LogFAQs > #949658820

#66. Hexcells (PC, 2014)
Minesweeper but on crack. This game for all intents and purposes is the 3 Hexcells games - including Hexcells Plus and Infinite, as they're just extensions.

Hexcells is a simple puzzle game based on hexes. At its basic form, you get a number and you know the # of surrounding "filled in" cells surrounding that one, like Minesweeper. However, the puzzles are all deterministic, not stochastic, which is the main draw. That is, everything can be figured out through a straight line of logic, without guessing. There's often several ways to do it, but you will NEVER have to guess. The puzzles are specifically designed in this way. You will often start with just a small amount of "interior" clues inside the hexes, if any, and perhaps a larger amount of "exterior" clues, that is, around the edges. And you will eventually branch out from just knowing your one little section,into systematically solving the whole puzzle. The way it builds, teaching you one "style" of clue, and then expanding on it into more complicated puzzles, before throwing multiple types of clues together is great but simple game design.

Anyway, beyond the basic, you get into more complicated styles of clues besides simple adjacency. There's clusters, anti-clusters, paths, segments, and all the same applies to rows of hexes as opposed to just surrounding. It's a very thinking and logical kind of game, and that stuff always appeals to me. A big part of the draw here though is its ultra-minimalist presentation. Just some soothing background music, with cells against a white screen. That's it. It's a mentally relaxing and yet stimulating experience, if you like these kind of puzzles, like Picross or Minesweeper.


Next up: Blue and red password dots


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