The Outlast Trials
The Outlast Trials
Game
Game2023
Hexarchy
Developer Main Tank Software
Hexarchy is an innovative, fast-paced, historical 4x strategy game where you use cards and deckbuilding to make your decisions. Single-player and online multiplayer. From the Steam store page
223 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon, Lemmy) · newest Nov 4, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
76
LovedLoved
147 positive · 47 negative
95% range 69–81%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 147 | 47 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 8 | 0 | 14 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
900 of 1,088 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
77% recommend · 148 yes, 43 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 191 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (1,359 of 1,660 positive).
Players praise Hexarchy as a fast, streamlined Civilization-like with a clever deck-building mechanic. [1][2][3] Some reviewers note the game lacks content for single-player, with no campaign and limited replayability. [4][5][6] Several players mention the graphics look like a mobile game, but the gameplay is still enjoyable. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [5]
The game should be great. It plays great, it's fun, it's addicitive...except for the fact that there isn't a real single player mode. The most bizarre design choice I have ever seen in a game: No campaign, no challenge tree, no ever increasing difficulty, nothing like that. Just custom matches and a single tiny weekly "campaign" that is more like 4 missions that force you to play 4 different games and end them …
- [1]
I picked this up as a "dumbed down version of Civilization" and found it fun enough. It is still my go to strategy game if I only have an hour or so. It's simple enough that I can come back to this even after a long break and not feel like I have to relearn it, and it's engaging enough to be considered a strategy game. Only gripe is how many of the achievements are bound to PvP / leaderboard. Kind of a bummer if …
- [2]
Do you remember when Civilization was fun? When you were more likely to be waging war with your ancient empire than balancing a half dozen different game currencies and trying to decide if your Minister of Obscure Trivialities should be Promoted before or after the Minister of Trivial Obscurities? Hexarchy plays like old Civ, but with a deck building/card drawing mechanic for building options and tech development …
- [3]
Hexarchy is an ingenious piece of game design, fusing 4X and deck-building mechanics in a tightly knit package that makes you wonder why no-one else thought of this before. What's more, you can easily finish a whole game in an hour. I find it very hard to schedule multi-session grand strategy games with friends, especially ones who are new to the genre. The short, snappy play sessions make this ideal for introducing …
- [7]
== CON == Graphics make it look like a cheap mobile game. The graphics make a disservice to the quality of the game. == PRO == Game is actually awesome. I'm starting to prefer it over Civ6. - every civ is immediately VERY different - fast and immediate - great for multiplayer with a friend - better "daily/week" challenges tha Civ6, from a quick look. - weekly campaign mode is pretty cool, with special abilities from …
Summarised from 34 of the 220 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Hexarchy talk about fast, short play sessions ideal for quick games; those who didn't talk about lacks a proper single-player campaign. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 223 · most liked firstI picked this up as a "dumbed down version of Civilization" and found it fun enough. It is still my go to strategy game if I only have an hour or so. It's simple enough that I can come back to this even after a long break and not feel like I have to relearn it, and it's engaging enough to be considered a strategy game. Only gripe is how many of the achievements are bound to PvP / leaderboard. Kind of a bummer if you're not competitive.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It simply feels too much like a mobile game with a bunch of forced animations that slow down gameplay without providing anything beneficial.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game should be great. It plays great, it's fun, it's addicitive...except for the fact that there isn't a real single player mode. The most bizarre design choice I have ever seen in a game: No campaign, no challenge tree, no ever increasing difficulty, nothing like that. Just custom matches and a single tiny weekly "campaign" that is more like 4 missions that force you to play 4 different games and end them early. This game gives me the weirdest feeling, I boot it up cause I want to play,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I couldn’t get into this one. The single player feels a bit too shallow, and the mix of 4X and deck building elements doesn’t really work. I’ll give it another try after some updates, but for now, I’d say avoid it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you can get it on sale for like two bucks it's fine for a dozen hours or so, which is how long it takes to win with every faction available. But, Hexarchy is fundamentally flawed in some strange ways that are probably never going to be fixed. One of the most glaring is the way that creating a new game works. You don't get to choose how many players are in a game. Just, roughly how large the map is, and whether you want players to spawn with a couple hexes of breathing room or be