Mathuzzz

Well, this is probably going to be the ultimate Hexen mod we all waited for, however, it needs some tuning to be truly enjoyable. There is probably not any other high quality megawad for Hexen (compared to the ones made for Heretic and Doom) that doesn't change the original game formula. Judged by the number of maps I thought it wouldn't be that much of a journey, but the size is easily comparable to the original game. I usually try to avoid the mods that add too much custom stuff as it almost always ruins the original atmosphere. This one is the exception because it kept the great Hexen atmosphere even with so much new staff added. There are so many cool things throughout this WAD that left me totally jaw dropped. The scope of the maps and the architecture is magnificent + I would never expect at this point to be thrilled by the atmosphere of such an old game, but I was! About the new bestiary, it mostly nicely added to the repertoire, though I wasn't really enjoying some of them, like those swamp plants for example. It's not really a problem that they are included, but the respawning is just too much. And this is probably my biggest issue with the mod. As the mod is definitely worth more than just one playthrough, I did my first on the lowest skill, mostly to enjoy the design and it was a wise decision. Even on that skill, the respawning was unbearable, especially at the central map. I understand the respawning is necessary for HUB based concept, but the monsters managed to respawn before I managed to clean the place. It became worse when the plants were joined by the robots. I mean they were cool, but the whole metal level and it's inhabitants would be more fitting as something separate or a secret map because of it's rather funny, over-the-top concept. Anyway, the central map came to the point it wasn't fun anymore (part of it is because I played the mage, but more of that later) and it ruined it's atmosphere. So my suggestion is toning down the respawning in the central map significantly, especially on the lower skills and maybe leave some monster types only to their own places. This leads me to another issue. Mage weapons had already limited usage in Hexen, the much more complicated map design, densely filled with stuff made it much worse. Arc of Death, which was somewhat usable in the vanilla game was totally useless here, which made Frost Shards not the least usable weapon in the game. I expect the same would apply to Cleric's Firestorm. I made a wise choice choosing the lowest skill as I basically could not die, higher skills would be really frustrating, fighting my way through the constantly respawning hordes with just the wand. The problem here is not with the design of the mod, but actually with the original design of the weapons. They really need some kind of adjustment, at least making Arc of Death avoiding stuff that cannot be broken or something. Despite the mentioned flaws I enjoyed it a lot! Looking forward to another playthrough.