Hex: Shards of Fate

 PC
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 111 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 64 out of 111
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 111
  3. Negative: 37 out of 111

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. RealThoughts
    Feb 5, 2016
    7
    The Good - Hex takes the mechanics of the most popular trading card game (Magic, duh) and builds on it. PvP play has a very familiar feel to any Magic veteran. This is essentially a Pay2Play environment. Formats include constructed, draft and sealed. The PvP additions (well, game) are champions and permanent effects (buffs) which remain in all zones. Shard (land) screw/flood is still anThe Good - Hex takes the mechanics of the most popular trading card game (Magic, duh) and builds on it. PvP play has a very familiar feel to any Magic veteran. This is essentially a Pay2Play environment. Formats include constructed, draft and sealed. The PvP additions (well, game) are champions and permanent effects (buffs) which remain in all zones. Shard (land) screw/flood is still an issue. Threshold (color) screw is a lessened by the mechanic, which is good. The Hex system removes the occasional skill involved in tapping lands, as well as allowing for better recovery due to not requiring each specific colored cost to be paid. In short, you could cast 4 Lightning Bolts with 1 Mountain 3 lands. The price model is also a benefit as limited PvP costs about half as much as Magic.

    PvE is the 'free to play' content. PvE has released its second update, but first installment of the Hex world. It is a limited taste, but shows potential. There is a lvl 9 cap - up to lvl 30 currently planned - and not all classes and races are available. There are talents for each race and class to add to the RPG feel of the game. Opponents abilities are interesting, making for some interesting (and frustrating puzzles). There are PvE only cards in addition to the PvP card sets. Most cards also have equipment to increase their power level. In PvE, a player can 'grind' gold, PvE packs, cards, equipment to trade for PvP currency to participate in that side of the experience (packs and platinum).

    The Bad - DEVELOPMENT - The world of Hex moves at a glacially slow pace. Original plans were 4 PvP sets per year. This has been reduced to 3 sets already. Current PvP rotation is >7 months on average through 3 sets. The first PvE world content was finally release 20 months after the Beta started and over a year after the Arena (first PvE experience). These cycles need to drastically improve before Hex can be considered a serious contender in the online TCG market.

    Bugs are also an issue, which is expected. However, the quality control on patches appears to be low as old bugs tend to reappear or previously working cards get 'broken' The code for some things is poorly written as demonstrated when champions for Set 2 could not be removed from the Champion pool for Throwback drafts involving only Set 1. These are mostly growing pains. Typically customer support is fair in resolving any issues.

    Final Thoughts: Hex has potential to be very successful. If you enjoy Magic the Gathering, you should give Hex a glance. As with any game, its success will depend on the frequency and quality of expansions. This is a growing sector of online gaming with new competitors frequently appearing. Hex has the vision to succeed well into the future. However, vision without execution makes for lost promise.    … Expand
  2. ShivanDarkeyes
    Feb 2, 2016
    10
    This game is outstanding! No other trading card game on the market is as playable without spending money. The game has a robust combination of TCG elements as well as RPG and puzzle elements. It has an active tournament scene and allows pro players to win lots of money from the $100,000 tournament.

    Ultimately, the best part of the game is the melding of RPG and TCG elements. You get    This game is outstanding! No other trading card game on the market is as playable without spending money. The game has a robust combination of TCG elements as well as RPG and puzzle elements. It has an active tournament scene and allows pro players to win lots of money from the $100,000 tournament.

    Ultimately, the best part of the game is the melding of RPG and TCG elements. You get to build a character with a talent tree that effects your deck. You also have sockets in your cards that change what the cards can do which is very innovative and interesting. Your champion can equip items that change what your cards do and improve them. There are dungeons that you can run for free that give you cards you get to keep. As you play through the game you level up and gain access to more talents and a wider variety of strategies.

    HEX is an amazing game if you like deep strategy trading card games, in addition to the RPG elements one of the major ways it distinguishes itself from other digital card games is that your cards have real value. HEX has a fully functional auction house that allows you to sell and trade with other players freely unlike Hearthstone which requires all cards to be acquired through grinding dust or getting lucky in packs.

    The other advantage of HEX over other digital card games is that the community is really helpful. Most new players are able to get cards without a problem from helpful members of the community. Even if a player wanted to play "solo" the game offers wonderful opportunities to grind for gold and cards totally free.

    10/10    … Expand
  3. Goth
    Feb 13, 2016
    10
    Hex is a full tcg with some advanced techniques, a price that is accessible and because it is relative new it has limited card pool. With this pool by now the game reach a depth no card game on the Pc has so far and I will say if its successful no other card game will reach it afterwards. I played more than 1000 hours, games like hearthstone have no chance in complexity, art, tournamentHex is a full tcg with some advanced techniques, a price that is accessible and because it is relative new it has limited card pool. With this pool by now the game reach a depth no card game on the Pc has so far and I will say if its successful no other card game will reach it afterwards. I played more than 1000 hours, games like hearthstone have no chance in complexity, art, tournament play and pve, only in accessibility it shines against this one. I have to thank the designers for such a good game.… Expand
  4. MoonDragn
    Apr 1, 2017
    0
    Don't bother with this game. It is a clone of MTG but it has some serious flaws. First the game requires a lot of grinding if you play for free to try to get any cards you need to win. Second the good OP cards are pretty much unavailable now as old sets are phased out. Third, the Auction house can be hit or miss. Apparently there are fake cards for sale and if you buy one of them you canDon't bother with this game. It is a clone of MTG but it has some serious flaws. First the game requires a lot of grinding if you play for free to try to get any cards you need to win. Second the good OP cards are pretty much unavailable now as old sets are phased out. Third, the Auction house can be hit or miss. Apparently there are fake cards for sale and if you buy one of them you can get banned from using the Auction house.
    Overall, a bad experience for a new player. Stay far away.    … Expand
  5. funktion
    Feb 9, 2016
    10
    Disclaimer: I am drinking the cool-aid, though I can still write a fair review!

    Hex has had growing pains there is no doubt about that. I've been a TCG player for most of my life at this point and if you don't have regularly released new content you don't have a TCG. This is Hex's biggest mark against it, and luckily this is also something which is seeing improvement (albeit slowly).    Disclaimer: I am drinking the cool-aid, though I can still write a fair review!

    Hex has had growing pains there is no doubt about that. I've been a TCG player for most of my life at this point and if you don't have regularly released new content you don't have a TCG. This is Hex's biggest mark against it, and luckily this is also something which is seeing improvement (albeit slowly).

    *If you are not already a TCG player, the game has a lot of potential to have a steep learning curve, you should probably know this going into it and it will make things much more palpable. Luckily the game has an amazing community which would be happy to help out.*

    With that aside, let's get down to the good stuff:
    -The community for this game is like none other, I've never been part of a gaming community which was so positive and so welcoming. It might take you some time to warm up to folks; however, if part of what you're looking for is interaction with other PEOPLE then you're in the right spot.
    -The game design itself is stellar! The mechanics they've come up with are very clean and innovative. They fit! Any TCG fan could come up with mechanics that seem interesting or new, but whether they actually work, aren't clumsy and fit within the context of the rest of the set is a whole different thing. [In a digital environment this is even more so the case, things need to be as seamlessly fluid as possible, and in this regards Hex could probably still gain some ground]
    -Hex is built on a strong foundation. There are similarities to Magic, mostly when it comes to the core "rules engine" of the game, but the same could be said for many if not most tcg's out there. Having a solid rules engine is important for the longevity of the game. Outside of that, Hex is exploring new ground that could only ever be covered in a digital-only environment. While many posters on the internet seem to see this as a negative I don't understand where that mentality comes from. Just because some things are similar does not make either of the games any worse, there are TONS of other games from all genres that bear similarities to one another. Iteration is one of the keys to strong game design!

    I could go on a bit longer, but ultimately what I would say is this: If you think you might like Hex then try it out. Just like any other game, it might be the game for you or it might not. If it seems like there's something off or that you might be missing something just take a breather and ask around on the forums / reddit / twitch and someone can probably point you in the right direction.    … Expand
  6. bootlace
    Feb 11, 2016
    10
    I'm a former MTGO and Hearthstone player and pretty much quit those games to play this. The core gameplay has the strategic depth of a game like MTG and the digital bells and whistles of a game like Hearthstone, and adds on top of it a comprehensive RPG campaign (with loot you earn and everything) not found anywhere else.