stuck…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a weird one. Mechanically it's great with a surprising amount of depth, but there's just not enough content to engage with if you're not interested in MP. There's a skirmish mode with a staggering amount of three different map types (actually it's more like one since I don't see the point in playing on anything besides Pangaea). Apart from that you can configure map size, game length and some additional mechanics, and that's it. Civ design is good, but they honestly don't add THAT much…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Humble] Humble Choice: November 2024. ### Games ### * **Cassette Beasts** * Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator * Hexarchy * KarmaZoo * **Persona 4 Golden** * The Bookwalker * The Lamplighters League * **Warhammer 40,000: Darktide** ### Extras ### * 50% off Humble Store coupon for Lamplighters League - Nocturne * 65% off Humble Store coupon for Imperial Edition Upgrade - Warhammer 40,000: Darktide ### Info ### * Autocharges existing subscribers on Tuesday, 26th November. * Warhammer 40,000…
neutral · AI labelView post →Hexarchy is a "coffee-break" empire-building game with deck-building elements. It’s OK, I guess, but it failed to capture me. It clearly tries to provide a Civilization-style experience in a condensed form, and it mostly works. A lot of the classic elements are there: you look for good land to settle, build improvements and wonders, and create an army to conquer others or develop your empire to dominate economically. The twist comes from the cards. Most actions (aside from unit control) are…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Games are chaos, no diplomacy, bots make random moves. Games just end... No idea what they are trying for. Its not really bad but not very good. Not worth the time to play.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you remember when Civilization was fun? When you were more likely to be waging war with your ancient empire than balancing a half dozen different game currencies and trying to decide if your Minister of Obscure Trivialities should be Promoted before or after the Minister of Trivial Obscurities? Hexarchy plays like old Civ, but with a deck building/card drawing mechanic for building options and tech development that works better than it has a right to. This is a clever game, with simple,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a very simplified Civ game with a deck builder. The deck builder adds a nice spin on the genre. Don't expect a lot of depth compared to actual Civ games. As it says, it's meant for quick games. The simplicity is something that you will like or won't. It's a good game, it's just a question of if it is your type of game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexarchy is an ingenious piece of game design, fusing 4X and deck-building mechanics in a tightly knit package that makes you wonder why no-one else thought of this before. What's more, you can easily finish a whole game in an hour. I find it very hard to schedule multi-session grand strategy games with friends, especially ones who are new to the genre. The short, snappy play sessions make this ideal for introducing newcomers to the genre; there's no tedious, miserable end-game whilst you wait…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexarchy is a civilization like game made for smaller/faster games. We just got a new update with 2 new civilization to play. You can either play solo with different modes of gameplay, daily and weekly challenge or even online with either custom or simple Online games. I totally recommend this game to any of you that like Civilization like games and mostly like to play online! Get this game and come play with us.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has been one of my most pleasant gaming surprises in a decade. It lives up to the developer's promises: quick to learn, yet takes some time to master even one civ among the many, so the play remains fresh with repeated play. The Devs are responsive and courteous. And, they have developed, not simply a good and intuitive-to-play game, but also a well designed community participation format, wherein the several weekly and daily challenges see a good sized player base, not to mention the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Borderline good game. Potential to be a great game. But it's not something I would recommend as is. The game is a hyper-symplistic version of Civ V. A great concept. And for the most part, this does it well. Clean intuitive design. Fun premise with the cards for developing and building. But the two big issues I had with the game is: - the complete absence of diplomacy you are in perpetual war with the other civilizations. There are no allies, no enemies, just war (with an option for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hexarchy is what you'd get if you took Civ Meier's Sidilization V and turned it into an hour long board game, where games take place over just 15-30 turns. There are also daily challenges and weekly campaigns which are pretty neat, where everyone competes on the same seed to try to reach a goal in the least amount of turns/with the most points possible, and a pretty friendly community in the official Discord. Civ/10, would recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good entry points are Civ Revolution (not the 2nd) and Hexarchy. Civ Rev is the console version designed for newcomers. Sane core gameplay, a lot of the complex stuff is stripped out. Hexarchy is a deck builder version. Plays slightly differently and each game is under two hours.
