Minimalist psychedelic rhythm game Super Hexagon is whirling towards its 10th anniversary, so you wouldn’t begrudge its developer Terry Cavanagh if he’d shelved it by now and said “that’s that” (especially as he has the far more recent Dicey Dungeons (opens in new tab) to maintain). But Super Hexagon lives on, as the developer announced that it’s now been verified for Steam Deck, and has received a major engine update that should make an already great game that bit better.
The ‘Neo Update’ (opens in new tab) (spotted by Gaming on Linux (opens in new tab)) is a complete rewrite of the system-level game code. Super Hexagon now uses SDL (which makes the game window resizeable and offers full controller support), the audio engine has been replaced, and graphics rendering has been overhauled to offer proper scaling up to 4K. With Super Hexagon’s visual relying on clean straight lines and sharp angles as you shift your little triangle between the fast-spinning walls, it’s nice that you can now blow it up for the big screen without things getting all jaggy.
The update also initially promised “smoother framerates,” though when users started reporting that it was still limited to 60FPS, the devs owned their mistake and said that higher framerates will arrive in a future ‘Part 2’ update. The mobile version of the game already supports higher framerates, as well as some other features, and the ultimate goal is to merge all the desktop and mobile versions into one final super Super Hexagon.
Cavanagh says that there’s no deadline for Neo Update Part 2 to be complete, but what’s a few years to a game that’s been around since the early days of the indie game revolution? In the meantime, with modern conveniences like high resolutions and proper controller support, you can kick back with Super Hexagon on a big TV and get pulled into its mesmerising vortex of geometry and electronic music like never before.
Super Hexagon is silly-cheap, and you can grab it on Steam (opens in new tab) and GOG (opens in new tab).