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John Wick Hex -- a Frozen Syanpse-like action/strategy game -- to release on October 8, update - reviews from OpenCritic posted


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Game Information

Game Title: John Wick Hex

Platforms:

  • PC (Oct 8, 2019)

 

Developer: Bithell Games

 

Publisher: Good Shepherd Entertainment
    
Review Aggregator

OpenCritic - 75 average - 71% recommended

 

Critic Reviews


Ars Technica - Sam Machkovech - Unscored

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Great if you like tough tactical games; a harder sell if you're merely a fan of the films.


Attack of the Fanboy - Kyle Hanson - 4 / 5 stars

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John Wick Hex is a surprise in a number of ways, but the biggest is how much it hits the mark in terms of conveying what it's like to be John Wick himself. While it falters in some key areas, the overall experience is a good one.


COGconnected - Paul Sullivan - 73 / 100

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John Wick Hex succeeds by building a uniquely time-based strategy framework but is pulled down by a lack of polish and repetitive elements along the way. If you can accept it’s rougher elements it’s well worth playing, but ultimately it could’ve used some additional development time to flesh everything out and really capture the flair of the Wick franchise.


Critical Hit - Darryn Bonthuys - 8.5 / 10

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John Wick Hex is a sharp-dressed, tactical, dog eat dog shooter that offers an unforgiving challenge with smart action and an authentic layer of style.


Cultured Vultures - Jimmy Donnellan - 5.5 / 10

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John Wick Hex's early pretence of fulfilling strategy gives way to a maddening trial and error experience that simply doesn't do the license justice.


Daily Star - Jake Tucker - 2 / 5 stars

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John Wick Hex is a near miss and feels deeply dissatisfying to play. Which is a shame, because it's got heart, and we're gutted this gamble didn't work out.


Destructoid - Peter Glagowski - 8 / 10

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It's not a perfect game, but John Wick Hex still lives up to its premise and creates a new blueprint for how to adapt a film property. Hopefully, it does well enough for a sequel because I'm dying to step back into the shoes of John Wick.


Doublejump - Cav Gallagher - Unscored

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Stark, methodical, and occasionally inscrutable but at the pinnacle of execution, John Wick Hex has been built in the image of the Boogeyman himself. A treat for fans of the films and tactical combat games alike; just make sure you bring your brain — and a little patience — to the gunfight.


DualShockers - Tanner Pierce - 8.5 / 10

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John Wick Hex is a nice, fun, and stylistic bite-sized adventure that's absolutely worth your time.


Eurogamer - Christian Donlan - Recommended

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Stylish cinematic super-violence is transformed into smart temporal puzzles.


Everyeye.it - Claudio Cugliandro - Italian - 7.5 / 10

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With courage, originality and a certain boldness, Bithell relies on the evidently inexhaustible innovative charge of his creative flair, absorbing the good things done by Super Hot and Hot Line Miami, giving us back an experience that is paradoxically at the antipodes and at the same time perfectly in line to the spirit of John Wick.


Explosion Network - Dylan Blight - 7 / 10

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Playing John Wick Hex feels like planning and, when done right, being the wrecking ball that John is in the movies. It just lacks the story or feel of the world presented in the movies’ world and characters to be a true John Wick experience.


Game Informer - Ben Reeves - 8 / 10

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At its best, John Wick Hex makes you feel like a trained assassin, but those moments are interrupted by strings of repetitive action


GameSkinny - Jason Coles - 8 / 10 stars

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If you like strategy games, then this is one you'll not want to miss. For everyone else, this could well be the one that casts a spell on you.


GameSpew - Diggy - 8 / 10

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John Wick Hex has an abundance of intuitive and original ideas, and it’s fun and engaging to play. It’s certainly worth your time if you like strategy games, and if you also happen to be a fan of the films then that’s just the icing on the cake.


