There's a new trend in the little homebrew indie puzzle internet scene that we're big fans of: paper logic puzzles being taken in new directions, specifically being contained inside a single image and presented without thorough instructions, allowing you to decipher the symbols and make your own realizations.
Hexcon is the latest offering in this style, following in the footsteps of fan-favorite works like LOK, Abdec and 0PLAYER as well as other smaller and lesser-known entries in the genre (some of which lean more in the linguistic direction.) This new one is as minimal as they come: the game consists of a compact pixel-art array of tiny 5x5 boxes in one big image that you're meant to open up in an image editor to solve (after the free download from itch.io.)
You're presented with a matrix of boxes filled here and there with a scattering of brightly colored pixels. A few examples at the top of the page and one little snippet of text introduction is all your given to get you started. From there you're on your own, staring at these miniscule glyphs, about as small as a puzzle could possibly get, confirming your goals and your methods of getting there by comparing examples, puzzles, and the provided samples of "impossible" levels.
There's more than what appears here: I'm including only a snippet of the top of the Hexcon puzzle image to encourage you to go download the whole thing to play more.
Hexcon calls itself an "extremely challenging" puzzle image game, and I'd say that label is an appropriate choice. You know very little to begin with, beyond the fact that you're trying to "connect" certain pixel colors together with lines, and that each puzzle must end up with a unique solution (which ends up being a big component in a lot of these cryptic logic games.)
Knowing that I was diving into something meant to challenge enthusiasts, I made liberal use of the provided hints and even peaked a few times at the included solutions image, and this relaxed mentality about getting some help put me on the right track and gave me a very smooth, enjoyable and frustration-free experience getting into the meat of the puzzles. Also included in the download package are a couple of music tracks, should you want some curated background vibes to help you get in the zone.
I definitely have not completed close to 100% of Hexcon (and I don't know if I'll push myself that far) but the game is more than interesting and unique enough for me to recommend you check it out. After all, like so many brilliantly creative puzzle games we showcase, it's totally free to play.
You can download Hexcon now on the creator's itch.io page.
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