Hexen: Beyond Heretic

Yeah... 15 hours of play... Terribly boring. Also, when I went offline, Steam stopped reading the timer in the game in any way, which is weird...

What can I say about the game? It's old, that's obvious, getting it to work is a pain in the ass on a modern computer. Music... Any sounds at all... It felt like I was watching a movie from the 60s, I can't say I expected much, but that's a big minus for me.
I can also say right away that I didn't understand anything from the plot at all, it feels like you're just killing mobs and solving traps and riddles just to get to the end without any story.

In general, from what I understood, the chronology of the Hexen games is somewhat different from the one we can buy and maybe, I'm not sure, it should be considered the first part. For the sake of interest, I'll go tomorrow to suffer through the next part and maybe I'll get lucky and it will be more interesting.

And one more thing. Hexen nerds obviously won't like it, but I didn't like the game and I wouldn't recommend it at least for the reason that it's a shitty old thing, as for me.

Plays just like I remember on Nintendo 64. Though on there it was 2 player split screen.

The control scheme is hot garbage designed for keyboard only where you need to use "PgUp" and "PgDn" just to look vertically. Without special programs you cannot make the mouse look about appropriately, and the ones that exist don't work with Windows 10+ or have broken or shady links I would rather not touch.

You can go into Program Files (x86) > Steam > steamapps > common > Hexen, and then open Hexen.exe with Notepad to replace hexen.exe with setup.exe. This will open a screen to where you can at least get both mouse and keyboard involved.

Even after following this process though, BOTH the keyboard and the mouse dictate movement, and you cannot make the mouse stop dictating movement along with WASD. So if you turn with the mouse, you also move your position just a little because you also moved the mouse. If you click and that moves the mouse at all, you're going to float backward or forward while still trying to WASD around. It's an absolute sensory nightmare.

Loved playing this on N64. Annoyed they couldn't be arsed for some compatibility with up-to-date software and hardware.

Disappointed in id Software on this one. I will not be able to play this.

Edit: GZDoom works. Take the hexen.wad file and drop it onto the GZDoom executable and you should be able to start cooking.

Game's working great now, has better graphics, and my mouse works appropriately.

An instance of developers putting the work on their fan base but still asking for our money. I'll give GZDoom a good review, not this product.

the classic

When did I play this?

Enjoyable, but it's definitely a "where the fuck do I go?" kind of game. Since you aren't give hints as to the next objective after flicking a hidden switch, etc. I often found myself wandering areas long after I had done everything I needed to because they never felt "complete", always as though I had potentially missed something. It was so bad that after I suffered a glitch in one of the later stages that rendered the game unbeatable I still hugged and attempted to activate every wall for ten minutes before finally consulting a walkthrough. Raven Soft. had thoroughly buck-broken me at that point, so the idea that there was some well hidden bullshit seemed more likely than the game fizzing out and denying me further progress (I was able to finish the game off after reloading an older save btw).
Regarding the gameplay: it's fine. There are multiple classes, and I chose the cleric who is kind of battlemage. The melee combat is atrocious, though, and I don't think I will ever want to play this game as a warrior. It's DOOM with a different coat of paint, essentially, and a class dedicated to DOOM's fist-fighting action sounds miserable. I definitely didn't have fun using the cleric's mace, and much preferred using magic. Unfortunately there are only three spells the cleric can use, so it's lacking in variety. The final spell is a BFG-type attack, too, which consumes a lot of ammo, so it's best used sparingly.
The enemy variety is also lacking. Centuars in particular are one of the most annoying FPS creatures I've fought as they can deflect magic, and melee is such a bore. There are poisonous vials you can drop which stunlocks them into place, and guarantees a kill if they walk into the gas cloud, but then you have to wait for it to dissipate because it'll otherwise deal a lot of damage to yourself as well. I never had fun fighting a centuar, but the other monsters can be pretty cool. I just wish there were more of them.
Overall I'd give it a 6 or 7 out of 10. I prefer Heretic.

Years later and I'm still lost.

The worst part of Doom maps is when you get lost and are wondering around, accidentally finding secrets instead of progress.

This is the essence that Hexen trapped in a bottle.