I thought about this scene a lot as I played through John Wick Hex, the first licensed game in the series, because it exemplifies a lot of what John Wick Hex is. Hex probably isn’t what you’d expect from a John Wick game. Rather than being a traditional action game, this is a tactical title. You control John from above, guiding him through a series of grid-based levels. The objective of each level is simple: get to the exit, or kill a specific target, which appears as a unique boss enemy.

"The story is told through voice overs during missions and comic book style cutscenes, as Hex relates Wick’s progress to his prisoners. The writing is surprisingly good, as is the voice acting."

The setup goes like this: several years before John meets his wife and tries to get out of the murder-for-hire business, a gangster named Hex has kidnapped Winston and Chabon – John’s old friends from the Continental Hotel – as an act of revenge against the High Table, the ruling authority in the John Wick underworld. He believes this show of strength will win him power, and possibly a seat at the Table itself. The High Table, however, is having none of it, and dispatches Wick to find Hex, dismantle his criminal network, and take him down.

The story is told through voice overs during missions and comic book style cutscenes, as Hex relates Wick’s progress to his prisoners. The writing is surprisingly good, as is the voice acting. Both Ian McShane (Winston) and Lance Reddick (Chabon) return to voice their characters, while Troy Baker admirably handles Hex. Keanu Reeves isn’t present, however, leaving John silent, but since the narrative conceit is that Hex is telling the story, it works pretty well. Overall, it’s a pretty good plot, and listening to the characters banter is enjoyable.

The game’s visual and sound design deserve praise as well. The flat, stylized look of a comic book is a perfect fit for a game like this. John’s face is set in a perpetual scowl, and the enemy types are easily identifiable. The variety in locations helps out a lot, too. John’s journey takes him from dimly lit back alleys to thumping, neon nightclubs, with a few stops at seedy docks, minimalist art galleries, and even snowy mountains along the way. Austin Wintory provides a strong score that sets the tone for each area, and the different locations help everything feel unique, even though the areas largely play the same.

"Actions take a certain amount of time, which is tracked on a timeline at the top of a screen. Every time you finish an action or spot a new enemy, time stops, allowing you to consider your next move."

What will hook you is the gameplay. The game is tactical, but it isn’t turn-based. Instead, actions take a certain amount of time, which is tracked on a timeline at the top of a screen. Every time you finish an action or spot a new enemy, time stops, allowing you to consider your next move. Most moves take a fraction of a second, but planning can take significantly longer. The timeline shows how long the actions you can take compare to what each visible enemy is doing. Picking the right action is crucial. Take too long, and an enemy will be able to interrupt whatever you were trying to do, opening you up to even more damage.

Making the right decision comes down to learning your options. A parry, for instance, is very quick, and will usually beat most enemy strikes, but you have to be next to the enemy in question. Strikes do damage, but they take longer. Crouching can make an enemy miss a shot but limits your movement. Sometimes it’s best to just hide behind cover. You can also push enemies away from you, or perform a takedown which kills most enemies instantly and allows you to change position. Sometimes, though, the smartest thing to do is find a good spot and wait, allowing you to take out an unsuspecting enemy before they even know you’re there.

Your guns come into play, too. There’s a good variety, including semi-automatic pistols, revolvers, SMGs, shotguns, and assault rifles, though some are all but useless. Revolvers and shotguns take a long time to fire, leaving you open to getting hit even if you tell John to fire before the enemy does. Others, like the SMG, fire quickly and do a lot of damage, but fire several times, which often means you’ll be wasting ammo firing at an enemy that’s already dead. I found the standard semi-automatic pistols best for almost every situation, but stronger guns are undeniably useful against tougher targets. Managing your ammo is key because spare clips are scarce, so you’ll be picking up the guns of the dead as you progress. You always have the option to throw your weapon, an absurdly quick ability that stuns enemies, but unless you’re going to quickly finish them off with a nearby weapon or John’s fists, it’s best left for a last resort.

