| Hexen: Beyond Heretic |
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| | Developer(s) | Raven Software, Beam Software Pty., Ltd. | | Publisher(s) | id Software, GT Interactive | | Distributor(s) | GT Interactive | | Engine | Modified Doom engine | | Version | 1.1 | | Platform(s) | MS-DOS, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Apple Macintosh, RISC OS, Sega Saturn | | Release date | October 30, 1995, 1996, 1997 | | Genre(s) | First-person shooter | | Mode(s) | Single player, Cooperative, Deathmatch | | Rating(s) | BBFC: 12
ESRB: M (Mature)
RSAC: V3: Blood and gore
USK: 18 | | Media | 7 Floppy disks, 1 CD-ROM | | Input methods | Keyboard, Mouse, Joystick, Gamepad |
Hexen: Beyond Heretic (or Hexen) is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on March 16, 1996. It is a platform-switching sequel to Heretic released in 1994, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series. Its name is German for "witches". Hexen uses a modified version of the Doom engine, which allows jumping, network play with up to 8 players and the choice of three character classes. It also popularized the "hub system" of level progression in the genre of first-person shooter games. Unlike previous games, which had relied purely on MIDI for music, Hexen is also able to play tracks from audio CDs. The game's own CD contained soundtrack in audio format that was exactly the same as the game's MIDI soundtrack but played through a high quality sound module. However, the most significant improvement was the addition of polyobjects and level scripting (see below). The game received mostly very positive reviews in computer gaming magazines. There were complaints of the graphics being a bit crude even compared to Heretic, but vast and well designed levels plus numerous enemies and weapons were seen as advantages. The score was composed by Kevin Schilder. The source code of Hexen was released by Raven Software in 1999, which allowed the game to be ported to different platforms such as Linux and OS/2 (EComStation). Hexen is compatible with many Doom source ports; Hexen's features are also compatible with Doom WADs made for source ports regardless of what game they are being played on.
StorylineThe main goal of the game is the destruction of Korax, the second of a trio of demon brothers known as the Serpent Riders, who has taken over the world of Cronos. The first Serpent Rider, D'Sparil, was the final boss of Heretic and the third, Eidolon, would later appear in Hexen II.
Player classesThe player may be one of three classes: a fighter, a cleric, or a mage. Each character has advantages and disadvantages, for there are variations in physical ability, weapons, and the use of artifacts in the game.
FighterThe fighter's style focuses on close-range attacks. While two of his weapons - Timon's Axe and the Hammer of Retribution - can be enhanced by magic, they can be used without it. The Gauntlets, weapon 1, and the Axe, weapon 2, are melee-only weapons; the Hammer and Quietus can use magic for firing projectiles. He moves the fastest of the three and can wear the most armor, but since he possesses little magic, long-range combat is reserved until the Hammer of Retribution is acquired. The fighter's ultimate weapon is the Quietus, a sword that sends out a spread of magical projectiles. The spread inflicts the most damage when it is used at melee range, but the sword cannot be used without magic and has no melee attack. The fighter's main weaknesses become apparent when he is faced with a multitude of range-attacking enemies, and especially so when he only has weapons 1 or 2, or is out of green mana, greatly restricting his range. In addition, none of the fighter's ranged weapons have infinite speed (instant hit/hitscan) power, making aiming more difficult. The fighter's advantage of high armor also means little when his limited range prevents him from being able to take cover during a battle. For example, on a situation like Bright Crucible (the secret level of Hub 1), where thirty or so Brown Serpents are constantly shooting at the player from a great distance on an open field, the game becomes very challenging for a fighter character. The fighter needs to think strategically and use items carefully to get himself out of situations like this. The fighter's Flechettes are thrown like grenades, bouncing along the ground before coming to rest and then exploding. They will also explode on contact with the enemy.
ClericThe cleric possesses a broad range of weapons, each with very special properties. His first weapon (a spiked mace) is the least effective in the game, with the lowest damage and melee-only range. However, his second and third weapons (Serpent Staff and Firestorm, respectively) make up for the mace's downside with their added magic functionality. The Serpent Staff can be used as both a ranged and melee weapon. When used in range, it shoots out decently strong slow-moving poison bubbles in a wave pattern. The Serpent Staff is the only weapon in the game that can heal the player character: it drains life from the enemy and gives it to the cleric when used at melee range. Firestorm is an instant-hit, unreflectable weapon that allows the cleric to shoot out a line of flame, with a small blast radius at the impact point. The Firestorm has a limited, though long, range--about twenty-five feet. The cleric's ultimate weapon is the Wraithverge, a cross-shaped staff that unleashes four ghosts, each of whom will make five powerful attacks on random nearby enemies before dissipating. The ghosts can travel around walls and corners: never missing their mark when enemies are present. One disadvantage of the Wraithverge is that, when fired at a player, either by Traductus or by another player (deathmatch), the target player can use a Ring of Repulsion, and the ghosts will attack the one who created them unless another ring is quickly used. The cleric is very strong when supplied with mana: He is able to heal himself with the Serpent Staff, and the Wraithverge is arguably the strongest weapon in the game because of its power and extreme ease of use. However, if the cleric should run out of mana, he is left with the mace, the weakest of all weapons. With this in mind, a cleric player should be careful to conserve ammunition. The cleric's Flechettes, after being used, create a small cloud of poison gas that will paralyze and repeatedly damage any enemies that come in contact with it. This is particularly effective against Centaurs, Slaughtaurs and the Heresiarch, who cannot block the gas when their shields are up.
