I think that just twelve seconds is as long as I’m actually able to survive at Terry Cavanagh’s Super Hexagon. The game, with its deep color and throbbing chiptune soundtrack (did you preorder your Hexagon vinyl?) is meant to be difficult; it creates intensity out of simplicity.
Kai Clavier has reimagined Super Hexagon as a blinky old Game & Watch title. I love this demake, mostly because by its nature it cannot go too fast for me. Now, I can last for at least 14 seconds~!!! Sometimes recontextualizing popular modern games using the look and feel of old tech offers something beyond amusing juxtaposition. Demakes can be lenses through which we can see the pure core of a thing.
Kai Clavier is also the creator of Hotel Paradise, a surreal maze that pays tribute to the common nihilistic wander in search of your hotel room. These games are free, but the developer accepts donations.
News of the Super Hexagon demake comes from Offworld’s friend Forest Ambassador; you can hear me chat with Forest Ambassador’s Merritt Kopas on