Hexguardian Review (PC)

I’m running out of good places to put down towers. I’d like for one ice-throwing building to cover at least two potential avenues of enemy troop advance, preferably a road and a river. Unfortunately, I have to settle for putting down a fire tower to help with just the biggest of the incoming waves. Maybe I should have used my money to upgrade already existing defenses rather than focus on putting down more.

Enemy soldiers arrives in two big columns, one made up of cavalry flying down the road and another of shielded ships floating down the river. I have four archers and two spearmen, and I position them to engage the fast-moving land force first. Backed by a classic missile tower, they do a good job only allowing one cavalryman to get into the castle. The ships prove harder to battle and take out about a third of my health.

Morning breaks and I choose an upgrade that improves armor penetration for my ice towers, which also slows down incoming opponents. I’ll make their trek even longer by placing a new terrain tile to push the entry gate back. Even better, I get a piece that allows me to block a river, basically eliminating an entire enemy wave for my next nightly defense.

Hexguardian is developed by Split Second Games and published by Yogscast Games. I played using Steam on the PC, the only platform on which it is available. The game focuses on tower defense mechanics while allowing players to shape the level by laying down tiles.

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There’s almost no attempt to suggest a narrative thread or to give players a little context. A castle at the center of the map is attacked each night by enemy forces. The setting is fairly European Medieval but there’s no connection to actual history. Players have to battle enemies and keep their home safe but the game doesn’t try to justify why they can will towers into existence or use special spells to boost their chances.

Hexguardian’s starts with simple tower defense. A stream of enemies is coming from a gate and will take down the castle if enough of them reach the structure. Place an arrow tower to deal with them. As the days pass, opponents increase in number and become more capable, entering the level from more than one gate (they can exist on land or water) at a time.

To deal with them, players get new towers to play around with, shooting, for example, ice to slow enemies down or fire to deal damage over time. And there are buildings, which generate a few types of warriors, like swordsmen or archers, that can be moved around to deal with particular threats. Every day, players also get to pick upgrades for already existing structures.

Hexguardian’s big twist is represented by terrain tiles. They drop from destroyed enemies alongside gold. Click on their symbol at the bottom of the screen and the game shifts to a building interface. Basically, players can put them anywhere to expand the level. Push back gates and get more space to place towers. Or find ways to loop rivers and place tiles to simply eliminate an enemy stream.

When the player’s castle gets overwhelmed, players receive a monetary reward based on how long they have survived. It will be spent on an expansive upgrade tree. It has nodes that enhance castle HP, increase the monetary flow, add new units and towers, and more. The unlocks include production buildings that have a significant impact on how powerful the towers and buildings players place between their castle and enemies are.

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Hexguardian also features wonders, which boost certain strategies or deliver extra resources, and bosses, who offer players access to blessings once defeated. The rogue-lite elements include progression through biomes, each with a unique set of circumstances or special powers available for use.

Survive for a specified number of days to unlock the next one as well as harder difficulty settings. There’s also a Challenge mode, set to offer a new tower defense puzzle to solve every week. It has the potential to keep players coming back to test their skills even once they unlock everything they want in normal mode.

Hexguardian wisely uses the rogue elements to keep the moment-to-moment action as fun as possible. The game offers variety when it comes to towers, wonders, other buildings, and tile use. Using tiles to shut down a stream of incoming enemies is extremely satisfying, even if it only keeps the castle intact for one extra day. But the repetitive core loop means the experience is best enjoyed in shorter sessions before boredom sets in.

Hexguardian is a simple-looking game. Don’t zoom in because it becomes clear how limited the design of both towers and enemies is. When taking in the entire battlespace, the title manages to effectively communicate a lot of information about enemy waves and player preparedness. In tile laying mode it is easy to try out configuration before committing to a decision. I wanted to see the exact range of towers without actually clicking on them.

The sound design is less effective. Players will get to recognize towers by the sounds they make while firing. They create a constant chorus of destruction that will dominate the audio landscape. The soundtrack is fairly heroic, but it lacks variety.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion