The Hex ARG: What Lies Beneath the Surface?
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- čas přidán 6. 06. 2024
- The Hex is the awkward middle child of the three Daniel Mullins' games on Steam. It sadly never really garnered the attention it deserved, which is unfortunate because it contains one of the most interesting puzzles I've ever seen in a game, and that's The Hex ARG. And today, I wanted to break down every step of the ARG and dissect all the lore found along the way.
Original Threads for this Hunt:
- The locket...? Thread: steamcommunity.com/app/510420...
- Hunt for the Secret Ending Thread:
steamcommunity.com/app/510420...
My Streaming Channel: / @flembons
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
1:08 The Locket
4:43 A Cipher?
8:41 S@XXXX@R177A
9:30 XXXXXXXXX
13:30 @XXXX$XXX$$@d051
17:07 Decoding the Locket
18:21 Beneath the Surface
19:44 Lionel.exe
23:14 What does it mean?
#thehex #arg - Hry
12:26 Huh, this aged well
Let's goooo
You played right into his hand...
My theory is proven correct yet again
You gotta love him. He knows how to mess with us
It may or may not be a thing
I do find it really weird how The Hex wasn't just less popular than Pony Island and Inscryption, it almost feels like it didn't exist with how few people talk about it, which is a damn shame.
It has a very... different feeling from the other two. It's a hard game to recommend to others.
It’s hard to recommend to people, because the main draw is the genre-jumping between different gameplay styles. So if someone’s not a fan of one gameplay style, they probably won’t like the game.
Plus it’s VERY story heavy and I honestly had no idea what was going on by the end of my first playthrough. It’s still such a unique game, and I’m hoping we’ll see more of the characters in a future game
The name doesn't do it any favors. "The Hex" sounds like a game about witchcraft, not video game metatext. It's easy to gloss over.
i feel like the artstyle also just wasn't very appealing. several factors combining to make an unsuccessful game. The hex is basically just a lore entry in the daniel mullins universe
@@YourHomieJCI feel like that's a bit reductionist. It's definitely a bit rough around the edges, but I feel like it does a lot of things very well.
I feel like the value of the game comes from how it sets up a fairly generic mystery narrative, only for that hook to lead to a story that elaborates on the implied relationship between Satan and his father by creating a cast of characters who all share a grievance with the person who created them, though for a diverse set of reasons.
The whole thing is an exploration of that relationship by showing aspects of why Satan is so aggrieved through the narratives of these characters as they exist under the control of a being completely indifferent to their pain as they're forced into duties that don't suit them, are undervalued, have their contributions shot down, and are ultimately discarded in service of his egotism as he demands more attention and a greater share of the credit than he's reasonably due as the projects he is involved with escalate in scale to become collaborations.
The relationship that Lionel has with his work colleagues is a direct parallel to the way that God and the Angels come into conflict with one another during Genesis - one individual taking sole credit for everything and refusing to delegate decisions to the point of completely alienating the workforce doing the majority of the labour.
There's an implication that the God of this story isn't malicious, but is so far removed from the existence of those under him that his ignorance is able to cause just as much damage.
That subtext wouldn't be there without The Hex and it's by far the most character driven narrative of the series so far, as it's the only time you really see things from the perspective of the characters living within the game, as opposed to a singular player avatar interacting as an external influence, comfortably removed from the situation unless they go out of their way to really delve into the meta narrative.
To be fair though, that's a very difficult thing to get across in a text blurb accompanied by screenshots that look like they belong to a cheap licensed game based on a barely remembered nickelodeon show from the mid 2000s
Sado does show up one more time in Solipsis. If you have a The Hex save file on your PC, after the stairs collapse in you and you gain control again, Sado will appear for a second or 2 and then scurry off. Happened to me on my playthrough of Solipsis and scared me
Oh wow, I never looked too deep into Solipsis, but I looked into it a little and it totally checks if you've played The Hex and shows you Sado if you've played it before. What a cool detail
When Lionel asked Carla to put his message into her game, he mentioned a childhood memory they shared. Sado couldn't have known that. I don't remember her being able to read minds, and it would be dumb if she conveniently gained that ability after she escaped into the real world. Maybe the reason why she was able to tamper with the file was because it was made using Gameworks?
