Hexen 2, Hexen fan games..?

[CarltonTroisi]

I have fond memories of Raven Software's old FPS shooters, Heretic and Hexen... especially the latter.

 

Something about that "dark gothic" element, really worked for me. The atmosphere of Hexen was amazing.

 

I never got around to playing "Hexen 2", though. Is it still worth playing? Are there any mods or "fan fixes" etc?

 

Chime in, folks.. I'll even take suggestions for similar games, or games on the horizon...

[lowenz]

There's a *UNIVERSE* of fixes for Hexen/Hexen 2/Heretic.....here's the (demilegal?) shortcut

 

http://hexen2retex.narod.ru/

[RPGista]

I was the biggest hexen fan back in the day. It was my first computer game, that I owned. I loved Heretic and Hexen was just more... epic, with the different player characters and the more unique scripted environments. It was the mix I had always dreamed of, take the cool elements of fantasy rpg and make it a badass fps game. I played it to death. The levels were very unique, brilliant atmosphere, a lot of mysteries to keep you guessing. Unfortunately, back in those days, a lot of games were about cryptic puzzles and less than believable world building, and Hexen suffers from that, a lot. Some of the maps are just big abstract puzzle stages, and I hate puzzles. The expansion pack had some of the coolest maps ever, they took the engine as far as it could go. Theres a gameplay mod for it called Korax' Heritage, and it makes the game amazing to play again, very challenging. I havent played it in many years, but it added things that should have been in the original all along, like experience points, player progression, more effects for the weapons (and the fact it makes it possible to finally slash with the sword, how I missed that!), much more challenging monsters.

 

As for Hexen 2 I remember playing the demo and being intrigued by the first castle stage up to a point with the first few steps you had to take, but really underwhelmed by the weak melee feel and the complete lack of character. I mean, Hexen's atmosphere was so strong, the art direction was so amazing to me, but in Hexen 2 it just felt generic, not nearly as epic. I never actually played it. After watching a bunch of videos on it, Im glad I didnt, as the puzzles seem to have been taken to ridiculous levels of intricacy and randomness. For some reason they associated the Hexen series with deviously hard puzzle games, when in fact it should be all about atmosphere and great fantasy combat.

 

Theres a Hexen TC for doom3 that looks amazing, but unfortunately it seems to have died out... A few weeks ago I watched a review of a game in development that seems to have been directly inspired by Heretic/Hexen. Same feel and gameplay. Gonna have to get back to you on that.

Edited October 17, 2018 by RPGista

[lowenz]

I was the biggest hexen fan back in the day. It was my first computer game, that I owned. I loved Heretic and Hexen was just more... epic, with the different player characters and the more unique scripted environments. It was the mix I had always dreamed of, take the cool elements of fantasy rpg and make it a badass fps game. I played it to death. The levels were very unique, brilliant atmosphere, a lot of mysteries to keep you guessing.

I know (feel) really well those feelings.

 

Are you in the know of this, mate? http://dengine.net/

Edited October 15, 2018 by lowenz

[freyk]

That hexen tc for doom 3 is

https://www.moddb.com/mods/hexen-edge-of-chaos

And do you mean amid evil, rpgista?

 

If you want to play mods, visit moddb for those games.

https://www.moddb.com/games/hexen

 

https://www.moddb.com/games/hexen-ii

Edited October 15, 2018 by freyk

[VanishedOne]

Apparently at least one person is still posting on their forum. With a proposal to change engines.

[lowenz]

I know (feel) really well those feelings.

 

Are you in the know of this, mate? http://dengine.net/

 

Edited October 15, 2018 by lowenz

[RPGista]

Lowenz - Those old game remakes are incredible achievements, but for me, its the original pixel art all day...

 

 

 

 

As for the Hexen Edge of Chaos, it looked stunning:

 

 

 

I think the problem with their project, as well as Arx and many others, is that they put this insane weight upon themselves of developing a complete gaming experience for the fans, all the art, a campaign, everything. This is simply too much work. I wish they had just released their assets and made the community work on improving the game with the team, creating maps, putting together a campaign or simply contributing any way they can. Thats the genious behind TDM's success. Aiming to release a complete set of tools that allows people to create the game experience they want to see. This makes the community responsible for the final product just as much as the team, instead of assuming the role of consumers, and wait for people to do all the work for them.

Edited October 15, 2018 by RPGista

[wanderer]

I have the Hammer of Thyrion installed on my pc.

 

http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net/

 

According to the saved games I finished Portal of Praevus in November 2015.

[rich_is_bored]

I enjoyed Heretic more so than the Hexen games that followed. I enjoy puzzle games but in Hexen there was too much directionless backtracking. Lots of combing over old empty levels to find the one thing that changed. There weren't many instances where you were presented with an obstacle and later an "ah-ha" moment that lead you to want to revisit it. I may have just been too young to make sense of the puzzles. Unfortunately I can't play the game for the first time again now that I'm older to see if it helps.

