While you were battling the evil forces of D'Sparil, the other Serpent Riders were busy sowing the seeds of destruction in other dimensions. One such dimension is the decaying world where Hexen takes place. A world littered with the mangled corpses of nonbelievers and inhabited by the undead followers that executed them. Only three humans; a warrior, a mage and a cleric; have escaped the leaders' vicious spell. Now these brave souls have sworn to crush the evil regime that threatens to destroy the world forever. Separated upon entering the mystical portal, the three are forced to attempt on their own what they had hoped to do together: find Korax's stronghold, destroy him and restore order in the physical world. Become one of 3 heroes. Wield superhuman powers and lethal weapons. Walk. Run. Fly. Look all around. Inflict serious pain. Pillage your way through earthquakes, crumbling bridges and fog. Track down powerful artifacts and cast wicked spells. Four sick individuals can wreak havoc via network, two by modem.
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I had a good time with Hexen: Beyond Heretic. The focus here is on one of three characters with a much more limited set of weapons and enemies with more specific behavior than you see in Heretic. This works much better for me and (along with more emphasis on melee options) gives the combat a more tactical feel that brings it back towards some combination of Doom and, strangely, King's Field.
I like the class dichotomy in Hexen and all of the weapons for each class are unique and interesting in some way. I played as the Cleric and, similar to how Doom's ammo works, found each weapon was useful up until the very end of the game (even the Mace). Weapons cause hit reactions you can exploit and your positioning and movement as you dodge attacks is a major factor in your success. This isn't quite as intentional and exacting as King's Field, but it feels like you can just see the Kingdom of Verdite from here.
This weapon system just hangs together better than anything that exists in Heretic. Ammo matters, weapon idiosyncrasies matter, and enemy type and abilities matter. Gathering the pieces to find my ultimate weapon by the end is super cool and the Cleric's version (Wraithverge) is powerful but not a skeleton key for every enemy in the game.
Carried over from Heretic are the massive amount of items in the game. I didn't find these to be too compelling, but I felt like the game intended me to use them, which absolutely makes things feel more like a fantasy adventure. The interface isn't exactly great... just a giant list of items you tab through to select and use the one you want, but it is good enough and I mainly just found myself flipping between the health potion and poison bombs anyway.
Level design in Hexen is a major swing that is unique and interesting, but stumbles quite a bit. This is set up more like an adventure that, again, echoed a bit of King's Field for me. The simple "find a key and use it in a door" gameplay of Doom is twisted here to present sprawling, interconnected levels where you are solving very complicated puzzles between them to open doors and progress. Unfortunately you are often left wandering around looking for the one switch you overlooked or the newly opened passage in an area you have already cleared out. The level connections are fairly arbitrary and the levels themselves have a large amount of symmetry and repeated geometry that makes it hard to really get a sense of the map as a whole. It does get a bit tedious, with on-screen hints like "Something changed in Seven Portals!" being at best, completely unhelpful.
In the end, there is also just too much game here. Too many levels and each is slightly too large. With a bit more restraint and thoughtful design, this game could be truly amazing.
Hexen looks great. This is fantasy Doom-style pixel art with some iconic monsters and interesting, gothic environments. Things get a bit samey by the end, probably due to just the length again.
I had a much better time with Hexen than I did with Heretic. I think it is just a better game all around and I love that they are taking the base Doom formula, adding some new interesting weapons, and pushing the level design to the extreme. It really feels like the team reassessed what makes Doom good and what they missed with Heretic and built this weird, ambitious game out of it.
I like the class dichotomy in Hexen and all of the weapons for each class are unique and interesting in some way. I played as the Cleric and, similar to how Doom's ammo works, found each weapon was useful up until the very end of the game (even the Mace). Weapons cause hit reactions you can exploit and your positioning and movement as you dodge attacks is a major factor in your success. This isn't quite as intentional and exacting as King's Field, but it feels like you can just see the Kingdom of Verdite from here.
This weapon system just hangs together better than anything that exists in Heretic. Ammo matters, weapon idiosyncrasies matter, and enemy type and abilities matter. Gathering the pieces to find my ultimate weapon by the end is super cool and the Cleric's version (Wraithverge) is powerful but not a skeleton key for every enemy in the game.
Carried over from Heretic are the massive amount of items in the game. I didn't find these to be too compelling, but I felt like the game intended me to use them, which absolutely makes things feel more like a fantasy adventure. The interface isn't exactly great... just a giant list of items you tab through to select and use the one you want, but it is good enough and I mainly just found myself flipping between the health potion and poison bombs anyway.