positive · AI labelView post →Tentatively recommend. For me it's a 6/10. Imagine Civ but the game would last only 12 to 19 turns. More polished than Rogue Hex, but doesn't have the replayability unfortunately. Would have been higher score with a campaign but they don't really have one. Daily/weekly challenges were mildly interesting, lack of a real campaign sux though. Gameplay is fun but only to a point. All game mechanics begin to break down after 20 turns especially on larger maps. You'll only win on their victory…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm enthralled by this game. The gameplay is tight and it fills a missing niche of a 4x that can ambitiously be played start to finish in an hour. Since it uses card mechanics it is really familiar to CCG players. I have so much other stuff to do, and I can't put it down. In 50 hours, I have easily won 25 skirmishes and learned the whole system but each civ creates completely new mechanics that the game is infinitely different if you decide to change it up so it has really good replay…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →== CON == Graphics make it look like a cheap mobile game. The graphics make a disservice to the quality of the game. == PRO == Game is actually awesome. I'm starting to prefer it over Civ6. - every civ is immediately VERY different - fast and immediate - great for multiplayer with a friend - better "daily/week" challenges tha Civ6, from a quick look. - weekly campaign mode is pretty cool, with special abilities from points purchased - challenge of the game comes from trying to do better than…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really watered down version of CIV, the deck building is a fun change of pace, but I dislike most of the other mechanics. I feel Hexarchy sacrifices clarity and thoroughness for the faster pace and simplicity that other reviews praise it for.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nice balance, good game Perfect small civilization
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Has a good foundation, but this game needs a lot more polish to be good. Especially in the UI/UX department (which is critical for 4x games). Here are just some of the issues: -Can't look at you're whole deck. Can't even look at your draw pile. It does list out the cards in your deck when you hover over the deck button, but how useful is that? It's just card names and newbies don't know what they do. The only thing you can look at is your discard pile for some reason, but the UI for this is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you like free games? 👀 To celebrate #PAXAus week, I'm doing a game giveaway. To enter, like + comment which game you want most. Bonus entries for RT + tagging a friend! Games: - Hexarchy - McPixel 3 - REMNANT II - Warhammer 40k Darktide Must be following to enter. Good luck gamers! 💜
neutral · AI labelView post →Civ V on speed, but with a deckbuilder mechanic at its heart and no diplomacy. There are a few bugs, some mechanics are far from transparent and the graphics are not particularly appealing. But I'd still recommend it for its gameplay speed and clever deckbuilding mechanic. (At the time of writing the game appears to be getting several updates a year.)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[Steam] Hexarchy ($4.99 / 75% off). Or you could get it as part of the Build your own Fanatical Favorites Bundle (Summer 2025) for $3.00 per game. https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/fanatical-favorites-build-your-own-bundle
neutral · AI labelView post →Hexarchy is a short form 4x/Civilization game which uses deck building to create actions, instead of standard actions per unit/city. This format is targeting shorter games both in length and scope, and the maps are thus also tighter, making it a bit of a knife-fight-in-a-phonebooth. My kid has been enjoying learning some Civ basics from it, and it gives him flexibility to choose map styles and basic opponent playstyles. The deck building limits you but in a way that's interesting in a smaller…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I much disliked the graphical style and the interface.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not a bad game, quite the contrary. My problem with it is that... it's a weird mix. I love strategy games, I played Civ since Civ III and I love card games, so naturally I should LOVE this game? Right? It combines both! And while it does that egregiously, all I'm thinking while playing this game is "man, I wish I was playing Civ right now" or "I wish I was playing [insert any card game here]". All this games does is making me wish I was playing some other game. Which tells me I'm either NOT…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm giving this a good review because I bought this with such a deep discount that I'd feel bad to give a thumbs down. Game honestly lacks polish and balance. There was a campaign level that I would just be randomly invaded by 4 different factions and the game would just end out of nowhere, no matter how i tried to prepare for battle. Maybe i'm missing something but it didn't feel like a game i'd quite recommend at full price at all. 4.5/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Thumbs up, kind of. I like to play against the AI, skirmish, I'm treating this game like a miniature version of Civilization 5. It's moderately basic and very slow per turn. I play on huge maps, normal difficulty, very long length. The huge map is well... big I guess, not as huge as I was picturing but it works. The very long length is super deceptive, it's only until turn 30 or 400 points is reached - which is like 1-2 hours tops. I wish you had more customization over the skirmishes. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you like 4x games Hexarchy is in development that combines deck building like Slay the Spire with Civ. You can currently request to take part in the public playtest on Steam.