MageThe mage is arguably the strongest and least balanced character, mainly because of his first weapon. That weapon, the Sapphire Wand, is extremely powerful: Though weak, it has infinite ammunition, infinite range, infinite speed, infinite piercing, and it cannot be reflected. Whenever the mage is beset by hordes of enemies, or attacked by an enemy with a reflecting shield, the Wand is his weapon of choice, paralyzing the Centaur and slowly though easily damaging even the powerful Heresiarch. The weapon's infinite speed makes it ideal for shooting quickly and then ducking behind cover. Ironically, because of the unlimited shots of this weapon, the mage is thus less reliant on magic than the cleric and fighter are. His second weapon, Frost Shards, use mana and at long range, fires 15 icicles in a pattern from the mage's hand, each of which do a very small amount of damage. At melee range, the mage can make a Freeze Touch attack which does a huge amount of damage to one enemy, killing Afrits and Dark Bishops quickly. At medium range the weapon is weak, as not all the icicles appear until they have traveled a certain distance. Because of these three modes of use, the Frost Shards may take some time before a player is able to use it effectively. All enemies killed by Frost Shards are transformed into an ice statue which can only be destroyed by the player or by waiting about ten seconds. The mage can use these statues as "meat shields" when fighting large crowds of enemies. It generally is the best weapon of the mage for melee attacks. The mage's third weapon, Arc of Death, shoots out a thin pillar/bolt of electricity, which locks on to one enemy, paralyzes it, and makes a large number of rapid attacks. This weapon also cannot be reflected. However the arc is very weak in narrow halls, as the spell requires a significant amount of free space and dissipates when it hits a wall. It also behaves no differently when used as a melee weapon. The mage's ultimate weapon is the Bloodscourge, a staff that sends out three magical homing tetrahedral fireballs. The Bloodscourge's projectiles are arguably the most powerful weapon in the game because of the projectiles penetrating ability of unlimited enemies and do more damage than the cleric's Wraithverge. The Bloodscourge's homing ability is poor, however, and the fireballs often slam uselessly into a wall after killing one or two enemies, unless carefully targeted. It cannot turn around corners and walls like the cleric's Wraithverge is able to. The mage's flechettes work the same way as Corvus' ancient time bombs from Heretic. Once used, they explode in the same place they were dropped after about three seconds.
EnemiesHexen features a broad variety of enemies. Some are modified enemies from Heretic; however, most are new. Most enemies are mythology-derived creatures like the Ettin and the Centaur. The following is a list of enemies appearing in Raven Software's first-person shooter Hexen. The non-boss enemies are alphabetized and the bosses are in order of appearance. Also see the list of enemies here.
Non-boss creatures
AfritSimilar to the Gargoyle from Heretic, the Afrits are flaming demon-like creatures whose name is probably derived from Ifrit. They appear in every hub in Hexen and in Deathkings of the Dark Citadel. Their primary mode of attack is to fire sets of three fireballs at the player as they either hover overhead or "fly-by" at higher speeds. They are, however, among the weakest enemies in the game.
Chaos SerpentThere are two distinct species of Chaos Serpents in Hexen: - Brown The brown Chaos Serpents or 'Plague Serpents' are the more dangerous of the two breeds appearing in Hexen. Although both breeds take roughly the same number of hits to defeat, the green balls of poison gas that the brown Chaos Serpents fire do more damage than those of the green Chaos Serpent. Both species also have a close-range melee attack akin to the melee attacks of the Centaurs and Ettins. It is interesting to note that when these enemies are overhead (on a raised platform for example) their attacks will not harm you: their slime balls will almost all the time pass directly over the player's head.
- Green Ostensibly the same species as the mount of D'Sparil and the origin of the name Serpent Rider. Like the Brown variety, the green Chaos Serpents primary mode of attack is to fire a single fireball at the player. Their fireballs do less damage than the brown serpents' attack. However, it does not seem to have the same technical error as the Brown Serpents and hence can attack you from overhead.
