Vex
- Genre Skill games
- Players 1
- Session 5 min
- Price Free
- Updated
Before the sequels added water, saws and ten act campaigns, there was this one. Vex came out in 2013 from Amazing Adam, and the formula is already all here: a black stick figure, a world of grey diamond wallpaper and dark slabs, and red spikes that end a run on contact. The menu offers Play Game, Stage Builder and Options, and Play Game does not drop you into a level list. It puts you straight into The Tutorial, where text painted on the platforms tells you to move with W A S D or the arrow keys and warns that spikes will kill you. The first gap is a jump over a bed of spikes onto a ledge with more of them sticking out of the wall ahead, so the lesson comes quickly. The corner of the screen counts your deaths, a clock runs at top right, and a Too Hard? tab sits at the top centre. Pressing Q leaves the act and takes you to the Level Hub, a walkable room where acts are blocks you run up to, with a red block to return to the menu, the Tutorial block and locked acts further along. This build was rehosted by Yepi, whose logo appears on the menu and in the corner of the play screen.
| Arrow keys or W A S D | Run and jump |
|---|---|
| R | Reset the act |
| Q | Quit the act and go back to the Level Hub |
| L | Jump back to the last checkpoint |
| M | Mute the music |
How to play Vex
- Press the big Play button on the yellow splash screen, wait through the Amazing Adam intro and choose Play Game.
- Click once inside the game so the stick figure answers the keys.
- Work through The Tutorial: run right, jump the spike beds and land on the slabs. Touching a spike sends you back and adds a death to the counter.
- The act blocks to the right of the Tutorial block in the Level Hub start out locked, so the tutorial is the place to begin.
- Walk into an act's block in the hub to start it. Use R, Q or L whenever a run goes wrong.
Tips
- Jump late. Taking off at the very edge of a slab gives the longest arc over a spike bed.
- Watch for spikes on vertical walls, not only on floors. The tutorial puts a row on the side of a block right after the first landing.
- L is faster than dying when you know a section is already lost.
- The death counter is just a number. Spending a dozen tries on one jump is normal for this series.
Questions about Vex
Is this the same as Vex 3?
No. This is the first game. It has the same stick figure and spikes, but a smaller, plainer world with a walkable Level Hub instead of the later act map.
Why is there a Yepi logo?
This copy of the game is the version rehosted by the Yepi portal, so its splash screen and logo are baked into the file.
Can I make my own level?
The main menu has a Stage Builder option alongside Play Game and Options.
Does it work on a phone?
No. Vex needs a keyboard for running and jumping, so play it on a computer.
