Hexarchy: A deck-building civ-like game

[The_J]

We continue our series about potentially interesting games for Civ-fans, and this time it's about Hexarchy. Hexarchy is a civ-like game, it plays on a hex-grid, turn-based, and you build cities, units and wonders. The main difference to Civ is that it is a deck-builder: You have each round a certain amount of cards (units, buildings, technologies, etc), which you can use, if you have enough production and resources. Non-used cards you may discard or keep for the next round, whereas used cards vanish and will be replenished from the card stack.
It is set up for a lot shorter games than Civ though, most should be over in one hour.

You can find a demo on Steam right now: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1356810/Hexarchy/
There are also a lot of videos on the dev channel, and Civ-streamer Sassy Gamer Lady has also played the game in one of her videos.

The latest development is that you can also support this game on Kickstarter, where you can also find a lot more information, and you can also ask the developers on Twitter.

(please note that backing a game on Kickstarter does not guarantee that a game succeeds, and in case of failure the money could be lost)

 

[The_J]

They managed to get the kickstarter project fully backed .

 

[The_J]

Today, PC Gamer has published an article about Hexarchy, titled "Hexarchy turns Civilization into an accessible 4X card game that you can finish in an hour". In this article PC Game describes a bit how the deck building mechanics work, how you gather resources, and that you can finish a match in a single evening.

An excerpt:

While it prevents you from executing the kind of grand, hundred-turn-long schemes that the most exciting Civ games often end in, it serves Hexarchy's quickplay format. Virtually everything you'll do will inch you closer to victory, and a few of my matches still ended memorably. After the Russians destroyed the heavily buffed mamluk I was relying on to defend my capital, the city was left wide open. A spot of pillaging later, and they'd sent a Cossack forward to capture it, sweeping up all the points generated by its wonders and clinching the game.

You can read the full article here.

 

[The_J]

Hexarchy has now started a playtest.
If you join it, then you are free to play it over the weekend until August 22, also in multiplayer, if you like!

 

[Lonecat Nekophrodite]

I don't know will it make the same mistake as either Civ6 or Humankind.

 

[The_J]

Try it out, then tell us .

 

[The_J]

PCGamesN has also released an article covering Hexarchy, called "Civilization and Slay the Spire collide in 4X deck builder on Steam". The article talks about that Hexarchy is a light-weight game which can be played in less than 1h, that a lot of balancing has gone in the tech tree, and, shocking for veteran civ players, that htere are only 10 civs to choose from.
Read the article here.

 

[Saxo Grammaticus]

Hexarchy - Hexarchy Out now! with a 20% launch discount! - Steam News

Hexarchy out now! - Purchase it now with a 20% launch discount!

store.steampowered.com

Hexarchy's out! Not sure where I first heard about the game, but it's quite possible I encountered it here due to The_J's diligent work in notifying us about new developments. Full disclosure: I have only played the demo. While I usually look for games offering richer complexity than Civ, I enjoyed the abstract strategy, deck-building, and single session investment that Hexarchy offers. There won't be much speculation about the Neolithic here, but certainly a game to enjoy with friends!

 

[The_J]

Thanks for the notification, I had not seen this yet.
I'm curious to see if more players here find it interesting.

 

[TheMarshmallowBear]

It's a nice chill game when played between AI (I know some folk complained about AI being easy), what I enjoy about it is that most games take about half an hour so it's EXACTLY what I needed in terms of those "warm ups" I often do before I start working on stuff.

I enjoy the novelty, I see a lot of potential, it reminds me a lot of "Through the Ages" board game but with an actual hexagonal map.

 

[The_J]

PotatoMcWhiskey has made a video about Hexarchy, and it seems he likes it ^^.