Spoilers:
Honestly The Hex is just a huge tragedy, if Reggie learned about the apology he'd probably have called off the murder plan. None of the characters can really be considered "evil" (except Irving, fuck that guy) they're all just victims of circumstance, or just doing what they were programmed to do. Even Chandrelle who I think is the most morally gray of the cast was at least trying to escape enslavement (I still don't think it justifies her convincing Lazarus to join without telling him the risks though.)
Even then Irving is only doing what he was made to do. He was made to be an absolutely repulsive thing.
Even Lionel is just a guy who had his dreams shattered against the rocks. Anger is a symptom of depression and his complete inability to keep working on Rust’s game despite wanting to says a lot. I mean,the guy’s a jerk but finding success at such a young age only to have something you’re so proud of be sabotaged (at least,in his mind) is gonna mess someone up.
On a lighter note,I love that Reggie says Super Weasel Kid is the only one he trusts. It shows that even though Weasel Kid is the reason Reggie was put away,he doesn’t hold resentment to Weasel Kid because he knows it’s not his fault and that’s very nice
2:42 Oh hey, there I am! Forgot that I commented on that. I knew there was going to be some sort of deeper puzzle in the game, but I wasn't involved much in solving it.
EDIT: As for my theory, it's possible that Carla manipulated the zip file with Sado's code.
its kinda crazy how... insane the arg's and the games themselves have so many secrets that reference each other through the real world
Thank you. THANK YOU for talking about The Hex, not enough people do. I absolutely love the game and I think its ARG is the most interesting out of the 3 games
Man I freaking love the Daniel Mullins games. Can't wait to see whats next
The new one is revealed tomorrow at the game awards!
Panda circus gaming
@@Donchan1 Yeah I just saw the trailer couple minutes ago, thx for letting me know, Webber xd
When I found The Hex (after playing through Inscryption) I was surprised at how little attention it received. This game is easily as - if not more at some times - charming as Inscryption and Pony Island.
My best guess is that the other two games in the series got picked up by popular content creators, while The Hex slipped through the cracks.
Hopefully Pony Island 2 receives the attention it will likely deserve; the announcement for it on The Hex's steam page says that the gameplay will be along similar lines :)
“I’ll see you whenever I upload again” is a very powerful sign off lmao
Happy to have discovered this channel, likely because of watching Flaw Peacock's videos. He covered Pony Island then the entirety of The Hex and is working on Inscryption. Already in this video in the first minutes there's stuff that wasn't in Flaw Peacock's video so I'm looking forward to watching it all and then checking out your other videos. You've got a good voice and everything is well edited. I'm not so interested in your videos from 1+ years ago but everything else since seems up my alley. Curious to see where your channel goes from here. Hope to see more of ya and more stuff beyond Daniel Mullin's work. I think you've got a lot of potential.
lol I’m not a big fan of those old videos either. I didn’t really know what I was doing at the time, but I definitely want to cover more stuff than Daniel Mullins games. It just takes me a bit to find the right games I really want to talk about
@@Flemmonade Many of the greatest channels start exactly as yours has :) Your early videos may not appeal to me and may not be your favourites either but they were how you got into the flow of creating, editing and building a community. It takes time to find the perfect balance between making what you truly want to make and also gaming the algorithm (or more importantly) appealing to the audience you've cultivated. Nearing 15K subs is quite a milestone, congrats! I'll certainly be keeping an eye on your uploads to see where you decide to go next. You have a unique enough feel that I think you could cover things other people have and still bring something new to the table. People enjoy CZcams videos both for the content and the persona/vibe of the creator. Keep it up, just be you and put out the kinda stuff which inspires you most and mix that with a calculated strategy based on what you gather from comments/views/etc to appeal to the kind of people the algorithm is serving your videos to. Take care n best of luck!
