The Hex: A Curse on Obvious Allusions

The Hex:

The Hex: A Curse on Obvious Allusions

The Hex: Walk to A Meta Universe

Time to Beat: 5.4 Hours

In 2017 I played the unimpressive meta game, Pony Island. Despite my dislike, I listened to the reviews and enjoyed Inscryption in 2022. Even with the critical fanfare, it suffered from an inferior second half. I mention these experiences because Daniel Mullins designed both games. On the Inscryption Reddit, players insisted, with the fervent passion of acolytes, that Inscryption only be understood by playing The Hex (also by Mullins). Since this five year old game was on sale for two and a half dollars I committed to completing the Mullins' trilogy, albeit out of order. Devotees of Mullins detail how the three games exist in the same story universe. There's an intricate plot connecting the three, explained by secrets hidden in the code of the games. The ending of Inscryption shows Mullins isn't done with his meta-story. That's all very interesting, but I'm questioning whether the games, each as distinct entities, are enjoyable in themselves, from the gameplay, to the story, to the aesthetic.

The Hex opens with the player looking at a lighted tavern, framed by a dark and dreary storm. Entering inside, two design decisions immediately strike the player. Every character speaks with an unintelligible electronic mumble, while the game displays their words in subtitles. This sound grates so horribly on the ear, one wonders why it was included. Second, the visual effects, the characters, the scenery, and the objects look shoddy, like a poorly drawn Flash game from Newgrounds. The poor quality must be intentional (?), a commentary or critique of video games. Right?

The player controls the wheelchair bound manager of the bar. When the phone rings, the player guides this character to answer it. The old man reiterates the caller's statement: someone in the room plans to commit murder.

This statement, combined with the dark atmosphere leads the player to believe this is a murder mystery game. It is not. It is nothing like that. There is no murder mystery. There is barely a murder. The developer uses this hook to deceive the player, to convince them to persevere to solve the murder.

Immediately the bartender points to one of the characters at the bar, a humanoid rodent wearing black sunglasses, a bandanna, blue jeans, and red sneakers. He calls him Weasel Kid, and asks for him to come over. The player now controls Weasel Kid. As the Weasel Kid, the player can walk around, talking to the five other characters standing around the bar; a thief, a space marine, a guy with a question mark for a face, a sorceress, and a shirtless fighter. Each responds twice, offering their simple perspective on the situation. Having exhausted other options, the player directs their character to speak to the barkeep. He says he only trusts you. He asks Weasel Kid to attend to a task upstairs. The player has to ride a sluggish elevator to the second floor. After exiting, the player creeps slowly down the hall, eventually falling through some rotten floorboards and awakening in a different location.

 This world uses the cheap looking design of the rest of the game, but unlike the dark and dreary inn, it's a brightly colored 2D platformer, set in a grassy land, like Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog. This was the first obvious reference, so conspicuous, that I knew I was fated to experience a game packed with one glaring allusion after another. Despite its apparent influences, this game inside a game appears as if a six year old designed their first video game. It's slow, it's simple, it lacks challenge, and a humanoid shrew named Mr. Shrewd (who reminds me of Goggles from Banjo-Kazooie), protects Super Weasel Kid from the damage of spikes and walking mushrooms.

During the level The Hex displays fake Steam reviews of Super Weasel Kid using the player's friends list. My friends glowingly reviewed this cheap Mario knockoff.

After “beating” the first Super Weasel Kid, which requires five minutes, the player plays Super Weasel Kid 2: Radical Road. The player is supposed to think the sequel is worse than the original. The fake Steam reviews express a mixed opinion. At the end of the level, the player interacts with a cat who exchanges collected coins for a platitude. Halfway through her comment, she stops to say, she can't spout nonsense anymore. Instead she tells Super Weasel Kid, “this game was created on the ashes of another.” 

 After Weasel Kid 2, the player enters Weasel Kid: Redux, an obviously broken third game. The player encounters glitches, elements of the game that don't function, and Mr. Squarrel, a humanoid squirrel who has replaced Mr. Shrewd. While Shrewd was kind and helpful, Squarrel looks unkempt and speaks roughly to Weasel Kid. Negative Steam reviews fill the end of the Weasel Kid trilogy.

Between games Weasel Kid repeatedly encounters a short figure shrouded in white. The meetings always occur in shadowy areas, and the figure always speaks in ominous hints and intimations.

Weasel Kid: Redux ends with Weasel Kid exhausted and defeated by a host of negative reviews. He falls over, crashing through the bottom of the game. He wakes up in the basement of the inn. Using the slow elevator, Weasel Kid returns to the barkeep. The player now plays as a different character, the shirtless fighter, Chef Bryce. I'm going to avoid reiterating all six characters in detail. Again the player can speak to the other characters. Again they are asked to complete a task in the inn. Again the character ends up in his game. In the case of Bryce it is Combat Arena X, a fighting game similar to Street Fighter.

Bryce practices with a blue skinned man that looks like an undercover FBI agent. The trainer teaches the player as Bryce to attack, block, duck, and so on. He asks Bryce to hit a dummy with a ten hit combo (easy), and then a one thousand hit combo. The latter is obviously impossible, and leads Combat Arena X proper. The player plays a series of easy battles. News articles and internet posts are interspersed between the battles. They describe the ascension of Bryce, from a weak hero, to an overpowered champion. He encounters other characters from the game like the Sorceress from the bar, Mr. Squarrel, and Sado. Bryce wants to escape the misery of the fighting genre, trading his punching gloves for a cooking apron. Eventually he achieves his wish. He is removed from Combat Arena X because the patches have made him OP.

The third character is Chandrelle Stormblaze, the Sorceress. After being kicked from Combat Arena X (thanks to Bryce) she features in Secrets of Legendaria, a Final Fantasy/Legend of Zelda mashup. A friendly rabbit creature, reminiscent of a Moogle, tries to teach her how to play, but Chandrelle, a cynical and jaded character, kills it. The Hexdisplays a fake Twitch chat that comments on Chandrelle's behavior. Chandrelle is tasked with collecting three orbs to lock away an ancient evil. But Chandrelle wants to cancel the game by using the orbs to unleash the evil on the land. After encountering the blue skinned man again (Irving), and glitching the game, she succeeds in her quest.

The fourth character is Rust, from Waste World (Fallout). Like the game it parodies, Waste World is a turn based hex game. Finding it too difficult, the player installs Code Master, a reference to the company that made Game Genie, a cheat cartridge that was made to allow players to cheat on the SNES, Game Boy, and Sega Genesis. Fighting in a post-apocalyptic setting the player encounters mods and glitches. The mods introduce aliens who capture and brainwash Rust. He battles Sado who removes the cheats.

 Waste World is canceled because of legal issues between the developer and the modders. Rust ends up in an absurd version of Weasel Kid. 

Rust, like the other characters, continues to encounter the small shrouded figure. Eventually he reveals himself to Rust and the player, as a character I didn't recognize. The character, who looks like an ancient shriveled man with a mushroom on his head, tries to tell Rust a secret, but an off-screen voice forces him to stick to the script.

Along with this shrouded figure, The Hex repeatedly mentions Lionel Snill and Gameworks. It's clear that the characters are video game characters in a video game, and that they recognize their situation. And, while the six characters at the bar initially appeared unconnected, it becomes obvious that they knew each other in advance. They've conspired, organized, and are now implementing their mysterious plan.