Hexcells Infinite
- May 2, 2016
- Matthew Brown
- 70h median play time
Hexcells Infinite is a challenging puzzle game where players uncover hexagonal grids to reveal hidden cells. With an infinite number of levels, players can progress at their own pace, using logic and deduction to solve increasingly complex puzzles. This game offers a relaxing, zen-like experience, perfect for players who enjoy problem-solving and mental challenges.
Reviews
- Engaging and challenging handcrafted puzzles that gradually increase in difficulty.
- Infinite mode offers a vast number of randomly generated puzzles, ensuring endless replayability.
- All puzzles can be solved using logic alone, with no guessing required.
- Some players find the randomly generated puzzles to be too easy and lacking in depth compared to handcrafted levels.
- The game can become frustrating due to misclicks, as mistakes are tracked and can affect progress.
- The difficulty curve can be steep, making it challenging for newcomers to the series.
- gameplay470 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 78 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Hexcells Infinite retains the core mechanics of its predecessors, resembling a more complex version of Minesweeper with hexagonal grids and additional logic-based elements. While it introduces no new mechanics, it features a robust level generator that offers nearly infinite replayability, alongside a well-paced campaign that gradually teaches players the game's intricacies. Overall, the game is praised for its addictive nature, intuitive design, and satisfying challenge, making it a standout in the puzzle genre.
“The mechanics are incredibly emergent.”
“The campaign levels do well at slowly introducing new mechanics at an appropriate rate, leading up to some very challenging levels.”
“It's like minesweeper with extra mechanics, in a good way, and infinite's level generator means it has, well, infinite replayability.”
“On any number above 2, this mechanic is useless and has only served to confuse me, an example being stage 3-4.”
“To end this, Hexcells Infinite took Hexcells Plus and made it unabashedly hard without adding any new elements to the gameplay.”
“The puzzles are enjoyable enough, but the mistakes/coins mechanic alone turns a supposedly ambient puzzle game into a frustrating practice in misclicking once then restarting the puzzle, trying your damnest to memorize where you left off.”
- music352 mentions
- 29 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its calming and ambient qualities, creating a soothing atmosphere that enhances the puzzle-solving experience. Players appreciate the integration of sound effects with gameplay, which adds to the overall relaxing vibe, although some note that the soundtrack can become repetitive over time. Overall, the music is considered a key element that contributes to the game's appeal as a tranquil and meditative experience.
“The soundtrack is also masterfully interwoven with the gameplay, and really gets me into a headspace that I have been coming back to for years.”
“The soothing color palette and ambient music create an atmosphere that is both tranquil and focused, allowing players to delve into the puzzles without unnecessary distractions.”
“The music is blissfully serene, and the puzzles are both enjoyable and almost entirely logical with very few blind guesses involved.”
“The music gets old after a while but it is thankfully mutable.”
“The only thing I'm taking a point off of Hexcells Infinite for is that as you spend more time in the game (especially with the infinite puzzle mode) is a more varied soundtrack.”
“However after long play it does get a little repetitive and you may want to switch the music off.”
- replayability250 mentions
- 52 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
Hexcells Infinite boasts exceptional replayability, primarily due to its infinite level generator and support for user-created puzzles, allowing for virtually limitless gameplay. Players appreciate the ability to generate random puzzles, which can be tailored to various difficulty levels, ensuring a fresh experience each time. While some note that the randomly generated levels may lack the complexity of handcrafted ones, the overall consensus is that the game offers an engaging and endlessly replayable puzzle-solving experience.
“The game's infinite possibilities, generated by an 8-digit number, ensure endless replayability, making it a must-play for puzzle lovers seeking a limitless and engaging journey.”
“Absolutely love this series, and with the level generator and user-generated levels, this game is aptly titled: it has infinite replayability.”
“An endlessly-replayable masterpiece of a puzzle game.”
“The replayability is unlimited thanks to the level generator, although it does become somewhat repetitive after a while.”
“The random level generator brings new replayability after completing the campaign.”
“This obviously gives the game replayability which the designed levels don't really have, however the downside is that the random levels have a tendency to feel fairly samey after a while, and it's rare to find anything really challenging.”
- graphics126 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are consistently praised for their minimalist and elegant design, contributing to a relaxing and aesthetically pleasing experience. Users appreciate the crisp, clean visuals that enhance gameplay without being distracting, although some note that randomly generated levels can appear less visually appealing compared to hand-crafted ones. Overall, the graphics are functional and well-executed, complementing the game's calming soundtrack and puzzle-solving mechanics.
“The graphics and sound effects just add to the ambiance.”
“The graphics are lovely, simple, and the solutions are rewarding, especially if you get really stuck on something.”
“The sound and graphic design are also crisp and masterful to boot.”
“The randomly generated levels are, well, random, and therefore look very messy, especially in comparison to the hand-crafted levels -- it's not as aesthetically pleasing to solve them.”
