Hexguardian

About

Hexguardian is a single player strategy game. It was developed by Split Second Games and was released on May 2, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

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

Strategy

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

80%

Audience ScoreBased on 575 reviews

gameplay40 positive mentions

grinding9 negative mentions

The hex tile placing mechanic is fun, interesting, and adds depth to the strategy, allowing for engaging gameplay.
There's a decent variety of maps, each with unique features that enhance the gameplay experience.
The game offers a good balance of challenge and accessibility, making it enjoyable for both casual and dedicated players.

The game suffers from significant performance issues in the late game, particularly after day 40, leading to frustrating lag.
Many towers and units feel bland and lack distinct identities, making gameplay repetitive over time.
The reliance on RNG for tile placement can lead to unwinnable situations, detracting from the overall strategy.

gameplay
110 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
59%
5%
The gameplay of Hexguardian is characterized by a unique hex tile placing mechanic that offers strategic depth and engaging choices, though some players find it repetitive and restrictive. While the game features a simple yet addictive loop and a variety of mechanics, it suffers from issues like unclear tutorials, RNG problems, and a lack of diverse tower options, which can detract from the overall experience. Despite these criticisms, many players appreciate the creative gameplay and high replayability, particularly for fans of tower defense and roguelike genres.
- “The hex tile placing mechanic is really fun, interesting, and surprisingly deep in terms of the strategy and presenting interesting choices.”
- “It has a simple but engaging gameplay loop, and being able to lock certain towers and units allows you to curate your runs while keeping things random.”
- “This is an extremely well thought out game with terrific gameplay.”
- “Some mechanics are only explained once in an in-game popup, and some things are never explained at all.”
- “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
46 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
70%
13%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the cute art style and variety of enemies, while others find it too simplistic or "babyish." A common complaint is the lack of graphical settings and performance optimization, which can lead to lag during intense gameplay. Overall, while the visuals are deemed adequate for the game's purpose, there is a consensus that improvements and more customization options are needed.
- “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.”
- “The screenshots don't do the art style justice.”
- “And the art style and music is fantastic.”
- “My only complaint is that there's a lack of graphic settings which I wish I could use to make the game run better on the later, more laggy waves.”
- “Currently it would benefit from a patch: some aspects must still be polished, the compatibility with graphic drivers is not great, and so on.”
- “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).”
replayability
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
34%
14%
The game boasts high replayability due to its randomization of tiles, diverse player options, and a dynamic tower defense experience enhanced by roguelike progression and weekly challenges. While some players note a lack of variety in towers and upgrades that could hinder long-term replayability, many find the gameplay creative and rewarding, with numerous unique combinations that keep the experience fresh. Overall, it is considered a must-have for fans of casual, tower defense, and roguelite genres, with potential for even greater replay value through future updates.
- “This, along with different weekly challenges, a big tech tree to accomplish, and a roguelike mode, allows for endless replayability.”
- “Tons of combos that make each game unique and provide a lot of replay value.”
- “Truly, this is an infinitely replayable game and is a must-have for casual, tower defense, and roguelite enthusiasts.”
- “It is fun for some time, but the lack of interesting towers and upgrades makes for almost no replayability.”
- “The only real problem that the game has is a lack of variety for long term replayability.”
- “Would love multiplayer and workshop content to increase replayability but understand both could be hard to implement.”
optimization
28 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
11%
78%
11%
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly in the mid to late-game stages, where performance can drop to as low as 1-10 fps, rendering it nearly unplayable. Many players express frustration that these performance problems detract from the overall enjoyment and motivation to progress, emphasizing the need for improved graphical settings and optimization as a top priority for the developers. Overall, while the game is praised for its concept, the current state of performance is a major drawback.
- “Optimization should be the dev's primary focus in my opinion.”
- “This game desperately needs graphical quality settings or performance optimization.”
- “Great tower defense game, has some optimization issues when things get a little crazy and a few minor things.”
- “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.”
- “It kills any motivation to continue unlocking new powerups and buildings when the game performance itself won't allow me to make proper use of them.”
- “So in the game's current state, the performance issues here are really not okay and still need a lot of work.”
music
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The music in the game is generally praised for its relaxing and enjoyable qualities, enhancing the overall experience with a beautiful soundtrack that complements the art style. While some reviewers note that the music is soothing enough to be sleep-inducing, others appreciate the variety it offers across different maps and challenges, contributing to extended gameplay. However, a few critiques mention that the soundtrack and sound effects, while effective, do not push any creative boundaries.
- “Music is top notch too, really relaxing.”
- “Music is just great and the variety on maps, towers, difficulties will keep me playing for many more hours for sure.”
- “And the art style and music is 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
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while it offers a satisfying sense of progression, it can also lead to a challenging and somewhat tedious start. Overall, the grinding is described as enjoyable, albeit slightly excessive at times.
- “You will be farming this a lot for progression.”
- “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.”
- “Quite enjoyable if slightly grindy.”
story
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The reviews indicate that the game lacks a significant story element, with some users noting that the challenging gameplay leads to shorter mission durations compared to other tower defense games. Overall, the narrative aspect appears to be minimal or non-existent.
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The monetization aspect of the game is positively received, with multiple users highlighting the absence of microtransactions as a significant advantage.
- “No microtransactions is a bonus!”
- “No microtransactions is a bonus!”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is consistently praised, with multiple users highlighting its comedic elements as a standout feature.