Indie puzzler Hex is both developed and published by Studio Goya, a small one man operation. The goal of the game is to clear all the tiles off the map (with a few exceptions) by moving from one hex to another. This may seem simple enough but as you progress the game really ramps up the difficulty with the addition of new tiles.

There are quite a few different colour tiles that each have unique functions such as pink tiles you can only jump from one space away where as purple you can only jump from two spaces. Green tiles create more adjacent tiles when it is cleared and blue tiles teleport you to another blue tile. All of this variation adds to the complexity of the puzzles as you go from level to level.

There are approximately 10 levels in every world each adding at least one new colour. There is a bit of an introduction given whenever a new tile is added but this only really tells you the function of each, figuring out how they fit is up to you. There are also challenge levels which are only unlocked once you clear a specific world. These will really test your puzzle solving skills being twice or even three times as large as regular ones and are quite a bit more complex.



Music is a long single synth track which is mellow, relaxing and has an almost trance feel to it. This works wonderfully for the game since it honestly gives a great atmospheric vibe when you’re just chilling and doing a few puzzles. Even with some of the tougher levels that took a while to solve the music helped in keeping me going as I enjoyed grooving with the music while taking my time.

Hex is graphically minimalistic with clean lines and bold colours. Tiles stand out on a white background with mostly transparent moving hexes which do well to fill the void but not take the focus away from the puzzle at hand. Menus and transitions are well designed and fit the minimalistic motif.

I’m not sure what is in store for the future of Hex but I honestly think it would do well on mobile devices. There were plenty of times when sitting down to play the game that I thought to myself I wish I was sitting on the couch playing on my phone or tablet. This isn’t a knock against the game rather more of a recommendation of a possible future towards mobile gaming.



If I had to sum Hex up I would say “Simple, Clean, and Relaxing”. With more than 80 levels the game offers a fair value for the budget price and is even 15% off for the first week. If you like puzzle games and just want something different, you should check out Hex. It might just be what you’re looking for.

~~Josh Pang~~