Superhexio

.io games are enjoying peak popularity, two full years after the inception of the genre. What began as an experimental endeavor (Agar.io) has become an international craze. Millions of PC, Mac, and mobile gamers play .io titles every day. Coincidentally, it seems that new games are released daily. Today is no different. We’re reviewing Superhexio, which is one of the newest .io games on the Web. It’s free and currently in beta mode, and it’s poised to top the gaming charts.

Conquering
Players of Slither.io and/or Splix.io will notice some strong similarities between those titles and Superhexio. Like Slither, Superhex puts wormlike characters on a hex-covered grid. Instead of pressing arrows to move up, down, left, and right, the mouse guides characters in any direction. Making tight turns is just as easy as traveling in a straight line.

The similarities between Splix and Superhex are even stronger. The latter is essentially a more open version, allowing characters to move as described above. Where Splix felt rigid and too much like Snake of the 1980s, Superhex is fluid—very fluid. Characters can elegantly glide in broad curves or make narrow turnarounds easily and effectively.

Just like in Splix, Superhex is a game of conquering territory. Starting from a small base, players must expand outward. This is done by overtaking nearby pieces of the map. Whether another space is already marked doesn’t matter. Any block can be claimed or overtaken by anyone. The challenge lies within expanding near others. If a player hits your expansion line, your journey will end instantly. Even hitting your own line results in game over.

Keeping Track
There are plenty of useful statistics in Superhexio. During the game, your individual marks are constantly updated in a top corner of the screen. Each player’s overall rank is a direct reflection of their total score. Points are awarded each time you successfully complete an offensive move. Scoring actions include conquering parts of the map and killing other players. Other stats are simply fun to know, such as how much of the map you possess (displayed as a percentage), the current number of blocks owned, and total kills. The other top corner of the screen keeps tally of the 10 best players.

Features
Superhexio is a simple game, by .io standards and otherwise. The current beta release has no character classes, special abilities, or power-ups. The devs have promised new features in upcoming versions, but there are no specific details regarding those updates.

Current players seem to be divided regarding what features should come next. Currently, the only gameplay “option” is choosing between high-, medium-, and low-quality graphics. Players can enter a nickname before starting the game, but there are no custom skins or colors from which to choose.

In its current state, Superhexio is perfectly fine. In fact, it’s rather awesome. Novices can jump into the action and compete against advanced players right away, without the need to level up or buy power-ups. If new versions of Superhexio continue along its current path, the game will get even better.