#HEXEN II

[retrocgads]

UK 1998

[lilafeuer]

The Heretic and Hexen series by Raven Software, comprising of the epic Serpent Rider trilogy (Heretic, Hexen, Hexen II) and spanning across seven adventures in a dark fantasy saga of wicked first (and third) person action and moody exploration, unmatched in style and substance with id’s engines that powered Doom and Quake and the soundscapes of Kevin Schilder. Whether cast in the role of Corvus in his battle to save his homeworld from D’Sparil or guiding the band of heroes in their perilous quests to thwart the plans of the other Serpent Riders, there has been little else that’s since recaptured the essence of these unique titles.

[mileena--kahnumm]

Hexen II (1997)

[devileaterjaek]

[kodallline]

i really like dark fantasy video games but it is difficult for me to play games released before 2001 the gameplay killing

[alchemisland]

Vidya

I say the best game is Doom II Marooned on hell’s shore, abhorrent Plutonia Experiment You disagree, suggest Hexen II Willingly hanging with you medically considered self-abuse It’s like I’m paying last life’s dues, my name is Earl you’re last on my list Your kiss was on that list but much nearer the top of the pyramid.

[mysteamgrids]

Hexen II

[heywoodvirgin]

Warmthless winters and joyless summers

[creepiegirlie]

{ ⋆₊ ♱ the rest of eric ’ s doom WADs }

Hockey.wad ( hockey.wad )

A deathmatch level for Doom II: Hell on Earth consisting of an ice hockey rink and surrounding stadium. It contains new sound effects for the pistol, shotgun, chaingun, rocket launcher, and plasma gun. Hockey.wad was released on June 13, 1996 and took an hour and a half to create.

KILLER ( killer.wad ) ( one of my favs !! )

A deathmatch level for Doom II: Hell on Earth consisting of a large open grass arena containing several buildings with weapons. The respawn/teleport sound was changed to Duke Nukem saying the line, "You're pissing me off". The music used in this level is taken from the Zedek's Tomb level in Hexen: Beyond Heretic. KILLER was released on July 19, 1996 and took two hours to create.

Station ( station.wad ) ( my fav !! )

xD

A techbase-themed deathmatch level for Doom II: Hell on Earth consisting of several rooms connected by a single corridor. This WAD was in the top 25 deathmatch WADs on AOL at one point according to the ENDOOM screen in uaclabs.wad. It contains a new sky texture and new sound effects for the pistol, chaingun, rocket launcher, plasma gun, and BFG 9000; the sound for the BFG 9000 was changed to Bruce Campbell saying the line, "Swallow this," from the Evil Dead 2 film. Additional credits for this WAD were given to the creator of a WAD called DeathWorld II: Fragland (made by Tom J. McClure on April 28, 1996, although his name is not mentioned and it is simply called "Fragland" in the text file for Station) for the pool idea and someone named Excaluber for additional ideas. Station was released on July 25, 1996 and took an hour and a half to create.

Outdoors ( outdoors.wad )

A deathmatch level for Doom/The Ultimate Doom. Outdoors was released on July 17, 1995. It is in the Rebdoomer directory at acolumbinesite.com.

The ENDOOM screen for uaclabs.wad mentions the following WADs, although no copies of them are known to be publicly available to download:

techout

assault

thrasher

realdeth

realdoom (a patch, most likely for his realdeth WAD, which was consistently mentioned in the text files for all of the Harris levels; Harris encouraged the reader to email him to ask about it)

coolname.zip (in the Rebdoomer directory at acolumbinesite.com, though it is not mentioned on the ENDOOM screen in uaclabs.wad)

[weirdlookindog]

Hexen geschändet und zu Tode gequält (1973) - French Poster

AKA Mark of the Devil Part II; Witches: Violated and Tortured to Death

[retrocgads]

USA 1997

[lilafeuer]

Magazine advertisement for Hexen II via PC Zone (UK) Issue June 1997

[devileaterjaek]

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2009): Whispers of Satan

G8: Whispers of Satan

Main author(s): Paul Corfiatis and Kristian Aro

Release date: September 15th, 2009

Version(s) played: Final version (I guess)

Required port compatibility: Boom

Levels: 36 (standard 30 + 2, plus (on ZDoom) two super secret maps, a credits map, and a warp map)

Paul Corfiatis and Kristian Aro, the dynamic duo behind 2002 A Doom Odyssey (well, mostly done by the former) come back to deliver another WAD – Whispers of Satan.

Its story begins in around August 2005, when Kris meets with his buddy in crime, to talk about making a Doom II megaWAD with a couple of super secret, ZDoom-exclusive maps after finishing one of his WADs (Death Tormention 3). The work on this WAD started in October 2006, and it took almost three years to finish.

The WAD’s plot is not really worth talking about since it’s another one of Doom II’s unofficial sequels but not really WADs. On the bright side, at least I can say that it is not as cringy (when it comes to intermission screens at least) as the Doom Odyssey.

