- Review by: Brian Schell
- Product: Hexoscope
- Creator: Studio Binokle
- System: Windows, Mac
- Buy a Steam key through Humble Bundle (https://www.humblebundle.com/store/hexoscope?partner=bschell)
I like puzzle games, but I always seem to run into the same routine with them. I play the first level, and it takes ten minutes, and it's easy and fun. Then I play the second level, and it adds a little oomph to the difficulty. Usually by twenty minutes into it, it's gotten so hard I can't go any further. By the time I hit thirty minutes into it, I delete it and never come back.
Hexoscope broke that rule. I've been playing for several hours, and I'm still playing it. The levels require thought, but they aren't so hard that I give up. I like that. It's a fun challenge, but it's not too frustrating.
The game itself is simple enough in concept. You have a "Power Source" and a "Power Receiver," essentially two spots on a hexagonal playing field filled with random-looking pieces. The goal is simple: connect the power to the receiver, using the various pieces scattered around the board. Pieces that touch the power or receiver glow, and are "powered." The pieces can not rotate, but you can switch any two pieces adjacent to pieces that already have power; that means the longer your powered segment, the more pieces you can control. In the screenshot above, the red pieces are powered, and the blueish pieces are swappable. The black pieces are immovable right now.
As you progress through the game, additional requirements are added. In some levels, only pieces adjacent to two powered pieces can be moved. This makes things trickier, as you have to move things around to be able to reach just the right pieces to solve the puzzle. It quickly becomes a game of planning, reaching, and backtracking.
There are six "Paradigms," or main arenas of play, with each paradigm having twelve "Chaos Levels" to the game, each one progressively more complicated, and each chaos level has a single puzzle to solve. That's a total 72 puzzles. That doesn't sound like a lot, but it's quite a few challenging hours, and the game is usually available for less than three bucks, so it's a fine investment.
If you like puzzle games, but want to avoid pulling your hair out in frustration (some of us can't spare any more), give Hexoscope a try.
Hexoscope is currently $2.99 from Humble Bundle and runs on Windows 10 and MacOS via Steam.
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