    Beyond that there's things like gems to socket in your cards,    I'm a former MTGO and Hearthstone player and pretty much quit those games to play this. The core gameplay has the strategic depth of a game like MTG and the digital bells and whistles of a game like Hearthstone, and adds on top of it a comprehensive RPG campaign (with loot you earn and everything) not found anywhere else.

    Beyond that there's things like gems to socket in your cards, equipment for each card you can use to upgrade the way it work, and champions and their abilities which give birth to entirely new strategies.

    Oh and unlike Hearthstone it's also a full blown TCG where your cards have real world value, where you can buy and sell anything on an Auction House and you're actually investing in the game instead of throwing money into a blackhole you will never see again.

    The core of the game is now in and there are a ton of great new features in the horizon (they come a bit slow, but they don't sacrifice on quality to release them). Raids, guilds, crafting, multiplayer and a ton of other stuff is in the works so if you're looking to sink your teeth into a meaty digital card game, look no further, this is THE digital card game to get into.    … Expand
  7. BrynhildrTCG
    Feb 11, 2016
    8
    Hex is a stellar Trading Card Game blending in elements of MMOs and RPGs in a formula that simply works. Whether you are a competitive player or a neophyte taking baby steps in your first trading card game, you will find there is something for everyone to enjoy. At its core, Hex takes much of its gameplay from card games established over the past few decades (Such as Magic, WoW:TCG,Hex is a stellar Trading Card Game blending in elements of MMOs and RPGs in a formula that simply works. Whether you are a competitive player or a neophyte taking baby steps in your first trading card game, you will find there is something for everyone to enjoy. At its core, Hex takes much of its gameplay from card games established over the past few decades (Such as Magic, WoW:TCG, ETC), and combines the best parts of each into a fantastic package. Similar to other online card games, new players are given a stipend of 200 standard cards, enough to give the player the ability to create a basic deck for whichever character they choose to make. Players have the option to expand their collection either through purchasing PvP booster packs, or adventuring in the game's free PvE campaign to earn adventure zone packs.

    With $7 Drafts, an extremely rich PvE system with talent points and equipment that changes your cards, and a wonderful community, Hex is definitely worth a look to TCG enthusiasts.    … Expand
  8. Saeijou
    Feb 13, 2016
    10
    I backed the game via Kickstarter and it is worth every penny...
    i play every spare second i have and it is, after all these years in beta, still the best game i ever had.
  9. zz_tophat
    Feb 14, 2016
    10
    There are few games out there that actually make me think, fewer still that actually made me keep doing so once I had "learned the basics", HEX is one of those gems that had me theory crafting for hours on end, building, tearing apart, rebuilding decks as I constantly shifted things around trying to improve and discovering new combos.

    As it is such a massive timesink for me I have to    There are few games out there that actually make me think, fewer still that actually made me keep doing so once I had "learned the basics", HEX is one of those gems that had me theory crafting for hours on end, building, tearing apart, rebuilding decks as I constantly shifted things around trying to improve and discovering new combos.

    As it is such a massive timesink for me I have to rate it highly, however I have got to knock off a few points for the lack of technical polish and the fact that as of right now, the PvE campaign is very short, practically just the starting area (and who wants to be stuck in the starting area of an MMO)? I will no doubt revisit this review later, once things get ironed out and content is added.    … Expand
  10. Quariq
    Mar 8, 2016
    10
    I have been playing this game since early alpha and it is hands down the best card game I have ever had the opportunity to play. The game offers both a casual approach via the pve campaign and more complexity in the pvp tournaments. There is tons of fun to be had playing around with different card combinations and new ideas whether it is against friends in the proving grounds or againstI have been playing this game since early alpha and it is hands down the best card game I have ever had the opportunity to play. The game offers both a casual approach via the pve campaign and more complexity in the pvp tournaments. There is tons of fun to be had playing around with different card combinations and new ideas whether it is against friends in the proving grounds or against opponents in tournaments. The community is friendly and there are regular community run tournaments aimed at new players. The only negative thing I have to say about Hex is that you will always want more content....come to think of it that can also be seen as a positive.… Expand
  11. Fleshbits
    Sep 11, 2016
    0
    The game itself is decent enough for a TCG. Given that there are bucket loads of games out there in the genre, having good mechanics and well thought out cards is mandatory. The game gives you that. It also gives you a campaign that is fun and addictive until you beat it a few times.

    You've actually got to adjust your deck for the campaign to beat certain challenges. I dig that. Makes    The game itself is decent enough for a TCG. Given that there are bucket loads of games out there in the genre, having good mechanics and well thought out cards is mandatory. The game gives you that. It also gives you a campaign that is fun and addictive until you beat it a few times.

    You've actually got to adjust your deck for the campaign to beat certain challenges. I dig that. Makes you think beyond using the same old deck every time.

    You also get to wear equipment to boost certain cards, and you level up a character to give you certain perks, much like hero powers in other popular card games.

    Note that you only level up your character to level 9 in the campaign. There is no character devleopment outside of the campaign and you don't use campaign characters vs other players. The campaign is not finished and there is only 1 "act" to go through. Also, only half the classes are implemented at the time of this writing.

    That's all great....for a week or so. Then the bad starts.

    You will not have enough cards from the campaign or currency, which is gold collected as you play the ai, to build a decent deck. Despite what other player's in thier community want you to believe, going into this game FTP is going to cost you weeks of time before you even get enough to get your first booster, much less play a competive deck against a human being.

    People will argue this to their death and point you at various guides...all of which I did for 75+ hours. I still have yet to have enough gold to get my first booster pack. They expect you to buy cards with the gold you earn in the campaign to progress through the latter parts of the campaign. Many of the cards you will be after cost 20 to 30k gold, while you are earning around 2k per evening. They then want you to sell cards you got in the campaign, which do not sell, because everyone wants to sell the cards from the campaign. They then want you to buy packs from other players. which currently cost around 19k gold, draft, win, open reward packs, repeat. Not feasible. Not at all.

    The biggest downer is the market model. You cannot spend gold directly to get _anything_ from the game. They sell everything for platinum, which is real money currency. The one and only thing gold is used for is to roll bonuses on booster packs for a chance to win extra cards....those booster packs being bought by someone else or won in tournaments of course. There is nothing in the game you can get from playing that _someone_ didn't had to pay for.

    Yes, you can trade on their auction house, but as a new player, expect that 98% of the cards you get in the campaign do not sell, or sell so low that it isn't even worth clicking your mouse. Why would they? Everyone is playing the campaign and already has those cards.

    Which brings me to the other downer. The cards you win in the campaign are not randomly drawn from all cards in the game. There is a specific set of cards in the adventure packs that are drawn from. You get the same rares based on your class/race for challenges. So expect the market to be flooded with those particular cards. They only have a bit of value if they take 10+ hours to get...and I mean little value.

    This model of not having the game directly give players any product for the currency earned with their playtime will leave you having to replay the campaign several times and that gets damn boring. Then you might, and I say might, just come up with something that you can progress to the arena with. YOu then have to play that Arena over and over for countless hours with a deck you are bored of playing to acquire enough gold to buy packs from other players to draft with. Good luck following the guides! They all contain cards that cost at least 30k gold that you will have to buy via auction house from other players.

    The game is clearly built to hook you, bait you, then frustrate and bore you until you fork over your cash.

    I wouldn't have a problem with forking over $50-$100 for a few months of fun, but it's going to cost _alot_ more than that to get anywhere. They want MTG money. Not having a means to spend gold directly to buy boosters makes that obivous.

    Don't listen to thier community. They get pissy when you argue it's taking too long to get anywhere without spending money. I spent 75+ hours on this game and have been successful in many online and paper TCGs. I am not about to go and spend thousands on another one. Never again after Magic.

    It is not 1990 and most of us should know better than to get involved in the old TCG model of spending hundreds on cards just to continue playing.

