''Hexen II'' is a

dark fantasy Dark fantasy, also called fantasy horror, is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporates disturbing and frightening themes. The term is ambiguously used to describe stories that combine horror fiction, horror ...

first-person shooter A first-person shooter (FPS) is a video game genre, video game centered on gun fighting and other weapon-based combat seen from a First person (video games), first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action directly through t ...

(FPS) video game developed by

Raven Software Raven Software Corporation (trade name: Raven; formerly Raven Software, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Middleton, Wisconsin, and part of Activision. Founded in May 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel, the company is most ...

and published by

id Software id Software LLC () is an American video game developer based in Richardson, Texas. It was founded on February 1, 1991, by four members of the computer company Softdisk: game programmer, programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer T ...

in 1997. It is the third game in the '' Hexen''/''

Heretic Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Christianity, Judai ...

'' series, and the last in the ''Serpent Riders'' trilogy. Using a modified ''Quake'' engine, it features single-player and multiplayer game modes, as well as four

character class In tabletop games and video games, a character class is an occupation, profession, or role assigned to a game character to highlight and differentiate their capabilities and specializations. In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes ag ...

es to choose from, each with different abilities. These include the "offensive"

Paladin The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers (), are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, wh ...

, the "defensive" Crusader, the spell-casting Necromancer, and the stealthy Assassin. Improvements from '' Hexen: Beyond Heretic'' and '' Quake'' include

destructible environment In video games, destructible environments or deformable terrains are environments that can be destroyed by the player. It may refer to any part of the environment, including terrain, buildings and other man-made structures. A game may feature dest ...

s, mounted weapons, and unique level up abilities. Like its predecessor, ''Hexen II'' also uses a hub system. These hubs are a number of interconnected

level Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (optical instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights * Spirit level or bubble level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *C ...

s; changes made in one level have effects in another. Furthermore, the Tome of Power artifact makes a return from ''

''.

Gameplay

The

gameplay Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...

of ''Hexen II'' is very similar to that of the original ''Hexen''. Instead of three classes, ''Hexen II'' features four: Paladin, Crusader, Assassin, and Necromancer, each with their own unique weapons and play style. ''Hexen II'' also adds certain

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

elements to the mix. Each character has a series of statistics which increase as they gain

experience Experience refers to Consciousness, conscious events in general, more specifically to perceptions, or to the practical knowledge and familiarity that is produced by these processes. Understood as a conscious event in the widest sense, experience i ...

. This then causes the player character to grow in power as his or her HP and

mana Mana may refer to: Religion and mythology * Mana (Oceanian cultures), the spiritual life force energy or healing power that permeates the universe in Melanesian and Polynesian mythology * Mana (food), archaic name for manna, an edible substance m ...

increases.

Plot

Thyrion is a world that was enslaved by the Serpent Riders. The two previous games in the series documented the liberation of two other worlds, along with the death of their Serpent Rider overlords. Now, the oldest and most powerful of the three Serpent Rider brothers, Eidolon, must be defeated to free Thyrion. Eidolon is supported by his four generals, themselves a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. To confront each general, the player has to travel to four different

continent A continent is any of several large geographical regions. Continents are generally identified by convention (norm), convention rather than any strict criteria. A continent could be a single large landmass, a part of a very large landmass, as ...

s, each possessing a distinct theme ( Medieval European for Blackmarsh,

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

n for Mazaera,

Ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

ian for Thysis, and

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for Septimus). Then, finally, the player returns to Blackmarsh in order to confront Eidolon himself inside of his own dominion Cathedral.

Development

What was originally supposed to be the final game in a trilogy, the sequel to ''Hexen'' was originally titled ''Hecatomb'' but was abandoned after

John Romero Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is an American video game developer. He co-founded id Software and designed their early games, including ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992), ''Doom (1993 video game), Doom'' (1993), ''Doom II'' (1994), ''Hexen ...

left

in 1996.

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

, the distributor at the time, pressured

to split development of Hecatomb into two different games, ''Hexen II'' and '' Heretic II''. Activision felt that the previous entries in the series, Heretic and Hexen, were different enough from one another that they should treat them as separate entities going forward, instead of just one final game to complete a trilogy. Only a select few ideas of Romero's from ''Hecatomb'' would ultimately make their way into what became ''Hexen II'' and ''Heretic II''. ''Hexen II'' was based on an enhanced version of the ''Quake'' engine. ''Hexen II'', by way of the ''Quake'' engine, uses

OpenGL OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a Language-independent specification, cross-language, cross-platform application programming interface (API) for rendering 2D computer graphics, 2D and 3D computer graphics, 3D vector graphics. The API is typic ...

for 3D acceleration. However, due to the prevalence of

3dfx 3dfx Interactive, Inc. was an American computer hardware company headquartered in San Jose, California, founded in 1994, that specialized in the manufacturing of 3D graphics processing units, and later, video cards. It was a pioneer in the f ...

hardware at the time of release, the Windows version of the game installs an OpenGL