"The system encourages you to mix things up between guns and melee, which is a good thing. It’s also necessary for bosses, who can’t be damaged by physical strikes and have high focus. "

You’ll also have to manage John’s focus, which allows him to use advanced abilities like takedowns, dodges, and roll when crouched. Replenishing it is easy – you push a button and John shakes his head like he’s trying to sober up – but it takes more than two seconds. In Hex, that’s an eternity, so you’ll want to be careful about when you do it. Most enemies have focus as well. Someone with a lot of it will be harder to hit from range, at least until you go in and soften them up with your fists. The system encourages you to mix things up between guns and melee, which is a good thing. It’s also necessary for bosses, who can’t be damaged by physical strikes and have high focus. Beating them means beating them up first, so while the initial stages of the fight are challenging as you try to get in range, they’re stupidly easy once you take away all of their focus.

Combining all of these abilities makes for some seriously fun engagements, especially against large groups, and John Wick Hex walks the fine line between making sure you feel powerful – John is more powerful than any given enemy that’s not a boss, and they’re merely his equal – and vulnerable at the same time. Yeah, John’s the boogeyman, and there’s a reason everyone in this story is afraid of him, but he’s also just a guy, and a few bullets will kill him just as fast as anyone else. When you’re playing well, you feel unstoppable, killing one enemy with strikes before parrying another, using a takedown to put yourself out of the line of fire of a third, throwing your gun at a fourth to interrupt his shot, and then picking up a nearby pistol to put him down while he’s stunned. It’s a ballet of bullets and death, and it feels best when you’re executing it flawlessly, pirouetting from one enemy to the next in an unstoppable, relentless advance.

But it’s not all tactics. There’s strategy, too. At the beginning of each chapter – a sequence of levels built around an area like the docks, back alleys, or art gallery – you can spend Continental coins to gain passive bonuses and stash bandages or weapons in a specific level. These coins don’t carry over between chapters, so you should spend them all. You’ll always want to snag the most powerful bonuses – more health, greater chance to evade while moving, reduced Focus cost, better accuracy, etc – but it’s worth stashing some bandages and weapons, too. Things become more expensive to stash in later levels, and you carry what you have between them, so there’s no reason not to stock up early.

"Sometimes it means you’ll enter an area with a poor gun (like a revolver), little health, and no bandages. In these scenarios, you’ll have to play flawlessly to advance, which can be a little frustrating."

This can be a double-edged sword, however. Sometimes it means you’ll enter an area with a poor gun (like a revolver), little health, and no bandages. In these scenarios, you’ll have to play flawlessly to advance, which can be a little frustrating. Dying sends you back to the beginning of the level with whatever you had at the time. Enemies are spawned a little differently each time, so you can’t just autopilot your way back to problem areas. This helps keep the game engaging when you die, so it’s not all bad, but it can be irritating when a single mistake can reset all of your progress, which is often the case in later levels. That said, you can get around this by learning to restart whenever you take unnecessary damage, and Hex almost never feels unfair. Whenever I died, I knew why, and had a better idea of what to do next time.

When you finish a level, you can watch a replay of what you did in real-time. It’s a neat system, but it also puts a spotlight on Hex’s greatest flaw: the animations. They’re stiff and repetitive (there are like two versions of the strike animation, so you’ll see them a lot by the time the credits roll), and the sound effects don’t always line up perfectly with the animations they support.

The latter issue also crops up with the game’s subtitles, which appear after a character has finished speaking, causing an odd sense of deja-vu. These issues are less noticeable as you’re playing because of the game’s pause and play nature, but they become very, very obvious as John moves woodenly from square to square during replays. Replays are optional, and it would be silly to expect a video game to match the smooth, impressive choreography of a John Wick film, but it feels like they didn’t even try here. These technical shortcomings extended to stability issues, too, and the game crashed on me twice during my playthrough.

"John Wick Hex is a solid adaptation of the source material, even if the animation systems can’t always cash the checks the gameplay writes and it sometimes feels a bit unpolished."

John Wick Hex isn’t a long game. Individual levels take mere minutes if you play them well, and I’d estimate most players will finish it in 8-10 hours. There is some replay value here in completing challenges and earning higher ratings or “names” by beating a par time, not using bandages, varying your weapon use, etc, and there’s an “expedited” mode that only gives you five seconds to take an action. Fail to do so, and the enemy gets to move while you wait. I don’t think it will cause most players any difficulty – you take turns pretty fast as it is – but it’s there if you want it.

