1997 has had no short of exponential genre growth that we likely haven't seen since, as you'd expect RavenSoftware would not disappoint with their 1997 release Hexen II . I mentioned playing Redneck Rampage how the FPS genre had evolved to cater to more niche and even comedic taste, Blood and Shadow Warrior proved the true and tried legacy of DOOM and Duke had plenty of room to grow while releasing along aside more experimental and fresh takes on the genre like Golden Eye and Turok. The wide breadth of experiences available in the FPS genre has no disappointment neither in history or my reliving of it however Hexen II would extend the boundaries of the genre more than any other shooter to date. Ravensoftware started with Heretic's fantasy driven take on id Software's new genre and expanded the fantasy ideals with more heavy handed RPG design elements in Hexen and Hexen II. Sharing much with the first game those same design principals and mechanics are taken to extremes. At times it feels more what the modern age would liken to a Action RPG game. With lots of hack n' slash action, a gigantic maze of large winding levels covered in secrets and obscure objectives. Like of all of Ravensoftware's games to this point the game is drenched in arcane weaponry, enemies and task. RavenSoftware's unique identity comes through in Hexen II better than any game they have made before.
The elephant in the room with Hexen II is its use of id Tech 2 previously I've only got to enjoy in Quake which came out late 1996. RavenSoftware stands among the genre's best in art design. With Hexen looking incredible on the id Tech 1 engine. Naturally I , like my 1997 FPS self would have been , was very excited to see not just the return of the incredible tech but see it in the hands of a studio with incredible art direction. Hexen II does not disappoint in this regard. Its by far the most technologically impressive game I've played for this blog. Looking leaps and bounds better than Turok or Golden eye. Characters and environmental details pop with incredible geometry and textures. Levels are massive comparatively to its contemporaries and unlike GoldenEye or Turok suffers not distant fog masking the level. Colored moving textures, light beautiful torches along dark cold hallways or an arcane black Smith's forge. Beautiful statues and structures adorn the game along with trees and foliage. Its easily one of the best looking games of it's day FPS or not. Missing the jank and limitations of the FPS engines since the dawn of Polygonal rendering. The use of all this tech only executes as beautifully as it does thanks to RavenSoftware's art direction. The game brilliantly and cleverly works around its restrictions and to its strengths. It's hard to look back at the first game. Limited movement, animations, and sprites for spells. This is an astronomical jump similar to the jump we saw with Quake over DOOM II. As of this point in the blog Hexen II is the best looking FPS game on this blog. The atmosphere and style of RavenSoftware and what they achieve in Hexen II is iconic.
Hexen II doubles down and refines the elements of Hexen. Many of the weapons and spells return. Though the team could have targeted Hexen II as Hexen 3D they went the extra mile in making sure the way you make use of the items is more engaging and needed. Melee combat is much better. Hit detection largely works the same but feels much more responsive and satisfying with a war hammer in true 3D. Bolts and spell projectiles now have actual 3D elements that fly around the level. The speed is much the same as the first game but like Quake the strafing and jumping in enemy engagements is transformative with a true 3D game. The splattering of enemies with blunt weapons, slicing with swords and beautiful wild spells is pretty spectacular to see. The real kicker.....many structures...most... are destructible. Hitting away with a hammer or spell may destroy an object. This blew me away. I couldn't believe it. A 1997 id Tech 2 game. Like I said with Duke Nukem 3D, physics, destructible areas and the like all create a strong sense of presence and feed back to the players existence in the game world.The visceral effect is tremendous over the first Hexen doubtlessly adding more to the cultural shock value around video games in 1997. While I've never been put off by most gore I can see how the visual feedback of these games is a big jump along with everything else in short amount of time. Being a fantasy violent FPS I would have loved the combat and visual feedback. RavenSoft keeps with the more generic host of enemies they have had before but later in the game there are some more memorable ones. These enemies never move much out of the established enemy encounters of Hexen. Honestly while its mostly improvements and polishing the combat and mechanics of Hexen II grabbed me much more than Ravensoftware's previous attempts.
