give a shit about what's going on, it still doesn't quite hit enough when it comes around to the end. It definitely feels much more realized and put-together than any attempt Pony Island made, and there's some very important things he learned that show in this project. It's just unfortunate that a lot of the animation is still fairly simple and not super personable, despite fairly decent design and character. Attempts to subvert the 4th wall still felt fairly laughable and simple, even as narrative elements, but do a decent job of keeping you on your guard for what comes next, because you won't really ever guess. It's fun in that regard, and funny in terms of its satirical elements and industry commentary, if at times wildly absurd. Overall a positive change of direction in development in my opinion, one that showed a lot more promise for the developer Daniel Mullins has become today. Now it's finally time for the biggun.
Okay, I can't stop thinking about this game. I wanted to come back to say this, because it's really good.
Et c'est quoi la suite, the Hept ? 😂
Bim, ça c'est de l'humour à géométrie variable !
Mouais je vais peut-être la supprimer celle-là
Bim, ça c'est de l'humour à géométrie variable !
Mouais je vais peut-être la supprimer celle-là
No lo disfrute mucho pero esta chulo que vaya cambiando
Sarsaparilla
An expansion on the core ideas of Pony Island (and everything else Mullins has released, to some extent). It’s also a very direct riff (or dunk??) on The Beginners Guide, and makes heavy use of the neither-you-nor-your-player-character-want-to-do-this-but-you-have-no-choice-to-proceed mechanical narrative device (the “Bioshock Special”). So a real mishmash of video game meta-narrative concepts.
Less elegant than Pony Island but still a good time. Glad I got to experience Inscryption first (like most people, I’m sure) before seeing some of the same tricks used here in what’s hard not to think of as a trial run.
Less elegant than Pony Island but still a good time. Glad I got to experience Inscryption first (like most people, I’m sure) before seeing some of the same tricks used here in what’s hard not to think of as a trial run.
This game is a fucking ride, when it had its hooks in me I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. While Inscryption is overall the superior game, The Hex is Daniel Mullins's best story, and god damn is it creative.
I think about this game before I go to sleep sometimes.
Very excited for Pony Island 2, Danny knows how to make a game. My on critique is that it kinda drags, don't wanna spoil but the onslaught of different gameplay elements gets annoying. Rad game.
played this in one sitting and then was a little depressed and a little alarmed at like 5 am
When Dan Mullins hits, it's a resounding win for indie games as a whole. The Hex plays with such unique genre shifting and a wonderful metanarrative about humble beginnings being overtaken by early onset fame and money being introduced into someone's life. As always, the metanarrative fucking rocks and it builds to an ending that I honestly like more than Inscryption's. Inscryption is without a doubt the better overall product, but The Hex surprised me. And I do so love when Dan Mullins surprises me.
Lacking the finesse and depth of Mullins' other games, The Hex is far too clunky to properly put across its larger points
Muy curioso si es el primer juego de este hombre que juegas, pero personalmente viniendo de Pony Island y sobre todo Inscryption, se me ha hecho un poco bola.
Que sí, muchas metarreferencias y el gameplay cambia de género cada 5 minutos...¿y?
Que sí, muchas metarreferencias y el gameplay cambia de género cada 5 minutos...¿y?
başım dönüyo
Mullins' second installment in the "Satan gets into Gamedev" saga.
Essentially, the game is a mixture of different games into one semi-cohesive but detached story. One moment you'll be playing a platformer, then a fighting game, then a whole turn-based RPG; all with meta commentaries throughout (using YOUR Steam friends!).
Gameplay Rating Average: 7.5/10
A lot of the gameplay sections are a little basic, but it really shines in it's diversity. Every section takes a little getting used to, but once you do figure it out, it becomes pretty satisfying; this is especially true for the latter half of the games, so I'll give a review on each section of the game.
Super Weasel Kid: It's a basic platformer game, clearly based off of Mario, Sonic, all that. It's pretty ok, gets worse as it goes but that's intentional. 8/10
Combat Arena X: Feels really gimmicky and clunky, much like a flash game fighter, but still janky. 7/10
Secrets of Legendaria: It's a fun RPG and there's a surprise gimmick that makes it pretty cool. 9/10
Waste World: An SRPG that's basically modded to have a cheat engine; so you have to carefully balance your cheat use to go through every level. 9/10
Vicious Galaxy: THE highlight of the game. A top-down shoot-em-up that suddenly has a pretty damn impressive twist and fun puzzle sections. 10/10
Walk: It's meant to be shitty but... it's a little too shitty. 2/10
Story Rating: 8/10
It's super intriguing, but man is it a pain in the ass to explain. It's best to play Pony Island prior to this, since it provides a little bit more context (and I mean LITTLE). I don't want to spoil anything about the story, but it's not bad at all.