CentaursA Centaur is also a mythological creature. Centaur The basic Centaur enemies possess no ranged attacks and rely solely upon close-range sword strikes to harm the player. They are slightly more dangerous than Ettins, however, because they also have the ability to block both projectile and melee attacks. After taking a hit, they will immediately block for several seconds. When blocking, they are invulnerable to most attacks and can reflect projectiles back at the player. However, certain weapons, such as the firestorm and sapphire wand, cannot be deflected, and poisonous gas, ghosts, and lightning can still harm them. Afterwards they will move about as normal, blocking yet again if they are struck once more. - Slaughtaur Identical in appearance to the basic Centaurs, the Slaughtaurs gain a strong, fast-moving projectile attack. They are a more difficult enemy because since the projectile is fired out of the Slaughtaur's shield, a harmless "blocking" centaur looks identical to a very dangerous shooting slaughtaur. The most obvious difference is that the rim of the Slaughtaur's shield is lighter than the shield of the Centaur.
Dark BishopDark Bishops are the former clerics and mages of the Church. They have been transformed into mindless minions by Korax's magics and now serve him obediently. They have the ability to rapidly phase-shift when attacked and respond in turn by firing long streams of circling jade. They do not appear until the third hub, Heresiarch's Seminary. EttinAn Ettin is also a species of giant from Germanic mythology. The basic enemy encountered by the player, Ettins have two heads and are the twisted, mindless remains of the fighters of the Legion. They are not overly skilled in their current form, however, and can only attack at close-range. They also cannot block and are momentarily stunned when struck. Ettins also periodically teleport into levels within a hub after set periods of time. These Ettins are identical to the Ettins that begin in levels, but will immediately seek out the player wherever they are in the level and will never stop following them until they are killed or blocked by a door or some other environmental obstacle.
PigAn often overlooked enemy is the pig. Using the porkalator, the player may transform nonboss enemies into pigs (similar to Heretic's Morph Ovum). The pig is very weak; its bites do little damage, and it is relatively easy to kill. The player may also transform himself into a pig to pass hallways with low ceilings; he can do this by either standing in front of a porkalator trap, or firing a porkalator at a reflecting enemy. Pig players have 30 health and may throw flechettes like a Fighter.
ReiverAppearing only in the fifth hub, Necropolis, and also in the secret level of the fifth hub, Vivarium (if you're playing the Mage), Reivers are levitating corpses equipped with long-range attacks. They are very similar to the Dark Bishops, but give the final hub an even more sinister feel for the player. Their melee attacks can steal your life and give it to themselves. StalkerStalkers appear only in areas with large pools of water or slime, very rarely being found in small puddles. They hide beneath the surface of such pools and emerge when a player comes close to them. They can only be struck by a player when they are not submerged, but are among the weaker enemies of the game. There are two varieties, one of which has only a melee attack by clawing the player with its talons, while other's have both this attack as well as being capable of firing a green slime-ball. The slime-balls move at a medium velocity, so they can be easily dodged if fired from long range. WendigoA Wendigo is also a Native American mythological creature. Ice creatures only appearing in the first hub, Seven Portals (in the Guardian of Ice), Wendigos are actually among the more difficult enemies of Hexen. Portrayed as a seeming mass of near liquid ice, the Wendigo attacks by rapidly firing volleys of two ice shards (similar to one of the attacks of the "Iron Lich" from Heretic (computer game)) at the player. These shards fragment into more shards when they hit, making the Wendigo's attacks very difficult to avoid. The Wendigos also can never be stunned by a player attack, meaning they will continue to attack even while taking damage. They shatter into many icy fragments upon death, leaving no corpse. Wendigos also appear in the Catacomb level of the expansion pack, Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, and a hidden level in the final (Nave) hub. Bosses
Death WyvernThe first boss of Hexen, appearing in the second hub, Shadow Wood. It is described as an ancient "siege weapon" that was sealed away in times immemorial. The Death Wyvern is a difficult opponent because it spends much of the boss fight out of sight, pelting the player with fireballs from the seeming darkness of a large, cavernous, lava-filled room. It flies about out of sight for some time, but occasionally will venture towards the player and attack head-on. Its fireballs not only explode on impact, but also cause fire to rise from the area of impact several seconds later as well. Since the Death Wyvern travels on a path set by map markers, a common strategy is to take to the air after it, with the use of the Wings of Wrath, a magical item that allows flight. It cannot turn around mid-flight so the best defence is to try and stay behind it.
