Vex 5

Vex 5: The Ultimate Stickman Parkour Challenge

Vex 5 is the fifth game in the Vex series, and it's basically the most brutal one yet. Made by Amazing Adam and released in October 2020, it's a stickman platformer that will destroy you repeatedly. There are 10 main acts packed with spinning blades, spikes, and jumps that seem impossible. On top of that there's a Challenge Room with 30 timed levels, ghost racing to compete against yourself, and achievements to hunt for. If you like games that don't hold your hand, this is it.

What is Vex 5?

Vex 5 is a skill-based platformer where you control a stickman jumping through obstacle courses called acts. Each level is basically a death gauntlet with buzzsaws, spikes, crumbling platforms, moving walls, and blocks that disappear. You're hitting precise timing on everything or you're dead.

The game looks minimalist like the rest of the series, just a stick figure navigating through traps. But what makes it different is there's no shortcuts, no power-ups, no upgrades. It's pure skill. You either learn the patterns and nail the timing or you keep dying. That's the whole game.

Your job is simple: get to the green portal at the end of each act. Everything between you and that portal is designed to kill you. You'll die a lot. That's not a bug, that's the point. You watch where the traps are, you learn the timing, you figure out the best path, and eventually you make it through. That trial-and-error thing is the whole experience.

How to Play Vex 5

Arrow keys or WASD to move and jump, hold jump longer to jump higher. Down or S to slide or smash. R restarts the level if you need it.

Your stickman can run, jump, wall climb, slide, and do acrobatic stuff. Wall climbing is big, jump at a wall and hold the direction to stick to it, you can climb up or wall-jump between walls. Sliding does two things: it fits you through tight spaces and kicks crates out of the way. You can also slide under spinning blades and combine slides with jumps for more distance.

Smashing (pressing down in the air) breaks transparent platforms and can drop you fast. Time it right when you land and you keep momentum for a stronger jump after.

The green flags are checkpoints, touch them and you respawn there when you die. Which you will, a lot.

Vex 5 vs Other Vex Games

The animations are smoother than the older games and the environments are more detailed, but it still keeps the minimalist look the series is known for.

Challenge Room is new in Vex 4 and 5, it's the randomized timed mode that the older games didn't have. Makes the game way more replayable.

Ghost racing didn't exist in earlier versions. Now you race against your own best times, turns it into an actual speedrunning game.

The acts themselves are more intricate than before. Trap combinations are weirder, you need to be more creative to solve them. The difficulty cap is higher but the progression is still fair.