neutral · AI labelView post →Nice mix of genres
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Cool concept and it kinda works but has little to no replayability. Buy on sale, or dont.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dominion meets Civ V. The games take an hour to play out rather than dozens. Deck-thinning is the bane of my existence.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Positive vote reflects value with 90% discount. For full price, review probably would be negative. This is "Civ light", like I would imagine Civ on mobile devices. There are no politics, free for all, so feel free to kill any otherrace units that wander close to your borders. Civs themselves are distinct enough for 1-2 playthroughs. But game overall does not offer that much, fun for around 10 hours or so. Some civs are also locked behind your player level, which you raise by winning games…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is honestly a great game for the regular price already, so when it's on sale it's a steal. You also don't have to play PVP to have lots of fun with it. I prefer this over the civ games. It's much faster and the card mechanics are interesting.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In some ways I enjoyed playing this more than civ 5. The games are shorter, it's easier to learn, and managing everything through cards actually really simplifies the controls (there's also less things to manage, admittedly). There is way less content/features and the tech tree doesn't go as far, but if you're looking for shorter, more casual matches that provide the same feeling as civ, this might be for you. That said, I still think the cards are the weakest part of the game. They're bland,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Have you played the game Hexarchy? It’s a card-based 4x game played on a hex grid that I think might give you some ideas about this kind of approach, weirdly, even though they’re in different genres. Also Hexarchy is reeeally good if you enjoy a 4X with a short playtime & satisfying replayable loop.
positive · AI labelView post →An observation for you: A week since Hexarchy launched into November's Humble Choice and out of all our games at full price on Steam, it's one of only two which have sold more than the previous week, and the biggest in terms of week on week increase. store.steampowered.com/app/1356810/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Your tutorial sucks ass. If there even is a tutorial. Maybe I will try again, but who knows. You gave ZERO instruction of what I should be doing. Good job and teaching nothing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The core gameplay loop is good. However, the games end too soon, the game warns that we could experience degrading performance... and we do, the bot turns are a lot longer, and sometimes the game freezes for a few seconds. The game isn't that complicated, there's not a lot happening on screen. @developer, please do better.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ok, but not great.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, especially if you like civ-style games but don't have the time to devote to 30-40 hour campaigns. Civs are reasonably balanced. Definitely one for playing with friends. Games tend to last about 30 minutes.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It a good game, short and sweet, but because it's more of a diet 4x game I'm not really satisfied. I will keep playing it with friends cause it's SO much quicker than any 4x game I play. On my own I feel it's not worth full price what so ever. It NEEDS things other 4x games already have: Modding support (At least for maps), more game edit options in general, more map sizes, & better stability. If you see it's on sale, get it. There is no better 4x game that I can drop in and play a quick one…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So shallow. Just play civilization or another 4X that has actual depth and strategy to it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Pretty decent mix between civ and roguelike cardgames. It's a little light on content and has some rough edges on the UI, but overall it works well. I'd recommend but suggest to pick up on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[🔴LIVE] twitch.tv/breakthrought1d It's a PACKED week of Dev Diaries & Twitch Takeover streams in honor of the GAME OVER, T1D! Steam Sale! 💙 Joining us NOW is John White, Lead Developer of Hexarchy and T1D Dad 💫 Come check out his game, hear about his work, and buy Hexarchy to support T1D research
neutral · AI labelView post →I'll be on twitch.tv/breakthrought1d three times during the sale, chatting with featured devs while we play their games. First up (in 90 mins!) is Hexarchy with developer John White. Then we have Tetris Forever with @kohler.bsky.social on Sunday, and realMyst with @karlj.bsky.social on Tuesday.
