Most mysteries are solved by deduction and investigation. An inquisitive mind and an eye for detail combined with the ability to create ideas and throw them out when they don’t work generally lead to a correct solution, whether that be something as convoluted as a murder or mundane like finding a misplaced item. Uncovering the mysteries of an unfamiliar land usually need the same skills, except in the case of Vexlands where what’s really going to work is cold hard cash. The hexagonal tiles of the Vexlands are completely blank with the only information available being how much it costs to reveal what’s underneath, and whether that be a new dungeon, crafting recipe, or a plain old bush won’t be revealed until the money is spent.
Vexlands is a base-building/crafting adventure in a world that’s mostly hidden away at the start. The landscape is covered in large hexagons, each with a price tag to reveal what’s underneath, but once bought it’s yours forever. The first few are cheap with the gold almost instantly replenishing itself, and when that comes to a stop the trading post will have been uncovered to keep the money rolling along. It’s all a little mercenary at the start, but it doesn’t take long for the base building to kick in. The early tiles can be cleared away quickly and are bound to contain a few crafting recipes, and once the traditional workbench has been cobbled together from a handful of wooden planks the base building kicks in, soon followed by the arrival of a few wandering slimes and even a small dungeon.
The bulk of Vexlands, at least in the demo that was released today, is scavenging resources to not only buy new landscape hexes but also craft into more useful products to expand home base with. Shrubs drop sticks that can be turned into logs (classic videogame logic, try not to think about it too hard) while small rocks can be pickaxed into pebbles. Logs and bigger stones are more easily gotten from trees and rocky outcroppings, though, and logs can be refined further into boards. It’s your basic Crafting 101 but the progression from having nothing to building a comfortable little base is always nice, and the slowly-expanding world soon fills ups with points of interest both uncovered in the world as well as player-crafted.
The demo covers the start of the game up until a set number of hexes have been bought, which is enough to find a nice variety of resources and crafting stations plus hint at the size to come. I got a lucky pull from a “wish machine”, which is basically a giant gacha dispenser, and received a wand that shoots magic balls, which is much nicer than the limited range of the sword for dispensing the slowly-wandering slimes and felt like something I probably wasn’t supposed to be able to play with yet. (Also, the price of the wish doubles with every pull but resets back to 1 gold after a time, so go nuts with it.) Today’s new trailer also shows off more intricate mines and dungeons, not to mention a variety of landscapes and more dangerous enemies. Or you could just kick back and tend the base, because the world is out there and home is comfy, plus maybe the fish are biting today. Sadly that last bit isn’t in the demo, but when Vexlands comes out in early 2024 the choice of tracking down adventure or hanging out at home will be all yours. It’s a big world out in the hidden lands, but it will wait for an adventurer who decides that today is best served by being lazy.
