Hexologic

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Hexologic is a family-friendly Puzzle game released on multiple platforms in 2018, including Nintendo Switch. This game has players changing the value of hexagonal tiles to make the values of lines of those tiles match up to numbers on the end of those lines.

The presentation here is really wonderful, making use of colorful, simple, angular shapes depicting a gradually rising landscape, starting with an underwater seabed and rising to depict different biomes as you progress. This is paired with an absolutely delightful, calming soundtrack that flows as one continuously evolving piece, with wonderful themes like The Deep Ocean and The Desert fading into one another as you progress.

The gameplay here is similarly simple, elegant, and surprisingly satisfying. Players are simply placing one of a few numbers in various hexagonal spaces, but this simple gameplay makes for a really excellent logic-driven experience that feels vaguely similar to logic puzzles like Sudoku and Picross while being its own unique gameplay experience, as the gameplay is driven largely by a process-of-elimination-style logic that has you figuring out where numbers must or can’t go, and using that to provide information regarding the placement of other numbers.

Probably my biggest complaint about this game is that the hex-based nature of the game’s tiles makes selecting them using the traditional gamepad controls feel a bit stiff and awkward. Thankfully, the touchscreen controls for this game work impeccably well, and if you have the option, I would argue that playing the game this way is the best way to go.

Overall, I was delightfully surprised by Hexologic. This is a fairly simple Puzzle game with a superb presentation with great music, as well as simple but compelling gameplay. It’s not a game that’s going to revolutionize the genre, but for a mere $3, it’s a no-brainer for Puzzle fans looking for a great game to fill out their Nintendo Switch library, especially if they tend to play in handheld mode.

tl;dr – Hexologic is a family-friendly Puzzle game that has players placing dots in hexagonal tiles to add up to line totals surrounding the tiles. The gameplay is simple but compelling, and the presentation is excellent with a wonderful calming soundtrack. For the low asking price of $3, this game is an excellent addition to any Puzzle gamer’s collection.

Grade: B+

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