While more conservative in combat and enemy chan ges with Hexen II the team was much more liberal in its use of RPG game elements. The studio that pioneered it must have known Hexen had essentially started the creating of a sub genre. While this is an FPS focused blog to accomplish the context I want for these games its important to also remember other games coming out at similar times. 1997 would also see the release of the legendary Elder Scrolls II; Dagger Fall. While a completely different genre and type of game RPGs where booming and RavenSoftware had already dabbled in genre blending with the previous entries. Hexen being bold about it. While classes, stats, starting weapons and ammo stay about the same in the sequel I applaud Hexen II 's use of its own tech to accomplish what the first game couldn't. RavenSoftware focused on creating a very dense 3D world the player would have to traverse multiple times and find many secrets and oddities including a fantastic catapult. While its not open world in the same degree as Daggerfall is the loading screens are few and far between and the implementation in what is essentially a hub area is something I haven't played anything on this blog. Quest are essentially your win conditions with equivalent key cards often being long convoluted processes to get a hold of specif items or processes. It is here that I think historical context makes a very important perspective shift. While its massive intricate maps are beautiful and fun to explore I found myself almost entirely lost the entire time. To complete on thing usually turns into a long list of prerequisites making you travel between loading screens and explore for random switches that may effect the map in another loaded level. The biggest growing pain I see this type of game going through is how to accurately inform and visually lead the player to objectives and create a clear picture in the players mind of what they must be looking for and finding. Hexen II does this mostly in occasional text reading off of signs or pop up text bubbles. One almost needs notepad open to help keep track of it all. I feel this is something the FPS genre hasn't really had to do much of and its not a surprise to see RavenSoftware struggle in coming up with solutions.
Duke and the like full of secrets and even destructible environments, however the linear nature of what the player had to do and the play space made these things very easy to find with minimal information needing to be conveyed or visually represented. Another reason RavenSoftware may not have tried all too hard to focus on these missing elements. See in 1997 when playing games the internet was in its infancy. My friends and I used to constantly get stuck in games and go talk at school where mythical rumors to actual helpful knowledge about these experiences would be shared. Guidebooks where also my best friend. If I had been playing a shooter like this back in 1997 I likely would have had several school conversations and a guide book at home. Yes I used a guide in 2020. Its not so much as poor design on Hexen II's part as much as it is a product of its time and the way gamers conversed and found secrets in games was very, very different. I will say though despite that excuse Hexen II can be a bit egregious if your not careful about keeping up with what your supposed to be doing in game. After a couple weeks off returning to this game I found my self completely lost. With very little hope of fiding my way again short of rereading the whole guide and wondering why I was in the wrong place and in what step of "Y" I was in trying to get "X". It is a very difficult game but not for the reasons I'm used to seeing on this blog.Letting my modern persona take over briefly to say that the real beginnings of incorporating RPG elements into shooters that we are used to now started with RavenSoft its a pleasure to see.
RavenSoftware continually blows me away in this blog. A studio I had only dabbled in has cemented themselves as one of the era's best studios. The combat and flow of Hexen II is not satisfying or the main draw like Quake or Blood. But having savage fantasy FPS combat in id Tech 2 is fun all the same. Raven has without a doubt created the vast majority of great looking games in this blog. The studio's relationship and ability to add their own high quality art bar is to be revered. Sadly during this play through I did ultimately get lost one to many times and largely lost interest. If I had been more mature in 1997 and playing this game however It would have been sublime and a huge hit with me. I love every note this game hits and with time, friends and a good guide its a timeless fantastic game that can still easily be enjoyed today. As I enter the later stages of 1997 and the dawning 3D era its incredibly refreshing and exciting to play a id Tech 2 powered game. The engine is on a whole other level than its contemporaries almost a year later. I've had a blast playing all these games up to this point though some more than others. However getting to experience the genre transform is so exciting and these polygon driven FPS games are really breathing new life into the genre and hobby just like 1997.
