Powers of Hex

Genre: Action-Platformer

Players: 1

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Review:

Powers of Hex is a challenging Action-Platformer released on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2013. This game puts players in the role of a wizard going to various themed locales to challenge “Elfvis” to gain their magical powers. The game structure here is very clearly trying to mimic the classic Mega Man games, complete with players’ ability to tackle the games’ stages in any order.

However, while the game structure owes a lot to Mega Man, the presentation harkens back to classic PC games from the days prior to Windows, with rudimentary visuals using a limited color palette and black backgrounds. This is joined by some very rudimentary synthesized sound effects, and oddly quiet chiptune music that cuts in and out for seemingly no reason. Odd, and in no way impressive.

When it comes to the gameplay, Powers of Hex seems to understand the basic gameplay elements of how Mega Man works as an Action-Platformer, but has largely failed to develop that gameplay to anything even remotely close to the same level of quality. The difficulty level is all over the map here, with some sections of levels being exceedingly easy, and others being nightmarishly difficult, sometimes within the same level.

Partly this is due to this game giving players virtually zero hitstun, meaning that players can find themselves battered from one attack to another to another with barely any chance to respond. Or worse, they can get knocked into an instant-death spike. Beyond this, the gameplay here is just overall clunky and unsatisfying.

Despite the issues, I suspect some players who crave a challenge may still find some value here, especially with the low price of $1. To be fair, the PC version is free to download, so it’s not exactly like Nintendo Switch owners are getting a great deal here, but $1 is still a decent price for what’s on offer here.

Make no mistake though, Powers of Hex is a pretty bad Action-Platformer, and its unpolished gameplay and somewhat broken sound design indicate that this is a game that could have benefitted from more time in development to smooth out the rough edges. I expect some players looking for a challenge in the genre may find this game worth the $1 price tag, but most players are better off skipping this one.

tl;dr – Powers of Hex is an Action-Platformer where players take the role of a wizard exploring themed locales to challenge “Elfvis” to gain their magical powers. This game is clearly aiming for a low-rent version of the Mega Man formula, but it’s severely lacking in polish and overall quality. Still, those who can appreciate a tough as nails challenge may find this to be worth the $1 asking price.

Grade: C-

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