Level design in Hexen is a major swing that is unique and interesting, but stumbles quite a bit. This is set up more like an adventure that, again, echoed a bit of King's Field for me. The simple "find a key and use it in a door" gameplay of Doom is twisted here to present sprawling, interconnected levels where you are solving very complicated puzzles between them to open doors and progress. Unfortunately you are often left wandering around looking for the one switch you overlooked or the newly opened passage in an area you have already cleared out. The level connections are fairly arbitrary and the levels themselves have a large amount of symmetry and repeated geometry that makes it hard to really get a sense of the map as a whole. It does get a bit tedious, with on-screen hints like "Something changed in Seven Portals!" being at best, completely unhelpful.
In the end, there is also just too much game here. Too many levels and each is slightly too large. With a bit more restraint and thoughtful design, this game could be truly amazing.
Hexen looks great. This is fantasy Doom-style pixel art with some iconic monsters and interesting, gothic environments. Things get a bit samey by the end, probably due to just the length again.
I had a much better time with Hexen than I did with Heretic. I think it is just a better game all around and I love that they are taking the base Doom formula, adding some new interesting weapons, and pushing the level design to the extreme. It really feels like the team reassessed what makes Doom good and what they missed with Heretic and built this weird, ambitious game out of it.
it was cool to discover Hexen as a missing link, or an inspiration, for the puzzle maps in Master Levels for Doom II or Eternal Doom (not Doom Eternal, scrubs). Hexen still feels distinct from doom because of the dark fantasy stuff. Hexen will also always flow differently than Doom because of the lack of hit-scan enemies. it never really tells me, don’t stand here, don’t walk in this way, don’t leave this guy alive. the action is less engaging in this specific sense because there are less micro-decisions to make in how each encounter is approached and literally looked at. Hexen makes up for it by the grueling complexity of its world, or arguably hits a good balance between that and its medium complex action. there’s a massive cognitive load put into that struggle for survival, while also managing my inventory, while also putting my close sight on every single possible suspicious detail. like burying carthage while battling for it or something.
it’s also a delightfully goofy game that plays around as it tests the player. it’s genuinely funny to hit a switch and watch 30 wizards float out of the walls.
I can’t say it’s painless. if, maybe, ideal puzzle design requires that you can visibly see and measure your inputs, it’s maniacal to make a puzzle game where your inputs interact with something you may or may not have seen. Hexen is the distended puzzle game, the whole world feels like a mechanical organism that shifts and stirs when I stand on its parts, or when I poke at its holes. it’s very difficult to decide if I’m going the right way, if I’ve been in specific places or not, or if I still need to be in one place or another. Hexen has a leg up (or down) by usually conforming to a logical system. the trouble is that the player never knows what logic or what system. and it still preserves the forbidden feeling, the feeling of impossible discovery, by having walls I needed to rotate or walk-through, by having invisible floating paths I needed to find and follow.
videogames absorbed fantasy in this way, they have reconstructed a generic sensibility out of a body of meditations on history and ritual. Hexen is fascinated with the mystery this presents. like a fromsoftware joint, it teases that possibility with violence. it’s a monotonous glaze toward the search for something! so this search will be painful and hard fought. because of really game designy tricks (and limitations of the doom engine) the feeling of the search is soooo embodied. I always approach fantasy from the search. I’m asking if it could be allegory, where the symbols came from, why these specific ones, what could it possibly all mean. it’s probably meaningless in Hexen, which is why the search itself set my mind afire. literally how good are you at close reading the juvenile nothings, will you find the rosetta stone, the secret pattern, they key that leads out of this obsession…
it’s also a delightfully goofy game that plays around as it tests the player. it’s genuinely funny to hit a switch and watch 30 wizards float out of the walls.
I can’t say it’s painless. if, maybe, ideal puzzle design requires that you can visibly see and measure your inputs, it’s maniacal to make a puzzle game where your inputs interact with something you may or may not have seen. Hexen is the distended puzzle game, the whole world feels like a mechanical organism that shifts and stirs when I stand on its parts, or when I poke at its holes. it’s very difficult to decide if I’m going the right way, if I’ve been in specific places or not, or if I still need to be in one place or another. Hexen has a leg up (or down) by usually conforming to a logical system. the trouble is that the player never knows what logic or what system. and it still preserves the forbidden feeling, the feeling of impossible discovery, by having walls I needed to rotate or walk-through, by having invisible floating paths I needed to find and follow.
