Hexonia is a mini-strategy for Android only. It’s a free download, with 3 free tribes included, a few you can unlock over time, and a bunch you can pay to unlock. You can also unlock unique units over time. The daily rewards and optional ads give a very “monetized” impression, but I’ve enjoyed unlocking tribes slowly without spending money.

It’s like a hex-based Civilization, stripped down to the bare essentials of a tech tree and strategy game. Each tribe has the same unit types, with unique 3D models and animations. But they all have 2 unlockable units with unique stats and special abilities. Starter unit and techs vary for each tribe, which has a big effect when the options are so limited.

Starting out, you can play a small map versus 2 other tribes. You can choose between 3 difficulty levels, which really are a good challenge range. Winning each difficulty for a tribe gives “gems”, the currency for unlocking more things. The “Master” level is pretty hard to beat, but using the free daily items at the start of the game gives a big head start. Combined with the 3 levels, you can choose Free for All, or Allied AI; Allied AIs are a lot harder :) As you unlock more tribes, you can increase the map size, which adds more AI players.

There’s no multiplayer. This is a short, relaxed strategy game, though it gets longer as you unlock larger map sizes. I spend about an hour to play through a game of 1v3 . The random maps and daily challenges add to the re-playability. Tribes are $3 each if you wanna pay, haven’t tried that yet!

The developer seems to be done, their web page is down. The reddit community recommended Polytopia as a similar game, but I haven’t tried that one. Maybe later! Hexonia is a complete game and it will be a while before I’ve unlocked everything.

• Hexonia on Google Play