HEX hits over 1.1 million in Kickstarter funding
HEX stretches beyond its stretch goals
If you haven't heard of Cryptozoic Entertainment's new TCGMMO, HEX, I recommend right now that you go watch its video on its Kickstarter page. HEX, Shards of Fate is the next step in making MMOs outside of the traditional avenues. Cryptozoic asked itself why no one has combined the Trading Card Game and MMO genres before and answered its own question with a new game that it took to Kickstarter on May 8, 2013. This title quickly hit the front page of Kickstarter, and many gaming news sites. However, the excitement didn’t stop there, with HEX skyrocketing beyond its original goal of $300,000, to over $500,000 in just a week; the money continues to flow long past the asking price.
Fast forward to today and you’ll find that with 13 days still to go, HEX has surpassed its largest stretch goal, reaching over the mountain top of 1.16 million. With such overwhelming support for this game, it’s high time we check out some of the things that were unlocked in this flurry of fundraising. Some of the earlier unlocks consisted of things that are both basic, but also epic and much needed. The 330-440k marks included things such as Authenticator support, so that the extra-rare card you just snagged won’t get snagged back by a real-life thief, and a Guild Ranking and Guild Tournament system, which has the potential to offer some amazing Guild v Guild action. Also included in those unlocks were a Crafting System at launch, which is great for people like me who love to make stuff, and an additional city added for each playable race, including quests. This will, of course, give us the experience that many of us are familiar with in major MMO titles, allowing for your starter city to match the race you choose, and make you feel at home before leaving to adventure in the cold, tough world.
Some of the later goals start to add up and really show the framework of a great MMO release. At 600k, backers unlocked three additional raids at launch. This is obviously a huge bonus for any PvE players out there, and it will hopefully give plenty of end game content to even the best players, and give casual players something to work toward. Just 60k down line we find ourselves checking off another box, this one including 5 new game boards, with “each additional themed game board including exciting animations and effects.” This one really hits home for me, because as someone who’s not familiar with TCG games as much as I am MMOs, it will be nice to have some added flavor to the game rather than the same board every match. Not to mention, who doesn’t love more pretty colors?
Support didn’t stop there, and another 60k down the line, players landed themselves 10 more dungeons with unique cards and equipment. This benchmark is huge, as 10 new dungeons is a ton of content in itself, but including new gear and cards at the same time truly adds to the gravity of this particular stretch goal. Another 70k gets us more of those pretty colors with “increased unique sound and particle effects to more cards.” Getting close to the peak, at 860k HEX offered a more advanced Deck Building tool, which I believe will help new players like me manage my deck, and help veteran TCG players immerse themselves in their decks and get into the nitty-gritty.
The final 3 goals, striking the meter at 960k, 1.06 million, and 1.16 million, include some pretty major features. Keep Defense will be a new game type where players will construct decks to defend their keeps and destroy those of the enemy. While they don’t give any more detail, this seems like a PvP style map. If it is, it sounds like a lot of fun, and I will be playing it for sure, hopefully alongside you!
The second to last benchmark wields a lofty prize, which is added playback support. That’s right, a replay system, allowing you to go back and see where you went wrong, or watch that amazing victory where you stomped that noob into the ground. Moreover, this will greatly increase the potential for HEX to become an eSport, at least in a sense. It’s something that Cryptozoic mentions being interested in, in their Kickstarter video, and I feel that this added functionality is the kicker on whether or not this is possible. Finally, they will be adding a Motion Comic at the beginning of the game, to give players a better perspective on the world they are about to adventure in. There is one more card at the end of their stretch goal list which has yet to be turned over. It isn’t marked with a certain monetary value, and it’s colored differently than the other goals. What this might be, only the creators know, but hopefully we’ll get one more amazing bonus that knocks our socks off!
HEX will be free-to-play, possibly with an optional subscription, and beta is scheduled to start sometime in September, 2013. While the goals are all reached, you can still show your support for the game on Kickstarter, and helping them out will land you at the very least a beta key so you can start playing as soon as everyone else!