Hey, I'm Chris and this is my very first (and, perhaps, last, haha) guide here on Steam. Well, how can I put this without seeming incredibly cocky? I'm probably one of the best Super Hexagon players in the world, at least on PC. That's not my pride speaking but simply the leaderboards, where I am at at least place 20 in every single mode (for instance, my PB in Hyper Hexagonest is currently 717:02 seconds. http://ad.gamersky.info/@steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198023035612/screenshot/594750242005646300 Here is proof and my current spot on the leaderboards, to add some credibility). I don't like bragging, so the only reason I'm saying this is so that you know that you can ask me whatever you want about the game in the comments, and I will be happy to answer it to the best of my ability.

Let's start with some general and very, very important tips.

1. Don't get demotivated or demoralized. This is very important. There's no point in playing this game, if you immediately press ALT+F4 once you die one second to your record. Also, you might think at multiple points, "I will never be able to do this." Don't. You will, just have a little patience. This game is like anything else in life. Take volleyball, for instance. At first, you'll suck at it and it will be absolutely no fun. But once you get the hang of it, it suddenly becomes a lot more interesting.

2. Keep practicing. Tip number one and two basically go into one. You have to keep playing, even if you're dying every few seconds, if you want to get good at this game. Believe me, that's how I did it. Steam says I have over 60 hours playtime, but most of that is probably just having the game running in the background. But still: I would estimate at least about 20 hours playtime to be able to get to the last (the black-white) stage.

3. Turn off VSync. I'm not kidding: Do it. VSync, even though it eliminates screen tearing, introduces some serious delay. And no, this is not just for some people. If VSync is activated, you will have a slight delay to all your input. In other games, that may be acceptable, but Super Hexagon is all about precision and timing. It doesn't work. Just turn it off. And personally, I don't even notice a difference (in graphics, that is. The delay is now gone, obviously).

4. Play in fullscreen. At least when you're new at the game. You will be able to see better as everything is bigger. That's it. Plain and simple. If you keep dying, this might be worth considering, especially since you can't resize the window if you decide to play in windowed mode. If I'm going for a new personal best, I also like to play in fullscreen.

5. As soon as you get to a higher time and your heart starts beating like crazy, take deep periodic breaths. Though your heart doesn't really slow down, it still helps to stay a little more calm. Still, be very careful now: When you are that nervous, the smallest mistake could throw you off and kill you.

Now, on to some more specific, less important tips.

6. If your record doesn't get uploaded into the leaderboards for some reason, don't panic. As long as it updates your personal best in the main menu, the game will try to keep uploading your record to the leaderboards, it's just a matter of time and it happens, sometimes. This is also true if you play the game offline: Obviously your record won't be uploaded to the leaderboards until you go online, but even then it's going to take a little. Just keep playing the same mode and it should try to upload your record each time you die. If it still doesn't work, try again some other day. Your PB (personal best) won't get deleted, as long as it displays it in the main menu.

7. Play using the mouse. That's my personal preference, at least: LMB (Left Mouse Button) and RMB (Right Mouse Button) to play, MMB (Middle Mouse Button) to suicide or go back a menu and both LMB + RMB at the same time to go forth a menu (though it's undoubtedly easier to just use the arrow keys and space for navigating the menus, believe me). Of course, you can play using a controller (and the shoulder keys) or the keyboard, but I've found that the mouse just works best for me due to the low pressure that needs to be applied, resulting in more reaction time overall.

8. If you're wondering about all the different patterns and the best strategy to them, go visit the "Super Hexagon 101" guide here on Steam. Honestly, it's a lot more in-depth and it describes every single pattern, it even gives pictures to each one. However, there were some things missing in that guide in my opinion, this is why I created one myself.

9a. Turn off the sounds entirely. This will disable both the announcer's voice and the music, so you will be able to listen to your own music or videos in the background, whatever you prefer.

9b. If you still want to have the music in, but not the distracting announcer's shoutouts, replace the respective sound files in steamapps/common/Super Hexagon/data/sounds with silent .wav files (simply create an empty sound track using an audio/video editor of your choice, I used Sony Vegas, for example). Thanks to Colonel Thirty Two for this tip.

10. Don't freak out during the sudden rotations, especially in the black-white stage. After a certain time, you should be able to go through a pattern with your eyes closed as soon as you've seen it. That's because you will have gone through these pattern so many times, it'll have become second nature to you. Instincts will guide you through, you don't even have to think anymore.

11. This one's more of a funny technical glitch than a hint. Basically, if you mess with your sound settings in the sound manager and manage to disconnect all available sound sources (so Super Hexagon can't output any sound), then the Hexagon in the middle will stop beating in each mode. It's funny, because it will stay in a specific size, and it won't grow or anything.

12. If for whatever reason you don't feel like paying a dollar for a good game, Open Hexagon is an open-source (that is, free) alternative. I haven't played it myself though so I can't say how good it is.

If you have more questions or suggestions for tips, please let me know in the comment section so I can expand this guide accordingly.

"What about the other levels?", you might say, staring at the section title. The answer is, the other modes are pretty simple and straight-forward. Sure, it will take you some time to be able to do them one-handedly (actually, I don't know why you would play this game with more than one hand), but there are no patterns or anything in there that you need a specific explanation for.


Of course, that's not it. There are a lot of other patterns in the black-white stage, but you'll figure them out after some time, and as far as I've experienced, there are no hidden tactics you can use for any of the other patterns. The biggest difficulty in the black-white stage is the fact that the top and bottom of the screen are actually cropped. Of course. After all, most screens these days have an aspect ratio of 16:9 or 16:10 (width:height), so it's always not as high as it is wide. But in this game, that makes the biggest difference, as you can see less to the top and bottom than you can for the left and right. You'll notice that when you begin playing more of the black-white stage. Most times you're dying will be because you couldn't see whether the gap was at the top or at the bottom quickly enough. I know it, I experience it everyday, and of course, besides of a better reaction time, there's not a whole lot you can do about it. You will just have to keep playing, as always, and at some point, you're not going to die very often anymore due to this.

That was my Super Hexagon guide. As I've said, if you have any suggestions, questions or other feedback, please tell me in the comment section below. Thanks, and good luck!