    We have viable alternatives now. Living card games for paper and many many TCGs out there that reward you cards for play, with minimal investment for a tournament every now and again.    … Expand
  12. IronShio
    Apr 19, 2016
    5
    In knapp 2 Stunden 2 Game-Breaking Bugs... Nach Auswahl einer Aktion im Spiel geht nix mehr auf dem Table an zuklicken und damit hilft nur ein beenden des Spiels. Mit dem Neustart geht das aktive Spiel verloren. Der selber Fehler trat ein weiteres Mal auf als ich aus dem Shop wollte...nicht vorzustellen was passiert sollte das bei einem Kauf passieren... Echtes Geld weg? Oder imIn knapp 2 Stunden 2 Game-Breaking Bugs... Nach Auswahl einer Aktion im Spiel geht nix mehr auf dem Table an zuklicken und damit hilft nur ein beenden des Spiels. Mit dem Neustart geht das aktive Spiel verloren. Der selber Fehler trat ein weiteres Mal auf als ich aus dem Shop wollte...nicht vorzustellen was passiert sollte das bei einem Kauf passieren... Echtes Geld weg? Oder im Auktionshaus...

    Unspielbar so...

    Zudem... vom Regelwerk her einfach ein dreister Magic-Klon.    … Expand
  13. NaryaDPhoenix
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    TCGs are one of the most satisfying games to play in the word. Yet one of the hardest genres to get into because of high cost barriers or very steep learning curves. After Hearthstone managed to appeal to the masses via simplicity, HEX now finally manages to unite complexity, long term investment as well as easy access to the game. You can start free to play without any traditionalTCGs are one of the most satisfying games to play in the word. Yet one of the hardest genres to get into because of high cost barriers or very steep learning curves. After Hearthstone managed to appeal to the masses via simplicity, HEX now finally manages to unite complexity, long term investment as well as easy access to the game. You can start free to play without any traditional "payment traps" and learn the game in a fun PvE environment and either stay in that fantastic part of the game or start to invest slowly and join the competitive PvP side of things. Its not quite finished yet and lots of things are to come, but there is no better time to get into this game than now!… Expand
  14. Firgus
    Feb 5, 2016
    9
    Hex is a diamond in the rough. It's Magic: The Gathering but designed from the ground up to be a computer games. There's a lot of unique mechanics that couldn't be done in a pen and paper game. Mostly deck manipulation (ie: creating a ton of spider eggs that you put into your opponent's deck that are basically booby traps when drawn).
    The game has an auction house which makes it really    Hex is a diamond in the rough. It's Magic: The Gathering but designed from the ground up to be a computer games. There's a lot of unique mechanics that couldn't be done in a pen and paper game. Mostly deck manipulation (ie: creating a ton of spider eggs that you put into your opponent's deck that are basically booby traps when drawn).
    The game has an auction house which makes it really easy to sell/trade cards. This is a feature MTGO is still lacking today after more than 10 years.
    The game looses a point for all the bugs. Expect some visual glitches once in a while.    … Expand
  15. Ogodei
    Feb 2, 2016
    8
    Great way to get your TCG fix if you're bored with Hearthstone or unsatisfied with the digital versions of Magic: the Gathering. The new PvE campaign further explores the possibilities of digital TCGs and takes the genre to the next level (about time!) – while making it a lot easier for beginners to enjoy the game without investing any money.

    If you like competitive play it offers a    Great way to get your TCG fix if you're bored with Hearthstone or unsatisfied with the digital versions of Magic: the Gathering. The new PvE campaign further explores the possibilities of digital TCGs and takes the genre to the next level (about time!) – while making it a lot easier for beginners to enjoy the game without investing any money.

    If you like competitive play it offers a wide range of PvP options as well, like Sealed & Draft tournaments. While I understand the philosophy of PvP cards having actual value, in my opinion the required booster packs are still too expensive ($2) for a purely digital card game (thus only 8/10).    … Expand
  16. avan1976
    Feb 11, 2016
    7
    A very interesting game, but the lags both to log in, navigate menus and in-game really detract from the great game play. If the developers can match the crisp gameplay of Hearthstone, for example, it would probably be the better game. But for these types of games, its often about getting logged on, having a quick game, and getting off (i.e. convenience), and at the moment it lacks that. IA very interesting game, but the lags both to log in, navigate menus and in-game really detract from the great game play. If the developers can match the crisp gameplay of Hearthstone, for example, it would probably be the better game. But for these types of games, its often about getting logged on, having a quick game, and getting off (i.e. convenience), and at the moment it lacks that. I am playing on an i5.… Expand
  17. flotos
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    I have always wanted to play MTG on my computer, but i couldn't feel the UI. With hex, it's not only the UI and step phases that is improved, but also the some rules that couldn't happen on real magic, such as Prophecy : we boost the next creature on our deck.
  18. Svenn
    Feb 2, 2016
    10
    This game is amazing. They've managed to combine an RPG with a TCG in an amazing way. On top of that, the PvP component is fantastic. I've spent hundreds of hours doing drafts and I'm still not bored of it.

    The pricing model is fantastic. It's free to get in and play the PvE part. There is no charge at all for any of the PvE, start to finish. You can pay to buy PvP cards (which can be    This game is amazing. They've managed to combine an RPG with a TCG in an amazing way. On top of that, the PvP component is fantastic. I've spent hundreds of hours doing drafts and I'm still not bored of it.

    The pricing model is fantastic. It's free to get in and play the PvE part. There is no charge at all for any of the PvE, start to finish. You can pay to buy PvP cards (which can be used in PvE), or earn some of the commons in PvE. You can convert PvE rewards into the PvP part of the game. On top of that, there's a healthy third party market where you can cash out any time.

    If you have any interest in TCGs (or even if you don't!) then you owe it to yourself to check out this game.    … Expand
  19. eyesdeuxo
    Jul 25, 2016
    2
    I just change my review, now there is a poor ladder system implemented so i'll add one more point, its still pay2compete, still a mtg rip off, pve is still poor and they announced pve will be hugely delayed.

    the ladder system give a max of 7 pack and some gold if you reach the higer rank, you get no reward per game and if you reach the highest rank which is possible with a 35% winrate,    I just change my review, now there is a poor ladder system implemented so i'll add one more point, its still pay2compete, still a mtg rip off, pve is still poor and they announced pve will be hugely delayed.

    the ladder system give a max of 7 pack and some gold if you reach the higer rank, you get no reward per game and if you reach the highest rank which is possible with a 35% winrate, you get nothing for playing ladder.

    even worse it take 3 days to reach this rank and 2 months to get reseted

    avoid this game at all cost, they dont want to improve.    … Expand
  20. pythag0ras
    Apr 5, 2016
    1
    well... the install was smooth. Unfortunately that's all i can actually review because the game simply goes to a black screen forever when i run the game. reinstalled 2 times in 2 diff dir..ya know what i dont need to list what i did here. the game should just work , or its garbage. and this was garbage.
  21. rtwfreak
    Apr 27, 2016
    0
    Quite possibly the "worst" card game out there as far as "grind" goes. In a game that requires 120 gold to 1 plat and it take 500 plat to buy a pack of cards (17) and you only get a handful of gold per "win" in Arena battles 100 to be exact and that's if you "win". The scripted AI decks are hilariously overpowered vs a new player. Now maybe the Vets can defeat them easily but I could alsoQuite possibly the "worst" card game out there as far as "grind" goes. In a game that requires 120 gold to 1 plat and it take 500 plat to buy a pack of cards (17) and you only get a handful of gold per "win" in Arena battles 100 to be exact and that's if you "win". The scripted AI decks are hilariously overpowered vs a new player. Now maybe the Vets can defeat them easily but I could also if I had a 2 year head start.

    Having played Magic the Gathering for 15 years I'm just not into this grind thing or Paying to Play/Win. PVP is definitely pay to play/win unless you have a lifetime on your hands. Vets have cards a new player will have never seen before and get this they don't charge you 100 gold to play PVP they charge you 100 Plat!!! You know how long it will take a casual player playing 1-2 hours a day to get that much gold. Just to give you an example I played for 5 days and didn't even have enough gold to buy 1 plat let alone 100 plat.

