I’ll openly admit that perhaps a degree of my disappointment with John Wick Hex is that it took a gameplay road I wouldn’t have anticipated. While I always try to be fair to the developer’s vision and evaluate things on how well that was pulled off rather than how well it met up with my hopes I’ll at least say in a case like this it’s an odd marriage. Known for its fast-paced kinetic fights, the John Wick movies are action movie staples filled to the brim with all manner of craziness. At first blush that conjures thoughts of something akin to the Max Payne series perhaps. Any such ideas are completely wrong though, instead the gameplay is more in the vein of a turn-based tactical strategy game. Sure, you’re capable of at least a subset of the movie’s badassery, and that’s nice, but the core experience is slow and strategic so your enjoyment will be very much dictated by your tastes and expectations being in check. I think I’d be fascinated to see what would come in the next iteration in this vein, but between the pacing, quite a bit of overall repetition in tactics out of necessity, and some general clunk I’d imagine this title will have opinions split down the middle.