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’ve already played Inscryption so I thought I had an idea of what to expect going into this but it still managed to surprise me. It’s really rough around the edges (especially when it comes to visuals) and some of the sequences go on for too long like Rust’s, but the core idea is so strong and creative that I can’t help but give Mullins his flowers. Would love to see what this game would look and feel like with Inscryption’s production values, because I genuinely think I’d prefer a more polished version of this over it.

Eğer önceden Doki Doki için yaptığım incelemeyle karşılaştıysanız, oyunların 4. duvarı kırmasını sevdiğimi hatırlayabilirsiniz. Bu oyunda onlardan biri, fakat tek özelliği bu değil.

Bu oyun size iki farklı hikayeyi anlatıyor, biri oyunun kendi hikayesi diğeri ise bir oyun yapımcısının hikayesi. "Bir" oyun yapımcısı diyorum çünkü bu kişinin gerçekten The Hex'in oyunun yapımcısı olup olmadığını bilmiyorum, oyun içinde geçen ile gerçek yapımcının isimleri farklı. Bu oyunda hikaye gereği farklı karakterleri sırasıyla kontrol ediyorsunuz ve her karakter değiştiğinde, oyun hem grafik hem mekanik olarak başka bir oyuna dönüşüyor. Bu oyunlar, "bir" olarak itap ettiğim oyun yapımcısının eski oyunları, bu oyunların gün geçtikçe popülerliğini kaybedip kötülendiğini görüyorsunuz. Aynı zamanda oyun bunları size, yani oyuncuya anlatmıyor. Bu gördüklerinizi ana karakterin gözünden yaşıyorsunuz. Oyuna gelen kötü yorumları da Steam arkadaş listenizdeki kişiler yapıyormuş gibi gösteriyor. Bu tarz farklı ve ilgi çekici unsurlar da mevcut. Ve sonunda hikayenin hiç beklemediğiniz gibi olduğu ortaya çıkıyor.

The Hex güzel bir oyun. Kesinlikle oynanmalı demem fakat birisi gelip bu oyunu gördüm, oynasam mı ? diye sorsa, oynamasını söylerim. Eğer sende oynamak isteyip emin olamadan buraya geldiysen, artık cevabı biliyorsun.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Another fantastic game by the brilliant Daniel Mullins. The Hex covers the mystery that surrounds many different forgotten game characters. I can only imagine the pains this must have been to code. It's a platformer, fighting game, RPG, top-down shooter, and more.

While I adore this game, I do think some parts of it drags on for a little longer than needed. Especially the RPG part. You could argue this is a commentary about how turn based RPGs usually are very long, but I personally found this part of the game fairly boring.

That said, other than that the genre bending game is incredible. The gameplay and commentary on games as a whole in very interesting, fun and overall an experience you can't get anywhere else. We'll all keep buying Daniel Mullins games.