Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel

Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel is the only official expansion pack for Hexen: Beyond Heretic. It was released on January 1, 1996. The game features 26 new levels; 20 new single player maps spread across 3 hubs and 6 new deathmatch maps. It also includes the v1.1 patch for the original Hexen.

Deathkings starts off where the original Hexen story left off. Having discovered the Chaos Sphere after the death of Korax, the sphere whisks the heroes away to the Realm of the Dead, and they must find their way home. Getting back will not be easy, though, for the way is blocked by the Dark Citadel. (The storyline behind the expansion therefore seems similar to episodes four and five of Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders.)

Hubs
There are three hubs in Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel:


 * Expansion Hub 1: Blight
 * Expansion Hub 2: Constable's Gate
 * Expansion Hub 3: Nave

In some ways, Deathkings may be thought of as the five Hubs of the original Hexen being compressed into three more difficult Hubs, with the storyline and tasks being otherwise very similar (aside from the ending fights).

Music

 * Main article: Deathkings music

Deathkings reuses Hexen's music, but the soundtrack in version 1.0 is still associated to the levels of the original games, not those of the expansion. A patch (dkpatch.zip) has been released for updating HexDD.wad, which enables music in-game, and upgrades it to version 1.1.

Deathmatch maps
As well as the 20 single player maps, Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel also comes with several new maps made specificially for deathmatch play, all of which may all be accessed from the "hub" of Transit:
 * Transit (MAP33, visit33)
 * Over N Under (MAP34)
 * Deathfog (MAP35)
 * Castle of Pain (MAP36)
 * Sewer Pit (MAP37)
 * The Rose (MAP38)

Patches
One patch was released for the expansion, version 1.1, which can be downloaded.

Trivia

 * As with the original game, the MAPINFO lump for Deathkings contains reference to a map that doesn't exist in the final game, though in this case it's far less interesting; simply an entry for a map named "test".
 * In Hexen, Ettins randomly respawn at intervals while the player is in a given level. In Deathkings, however, other types of monsters also respawn.
 * Flechettes are in shorter supply. On the other hand, some other artifacts (Dark Servant, Porkalator, Krater of Might) are no longer subject to the "use them or lose them" rule which made the player lose all but one of each of them when he proceeded to the next hub in the original Hexen.