 

At any rate I didn't chime in here to crap on the game. I liked it. Anyone seen these before...

 

 

 

 

They're really awesome looking weapon models for the Doomsday Engine. I recall seeing a video of these in action and I was blown away by how faithful they are to the source material but I can't find the video now.

 

At any rate the addon is available here...

 

http://talk.dengine.net/discussion/1887/sapphire-wand-2-0-doomsday-2-hexen-models/p1

[Oktokolo]

They're really awesome looking weapon models for the Doomsday Engine.

Wow, that contrast between the weapon and the map. As if the weapon is sucking up the geometric and texture complexity of the map - when it is done, there will only be a grey box design left.

Like a vampire sucking out the life of his victim...

[rich_is_bored]

Found the video...

 

[RPGista]

Wow, those models are really absolutely stunning. Im particulatly impressed by the serpent staff, he even remembered the blinking, which is a touch I always loved about that weapon. The difference in quality between these models, effects and animations with the other models they remade for the game is jaw dropping. Someone should really hire that guy to remake the whole game with that level of detail and finesse haha.

Edited October 17, 2018 by RPGista

[RPGista]

The game I saw people mentioning as a spiritual successor to Hexen and Heretic was this one, Amid Evil:

 

 

Seems pretty cool, but appearently its still in development.

[lowenz]

Speaking of Hexen I've got the "DX syndrome".....everytime somebody speaks of Hexen I MUST reinstall&play it (via Doomsday)

 

 

Man, I love this atmosphere SO MUCH (like the Unreal one)

Edited October 17, 2018 by lowenz

[stumpy]

i played hexen 2 to the end, can't remember anything good about it though, except it was a real 3d game while hexen is a pseudo 3d game, as in you couldn't have rooms on top of other rooms, well unless you faked it by teleporting players to the upper rooms in another part of the map while making the outside look the same in the lower part of the map, and if players went through windows in the upper part you then had to teleport them to the lower part so it felt like they had jumped out the window.

 

All the maps I made for hexen were very hard, as monsters were on a respawn timer, and if you took too long getting through a map, it wern't a few monsters you had to kill, it was lots of monsters.

Also using linedefs to create light streaming through windows, and hoping you wouldn't suffer from the dreaded hall of mirrors effect when you got too many linedefs in view.

this was long before had access to internet. so there's nothing online, I don't think I have any copies of the maps I made.

[lowenz]

For Hexen (base game + expansion WADs from the Steam version of Deathkings of the Dark Citadel ) I suggest the use of:

 

*Doomsday Engine 2.x: http://dengine.net/windows / http://dengine.net/windows

*XARP resource pack (3D models, textures, sounds, HUD, etc.): https://filedn.com/llnKciHa4tkbyeQtz8QoRlj/xarp_013.box.zip

*Systrex remixed/remastered OST: http://sycraft.org/content/audio/hexen/sycraft-hexen-high.zip

 

Put the 2 WADs file in a directory, the 2 resource pack in another (unzipping the XARP - getting a xarp_0.13.box folder - and renaming to .pk3 the OST file) and use doomsday power to configure the base game AND add the resources to it

 

I usually play @1920x1080 with FoV@75 (but you old lads maybe like more 90-95).

Edited October 18, 2018 by lowenz

[CarltonTroisi]

Well, because of Steam (sales, bundles, and so on) and the like, I can hardly be bothered configuring stuff on my own, no more. I suppose it doesn't help that I was never a sharp cookie, either

 

In terms of Hexen 2, how would I go about setting that up? Should I get the Steam version? Is there a patch that improves the base game, smooths the rough edges?

 

I never played it, and regretted that. Was hoping to rectify that now. But I'm looking at current and old reviews and the game sounds like a chore. Obscure puzzles, excessive backtracking, hard-to-find doors... Doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy. Oy Vey.

Edited October 18, 2018 by CarltonTroisi

[lowenz]

If you want the original feeling, go for Hammer of Thyrion

 

http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net/download.html#win32_zip

[STiFU]

The game I saw people mentioning as a spiritual successor to Hexen and Heretic was this one, Amid Evil:

 

 

Seems pretty cool, but appearently its still in development.

I was gonna post that, too. The trailers look pretty promising, although some reviews say it doesn't have a lot in common with Hexen. Still, it looks pretty nice so far. Lets wait how it turns out in the end. I am definitely up for a good old-school shooter! :-)

[lowenz]

And you forget this

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellraid

[lowenz]

Here we go, men!

 

[VIDEO]

[/VIDEO]

[lowenz]

https://www.nexusmods.com/hexenbeyondheretic/mods/2?tab=files

 

Edited April 6, 2019 by lowenz

[RPGista]

Yeah, this looks really cool. Love it that they kept the handdrawn feel...

[lowenz]

Yeah, this looks really cool. Love it that they kept the handdrawn feel...

It's not "they", it's an AI