videogames absorbed fantasy in this way, they have reconstructed a generic sensibility out of a body of meditations on history and ritual. Hexen is fascinated with the mystery this presents. like a fromsoftware joint, it teases that possibility with violence. it’s a monotonous glaze toward the search for something! so this search will be painful and hard fought. because of really game designy tricks (and limitations of the doom engine) the feeling of the search is soooo embodied. I always approach fantasy from the search. I’m asking if it could be allegory, where the symbols came from, why these specific ones, what could it possibly all mean. it’s probably meaningless in Hexen, which is why the search itself set my mind afire. literally how good are you at close reading the juvenile nothings, will you find the rosetta stone, the secret pattern, they key that leads out of this obsession…
So you liked Heretic, huh? Well, let me tell you that this game has very little to do with Heretic, despite being a sequel. One of gaming's greatest developers (Raven Software) called upon an entity beyond human comprehension to make a game so difficult to enjoy, yet so satisfying to play that anyone would either absolutely love it or hate it with passion.
It looks like Heretic (a "doom clone"), it even feels like Heretic, but you are so wrong when you are expecting the same insane combat and wacky levels. No, you see in Hexen, you will suffer. A lot. The map design is brutal, and you need to search every little inch of a room just to be 100% sure that nothing is there, because if you miss a switch, you will be searching for it for hours on end. This is not a problem on the first hub level (yes, this game has hubs), but after that, the true nightmare begins.
Just to be a bit positive about it, the game offers a small selection of classes to play, namely a fighter, a cleric and a mage. They all have different stats and weapons from each other, and their weapon animations are obviously beautiful, we are talking about Raven Software here!
Hexen has a cult following, and I get it, I absolutely do. This game is insanely rewarding when you catch it's flow. If you really want to know what lies beyond heretic, seek out Hexen and find out yourself, because this game is an experience for sure. While I did not have the greatest time ever, I suggest anyone who is interested in gaming to play this game and it's sequel. Yes. This game has a sequel...
It looks like Heretic (a "doom clone"), it even feels like Heretic, but you are so wrong when you are expecting the same insane combat and wacky levels. No, you see in Hexen, you will suffer. A lot. The map design is brutal, and you need to search every little inch of a room just to be 100% sure that nothing is there, because if you miss a switch, you will be searching for it for hours on end. This is not a problem on the first hub level (yes, this game has hubs), but after that, the true nightmare begins.
Just to be a bit positive about it, the game offers a small selection of classes to play, namely a fighter, a cleric and a mage. They all have different stats and weapons from each other, and their weapon animations are obviously beautiful, we are talking about Raven Software here!
Hexen has a cult following, and I get it, I absolutely do. This game is insanely rewarding when you catch it's flow. If you really want to know what lies beyond heretic, seek out Hexen and find out yourself, because this game is an experience for sure. While I did not have the greatest time ever, I suggest anyone who is interested in gaming to play this game and it's sequel. Yes. This game has a sequel...
The N64 version of Hexen was very similar to the PC version, just with slightly different textures, so to play this I used a fan made updated PC version that, when testing out both for a bit, faithfully ports the game with the same feel, but with nicer textures (although I think I went a bit too far in choosing a version with textures as different as this). The blockiness is still there so it doesn’t impact the level design in any way, and I like giving games the best chance to impress me.
Hexen is a sequel to Raven Soft’s previous game Heretic (although there’s also a Hertic 2 and Hexen 2 for added name confusion – no wonder they later worked on the Jedi Knight games). It takes the DOOM engine and stretches it to its max to create a more RPG-like fantasy first person melee/shooter game. You can look up and down and jump, so small walls are no longer an impassable obstacle. As a result, it feels much more suited to the N64 than DOOM did, although this is just the PC game with no new levels (there was an added deathmatch option, though).
The biggest difference between DOOM and Hexic is the level design. The levels in Hexic are mini worlds, each having their own hub area which you’ll keep coming back to after exploring the various parts of the level. For the most part, beating a level involves hitting lots of hidden switches, but navigating around is a puzzle in itself. Unfortunately, most of this is just wandering around looking for keys and switches, then looking back to try and find what the switches do. The levels are very maze-like and you’ll end up going round in circles and backtracking a lot.
At the start of the game, you can choose a character class: Fighter, Cleric or Mage. They have different strengths and weaknesses, but the biggest thing is the weapons, as each has four unique weapons. This would work if there were also some shared weapons as well, but no – in each playthrough, you’ll only encounter four weapons. For the fighter, that includes his fists. It means that in a single play of the game, there isn’t much variety in shooting the hoards of enemies.
Hexen has a lot of interesting features, but it’s massively let down by an overreliance on having to look everywhere for buttons to press, along with limited weapon choice in each playthrough.
