Well, I want to talk briefly about fandom today and how it is possible to be a fan of something in theory… but not in practice. This was something I ended up thinking about in early November last year when, whilst bored one evening, I finally tried to play the copy of “HeXen II” (1998) which, if I remember rightly, I got from a game site giveaway in late 2020.
In principle, I should absolutely love this game. Not only does it use the original “Quake” engine, but it also has the same kind of cool dark fantasy style as the original “HeXen” (1995), with fully 3D graphics which still keep a lot of the cool details and items from the original game. You can also play as a necromancer who wields a cool-looking kopesh/scythe-type thing and a spell-book too. For the first five or ten minutes, my reaction was “This game is so cool!”
This is a screenshot from “HeXen II” (1998), showing the very beginning of the game from the perspective of a “Necromancer” character. In the early parts, it genuinely feels like a really good “Quake clone”, with more prominent dark fantasy elements, some horror elements and stuff like that too.
However, in practice, it wasn’t long before I was reminded of why I didn’t ever complete the original “HeXen” (1995) back in the day, or even during more recent attempts. Despite the ridiculously cool dark fantasy atmosphere of both “HeXen” games, the level design and puzzle design can best be described as frustrating.
You have to solve puzzles… across several levels (eg: some parts are in one, other parts are in another. Expect a lot of “back and forth”...). In “HeXen II” (1998), some areas and switches that you need to find in order to progress through the first part of the game are the sort of things which would have been considered well-hidden “secret areas” in other games of the time. How I got through the first group of three levels without using a walkthrough, I’ll never know! Luck, I think.
This reminded me of the “Tomb Raider” games. Another series which I’m a fan of in theory, but not so much in practice. Being born in the late 1980s, I grew up when this series of games was becoming popular during the mid-late 1990s. Everything about this series was really cool and quintessentially 1990s too. I mean, I still use an old Tomb Raider-themed mouse mat from the 1990s with my current computer.
Yet, although I have nostalgic memories of… trying… to complete the first two games in the series on my Dad’s P166 computer back in the day, I never got round to playing anything more than a demo of “Tomb Raider III” (1998) until about halfway through last year. Needless to say, I was eager to play this cool game which I still remembered reading about in game magazines. And, like with “HeXen II” (1998), the first part of the game was really fun and brilliantly cool. And then….
I reached this part! This is a screenshot from “Tomb Raider III” (1998) showing where I got completely “stuck” with the game. If you try to swim across this pool of water, you’ll get attacked by a swarm of piranhas. Yes, I could probably have just checked a walkthrough like a sensible person, but I wanted to work it out for myself… and abandoned the game in frustration.
I got completely stuck on one of the game’s puzzles. I then remembered why I didn’t complete either of the first two games back in the day. In fact, I also found myself holding off from playing more of “Tomb Raider: Anniversary” (2007) last September for pretty much the same reason. I barely figured out the amazing optional tutorial level , so I dreaded to think how I’d handle the main game.
Both “HeXen II” (1998) and “Tomb Raider III” (1998) are interesting because they are games where it is possible to really love the atmosphere, visual design, style etc… of the game but end up completely frustrated with the gameplay. As well as being interesting relics of a time when game design was a bit more unforgiving – walkthroughs were more difficult to find back then – they are also a testament to how it is possible to be a fan of something in theory, but not in practice.
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Anyway, I hope that this was interesting 🙂
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