# Hexcells - Expertly crafted puzzle game



## Crispy (Feb 5, 2014)

http://www.matthewbrowngames.com/hexcells.html
http://www.matthewbrowngames.com/hexcellsplus.html

I've been playing a lot of this recently. Hexcells is only $3 as is the standalone expansion, Hexcells Plus. It's just like Minesweeper, except there's no random element, and no guesswork. Each puzzle is carefully authored to provide just the right amount of challenge and reward.


Like minesweeper, the number indicated how many surrounding tiles must be marked. {3} means the 3 tiles are adjacent to each other, whereas -3- means they have at least one gap between them. Further complications are introduced as you go on. The soundtrack is floaty ambience, with a soothing ping in tune with the music every time you reveal or mark a tile.

Hexcells Plus ramps up the difficulty significantly, forcing you to come up with new strategies and long chains of reason. I just got to level 18 and it feels like a brick wall, but I'm *sure* there's a way though it. Given the quality of all the puzzles before it, I feel assured that the author is not cheating me and that it's just a matter of finding a new way of approaching the problem 

Highly recommended.


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## yield (Feb 5, 2014)

I've still not forgiven you for Jelly no Puzzle. It drove me mad. 

Hexcells looks good. I'll have a go later if I have time.


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## Crispy (Feb 5, 2014)

This is a LOT more friendly than that CUNT (I will not excuse myself!) of a game 
It doesn't even punish you for making a mistake. Just don't make loads of mistakes if you want to access the next round of levels (but I always restart when I make one, because perfect play is the only play for me)


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## Bob_the_lost (Feb 5, 2014)

Hex minesweeper? It could work i guess but why not just play minesweeper?


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## Crispy (Feb 5, 2014)

Bob_the_lost said:


> Hex minesweeper? It could work i guess but why not just play minesweeper?


Because minesweeper is random, which means a) you have to guess some moves:







and b) there's no craft involved in the puzzles. One game of minesweeper is no different from any other. There's no progression through harder and harder puzzles, unlocking ever more sophisticated tools in your mental toolbox. Here's the first (post tutorial) level of hexcells:



You can solve that one in your head with clicking a thing.

Here's the last:



Which is a tour-de-force of all the concepts you've been introduced to over the last 30 levels, requiring lots of deduction and parallel reasoning, with sub-puzzles contained within it, each of which rewards you by revealing further clues to the solution of other sub-puzzles in an intricate web.

Hexcells Plus goes on from there.


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## Crispy (Feb 6, 2014)

Also, the music in Minesweeper is shit.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 9, 2014)

Looks  kinda sweet.  it  has  me  plotting the places  just looking at the screen shots

although i'm guessing that  due  to the lack of a random element  it  doesn't have massive replayability.

although  that's  not  really  a huge issue  at the price.


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## Fez909 (Feb 9, 2014)

Shame it's not on mobiles. This looks ideal for on a bus etc


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 9, 2014)

and purchased.  the first anyhow.


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## Cid (Feb 10, 2014)

Did you find there was a logical solution for all of them Crispy ?

I'm having problems with level 22 on the normal Hexcells... just 3 tiles left, 2 of the mistakes. There seems to be no way of logically inferring which tile is the right one.

I've dropped a 22mm MDF board (edge on, from vertical) on my foot today and only slept for about 3 hours last night so may just need to take some time out. However I cannot do that.


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## Crispy (Feb 10, 2014)

Cid said:


> Did you find there was a logical solution for all of them Crispy ?
> 
> I'm having problems with level 22 on the normal Hexcells... just 3 tiles left, 2 of the mistakes. There seems to be no way of logically inferring which tile is the right one.
> 
> I've dropped a 22mm MDF board (edge on, from vertical) on my foot today and only slept for about 3 hours last night so may just need to take some time out. However I cannot do that.


I haven't found any logical holes yet, no. My save game is on my work computer so I can't look at the puzzle in question. Put up a screenshot maybe?


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## Cid (Feb 10, 2014)

I've 'solved' it, not sure it was legit though. Might revisit it later.


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## Crispy (Feb 11, 2014)

Hexcells Plus. Level 31. I am staring into the abyss


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## Cid (Feb 12, 2014)

What will you do when you've finished Crispy ? 