neutral · AI labelView post →Store page doesn't make it clear the spawning is exclusively small maps with close spawns, which is a fundamentally different experience than what one expects of a 4X. Even with the non-standard 'founding cities far part' setting the game still takes place nearly directly beside one or more other nations. Fine in a vacuum if that's your thing (it certainly isn't mine, I prefer a choice), but the store page doesn't make this evident in any way, and thus it feels dishonest. Also the game is far…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too fast for me with too little agency. UI hides necessary information. With more refining, game could be good but I feel like potential has been wasted. Cities lack walls, they can be easily overtaken just due to an adventage of enemy who has a turn available. It is much easier to rush for a city than to protect it, it feels helpless. Happiness is unclear, game claims it comes from buildings and luxury goods - but does not explain how exacktly, with the results being unintuitive. Even…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A lovely card-based "civilization clone". I haven't tried multiplayer yet, but even basic skirmishes vs AI are fun and different every time. One full match takes around 15 turns and a bit under 2 hours for me. A little bit hard to pick up, but tutorial helps. There are a few confusing mechanics that take experience to find out. Sadly, map generation is a bit messy. Overall, very enjoyable game to play when you feel like having a short civ-like playthrough.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It took me a few times coming back to this game, but now it's one of my favorites. Simple to learn, but hard to master.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Good Simple and fast 4X. Actions per rounds are limited by your hand. So the scope of your engine building is focused. The card mechanic is fun. The game is a deck builder at its core. For me, I liked it. When you get a great round due to you building your deck, it's a sweet feeling. The Bad Randomness of cards. You are are the mercy of card drafting. Even more by the hand you draw each round. Missing the one-more-turn feel. Due to the speed of the rounds, it doesn't feel empire…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The concept of combing Civilization with deckbuilding is a great idea that works well. My only issue is that I want a more ambitious version of this game. The tech tree is small, the games are short, and the options that would add variability are limited. So while I've had a lot of fun, I wish the game had more replayability. But given the price I paid, I'm satisfied.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game says it has FULL CONTROLLER SUPPORT, but it is a real pain to play with a controller. Obviously controller support was added as an afterthought with minimal effort, and it is absolutely not enjoyable to play this way, very clunky and even basic QoL stuff missing. Shame as this looked really promising and I like the concept/idea.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A quick, light civ game. Note that there is no diplomacy. War is always active with all players. But a civ game you can play in 1/2 hour? That's amazing!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rather mixed - while it has a novel idea of using cards to build your strategy: the great downfall is that the way these cards work together is pretty convoluted and not clearly visible. Let's say it has a steep learning curve - and quite possibly also balance issues down the road. The game could be fun if it was trimmed a bit more into the fun part and cut some weight on the complexity part.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →cheating 'AI'.. I had ONE city at 3, had a scout roam around and the 'northern' neighbour had a 6, 5 and 4 cities! absolute BS!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game could truly only be genuinely enjoyed by somebody who DOES NOT enjoy Civilization, so if you hate Civ, this is the game for you. It would be one thing if it was simply a more "dumbed down" version of civilization, but it's genuinely incredibly boring. I found myself wanting to exit the game throughout the entire tutorial because it doesn't grab you in any way. There is no diplomacy in this game, the main thing you look forward to is stepping onto an enemy city and taking it in one…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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