Hexen: Beyond Heretic
While the Sidhe elf Corvus battled the evil forces of D'Sparil, the remaining Serpent Riders were busy corrupting other dimensions. As a Warrior, Mage, or Cleric, you must defend your realm of Cronos from the second Serpent Rider known as Korax.
Hexen: Beyond Heretic is a action, fantasy and fps game
developed by Raven Software
and published by id Software.
Released on August 03rd 2007 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 717 reviews of which 619 were positive and 98 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.1 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 4.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Hexen: Beyond Heretic into these genres:
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Requirements
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Windows
Minimum: A 100% Windows XP/Vista-compatible computer system
Reviews
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
A dark, broody Boomer Shooter best enjoyed with GZDoom. I personally enjoyed Heretic, the predecessor, a bit more as it has a clearer, more focused level design and better music, but I still think Hexen gets points for the good atmosphere and fluid gameplay. You can even choose from 3 different classes, all with their own weapons, which was definitely unique for the time. Every weapon, except the base one, also uses one (or both) of two ammo types, so juggling and conserving ammo is crucial. The level design is probably the biggest flaw of Hexen - not only is it kind of boring and mazelike most of the time, but it also is an endless switch hunt. Find a switch that does something in the level (or even the hub the level connects to), then find whatever it opened up or changed, then do a thing there and so on. The hints for where you need to go next are cryptic or nonexistent most of the time. The saving grace is that the levels themselves aren't *that* big, so you will come across the spot that lets you progress eventually, but it's still archaic, frustrating level design. Many levels also consist of tight hallways within those mazelike structures, which is especially fun with most of the enemies shooting projectiles at you. That being said, having played at medium difficulty, the game never gets too hard and there are plenty of consumables and items you can use (many of which returning from Heretic) that help you. Overall, even with the confusing and archaic level design and disappointing music, I had my fun with Hexen. Although I think it is a downgrade from Heretic, I would still recommend it if you enjoy that kind of game and atmosphere and overall it's not too long either (if you find the right switches and paths...). A cautious recommendation for Boomer Shooter fans.
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Played through GZDoom. Hexen is an interesting beast that definitely needs patience to play. Levels are now accessed from an hub, and there are 3 playable characters to choose from, each with their own set of weapons, which is quite ambitious for a game on the Doom engine. The inventory system from Heretic is also back. That said, Hexen's biggest flaw is well known by now: it's very cryptic. It's a switch hunt fron start to finish that will have you run from one end of a map to the other multiple times. What could be a secret in another game is mandatory to progress here. Imho, there's also the issue of the weapons: while there are a total of 12 weapons, each character only has 4 at their disposal. This makes a playthrough more repetitive than normal because you have access to half the arsenal of other Doom games. To add insult to injury, the Tome of Power from Heretic isn't in this game for some reason. There's also a strange mechanic that will spawn one weak enemy in the map you're in every once in a while. It's a small annoyance that doesn't add much to the game. Despite all of this, I think Hexen is worth experiencing at least once, if you have enough patience for it.
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HeXen: Beyond Heretic has one of the best game titles I've ever seen. It literally bashes on its indirect prequel, Heretic, saying it's beyond it! It's the developers recognizing an evolution in their game developing skills. It differs from DOOM in its fantasy setting, and on the level design: it consists of hub areas with other entrances scattered throughout, leading to other areas, instead of linear levels. One needs to collect keys to open doors in previous areas and backtrack all the time, possibly passing by the same place over and over to check if a door is now open or not. Spatial memory will help a lot when playing HeXen, since everything is a maze with tons of branching paths. The concept in itself isn't the issue here, since exploration is fun, but it's handled terribly. Sometimes, you need to guess that a specific wall with a misaligned texture can be opened, or you have to fall on a tight square hole to fall somewhere important, or you have to place a skull on a statue without the game ever hinting at such. Out of all the shooters of the time, HeXen is one of the worst when it comes to progression. It puts many people off due to the annoying navigation and puzzles, unsurprisingly so. Hand holding is frowned upon in games, but absolutely zero guidance and cruelly complicated mazes are just as obnoxious. Without taking merit from the fantastic soundtrack, I have personally played HeXen while listening to Norwegian Black Metal, which is the vibe this game's atmosphere brings. I've blasted the likes of Darkthrone, Burzum, Mayhem, Immortal and Emperor while playing through it! Doing so via GZDOOM with a Reshade preset that increased sharpness, made everything slightly darker and added a grey tint was a brutal experience. The song "Transilvanian Hunger" will now always remind me of playing HeXen. The class I've chosen was Fighter, but I personally might replay this game at a later date with a different class, to see how much it differs. Even though the confusing, labyrinthine levels might not be everyone's cup of tea (I've spent more time lost in Shadow Wood than I'd like to admit), HeXen is not talked about enough when it comes to boomer shooters.
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As of 2024, Hexen remains one of my favorite id Software published titles. While not as known as Quake or Doom these days, the Heretic series deserves as much attention as the other classics. This sequel to Heretic steps a little further into the adventure genre than other doom-engine titles, throwing more puzzles and exploration at the player while also providing options for a melee-centered combat approach in character selection. It's basically Doom with a medieval-fantasy skin, trying its best to be an adventure game while also doing everything in its power to avoid being an RPG. Even though the lack of genre-identity is felt throughout the game, the atmosphere and gameplay more than make up for the game's awkwardness and sometimes questionable level design. Having a strategy guide to take a peak at for the obscure parts of the game is highly recommended. Rose-tinted nostalgia shades make picking this up for $5 a no-brainer, but I think new players can also have some fun with the graphical and gameplay mods still being made and updated as of 2024. If you're new and prefer RPGs or returning and wanting to mix it up, the Korax Mod on moddb makes Hexen feel like a weird hybrid of Daggerfall and Doom, something you probably didn't know you needed in your life.
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Old school goodness. Use a mod to update the controls and have fun. Great atmosphere and immersion too. Game offers a mix of melee and range booth of which are crucial during combat. And you can choose up to 3 different characters that offer different play styles giving replay value.
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Last Updates
| Steam data | 19 November 2024 08:15 |
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| SteamSpy data | 21 January 2025 08:26 |
| Steam price | 23 January 2025 12:46 |
| Steam reviews | 23 January 2025 06:08 |
Online players
3
Developer
Raven Software
Publisher
id Software
Release
03 Aug 2007
Platforms