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QuakeCon is upon us once again, and with it, Nightdive Studios surprised the veteran PC gamers, continuing to revive old and beloved IPs back from the grave, and this time, they chose one of the great titles from the PC back in 90s, with a remastered re-release of not only Heretic, but also Hexen, combined in a pack called "Heretic+Hexen".

Both Heretic and Hexen were released back in 1994 and 1995, respectively, and both use a modified version of the Doom engine by Raven Software back in the day, with the usual 1st person gameplay that made Doom so unique, but also, giving it an interesting spin with a medieval essence, magic, gothic architectures and delving more into puzzle solving than what Doom did with both Doom 1 and Doom 2, and that is what separates both Heretic & Hexen from the typical "Doom clone" to give it its own unique style and feel.

This brand new re-release of both titles includes a complete package for both games, to make it available and in the best presentation both games ever had, with the package including the following games and episodes:

• Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders
• Hexen: Beyond Heretic
• Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel
• Two all-new episodes created in collaboration between individuals at id Software + Nightdive Studios:
  • Heretic: Faith Renewed
  • Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur

As for new features, both releases include the following:

• Online cross-platform and local split-screen deathmatch and co-op modes
• Toggleable enhanced soundtrack from Andrew Hulshult
• In-game mod support
• Behind the scenes vault with concept art, monster information and more
• Support for community-published and features mods
• Improved performance with support for modern hardware, including 4K 120 FPS on consoles, modern controllers, and widescreen monitors
• An array of accessibility options, quality-of-life improvements, and engine fixes

This package is a must-have for anyone interested in the golden age and the surgeance of FPS on PC, with almost all the major FPS titles that made PC gaming so unique back in the 90s being remastered by Nightdive, although we're still missing a remastered version of Wolfestein 3D.

Heretic+Hexen is available right now on Xbox (+Game Pass), PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC with Steam and GOG.
The Steam release of the remastered pack includes the original DOS versions of both games as well!

 

[MPRTwice]

FPS is an outdated genre with nothing new or exciting to offer. Cope harder.

Frames per second UFC teleport movement stage acting and all of the rest of combat sports is indeed nothing new or exciting, and has nothing to offer. The actors in that are indeed in need of coping harder.

This, on the other hand, might convince some to see older raven software products, and of course is likely to be compatible with GZDoom for coding fun.

 

[RedoLane]

It didn't take me more than 3 minutes after the moment it was announced to go buy this on Steam...it's the third year in a row that I've done that.
YES. 3 YEARS IN A ROW! ID SOFTWARE!
YOU'RE ON A ROLL!

Heretic in particular... I seriously love it. Hexen waaaay less though.
Can't wait to try the new episode!

 

[MPRTwice]

It didn't take me more than 3 minutes after the moment it was announced to go buy this on Steam...it's the third year in a row that I've done that.
YES. 3 YEARS IN A ROW! ID SOFTWARE!
YOU'RE ON A ROLL!

Heretic in particular... I seriously love it. Hexen waaaay less though.
Can't wait to try the new episode!

I was surprised that they gave the updated version to the ones who bought the originals for free.

 

[RedoLane]

I was surprised that they gave the updated version to the ones who bought the originals for free.

It was the same for every re-release they've done specifically for id Software since Quake. It's basically an upgrade to the already-existing game in the digital library, so it only makes sense that it'll be free.
Chances are that in the future, Quake 3 Arena will get the same treatment.

 

[MPRTwice]

It was the same for every re-release they've done specifically for id Software since Quake. It's basically an upgrade to the already-existing game in the digital library, so it only makes sense that it'll be free.
Chances are that in the future, Quake 3 Arena will get the same treatment.

Great to not have all video game companies try to shortchange as much as possible.

 

[EddieEddieEddie90]

Brand new expansions for both Heretic and Hexen in 2025? What a time to be alive

 

[raxadian]

That's simply not true

Everyone talked about Doom 1 and 2, everyone talked about Quake.

The Doom clones were way less popular. Most multiplayer was in lan parties as Internet speeds were crap.

 

[VinsCool]

Finally, more games powered by the Doom engine getting remastered, those were classics of their time!

 

[LanHikariDS]

Typical nightdive rushed remaster with bugs at release again, got an enemy on the first level not displaying correclty, almost invisible and could only see 5 pixels of it and could damage when the 5 pixels of the enemy appears.

Love how a remaster of very old games, where you can you use free source ports and have zero issues but a paid one always have bugs at launch.

Nightdive needs to seriously stop releasing the game with tons of hype untested and fix it after release.

If you're talking about this room on the second level, that's... not a bug, that's how the level's intentionally designed in the original game-

 

[Joe88]

Played a bit of the new heretic ep and it was pretty good, the free look vertical mouse movement is a bit wonky though, weird zoom in and out

 

[lincruste]

Everyone talked about Doom 1 and 2, everyone talked about Quake.

The Doom clones were way less popular. Most multiplayer was in lan parties as Internet speeds were crap.

The DWANGO service was not internet based.
Quake was released 2 years after Heretic, it's not the same generation.
Any PC gamer knew about Heretic, it was one of the most popular shareware FPS at launch.
How old were you back then ?

 

[such]

Played a bit of the new heretic ep and it was pretty good, the free look vertical mouse movement is a bit wonky though, weird zoom in and out

Unless I misunderstand a weird bug you're getting that happens, because it's not a 3D engine. DOOM is the same, so is Duke Nukem 3D etc.

 

[Lumstar]

Played a bit of the new heretic ep and it was pretty good, the free look vertical mouse movement is a bit wonky though, weird zoom in and out

Vanilla Doom didn't have exactly have a vertical plane, as the concept is commonly understood.

The player could not look "up" or "down", and could not aim their weapon up or down. Shots automatically handled that.

 

[Viri]

Doom the Dark Ages should have been a Hexen game.

 

[Joe88]

Unless I misunderstand a weird bug you're getting that happens, because it's not a 3D engine. DOOM is the same, so is Duke Nukem 3D etc.

I play og doom wads with free look enabled (zandronum) and it doesnt have this issue, its something baked into this port

 

[raxadian]

it was one of the most popular shareware FPS at launch.
How old were you back then ?

Honesty, not all reviews were kind, and while yes Doom multiplayer was popular it was not exactly common, most people played it single player.

Not to mention Quake was such a massive change compared to Doom and Doom clones that well... you had to be there.

 

[LanHikariDS]

Vanilla Doom didn't have exactly have a vertical plane, as the concept is commonly understood.

The player could not look "up" or "down", and could not aim their weapon up or down. Shots automatically handled that.

Half-true. In Doom you couldn't look up or down, yes, but Heretic introduced the function to the engine. Because of the engine wasn't quite built for that, the 3D kind of warps when the player looks up and done as @Joe88 says. Most modern source ports iron it out, but it seems like Nightdive opted to make the graphics consistent to the DOS version

 

[Lumstar]

That, yeah. Duke Nukem 3D also warps when looking up, like the other poster was saying.

 

[raxadian]

That, yeah. Duke Nukem 3D also warps when looking up, like the other poster was saying.

Yup.

But usually people didn't care.

People played it mostly for the adult content and the fan created levels.

 

[Taleweaver]

Hmm... Unlike doom, i didn't buy these again on gog or steam. Great games, but they weren't doom. Our more specifically: they're "doom but fantasy".
(i could've sworn I bought heretic a second time somewhere... Oh well. It's not like this breaks the bank ).