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To pay some homage to those fellers, let's compile a list of games based on Quake engines and just fondly remember them. Eligible are products like Sin, Half-Life or Hexen 2, but also TCs like Shrak and Malice.
Screenshots are nice of course, imageshack.us is a free image hoster.
Do tell what you like or dislike about the family members.
I'll start with Hexen 2 ...
My current hobby is playing this, since I got both Hexen2 and Portal of Praevus, the mission pack, to run under Linux. The port I use is called "Hammer of Thyrion" and is pretty sophisticated and very playable (on windows, too). Just like the custom Quake engines, Joequake and so on, it brings some new features that the original Hexen2 didn't have.
Anyway, Hexen2 is basically an FPHS (first-person hack and slash) game. You get to choose from several player classes, which mostly influences what weapons you can use. Each class has four typical weapons, whose effect can be changed by an artifact (effectively doubling your arsenal). After choosing your class, you are let loose in a medieval setting (mostly castles and the like) to pillage and slaughter. Very simple, very Quake-ish.
For example, the paladin (most basic fighter guy) has gauntlets, a sword, axe, and a magic staff. Like in Quake, you can see your weapon (viewmodel).
The world's construction is much reminescent of Quake; you get different monsters, of course, which are _expertly_ crafted and fun to fight; you get a great number of items, along with a (very basic) inventory, and those beautifully textured levels.
You have probably seen textures from Hexen 2 in Quake maps; they are often used by mappers because they're most beautiful and unique, with a medieval/fantasy flair.
In general though, if you know Quake, you will instantly feel at home in Hexen2. It's entirely possible to just run around and kill things (although that's a bit dangerous). You will need some items to proceed, and you will be told so.
And there is the problem. Hexen 2 is hub-based; if you have played any Quake 2, you know what I mean. You fight through one map and are told that you need "the bone dust of Loric" or something, and then you must visit the other maps in the hub to get them. Which means getting the bones, going to the Mill, learning that you need the Mill key, getting the Mill key, backtracing to the Mill, milling the bones (while killing enemies), and backtracing to the place where you can turn the bone dust into a potion. Now, it doesn't tell you what the potion is for. You learn that in the next hub, after you are told that you need the Castle key, for which you have to...
and so on.
It gets a little tedious. Actually, once you know where the key items are (there aren't many), and in what order to get them, and where to use them, THEN the game becomes fun again.
And it becomes even more fun once you get over the item-collecting and instead crank up the difficulty. This is where it gets addictive. The movement is like in Quake, and the new monsters do put up a good fight! Whacking them with the Vorpal Sword while dodging their arrows is terrific action. Crushing giant spiders is creepy and satisfying, and fighting teleporting wizards who fire glowing skulls at you is good stuff. You can also demolish the interior decoration, shatter windows etc (often happens in the heat of battle.) Just remember to use the save function.
And then there is Portal of Praevus, the mission pack that bumped Hexen 2 from "good" to "great". It's a must have, simply because the level design is 10 times better (and vanilla H2 isn't bad!) and the game really gets more mature in all aspects. It also has a new character class, the Demoness, and more monsters.
To give you a rough idea of Hexen 2's desirability, it's better than Malice, better than both Quake mission packs, and almost up there with Quake itself. That's how good it is.
Hexen 2 Demo:
http://www.ravensoft.com/hexen2.html
Portal of Praevus Demo:
http://www.ravensoft.com/portal.html
Hammer of Thyrion (modern engine for unix and windows):
http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net/
All of those sites have screenshots, and I'll make and post some myself, too.
Screenshots are nice of course, imageshack.us is a free image hoster.
Do tell what you like or dislike about the family members.
I'll start with Hexen 2 ...
My current hobby is playing this, since I got both Hexen2 and Portal of Praevus, the mission pack, to run under Linux. The port I use is called "Hammer of Thyrion" and is pretty sophisticated and very playable (on windows, too). Just like the custom Quake engines, Joequake and so on, it brings some new features that the original Hexen2 didn't have.
Anyway, Hexen2 is basically an FPHS (first-person hack and slash) game. You get to choose from several player classes, which mostly influences what weapons you can use. Each class has four typical weapons, whose effect can be changed by an artifact (effectively doubling your arsenal). After choosing your class, you are let loose in a medieval setting (mostly castles and the like) to pillage and slaughter. Very simple, very Quake-ish.
For example, the paladin (most basic fighter guy) has gauntlets, a sword, axe, and a magic staff. Like in Quake, you can see your weapon (viewmodel).
The world's construction is much reminescent of Quake; you get different monsters, of course, which are _expertly_ crafted and fun to fight; you get a great number of items, along with a (very basic) inventory, and those beautifully textured levels.
You have probably seen textures from Hexen 2 in Quake maps; they are often used by mappers because they're most beautiful and unique, with a medieval/fantasy flair.
In general though, if you know Quake, you will instantly feel at home in Hexen2. It's entirely possible to just run around and kill things (although that's a bit dangerous). You will need some items to proceed, and you will be told so.
And there is the problem. Hexen 2 is hub-based; if you have played any Quake 2, you know what I mean. You fight through one map and are told that you need "the bone dust of Loric" or something, and then you must visit the other maps in the hub to get them. Which means getting the bones, going to the Mill, learning that you need the Mill key, getting the Mill key, backtracing to the Mill, milling the bones (while killing enemies), and backtracing to the place where you can turn the bone dust into a potion. Now, it doesn't tell you what the potion is for. You learn that in the next hub, after you are told that you need the Castle key, for which you have to...
and so on.
It gets a little tedious. Actually, once you know where the key items are (there aren't many), and in what order to get them, and where to use them, THEN the game becomes fun again.
And it becomes even more fun once you get over the item-collecting and instead crank up the difficulty. This is where it gets addictive. The movement is like in Quake, and the new monsters do put up a good fight! Whacking them with the Vorpal Sword while dodging their arrows is terrific action. Crushing giant spiders is creepy and satisfying, and fighting teleporting wizards who fire glowing skulls at you is good stuff. You can also demolish the interior decoration, shatter windows etc (often happens in the heat of battle.) Just remember to use the save function.
And then there is Portal of Praevus, the mission pack that bumped Hexen 2 from "good" to "great". It's a must have, simply because the level design is 10 times better (and vanilla H2 isn't bad!) and the game really gets more mature in all aspects. It also has a new character class, the Demoness, and more monsters.
To give you a rough idea of Hexen 2's desirability, it's better than Malice, better than both Quake mission packs, and almost up there with Quake itself. That's how good it is.
Hexen 2 Demo:
http://www.ravensoft.com/hexen2.html
Portal of Praevus Demo:
http://www.ravensoft.com/portal.html
Hammer of Thyrion (modern engine for unix and windows):
http://uhexen2.sourceforge.net/
All of those sites have screenshots, and I'll make and post some myself, too.
It's on its own engine. And I believe the sequel was on one of the LithTech engines.
had a bunch of cool puzzles.. like having to find some bones and go to a windmill and crush them to make a potion.. maaan.. i should play it again 
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