HexGl
▶ Tap to Play HexGl
Strap into a hovercraft and hold on: HexGL throws you onto a neon-lit circuit at speeds where every corner feels like a controlled crash. Built in 2012 by solo developer Thibaut Despoulain under the BKcore name, this futuristic anti-gravity racer proved a web browser could deliver Wipeout-style racing — no download, no console, just WebGL and JavaScript. Three laps, a glowing hex-tiled track, and a shield bar that drains every time you kiss the wall. That is the whole promise of this game: pure velocity, straight in your browser tab.
A 2012 WebGL Demo That Outpaced Its Era
When the demo first launched, WebGL was still young and most people assumed serious 3D belonged on consoles or PC installs. Despoulain built the game as a technology demonstration, using the Three.js library to render a full hovercraft racer with post-processing effects, motion blur, and a dynamic camera. It worked. The demo spread across tech blogs and gaming press, with CinemaBlend praising it as Wipeout-quality racing for browsers.
Then he did something unusual for a promising game: he open-sourced the entire project on GitHub. That decision kept the project alive long after most 2012 web games died. Developers study its code, remixers port it to new platforms — one recent project even squeezed it onto the Sega 32X — and players keep racing because the core loop still feels great. Few browser games from that era can say the same.
How a Race Actually Works
The format is simple time-attack racing. You pick up speed on a closed loop, complete three laps, and the clock decides everything. There are no opponents on track and no weapons to fire. Your only enemy is the circuit itself.
Three Laps, One Shield Bar
Your hovercraft has no grip to manage since it floats, but it has a shield meter that acts as your health. Scrape the walls and the shield drains. Drain it completely and your craft blows apart — race over. This creates the game’s central tension: faster lines mean higher risk. You constantly trade speed against the wall, deciding where caution wins and where full throttle is safe.
The Cityscape Circuit
The signature track is Cityscape, a futuristic metropolis course with the distinctive hex-tiled surface that gives the game its name. Glowing cyan edge strips, lane dashes, and animated chevrons on boost pads guide your eyes through the course. Banked corners, chicanes, and elevation changes keep you guessing, while the city skyline rushes past in a blur when your speed peaks.
Controls: Steer, Brake, Boost
The default scheme is easy to learn and hard to master:
- Arrow keys or WASD: steer left/right, accelerate, brake
- Spacebar: boost for a burst of speed
- Q and E: air brakes for tight corners
- R: restart the race instantly
- P: pause and resume
On mobile, touch controls let you steer by touching the left or right side of the screen, with a tap to boost. The air brakes deserve special attention: tapping them before a hairpin keeps your line tight without the heavy speed loss of a full brake. Learn them early and your lap times drop fast.
Five Tips to Stop Hitting the Walls
1. Brake before the corner, not in it. Scrub speed on the straight, then carry momentum through the turn. Braking mid-corner destabilizes your line and pushes you wide into the wall.
2. Boost on straights only. The boost pads and spacebar boost are wasted in chicanes — the extra speed just converts into wall scrapes. Save boosts for the long straights where you can actually hold them.
3. Ride the racing line. Enter corners wide, clip the inside edge at the apex, and exit wide. The hex tiles make the track’s camber readable once you stop staring at your ship.
4. Tap, don’t slam, the steering. The handling rewards smooth, small corrections. Big jerky inputs send you ping-ponging between walls and bleed your shield dry.
5. Protect the shield like a score. Treat every wall scrape as damage, because it is. A clean lap with moderate speed beats a fast lap with three wall hits — your shield is the resource that decides whether you finish at all.
Running It Smoothly on Any Machine
This racer is demanding for a browser game because it renders full 3D with effects. If it stutters, the in-game menu offers quality presets — switching from High to Low can make an older laptop or Chromebook raceable. The most common real problem is a black screen or failure to load, which almost always traces back to WebGL being disabled or blocked in the browser. A current Chrome or Edge with hardware acceleration enabled is the safest bet.
Mobile players get a playable but harder experience: touch steering is workable, though the precision needed for hairpins is tougher without keys. For the full thrill, a keyboard and a decent GPU is the way to race.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is HexGL?
It is a free futuristic anti-gravity racing game released in 2012 by Thibaut Despoulain (BKcore). Built with HTML5, JavaScript, and WebGL on the Three.js engine, it lets you pilot a hovercraft through neon sci-fi circuits in your browser with no download required. Its source code is open source on GitHub.
Is it free to play?
Yes, completely free. The original developer released it as a free WebGL demo and later published the source code openly. There are no payments, unlocks, or ads inside the game itself.
Is HexGL like Wipeout?
Very much so. Anti-gravity craft, banked futuristic circuits at extreme speed, air brakes, and a shield system instead of a damage model all come straight from the Wipeout playbook. Gaming press in 2012 repeatedly compared it to the PlayStation classic.
Why won’t HexGL load in my browser?
Nine times out of ten, WebGL is disabled or blocked. Use an up-to-date browser, enable hardware acceleration in its settings, and avoid old integrated graphics if possible. If the game loads but stutters, drop the quality preset in the game’s menu from High to Low.
Can I play HexGL on a Chromebook or phone?
Chromebooks can run it since it is fully browser-based, though weaker models will need the low quality setting. Phones work with touch controls, but the precision steering a fast lap demands is much easier with a keyboard.
Now it is your turn: fire up the race, chase your best lap, and drop a comment with your fastest Cityscape time — who is actually the quickest hovercraft pilot here?