“The new infinite mode with randomly created levels and seeds offers little value as these levels are purely random and have no aesthetic.”
“It's not going to set your world alight with graphical excellence or gimmickry.”
- story54 mentions
- 15 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 26 % negative mentions
The game features a minimalistic approach to storytelling, with no traditional narrative but a "story mode" that serves primarily as a tutorial for the puzzle mechanics. Players find the story mode puzzles to be challenging, while the real appeal lies in the randomly generated puzzles that offer extensive replay value. Overall, the lack of a conventional storyline does not detract from the gameplay experience, as the focus remains on puzzle-solving rather than narrative depth.
“I spent most of my hours doing the randomly generated levels, but if I remember correctly, the story does a great job at slowly introducing you to how the game works with few words and simple examples.”
“The design is fantastic, the missions scale in difficulty nicely, and the infinite mode at the end guarantees puzzling fun for a long, long time.”
“The same mindset as Minesweeper, but with less punishment and more enjoyment; puzzles in story mode are challenging and fulfilling, and it's fun trying to solve as many puzzles as possible among friends.”
“🔵 There is no story.”
“I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who likes puzzle games like Minesweeper, etc. There's no storyline, and the mechanics are easy to learn/understand.”
“There's a linear mode—whatever you call a story mode when there's no story—and then there's a random puzzle generator that makes a potentially infinite number of good, satisfying puzzles on the fly.”
- grinding38 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 8 % neutral mentions
- 84 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that while the puzzles in the Hexcells series are generally well-designed and enjoyable, the grinding aspect can be tedious, particularly in larger levels and when striving for achievements. Many players find the need to perfect levels and the strict point system adds to the grind, making some experiences feel like a chore rather than fun. However, some users appreciate the challenge and find the overall experience rewarding despite the grind.
“It's a tad bit grindy, but the rewards make it worth it.”
“You'll need a second life for grinding, but the journey is fulfilling.”
“While it can feel grindy at times, the progression keeps you engaged.”
“However in Hexcells Infinite, the levels are unnecessarily large, tedious, and feel like a chore to go through.”
“Big levels are like looking for a needle in a haystack; it's not fun, just tedious.”
“The original Hexcells was refreshing and fun, whilst Hexcells Plus was, at times, exceedingly tedious with some of the puzzle designs.”
- emotional20 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express that the game evokes strong emotions, particularly a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction upon solving puzzles. The logical challenges enhance feelings of intelligence and mastery, making players feel genuinely smarter. However, some note that random levels can sometimes provide excessive information, which may detract from the overall emotional experience.
“This game made me use logical thinking in ways I've never used before; hence, the game actually made me feel genuinely smarter.”
“Same thing as I said about Hexcells, the original game: one of the only logic puzzle games I've played that has made me feel really accomplished after I've solved each problem.”
“I had an absolute blast and felt super satisfied when I completed the last puzzle after all this time; it made me feel a tiny bit smarter!”
- atmosphere18 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is characterized by a soothing color palette and ambient music that create a tranquil and focused environment, enhancing the puzzle-solving experience. Players appreciate the relaxing and zen-like qualities, with muted shades of blue and elegant soundscapes contributing to an immersive and enjoyable atmosphere. Overall, the minimalist design effectively fosters a calming and engaging ambiance.
“The soothing color palette and ambient music create an atmosphere that is both tranquil and focused, allowing players to delve into the puzzles without unnecessary distractions.”
“The muted color palette, dominated by shades of blue, creates a soothing and tranquil atmosphere that complements the game's ambient soundtrack.”
“I love the ambient soundtrack and the elegant atmosphere.”
“And it's a very relaxing atmosphere with great music and sound effects too!”
- humor12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is widely praised for its humor, particularly in the clever design of its puzzles, which often lead to unexpected and amusing outcomes. Players find the juxtaposition of easy and hard settings to be hilariously ironic, and the game is noted for its "devilish" humor in navigating dead ends. Overall, it successfully delivers a funny experience that stands out in the puzzle genre.
“More frequently than not, the easy setting makes harder puzzles than the hard setting, which is hilarious.”
“It's just something about the way the puzzles go: there's a devilish humor in some of the dead ends.”
“It's funny seeing this game accomplish something with way more difficult rules that Microsoft couldn't (looking at Minesweeper right now).”
- stability4 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Overall, the game demonstrates strong stability on both PC and Mac platforms, with users reporting smooth performance despite the lack of specific optimization for Mac.
“Even though this is not optimized for Mac, it still runs great.”
“It also runs great on the PC.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The monetization model is praised for its straightforward approach, featuring no gimmicks, ads, or pay-to-win elements, ensuring a fair and enjoyable experience for all players.
“No gimmicks, no ads, no pay-to-win functions.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The optimization in the game is praised for its balance of simplicity and complexity, allowing players to focus on solving puzzles without the stress of performance pressure.
“Simple, yet complex, without stress; the only performance you are submitted to is solving the puzzle.”