John Wick Hex Reviews

John Wick Hex could have been a number of different games, none of them as strange and satisfying as this.

When all is said and done, John Wick Hex delivers an interesting experience that provides a unique, and brutally difficult time. If you are looking for that brutal difficulty to bang your head against, this game might be for you. For anyone else, however, I think this one will be a hard pass.

A movie tie-in that thinks outside of the box, John Wick Hex is an unexpected and unique strategy game with more than a few neat ideas up its impeccably tailored sleeve. Yet, a steep difficulty curve, some fiddly controls, and a frustrating sense of repetition cramp its style. However, cool heads and sharp wits will prevail.

Imagine for a moment if somebody blended the brutal efficiency of Hotline Miami with the tactical mind play of XCOM and then wrapped it all in John Wick theming. That’s the basic idea behind John Wick Hex, which effectively puts players into the mind of John Wick himself as he analyzes each situation moment to moment, calculating the perfect moves to make in order to eliminate waves of incoming baddies and make it out alive. It seems absurd, translating the quick and precise action of the John Wick films into a slower strategy game, but somehow, it works, even if it doesn’t quite manage to reach the level of intensity of the movies it’s based on.

As a big fan of John Wick, I couldn't wait to play this new strategy game based on the films so let's see if it lives up to the franchise.

You better have to choose if it’s worth spending your spare cash, because it might not be the game for you and it might be for others.

It’s a minor thing, but the voice acting is all recorded at different volumes which means SOME GUYS YELL ALL THE TIME and some only speak in growly criminal lowercase and lends a “Mommy and Daddy are fighting!” feel to the cutscenes. Also, I am pretty sure that’s not Keanu doing John’s voice. Maybe Cyberpunk was paying him better.

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.

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.

A surprising tactical direction that really works.

The John Wick film franchise is amazing. Not only are they filled with over the top actions set-pieces and spectacular violence, but they’re also the reason Keanu Reeves is back in vogue. With a franchise this huge in the public consciousness, it was only a matter of time before it made its way to other media. After a middling performance with John Wick Chronicles, the franchise is back with a bang in John Wick Hex.

A solid recreation of John Wick’s signature combat style that is marred with repetitive gameplay

Sometimes methodical murder is the best medicine.

John Wick walks into the room. Like a clockwork automaton, his movements are precise. His eyes effortlessly scan for danger. The gun in his hand snaps forward like the head of a serpent, spitting bullets like venom. Even more than most action heroes, John Wick exudes stone-cold confidence, and Bithell Games’ strategy adaptation perfectly captures that style. I’ve rarely felt like such a capable assassin than while playing John Wick Hex. Even after a few repetitive encounters and an aggressive enemy A.I. tried to cut my ego back down to size, they couldn’t diminish the overall high I felt playing Hex.

John Wick has become the best action movie franchise to come out of Hollywood in years, with great fight choreography, characters, and world building. It was only a matter of time until John Wick made his video game debut and Hex might be the perfect one to introduce Wick to the gaming world.

Perhaps I’m just a victim of my own expectations. There are plenty of games that get away with minimal plot and an uninteresting protagonist, I just never expected to count a Mike Bithell game amongst them. The important thing is 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.

All that said, 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: you pick up a working vocabulary of Wickensian tricks, just in time to be tested on them. Its slip-ups tend to just make it more charming, while most repetition can be offset by going for challenges that ask you to play quicker and smarter.

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

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.

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. The strong fundamentals ensure a constant reliance on resource management and upcoming enemy actions, but the artificial animations, easily manipulable enemy AI and various technical issues makes the thought of surviving such overwhelming odds far more interesting than actually attempting them. The gameplay is interspersed with a mostly surface-level dive into the John Wick universe via its locations, plot and characters, aside from excellent voice acting, that would be easier to overlook without the other setbacks. John Wick Hex is a worthwhile playthrough for those with a fondness for turn-based strategy games or a desire for a challenge, but remains tough to recommend to those who only want another opportunity to spend time in the established world of John Wick.

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.

It’s not totally fair to expect the animations of a turn-based strategy game to match up with the elaborately violent choreography of a series of action movies that is defined by little more than that, but John Wick Hex doesn’t even come close. It’s hard to appreciate its handful of smart ideas when every slick series of moves you pull off by deftly managing a group of enemies’ attack timelines is countered by a dozen other encounters that play out awkwardly due to animation glitches and a stingy persistent health system. John Wick Hex certainly does have its moments of tactical joy and tells a decent simple story, but it’s so consistently unpolished that it’s hard to appreciate them.

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.

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.

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.

I was the first person to wonder if a slow-paced strategic shooter in the vein of XCOM was a good fit for the fast-paced action of the John Wick movies. Having John Wick slowly move through corridors and weave between cover, as opposed to being a fast-paced ass-kicker, shouldn't work. But it works so incredibly well, and John Wick Hex ends up being one of the best movie licensed games I've played in a long time.

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.

On top of that, Hex's story feels like it belongs in the John Wick universe thanks to some great performances by actors from the movies and the writing by Bithell and his team. While there might be some bugs, I have no problem recommending this game. While I don't think it's a masterpiece, it's still worthy of the Bithell name.

John Wick Hex puts you in the well-trained shoes of a master assassin, but without a lot of planning, you'll find yourself no more use than a kid with a water pistol.