John Wick Hex is a single-player action-oriented strategy video game developed by Bithell Games and based on the popular John Wick film series. The films started with the story of retired legendary assassin John Wick getting revenge and hunting down the men who broke into his home, stole his vintage car, and killed his puppy—who was the last gift to him from his recently-deceased wife. The first film spawned sequels about Wick continuing on with his reemergence and John Wick Hex is an expansion of its story universe, serving as a narrative prequel to the film series. 

Here Comes the Boogeyman

The John Wick franchise started back in 2014. An American neo-noir action thriller film series, the first three movies are known as “chapters” in the chronological order, and the franchise itself even drafted a prequel television series about the films’ world of hitmen. The movie stars the Matrix film franchise’s lead actor Keanu Reeves and the directors of the first movie happened to be his own stunt doubles. As said before, the first film shows Wick’s return as a cold-blooded killer—in which he enacts vengeance upon the men who disturbed his solitude in retirement and even took away the precious dog that his late wife had given him. The John Wick movies were a success and spawned a few video games in order to further promote. One of these is John Wick Hex, a project created in close cooperation with the creative teams behind the films themselves.

Time to Dance

In John Wick Hex, you play as John Wick the Baba Yaga himself—in glorious unique graphic noir art design. There is an all-new original story made just for the game and you must embody Wick himself in order to save Winston and Charon from a dangerous new enemy known as Hex. However, while the movies seem spectacular when you watch them, John Wick Hex doesn’t just let you go all guns a-blazing like in other action games. Here, the combat is choreographed and you need to approach every fight like a challenging chess game. This is a timeline strategy game with some aspects of resource management, wherein you need to progress through the levels on a hex-based grid by using various moves and actions to defeat enemies and avoid being hit. It almost feels like real-time turn-based combat but with more emphasis on time, as you get to see the timeline of what your enemies will do and what you can do from a tactical standpoint with various consequences—whether it’d be about taking cover, taking the shot, or reloading precious and limited ammo.

A Must for Any Fan

When compared to its source material, John Wick Hex definitely captures some of the essences of the movies. It feels fragmented whenever the action stops for your input on what to do next, but you can replay your fight and see how fluid it looks. The rules of the game world are also similar to how John Wick’s world operates—such as him firing two bullets when you choose to shoot since he legitimately double-taps his targets in the films, and how ammo isn’t easily found and so you need to make your shots count. This is definitely a good break from the non-stop action of other games and gets you to appreciate the brilliance of just how the Baba Yaga operates with gun fu.