GameSpot - Alessandro Barbosa - 8 / 10

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John Wick Hex successfully adapts the action from the film trilogy with a satisfyingly clever and fast-paced spin on turn-based combat.


Gameblog - Camille Allard - French - 7 / 10

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Despite its punitive difficulty and the rigidity, John Wick Hex remains a good adaptation of the movies. Artistic direction and the way you go into action are enjoyable and the pleasure of having managed to get out of a critical situation is a real satisfaction.


Gaming Nexus - Rob Larkin - 8.8 / 10

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John Wick Hex is a fantastic game. It combines real strategy in a gameplay that feels truly unique in the RTS genre. It really captures the world of John Wick and brings the character from the silver screen faithfully onto the PC. There is a fluidity to the combat, but one that falls ever so slightly short of the effortless slickness that we've come to love about the title character. Missing that trick takes a near perfect game to just a notch below, but puts it squarely in good company as a top game of the year.


GamingTrend - Lawrence Le - 80 / 100

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A graceful dance of lead and fists through some lovely set pieces and a whole lot of unsuspecting thugs. Nurturing quick, adaptive thinking, John Wick Hex is an excellent distillation of the franchise.


God is a Geek - Gary Bailey - 8 / 10

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Combining realtime and turn-based gameplay, John Wick Hex somehow manages to nail the feeling of the movies.


Hardcore Gamer - Sam Spyrison - 3.5 / 5

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John Wick Hex excels at making the player think like John Wick, but fails to back it up with combat that is representative of the titular assassin.


IGN - Dan Stapleton - 6.8 / 10

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John Wick Hex is a simple, smart tactics game but its distracting lack of polish often thwarts its attempt to distill the fast action of the movies into deliberate gameplay.


IGN Italy - Davide Mancini - Italian - 8 / 10

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Fun and entertaining, John Wick Hex hits the target and successfully transforms the hectic action of the movie saga in a brilliant boardgame-like strategic game with a great level design and an intriguing twist. The time management mechanic is crucial, intense and demanding, but quite fair and when dominated give a lot of satisfaction. Sometimes the difficulty curve is not well balanced and, overall, it lacks of the last touch to shine, but it's a solid good game, made with style and care.


IGN Spain - Xavi Mogrovejo - Spanish - 8 / 10

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John Wick Hex is not what you would imagine when cinematic universe, but it manages to turn around that action without filters to purify it and turn it into pure strategy by scheming Wick's mind in the video game.


Metro GameCentral - David Jenkins - 9 / 10

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One of the best movie adaptations of all time and an impressively original strategy game that manages to rival even the best action titles in terms of tension and adrenaline rush.


New Game Network - Josh Hinke - 67 / 100

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Fans of the film will certainly find things to like, but as you dig deeper into John Wick Hex, more and more of its flaws begin to surface. Bithell has always proven himself a creative game-maker, but he can't stick the landing on this one.


PC Gamer - Robert Zak - 80 / 100

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An elegant tactical puzzler that captures the pace and action of the movies.


PC Invasion - Steven Wong - 8 / 10

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Part action, part strategy, John Wick Hex is an incredibly challenging and highly stylized game that is both thrilling and infuriating at the same time.


PCGamesN - Jeremy Peel - 8 / 10

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Much like the man himself, John Wick Hex is straight-ahead and unwavering. It sets out to do one thing - simulate the fights of the movies - and does so with consummate efficiency.


Polygon - Jeffrey Parkin - Unscored

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John Wick Hex delivers a strategy game that explains how characters in action movies “work,” and it does that brilliantly.


PowerUp! - Leo Stevenson - 8.3 / 10

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John Wick Hex is an excellent adaptation of a film franchise that could have been a lazy shooter. Instead, it’s one of the best strategy games available today.


