Pony Island creator casts The Hex in October
The creator of cult favourite Pony Island has announced that his next surprise 'em up, The Hex, will launch on October 16th. The Hex is a murder mystery trying to discover which of six video game protagonists in a bar is planning a murder and, as you'd expect from the Pony man, it's not straightforward. We'll have to play through some of their memories, see, dancing across their different genres. Here, have a look in this new trailer below.
Six video game protagonists walk and- stop me if you've heard this one before. But one of them is planning a murder, says a mysterious phone call the bartender receives, so we're drafted to play through their memories, uncover their secrets, and crack this pre-crime. The fact that they're all in a ramshackle bar would suggest their lives haven't gone so well. Each character's section looks to play like their home genre, going from first-person poking to top-down shooting and side-on fighting and... I'm sure it will have surprises.
"There are moments that I desperately want to tell you about, because I think if you knew it had things like that, you'd be more compelled to play," our John said in his Pony Island review back in 2016. "But it would be awful to spoil any of those few best bits, so I shall instead force people I know to play it so I can then exclaim at them, 'WHAT ABOUT THE BIT WHERE IT...!'"
While The Hex at least appears to be more open about its trickery, boss man Daniel Mullins does say it "shares some similarities with Pony Island: games within games, inverted expectations, and a heavy helping of secrets." And a few nods for Pony fans.
Mullins is working with Pony Island composer Jonah Senzel for The Hex's music and sound, along with Brendan Sullivan for 3D art and voice actor Michael Mola.
The Hex is due out for Windows, Mac, and Linux on October 16th, priced at $10. Mullins says it'll come initially via Steam then "likely" hit Itch, Humble, and such "shortly after".