Walpurgis | +Walpurgis-JT-0.99.pk3
eharper256
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| Screenshot from DBP49: Mausoleum Nefarium |
For years, people have been trying to "fix" Hexen: Beyond Heretic, attempting to address some of the criticisms of gameplay. It probably started with Korax Mod, an ambitious RPG mod for the Doomsday engine way back in the mid-aughts that brought the game closer to its dungeon crawler and tabletop roots. The rise of ZDoom and later GZDoom and their extensive modding capabilities made it easier to alter gameplay -- everything from minor tweaks to make the base game less frustrating (this being the goal of Hexen 1.2) to new characters to total overhauls. It's a noble goal; I admit I wasn't the kindest to Hexen when I wrote it up earlier this year, and while a lot of that game's problems come down to level design, there's a lot of issues in terms of how the weapon and monster systems function and interact that I think deserve a do-over. Which brings us to eharper256's Walpurgis.
Initially beginning life as a fork of HexArkana (another Hexen gameplay overhaul,) Walpurgis has developed from its humble roots in early 2020 into a sprawling megamod with its own distinct identity. This is reflected in its name; initially called Hexen: Walpurgis, at some point eharper dropped the Hexen part and implemented a new logo that still uses the Hexen X but now looks more like a Castlevania logo, complete with an animated moon in-game. More than just an overhaul of Hexen, Walpurgis is a full-on, game-agnostic character mod with its own monster system. No longer restricted to Hexen, it's fully functional in both Heretic and every Doom IWAD (that is to say, Doom and Doom II and both halves of Final Doom.)
In terms of the mod's overall conceit, it uses the Sphere of Chaos -- a MacGuffin in Hexen -- to transport the Hexen heroes (including the new character) to the realms of Heretic or even Doom. The intermission texts are consequently rewritten into the Hexen context, with Doom treating our Hexen heroes as essentially having been isekai'd into a futuristic Earth, seeing things we take for granted like computer screens, guns, and radios as fascinating forms of magic. (And I suppose in a way they are magic to someone in a medieval fantasy context, though that does raise the question of where the line is between magic and science.) And if you're playing in Hexen itself, the intermission screens are rewritten here as well, to better fit in with the new Heretic and Doom texts.
The two biggest things that Walpurgis brings to the table are a complete overhaul of the three classic character classes from Hexen -- including brand new, anime-styled character art that draws away from the Frank Franzetta-inspired character designs to something a little more suited for modern fantasy -- as well as the addition of a brand new class, a female Druid (with a little bit of Ranger) named Illitheya,wielding knives, a bow, and nature-themed magic to bring Gaia's wrath to the forces of evil.
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| Screenshot from DBP38: Chronicles of Ghost Town |
It's hard to really talk about the expansive nature of the overhaul as a separate thing from the new character, because ultimately, they kind of aren't. While some things certainly are familiar -- the Cleric (renamed Crusader) still carries a mace, the Mage (now known as a Magister) has some fire and ice spells, and the Fighter (now the Myrmidon) carries enchanted weaponry and his own two fists -- so much has changed that Walpurgis is effectively an entirely new game. Ultimately it's far easier to say that rather than overhauling the original classes, Walpurgis brings four new classes, three of which only somewhat distantly resemble the originals. This is reflected in the name changes too, moving from generic terms to something more evocative. The one that stuck out to me was the Myrmidon; those with a classical education will recognize the term from Homer's Iliad, but as fans of Fire Emblem will attest, the term itself has grown to be applied to a type of fighter character, typically a swordsman, who may or may not be a mercenary or other hired warrior. (It's similar to how the standard Dungeons & Dragons paladin derives its name from a group of legendary knights who served under Charlemagne in the 7th century by way of a fantasy novel from the 1960s.)
So, let's talk weapons! In addition to the base action for each weapon, each weapon also gets two alt-fires of increasing power. On top of that, you can further boost your powers with upgrade artifacts, which have a unique appearance for each class but otherwise show up in the same places, with their use in Doom for example being that of a replacement for berserk packs. You can toggle how these work; one option is that their effects are temporary but boost all your weapon skills in a manner akin to Heretic's Tome of Power, the other is that you can permanently upgrade a firing mode of a given weapon.
The Myrmidon gets a wider range of martial weaponry, from the classic axe and hammer -- both of which have been redone, with a primary fire now just swinging them like ordinary weapons -- to a pair of short swords in the Roman fashion and a talking bardiche. The ultimate weapon, the Quietus, has also been redone, and now functions just fine as an unpowered melee weapon. (Well, the short-ranged sword beam it fires doesn't need mana...) You also get a whip chain that you can use to snag distant enemies -- very useful!
The Crusader is rather different from his original form. The mace now has a shield to accompany it, complete with shield-bashing mechanic. The weird serpent staff thing has been taken away and given to the Druid (who it makes more sense to have.) In its place is the Lightbringer, originally conceived for eharper's old HexArcana fork but is now a staff that fires off blasts of holy power, with its alt fires allowing you to use it as a deadly laser and even create a prism to enhance the other firing modes. You also get a spear, which also pairs with the shield as a melee weapon and has some cool alt fires. In the green mana slot, the Firestorm magic returns but has been redone and expanded on, and finally you get a nice big sword, a sort of dimension-wreaking sword. The Wraithverge, which eharper correctly identifies as being necromantic in function, has gotten a much more holy reskin, though it's also rather deadly if used incorrectly. One of its alt-fire modes launches a large vortex that pulls enemies in, and if you're too close, it'll do the same to you!
