Image courtesy MythicOwl
Hexologic by developer MythicOwl takes the brain twisting elements of Sudoku, and incorporates them into a hexagon-based puzzle game. It isn’t exactly Sudoku, but it will scratch that Sudoku itch, and is great if you’re looking for variation on this popular theme.
Image courtesy MythicOwl
The gameplay itself is incredibly simple—but it does eventually led to some headscratchers. You place dots into hexagons so the rows add up to the number at the end. Unlike Sudoku, where everything is in a grid,
Hexologic uses the hex board to their advantage and have crafted some pretty interesting puzzles.
Image courtesy MythicOwl
Starting off simple,
Hexologic does a great job of not only teaching you new gameplay mechanics when they are presented to you, it does a great job of ramping up the difficulty as you play. I have played many puzzle games that are similar to
Hexologic and it feels like the puzzles are thrown in without a care for easing players into harder difficulties—with easy and hard puzzles scattered almost arbitrarily. Not so with
Hexologic—care seems to have been taken to ramp up the difficulty gradually.
Image courtesy MythicOwl
That being said, there really isn’t much to
Hexologic: there are 60 levels spread over four distinct areas, each with their own unique gameplay mechanics. You play the first 20 or so levels with the base gameplay mechanics, but soon more complicated mechanics like static hexes and hexes that change multiple hexes when manipulated. Then, for increased difficulty, these mechanics are later mixed together. Everything is presented visually—without any words at all.
Image courtesy MythicOwl
My main complaint would be the lack of harder challenge levels and the lack of replayability. Once I finished the first 60 levels, I found myself wanting more. Further: the last couple of levels are real challenges, and once I beat them, I wanted a whole set of super hard levels to sink my teeth into.
Image courtesy MythicOwl
The art and sound are incredibly pleasing, but the music ended up being extremely grating after a while. Luckily, disabling
Hexologic’s music is as simple as a button press. Unfortunately, at least on PC, the simplified UI that is designed for mobile use doesn’t allow you to disable the sounds completely.
Image courtesy MythicOwl
Deceptive in its simple complexity,
Hexologic might be something you want to waste a little time on. It has simple, enjoyable game play and bright, vibrant art that will make the time you spend with it enjoyable.
Hexologic is available today on iOS, Android and Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/785890/Hexologic/
