HexiHashi Reviews

calming

A great puzzle game that introduced me to the world of "Hashiwokakero" puzzle games! HexiHashi may look intimidating to those who are unfamiliar with the concept, but after a couple of puzzles, the goal to solving them becomes clear (and a lot of fun)! Positives: - Very clean and visually appealing art-style - Beautiful piano soundtrack - Intuitive Controls - Endless replay value due to puzzles being generated via algorithm Bugs: - There are a couple of bugs at the time of writing, but the developer is very active on the discussion board in regard to fixing them

Fun puzzle to relax and pass the time, not too difficult.

An interesting variation on Hashi, and it has a rather good interface. However, this game came out with some immediately obvious bugs and design issues. First, the moment I started the game, it gave me a bunch of Steam achievements for completing levels. It was also not clear how to start playing. Most games do not start in Free Play, but it instead has to be "earned" by completing other levels. Finally, for anyone that has not played any Hashi at all, this will be a painful experience, as there is no tutorial or ramping up. I have played a bit, and found that it does not scale well, especially given the increasing complexity due to the new mechanic of hexes that it introduces. I understand this game just came out today. It should have been polished some more before release. If they can improve the game, I'll be happy to change my review. But out of the gates, this game is probably not worth even the small cost.

Very fun and interesting concept, nice and cheap too, great for if you want a nice break from working on your computer.

From first impressions, the game is quite good. At a reasonable asking price, you get to skip the common issue of advertisements and in app purchases for a game of this style, but at the trade off of PC based controls. Although optimised for a mouse to be used, the game is still playable using track pad on a laptop, however the experiences do not compare. As for the game play, I appreciate the levelling system being a tool to make sure that you have the appropriate skill for something as opposed to being a massive time waster meant to only show the difference between those with no life and those with one. With only a solid hour of playing, I managed to reach a high enough level as to not have any of the game modes restricted from me. The best recommendation I have for early grinding is to Unlock Time Attack and just get a streak going. At the higher levels, you earn ridiculous experience levels.

This is a fantastic re-envisioning of the Hashi bridge-connecting puzzle. Instead of limiting you to a square grid with only 4 directions for bridges, HexiHashi allows for more engaging problem solving with its hexagonal grid. As one CGP Grey said, 'Hexagons are the Bestagons,' so I definitely appreciate this novel take on a traditional concept. It's a great game for those that like to challenge their brains with puzzles and is perfect for distracting yourself during boring work calls or between classes. The relaxing instrumental soundtrack is just a cherry on top.

Theoretically it's not a bad concept, but... for one, the visual display isn't great. The numbering system is readable up to a point but it becomes waaaay harder to read once you get to 7+. The puzzles aren't designed, but generated, often without regards to unique solutions or, more importantly, deductive logic, making it all devolve into trial and error. And on top of it all, it's glitchy. Some achievements randomly pop for no reason, the game has these long-term modes with "suspend" states.... except, if you reload from suspending, there's just a chance that once you complete the level you suspended on, it straight-up won't load another one and POOF, there goes all your progress in that long-term mode. It's cheap I guess and you're not wasting much money by throwing your money at this but I've seen free online sites that are -way- better at generating endless puzzles of this variety (and many others) that still focus on tighter, more logical puzzle design than this repetitive, trial-and-error nothing of a tech demo. It's just not fun, at the end of the day.

Nice to see a new spin on the Hashi/Bridges formula. Unfortunately, there are many problems here... Hashi puzzles should only have one unique solution and never require any guess-work. This incarnation breaks both those rules in spades, and has a random problem of crashing where it generates blank puzzles, leaving you only one option: Quit the game. Sadly, this game has already been abandoned by the developer.

I was longing for some hexual intercourse, but unfortunately [b]hexihashi[/b] failed to provide a climax, or any enjoyment at all, as I learned to my cost. you're probably familiar with the concept: connect islands with a certain number of lines that can't cross each other. this one uses hexagons, but otherwise works exactly like [b]hashi, chopsticks, bridges[/b], or whatever other name people use. it [i]should[/i] work like that anyway, but [b]multiple solutions are available and guessing is involved, neither of which is in the spirit of this puzzle type[/b]. nothing wrong with [b]only randomly generated levels[/b] if the algorhithm works, but here it doesn't. actually, the store page says [i]'pure deduction will normally solve less than 10% of a puzzle'[/i], so their algorithm is shit on purpose. and I could finish the review here, whatever else it offers is irrelevant at this point, but what the hell... [b]controls are unnecessarily cumbersome[/b], as they want you to click and drag to draw a bridge between two islands, instead of simply clicking the dotted line between them. doing the same with both left and right click draws a double bridge. again, instead of two quick clicks. left click on a bridge removes it, or both if there are two lines. islands themselves can be clicked too, but it's anybody's guess what those will connect to what. initially only [u]free play[/u] is available, and only the easy version, the other 3 difficulties unlock at level 2, 5 and 30, with further game modes entering the picture at level 10, 15 and 20. [b]adding an xp system was a horrible idea[/b], turns the whole thing into a mindless grind (and even more mindless with all the guessing) until you unlock a game mode you'd actually like to play. though, again, with guessing and multiple solutions there's nothing of value here. there's a [b]hint button[/b], can be clicked up to 3 times per level, but it's [b]pretty useless, as it just quickly shows a valid full solution[/b], good luck remembering something relevant. there's also a [b]mandatory timer[/b], starts as soon as you make your first move (clicking the hint button first doesn't trigger it), and it [b]doesn't count down, but it's still in the way[/b]. moves are also counted, but I think xp is mostly (or entirely) based on difficulty, and time and moves are only relevant in [u]time attack[/u] and [u]move master[/u] modes. there's also an [u]endless mode[/u] but I stopped long before unlocking it. and if you thought I've covered all the issues, think again. I don't care about achievements or whether they work or not, so getting them randomly instead of when they were supposed to trigger is not a problem, but [b]some achievements unlocking as soon as you buy the game[/b] is beyond ridiculous. hey, achievement people, this is your dream come true! you don't even have to start the game you only got for meaningless steam icons anyway. if only every game 'worked' like this, right? pay, get 100%, refund, everybody wins... there's a [b]how to play section[/b] in the main menu, describes what's what on 4 screens, but [b]you can't simply close it[/b]. clicking the icon again just goes back to page 1, clicking outside the window does nothing. you have to click through all 4 pages every time, and there's no back arrow either, only forward. separate volume settings and the windowed mode toggle with a fixed-size window work, which is a miracle at this point. f4 is also a windowed mode toggle, but the pause button doesn't bring up any settings, and there's [b]no restart level button[/b]. [b]no undo[/b] either, which isn't that necessary here, but some hashi games have it and it never hurts. [b]background animations can't be turned off[/b], and colors are constantly changing and moving the cursor around animates tiles all over the place. both get old fast. [b]a toggle for numbers instead of triangles would go a long way[/b] too, as hexes are only easily readable up to 6. but since it's largely random clicking anyway, who cares? I didn't run into the [b]blank puzzle issue[/b] others have reported, with the only solution of pressing alt+f4 and restarting the game, but I didn't play that much after realizing what a trainwreck the whole thing is. [b]it's a mess of a product and the issues might never get resolved, as the game got abandoned right after it came out[/b], so don't waste your time and money on it, or anything else by these hacks. check out [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1679200]bridgefix 3=2-1[/url] and [url=https://steamcommunity.com/id/dohi64/recommended/1023110/]seven red lines[/url] instead, they won't help with a hex craving, but work properly and are really enjoyable.