Now, when I played the Doom Odyssey, I felt like I played the more polarizing Ultimate Doom with a plot that wasn’t self-aware at all. However, I feel rather optimistic that Whispers of Satan will be better than that over two decades old WAD. So let’s not waste any time, and take a look at it.

I’m surprised how this WAD looks great. Usually, the levels have at least one, great-looking landmark. Not to mention the changing sky and 5 themes across the WAD (not counting the secret levels) that make it not boring for the eye. These themes are:

Techbase,

Techbase with some brick walls,

Plutonia-like,

Plutonia-like with some Hexen elements,

and, of course, hell itself.

Liked the music as well. I’m struggling to find which tracks were the best ones; Base Stalker is definitely at the top, but I am not sure about the rest; maybe Nebula's Keep and Orgolia as well?

Anyway, changing the subject, I don’t really think Satanic Whispering is complicated. Like most of the other WADs with complexity like this one, it has a couple of getting-stuck moments, but besides these, you can go through these levels rather fast without enemies.

There are, however, some questionable decisions. Like, for some reason many of the maps use the rule of two switches AKA there are at least two switches near each other in the copy-pasted areas with (almost always) copy-pasted groups of enemies. These moments feel like a filler, and I think these are mostly related to Paul’s maps. Kristian’s maps do have moments like these as well, but at least he tried to make each of the switches’ routes different from what I can remember.

There are other annoying moments as well; some of them feeling like a fossil of an abomination that refuses to die. Shitty backtracking (like with the case of the red key in Basement Jazz), too dark moments on a map and not being able to return in some cases is one thing, but also bringing back secrets that you have only one chance to reach? Didn’t this shit die years ago?

Also, another icon of shit on MAP30, because why the hell not? Let’s inflate Romero's head’s health as well! What could go wrong?!

sigh

Let’s talk about secret maps for exchange. The first regular one is a homage to Star Wars (the good times when the only thing in this franchise that was mocked and screamed to the heavens by rapid fanboys were prequels), while the second one is a more classic Wolfenstein reference (I don’t have pictures of that map because I don’t want to be marked as a bloody nahtzee dick rider).

There are also three, ZDoom-exclusive maps (technically four but you can only get to the last one by console commands). The first one is Ein Lustiger Ort (a funny place), of which one half is pushing voodoo dummies into teleporters with weapons and running like hell to exit from siege cows, and the other… the other half is… Okay, fellas, remember that... seedy secret in Ultimative Geheimnis? Yeah? Well, the second half (if you want to get to the second, ZDoom secret map) is basically that… sprinkled with impse-

projectile vomiting

Technical problems

Okay, I’m done.

Now, the second ZDoom map is 1994 Revisited, and it’s basically what the title says; it feels like it makes fun of the maps that are stuck in 1994 while also celebrating them. It even ends on another icon of shit… which makes me hate the Verge of Revelation’s icon of shit even more since MAP34 (kind of) makes fun of how the megaWADs end with this crap and yet they still shove one in MAP30! What is this?! Chuck and Doyle: Rabies Ravagers: The Movie?! Did the 2020s use time travel and brainwash the authors that one time?!

Okay, let’s calm down and change the subject because the third ZDoom map is interesting. You have to reach the end of Sintlabs but instead of pressing the exit switch, go back to the starting area and you will find the secret exit that will lead you to Hidden Warp Zone. It all boils down to choosing to end up either in Playgrounds of Caesar or Halls of Cocytus, and that’s it.

Whispers of Satan isn’t really hard. It tends to get tougher in the final third, and it has cheap, if not outdated, moments (pop-up monsters, traps with hitscanners, moments with demons teleporting behind you after being in front of you), but if you are experienced with WADs, you won’t have a bigger problem with this one; there is no slaughter map around there.

There is, however, an interesting part of Undervilla, with Mancubi behind walls, and while it is yet another bullshit difficulty bump that I’m surprised is still used, I can’t get myself to hate it because it references to Hexen, where the trap walls with the same texture started firing projectiles. It’s kind of funny, not gonna lie.

There is also… uhm… a new enemy if you can call it that… It’s called Cybie… has a higher pain chance than cyberdemon… and has different sound effects… And I refuse to talk about it more because I feel dirty even thinking about it.

I don’t know if this is a bug or something, but in the icon of shit area in 1994 Revisited, half of a time, the crushers that were supposed to destroy Romero's head didn’t work. Maybe it’s related to the red area near the teleporter that takes you to the icon of shit area, but I’m not entirely sure.

Overall, Whispers of Satan is a pretty good WAD. It does feel archaic in places, copy-pasted switch areas feel like a joke, and there are still fragments of problems that plagued Doom Odyssey, but still, it is a better WAD than the authors’ 2002 project.

The next WAD on the list is Demons of Problematique 2. Let’s hope we won’t end up with another Cheogsh 2 fiasco.

[wjbs-aus]

Reblog if you voted!

[arcane-offerings]

Kazim, editor. Alraune II: The Poisoners Guild. Hexen Press, 2023. Hardback edition. 183 pages. 

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