PC
ActivisionHexen II: Portal of Praevus is the expansion for Hexen II, developed by Raven Software and published by Activision for Windows on March 20, 1998 in North America. Other sources give March 31 or April 1, 1998, and the European release followed in 1998. It adds a fifth hero, the Demoness, the Tibetan-themed land of Tulku, 15 new levels and a new villain, the four-armed wizard Praevus. It requires Hexen II, and it is missing from the Steam and GOG versions of the base game.
Technical Specifications
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Developer | Raven Software |
| Publisher | Activision (the base game was published by id Software) |
| Engine | Modified Quake engine (as Hexen II) |
| Platform | Windows |
| Release | March 20, 1998 (North America) · 1998 (Europe) |
| Requires | Hexen II |
| Reception | GameSpot 8.6/10 · GameRankings 65% |
| Content | 15 new levels · 2 hubs · new class: Demoness |
| Genre | First-person shooter, action RPG elements |
| Mode(s) | Single-player · network multiplayer |
Story: Praevus Wants the Serpent Riders Back
Praevus, an evil four-armed wizard, plans to use the souls of the dead Serpent Riders to resurrect them as his servants. The action reaches Tulku, a fifth part of Thyrion with a Sino-Tibetan look. A new hero joins the fight against him, the Demoness, a former follower of Eidolon who would rather see Eidolon stay dead than serve someone else.
What It Adds: Levels, Weapons, and Monsters
The expansion has 15 new levels in two hubs: Blackmarsh, here a subterranean castle, and Tibet. It adds no new multiplayer maps. The Demoness is the fifth playable class and the only one that starts with a ranged weapon; every other class starts with a melee weapon. The expansion also adds four new weapons: Blood Fire, Acid Rune, Firestorm and Tempest’s Staff. The new enemies include the Tulku Archer, Pentacle, Weretiger, Were Snow Leopard, Yakman, an Eidolon Weakling, and Praevus himself. The engine also got small improvements to the interface, scripts, particle effects such as rain and snow, and 3D objects. A secret easter-egg skill level with respawning monsters is hidden in the game.
Reception
The scores differ widely. GameSpot gave the expansion 8.6/10 and GameRankings averages it at 65%. The base game scored 7.3/10 at GameSpot and 84% at GameRankings. On the GOG forum, one player writes that the expansion is “as good as the main game (maybe even better).”
Why It Is Missing From Steam and GOG
Portal of Praevus is not included in the Steam or GOG releases of Hexen II, and it is not available through any digital re-release. The GOG store page’s user reviews and a GOG forum thread both confirm that it is not in the release. Hexen II was published by id Software and the expansion by Activision, and a Steam commenter ties the omission to that split, saying Activision owns both expansions. That is one player’s explanation, not an official statement.
How Players Run It
Players who own the original expansion run it through a Hexen II source port. A setup guide in the GOG forum describes the Hammer of Thyrion port: you launch it with the -portals argument, supply the expansion’s data from the original CD, and choose “New Game” for Portal of Praevus or “Old Game” for the base campaign. The thread notes that the port’s last stable release was almost three years old in January 2021, and it does not say whether it is still maintained, so check the project page before relying on it. For the base game, see Hexen II.