Colorblind Test: A
I don't recall there being an issue with being colorblind in this game; maybe a few switches in Vicious Galaxy but the wires are indication enough.
Overall, yeah, good game.
Essentially, the game is a mixture of different games into one semi-cohesive but detached story. One moment you'll be playing a platformer, then a fighting game, then a whole turn-based RPG; all with meta commentaries throughout (using YOUR Steam friends!).
Gameplay Rating Average: 7.5/10
A lot of the gameplay sections are a little basic, but it really shines in it's diversity. Every section takes a little getting used to, but once you do figure it out, it becomes pretty satisfying; this is especially true for the latter half of the games, so I'll give a review on each section of the game.
Super Weasel Kid: It's a basic platformer game, clearly based off of Mario, Sonic, all that. It's pretty ok, gets worse as it goes but that's intentional. 8/10
Combat Arena X: Feels really gimmicky and clunky, much like a flash game fighter, but still janky. 7/10
Secrets of Legendaria: It's a fun RPG and there's a surprise gimmick that makes it pretty cool. 9/10
Waste World: An SRPG that's basically modded to have a cheat engine; so you have to carefully balance your cheat use to go through every level. 9/10
Vicious Galaxy: THE highlight of the game. A top-down shoot-em-up that suddenly has a pretty damn impressive twist and fun puzzle sections. 10/10
Walk: It's meant to be shitty but... it's a little too shitty. 2/10
Story Rating: 8/10
It's super intriguing, but man is it a pain in the ass to explain. It's best to play Pony Island prior to this, since it provides a little bit more context (and I mean LITTLE). I don't want to spoil anything about the story, but it's not bad at all.
Colorblind Test: A
I don't recall there being an issue with being colorblind in this game; maybe a few switches in Vicious Galaxy but the wires are indication enough.
Overall, yeah, good game.
beneath the surface better
This review contains spoilers
This game is weird, because it's hard to give a rating. Thing is, it's kind of uneven. It's very good in some places, and a bit annoying in others.
OK, so it's a metagame thing, where the real story is about the developer of all the games the different player characters are from. It's cute, it's well done, there's clever stuff in it. The ending especially and is pretty impactful. When this game comes together and is working, it really, really works well. But the problem is that this game is also a tour through these different genres like fighting games or RPGs, and some of these bits drag.
In particular, the middle chapter is a sendup of "classic" (that is, shitty) JRPGs. It's making fun of how those games had boring and repetitive combat, gruesomely overwritten dialog and were three times too long. It makes you do three different boss fights to get the orbs so you can move on. I get that this is the structure of the exact games it's making fun of, where getting to do the same three things as everyone else but in the order you want lets the games claim they have choice and consequences. But it's a tedious padding technique in those games and it has the exact same effect here!
Another complicated feature is the puzzles toward the end. Going from game-within-a-game to game-editor-within-a-game is really clever, and it's a good device paired with the metacommentary from Lionel Thingie. But the puzzles themselves are nakedly stolen from The Witness. Now, listen, I'm not judging anyone for stealing ideas (I think Picasso was right about that one), but the problem is that in a game that really wants you to think about their creators, and what they say about their games, and whether they're assholes or not, then going anywhere near the question of Jonathan Blow is something that's hard for the audience to treat as accidental. I mean, are we to understand that Lionel Thingie is being compared to Blow? What's the point being made there?
And finally, while the final Walk segment is effective both as a poke at walking sims and a climax of the game, the problem is that the whole concept is lifted from The Beginner's Guide! Once again, I like it when good ideas from one work are used in another, but this is too blatant. Is the plagiarism the point? Is this game a response to that game somehow?
Still, you have to give credit to any game that can prompt a little thought like this. This sure is saying something. I also really dug the visual style. It's simple 2D, but I think it's effective, and the style is also agreeably consistent throughout the game. I thought the transformations into the top-down shooter and JRPG perspectives were quite clever, too.