All told, John Wick Hex is a solid adaptation of the source material, even if the animation systems can’t always cash the checks the gameplay writes and it sometimes feels a bit unpolished. It’s not a great game, but it is a good one, and one well worth checking out if you’re into the films or tactical games. Just remember: plan well, and don’t be afraid to spend some money before you head off on your mission. The tasting is more than worth it. Trust me.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

The mind behind Thomas Was Alone and Subsurface Circular, Mike Bithell, has announced, and immediately released his next project. The follow up to Subsurface Circular, known as Quarantine Circular.

Much like its predecessor, Quarantine Circular is a text adventure title with a science fiction setting. The game only has a run time of a couple of hours, and it pretty cheap for it (costs £4.79), but this time the game includes multiple endings and active characters to change up each run, which could turn the short runtime into something a bit longer should players explore their options.

While the runtime might sound like a turnoff to some, Bithell is adamant that there’s a place for shorter games on Steam thanks to feedback he’s seem from Subsurface Circular, where gamers reached out to him to express their joy there was a game they could digest quickly. The title remains at 95% recommended on Steam and with a very low return rate.

GamingBolt had a chance to speak to Bithell about the game, it’s story and setting, and even managed to find out a few details regarding its release on PS4 and PS Vita.

Ravi Sinha: How did you make the transition from a platformer like Thomas Was Alone to this arcade, stealth adventure game which you’ve described as a combination of Metal Gear Solid meets LEGO?

Mike Bithell: The thing was for me, there really were two games that I was designing. One was a story based indie platformer, the other was the stealth game since I was 13. And basically, I had to make the decision about which game I could do first and it just would’ve seemed much simpler in terms of the characters, in terms of the code and the art, everything really.  It was more of a process. This was me training myself.

Ravi Sinha: Volume is about stealth but there’s also this strong emphasis on making and editing your own levels in the game. How exactly do you go about creating and sharing your levels and having them rated by the community?

Mike Bithell: Yes, we have the toy box and toy set for people who don’t even like stealth games, and it’s quite the fun thing creating stuff. The basic process of building is…it’s kind of…like LEGO. I’m massive LEGO geek. So essentially you have this environment which is like 31×31 square grid.

"You play as Robin Locksley, who is a young thief who basically discovers a training system which is actually for guards and military folks and decides to use it to simulate some crimes and look to rob the richest people in the country."

Ravi Sinha: Is there anything that you can tell us about Volume’s story or the world it’s taking place in?

Mike Bithell: So the story is Robin Hood basically. I loved the traditional stories of his character. It was only latter generations that decided to place the story and context. I kind of want to do a near future kind of retelling of the Robin Hood legend. You play as Robin Locksley, who is a young thief who basically discovers a training system which is actually for guards and military folks and decides to use it to simulate some crimes and look to rob the richest people in the country. He doesn’t go off and do that himself, what he essentially does is Let’s Plays. He streams online, he shows the world how to do it and becomes an internet celebrity which is basically the idea of the game. It’s a cool story.

Ravi Sinha: We’ve heard that you might have some plans for co-op. Will we see Robin Hood’s band of Merry Men make an appearance?

Mike Bithell: We’ll be playing with some stuff, like where the Merry Men come from and who they are and kind of sowing some seeds and hope people like it.

Ravi Sinha: You can use sound in the game to distract guards and sneak past them. We know that you’ll be able to create your own ripples and remix but is there any function that sound can play?

Mike Bithell: Right now, it’s used as a distraction system. We’re going to play with some of the stuff, there’s lots of gadgets and what you can do with those types of things. Some of those sounds…one thing sound can also do is also deafen. One sound can also overcome other sounds so if you want to temporarily not be heard, you can make a really loud sound which doesn’t distract guards but deafens them for a period of time. Some type of audio only stuns them. It’s audio based and it’s visual based as well with abilities like invisibility and disguises, those kind of things. At this stage, we’re just experimenting, and trying to throw as much stuff into the game, seeing what’s fun, what’s not fun.

"I was really terrified I’d steal something (laughs). I haven’t played Monaco or Gunpoint yet despite being very excited about both of them. It’s too much constant contamination so don’t want to rip them off. I probably will later."

Ravi Sinha: Did any games like Monaco or Gunpoint serve as inspiration or as a guide for the stealth mechanics?