Wait, what? Which parts weren’t in his video? O_o
@@Kayta-Linda at the very least, from what I remember, flaw wasn't able to figure out how to get the bubblegum description to change, and didn't know why he was able to get the text to change for the money amount in the contract
LETS GOO when the world needed him most, he was always here
The Hex Arg video is finally real after so long, and now Flembons can finally return to his eternal rest until like, maybe three year until The Hex 2: Dodecagon comes out.
Now keep this in mind for the next game, folks. We’re only 2 days from the trailer!
Oh yeah, I can’t wait to see what’s coming next!
Wait, there's a new game soon?
Edit: I just saw the Game Awards trailer. Super hyped rn
Wait 2 days? Holy crap GTA 6 and now a Daniel Mullins game this is fantastic
@@johnny_baldosa yeah, the LuckyCarder channel used for the arg? It posted a hype trailer for the Game Awards teasing the next game
ANDY SERKIS IS REAL
12:32 Well... it is a thing indeed!
VYAYYYYYYYYYYYYY
I first played The Hex almost 4 years ago. I got it for free and decided it seemed interesting. I knew nothing about the game or Daniel Mullens, and played through it all completely blind.
While I enjoyed the game, what really captured me was the way the game hid its secrets, and where they led.
I have since had a great time going through Pony Island and Inscyption, trying my best to follow the ARGs as far as I can myself. I am very excited for Pony Island 2, and cant wait to lost in its secrets
Also, great video, very clear, yet still entertaining with top-notch editing! Looking forward to what you do next ❤
Amazing video. I never quite knew the depths of the ARGs in these games until I found you channel with the Inscryption video. You always present things in a fun and easy to understand way. As well as showing secrets that I haven't seen before. Unfortunately I don't have any ARG's to suggest but I know whatever you decide to do next will be worth watching just the same as this!
15:13 "There I am, Gary, there I am!" (Not in the video itself, of course, but I remember noticing the changed contract when the cipher file was introduced and bringing it up in the original thread. Felt pretty damn proud of myself for that at the time lol)
Man, looking back on this whole thing feels so surreal. Working together with everyone else, trying to dig up as much info as possible, and even uncovering a piece of the puzzle (even if it ultimately turned out that my interpretation of what it meant at the time was wildly off-base)... there's really nothing quite like it. I'm honestly kicking myself for so thoroughly missing the boat on all the Inscryption insanity, that whole thing sounded absolutely wild! Although, what with Panda Circus now finally on the horizon, perhaps the next opportunity is closer than we think...
Anyways, excellent work on this, as usual! Been keeping an eye out for this one for some time, so I'm glad to see it at last! Looking forward to whatever may come next!
Man, Mullins is a modern genius, a real visionary of this art form. And you are his greatest apostle by far - I love your summaries and analyses, so concise and interesting!
How people figure these things out is beyond me, this fanbase is crazy
How did they find Carla's game to begin with
As always, very well done summary video on the ARGs behind the Daniel Mullins games. I have watched all the ones you have made on these games and they are always very entertaining watches. Thanks!
I wish this game got more popular, it was fun to play through. I took a shot at solving the ARG when I played, and while I did need a couple hints from friends, I was able to solve it mostly by myself. Quite a fun challenge, felt pretty rewarding solving it
I’m glad you came back to finish this video, the few other hex arg videos aren’t the same as yours
Thank you for finishing the vid, looked forward to it, enjoyed it
Flem ive been waiting for this video since you originally mentioned you would be making one on the topic, im so excited LOL thank you!
Oh neat! I've really been digging Daniel Mullins' games lately, I know bits and pieces about this ARG from just poking around but having a clear and concise video covering it is very much appreciated.
YEEEEEESSSS
LET’S GO, I was waiting for this for a while man, love your Daniel Mullen’s videos, especially Inscryption content
Thank You a lot. I've been waitning years for this video, or one like this.
Great timing... both in terms of Pony Island 2's release and in terms of me having finally played Hex, as one of the numerous games on my backlog. AND after having played Inscryption. Very nice video; thank you for compiling the secrets!