HeresiarchThe Heresiarch appears as a boss twice in Hexen and twice more in Deathkings of the Dark Citadel. In the original game, the Heresiarch first appears as the boss of the third hub, Heresiarch's Seminary. It fights in the exact same manner in all four of its other appearances. It has four forms of attack. The first is to fire multiple downward-angled projectiles in a sweeping pattern at the player, following their movements as they try to escape. The second is to summon two bouncing flaming skulls that home in on the player. The third is to create a shield around itself that makes it invulnerable to most attacks and reflects projectiles back at the player, similar to the Centaur's shield. The Heresiarch can still be harmed by flechettes, poison gas, and lightning while the shield is up. Lastly, when the Heresiarch drops below a certain level of health, it can summon Dark Bishops to aid it at will. Upon its death, the cubes encircling the Heresiarch's head will drop to the ground, bounce, and explode, possibly further damaging the player. If a player is foolish enough to run into one of these bouncing mana cubes, they will suffer instant death.
MenelkirThe Arch-Mage of Arcanum, Menelkir sold out Cronos along with Traductus and Zedek to Korax. He now serves as one of Korax's top lieutenants. He can be battled at any time in the fifth hub, Necropolis. Menelkir is identical to the mage player character Daedolon. Boss of the aptly named Tomb of Menelkir, he uses the Bloodscourge to fight against the player.
TraductusThe Grand Patriarch of the Church, Traductus aligned himself with Korax in return for eternal life. Like Menelkir and Zedek, he can be battled at any time in the fifth hub. Traductus is identical to the cleric player character Parias. He utilizes only the Wraithverge. He is the boss of the Tomb of Traductus.
ZedekCommander of the Legion, Zedek now serves Korax as a zombified warrior. Like the other class bosses, he can be fought at any time in the Necropolis. Identical to Baratus, the warrior player character, Zedek utilizes the strongest of the warrior weapons, the Quietus. He awaits the player in the Tomb of Zedek.
KoraxMain Article: Korax Korax is the final boss of Hexen and the second of the Serpent Riders.
Major engine modificationsAlong with jumping and hub-style gameplay, Hexen brought two major improvements to the Doom engine.
PolyobjectsPolyobjects are the walls which move within the game. Because the Doom engine uses the binary space partitioning system for rendering, it does not enable moving walls. Hexen's moving walls are actually one-sided lines built somewhere else on the map and rendered at the desired start spot when the level is loaded. This enables a pseudo-moving wall but does not allow moving sectors (such as seeing the tops of moving doors). This often creates problems in sectors which contain more than one node, explaining the relatively limited use of polyobjects.
ACS scriptsWhereas Doom, Doom II, and Heretic rely on lines within the maps to perform simple actions, Hexen also allows these actions to be activated via ACS (Action Code Script) scripting. These scripts use a syntactic variant of C, thus allowing special sequencing of game actions. Programming features such as randomization, variables, and intermap script activation enable smooth hub gameplay and are responsible for most of the special effects within the game: On-screen messages; random sound effect and monster spawning; sidedef texture changes; versatile control of polyobjects; level initialization for deathmatch; and even complex environment changes such as earthquakes manipulating floor levels and textures.
Expansion packDeathkings of the Dark Citadel is the official expansion pack that was released for Hexen. It features three more hubs, for a total of 20 new single player levels and a couple of deathmatch levels. Unlike the expansion pack for Heretic, it had to be purchased in retail stores or by mail order. This was unusual at the time, as most non-free expansion packs also included other new or revised gameplay elements. Also, this expansion pack did not initially include nor enable any music. Music could be fully enabled by applying a patch, specially released to address this issue (usually found online under the name "dkpatch"). The names of the expansion hubs are as follows: - The Blight
- The Constable's Gate
- The Nave
Each of the hubs features new levels, one secret level per hub, and new puzzles based on the quest items from the original game (no new quest artifacts were added). The difficulty of the puzzles is mostly on the same level as in the original game. The overall game difficulty is slightly higher, as is typical for game expansions. The final level of the expansion, the Dark Citadel itself, is an arena-like level, which features teleporting waves of monsters and three bosses (Fighter, Cleric, and Mage clones).
See also
External links- Official Hexen website from Raven
- Official Hexen website from id Software
- Hexen source ports
- Doomsday Engine - unified port for Doom-based games
- zDoom - source port compatible with both Hexen and its expansion pack
- Hexen at MobyGames
- Hexen Soundtrack at Sycraft.org
- Hexen Soundtrack - by Aenn Seidhe Priest
- Hexen Wikia
| Heretic-Hexen |
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| | Game series | Heretic • Hexen • Hexen II • Heretic II | | | Characters | Corvus • D'Sparil • Eidolon • Korax • Serpent Rider |
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