Way back in 1996, when DOOM revolutionised gaming (and there can be no doubt that it did!), along with Heretic + Hexen Remaster, there came an era of DOOM clones. Some were cashing in on the success of the king, and some were inspired by it. But few ever matched the intensity and outright fun of the king of the FPS castle. More importantly, the DOOM engine allowed others, including home enthusiasts, to create their own games or episodes to expand upon DOOM or any of the other games that ran on its engine.
While the role of the home coder wasn’t anything new – just look to the 80s for the amount of games and studios that were brought up in someone’s bedroom – having access to the official development tools made life that much easier. And, significantly, lengthened the lifespan of the games that were built upon them.
The Role of Modding in Game Preservation
Why is that important to note? Because the modding scene has kept many of these games alive well past their technological selling date. To this day, you can still find enthusiasts creating new levels or entire episodes for their favourite games. And, in some cases, indie developers are modifying these ancient engines to create new retro-inspired games on them. This alone should make a compelling case for game preservation.
Nightdive Studios Brings Heretic + Hexen to Modern Platforms
This is why we’re lucky to have Nightdive Studios preserving and remastering older games, both well-known and those that have fallen through the cracks of time. Nightdive’s work on the titles they touch is nothing short of legendary, and now they’ve turned their attention to two of the most well-known DOOM clones, Heretic and Hexen.
As with their relatively recent re-release of DOOM + DOOM 2, Nightdive have reworked Heretic and Hexen into the new package of Heretic + Hexen and plonked it down on all available platforms with a remaster that, once again, goes above and beyond.
KEX Engine Powers Classic Games for Modern Play
Nightdive’s custom KEX Engine once again powers these classic games for modern platforms with a comprehensive package that includes over 100 maps for single player and multiplayer alike. Punted together in this package are Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Hexen: Deathkings of The Dark Citadel, Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur. Now that’s a whole lot of gibbing waiting for you to get into, and the games are all rounded out with cross-platform Deathmatch and, as with the DOOM and Quake remasters, mod support for selected custom-made community maps.
Heretic and Hexen: More Than DOOM Clones
While it would be easy to simply mark Heretic and Hexen as DOOM clones, that would be unfair to both the game and the original developers themselves. Yes, the DOOM inspiration is evidently clear in the map design, even with some DOOM sound effects being reused, but ultimately, if you give the games a chance, you’ll see that they are their own thing as much as inspired by iD Software’s groundbreaking behemoth.
Gameplay Innovations by Raven Software
Raven, the original developers, modified the DOOM engine to include a number of new features, including the ability to look up and down, along with some neat gameplay tricks in creating hub-type levels that required you to solve puzzles in other levels to fully open them up. An item inventory system was created to hold all of the pick-ups and power-ups you could employ, some of which became indispensable to clearing out swarms of enemies or shielded ones. Hexen even introduced a class system of three characters with their own strengths, weaknesses and weapons to use.
Fantasy Elements and Combat in Heretic + Hexen
The fantasy take on the games meant we got a whole bunch of fantasy-inspired enemies to turn into chunky kibble with a visual look that left space bases and hell corridors far behind. Weapons, while using specific established templates, were also heavily fantasy and medieval inspired, from Bo’s to wizard staffs to maces, gauntlets and crossbows and went a long way to adding their own flavour to the game’s combat.
Nightdive’s Faithful and Enhanced Remaster
Nightdive have, as usual, gone above and beyond here to both faithfully capture the original games while also making changes to them that are for the better. The first thing you’ll notice are the two new original episodes developed in collaboration between Nightdive and iD employees: Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur. These two new expansions really prove that Nightdive understands the games they’re remastering as they look, feel and play exactly like the original games.
Visuals, Multiplayer, and Performance Upgrades
As for the main games themselves, there’s the obvious remastering of visuals into high definition, which makes for a gorgeous and crisp-looking collection with stunning sprite work. Along with online multiplayer, there’s also local multiplayer and co-op for up to four players on Switch. Performance has been improved across the board as well, making for a silky smooth playing experience.
Level Enhancements and Gameplay Balancing
Deeper changes have been made to the games’ levels and balancing. Nightdive have enhanced many of the games’ stages by changing and adding geometry to areas that looked plain before. The effect is one that fits completely in with the rest of the games’ art and stage design and, unless you remember the originals thoroughly, wouldn’t even be noticed. Character speed has been increased, making these new remasters blisteringly high-octane action extravaganzas.
The game runs with flawless performance. Weapon damage has also been given a much-needed boost, making it much meatier now. Overall, the games just look better, feel better balanced and run better.
Soundtrack and Gallery Features
Not to be dismissed, either is the game’s soundtrack. The original tracks are all excellently atmospheric, but a new, remixed soundtrack is also available courtesy of Andrew Hulshult, which fits in perfectly with the original.
Rounding out the package is a Gallery showcasing production artwork, including cut content and community-created mod support. As with DOOM and Quake, this section is populated by a curated list of levels created by the community. Right now, there are only two mods available, but hopefully, this will change over time.
Final Thoughts: The Perfect Time to Play
If you haven’t played either Heretic or Hexen before, now’s the perfect time to jump into that fantasy universe. With blisteringly fast performance, fun gameplay and tons of content, Nightdive Studios has developed the definitive editions of these two classic shooters in one easy-to-pick-up-and-play collection.
Heretic + Hexen Remaster Trailer
Read more awesome previews >>here<<.
Game code was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.