Heretic's sequel, Hexen: Beyond Heretic brings much more to the plate than its successful predecessor.
As one of the first FPS games to introduce character classes, Hexen quickly became a fan favourite at LAN parties, due to its co-op mode, when played over the network. Also, unlike other games of that era, its level design was not as linear, which gave it an open world feeling to it... though it does feel short (in comparison with Heretic).
The story is quite simple, as much as stories in such games go: there is a big baddy, Korax, the second of the Serpent Riders (the first of whom dies in Heretic), who will do anything to stop you from killing him (can you blame him?)
Enter you, the Warrior, Mage or Cleric who will not stand for such madness and will dispatch any and all minions using a plethora of weapons: a close-range Axe, a throwing hammer and an exploding sword (for the warrior), a mace, a shooting staff, a burning spell and what looks like a crucifix that spits out forsaken souls, that kill the baddies (Cleric) and all sorts of wands and spells doing different types of damage (frost, electrical and... blood!) for the Mage.
Obviously, Hexen (just as no other abandoned game) should not be judged by today's standards. However, when it came out, you could see clearly Raven had used Doom's engine (with some tweaks) and reused a lot of sprites and textures from the original Heretic game. Whether it was just sloppy design, trying to hit a deadline or simply trying to keep the spirit of the old game, it did leave some of us wanting.
Review By Greg
English 
Comments and reviews
As of August 2025 this should be officially abandonware. New developers published an all new version of this game and the old one got delisted.
man kan bruge en psx emulator og spille hexen 1 gratis
Can't have that buy tag if it's not free it's not abandonware, period.
I thought Hexen was declared freeware? It's been so for years now suddenly they put a price tag on, that really sucks. Btw I love your sight keep the nostalgia flowing
As of now (2020/29/04) the game isn't available anywhere for purchase: I searched it on isthereanydeal and nothing showed up, please update its status.
The instructions above on how to play Hexen do not work with a Mac. You can not use C:\Games\Hexen, Mac will not allow it. I downloaded the RIP version of the game and it works, however the controls are stupid with no way to change them. You have to use the mouse, keyboard, or mouse and keyboard, none of which work very well. The keyboard is my preference on similar games using the arrow keys and a fire button, but on this version the arrow keys MOVE you left and right, they do not turn you left and right. Then you have to use the period and comma keys to turn, but the left button turns you right and the right button turns you left. The mouse/keyboard combo is not much better. I give the game a 1 star because of the controls.
why would you buy a mac? i have no respect for such nonsense
i plasyed this when i was 12 its sooo fun
As a late answer to KISSKIZZKISS's question, Raven Software released the source code to both Heretic and Hexen in 1999. This let's you add anything you want into Hexen (including NPCs) if you have the programming skills to do it. If you instead want something up to date (and a little easier), Zandronum and GZDoom support DECORATE, which is an easier way of coding in your own things for mods, or even entire games; and since Strife has been ported to those two source ports, you could just copy the NPC code from Strife, and then add to Hexen.
thank god for this site, I Finally have things
i love it
when i was small....i admire this game alot...it will go beyond day and nights to finish this game and i love this game to the end...but I havent finish yet and finish it this time foresure
The ISO version must have the audio tracks from the retail disc instead of MIDI...
I have an original copy of Hexen that features this. Maybe this explains why it is 500+mb
RIP ver.: ~10mb
ISO ver.: 567mb
This is a joke.
I really prefer gzdoom avor zandronum
I suggest playing like a modern FPS (always mouse look, move using wasd and so on).
Lots of fun!
i want to be able to make my own enemy npc's for this game, does anyone know how I can be able to do this?
Is there anything I'm missing from the ISO version if I play the RIP version?
could not get the expansion to work,,,,maybe because I am using zandronum.
will have to try it in dosbox I am guessing.
superhappyfuntime!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
attention fellow gamers:
regardless of if you download the game here or own the cdrom for the following games=doom(1and2)=heretic=hexen=strife. there is a wonderful program called ZANDRONUM (forget dosbox for these games) download the free zandronum program and enjoy these games as they SHOULD be played, play them in the windows environment, I play using the mouse+WASD keys , and if your pc suppords OPENGL then you can make the game look MUCH MUCH better.
so if you didn't know about this program then you OWE it to yourself to give it a try. trust me you won't be disappointed.
have a very superhappyfuntime my fellow gamers.
a classic!
hoy
Hexen along with doom, doom2, shadow warrior, heretic, dark forces and quake
Superseed any game of today. These particular games are timeless and just fantastic in my opinion.