    Now for a PVE game role playing it's ok there. You can take all the time you need to complete the campaign but be forewarned the scripted AI is pretty hard in that part of the game as well. You'll swear the cards are generater "per turn" vs being randomly drawn but that's pretty much what scripted is. The program seems to have a % chance that progressively goes up as you progress through the campaign that lets the player win. You're not really strategizing against the AI you're merely waiting for the % chance to come into your favor. The closer you get to the end the harder it gets to where it would seem like they only give you maybe 10% chance to win..

    Never have liked scripted AI's but that's the only way devs can program a game to make it seem like it's intelligent. It's well known they've always had the ability to program an ai to beat you and beat you constantly but by cheating of course and scripting each move.. This game appears to be the one that stepped over that line whereby they make you lose more often than win and early in the game I might add. I like to have never gotten out of the last battle of the tutorial even.

    The starter deck is horrible and the cards you get in the campaign ain't that much better and you can pretty much forget new cards after the campaign unless you can build a deck out of trash and beat some of the veterans. They say they match you with players with alike rank and cards. Ha, I played a guy that had cards a newbie could only wish for and he was suppose to have cards like mine. Newbie cards not legendary or veteran decks. So, that's pretty much a lie about that also.

    I DON"T recommend this game to any "new" players. It's fine for a vet but new players will get crapped on for year(s) to come building up their decks and spending precious real life money to get there. Don't fall for the free word there because overall it's not free as it costs you countless amount of time and money if you really want to be competitive early.    … Expand
  22. femmefatal
    Apr 20, 2016
    0
    When I come here and read about a game and I see a ton of 10's, I know the game is not very good then. It's just trolls trying to beef up the score and not giving the real value of the game. Therefore they turn me into one just to make the scores fair on the negative side. So, this game gets a big fat ZERO because it wouldn't surprise me none if these weren't PAID for reviews. No game getsWhen I come here and read about a game and I see a ton of 10's, I know the game is not very good then. It's just trolls trying to beef up the score and not giving the real value of the game. Therefore they turn me into one just to make the scores fair on the negative side. So, this game gets a big fat ZERO because it wouldn't surprise me none if these weren't PAID for reviews. No game gets that many 10's and the sooner everyone stops doing it and giving honest reviews the better. Including me of course but that's what they force us to do to get the right score on the screen above.. This game is certainly no 10 and it's certainly not a 0 but that's the way everyone wants to vote or the majority rather so there you have it.

    As far as the game. It's just Magic the Gathering with some twists. Game mechanics are the same, names have been changed on things that are sill in MTG. like Gems are land cards basically. You still have to have so many of the correct color to play the card just like in MTG does with lands.

    Game is a Pay game and don't let them make you think it's free cause it isn't. Not unless you want to spend a lifetime getting all the cards. Just like all the other free ones out there the gimmick is free to play but not free to compete in a fair manner. If you wan to advance fast to PVP you're gonna have to spend some money if you want to be a viable player at all. The veterans will toast you with their paid for decks.    … Expand
  23. Stuie_
    Feb 6, 2016
    10
    I find the game to be simply amazing (more so if you like TCGs/CCGs). The art work, the music, the gameplay... it all provides a really immersive experience. The writing could be improved but it is passable as far as in-game fantasy writing goes. They've created something over the last few years that MTGO hasn't been able to come even close to in the 13+ years it's been around, and the newI find the game to be simply amazing (more so if you like TCGs/CCGs). The art work, the music, the gameplay... it all provides a really immersive experience. The writing could be improved but it is passable as far as in-game fantasy writing goes. They've created something over the last few years that MTGO hasn't been able to come even close to in the 13+ years it's been around, and the new campaign takes it to a whole new level.

    I have been playing Hex since Alpha, and some of the later (albeit "optional") encounters are downright brutal. They require an understanding of what the enemy is doing and then deck tweaking to counter that specific line of play. One welcome addition would be the ability to save multiple decks so that it is easier to get back to your regular build after tweaking for encounters like this.

    All in all, I have played through the first chapter of the campaign multiple times now, and I'm still enjoying it and planning more characters builds, and look forward to additional content.    … Expand
  24. Necroa
    Feb 6, 2016
    8
    The revolutionary MMOTCG, HEX: Shards of Fate combined both elements of a RPG and a TCG to make an amazing game for fans of MMOs and TCGs to enjoy. It caters to both the casual and the competitive player in the form of PvE and PvP and has excellent balance. It's a lot of fun. Those are the pros to this game. The cons of this game, however, lie with PvE campaign. The game has releasedThe revolutionary MMOTCG, HEX: Shards of Fate combined both elements of a RPG and a TCG to make an amazing game for fans of MMOs and TCGs to enjoy. It caters to both the casual and the competitive player in the form of PvE and PvP and has excellent balance. It's a lot of fun. Those are the pros to this game. The cons of this game, however, lie with PvE campaign. The game has released campaign mode as we all know and has dropped the beta tag that was on it for so long. In campaign mode, you get to create your own champion and each of those champions have different skills that you can use your skill points on. The cons of this game are the quests for each of your characters. They are the same quests with a slightly different telling of the story depending on your race. It gets quite repetitive if you hop onto other characters because you end up having to do the same thing over and over again. It also gets quite tiresome at some points, almost to the point where I have to stop for a bit and do something else. Despite all of this, the game is very addicting and fun to play. I give it a 8/10. Give it a try.… Expand
  25. Rodick90
    Mar 5, 2016
    10
    Great game and only in digital market that have TRADING involved. Playing for long time now and i love it. Thou dev team should make spectate mode and co-op mode to play with friends! And soon!
  26. zachario
    Mar 6, 2016
    10
    Hey I just want to say I love this game. It has so much potential. True, the release of new content could be more frequently and like others said, it's a diamond in the rough but when you consider the indie developers there's already a lot of content. So let's all join in, support, and make this game great!
  27. Corran
    Mar 7, 2016
    10
    Backed this game a some years ago.. was just a TCG then. Had some nice features, but now, with the update it is actually a RPG as well. I enjoyed the campaign a lot
  28. adamovic
    Jun 20, 2016
    3
    The game felt too slow, one battle takes ages. Waiting for your opponent takes minutes. This game is a Mtg rip, so I haven't seen much originality. From the positive side, they have enough players to be sustainable at least at the moment.
  29. NashSu
    Sep 4, 2016
    0
    Reason why I am giving this a zero because it is just like Magic the Gathering but asking you for more money in order to do anything. It is so bad that the gold value is nothing and useless. If you want to build a good deck to do PvP, you need to put in real money to do so or you will get your butt handed to you. Because it is so strongly pay to win, I have to give this a zero. I can spendReason why I am giving this a zero because it is just like Magic the Gathering but asking you for more money in order to do anything. It is so bad that the gold value is nothing and useless. If you want to build a good deck to do PvP, you need to put in real money to do so or you will get your butt handed to you. Because it is so strongly pay to win, I have to give this a zero. I can spend real money on a real game that won't keep asking me to buy membership.… Expand
  30. Varranis
    Dec 13, 2016
    10
    With over 1,000 hours played, I can safely says Hex is one of my most played games of all time. Hex offers an excellent mix of Magic: the Gathering's complexity and Hearthstone's polish.
  31. honestabe
    Apr 20, 2016
    0
    Just another Pay to Play game folks. It's so much like Magic the Gathering I'm surprised WotC hasn't gone after them yet with a copyright suit. In fact unless you are new to the tcg or ccg it's very boring. It puts too many restrictions on deck building also. I wanted to use a card I got for this socalled FREE thing and it wouldn't let me said it was for PVP only lol what a joke.

    If you    Just another Pay to Play game folks. It's so much like Magic the Gathering I'm surprised WotC hasn't gone after them yet with a copyright suit. In fact unless you are new to the tcg or ccg it's very boring. It puts too many restrictions on deck building also. I wanted to use a card I got for this socalled FREE thing and it wouldn't let me said it was for PVP only lol what a joke.