Rock, Paper, Shotgun - Nic Reuben - Unscored

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I had a great time with John Wick Hex. It tiptoes the line between tactics and puzzler in an engaging way, has a ton of character, and feels exactly as minimal as it needs to be


Saving Content - Scott Ellison II - 3 / 5 stars

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The formula of this game is excellent for so many other applications in game that just isn’t John Wick. Slowing down a film series known for violence, speed, and momentum to thoughtful violence doesn’t work. John Wick Hex is far from a bad game, it’s just not as well… executed. Dissonance aside, the game offers a challenge through to the end, and isn’t insurmountable. The replay mode should be the highlight of John Wick Hex, but the stilted movement makes it a gag reel instead. So, if you can get past its issues and oddness, you’ll find an engrossing game of strategy and tactics where every bullet counts, and actually matters.


Screen Rant - Christopher Teuton - 2 / 5 stars

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John Wick Hex plays like a top-down Superhot but isn't nearly as entertaining as the film.


Shacknews - Josh Hawkins - 9 / 10

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When it comes to movie and video game crossovers, most developers fail to capture the spirit of the movie’s characters while also bringing their own spin to the world. Bithell Games has managed to do both here, and if John Wick Hex is as close as we ever get to becoming John Wick, then it’s close enough for me.


Spaziogames - Italian - 8 / 10

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John Wick Hex is a turn-based strategy game that breaks every rules and set a new standard.


Stevivor - Steve Wright - 8.5 / 10

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John Wick Hex is a no brainer. It’s a layered strategy game perfect for long sessions or short stints.


Tech Advisor - Dominic Preston - 3.5 / 5 stars

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From top to bottom this is meant to make you feel like Keanu’s iconic assassin, and when it pulls off the trick Hex feels like nothing else out there. Unfortunately after a few hours the devs run out of surprises, and with a strictly limited moveset you'll likely become more aware of all the things that movie Wick does that his videogame counterpart simply can't.


The Games Machine - Simone Rampazzi - Italian - 6.8 / 10

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John Wick Hex is a game made for the franchise lovers. Since this is a minor production, there are pros and cons: there are indeed good gameplay and a good idea, but also a lack of progression and a feeling of repetition that makes you lose a little the desire to continue further.


TheSixthAxis - Miguel Moran - 7 / 10

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John Wick Hex is the last form you might expect a John Wick game to take, but this unique, inventive puzzler kept my mind racing from beginning to end. While the gameplay and interesting story shed light on some important aspects of the film franchise, the sometimes punishing difficulty and surprising lack of focus on John Wick himself left me a little disappointed. This isn't a perfect video game adaptation of a film, but it's certainly the most original one I've ever played.


USgamer - Kat Bailey - 2.5 / 5 stars

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John Wick Hex has a solid enough foundation, but it largely fails to build on its core concept. It's a one-dimensional tactics game that moves at a glacially slow pace and features few unique wrinkles. It offers a slightly deeper look at the lore, but otherwise it adds little to the burgeoning John Wick-verse.


Wccftech - Dave Aubrey - 8.5 / 10

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When all is said and done, John Wick Hex is an exceptional licensed game, and a wonderful strategic shooter even away from that. It's the kind of game that's high quality and enjoyable, even if you are clueless about the John Wick movies themselves. The perfect kind of licensed game, that works as well as an introduction to the franchise as it does as an extension of it. Absolutely worth playing.


We Got This Covered - Josh Heath - 2.5 / 5 stars

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John Wick Hex tries to get you into the mind of an assassin. However, the execution falls flat, and it quickly devolves into a repetitive slog, with little content, polish, or much of that strategy the developers were aiming for.


Worth Playing - Tony "OUberLord" Mitera - 8.8 / 10

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As a fan of the movies and a fan of creative approaches to games, I've had my eye on John Wick Hex since the day it was announced. Its bizarre approach works satisfyingly well in the context of how John Wick would think in the same situations: risk versus reward, careful observation and planning, plays and counter-plays. It is a simple game to understand yet rewarding to attempt to master. It also makes a compelling case of how great movie-inspired games can be if developers really think outside of the box.


 

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