Hexguardian
- May 2, 2024
- Split Second Games
- 100h median play time
Get on SteamHexguardian 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.
Reviews
- The game features a unique hexagonal tile placement mechanic that adds depth and strategy to the tower defense genre.
- There is a large talent tree and a variety of towers, units, and spells that provide a satisfying sense of progression and replayability.
- The game is engaging and addictive, with a good balance of challenge and fun, making it enjoyable for both casual and hardcore players.
- The game suffers from significant performance issues, particularly in the late game, where frame rates drop drastically, making it nearly unplayable.
- Many players find the RNG elements frustrating, as they can lead to runs being heavily influenced by luck rather than skill, diminishing the strategic aspect.
- The towers and upgrades often feel repetitive and lack distinctiveness, leading to a sense of sameness in gameplay.
- gameplay52 mentions
- 37 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Hexguardian is a mixed bag, featuring a unique hex-based map-building mechanic that offers strategic depth but suffers from issues like restrictive tower placement and a punishing enrage mechanic that can undermine player planning. While some players appreciate the engaging loop and potential for replayability, others find the rogue-lite elements and tower diversity lacking, leading to a repetitive experience. Overall, the game shows promise but requires further refinement in mechanics and balance to fully realize its potential.
“The roguelike map and tower mechanics, plus the huge tech tree allow for a great amount of variation and play styles.”
“Hexguardian provides players with a delightfully simple but addictive gameplay loop.”
“The hex tile placing mechanic is really fun, interesting, and surprisingly deep in terms of the strategy and presenting interesting choices.”
“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.”
- graphics21 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with a general consensus rating around 6/10. While some players appreciate the unique art style and find it aesthetically pleasing, others criticize the lack of graphical quality settings and performance optimization, noting that the visuals can feel bland and repetitive. Overall, the graphics are seen as adequate for the gameplay, but there is a desire for improvements and more customization options.
“Sometimes the end result can look quite aesthetically pleasing!”
“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 while the graphics or art design isn't my favorite ever, it looks more than good enough to go along with the great gameplay :)”
“This game desperately needs graphical quality settings or performance optimisation.”
“The only thing that is keeping me from playing more is the art style, which is kind of meh and not catching my interest for some reason.”
“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.”
- optimization14 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant optimization issues, particularly in the late game, where performance can drop to as low as 1-10 fps, making it nearly unplayable for many users. Players have expressed frustration over the lack of graphical quality settings and the need for performance improvements, which detracts from the overall enjoyment and progression in the game. Despite its engaging tower defense mechanics, the optimization problems are a major barrier to a satisfying experience.
“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 needs a lot of work.”
- replayability14 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability, driven by a combination of meta-progression systems, unique gameplay mechanics, and randomization elements that keep each run fresh. While some players note a lack of variety in towers and upgrades as a drawback, many appreciate the creative gameplay and the potential for future content to enhance replay value further. The inclusion of challenges and a tech tree also contributes to its appeal for casual and roguelite fans.
“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 allow 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.”
- music7 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally enjoyable and complements the art style, featuring a variety of tracks that enhance the gameplay experience. While the soundtrack and sound effects are well-executed, they do not push creative boundaries, with some players noting that the relaxing music can be misleading in a challenging game. Overall, the music contributes positively to the atmosphere, keeping players engaged for extended periods.
“Music is great, and the variety on maps, towers, and difficulties will keep me playing for many more hours for sure.”
“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.”
- grinding4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
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 in the early stages. Overall, the grind is considered enjoyable, albeit noticeable.
“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.”
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's monetization model is positively received, with users appreciating the absence of microtransactions, which is seen as a significant advantage.
“No microtransactions is a bonus!”
“No microtransactions.”
- story2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 100 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The story aspect of the game is not applicable, as players focus more on the challenging gameplay rather than a narrative, noting that the missions are shorter compared to other tower defense games.
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is consistently praised, with users finding it genuinely funny and enjoyable.
