HomeFeaturesHex Gambit: Respawned
Hex Gambit: Respawned is a board game where Into The Breach meets American footballGood robits
Good robits
Hex Gambit: Respawnedis like chess meetsInto The Breachmeets American football. It’s about making robots destroy other robots, or else making robots bounce over other robots' heads so they can slap their opponent’s totem, score a point, and do a little dance. I like it, even though I’m only playing in the closed beta and haven’t had a chance to fight a human.
This is where things get juicy. Every robot has a specialised role: Runners are fragile totem-slappers, while Brutes are slow but hit like self-driving trucks. You’ve got Snipers that attack from afar, and Defenders who can create invulnerable temporary blockades. Soldiers seem particularly nasty, as they can deal two damage to two squares in a row. There are plenty more unit types I haven’t mentioned, and careful positioning is always vital.
Like chess, a good move is one that accomplishes loads at once. I might move a Soldier so it’s no longer blocking a Sniper, while simultaneously setting them up for a double attack AND forming the start of a chain that might help my runner move forwards. That’s because you can bounce over an infinite number of robo-heads, as long as they’re all lined up together, and it will only ever count as moving one tile. That rule winds up really changing how you see the board - or failing to. I keep accidentally creating superhighways to my totems, which the mostly not-great AI is annoyingly good at exploiting.
Every move leaves you with so much to think about. It’s a balancing act, where you’re spinning plates that can either crash into each other and burn or align in beautiful harmonies. Plenty of abilities push robots around, so my mind snaps into the same place as it does when I’m playing Into The Breach. “If only I can shove that runner over there”, I’ll think, “he’ll be adjacent to that Soldier, and my Brute can smash them both at once”.
When the full game comes out next year, though, I do plan on badgering a friend or two into joining me. It’s been far too long since we stayed up into the night playing something likeGreed Corp.