And they can all be played once again on these new modern computers thanks to the DOSBOX program. Fabulous
lots of puzzles and shit ,very very muind boggling i said. sometiems i just doint want to think in games,. but ,if you like to think , and like having puzzles in games and sit aorund and do a lo of thinking, then, well, GREAT !!
great game, but very mind boggling
:D
Best game
Great! But hard to configure the sound :/
Very good game! There's actually some very challenging puzzles for being a FPS.
Is the ISO version a full version? Thanks
Thanks a lot for sharing. Sure bring back old memories when i was a kid, playing this game.
its a video game
nice game to play brings back a lot of old memories
I remember grabbing this for tn64 back in the day, thx alot!
Seul s'est bon :)
Actually, more like D&D
THE BEST GAME EVER
This game and several others played well with the VFX-1 HMD. A spaceorb 360 with the lights out and Wow! Still have the VFX-1 :)
If the gamma is too high for you as well, like a previous poster said, press F11 in an active game to adjust the Gamma correction.
This is an excellent game, by the way.
the gamma is WAY too high!
Doom + LOTR (Sorta) + Jumping = Heretic and Hexen.
HeXeN! Oh how I love thee! It remains in my top 5 video games of all time. It was always superior to DooM and Heretic in my opinion. I have so many memories of this game, primarily playing modem-to-modem games with my friend, and later on serial and LAN games. We always played co-operatively. I was always the cleric and he was always the mage. We had to unplug all the phones in our house so we could dial each other at night to play modem games. My computer was slower so he always had to wait for mine to load. When one of us died, we had to disconnect and dial back so we could reload our save game so we could retain all our items. Later on we got smarter, you could press a key (F11 maybe?) to "see through each others' eyes"... So we would take turns going through difficult sections, and one of us would stand in front of a level-warp portal and watch the other do difficult jumps. If he started to fall, we would press forward so it would warp us out before he died. Ahaha. So many classic memories.
Highly recommended. Truly. If you have never played HeXeN, you owe it to yourself to try it out. You won't regret it. Amazing atmosphere, amazing gameplay, amazing level design, just everything is top notch. Great!
so doomsdayhq is the thing to install right after tis ,hmmmmmm
Super cool, man!
LOL ILL CHOOSE SOME HEXEN BUT NOTHING ELSE TO GIVE SV_CHEATS AND SV_INFINITEAMMO. ONCE IF THE OMEGA KORAX WAS KILLED FROM HEXEN RESURRECTION OF CHAOS THE OMEGA KORAX ARE SHOUTING WHEN THEY ARE KILLED.
u are a friendly god.
Bonne continuation à ton site.
SLOCKER EARTH!!!
Amazing. Legendary. Unique.
Awsome i played this when i was a kid and i love it
Don't attack the Heresiarch while those things rotate around him.
If you play it you will love it
This is my favorite game of all time. Much better than Doom or Duke Nukem, although those games are awesome as well.
OMG i cant kill Heresiarch within his Power you Motherf -
Love this game lots of nostalgia
i love it *-*
I like it most.
Shit if im Defeat that Korax that should be a Teleport and another Hostles incoming in the Left and Right doors open at them
Okay okay ill go home watch my back
A lot of people bash this for not being more like Doom or Heretic, but it's awesome if you appreciate it for what it is.
I love this part!
Like a Boss!
Supa Fun
The long awaited sequel to the Heretic universe, back then...
Man how was I keen and expectant about it! Then I played it and... It was good, but not as good as Heretic... Heretic was a great action game, while Hexen needs you to think too much and you have to orienate much too often on repetetive areas while searching for gears, skulls, gems and other puzzle pieces to solve a whole level hub. Sometimes it really was frustrating, so I always prefered it's prequel a little bit more!
But all in all a very recommendable game, where you have much more to do than just running and fragging around while just searching for keys... A nice challenge, also for your mind! ;)
Great game!! bisa nostalgia nih.. :D
I remember staying up late, watching my grandmother play this game. Playing games by ID is always a good time.
doom engine used well
A very very very good game!!! The game of my childhood! And the mage player is very good, it's the only shot (the first weapon) that doesn't spend mana
this game is more glorious than jack black and his octagon.
Awesome game. can someone tell me how to grab the keys?? THANKS!
This is the sequel to Heretic, and after this is Hexen II. There is also a Heretic II but it was published by Activision.
it's the fulll game? cuz' there's a lot of demos around there...
Great game, THANK YOU ID SOFTWARE!
..and myabondonware...
yes.
Great!
Hexen 2 :D
I love this series! Just wish I knew what the sequel was called...
Love this
No comment nor review for this game at the moment.