    If you are a newcomer you might like it but Magic the Gathering is still the BEST tcg/ccg out there bar none. They have more cards, more players and more tournaments. Fun for everyone all the time.

    There also appears to be some hanky panky goin on on the forums on Steam, closing posts and deleting some very interesting ones with good information about how the game really is.

    Just be warned. I wouldn't buy anything if I were you. Play for free but don't fall for the trap that is called Free to Play, Pay to Advance.    … Expand
  32. DravenHavok
    Feb 6, 2016
    9
    It's been a while since I had so much fun with a TCG. It has great depth, and the new PvE content patch shows great promise in the story aspect of why we're here. I play casually with friends and so far we've had a lot of fun mixing random cards for strange decks. I am looking forward to official release, after which I will probably increase my score and edit my review of this game.
  33. Efnita
    Feb 2, 2016
    10
    Wonderful game. While the game isn't perfect there is no other game that has managed to grab my attention like this since the original Everquest and the paper based Star Wars CCG.

    PVE is fun but where the game really shines is in PVP. There are several modes including draft and a gauntlet, which is a mode that lets you build a deck from 6 packs and then play games against other players    Wonderful game. While the game isn't perfect there is no other game that has managed to grab my attention like this since the original Everquest and the paper based Star Wars CCG.

    PVE is fun but where the game really shines is in PVP. There are several modes including draft and a gauntlet, which is a mode that lets you build a deck from 6 packs and then play games against other players in your own time---you can play 5 matches in a row or one match now and another a few days from now). While PVE costs money (packs are USD2, signup fee for Draft is USD1, Gauntlet is USD2) it is easy enough to win enough packs to have the drafts pay for themselves if you are a somewhat decent player. (I probably spent about USD750 on the game over the past 2 years, my rares and legendaries are worth USD2500 at current prices)

    Would advise anyone who likes deep strategy games or TCGs to download Hex now and check it out.    … Expand
  34. MaroBaro
    Apr 25, 2016
    3
    the game is just trying to cash out. there is literally no advancment to the genre. i mean even hs has more. whether you agree with their design philosphy they at least have one that is very very different from magic. i like hs because you can just go in, enjoy and lights and sounds, play whatever card is on your curve, win and lose randomly and games go by quickly and it is just fun,the game is just trying to cash out. there is literally no advancment to the genre. i mean even hs has more. whether you agree with their design philosphy they at least have one that is very very different from magic. i like hs because you can just go in, enjoy and lights and sounds, play whatever card is on your curve, win and lose randomly and games go by quickly and it is just fun, besides i can play it on my ipad or phone. i even played it on a trans-oceanic flight and it was a lot of fun. but yea if you want to play competitive nail baiting games then you play magic. there is no niche that hex fills with mediocre art and user interface, poor cards and mechanics, stale meta and infrequent updates, and a tiny user base.

    note: the 3 score is because any ccg is better than most other games and they at least tried but with the wrong motivations or just overestimated their skill.    … Expand
  35. Taqo
    Apr 9, 2016
    10
    I'm a former magic player and since I discovered Hex I haven't played magic and have sold off all my magic cards. Hex is a lot like magic but much much much better. Hex is the future of tcgs, Magic is in the past!
  36. icecon
    Apr 10, 2016
    10
    Hex pushes the boundaries of what a trading card game is and can be.

    If you are a Hearthstone player but feel like you are just going through the motions, then Hex will allow you to explore many more different decks and strategies that you could ever dream of. If you are a Magic player, then you will be amazed by Hex's beauty and innovative mechanics. Or if you just love games, you will    Hex pushes the boundaries of what a trading card game is and can be.

    If you are a Hearthstone player but feel like you are just going through the motions, then Hex will allow you to explore many more different decks and strategies that you could ever dream of. If you are a Magic player, then you will be amazed by Hex's beauty and innovative mechanics. Or if you just love games, you will find in Hex an incredibly friendly community as well as a fun game that allows you to both build a collection for the future as well as casually play some games with friends or online.

    Here are just a few examples of what Hex does as digital card game that are either impractical or impossible for physical card games:
    - Card customization - in between games you can actually a card's functionality
    - Cards that change into other cards while in your hand
    - Cards that generate and add cards into your own or your opponent's deck

    I give the game a 9.5 out of 10, because it is still at only 95% of its potential which it is expected to realize in the next year. Install Hex, you will never look back. Good luck and have fun!    … Expand
  37. FunkyGodzilla
    Mar 21, 2016
    5
    First of all it's magic the gathering, but slightly simpler, doesn't have the book of terms yet, still more complex then hearthstone though, I liked the idea of getting into an online magic game that wasn't "magic online" frankly because I hate the interface so much, and it's a crime that there is still not an auction house yet, get with the times magic, for that i refuse to play.First of all it's magic the gathering, but slightly simpler, doesn't have the book of terms yet, still more complex then hearthstone though, I liked the idea of getting into an online magic game that wasn't "magic online" frankly because I hate the interface so much, and it's a crime that there is still not an auction house yet, get with the times magic, for that i refuse to play. Initially I loved the polished looking game-board, the art was fine, funny the resources looked kind of crappy though like a child's crayon drawing while waiting for a meal at Applebee's (yes exaggerating, but compared to creature art, the resources look out of place and much worse, it is NOT a big deal, but i'm just pointing out they don't look professional)

    The "PVE" almost INSTANTLY got frustrating. like it screams "BUY CARDS SO YOU CAN BEAT THIS LEVEL YOU FAILURE" kind of schemey, absolutely hated the PVE and quit before I even got past the first map.

    I realize everything can't be free, but I really didn't like that it sincrerely doesn't look like you can 'grind' out cards with ingame gold within any sort of reasonable time, unless you are a particularly crafty individual who wants to "play" the auction houses, buy low, sell high etc etc, you will probably take months and months to grind out a few good cards, I'm not entirely sure all the good cards are even listed for the ingame currency. and the only way to buy packs is to pay real money.

    unintuitive zoom function on cards (right click to zoom in on card, but it's not as simple zooming? you have to click OK then CANCEL or something stupid like that, even after I frustratingly did it several times I didn't want to grasp this awkward way to view cards and literally got confused every time I tried to zoon out up until I unistalled it (no not just for that reason, but I'm trying to explain HOW strange this feature is)
    TLDR looking at cards takes too long for some reason, seems like something that should have been fixed very early on. no reason for this

    Also had several times where l thought the game completely froze, i could have sworn it did the first time, the second time I waited it out it took a solid 20 seconds or so for the enemy AI to end it's turn. Not sure if it's an AI problem or laggy servers. this was the FIRST day I played and it happened multiple times.

    Ultimately I WANTED to get into this game, but it doesn't seem like much better quality then comparable games like Hearthstone or Spellweaver I just couldn't justify dropping money on the game and i'm not "grinding" out the cards over then next fifteen years.

    Already have almost 200K gold banked in spellweaver (the in-game currency you CAN actually buy packs with) after playing for only 3-4 weeks or so, didn't drop a dime on it, if you want a good Magic-like game, I would choose that over this, there is no reason to spend money if you don't have to for a extremely comparable game.    … Expand
  38. Kyutaru
    Apr 21, 2016
    10
    This is the true godsend TCG we've been waiting for. Magic has never released anything like HEX before to the online universe, though the PVE campaign is similar to their ancient singleplayer game Shandalar.

    Every digital card game that exists owes it to Magic yet only HEX carries the same tradition forward with innovations, complexity, and strategic depth. If you played games like    This is the true godsend TCG we've been waiting for. Magic has never released anything like HEX before to the online universe, though the PVE campaign is similar to their ancient singleplayer game Shandalar.

    Every digital card game that exists owes it to Magic yet only HEX carries the same tradition forward with innovations, complexity, and strategic depth. If you played games like Hearthstone and found them to be TOO SIMPLE then give HEX a spin. It's going to blow your mind.

