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Hexguardian

81%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
optimization, grinding
81% User Score Based on 630 reviews

Platforms

PCPCWinWindows
Buy Nowfrom $2.27
Buy NowGet on Steam€11.79

About

Hexguardian is a single-player strategy game with excellent mechanics and two ways to play: Standard Mode, where you unlock new content with points earned from runs, and Challenge Mode, which features weekly changing challenges and leaderboards. The game features randomly generated hexagonal tiles that affect enemy paths, allowing you to shape your realm and control the battle. With approximately 100 hours of gameplay, Hexguardian offers depth and replayability. Part of the Yogscast Games catalog, Hexguardian brings a unique twist to the tower defense genre.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
Hexguardian screenshot
+6

81%
Audience ScoreBased on 630 reviews
gameplay42 positive mentions
grinding8 negative mentions
  • Hexguardian offers a unique blend of tower defense and roguelite mechanics, allowing players to build their own maps and strategize with a variety of towers and units.
  • The game features a rewarding meta-progression system that encourages replayability, with each run feeling different due to the randomization of tiles and upgrades.
  • The aesthetic and design are appealing, with colorful graphics and engaging gameplay that keeps players hooked for hours.
  • The game suffers from significant performance issues in the late game, with frame rates dropping drastically after certain waves, making it nearly unplayable for some players.
  • Many players find the tower and unit diversity lacking, with upgrades feeling repetitive and not impactful enough to change gameplay significantly.
  • The reliance on RNG for tile placement and upgrades can lead to frustrating experiences, as players may find themselves unable to progress due to unfavorable draws.
  • gameplay
    122 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of Hexguardian is a mixed bag, featuring a unique hex-based map-building mechanic that adds depth and strategy to the tower defense genre, but suffers from issues like restrictive tower placement and a lack of diverse mechanics. While some players appreciate the engaging and addictive gameplay loop, others criticize the rapid scaling of enemy difficulty and tower costs, which can hinder the enjoyment of its rogue-lite elements. Overall, the game shows potential for improvement, particularly in enhancing tower diversity and addressing RNG issues, but currently offers a simple yet enjoyable experience for fans of the genre.

    • “Hexguardian is a roguelite tower defense game that offers a unique and exciting gameplay experience.”
    • “The hex tile placing mechanic is really fun, interesting, and surprisingly deep in terms of the strategy and presenting interesting choices.”
    • “A fun tower defense game with a surprising amount of depth, that stands out amongst the crowd of its genre, due to the mechanic of creating the map as you play using tiles.”
    • “Instead, the game doesn't really use that pathing mechanic because the scaling of how much towers cost and how tanky the enemies are raises too quickly for you to really take advantage of it.”
    • “The way you can place towers is quite restrictive and the gameplay feels repetitive.”
    • “While I can appreciate the attempt at strategy with the mechanic of building out your own grid, it feels underdeveloped and loses novelty very quickly.”
  • graphics
    50 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the colorful art style and aesthetic, while others find it bland or "babyish." Many users express a desire for more graphical settings and performance optimization, noting that the visuals can feel repetitive across different maps. Overall, while the graphics are deemed adequate for the gameplay, there is a consensus that improvements and polish are needed to enhance the visual experience.

    • “Graphics are good for what the game is trying to achieve, tons of different enemies and even different styles for whatever map you are currently playing, great little detail.”
    • “And the art style and music is fantastic.”
    • “Sometimes the end result can look quite aesthetically pleasing!”
    • “This game desperately needs graphical quality settings or performance optimization.”
    • “You unlock some more interesting options going through, but the overall visuals and visual progressions are pretty bland (and even a little hard to discern the difference between a level 1 and level 3 tower at a glance).”
    • “Currently it would benefit from a patch: some aspects must still be polished, the compatibility with graphic drivers is not great, and so on.”
  • optimization
    40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly in the late game, where players report drastic drops in frame rates (as low as 1-10 fps) that render it nearly unplayable. While the core gameplay is enjoyable, these performance problems hinder progression and enjoyment, leading many to call for urgent improvements and graphical settings to enhance performance. Overall, optimization appears to be a critical area needing attention from the developers.

    • “This game desperately needs graphical quality settings or performance optimization.”
    • “Optimization should be the dev's primary focus in my opinion.”
    • “Great game, however, after level 40 it's almost unplayable due to low performance (1-5 fps).”
    • “Tldr: this is a fun take on the tower defense genre, but it's hamstrung by major performance issues that make the mid-game to late-game literally unplayable.”
    • “So in the game's current state, the performance issues here are really not okay and still need a lot of work.”
  • replayability
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers significant replayability, driven by a meta-progression system and the challenge of beating previous high scores. While many players appreciate the unique combinations and randomization that enhance each playthrough, some express concerns about a lack of variety in towers and upgrades, which may limit long-term engagement. Overall, the combination of roguelike elements, weekly challenges, and a tech tree contributes to a highly replayable experience, appealing especially to fans of tower defense and roguelite genres.

    • “Beyond unlocking everything there is to unlock in the talent tree (the game’s meta-progression system), the main driver of replayability is attempting to beat your previous runs' high scores.”
    • “Truly, this is an infinitely replayable game and is a must-have for casual, tower defense, and roguelite enjoyers.”
    • “This, along with different weekly challenges, a big tech tree to accomplish, and a roguelike mode, allows for endless replayability.”
    • “The only real problem that the game has is a lack of variety for long-term replayability.”
    • “It is fun for some time, but the lack of interesting towers and upgrades makes for almost no replayability.”
    • “Would love multiplayer and workshop content to increase replayability but understand both could be hard to implement.”
  • music
    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is generally well-received, with an enjoyable soundtrack and effective sound design that enhances the experience, though it doesn't break new ground. While some find the relaxing tunes soothing, they caution against letting it create a false sense of security in the game's challenging environment. Overall, the variety in music across different maps and levels contributes positively to the gameplay experience.

    • “Music is just great, and the variety on maps, towers, and difficulties will keep me playing for many more hours for sure!”
    • “And the art style and music are fantastic.”
    • “The soundtrack and sound effect design both meet the mark, but neither do anything to push the boundaries.”
    • “It has music that puts babies to sleep.”
    • “Tough game, so do not let the relaxing music in the game lull you into a false sense of security.”
  • grinding
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a double-edged sword; while it offers a satisfying sense of progression, it can also lead to a challenging and somewhat repetitive experience, especially at the beginning. Overall, the grind is seen as enjoyable, though it requires significant farming for advancement.

    • “This does provide a good sense of progression, but also means the game is very difficult at the start, and can feel a bit grindy at times.”
    • “You will be farming this a lot for progression.”
    • “Quite enjoyable if slightly grindy.”
  • story
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The reviews do not provide any specific information about the story, focusing instead on gameplay mechanics such as tutorials, tower placement, and mission difficulty. Overall, the narrative aspect appears to be minimal or non-existent in this tower defense game.

  • monetization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is praised for its lack of microtransactions, which many users consider a significant positive aspect. This absence of additional purchases enhances the overall gaming experience.

    • “No microtransactions is a bonus!”
    • “No microtransactions is a bonus!”
  • humor
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is consistently praised, with multiple users highlighting its comedic elements as a standout feature.

  • stability
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game experiences some graphical glitches on the Steam Deck, which detracts from the overall experience; however, it's worth noting that the developers have not officially supported this platform.

    • “There are some graphical glitches on the Steam Deck that worsen the experience a bit; however, in fairness, the developers have not stated that the Steam Deck is supported, so I can't blame them.”

Buy Hexguardian

48h Median play time
88h Average play time
6-200h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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