Game:

Hexen (1995)

Duration: 21:14

4,467 views

0

Hexen: Beyond Heretic was Raven Software's sequel to their earlier FPS creation Heretic, originally released on the 30th of October 1995. Originally starting development as an expansion to Heretic, the developers added so many new features that changed the gameplay enough that Raven decided to expand Hexen into a full-blown title. These features include the hub system of level progression, ACS (Action Code Script, a form of level scripting), polyobjects (sections of level geometry that can move and rotate three-dimensionally), multiple character classes, among other things.

The three character classes in Hexen consist of Baratus the Fighter, Parias the Cleric and Daedolon the Mage. The Fighter is aimed at feats of strength and close-range combat, the Mage is geared towards spell-casting and long-range combat, while the Cleric finds the middle ground between the two. For this playthrough I chose the Fighter class.

The game is split into five hubs. Each hub consists of a central hub map that has access to several (usually all) other levels in that hub. This does away with the previous episodic linear style of level progression, as the player's actions in one map will have consequences in other levels of the hub. The actual gameplay of Hexen still relies on the player acquiring keys to get through locked doors to progress, it's just that now the keys and the doors are spread out across several levels.

As Hexen was originally developed as an expansion to Heretic, it uses a modified Doom engine. Thus, I am once again using GZDoom to play through Hexen here, with all of my previous settings from prior Let's Plays maintained here.

More information on Hexen can be found here: http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Hexen

The first hub of the game is called Seven Portals. There is an introductory map - the Winnowing Hall - which serves as Hexen's tutorial map: the level is standalone, as once the player has progressed to the Seven Portals proper, he/she can't revisit the Winnowing Hall again.

In this first part, we smash our way through the Winnowing Hall and explore all of the 'proper' levels of this hub, including the Seven Portals map itself, the Guardian of Ice, the Guardian of Fire and the Guardian of Steel. Specifically, we open the hub up (as the Guardian of Ice is the only 'spoke' level you can visit at first) and acquire the Flame Mask!

Each character class has only 4 weapons (though that makes for 12 weapons total in Hexen). The Fighter starts off with his Spiked Gauntlets, and can acquire Timon's Axe in this first hub. In this first part we are introduced to the following enemies: the Ettin, the Afrit, the Green Chaos Serpent, and the Centaur!

Interestingly, the Nintendo 64 version of the game presents the player with little fluff descriptions for each level they are entering. I will try and collect that information together here for those that are interested. Furthermore, the PlayStation version of the game features full-blown cutscenes to introduce the game, act as story progression between episodes and to close the game too. While I do not possess either the Nintendo 64 or PlayStation versions of this game (and unlike Doom they do not differ greatly from the PC version other than these additions), other people on the Internet have shared this material, and to these people I am very grateful. Specifically, I must thank acidglow for uploading the PlayStation Hexen cutscenes.

The introductory video can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qiM2wePnCM

I will type up the actual storyline of Hexen from the manual in the next part's description.

The fluff for these levels will follow in the next part.

Hexen was created by Raven Software, Inc. and published by id Software, Inc. Copyright ©1995 by Raven Software, Inc. and id Software, Inc. Hexen trademark and logo, Hexen character names and distinctive likenesses, Heretic trademark and distinctive likenesses thereof, are the exclusive property of Raven Software, Inc.

Other Statistics