Review – Heretic + Hexen (Xbox Series S/X)

For the second year in a row, Bethesda, id Software and Nightdive Studios have teamed up to release a remastered collection of a classic first-person shooter series. Considering how Nightdive had already developed new versions of Doom, Doom II, Quake, and Quake II, what else was left for them to tackle? Given how I assume Wolfenstein is too (inexplicably) sensitive to be remastered nowadays, all that was left was the Heretic franchise, an old partnership between id and Raven Software.

Each weapon in Heretic is a copy of a Doom weapon. In this case, the crossbow is the equivalent to the shotgun.

Heretic + Hexen is a compilation comprised of these two games, released in the early-to-mid 90s. They were some of the first games developed by a third party studio with tech licensed from id Software. In short, they ran on the classic Doom engine, but were a completely new series, set in medieval times. Instead of a marine, you’re either a wizard, a warrior, or a knight, depending on the build you choose, or the game you’re playing. The first game, Heretic, is the quintessential Doom clone: it looks, runs, plays and is designed just like the original Doom, with the difference that you can also aim up and down. It doesn’t make too much of a difference in terms of level design, as the Doom engine wasn’t exactly made with camera perspectives in mind, but hey, it was revolutionary for the time.

Hexen might actually be a bit more famous than its predecessor as it had actually been released on PS1 and Nintendo 64 back in the day. Despite also running on the old Doom engine, it was a lot more modern, featuring some platforming (yes, you can jump), different character classes to choose from, and interconnected maps you needed to revisit over and over again, in a hub-esque environment. There’s also a larger emphasis on puzzle-solving, which, considering the time it was developed, means the puzzles and solutions are quite convoluted to deal with if you’re not already familiar with the game.

Unlimited Power!!!!

The inclusion of character classes means there’s multiple ways you can play Hexen, even if not all of them feel ideal. You might end up playing as a character completely specialized in melee combat, which feels incredibly weird in a game where you’re constantly fighting against pixel-based enemies in a pseudo-polygonal environment. That being said, it was revolutionary for its time, and it’s still quite novel today. Hexen is a more complex game, with some puzzles feeling more like temporary roadblocks which require you to do a quick visit at an old Gamefaqs walkthrough in order to find the solution, but considering it’s still technically a Doom clone from the 90s, it’s still a very fun game.

And then we come to Nightdive and their wizard-like talent when it comes to remastering old games. Heretic + Hexen follows the same premise set by last year’s Doom + Doom II: two games remastered to near-perfection, a ton of nostalgic extras, a brand new soundtrack composed by Andrew Hulshult (with the difference being that he has now composed an atmospheric soundtrack instead of a collection of thrash metal bangers), and brand new chapters designed specifically for this collection. It’s basically what you already expect from Nightdive at this point, and to be honest, it’s never a bad thing. There’s no need to fix what isn’t broken, after all.

Hexen is quite different from your average Doom clone. It’s non-linear, featuring a hub world.

I did mention “near-perfect”, however. I just have one issue with this remastered collection, and that’s its UI. In short, you can either choose between a brand new UI designed for this remaster, or use the old fonts and interfaces from the original games, stretched to oblivion. You have a choice between classic and stretched, or brand new and completely cheap-looking. It’s basically tons of cheap Microsoft Word fonts which, sure, get the job done, making those games a lot more accessible, but they stand out like a sore thumb when you take into account that the rest of the collection looks pretty good, considering the limitations imposed by the original Doom engine.

In order to use a ranged weapon, you’ll need to collect mana.

Hexen and Heretic are a harder sell when compared to Doom and Quake, but they are still fun games worth checking out. They are different enough to feel novel even after 30 years, being less linear, medieval-themed, and even melee-focused, depending on the character you choose to play as. Thanks to Nightdive’s utterly masterful remastering efforts, both titles look, run and play better than ever before. And with that, yet another batch of classics has been preserved to posterity by one of the best retro-focused studios in the business. Can’t wait to see what they’ll remaster next.

Heretic + Hexen is available now on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Xbox Series S.