So excited to see a new upload from you!! 🎉
Men, this game deserves more attention.
i bought The Hex last night just so i'd understand the video (completed it 35 minutes ago)
8 hours straight, no sleep, let's gooooo!
I like how the end result of all this looking shows a side to Lionel we don’t really get to see all that often. Inbetween his arrogance and spite there’s still a good helping of remorse when it comes to getting rid of the game that doubled as a tribute.
I don't like it when people say "Beneath the Surface" because it implies that the underground layers are hidden. Daniel Mullins purposefully creates a crater for you to jump into. To get a better look at what's truly hidden, you gotta jump.
YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I HAD BEEN WAITING
Dude I came on stream 3 months ago and asked for this, and man it was worth the wait
It's been 2 years since you've mentioned making the Hex ARG, where does the time go?
I'm also curious to see how Mullins would tie in things like Sado and Gamefuna (as well as stuff from the other games) for future games, can't wait!
well Inscryption has a mysterious developr named Kaycee who made a MOD for INscryption and added a HARDOCORE mode
Hot damn, glad to see this update! Man ARGs are wild.
Thanks for the video 👋
Oh sweet! I’ve been waiting forever for this!
finally you cover this game!
Excited for tonight! Inscryption and The Hex were two of the best games I played this year, can't wait to see what's next in The Game Awards!
Oh my god, a Flemmonade video in the year of our lord 2023
THE PANDA CIRCUS!!
THE PANDA CIRCUS IS REAL!!
It's hilarious this came out now since I personally just got involved with the Daniel Mullins games and ARGs and stuff lol Anyways great video I had no idea about most of this ARG
Yo, another great video my man! I do wanna try that Reggi guy's root beer now
The Hex is my favorite Mullins game so far because of the characters, setting, story, and satire.
I mean, the Sonic the Hedgehog parody sees its quality dip over time and the Fallout parody releases in a buggy broken mess that needs to be fixed with mods, it’s absolutely hilarious.
great video! I was familiar with the lionel.exe story but never seen a video cover how the ARG was solved.
amazing video! damn this mullinverse is crazy 🤯🤯
Thanks for making a vid on it, The Hex is so underrated
THANK U SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO. I REALLY LOVE YOU.
Thank you for making a video on one of my favorite video games of all time and possible the most underrated video game ever
The missing piece of the inscryption story
I love dan mullins and was heavily involved in the Pony Island ARG, and both pony island and inscryption were wonderful masterpieces. By no means is the hex a bad game - it's interesting, micro-dives into a bunch of genres are fun but it never takes you to the same places his other games have, so I appreciate this video existing
It’s definitely a very different game. The story’s really interesting, but it really tries to tell too much all at once so it’s kinda overwhelming. I still wish more people would give it a shot though.
True
Big if true
Humongous if true
You're really good in storytelling :)
This is more hype than the GTA 6 trailer
If you want a full breakdown of the story before watching, check out Flaw Peacock and thier analysis it’s totes worth it
I loved Flaw Peacock's video on it!
@@Flemmonade he was very thorough about the story bits but your vid went over the arg in a more concise way easier to follow and more info on how to access it
12:28 ironic isn't it. A inside joke that we thought it was a joke but got revealed not to long ago
My man wizarro spittin facts 8:30
Wish the remaining Daniel Mullin's games came to PlayStation, I loved inscryption and loved your videos about the ARG and secrets, wont watch this video yet, in case it has spoilers and I bring myself to play The Hex on PC, still wanted to show the support and play the video on the background! haha
HECK YEA FINALLY THANK YOU!
There's actually another place Sado appears that you don't mention.
Spoilers for Inscription.
She's the person who shoots Luke at the very end of the game.
As Luke opens the door, *JUST* before the gunshot, You can the woman's face covered with censor bars. However, For a single frame, *RIGHT* as the gunshot sounds, Sado's face overlaps hers.
czcams.com/video/cQ3peEOenfI/video.htmlsi=WPh47R6Ogyg4wygG&t=1780 Pause when you hear the hammer click, The use ,&. to go frame by frame.
