I would have given this game an "in the middle" review if it existed.
The game IS FUN.
The game also has MASSIVE BALANCE ISSUES.

Typical to 4x games the only way devs. know how to make the game "harder" is to have the npc civilizations cheat. It'll be turn 3 and they're pumping out stuff you literally cannot compete with and far more units than you could EVER produce and on top of that the NPC civs ALWAYS attack you if you're close. It's not a question of "oh they may attack each other and I might be collat damage here".. no it's like they are at war and they'll just turn and destroy you regardless of how many units they lose trying and that onslaught makes the game unfun, when it happens.

If you get this game on a sale and you like 4x games though. You'll likely enjoy this. I have... but the fundamental AI flaws sortof suck. Great multiplayer game though. Unfortunately it's just a 4x so it suffers from the same "military rush" garbage from other 4x games.. though this one makes it worse because there is no such thing as declaring war and such and you can steal tiles clicking buttons so it can be rough.. but maybe that's part of the fun... I don't know...

... I've enjoyed it so far.

Great fast, light civ vs. roguelite.

Hexarchy has a really interesting concept: blending deckbuilding with 4X empire-building. The turn cycles, card play, and Hegemon mode offer some unique strategic twists.

But I just couldn’t wrap my head around how it all worked. I never felt like I understood how to build a meaningful deck or what path I was really progressing toward. The systems seemed clever—but also opaque.

I wanted to like it. I couldn’t find a way in. If you’re into highly experimental strategy games and don’t mind figuring things out the hard way, maybe it’s for you. It wasn’t for me.