Game: Hexguardian
Genre: Tower Defense, Strategy, Roguelite
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Split Second Games | Yogscast Games
Controller Support: No
Steam Deck: Not Compatible During Review
Price: US $9.59 | UK £7.99 | EU € 9,43
Release Date: May 2nd, 2024
A review code was provided, with many thanks to 1Up PR.
Hexguardian: A New Spin on Tower Defence
Hexguardian is a hex-based, fantasy-inspired roguelike. At its core, the game is a tower defence game. But it has a unique spin on the formula, allowing the player to manipulate the terrain and alter the path enemy units enter the map. I’ve not always been the biggest fan of tower defence myself. But Hexguardian won me over with its simple pickup gameplay and clever use of random generation, which made each level feel different.
Place Defences
As is the way with tower defence games, the goal is simple. Protect your castle from invading forces. Enemies will come in all sorts of types, from land and sea. Before a wave begins, you will be given a hint of how many enemies are coming and the path they are going to take to allow you to plan as best you can.
Next, you need to place defence units on the map that will attack enemy units that come into range of them. To begin with, you start with a crossbow tower. A basic single shot in succession that gets the job done for small units but can’t be relied on as the level continues.
Before long, you will unlock new defences like cannons and foot soldiers, which can be directed to guard a specific area on the map, allowing for some wiggle room to reach enemies out of range. All differences carry their own advantages and disadvantages. But a lot of the time, it’s making the most of what you have to succeed, which, for me, made the gameplay risky but exciting.
If you survive a wave of enemies, Hexguardian will present you with three random upgrades to pick. This could include unlocking a brand new defence, upgrading a current defence, or unlocking a spell to use during the next wave. Coins are the main currency used to upgrade or place new defences. This is accumulated by defeating enemies or naturally as time passes.
To increase the amount, you can place support structures like fishing spots. Placing these near civilian houses increases the coin generated, adding a bit of extra strategy to the game. If you have a good eye for it, you can click on treasure chests on the map to gain some extra coins.
It’s all about finding the right balance of attack defences and resource structures to survive for as long as possible. The level is essentially over when your castle falls. Progress far enough into the level, and you will unlock the next one and additional difficulty settings.
There is no story or lore in Hexguardian; the focus is on the gameplay. However, you can jump into a ‘wiki’ in the options to learn more about the different defences you unlock. Controls only use the mouse, but they are easy to pick up and use for all audiences. Hexguardian makes use of a helpful tutorial to get your bearings on the controls and systems.
Place a Tile
The unique hook to Hexguardian is that as you defeat enemy units, you also unlock terrain pieces. Collect enough of these, and you can generate a random tile, which can then be placed on the map. This can be used to extend the path enemy forces come from, or if you get lucky, it can be used to connect existing paths and, therefore, close the enemy spawn point entirely.
While the idea may help you focus your defences on fewer paths, it does actually make enemies more enraged and aggressive, so it’s up to you as the player to weigh up if the risk is worth it. Sometimes, just creating longer paths is more beneficial, but a lot of the fun of Hexgaurdian is experimentation and finding out what works. Even when a plan completely fell apart for me, I was keen to retry the map. This was also helped by the random generation of the level, card upgrades, and tiles, which made each run feel unique.
Family Friendly Presentation
Graphics are simple, soft 3D models, giving the world a somewhat marshmallow feel to everything. Though it’s a fantasy setting with knights and catapults, the violence is kept to a bare minimum. When enemies are defeated, they just disappear in a puff of smoke, making this suitable for all audiences.
The soundtrack has a positive, bouncy feel to it, which made me feel like I was playing a cartoon rather than something epic. I dug it. There are five core levels to explore, from grasslands to snow areas and deserts. The usual video game settings. What’s interesting about each level is that each has its own unique perk. At the rainforest level, for example, units are more vulnerable to elemental attacks because units become wet. It gives each level its own personality rather than just feeling like a different template.
I tried Hexguardian on Steam Deck, but the game currently does not support this platform. It would be awesome to see Hexguardian made playable on the platform with touch controls, but I guess we’ll see what happens post-launch.
A Few Niggles
I encountered a few minor issues during the review. Sometimes, it was hard to select a specific unit to upgrade it, which made things difficult. On some occasions, ground troops didn’t always rally to spots I had directed them to, sometimes getting stuck under a bridge or the environment. Generally, none of this has a profound impact on gameplay and will likely be patched in time.
As is the way with rogue-lite games, you can unlock new enemy units, perks and all sorts of bonuses with points accumulated after a run. The trickling of new content does feel a tad slow, which may not gel well for some players. Additional unlocks in the game include new difficulty modes, a weekly challenge, and a roguelike challenge. The latter starts you off with a specific set of units and perks to work with. Giving a more focused but challenging experience.
The weekly challenge is similar but allows more flexibility on what units and perks you take into the challenge. If you like to show off, each level also includes leaderboards, but I don’t need to go online to remind myself how behind I am the rest of the gamers.
Conclusion: Hex-Cellent
Hexguardian won me over with its simple but addictive gameplay. While the familiar foundations of a tower defence game are all here, the random generation and ability to manipulate the terrain made this a game I was keen to jump back into run after run. I guess if you absolutely despise the tower defence genre, this may not be the case for you.
But if you’re looking for a fun game to enjoy in long or short bursts and you don’t mind playing on PC, then this is well worth picking up or at least adding to your wishlist. For me, the game is Hex-Cellent. If you want to try it first, there is a free demo available on Steam.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
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