Story Premise: The story puts you in the shoes of Kallaxitus the Gryphon Wizard, who is searching for an artefact known as the Ethereal Crown. According to legend, it is a magical artefact that will summon an army of celestial warriors who are eager to destroy Korax and his minions once and for all.
Gameplay: The mappack is split up into four large levels that may as well be four smaller hubs on their own. Because of this, I suggest you take breaks if you feel the maps are taking too long. (In hindsight I should've probably simply made hubs instead, but it'd be such a hassle to change now that it's better of staying as it is.) As for the way the levels play, standard HeXen fare with puzzles and sequences that need to be resolved in order to move onto the next map.
There is also the new "notes system" as I like to call it. The base code was based on Alando1's Temple of the Lizardmen III's PDA system. What this means is that sometimes you will find notes across the world (Identified by a scroll item pickup with text scribbled onto it) that you can read a bunch of world building lore in. This can be anything from dead people's last words, to arcane experiment reports and such. There's very few ones that MUST be read to progress the game, but the ones that are neccessary to progress will be identified by scrolls that flash almost constantly. This doesn't just make them look different from optional lore notes, but also easier to see in the dark. ANOTHER important thing about this system, you should bind a Drop Item key so you can throw the notes you've read already, otherwise they will begin cluttering your inventory.
The most notable new gameplay feature to discuss is the mods new classes that were made to ensure Kallaxitus is a wizard. This means the original Mage, Cleric and Fighter are replaced by three different kinds of Mages. This means you're essentially choosing a specific type of magic that Kallaxitus (The mappacks main character) has studied in his time with the Gryphon Brotherhood (An organization made up of the remaining wizards that survived Korax's initial invasion.) I will go into what the new classes do down below.
The New Classes:
Things all the classes share in common: All characters share the original HeXen Mages movement speed and jump height. Mystic Ambit Incants and Icons of the Defender also function like they do for the original HeXen mage (Icons give invulnerability and makes you reflect projectiles, while the Mystic Ambit incants restore mana)
Necromancer:
The Necromancer has four weapons, these are: The Gauntlets of the Necromancer, Ice Cone & Animate Dead Spells, Dark Serpent Staff and Raven Staff. The flechettes function like the Cleric's Poison Bomb flechettes.
Spoiler:Elementalist:
The Elementalist has four weapons, these are: Magic Crossbow, Ice Wand, Fire Wand and Storm Wyrm Staff. The flechettes work like the original Mages Timebomb flechettes.
Spoiler:Invoker:
The Invoker has four weapons, these are: The Invocation Wand, Magic Missiles & Heal Spells, Sun Staff and Staff of Cranvus. The flechettes function like the Fighters grenade-like flechettes.
Spoiler:
These classes are also available separately, so you can play other mappacks with these new classes. It's been tested and is compatible with the original HeXen, and Deathkings of the Dark Citadel. These classes were also designed without Deathmatch in mind. (Also note that the Necromancer may possibly be unable to resurrect custom enemies in certain HeXen mappacks that feature new monsters, unless they possess a Raise state in their code. All vanilla enemies will work just fine unless they are altered in some major way.)
Screenshots:
Level 1 Screenshot 1:
Spoiler:Level 1 Screenshot 2:
Spoiler:Level 2 Screenshot 1:
Spoiler:Level 2 Screenshot 2:
Spoiler:Level 3 Screenshot 1:
Spoiler:Level 3 Screenshot 2:
Spoiler:Level 4 Screenshot 1:
Spoiler:Level 4 Screenshot 2:
Spoiler:Downloads:
(Important note for playing the Descent into the Abyss mapset, lower your music volume a little bit so it'll be easier to hear the voice acting that appears during the cutscenes of the mod. You should also turn off the Randomize Sounds option, otherwise the voices of characters will change in pitches which will sound weird. Crouching is also enabled for this mappack.)
Descent Into the Abyss Mappack: https://www.mediafire.com/file/d4tj3ebd ... A.zip/file
Mage Specializations Gameplay mod: http://www.mediafire.com/file/c1gk95idp ... s.zip/file
(Descent into the Abyss's classes, but in a separate Pk3 that lets you play the original HeXen and other peoples mappacks with the Necromancer, Elementalist and Invoker. The custom classes were not designed with Deatchmatch in mind, so they may not work so well for that.)
Credits: (NOTE: If I've neglected to credit someone here, please let me know and I will resolve that immediately!)
Spoiler:
Copyright / Permissions.
Authors may NOT use the contents of this file as a base for
modification or reuse. Permissions from authors for the music included
have NOT been contacted, however, their credits are listed. As such, this
WAD may NOT be used for commercial or "for profit" purposes, either by
myself or other parties.
You may NOT redistribute this file without my permission.