    Please ignore the 0 rating review trolls. Haters gonna hate and Hasbro can afford a lot of haters.    … Expand
  39. wolverine101
    Sep 21, 2016
    0
    Have to agree this game is pretty much garbage and just another money grab game disquised by 'free to play but still a pay to win/advance game. It would take you a lifetime with the grind this game has. 1000's of matches for a paultry sum of cards at best and then those aren't really the good ones. You'll be PAYING for those with either plat pak buys or some other form of BUYing forHave to agree this game is pretty much garbage and just another money grab game disquised by 'free to play but still a pay to win/advance game. It would take you a lifetime with the grind this game has. 1000's of matches for a paultry sum of cards at best and then those aren't really the good ones. You'll be PAYING for those with either plat pak buys or some other form of BUYing for dollars.

    I don't recommend this slow roller at all. Get something like Combat Monsters instead. Much faster getting what you need and the pvp is awesome.    … Expand
  40. Siniatar
    May 10, 2016
    0
    This is my review based on another user's comment.

    It's not even close to the only similarity being flipping cards side ways. It's flipping cards side ways to activate actions, flipping cards sideways to attack, you un-flip all cards at the beginning of your turn. The turn structure is exactly the same(untap, upkeep, draw, main, combat, main, clean up). Creatures are full healed every    This is my review based on another user's comment.

    It's not even close to the only similarity being flipping cards side ways. It's flipping cards side ways to activate actions, flipping cards sideways to attack, you un-flip all cards at the beginning of your turn. The turn structure is exactly the same(untap, upkeep, draw, main, combat, main, clean up). Creatures are full healed every turn, hand size and drawing is the same. Deck limits are the same. Resources work the same, you can only play one resource a turn, and you can tap resources to cast spells. You can tap resources the turn you play them, but not other card types. They have the same types of cards, enchantments, artifacts, sorceries, instants. All their key words are the same(first strike, life link, trample, etc...). The way cards enter and exit the stack upon cast is the same.

    The colors are the same and are themed the same. The green deck is long eared humanoids that spawn more of their same type of creature, and give buffs and have effects based on the numbers of said creature. In hex long eared humanoid is rabbits, in magic it's elves. They have VERY similar power efficiency, IE a 2offense/2defense creature with an ability is going to cost the same between games.

    This all ignoring the super super obvious ones where the cards are exactly the same(3 mana black card called murder that destroys target creature is in both games).

    I don't really care which side of the argument people are on, but saying "aside from turning cards side ways they don't seem the same at all" shows a huge lack of understanding.

    To me it would be like if capcom made super street fighter two, and then some other company made super street fighter 2 turbo with redrawn sprites. That's the level of similarity between the two games.    … Expand
  41. Largashbur
    Feb 5, 2016
    10
    Are you someone that looks for challenges in games? Someone that loves complexity in games? Someone that doesn't mind high learning curves? Someone that likes to trade/barter ingame items that actually have real-world value? Someone that prefers playing slow-paced games over fast-paced games at leisure time? Someone that likes trading card games? Someone that likes PvE and PvP alike? ThenAre you someone that looks for challenges in games? Someone that loves complexity in games? Someone that doesn't mind high learning curves? Someone that likes to trade/barter ingame items that actually have real-world value? Someone that prefers playing slow-paced games over fast-paced games at leisure time? Someone that likes trading card games? Someone that likes PvE and PvP alike? Then this game is for you.

    Path of Exile players, EVE Online players, Magic players, this is your kind of game.

    This is a free-to-enter trading card game where all cards are tradeable and many have real-world value! This differentiates Hex from CCGs such as Hearthstone, Duelyst, Solforge where you may just shrug when you get a legendary you cannot use. Sell it to other players and buy cards you like from the currency! The PvE part (with quality lore!) is completely free but you can earn cards items in PvE that you can sell for ingame currency to other players. The PvP part requires currency (because you can keep all cards that you use to play in PvP with the chance of super-rare cards that sell for thrice the money you used to enter the PvP game!) that can either be earned from PvE, from successful trading of cards (you can earn currency as a "broker"!) or from paying real money. This is what makes PvP games so exciting! You will sweat, shed tears and shudder all over your body over each your PvP decisions in your first matches because you are playing over something that has real value!

    What makes this game truly complex is that the cards have complex mechanisms and millions of possible interactions. Cards can be socketed with gems that give them special powers! You can put equipment on your hero (Head, Torso, Boots, Gloves....) that make specific cards stronger! At the moment the game has more than 1000(!) different cards. Once to twice a year, the developers release a new set containing an additional ~250-300 cards! Moreover, once to twice a year, the developers also aim to release a "PvE" expansion which expands the PvE possibilities with additional campaigns.

    While the game still has a few bugs, the developer team is very dedicated to fix those and the support willingly reimburses you for any gamebreaking bugs you experience in PvP! So you don't have to worry about any losses as long as you report the bug to support!

    The most exciting part of this game is that it is just a mere beginning. The developers are dedicated and repeatedly add more features. What is going to come in the future? Co-op play! Raids! 2vs2! Guilds that can share cards!

    Not convinced yet? Head to Twitch.tv and watch people playing to grasp the concept of this game!    … Expand
  42. papitreh
    Feb 5, 2016
    0
    The game is mostly, unadulterated garbage. I played for quite a while, blinded by the many promises of the company, and for the lack of a better alternative in the CCG/TCG market. (I'll list those in a second)

    First off, the company was under legal litigation from Wizards, the company that produces Magic: The Gathering. Hex has a nasty reputation among card games for being "Magic 2.0",    The game is mostly, unadulterated garbage. I played for quite a while, blinded by the many promises of the company, and for the lack of a better alternative in the CCG/TCG market. (I'll list those in a second)

    First off, the company was under legal litigation from Wizards, the company that produces Magic: The Gathering. Hex has a nasty reputation among card games for being "Magic 2.0", but not in a complimentary fashion. To put it bluntly, Hex stole from Magic. They went to court, and lost, having to settle with several major changes to their game, and for a monetary settlement. Because of this, the "beef" of their production (PVE content) was put on hold.

    That's probably stuff you don't care about. Fair enough. Professional reviewers haven't spent as much time in the game as I have, so their scores are a little off. Bottom line: this game has an antiquated resource system (stolen directly from Magic), the art is uninspired, the PVE is atrocious (something like 4 years of development for a roughly 10 hour campaign. It's VERY P2W if you're interested in PVP (just be forewarned, the meta consists of ramp/control ad naueseum, aggro is nonexistant) and bugs galore. The best cards cost something like 30 dollars a pop?! For digital cards. Horrible. (Reviewers were given free cards for reviews, so bear that in mind)

    And quite possibly the worst offender-their shuffling system is completely wack. Feedback was given back to Cryptozoic from thousands of players imploring them to fix their shuffling system. Hex denied any problems with it, and it continues to suffer. Out of any TCG/CCG I've ever played, it's shuffling system is by far, I repeat, BY FAR the worst I've ever encountered, likely the result of faulty code which seem to favor some accounts over others.

    So-better options. Depends where you want to go. The two best I've encountered in the modern market are Duelyst (think Hearthstone, but on a grid, without the cartoony crap from blizzard, and more strategy to boot) and the newly released Spellweaver, which is sure to take the market for storm. Now THAT is quite possibly the best TCG I've ever played. I looked for a professional review that compares both games, and here's a snippet of what this reviewer said

    " If you are at all familiar with how Magic: the Gathering plays, you’ll be well equipped here to have an idea of how Spellweaver plays, but hold your horses. This is no craven “fly-by-night” Magic clone that has been done to dust already – this is the purest evolution of the Magic-style of gameplay currently in existence, in my opinion, based on including all the modern design elements that we have come to expect from more recent games such as Hearthstone. If Cryptozoic’s HEX: Shards of Fate feels a bit like “Magic 2.0”, Spellweaver would be light-years ahead at “Magic 3.0” – such is the innovation shown here in updating and evolving so many of Magic’s dated design flaws."

    That's why me and thousands of others have decided to drop Hex---blatant lies from its developer, a small contingency of supporters with very limited card game experience defending the shoddy product that's been produced, and mechanics that are hugely detrimental to competitive and long term success to prospective buyers. If you want to PVP, forget it. The game is as we say, "dead." Their drafting system hardly ever fires, and your "quick match" (proving grounds is what Hex calls it) is awful. People routintely wait for 20 minutes to experience a match, usually from the same 20 supporters of their forums. It's a giant mess. The couldn't even get something right like double backs, something promised from the very start of the kickstarter. Guilds, not here. Raids, not here. Co op, not here. A "campaign" that forces you to use the auction house for any long term success.