The Magister was always the true powerhouse of Hexen, and especially so in Walpurgis. The original wand is gone; instead you get a variety of force-based (as in physics, not Star Wars) powers to push things around. For spells that use actual mana, you've got powerful cold and fire spells in slot 2, and and lightning and stone spells in slot 3 -- the latter is really cool with the alt-fires! The old Bloodscourge ultimate weapon has been redone and looks much cooler.
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| Screenshot from DBP52: Havoc in Creation |
And finally there's the Druid, who might be my favorite class. Her slot 1 weapon is throwing knives, but if you boost it, you get to summon a bird friend that flies around and attacks enemies. Her other weapons include a coral cane that spits out water spells, a talisman that turns you into a werewolfwarg with some pretty cool physical and ice-based attacks (and an optional toggle for black and white or sepiatone doggovision,) a redone serpent staff, and a massive seed that on paper says turns you into a dryad but in practice just looks like a staff with plant powers. The ultimate weapon is a magical bow inspired by Fire Emblem that just absolutely wrecks everything in sight and can even be zoomed in if you hold down the fire button, a la Thief.
Like Hexen and Heretic before it, Walpurgis has an inventory system. Just about everything you could find in Walpurgis, you can find in those two games, though they might have some tweaks, for example the flechette now has some different behavior. (It behaves like Castlevania holy water in the Crusader's hands, for example!) The armor system also works much the same way it did in Hexen, though each character now gets individualized sprites to fit their respective themes.
Of course, with all this unlimited power at your fingertips, you'll need something to use it on, yes? With that in mind, eharper256 has constructed an accompanying monster system. In addition to the base monster roster from the games, there's also the Bestiary system, which tweaks and lightly randomizes the monsters. Or you could go full Dimensional Instability, which throws together all the monsters from all the games (or you could toggle whether you want future or fantasy) for some wildly unbalanced fun. There's also cool weapon effects -- set fire to an enemy and it'll burn to a crisp! You can of course turn all this off and use your own monster mod, though be warned that even with the Bestiary system turned off, it runs into some fucky business when DEHACKED gets involved. When I played through Sanguine Holy Land, I had to manually disable Walpurgis' SS Trooper code, or the vases that appear in the mod would instead revert to the angry blue-dressed Nazis from Wolfenstein 3D. (Nobody really uses that enemy as it was included as part of the strictly Easter-egg secret levels, so many partial and total conversions that use DEHACKED turn it into something else.)
For the purposes of this review I played through four separate mapsets with Walpurgis, one for each character. I actually kind of struggled with what mapsets to pick and for which character, but ultimately I decided to use one of four different Doomer Boards Project releases, that being DBP38: Chronicles of Ghost Town for the Magister (it mostly works? Something more overtly eldritch might have been a better choice for a master of magic), DBP49: Mausoleum Nefarium for the Myrmidon (nice dungeon crawler vibe), DBP52: Havoc in Creation with the Druid (it just felt appropriate that she come to a twisted, burned realm of dead nature for the sake of righting such a deep wrong), and DBP65: Sanguine Holy Land with the Crusader (I don't think anyone would disagree with that pairing.) All of these, of course, were intended for Doom, and I didn't want to fight anything too futuristic (so no zombies with guns,) thus I had to get creative with regards to monster packs as there aren't a lot of strictly fantasy monster mods for Doom, the Hexen and Heretic fantasy monsters don't cleanly map onto the Doom bestiary, and Walpurgis' only implementation of replacing the sci-fi beasties with fantasy foes is through Dimensional Instability. For Ghost Town I just went hogwild with Dimensional Instability with strictly fantasy monsters; the balance was way off, but it was easy to soldier through as the Magister is so powerful regardless. For Mausoleum I used the Might and Magic Monsters mod, which draws sprites from some of the later Might and Magic PC games; the CG art stuck out like a sore thumb, but it kinda worked for a Diablo vibe. The last two I just used Merciless Monsters, a fantasy-themed mod originally created over on the Zandronum forums and intended for co-op, boosting monster power based on how many players you have, but it's perfectly fine for single-player. It's a great mod, but it does feel a little like something is missing.
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| Screenshot from DBP65: Sanguine Holy Land |
If there's a problem I have with Walpurgis it's that I think it's trying to be too many things at once. The monster system feels restricting in weird ways as even with it off it still has the nasty habit of overriding DEHACKED, but it was decided by popular vote to leave it in as-is thanks to the weapon effects. While I certainly think the effects are cool as hell, I feel like if the Bestiary was easier to fine-tune (such as being able to select a fantasy-themed take on the Doom roster, even if that meant making some concrete decisions on which Heretic or Hexen monsters to replace the zombies with) it'd be a lot more suitable for the more fantasy-themed mapsets out there, like Eternal Doom. I also was not the biggest fan of using the fancy fan-made Doom II intermission map screen -- such an idea is great if you're playing base Doom II, but it's quite jarring to see it in something like Havoc in Creation.
Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun playing Walpurgis. That it works at all on Doom and Heretic is nothing short of a grand achievement. I appreciate that it brings a bit more life to these characters, rewriting their backstories (which you can only see if you read the readme in the .pk3, but still) and even giving them a few voice lines when killing stuff! The Duke of Nukem would be proud. I really like just how much more powerful you feel with the overhauled weapons and spells, a far cry from the frustrating, even tedious gameplay of base Hexen.
You should absolutely give Walpurgis a try. At heart it's a grand fantasy power fantasy, full of style, a true modernization of Hexen gameplay.
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