I'm on er... 7 or something of plus now I think (not on this computer thank fuck). Wish he'd release the code or something, need... more... puzzles.


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## Cid (Feb 13, 2014)

Hex-blindness: The act of staring at something for extended periods of time, often performing elaborate mental calculations, to the exclusion of an extremely simple event which would lead to progress.


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## Crispy (Feb 13, 2014)

I finally plumbed the depths of #31. It took 3 days. I got one part right by luck instead of logic and hate myself for it.
#32 was tiny. A mere trifle. Barely 20 hexes. It took me all day to reveal 3 grey ones. Then I broke down and brute forced it out of spite.
#33 and #34 I took in my stride, making good step-by-step progress
#35 is a mountain whose peak is shrouded in mist. I have started the ascent. Send the helicopters if I'm not back in a week.

What will I do when I've finished?
Weep.


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## Crispy (Feb 20, 2014)

Well, I nearly broke my own deadline. Today, I finished #35. #36 is just a lighthearted farewell.

This game is fantastic.

It's on Steam now too.


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## farmerbarleymow (Feb 20, 2014)

Crispy said:


> http://www.matthewbrowngames.com/hexcells.html
> http://www.matthewbrowngames.com/hexcellsplus.html
> 
> I've been playing a lot of this recently. Hexcells is only $3 as is the standalone expansion, Hexcells Plus. It's just like Minesweeper, except there's no random element, and no guesswork. Each puzzle is carefully authored to provide just the right amount of challenge and reward.
> ...



Can I have an E please Bob?


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## Crispy (Aug 28, 2014)

Hooray! Another 36 hand-crafted levels of Hexcells are on their way!



What's that you say? An infinite level generator for hexcells. OH MY.


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## Cid (Aug 28, 2014)

O Frabjous day! Callooh! callay!


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## Crispy (Sep 2, 2014)

It's out now! And so is my boss!


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## Crispy (Sep 2, 2014)

Level 3-6



Click. Look. Look. Look. Think. Think. Think. Minimise. Do something else. Cup of coffee. Come back to it. Look. Look. Lo... Ah! Click! Look. Look. Look. Look. Look. Think. Wail.

EDIT: Level 3-6 of HC:I - YOU ARE A COMPLETE CUNT


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## Radar (Sep 2, 2014)

What's the story with the single cells surrounded by whitespace in the 1st games ? 

You have to select them but what am I supposed to be making my decision on ?


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## Crispy (Sep 2, 2014)

Radar said:


> What's the story with the single cells surrounded by whitespace in the 1st games ?
> 
> You have to select them but what am I supposed to be making my decision on ?



Usually, they're the last cells you clear, beacause you know by the number of Remaining cells whether it's blue or grey.
Later in the game, you get the numbers outside the grid, which give information about whole rows of cells, of which the "island" cells can still be a part.


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## Radar (Sep 2, 2014)

Crispy said:


> Usually, they're the last cells you clear, beacause you know by the number of Remaining cells whether it's blue or grey.
> Later in the game, you get the numbers outside the grid, which give information about whole rows of cells, of which the "island" cells can still be a part.


ahhh... thank you!!


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## Chemical needs (Sep 2, 2014)

Thanks for the recommendation - been enjoying this


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## Radar (Sep 3, 2014)

arrrgghh, I'm on 24.. I need sleep and I think I've been forgetting to blink for the last hour. If I ever get to sleep that music will haunt my dreams, and I'll probably wake up blind.

Damn you to hades Crispy


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## Crispy (Sep 3, 2014)

Radar said:


> arrrgghh, I'm on 24.. I need sleep and I think I've been forgetting to blink for the last hour. If I ever get to sleep that music will haunt my dreams, and I'll probably wake up blind.
> 
> Damn you to hades Crispy


You're welcome


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## Chemical needs (Sep 4, 2014)

Hexcells Level 19. How?


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## Chemical needs (Sep 4, 2014)




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## Chemical needs (Sep 4, 2014)

Hexcells Level 19. How?!


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## Radar (Sep 4, 2014)

the {3}s of 5. You know the middle one has to be blue, so fill those in.. {3}s of 4 ?? middle two have to be blue.. etc etc


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## Radar (Sep 4, 2014)

Just finished the 1st game. Need to get a good night's sleep so holding off on buying plus til the weekend..