    Stay far away from this. Far FAR away from this game. You've been warned.    … Expand
  43. EpicRenaissance
    Feb 4, 2016
    0
    I recommend you to wait until this game has finished development. The download and patching took ages, saying it was downloading at 3.6MB/sec, while in fact it was taking half a minute to download a 100kb file. Then, ingame, I have to squint to read anything. As a result, I have to lower the game to a resolution which isn't native to my wide screen laptop. What year is this, 2002? The flowI recommend you to wait until this game has finished development. The download and patching took ages, saying it was downloading at 3.6MB/sec, while in fact it was taking half a minute to download a 100kb file. Then, ingame, I have to squint to read anything. As a result, I have to lower the game to a resolution which isn't native to my wide screen laptop. What year is this, 2002? The flow of actions in the cardgame itself feel very choppy. I will rerate this game when these very basic things get fixed. I'm rating 3/10 now because I just don't play games that miss these basic features like having a readable font at a normal face to screen distance. The TCG itself seems good, but who cares about the game itself when everything around it feels unfinished and choppy?

    If developers read this, please I would love to like your game, so please fix your basics before you start going to the big public. I will adjust my rating accordingly when this happens.

    This game has a lot of potential, so I find it really 'unfortunate' to see its current state. Great detail in cards and artwork etc, so I don't understand why basic stuff like font size, resolution and smoothness of play is basically ignored.    … Expand
  44. ChromaticTusk
    Feb 6, 2016
    0
    To say I had high hopes would be an understatement.

    Hex has been in development for about 4 years now, and I was an early backer. Development was fine at first, but little by little, the company is showing how inept they are at managing schedules and player expectations. One of the trademark phrases the team uses is, “Soon.” Ask them when you can expect a certain feature to be    To say I had high hopes would be an understatement.

    Hex has been in development for about 4 years now, and I was an early backer. Development was fine at first, but little by little, the company is showing how inept they are at managing schedules and player expectations.

    One of the trademark phrases the team uses is, “Soon.” Ask them when you can expect a certain feature to be implemented, and that’s always the answer. Absolutely no timeline provided for anything.

    On the official forums, I’d asked for help with technical issues (the game is frustratingly buggy) and the response from their rude player base was always something along the lines of “Upgrade your computer, that’s gotta be the issue.” Umm no. My computer was custom built last March, and runs any game I throw at it without a hitch except Hex. Why was this game released to the public as such a buggy mess? Sadly, that’s what’s to be expected around the culture of negativity perpetuated by the players. A small, vocal minority of them are just lost in their own world, with an elitist attitude. Why do they have to be like that?

    Hop on over to the campaign portion of the game and it’s frustrating encounter after frustrating encounter. Why do the Hex programmers force fights on us that we have to do 20 times over sometimes to have the ideal draw? Hex uses the very old mana system that Magic uses where you have to draw lands (shards in this game) in order to get anything done. I routinely go entire matches without drawing a single shard after the game has started. That’s not the kind of game I want to play. Hearthstone and Infinity Wars are my favorite card games and they’ve solved that problem and their customers are happy people. The starter decks are really, really bad, which are clearly trying to force people to use their Auction House to get better cards (be prepared to pull out your credit card though to get anything decent) Right now, it’s a blank screen where you click on the dots and fight some monsters. This doesn’t feel alive at all. I feel really let down waiting for four years to click some dots.

    And what’s really frustrating is calling this an MMO. What makes this an MMO? We don’t have anything we can do with other players except PVP, but that part of the game is completely dead. There are no Guilds and we don’t have anything Co-op either. They promised us we would have it, and it’s not here. It’s been FOUR YEARS. Why? What has been taking so long? Magic sued them and won in court, but they promised us it wasn’t a big deal, despite having to change a large core of the game as a result. Magic: The Gathering just feels like a better game. Why wouldn’t I just go play that? Stupid.

    And for the really embarrassing part: I just went to their reddit forum to ask a question about one of the encounters, and I see a thread imploring people to head on over to metacritic to give this game 10’s. So as I’m typing this, they’re rigging the site to make the bad game look better than it is, literally inflating the scores! Check it out if you don’t believe me. Not only that, but they’re attacking people for having different opinions and raising very valid points about what’s gone astray with the game. I just unsubbed from there. Why can’t people just open their ears for once and stop making excuses?

    Just a really sad situation. This review is me making a stand against corrupt people and a corrupt game.    … Expand
  45. meaty
    Feb 6, 2016
    0
    me and my girlfriend were at Friday night magic and people in our group said to try this game out when we got home so we did. it’s supposed to be like magic so we gave it a chance, we really did, but it doesn’t seem that good to be honest. it feels like the game is ripped off and my girlfriend checked and apparently this game got sued from wizards (the company who made magic) and i thinkme and my girlfriend were at Friday night magic and people in our group said to try this game out when we got home so we did. it’s supposed to be like magic so we gave it a chance, we really did, but it doesn’t seem that good to be honest. it feels like the game is ripped off and my girlfriend checked and apparently this game got sued from wizards (the company who made magic) and i think the game might be dead. we were in queue’s trying to play people, but we only got two matches all night and played for like five hours. i think we’re going to uninstall and try another game. some friends of mine said to play shadow era and spellweaver and see what we think. those games don’t look dead, but we’re pretty sure this one is. and my girlfriend thought hex broke her computer because it froze up in the middle of a game and she had to restart everything, so it has bugs, be careful.

    the pve parts we played were bad too. the piranhas encounter made us think it was a joke, but maybe it’s just bad game design. i don’t see how that is fun whatsoever. this is a bummer. they said it was an mmo but there’s no multiplayer at all (we checked, but maybe the company lied. game informer says they don’t have it, but we don’t understand because how does an mmo not have multiplayer stuff? oh well, guess we will try the others. we don’t recommend this game at all.    … Expand
  46. kirkkh
    Feb 25, 2016
    5
    It's terrible. Buggy, bots, disappearing cards, wonky, pay to win, short and ugly. Not as complex as Magic, not as fun as hearthstone...Although, it's a wet dream for a shy-hipster-gamer, they can safely play a game (no one will ever hear of) while suffering through a sloppy cash grab developer. Suck at popular games? It's fine no will judge (or know) your secret atari-like obsession withIt's terrible. Buggy, bots, disappearing cards, wonky, pay to win, short and ugly. Not as complex as Magic, not as fun as hearthstone...Although, it's a wet dream for a shy-hipster-gamer, they can safely play a game (no one will ever hear of) while suffering through a sloppy cash grab developer. Suck at popular games? It's fine no will judge (or know) your secret atari-like obsession with off-off-trip A gaming. What garbage. Sad.… Expand
  47. anggadaz
    Jul 19, 2016
    8
    This game is trading card game online. The game featured with role playing scenario. You can play multiplayer online with your friends. This game has several class and character for different card that can pick.
  48. ablaise82
    Oct 18, 2017
    1
    Piece of **** game, upon dragging through the tutorial and losing the last step, I had to restart the entire thing?? text is too small. No options menu? Much of the text is too off screen to even read and It can't be fixed. Just another dumb online card game.
  49. EmraldArcher
    Feb 6, 2016
    0
    While a step above Hearthstone in terms of complexity, Hex is, sadly, just another digital TCG that will come and go without much fanfare.

    If you're familiar with Magic then you will be able to pick this game up pretty quickly (they were so similar Wizards of the coast sued Hex and forced them to make some very large changes to the game), unfortunately Hex is mostly a sub-par imitation.    While a step above Hearthstone in terms of complexity, Hex is, sadly, just another digital TCG that will come and go without much fanfare.

    If you're familiar with Magic then you will be able to pick this game up pretty quickly (they were so similar Wizards of the coast sued Hex and forced them to make some very large changes to the game), unfortunately Hex is mostly a sub-par imitation.

