Hex: Slot Overview

Hex is an online slot from now Kindred owned (Unibet) studio Relax Gaming that not only delves into the esoteric side of life but uses what it has learned to power its features. The magic in Hex is predominantly expressed through a mystery symbol reveal feature found in the base game and an expanded form during free spins. At first, Hex may come across as a simple game, and by Relax Gaming standards, it kind of is. However, for the right student of the dark arts, or light arts, there is juicy stuff here to uncover and solid potential to boot.

The action takes place in a laboratory that looks like it was designed by the same person who did Severus Snape's office and Push Gaming's Mystery Museum. While we're on the subject, the game's logo has an uncanny Peter & Sons look, too; we're talking doppelganger levels of familiarity. Quite how the logo came to be remains as mysterious as the potion, skull, candle, and book-filled shelves making up Hex's background imagery. Capping everything off is an equally mysterious soundtrack, and though Hex might appear a little standard for Relax Gaming, it has also been pleasantly rendered for players keen to uncover one or two of life's hidden secrets.

Hex's base game is played utilizing a 5-reel, 3-row, 243 ways to win grid, which expands to 5x4, 1,024 ways when free spins are active. To get the ball rolling, players select stakes of 10 p/c to $/€30 per spin, hit play, and when the reels stop, random symbols land with blue frames around them. This is part of the Mystery Reveal feature covered below. The RTP, meanwhile, is generated in two ways. One is playing naturally, where the figure is 96.43%; the second is buying free spins, which bumps the return value up to 96.58%. Also to note is that the volatility in this slot is high, no matter how you tackle the game.

Wins hit when three to five matching symbols land in adjacent reels starting from the leftmost side of the grid. Hex has ten regularly paying symbols, five low pay, five high. Lows consist of a test tube and four potion bottles shaped like the four suits in a pack of cards. A five-symbol winning way of low pays is worth 0.5 to 1.2x the bet. Greater returns come from the high paying bird's foot, cards, snakes, voodoo dolls, and skull symbols. These pay out 2-10 times the stake for a five of a kind hit. Lastly, for now, is the wild symbol, appearing on all reels to substitute any pay symbol. Should five wilds land across the reels, a payout of 20x the bet is coming your way.

Hex: Slot Features

The main extra in Hex is the Mystery Reveal feature, available in the base game and in free spins. How it works is on the rightmost reel, Sorceress symbols may appear. When one lands, it transforms itself and all symbols marked with a frame into the same matching symbol type. If a Silver Sorceress lands, symbols transform into an identical pay symbol. If a Golden Sorceress lands, then the symbols convert into wilds.

Free Spins

Landing 3, 4, or 5 book scatter symbols awards 7, 10, or 15 free spins, respectively. While the bonus round is active, +1 additional free spin is awarded each time a scatter symbol hits. For free spins, an extra row is added to the reels, increasing the number of win ways to 1,024. Also, any symbols transformed by the Mystery Reveal have their position framed for the rest of the feature. In this way, it is possible to progressively build the number of framed positions as free spins continue.

Buy Feature

If buying free spins is available, players can pay 100 times the total bet to land at least 3 scatter symbols on the next spin, which also increases the RTP to 96.58%.

Hex: Slot Verdict

Hex is one of the more conventional slots we'd reviewed from Relax Gaming for a while. This impression was formed the moment the game began, with its regular reel setup, to the framed cells idea, to the symbol transformation feature. The theme might be based on potions and magic, but initially, Hex was slightly less wonderous for a Relax Gaming slot, from a gameplay perspective. Not trying to take anything away from Hex; it's a fine slot, but it didn't have the immediate wow or intrigue factor of a Chip Spin, Beast Mode, or Deadman's Trail, to name but three.

To be clear, however, we're certainly not dealing with another Deep Descent. Hex has an attractive look, wears the theme well, and has been polished to a high finish. Its main feature is a good one too. Randomly framing cells then converting them to matching symbols or wilds might not be unique, but it's not hugely overdone either. Hex' contribution is worth checking out if this sort of device interests you for several reasons. One is that Hex uses winning ways rather than a payline system this feature usually comes with, which ramps things up. Combining so many ways to win with a large number of Mystery Reveal symbols can quickly stack up a solid win. Potentially more so if the Golden Sorceress transforms framed positions into wilds, though she was very rare during the review.

While the main feature is available in the base game, the rule changes to free spins make them extra desirable. The additional row brings in more symbols and creates a lot more ways to win, so that's a major plus. What really jacks the tension in free spins is the way cells stay framed throughout. Building up a useful number of frames can potentially lead to big wins. Get lucky, and Hex is capable of payouts of up to 25,000 times the stake - the game's cap.

Hex might not be a Relax Gaming masterpiece, but there is certainly enough here for the right armchair sorcerer or sorceress to enjoy. The team has taken a break from being hugely intricate to do something less complicated, but no less exciting when the right reagents have been mixed just so.