Despite being the first game developed by Chunderfins, Hazelnut Hex serves as the culmination of years of experience. Chunderfins is the name of a fictional band created by James, who prefers not to use his full name online. At first, Chunderfins just was meant to be the face of the music that James composed and the art he drew, but James would go on to use his musical skills to play in a real band and also do animation work, all of which would share the Chunderfins name. Through the combination of all these skills and programming experience picked up from his day job, James was able to juggle art, music, and coding roles on the development of Hazelnut Hex and the end result is certainly impressive. This wasn’t a solo developer effort, though, and various other names can be found in the credits, including actress Stephanie M. Komure (credited for voice and QA work for Psychonauts 2, River City Girls 2, Fallout 76, and many more games) as the voice of the game’s protagonist and Newgrounds artists Mismash and Lumpf, both of whom assisted with the cover art and animation respectively.
The first thing anyone will notice about Hazelnut Hex is its sugary sweet visuals and to go with that, the game’s story is appropriately lighthearted and fun. Breakfast has suddenly gone missing and Nat, being the representative of the Hazelnut Hex breakfast cereal, naturally won’t stand for this. As she shoots her way towards solving the mystery while riding atop a spoon, she’ll have to do battle with her friends who have lost control of themselves. Fittingly for a story like this, the dialogue manages to replicate the energy of a Saturday morning cartoon mixed with the always-positive tone of breakfast cereal commercials. Nat takes every opportunity to point out just how good Hazelnut Hex is, much to the chagrin of everyone she meets. When one particular character mentions how they don’t care for breakfast, Nat struggles to keep her cool in an amusing way. There’s even a twist at the end in which another witch trying to pawn cereal of her own appears, serving as a great final gag. There’s no true ending or extra dialogue for a 1CC, but considering that Hazelnut Hex prefers to ease people into the genre while also taking inspiration from games like Metal Slug X that let you continue as much as you want, opting out of such a thing ultimately fits its design ethos.
Mechanically, Hazelnut Hex is a straightforward game. At the start of each run (and when you die), you get to choose from one of three projectiles. They have differences in shot speed and spread, but they’re overall similar in nature and appearance, which is disappointing. Regardless of which you choose, you also have access to a charge shot that’ll do significant damage in a straight line and can also cancel out bullets. Enemies destroyed in this fashion earn you score multipliers, so there’s a consistent reason to find opportunities to pull it out. Since the charge shot is the same regardless of your weapon choice, this makes the narrowest shot option feel a bit redundant while the widest shot is the winning choice for most 1CC videos you’ll find online. Rounding out your arsenal is the bomb equivalent, which is a giant laser that doesn’t do as much damage as you’d think, but cancels all on-screen bullets and grants points accordingly. This isn’t always necessary in the levels, but every boss has at least one extra frantic attack that’ll have you reaching for the button in a panic. Destroying enemies nets items that’ll fuel more bombs and upgrade your weapons and you can even find Nat’s pet squirrel named Sam for some extra support. Hazelnut Hex’s weaponry is lean, but it does a great job of teaching players how they’re supposed to go about scoring well without overloading them with too much information, which in turn aids in their survival.
This isn’t an easy game, being that it’s chock full of aggressive enemies and flashy bullet patterns, but it takes several measures to make things feel as approachable as possible. Nat’s hurtbox is contained entirely within the pendant on her neck, which helps convey to newcomers the possibility of squeezing through gaps you wouldn’t think to normally. There are also multiple toggles to change how visible this is, which helps make it stand out amongst all the pinks, purples, and pastels. The widescreen presentation can make it harder to process everything on-screen, but at the same time, the extra space reduces the odds of you getting trapped. As long as you’re not concerned with leaderboards, you can also adjust the amount of hit points, lives, and extends available to you to create granular difficulties. By default, the only modes are Normal and “Moderate”, the latter of which was named as such because James wanted a silly sounding option to contrast with the intensity of the modes seen in the various DOS games he played growing up. Other options for accessibility purposes are included as well, such as the ability to reduce screen shake and darken the backgrounds to make projectiles easier to see. Considering how the sheer brightness of this game can be difficult to look at for extended periods, this is very useful indeed!
There are five levels and each one offers a variety of fun foes. The first level starts simple with a forest full of bees and plants, but level two spices things up with sentient busts, skeletal fish, and big blue blobs. Level three is a standout that puts you through an ice cave full of killer popsicles, ice blocks with faces, and even a massive snowman. Level four throws hordes of ghosts, swords, and gargoyles at you, while the final level takes place in a fiery cavern full of angry toasters, peppers, and even a dragon. Spotting all of these silly enemies is a highlight of the game and Chunderfins clearly knew it as well because the credits are an extended sequence in which you reveal each enemy’s name by shooting them as Sam! Every level is also backed by top notch Chunderfins music, which in this case consists of a lot of synths, drums, and energetic tracks. Each one does an excellent job of keeping you pumped and focused while also matching the game’s consistently positive vibe. Hazelnut Hex never wants you to feel discouraged nor does it ever want you to feel frustration or anger towards it, and with a soundtrack like this, it’s easy to feel like you can take on this silly world where breakfast reigns supreme.
Despite being such a colorful and bombastic game, Hazelnut Hex can feel surprisingly plain at times and too simple as well. The enemy sprites are incredibly well-animated and the hand-drawn art looks excellent across the board, but the backgrounds are lifeless, looping endlessly with no details to appreciate. The choice in color scheme certainly stands out, but said choice can make remembering distinct moments more difficult. The sound effects for projectiles feel weak and the level design doesn’t do much to mix things up. The hazards that emerge from the floor and ceiling in the third stage are a much appreciated bit of variety, but levels otherwise lack surprises and tend to repeat similar enemies and patterns until you reach the boss. Boss fights are plenty fun, but they too can blend together since they’re all human characters with bullets that capture little about their personalities or their environments. Hazelnut Hex makes for a quick playthrough, something that’s ideal in this genre, but the lack of modes is definitely felt, especially since so much about the game is otherwise exceptional.
Hazelnut Hex is an easy recommendation for just about anyone, whether you’re a newcomer interested in the genre or if you just enjoy games that look and sound as bubbly as this one does. While its lack of features and straightforward design might feel too simplistic for those with years of experience playing more complex games, the fact that runs are short make it worth at least one go regardless. For people normally intimidated by the genre, the pleasant presentation and lack of pressure to perform a 1CC mean you can experiment without having to commit to practicing under strict conditions. Through such a laissez-faire approach, Hazelnut Hex lets you decide how seriously you want to take it without having to water down any of its design, resulting in a truly win-win situation for everyone involved. It may not be an arcade game, but it certainly harbors the spirit of one and the love Chunderfins had for that era of gaming shines through in a way that’s impossible not to appreciate.
Links
https://gamerant.com/hazelnut-hex-interview-chunderfins-classic-shmups-inspirations-design-solo-development/ – Interview with James by Benjamin S. Weiss (via Game Rant)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sr6b23gJhKs – Interview with Chunderfins by Youtubergolemliv
https://chunderfins.bandcamp.com/album/hazelnut-hex-ost – The ChunderfinsBandcamp page with the game’s OST
https://www.youtube.com/@chunderfins/videos – The ChunderfinsYoutube channel
https://mismash.newgrounds.com/ – MisMash’sNewgrounds profile
https://lumpf.newgrounds.com/ – Lumpf’sNewgrounds profile