    There are already three card sets released (with a fourth on the way "soon") so good luck picking up competitive staples for a reasonable price. The length between sets is also way too long, currently averaging about six months. This makes for a very stale meta game. The tournament scene is all but dead. you will wait for hours in a draft queue if it fires at all.

    They just released their first large PvE content but it is extremely short and there is very little incentive to do it more then once.

    They have also given up on some of the unique aspects of the game promised in the Kickstarter campaign (double back cards for one) as the developers are unable to actually program them into the game. Card bugs also exist for an unacceptable amount of time and make tournament play exceedingly frustrating.

    When you combine the amateurish development schedule with the obvious lack of expertise in the design department, Hex simply isn't worth spending any real money on.    … Expand
  50. Kamarr
    Oct 25, 2017
    4
    It's a good game that is Yu-Gi-Oh mixed with MTG. Which is awesome my to favorite card games but it really hurts that the only way to get descent cards is by spending $$. There is in-game currency but it goes to a Booster Pack that ONLY CONSISTS of common cards which is disgusting. The PvP is great just stay away from the Vs. Ai as the Ai will have the best hand in game to wreck you withIt's a good game that is Yu-Gi-Oh mixed with MTG. Which is awesome my to favorite card games but it really hurts that the only way to get descent cards is by spending $$. There is in-game currency but it goes to a Booster Pack that ONLY CONSISTS of common cards which is disgusting. The PvP is great just stay away from the Vs. Ai as the Ai will have the best hand in game to wreck you with lol and that is no joke. The first couple structure deck duels really made me stray away from the game as well as the shop it makes me feel saddened cause you have all these other great card games that are out that do the card shop so much better so this game literally gets thrown back to the shelves for later in hopes the team can maybe be a little less GREEDY with the shop.… Expand
  51. Faldo
    Mar 19, 2017
    10
    I play it As an FTP and it takes time definitely but if i would play any other MM game i would still farm more than a month to get to an good level.

    Hex is a really good MMTCG and if you play it enogh you can definily get good cards if you do it inteligent
  52. bizznach
    Sep 11, 2016
    8
    Really fun game which for me is the important part.
    Love it!
    similar to MTGO but better at the digital part, and a lot cheaper. things to do for free and things to spend cash on when i feel like it. Will revisit my rating once multi play coop is added (they still have a ton of content they are developing on the pve side) some of these neg reviews are really funny tho... did HEX    Really fun game which for me is the important part.
    Love it!
    similar to MTGO but better at the digital part, and a lot cheaper.

    things to do for free and things to spend cash on when i feel like it.
    Will revisit my rating once multi play coop is added (they still have a ton of content they are developing on the pve side)
    some of these neg reviews are really funny tho...

    did HEX kill your mother or something?    … Expand
  53. nilsy
    Nov 6, 2018
    3
    Your always pressing yes yes yes for the next phase in PvE so many trivial bits and so little fun.
    The format is surprisingly boring PvE
    PvP is paywalled not sure if p2w as of yet dont see how one can have fun playing this but one never know this might be one of those games that are pretty fun if you willing to shell out hundreds of dollars and spend hours in theory on how to build    Your always pressing yes yes yes for the next phase in PvE so many trivial bits and so little fun.
    The format is surprisingly boring PvE
    PvP is paywalled not sure if p2w as of yet dont see how one can have fun playing this but one never know this might be one of those games that are pretty fun if you willing to shell out hundreds of dollars and spend hours in theory on how to build decks.
    Not casual friendly    … Expand
  54. RBurgundy
    Sep 19, 2017
    7
    The PvP element of this game is my favorite part, specifically limited. Its relatively cheap ($5-$7) a draft and you can sell your cards on the auction house to reinvest in limited if you don't want to accumulate your cards for constructed. Its a ton of fun with a lot of good depth and interactions between cards. The newest set was just released and it seems very promising for limited..The PvP element of this game is my favorite part, specifically limited. Its relatively cheap ($5-$7) a draft and you can sell your cards on the auction house to reinvest in limited if you don't want to accumulate your cards for constructed. Its a ton of fun with a lot of good depth and interactions between cards. The newest set was just released and it seems very promising for limited..

    Visually the game looks great. Lot of good visual and sound effects that really play well of the interesting card designs and features they have in the game. However, unless you have a real gaming PC your computer will not run the graphics well at all. I removed the backgrounds from the game files and it drastically improved the play speed and my enjoyment. Until they improve the optimization of the graphics and the client as a whole the graphics can only be enjoyed by those with a computer powerful enough to handle it. It's not unplayable but it can be annoying. They did add performance setting but they don't seem to do much.

    As a player who does not play much PVE (personal preference, I like the competitive nature of PvP games) I can only comment a little on the PVE experience. If you are coming into this expecting F2P you should be prepared for a steep learning curve. The game does not hold your hand through how the economy works so you will have to seek out the info through third party sites or the forums, which are actually very helpful as is the community in general.

    With all that said, if you are a fan of TCG's this game is absolutely worth your time to check out. It has much more depth and strategy than most other online TCGs or CCGs on the market and that's what keeps me coming back. I have been playing for 2 years and despite the bad things I mentioned Hex has provided me a ton of entertainment for the money I invested. If they can continue to make client and UI improvements and if the next set is good for limited it will be amazing again

    Note: Recently there was a bug in the auction house that charged people more than they should have been charged for items they purchased (with in game currency). Hex did nothing about it and allowed people to be scammed by the game. If you use the in game AH make sure to check outside the game on reddit, twitch, or other places to make sure it is not bugged.

    Note #2: They changed from being published by Gameforge to being self published. As a result they were required to wipe everyone's accounts six months after the change of publisher. They only gave a week's notice to accept the new Terms of Service instead of telling people at the time and giving them 6 months to accept the terms. The game is awesome but the company behind it seem to have no idea what they are doing.    … Expand
  55. night4
    Oct 16, 2017
    5
    If the single player campaign were longer, it'd get a 10. I realize they'll release more PvE content in the future, but it'll take way too long.

    Anyway, this is very fun, and I enjoy it more than Hearthstone. I especially like that they included cards from old school MtG that would be considered "overpowered." Edit: Cannot sign in to account from Steam, which means I've lost all    If the single player campaign were longer, it'd get a 10. I realize they'll release more PvE content in the future, but it'll take way too long.

    Anyway, this is very fun, and I enjoy it more than Hearthstone. I especially like that they included cards from old school MtG that would be considered "overpowered."

    Edit: Cannot sign in to account from Steam, which means I've lost all progress and purchased cards.    … Expand
  56. Jamarmoneav
    Jun 11, 2020
    1
    This game crashed everytime I went into deck builder (with the deck I made). I tried making a new deck and I was missing cards (that I paid for). That didn't work so I deleted the deck I had made to make another to realize that most of the cards were still gone. It was a fun game until my cards just dissapeared, the crashes, and me basically throwing money away. I dealt with the other bugsThis game crashed everytime I went into deck builder (with the deck I made). I tried making a new deck and I was missing cards (that I paid for). That didn't work so I deleted the deck I had made to make another to realize that most of the cards were still gone. It was a fun game until my cards just dissapeared, the crashes, and me basically throwing money away. I dealt with the other bugs in the game, but me losing money was the breaking point.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

16
#16 Best PC Game of 2016
61
#61 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. MMORPG.com
    Jul 18, 2016
    84
    Hex: Shards of Fate is unquestionably a brilliant card game that’s complex, rewarding and addictive. I often feel confused, out of my depth and in desperate need of help and yet I wouldn’t want it any other way. Cryptozoic Entertainment have masterfully blended two genres with finesse and polish, to the point where PvE and PvP offer serious longevity.
    Read full review
  2. Everyeye.it
    May 4, 2016
    78
    Hex doesn't want to make a revolution in the TCG world. It's a classic but valid experience, and, as a free-to-play, offers a great number -and quality- of content, becoming one of the best TCG-online together with Magic The Gathering.
    Read full review
  3. Vandal
    Mar 16, 2016
    85
    We all know the ingredients, but we've never seen a recipe like this. HEX is a great game, fun, deep and with a very promising future in the competitive scene.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »