Two weeks ago, we tackled a shooter known as Heretic, a fantasy-based FPS from the Doom era. Today, we're going to look a little further ahead to the release of HeXen: Beyond Heretic. While Heretic was little more than a reskinned Doom, HeXen stepped up its game to really forge an identity of its own.
There are three classes to play as in HeXen; Cleric, Warrior, and Mage. Each class has a different specialty (Mixed, close range, and long range respectively), so there's a style for everyone. Each class also has different weapons, with a super weapon to round everything out. So players will likely find themselves replaying HeXen again and again as different classes with different weapons to get a whole new experience.
The weapons themselves are nothing short of fantastic, with all twelve of them being unique in both how they handle and their design. The fourth weapon for each class must be assembled over the course of HeXen, giving you a good reason to want to search everywhere. Trust me, they're worth it, because once you get your hands on them the only thing that can stand in your way is a lack of ammo.
Like a lot of shooters of the era, HeXen has a brutal difficulty. Even early-game enemies can easily chip away at your health, and some of the most default mooks can actually reflect your attacks back at you! However, the difficulty certainly is welcome, and outside of a certain area in a graveyard, the game never gets too difficult to become unfair and frustrating.
Overall, I can safely say HeXen is a worthy purchase. The variety is nice, the difficulty is brutal, and the weapons are unique and satisfying. It's a glorious, glorious shooter, and much more adventurous than it's predecessor. However, for some shooter fans, it may stray too far off the beaten path to be enjoyable.
Filmmaker. Entertainment critic. Genre film aficionado. Has bad taste and hot takes.
