Lionel Snill is the creator of the main 6 video games featured in The Hex, and also serves as the main antagonist.
Background[]
Lionel began his career in video game development with the creation of Root Beer Tender. However, while working on Super Weasel Kid, Irving advised him to delete Root Beer Tender in order to make himself look like a prodigy due to Super Weasel Kid's success. Lionel was promised that by doing so, the game's protagonist - Reginald - would be moved into another game. However, Irving instead crippled Reggie and "lost" his game file.
Super Weasel Kid's characters were based off of his pets, a shrew and a weasel. The game was a massive success, but it led to Lionel feeling bound to the expectations of making a hit game on the 'first' attempt. After Super Weasel Kid 2: Radical Road received negative reviews, he sold the franchise to GameFuna for 2.5 million dollars when he was 18.
He started his own studio, hired his childhood friend Carla, and created Combat Arena X. He bought the rights to Bryce, his favorite character, so he could be in it, having had a fondness for Cooking Granny in his childhood. However, he reacted poorly to the complaints from gamers about the beta version of the game, resulting in the removal of Chandrelle and Bryce from the final version of the game. In the end, he once again sold the franchise to GameFuna.
Using the funds from that sale, he put everything into the development of Secrets of Legendaria, even hiring "the biggest gaming streamer to play it live" during its release. However, despite his claims that he hired the best programmers, the game was still riddled with glitches, and in the end it tanked. Lionel blamed Carla for the errors and ran off with the severance pay funds.
Lionel moves "somewhere south" as he describes for cheaper rent, and begins an attempted come back with Waste World, but never ended up finishing it. He would halfheartedly work on it, and then spend his time playing other games or reading about himself online. The heat kept him inside, resulting in a complete disconnection from reality. He lied to his parents, had broken off his friendship with Carla, and had no one else. He then proceeded to destroy any interest in the half-finished game by giving a cease and desist to the modders who had created mods for the game.
After that, Walk appears to be his attempt at making money, presumably because he ran out of stolen funds. He mentioned about how the type of video game he originally intended to make didn't make enough, and in the Vicious Galaxy section mentions writing a book. At this point, Lionel has lost all desire to make games for the sake of making games.
At the end of The Hex, Reginald opens a gateway to the real world, strangling Lionel and killing him.
Personality[]
Lionel is consistently portrayed as a cruel person, mostly through Irving's actions taken on his behalf. As such, all of the video game protagonists from his games are shown to have negative feelings towards him.
In Walk, Lionel's commentary reveals that his game development career has led to an arrogant and conceited attitude. While in the beginning he disliked how GameFuna created a buggy and broken game, Carla's notes in Secrets of Legendaria reveal that he would cut features and take credit for others' successes. He also seems to be rather mysoginistic as he complains when Carla suggests that the had made "too many male characters" for Combat Arena X, and she advises they make a few female characters. He also has no friends, having destroyed his relationship with Carla Dosa and abandoned any connections he may have had with anyone in his studio when he stole their severance pay funds and abandoned it.
Despite all of his actions, towards the end of Walk he seems to express genuine remorse over what he's done. He speaks about all of his past actions with a heavy, regretful tone, especially when commenting on how Carla had cut ties with him. This attitude is seen especially in the secret ending found in Beneath the Surface, where Lionel confesses that he cares about and misses Reggie, though by then it's too late.
Trivia[]
- It is likely that the name Lionel Snill originates from the mirrored version of Daniel Mullins: Snillum Leinad (or snilluM leinaD for ease of deciphering), which could be reversed into Leinad Snillum, and therefore Lionel Snill.
- Lionel Snill is actually played by Daniel Mullins himself.