Hex Heroes: Nintendo Switch version confirmed, details on content available at launch, more

Just before the Nintendo Switch Presentation 2017, the developers at Prismatic Games teased a Nintendo Switch announcement for the following week. That was back in January, and we haven’t heard anything about that… until yesterday, that is. The good news is: yes, Hex Heroes is indeed coming to the Nintendo Switch.

The bad news is: it’s not going to happen any time soon. In the latest Kickstarter update for the game, the developers explain that the Nintendo Switch reveal raised more questions for them than it answered. What’s more, they do not even have a devkit yet, so there’s not much they could do at the moment. Even meeting Nintendo at the Game Developers Conference, earlier this month, didn’t allow them to learn how to get one.

Fortunately for them, Nintendo’s policy of not accepting straight ports within the first 6 months isn’t really an issue: Hex Heroes on Nintendo Switch will require some design changes, so it would not be a straight port anyway. They believe that Nintendo will be more talkative once they have a Nintendo Switch to pitch to them.

Regarding the Wii U version of Hex Heroes (which hasn’t been cancelled!), the developers are planning to begin the certification process within a few weeks. To meet that deadline, they’re planning on cutting back on some content, that will be added to the game after launch, for fre.

At launch, the following classes will be available:

• Knight
• Worker
• Rogue
• Scout
• Mage

More complex classes, such as the Seraph, Necromancer, and Elementalist, will be added at a later date, one at a time. There will also be less worlds at launch: only 3 (with the remaining 2 coming later, also for free).

Here’s what the developers had to say about this release schedule:

Think of HH on Wii U like a work in progress as we implement polish and balancing while we prepare Hex Heroes for Switch. With the various classes, monsters, and ways to play, there’s a considerable amount to fine tune. We also want to simultaneously launch HH on Steam through their Early Access program. This would further enforce the idea that the game is being tweaked and balanced and updated frequently. (And to our beta backers, we’ll still get a build out to you before we release on Wii U and Steam)

This method of launch will ensure the Switch will see the most polished version with all past updates and even some exclusive content to make it more than just a direct port! We’ve heard your concerns about how some of you have since sold/traded in your Wii U’s and we’re looking into an upgrade program – either allowing users to directly change their Wii U backer key to a Switch one, or by offering a discount for the Switch version if the Wii U one is owned. That decision rests with Nintendo.

In the next update for the game, the developers will share even more gameplay footage.

Finally, a quick note about the Nintendo Switch version, it looks like it could get a special mode that would allow players to enjoy the asymetric that’s central to the original vision for the game. Naturally, it would require multiple consoles. However, it doesn’t look like anything is quite confirmed just yet:

Asymmetric gameplay is really only possible with multiple Switch consoles. We don’t want to force anyone to have multiple consoles in order to play Hex Heroes, so we’ll have a mode that supports just one Switch and another that supports many. That’s about all we can say until we actually get the dev kit and start figuring out what’s possible.

Hex Heroes (Wii U – eShop) will be released later this year, and is also coming to the Nintendo Switch. The Upcoming Releases page has been updated!