The Hex

The 2010s brought a number of new trends to gaming--battle royales, roguelikes, Souls-likes--but one of my favorites is the meta-game. Games like The Stanley Parable, Frog Fractions, and Undertale subvert my long-rooted expectations as a gamer and force me to actually think about the worlds of the games I explore as if they are real worlds that can exist outside the confines of their established narratives. The Hex does this in two ways: with a narrative contemplating the lives of video game characters after their games are forgotten and gameplay that always keeps you guessing at what’s coming next. It’s a smartly-paced and surprisingly funny game that had me eagerly hooked from beginning to end.

The Hex begins in the Six Pint Inn, a mysterious structure that somehow exists in the space between games. Six different characters have taken refuge there in an attempt to escape some tribulations from their past. As the game begins, the patron of the inn receives an anonymous call stating that someone there is planning a murder. You take control of each of the six characters in succession, slowly piecing together more of the mystery both by exploring the inn and by reliving the characters’ memories by playing the games they were originally a part of to learn how and why they came to the Six Pint in the first place.

As each character comes from a different genre of game, each of their sections play quite differently. For example, one section has you playing a rudimentary platformer while another takes the form of an old-fashioned turn-based RPG. In between the character flashbacks, there is a light adventure game layer as you explore the inn to get a bit more story and trigger the next section. Everything is more simplified than you’d find in a “real” game of its type, controlled only with WASD and the left mouse button, in order to facilitate quicker forward process and focus more on the overall narrative.

My favorite part of The Hex was how it was able to continually shock me. The gameplay changes up at a rapid pace, not just in what genre it’s poking fun at but in how it incorporates new elements into those games to keep you on your toes. Creative tricks, such as utilizing the friends off your friend list to populate a fake Twitch chat window, are plentiful and endearing. Past gameplay styles frequently reappear in a new way with little to no warning. There’s even achievements revolving around breaking each of the different game flashbacks and a secret ending that required a month’s worth of sleuthing to be discovered. It’s a game that’s hard to talk at length about as the whole appeal of it is being blindsided by what comes next--you just have to trust me when I say it’s worth experiencing for yourself sight unseen.

I was also surprised by how much I enjoyed the writing. The concept of characters existing on their own terms outside of the fiction they inhabit has always been a fascinating one to me, and I think The Hex does a decent job of exploring this idea. There’s also an interesting subplot about the creator of all these characters and his career of discarding the older franchises and moving on to new ones that unexpectedly ties into the main plot in a way that fits remarkably well. The writing is surprisingly funny at times; on several occasions, I found myself stunned into laughing out loud at a particularly good bit or a surprising new twist on what I was doing. It’s just solid storytelling that melds nicely with the breakneck pace of the gameplay.

As the creation of someone who made another meta-exploring game, Pony Island (which I also recommend), I went into The Hex expecting something weird and interesting. What I wasn’t expecting was a game that would ensnare me so entirely and leave me wanting more of its eclectic brand of humor and delightful homage of both game mechanics and the cultures around them. The experience is not without its faults--some slight pacing issues, especially early on, and an ending that feels a bit too predictable and plain when compared to the rest of the narrative--but I had a tremendous amount of fun during my 4-ish hours with The Hex. In my mind, it’s a game that deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as genre greats like The Stanley Parable and Undertale.