Oh wait, tomorrow's Friday


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## Crispy (Sep 4, 2014)




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## Radar (Sep 4, 2014)

Ahh, MS paint. Is there nothing you can't do 

I'm using it with C&P for rollback when I fuck up.


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## Crispy (Sep 4, 2014)

Radar said:


> Ahh, MS paint. Is there nothing you can't do
> 
> I'm using it with C&P for rollback when I fuck up.



DItto


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## BigTom (Sep 5, 2014)

The first one is on sale on steam atm, 67p, just bought it


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## Cid (Sep 5, 2014)

The one with something like 16 cells towards the end of plus is a massive, massive pain in the arse.


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## Crispy (Sep 5, 2014)

It's amazing how much deviousness can be packed into such a small puzzle.

I'm on 6-3 of Infinite now, and have been staring at it for half an hour. Am yet to make a single move.


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## BigTom (Sep 5, 2014)

Well, that was enjoyable, lovely puzzle game and will definitely get the others at some point


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## Cid (Sep 24, 2014)

Still... on... 32.


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## Crispy (Sep 29, 2014)

Annoyed that Hexcells Infinite only contains 10,000,000 puzzles? Want more hand-crafted hexcells? There's a level editor now.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/09/29/hexcells-fan-made-editor-will-feed-your-hexual-appetite/


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## mauvais (Sep 29, 2014)

I can't remember if I did both the original and Plus, but I did at least one, and I recently did Infinite - restarted on any mistakes. Really good stuff.

There were no logical holes in any of them.


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## Chemical needs (Sep 29, 2014)

mauvais said:


> ...There were no logical holes in any of them.



Really?!?! Damn! There have been a few moves where I've _seen_ that the move/ moves I was about to take were right - I could almost follow all of the logic, but I could see it was right without having to figure it all out. But there's a couple of moves where I highly suspect that I'm making the right move - everything I see points in that direction, but it was still essentially a guess.

... At least you know it's all logical, so all the answers should be in there somewhere! I've nearly completed Hexcells perfectly, and am about half way through Plus.


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## mauvais (Sep 29, 2014)

I encountered a few moments like that, and I was absolutely certain about one to the point of almost raising it with the author, until I came back to it later and immediately spotted why I was wrong.

Next time you're really stuck and forced to guess, take a screenshot.


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## jcsd (Sep 30, 2014)

I bought all 3, but even with all 3 it was too short: it took me about a week of evenings to complete all 3 without mistakes. It's a good game, a bit like minesweeper, but with the complexity of killer sudoku.


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## jcsd (Sep 30, 2014)

mauvais said:


> I encountered a few moments like that, and I was absolutely certain about one to the point of almost raising it with the author, until I came back to it later and immediately spotted why I was wrong.
> 
> Next time you're really stuck and forced to guess, take a screenshot.


Yep there were about 3 of the level 6 puzzles in infinite that I stared at for about an hour each, but I found going away and coming back later is the best way to see what you're missing.


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## Chemical needs (Oct 2, 2014)

Yay! Finished hexcells 100%


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## Chemical needs (Oct 2, 2014)

jcsd said:


> I bought all 3, but even with all 3 it was too short: it took me about a week of evenings to complete all 3 without mistakes. It's a good game, a bit like minesweeper, but with the complexity of killer sudoku.



Don't like the generated ones on infinite then?

I had one quick look at one based on the date and it looked a bit of a mess compared to the crafted levels - I did only look at one though so maybe some others are quite good?


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## jcsd (Oct 2, 2014)

Chemical needs said:


> Don't like the generated ones on infinite then?
> 
> I had one quick look at one based on the date and it looked a bit of a mess compared to the crafted levels - I did only look at one though so maybe some others are quite good?


I've completed 157 of the infinite puzzles, but they're so much more inferior to the designed ones: they don't have the same elegance of the designed ones,  there's a lot of redundancy in the information they give you which means you can ignore some of it (e.g. to make it more interesting I try to see which infinite puzzles can be solved whilst ignoring the information given by numbers in blue cells) and they rarely get any more difficult than "moderately easy".

I think fan-designed ones are probably the way to go.


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