Hexen is a sequel to Raven Soft’s previous game Heretic (although there’s also a Hertic 2 and Hexen 2 for added name confusion – no wonder they later worked on the Jedi Knight games). It takes the DOOM engine and stretches it to its max to create a more RPG-like fantasy first person melee/shooter game. You can look up and down and jump, so small walls are no longer an impassable obstacle. As a result, it feels much more suited to the N64 than DOOM did, although this is just the PC game with no new levels (there was an added deathmatch option, though).
The biggest difference between DOOM and Hexic is the level design. The levels in Hexic are mini worlds, each having their own hub area which you’ll keep coming back to after exploring the various parts of the level. For the most part, beating a level involves hitting lots of hidden switches, but navigating around is a puzzle in itself. Unfortunately, most of this is just wandering around looking for keys and switches, then looking back to try and find what the switches do. The levels are very maze-like and you’ll end up going round in circles and backtracking a lot.
At the start of the game, you can choose a character class: Fighter, Cleric or Mage. They have different strengths and weaknesses, but the biggest thing is the weapons, as each has four unique weapons. This would work if there were also some shared weapons as well, but no – in each playthrough, you’ll only encounter four weapons. For the fighter, that includes his fists. It means that in a single play of the game, there isn’t much variety in shooting the hoards of enemies.
Hexen has a lot of interesting features, but it’s massively let down by an overreliance on having to look everywhere for buttons to press, along with limited weapon choice in each playthrough.
Cara, real, eu amo Hexen do mesmo jeito que amo Heretic. Ambos estão entre os primeiros jogos que joguei e ambos me fascinam com o estilo deles. Então, acima de tudo, eu considero pacas esses jogos!
MAS não tem como eu não dizer - e não vou medir palavras nisso - o quão CHATO PRA CARALHO É ESSA PORRA DESSE HEXEN!
Sério, o jogo tem uma ideia do caralho e de longe é o mais diferente e interessante dos FPS's 2.5D de 90 - Misturar o dinamismo dos FPS's da época a um aspecto mais RPG Dungeon Crawler onde o objetivo é explorar fases divididas em diferentes áreas (que tem tamanhos variados, podendo tanto serem pequenas quanto colossais) encontrando itens, chaves e interruptores que abrem caminhos e te ajudam a prosseguir mais fundo pelas áreas até que o puzzle principal do mapa seja resolvido e você possa prosseguir para a próxima fase. É algo que tinha tudo pra dar bom, mas infelizmente decidiram tomar uma porrada de decisões horríveis durante o desenvolvimento que fez com que a ideia do caralho se convertesse numa gameplay condenável e odiosa.
A exemplo das cagadas: Sistema de Mana (munição do jogo) muito limitado e que se esgota rápido, Spam gigantesco de inimigos em várias áreas, Respawn de inimigos em áreas já limpas (mas sem respawn de mana), Inimigos que demoram pra morrer porque ficam invulneráveis por alguns segundo a cada hit que tomam (e é um tipo de inimigo que o jogo ADORA spammar), etc, etc.
E isso tudo se mistura a exploração, onde tiveram a brilhante ideia de colocar vários interruptores em lugares mocados e fazer com que várias passagens essenciais para o progresso fossem PASSAGENS SECRETAS. E não apenas isso, mas passagens que variam entre você ter que atravessar uma parede ilusória, interagir com uma parede para abrir ela ou empurrar ela para conseguir passar - e você não tem como saber qual é qual.
Sabe aquele momento no Doom, por exemplo, onde você fica preso na fase, sem saber aonde ir ou o que fazer pra prosseguir, e você fica apenas correndo pra lá e pra cá na esperança de tropeçar em algo que te ajude a seguir? Então, a gameplay de exploração do Hexen é essencialmente isso: ficar preso procurando o que fazer de novo e de novo e de novo... Ao mesmo tempo que tendo que lidar com todas aquelas desgraças que eu falei alí em cima.
E o pior é que, mesmo com tudo isso, eu não consigo dizer que não vale a pena jogar Hexen. Mais uma vez, a ideia do jogo é do caralho e, de fato, o começo dele é muito bom - até todo o encanto se dissipar num loop de frustração e chatice.
Então a minha recomendação pra quem estiver curioso é: Jogue até o jogo parar de ser divertido e começar a ser irritante (o que tende a rolar lá pela segunda ou terceira fase) e não force ir além, porquê a coisa não vai melhorar.
Antes de finalizar, pra quem estiver interessado, deixo aqui uma dica pra rodar esse jogo em sistemas mais novos: Baixe GZDoom!
Essa engine, além de adaptar a resolução do jogo pra rodar sem problemas, também descompila ele de uma maneira que ele fica totalmente configurável - te deixando colocar mods e configurar o que quiser pra gameplay ficar mais confortável.