There is something super odd i havent sern brought up in any arg vids, in the wasteland sections there are numbers on the map, they feel too deliberate to be just nothing, i think Pony Island aldo had a similar arg or secret related number or code in the map
I think its funny the "joke name" is ACTUALLY the name of the next DM game trailer for the game awards. lmao gg
I’ve waited so long yesssss
Just learned the next game's trailer will play at the Game Awards. Super hyped rn
The reason why it didn't get same attention as the others, because another release same month was DELTARUNE CHAPTER FEAKING ONE
ay, finally
Edit: great video! Even I didn't know some of those things!
I'm really excited for Pony Island 2 to give us 1 answer and 40 more questions :)
THE HEX ARG
THE HEX ARG IS REEEEAAAAALLLL!!!!
if your looking for more args to dissect you could do one about the binding of isaac keeper arg its really interesting and led to a whole new character getting added to the game
I’ve always wanted to. I’m a big fan of Binding of Isaac and I remember following that years ago
@@Flemmonade sweet
Hey, are you planning to make videos on other games’ arg’s? The new game animal well has an arg and I would love to see it covered!
Yeah! I tend to cover stuff when it catches my eye and I've been loving Animal Well at the moment! I'm still going through my first playthrough though, but once I get to look into the ARG, I'd love to see if I could make a video talking about it
@@FlemmonadeAmazing! After getting the first ending and playing for another 5 hours or so I realized this game was a bit too cryptic for me, so it’s great to have someone who understands all of it to share what is actually happening!
i fucking love these videos
thank you
hell yeah, new flemmonade video
i cant wait for your videos once pony island 2 comes out :D youre the best :DDDDDD
Me coming to this video after Pony Island 2 was announced 😂
Have you scrubbed dan's recent games? he seems to be sowing seeds for us to reap later. also glad you worked on yourself rather than burning yourself down
AT LONG LAST
I want to call that in the reginald portrait there is an old man with mushrooms, something with the mycologist? Idk if this was covered or explained before, im just curious
FINALLY
8:20 NOOOO NOT AGAIN!!!
By any chance will you be covering the DMG community ARG that happened in the server, and teased the reveal of the "new game" that was to be revealed during th game awards (what we now know to be pony island 2)?
I was about to reasure you for taking your time for this video, and when I tried to argument it, it occured to me that I knew the fishing game but not the locket in hex which is kinda strange... but I'll just believe that was from another video... I guess
I honestly always thought The hex was just as good as Inscription, it always felt bad to think it wasn't as popular as the other games. Beneath the Surface having the Old disk might've helped a bit but I dont think so.
New Flemmonade video? (Sorry for missing the streams)
23:11 jumpscare
23:51 jumpscare
24:21 jumpscare
the hex mentioned WOOOOO
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the rather major Sado appearance in Inscryption, especially as it relates to what this video covers.
I mentioned how she escaped into the real world, but I probably could’ve elaborated a little more on how that’s connected to Inscryption
i wold like to see you cover the ARG of "Geometry Dash" that goes when they announced 2.1
FINALLYYYYY
hermosos videos hacés
huh panda circus is a thing now
Finally
Is that the mycologists in the reggie portrait?
Bro, they look so alike! But apparently, he is supposed to be a groomba (the mushroom enemies in the game), but Lionel shut off his PC while gameworks was saving, which corrupted the character into what we see today.
Edit: this is mentioned in one of the radios behind the soda machines
Lionel wants this.
I can't get the cipher to work I have no idea why
If on Windows 11, make sure in file explorer you enable "view file extension". Otherwise, you are just renaming the text file into "cipher.cipher. *txt* " instead of changing the extension into "cipher. *cipher* ".
I feel like this ARG isn't done yet. The apology doesn't feel.. final. Considering we see Sado in Solipsis, there could be more to this that hasn't besn done yet.
But for all I know this could be done and I'm just being weird like usual
One final mystery, perhaps?
This aged well.
I never knew the Walk person had a "name"
I think the name FPP is only referred to in the game files, but it’s what the community ended up calling him