OK, so it's a metagame thing, where the real story is about the developer of all the games the different player characters are from. It's cute, it's well done, there's clever stuff in it. The ending especially and is pretty impactful. When this game comes together and is working, it really, really works well. But the problem is that this game is also a tour through these different genres like fighting games or RPGs, and some of these bits drag.
In particular, the middle chapter is a sendup of "classic" (that is, shitty) JRPGs. It's making fun of how those games had boring and repetitive combat, gruesomely overwritten dialog and were three times too long. It makes you do three different boss fights to get the orbs so you can move on. I get that this is the structure of the exact games it's making fun of, where getting to do the same three things as everyone else but in the order you want lets the games claim they have choice and consequences. But it's a tedious padding technique in those games and it has the exact same effect here!
Another complicated feature is the puzzles toward the end. Going from game-within-a-game to game-editor-within-a-game is really clever, and it's a good device paired with the metacommentary from Lionel Thingie. But the puzzles themselves are nakedly stolen from The Witness. Now, listen, I'm not judging anyone for stealing ideas (I think Picasso was right about that one), but the problem is that in a game that really wants you to think about their creators, and what they say about their games, and whether they're assholes or not, then going anywhere near the question of Jonathan Blow is something that's hard for the audience to treat as accidental. I mean, are we to understand that Lionel Thingie is being compared to Blow? What's the point being made there?
And finally, while the final Walk segment is effective both as a poke at walking sims and a climax of the game, the problem is that the whole concept is lifted from The Beginner's Guide! Once again, I like it when good ideas from one work are used in another, but this is too blatant. Is the plagiarism the point? Is this game a response to that game somehow?
Still, you have to give credit to any game that can prompt a little thought like this. This sure is saying something. I also really dug the visual style. It's simple 2D, but I think it's effective, and the style is also agreeably consistent throughout the game. I thought the transformations into the top-down shooter and JRPG perspectives were quite clever, too.
MANO...
MANO...
Sem palavras, isso daqui... como eu nunca ouvi falar ninguém falando disso, como não tem vídeo sobre esse jogo no Youtube Br??
Agradeço mto aos meus amigos por terem recomendado a trilogia de jogos do Daniel Mullins, pqp...
MANO...
Sem palavras, isso daqui... como eu nunca ouvi falar ninguém falando disso, como não tem vídeo sobre esse jogo no Youtube Br??
Agradeço mto aos meus amigos por terem recomendado a trilogia de jogos do Daniel Mullins, pqp...
Rudimentary gameplay and visuals, but the wit, metacommentary, and horror carry this one. Several moments had my jaw dropped.
The ending was so funny but maybe it's cause I'm high. Very clever game but often the gameplay itself wasn't engaging enough for me to not think of how boring some of the games were, unlike Inscryption. I'ts funny that this guys style is just super "meta" games. More fun than pony island imo.
If you haven't played this game, do not read this review or anything else about it. Hop in and play it blind.
I thought this game would mostly be about playing through different genres of games, albeit with a bit of meta stuff since I knew this was the same developer that made Pony Island. What I got was an interesting fourth-wall-breaking story. Playing through different genres that connected the characters together kept things fresh and interesting and I love how these seemingly separate characters had been weaved together to tell something much larger. The fourth wall breaks that begin more and more towards the end of the game really got me and Sado was an incredibly creepy antagonist. Revealing the player themselves as a character of their own to complete the hex in the game's true ending was brilliant. Beyond that, there are a lot of secrets to delve into and explore not only in the game but out of it. The cipher in the game files and in an entirely different game extends the story beyond the bounds of just the game. A wonderful gem that is worth the time played.
I thought this game would mostly be about playing through different genres of games, albeit with a bit of meta stuff since I knew this was the same developer that made Pony Island. What I got was an interesting fourth-wall-breaking story. Playing through different genres that connected the characters together kept things fresh and interesting and I love how these seemingly separate characters had been weaved together to tell something much larger. The fourth wall breaks that begin more and more towards the end of the game really got me and Sado was an incredibly creepy antagonist. Revealing the player themselves as a character of their own to complete the hex in the game's true ending was brilliant. Beyond that, there are a lot of secrets to delve into and explore not only in the game but out of it. The cipher in the game files and in an entirely different game extends the story beyond the bounds of just the game. A wonderful gem that is worth the time played.
Simplemente peak.
This review contains spoilers
Really weird! Not bad, just weird.