MAS não tem como eu não dizer - e não vou medir palavras nisso - o quão CHATO PRA CARALHO É ESSA PORRA DESSE HEXEN!
Sério, o jogo tem uma ideia do caralho e de longe é o mais diferente e interessante dos FPS's 2.5D de 90 - Misturar o dinamismo dos FPS's da época a um aspecto mais RPG Dungeon Crawler onde o objetivo é explorar fases divididas em diferentes áreas (que tem tamanhos variados, podendo tanto serem pequenas quanto colossais) encontrando itens, chaves e interruptores que abrem caminhos e te ajudam a prosseguir mais fundo pelas áreas até que o puzzle principal do mapa seja resolvido e você possa prosseguir para a próxima fase. É algo que tinha tudo pra dar bom, mas infelizmente decidiram tomar uma porrada de decisões horríveis durante o desenvolvimento que fez com que a ideia do caralho se convertesse numa gameplay condenável e odiosa.
A exemplo das cagadas: Sistema de Mana (munição do jogo) muito limitado e que se esgota rápido, Spam gigantesco de inimigos em várias áreas, Respawn de inimigos em áreas já limpas (mas sem respawn de mana), Inimigos que demoram pra morrer porque ficam invulneráveis por alguns segundo a cada hit que tomam (e é um tipo de inimigo que o jogo ADORA spammar), etc, etc.
E isso tudo se mistura a exploração, onde tiveram a brilhante ideia de colocar vários interruptores em lugares mocados e fazer com que várias passagens essenciais para o progresso fossem PASSAGENS SECRETAS. E não apenas isso, mas passagens que variam entre você ter que atravessar uma parede ilusória, interagir com uma parede para abrir ela ou empurrar ela para conseguir passar - e você não tem como saber qual é qual.
Sabe aquele momento no Doom, por exemplo, onde você fica preso na fase, sem saber aonde ir ou o que fazer pra prosseguir, e você fica apenas correndo pra lá e pra cá na esperança de tropeçar em algo que te ajude a seguir? Então, a gameplay de exploração do Hexen é essencialmente isso: ficar preso procurando o que fazer de novo e de novo e de novo... Ao mesmo tempo que tendo que lidar com todas aquelas desgraças que eu falei alí em cima.
E o pior é que, mesmo com tudo isso, eu não consigo dizer que não vale a pena jogar Hexen. Mais uma vez, a ideia do jogo é do caralho e, de fato, o começo dele é muito bom - até todo o encanto se dissipar num loop de frustração e chatice.
Então a minha recomendação pra quem estiver curioso é: Jogue até o jogo parar de ser divertido e começar a ser irritante (o que tende a rolar lá pela segunda ou terceira fase) e não force ir além, porquê a coisa não vai melhorar.
Antes de finalizar, pra quem estiver interessado, deixo aqui uma dica pra rodar esse jogo em sistemas mais novos: Baixe GZDoom!
Essa engine, além de adaptar a resolução do jogo pra rodar sem problemas, também descompila ele de uma maneira que ele fica totalmente configurável - te deixando colocar mods e configurar o que quiser pra gameplay ficar mais confortável.
An at times inexplicably complex series of switch hunts and I fucking love it.
Personally think a lot of the heat this game gets is parrotted from retro YouTubers who expected medieval Doom and got this slow, exploration-based and melee-heavy FPS. I enjoy having to explore every nook and cranny. I think the whole 'critical path is occasionally hidden behind secret walls' is overblown because the handful that are necessary are really bloody obvious. The only real criticism I think holds water is that the first hub is not only the worst, but also the most complex and least well explained, so in terms of putting it's best foot forward, Hexen stumbles out of the blocks AND pisses all over itself.
Good atmosphere, a nice sense of IMPACT to all the melee hits and some really cool tricks performed by the Doom engine put the polish on what I think is a bit of a strangely maligned title.
Personally think a lot of the heat this game gets is parrotted from retro YouTubers who expected medieval Doom and got this slow, exploration-based and melee-heavy FPS. I enjoy having to explore every nook and cranny. I think the whole 'critical path is occasionally hidden behind secret walls' is overblown because the handful that are necessary are really bloody obvious. The only real criticism I think holds water is that the first hub is not only the worst, but also the most complex and least well explained, so in terms of putting it's best foot forward, Hexen stumbles out of the blocks AND pisses all over itself.
Good atmosphere, a nice sense of IMPACT to all the melee hits and some really cool tricks performed by the Doom engine put the polish on what I think is a bit of a strangely maligned title.