Vex 3

Vex 3 is a precision stickman platformer and the third act of the Vex series, and it still runs on the same bargain the first two did: the level is fair, and every death is yours to own. It plays in the browser — no download, no account, no install.

The controls are the whole interface. Move with WASD or the arrow keys, and that is it — running, jumping and sliding all come out of the same four directions. The levels are built out of traps that read as decoration until the frame you touch them: spike pits, patrolling blades, collapsing platforms and water you have to swim through rather than jump over.

There are ten new areas in this entry, and each one is a self-contained puzzle box that mixes the mechanics it introduced earlier. You will learn a room by dying in it a handful of times, which is the intended pace — respawns are instant and checkpoints are close together, so the cost of a mistake is seconds, not progress.

The nine challenge modes are where the game stops being forgiving. They reuse the same layouts with tighter timing, no checkpoints, or rules that forbid the move you have been leaning on the whole campaign. Beating the campaign is the tutorial; the challenges are the exam.

It is a keyboard game first, but the touch controls hold up well enough on a phone, and the layout keeps the hazards readable at small sizes.

On cool games spot this page is the index entry: cover, description, and search terms. The game itself is a licensed GameDistribution build that loads in an iframe on Play, so nothing is bundled into the site. It is filed under action and tagged stickman, so it appears alongside the rest of the stickman games in the catalog.

Press Play and find out.