Hexen 2

Hexen II is a fantasy first-person shooter with role-playing elements, developed by Raven Software and published by id Software for Windows on September 11, 1997 in North America and September 19, 1997 in Europe. It runs on a modified Quake engine with OpenGL support and closes Raven’s Serpent Riders trilogy. You choose one of four classes, travel through four themed continents and fight Eidolon, the oldest of the three Serpent Rider brothers. It earned a GameRankings score of 84%, but according to Wikipedia it sold only slightly more than 30,000 units.

Despite the name, it is not a direct sequel to Hexen: Beyond Heretic. The Doom Wiki says it is disconnected from Hexen’s world of Cronos and Heretic’s Parthoris. Its expansion, Portal of Praevus, has its own page.

Technical Specifications

Plot: Eidolon and the Four Horsemen

The world of Thyrion has been enslaved by the Serpent Riders, and the way to free it is to defeat Eidolon, the oldest of the three brothers. Eidolon’s four generals are modelled on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Famine, Pestilence, War and Death, each of whom rules a themed land. You visit four continents, Blackmarsh (medieval European), Mazaera (Mesoamerican), Thysis (ancient Egyptian) and Septimus (Greco-Roman), and then return to Blackmarsh to face Eidolon in his Cathedral.

Four Classes That Level Up

Hexen II replaces Hexen’s three classes with four: the Paladin (offensive), the Crusader (defensive), the Necromancer (spell-casting) and the Assassin (stealthy). Each has its own weapons and play style. Characters gain experience, which raises their hit points and mana and unlocks unique abilities, a role-playing touch that Hexen and Heretic did not have. The Tome of Power returns from the earlier games.

Hubs, Destruction, and Puzzles

The game uses a hub system in which levels are interconnected and a change in one can affect another. Wikipedia lists destructible environments and mounted weapons among the new features, and notes that some of the actions required to progress are obscure. That was GameSpot’s main complaint: it praised the visuals as “one of the most beautiful games ever made” but criticized the obscure progression, and scored it 7.3/10. Edge gave it 8/10.

Development: From Hecatomb to Hexen II

The project began as Hecatomb, a direct sequel to Hexen. According to Wikipedia, Activision pressured Raven to split it into two games after John Romero left id Software in 1996, which is how Hexen II and Heretic II came about. The source code was released under the GPL-2.0-only licence on November 10, 2000, and it enabled ports to platforms such as Linux and Dreamcast. Activision’s PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions were never released. In 1998 Raven also made Siege, a mod called HexenWorld that adds castle-siege team play on QuakeWorld technology.

Where to Play It

Hexen II is sold on Steam, GOG and the Microsoft Store for PC. The GOG and Microsoft Store pages say it supports up to 16 players, with GOG limiting that to LAN and the Microsoft Store page including online play. It is not part of the 2025 bundle Heretic + Hexen. Bethesda says it belonged to the older Heretic + Hexen collection on Steam and GOG, which is no longer for sale, and that anyone who bought that collection before August 7, 2025 keeps their copies and gets the upgrade for free. The Steam and GOG releases do not include Portal of Praevus. Check the store page for the current price and platform.