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(opengl32.dll) designed specifically for 3dfx's hardware. This driver acts as a wrapper for the proprietary Glide API, and thus is only compatible with 3dfx hardware. Custom OpenGL drivers were also released by

PowerVR PowerVR is a division of Imagination Technologies (formerly VideoLogic) that develops hardware and software for 2D and 3D rendering, and for video encoding, video decoding, decoding, associated image processing and DirectX, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, and ...

and Rendition for running ''Hexen II'' with their respective (and also now defunct) products. Removal of the ICD allows the game to use the default OpenGL system library. Much of the music in this game is remixed versions of the soundtracks of '' Hexen'' and ''

'' to match the hub themes. Activision acquired the rights to publish versions of the game for the

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and

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. Neither port was released. ''Hexen II'' was made available on

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

on August 3, 2007.

''Siege''

modification Modification may refer to: * Modifications of school work for students with special educational needs * Modifications (genetics), changes in appearance arising from changes in the environment * Posttranslational modifications, changes to prote ...

titled ''Siege'' was created and released by Raven Software in 1998 using updated QuakeWorld architecture, aptly dubbed "HexenWorld". The production concept was to eliminate a normal deathmatch environment in favor of a teamplay castle siege. The basic premise was to divide the players into two teams—attackers and defenders—with each side either assaulting or protecting the castle respectively. At the end of the time limit, whichever team controlled the crown was declared victorious. The mod featured appropriate objects used in the single-player portion of the game, namely catapults and ballistae. The classes were drastically altered with new weapons and abilities, reflecting the departure from the normal deathmatch experience presented in ''HexenWorld''.

Source release

Following the tradition from ''Heretic'' and ''Hexen'', Raven released the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

of the ''Hexen II'' engine on November 10, 2000. This time the source was released under the GNU GPL-2.0-only, allowing

source port A source port is a software project based on the source code of a game engine that allows the game to be played on operating systems or computing platforms with which the game was not originally compatible. Description Source ports are often ...

s to be made to different platforms like

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and the

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

''Portal of Praevus''

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

called ''Hexen II Mission Pack: Portal of Praevus'' was released on April 1, 1998. It features new levels, new enemies and a new playable character class, The Demoness. It focuses on the attempted resurrection of the three Serpent Riders by the evil wizard Praevus, and takes place in a fifth continent, Tulku, featuring a Sino-

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an setting. Unlike the original game, the expansion was not published by id Software, and as such is not currently available via digital re-releases. The expansion features new quest items, new enemies, and new weapons for the Demoness. She is the only player class to have a ranged starting weapon (similar to the Mage class in the original ''Hexen''), whereas all other characters start with melee weapons. It also introduced minor enhancements to the game engine, mostly related to user interface, level scripts, particle effects (rain or snow), and 3D objects. ''Portal of Praevus'' also features a secret (easter egg) skill level, with respawning monsters. The only released patch for the expansion added respawning of certain items (such as health and ammo) in Nightmare mode, so that it would be slightly easier for playing.

Reception

Upon its release, ''Hexen II'' received generally positive reviews. ''

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'' praised the game for being different from other ''Quake'' engine-based games, highlighting its inventive and interactive levels, enemy variety, and

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

. The magazine also credited the game's diversity of weapons and spells for offering different combat strategies. ''

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady, and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

'' summarized, "''Hexen II'' is a game with many strengths – its design is superior to the original ''Hexen'', it has a significant payoff for single players winding through its twisted corridors, and visually it is without equal in the action genre. But the game's attempt to break from the standard first-person shooter mold has some nasty side effects, and the end result is a confusing and often frustratingly difficult experience." The reviewer elaborated that while the lush, detailed environments and astoundingly animated bosses make ''Hexen II'' "one of the most beautiful games ever made", the actions needed to progress are so obscure that they are comparable to what is required to find optional secret areas in most games, forcing the player to undertake frustrating, exhaustive searches of the game's environments. ''

GamePro ''GamePro'' was an American multiplatform video game magazine media company that published online and print content covering the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software. The magazine featured content on various video ...

'' praised the high speed of the multiplayer sessions, the selection of character classes, and the high detail present when graphical acceleration is used. They concluded, "For replay value and sheer fun, ''Hexen II'' is going to be hard to beat; you could spend days playing through all four characters in single-player mode without even entering multiplayer battles." According to Erik Bethke, ''Hexen II'' was commercially unsuccessful, with sales slightly above 30,000 units.

Reviews

*'' Backstab'' #6

References

External links

Official ''Hexen II'' website at Raven Software
(archived)
Official website from id Software
(archived) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hexen Ii 1997 video games Activision games AmigaOS 4 games Cancelled PlayStation (console) games Cancelled Sega Saturn games Classic Mac OS games Commercial video games with freely available source code Cooperative video games Dark fantasy video games First-person shooters Heretic and Hexen Id Software games Multiplayer and single-player video games Quake engine games Raven Software games Video game sequels Video games about magic Video games featuring female protagonists Windows games Video games developed in the United States