Mike Bithell: I was really terrified I’d steal something (laughs). I haven’t played Monaco or Gunpoint yet despite being very excited about both of them.  It’s too much constant contamination so don’t want to rip them off.  I probably will later.

Ravi Sinha: Volume is going to be timed exclusive for the PS4 and PS Vita, and it’ll also be available for the PC and Mac later. With Microsoft’s indie policy being more open in the past few months – with self-publishing and allowing just about anyone to develop for their console – will this change influence Volume coming to the Xbox One at any point in the future.

Mike Bithell: I’d never say never. Basically, I picked a few platforms to start with and if the game is successful and people like it and it feels like there are consumers on the other platforms, I’ll explore it then. But for now, we have no plans for Volume on other platforms.

Ravi Sinha: Have you had any exposure to the Xbox One in the past few months?

Mike Bithell: I’ve tried the Xbox One. I’ve chatted with Microsoft, they’re very good guys but…I haven’t got my hands on an Xbox One yet.

"Concerning the touchpad, I’m sure we’ll do something with it andnot using it just because it’s there. Like Thomas on the Vita, we tried to do a lot of stuff to take advantage of things like the back touchscreen because it would be different. It’s nice, because Sony don’t force me to use all this stuff because it’s there."

Ravi Sinha: When you go about making a game – taking Thomas Was Alone, which started as a Flash game that made its way to the Vita and PS3, and with Volume that is targeted as the PS4 and Vita  – do you go in that direction that you’re going to create the game to fit the console or that you’re going to create what you want and see how the console caters to it?

Mike Bithell: Yeah, I’m always going to make the game I want to make. The Xbox One and PS4 are functioning very similar so there’s no real differences. For me, actually interestingly for a stealth game, it’s been very interesting as I’ve developed to a point just how suited and comfortable it feels on a game controller or on the keyboard perhaps. It’s actually been a struggle to get the game to feel good on the mouse and keyboard.

Ravi Sinha: Speaking about the PS4 alone, what are your thoughts on the unified architecture and the new features offered on the DualShock 4 touchpad and Remote Play with the Vita?

Mike Bithell: The hardware itself I don’t get my hands on. I will say the controller is fantastic. Just far better than I expected. Concerning the touchpad, I’m sure we’ll do something with it andnot using it just because it’s there. Like Thomas on the Vita, we tried to do a lot of stuff to take advantage of things like the back touchscreen because it would be different. It’s nice, because Sony don’t force me to use all this stuff because it’s there. But if something comes up and feels right for these things,  such as with the touchpad…we will discover things for sure but I’m not going to force them.

Ravi Sinha: As for the PS Vita, Sony has given a very big focus to it at E3 and Gamescom but the sales haven’t exactly translated well. There haven’t been many AAA games released but there has been a big push for indies. Do you think it would elevate the system since it was designed to run PS3 level games, to go from being a scaled down PS3 to the place you play indie games?

Mike Bithell: I think it’s a very cool time for Sony. It’s the way my relationship with them started with Thomas Was Alone. I think it serves a lot of very useful processes. One is obviously indie games which are already cheap for content to get what you want. I think more importantly it’s built on these relationships, so yes, Thomas Was Alone on the Vita didn’t push the hardware to any degree. It was not a PS3 graphics game. Volume’s getting closer. We’re building these relationships with indies on earlier projects. Visually, there’s a jump up which is great to witness from Thomas Was Alone to Volume. So I think it’s a long-term investment.

"Games feel better at 60 FPS so I’m going to do everything I can to hit that."

Ravi Sinha: Are you aiming for 60 FPS/1080p resolution for the PS4 version of Volume?

Mike Bithell: Honestly, I’m going to aim for 60 frames per second and 1080p. I’m actually developing the game on a four year old laptop. So I think and I’m pretty confident that we can hit that. Games feel better at 60 FPS so I’m going to do everything I can to hit that.

Ravi Sinha: What are your thoughts on the recently announced SteamOS, Steam Machines and Steam Controller from Valve?

Mike Bithell: I’m interested. I’m very interested. The controller itself is fascinating and the idea of touchpad thumb sticks is intriguing. In terms of as a business strategy, I think it’s going to be an interesting one to watch. Valve is very clever. I think  they  won’t just jump the gun and try something. Valve have the constitution and they’re willing to do it so I’m quietly confident and excited.