Vex 7 Modes Explained: Acts, Hardcore, Tower of Terror and VEXATION

Vex 7 has more going on than any earlier Vex game. When you first load it, it is easy to miss half of it. Here is a tour of everything, in the order most players find it.

The Level Hub

Vex 7 does not start with a list of levels. It starts with a small world you walk around. Blocks in this hub are the entrances to acts: stand on one and press Down to go in. The hub also teaches basics as you explore, from moving with the arrow keys or WASD to jumping between walls.

Acts

Acts are the main levels. Each is long, split into sections by checkpoint flags, and packed with traps. Touch a flag and a death sends you back there instead of to the start. As you go, new tools appear: a kite you can fly with, a torch that blows up TNT — and goes out if you touch water — poles to slide along, portals that move you to another spot, orange blocks that bounce you high, grey blocks that switch on and off and purple blocks that break.

Level objectives

Every act has a small list of goals on top of reaching the end. Typical ones are collecting a certain number of coins, finishing without dying, or finishing with fewer than a set number of deaths. You do not need them to move on, but they give each act a reason to be replayed.

Hardcore acts

Once you know the acts, Hardcore versions raise the difficulty. They have their own trophies, and completing all of them is one of the game's big achievements. Save them for when the standard acts feel easy.

The Tower of Terror

The Tower of Terror is a separate mode: a climb, floor after floor, where the question is how high you can get. Each floor passed counts, and you collect tower credits on the way. Trophies mark 10, 100 and 500 floors. It is the mode to play when you have ten minutes and want a score rather than a finish.

VEXATION

VEXATION is Vex 7's hardest challenge and has its own trophy. It is not the place to learn; it is the place to prove you already have.

Skins, trophies and daily tasks

• Skins come from a spin and are ranked common, rare, epic, legendary and mythic. Some unlock from trophies.
• Trophies cover acts, Hardcore, the Tower and odd achievements — defeating the Knight, the Battering Ram and the Drone, dying over a hundred times, or surfacing with one bubble left.
• Daily tasks give small goals each day, like collecting coins or completing any three levels.

A good order

1. Walk the hub and play the acts in order.
2. Go back for objectives you missed.
3. Try the Tower of Terror for a change of pace.
4. Move on to Hardcore acts.
5. Finally, VEXATION.

Everything is saved in your browser, so you can work through it a little at a time.