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Pardon the dust! This page includes some jargon that hasn't been added to the site's glossary yet. I'll be around to fix this later, but sorry for the inconvenience in the meantime. |
Review: Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
At a Glance
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How to Save and Pause:This is going to depend on which source port you use to play the game; some will automatically save your progress whenever you change maps, others might not. Most will allow you to save manually at any time. Likewise, most source ports will let you pause the game by pressing ESC. Time needed per session:Plan on playing for twenty minutes or more, as it's easy to get lost in these huge levels. It doesn't help that many areas also require a fair amount of backtracking.
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Does this game pose issues for Christian players?
 | Yes This is an expansion for Hexen, so it shares all of the same problems. In some cases it's actually a little worse, as you're more likely to find dead bodies in these new levels. |
Screenshots
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/hexen_deathkings_0.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/hexen_deathkings_1.jpg)
![[view screenshot]](../images/screenshots/hexen_deathkings_2.jpg)
Game Overview
Raven Software introduced gamers to the dangerous cult of the Serpent Riders back in Heretic, and with Hexen, they continued the story by letting the player choose which of three possible heroes would be the next person to rise up against this great evil. However, it seems that their story wasn't quite over yet, which brings us to the Deathkings of the Dark Citadel expansion.
At the conclusion of Hexen, our heroes defeated the mighty Korax, the second of the dreaded Serpent Riders. After his death, they attempted to claim the Chaos Sphere, an artifact that was supposedly the true source of his power. This turned out to be a bad decision, as the Chaos Sphere responded to the hero's intrusion by casting them deep into the Realm of the Dead. Now trapped in a dark and cursed world, our hero must fight their way through three new areas in order to find a way home.
Of course, this is going to be harder than it sounds, as there have been some changes to the gameplay that definitely aren't in the player's favor. One of Hexen's more unique features was its ability to randomly spawn new enemies over time. This kept things from getting too boring, as players often needed to backtrack in order to gather items or solve puzzles. In this expansion, this system has been tweaked: new enemies spawn much faster than they did before, and they're more likely to be stronger enemies who can attack from a distance or even block your attacks. Some of the bosses from the first game also return as regular enemies, though their new roles didn't make them any weaker.
As for the puzzles, you're going to be dealing with some rather tricky ones this round. Sometimes it can even seem a little unfair, such as the puzzle where you need to walk through what appears to be a solid wall. Occasionally, you'll need to climb over decorations in order to reach something, though this is telegraphed a little better. Also, the plaque system the main game used to help you keep track of what you've done is entirely abscent from these new levels. This might be a problem if you didn't make you own notes or took long breaks between sessions.
To be quite frank, I'm rather on the fence about this expansion. It's clearly too hard for people who are just picking up the series, and the new levels don't feel like they add anything new. Ultimately, I'd say whether or not to get this expansion boils down to how much you enjoy a challenge - or if you thought Hexen was too easy.
At the conclusion of Hexen, our heroes defeated the mighty Korax, the second of the dreaded Serpent Riders. After his death, they attempted to claim the Chaos Sphere, an artifact that was supposedly the true source of his power. This turned out to be a bad decision, as the Chaos Sphere responded to the hero's intrusion by casting them deep into the Realm of the Dead. Now trapped in a dark and cursed world, our hero must fight their way through three new areas in order to find a way home.
Of course, this is going to be harder than it sounds, as there have been some changes to the gameplay that definitely aren't in the player's favor. One of Hexen's more unique features was its ability to randomly spawn new enemies over time. This kept things from getting too boring, as players often needed to backtrack in order to gather items or solve puzzles. In this expansion, this system has been tweaked: new enemies spawn much faster than they did before, and they're more likely to be stronger enemies who can attack from a distance or even block your attacks. Some of the bosses from the first game also return as regular enemies, though their new roles didn't make them any weaker.
As for the puzzles, you're going to be dealing with some rather tricky ones this round. Sometimes it can even seem a little unfair, such as the puzzle where you need to walk through what appears to be a solid wall. Occasionally, you'll need to climb over decorations in order to reach something, though this is telegraphed a little better. Also, the plaque system the main game used to help you keep track of what you've done is entirely abscent from these new levels. This might be a problem if you didn't make you own notes or took long breaks between sessions.
To be quite frank, I'm rather on the fence about this expansion. It's clearly too hard for people who are just picking up the series, and the new levels don't feel like they add anything new. Ultimately, I'd say whether or not to get this expansion boils down to how much you enjoy a challenge - or if you thought Hexen was too easy.
Points of Interest
Three new sprawling levels
Just like the main game, the levels in this expansion were created by linking several maps through a central hub. This creates over twenty massive areas to explore, and each location is well designed with a unique theme or feel to it. The hub areas themselves are fairly diverse, depicting a wilderness, castle, and the aformentioned citadel.
Again, the default set up is garbage
Just like how Steam's version of Hexen came bundled with a badly configured DOSbox install, this expansion also uses the same set up. Unless you want to play a clumsy low resolution mess, find yourself a quality source port ( such as my favorite, Zandronium
) and use that to run the game. This will prevent Steam from properly recording time spent in the game, but there aren't any achievements or anything to earn anyway.
) and use that to run the game. This will prevent Steam from properly recording time spent in the game, but there aren't any achievements or anything to earn anyway.
Concerns and Issues
Everything that was a problem with Hexen
Basically, this "game" is just a set of new levels for Hexen, and that means whatever objectable content was present in Hexen is also found here to some degree. For a quick recap, this series contains a fair amount of graphic violence and dark fantasy trappings - in other words, there's plenty of ghosts, ghouls, and gore.