Heretic + Hexen - Review

Growing up in the 90s, DOOM and Wolfenstein were the PC games I played most, well in school and via the shareware versions, but Heretic was played at a friend’s house and it was enjoyed very much. But that was 30 years ago and while the series has been beloved by those of the day, does it still hold up today?

The story of the two games is connected to the Serpent Riders, three brothers that have been corrupted by powerful magic and only one group is resisting there attempt at controlling the world. The Sidhe elves are that group and due to there resistance are branded Heretics, and while they lose their access to powerful magics they still fight back. What is interesting about the game, more so due to the time when it was released, there is not a lot of story told in decent chunks, you need to find it out for yourself. The story, if you dive into it, does have some nice twists and turns and while there is nothing new for returning players, it is still a fun ride. The only downside to the story is that the third game, Heretic II is not here. The two games in the collection were created by Raven Software, but are owned by id Software, whereas the third game is made by Raven Software, but published and owned by Activision. Given both Bethesda and Activision are owned by Microsoft, it would have been great to see all the games released. As the collection stands, its like watching the first two Lord of the Rings movies and then just never seeing the third, not a great thing, but not worth skipping the first two.

Thankfully, where the story feels incomplete, the gameplay more than makes up for it. The game can best be described as DOOM but with magic and while it will give someone an idea, it also falls short of explaining things properly. The first of the two games is more akin to DOOM or Quake, with the game divided into stages, that all have enemies to slay and secrets to find. The second game, Hexen tried to create a more cohesive world and it succeeded, somewhat. Everything about the two games is retained here, the same fun weapons and enemy designs and the many twisting corridors and hidden rooms. What made the original release so special was that, for the first time you could look up in a first-person shooter. That mechanic is here still and while it never made much difference in the original release, here it just feels a little more impactful. I will note though that on Switch, the default control had motion enabled, which was not something I was prepared for, which made the game feel really different.

The big hook for the games, especially for their time was the inclusion of an inventory, something that if a game does not have today, feels weird. The inventory is basic, while the team at Nightdive Studios have cleaned up a lot of stuff, it still ends up being basic. Don’t get me wrong, it does the job and changing it too much would have been out of place for this release, but you can feel its limitations. Even the two new chapters made for the release feel old, which is more a testament to the developers crafting something to match the design of the original release. In all reality, the only thing that was changed was the balance. Something I did pick up that was new was that in Hexen, you can now change your character mid-game, which was not possible before. This may not mean much to many players, but it is one of those little changes that just enhances things and I like it. Speaking of little changes, the developers also tweaked weapon and enemy behaviour, like how Fallout 76 recently did. Sure, this might be upsetting to purists, but the point of the work was to make it feel better overall. Did it impact, honestly, it I has been so long since I played the games, I could not begin to tell you, but I can say that it did not make anything feel broken.

As this is a collection release, there are some great art pieces and music to enjoy. The art is great because it shows just how much attention to detail went into elements, that were then lost when the limitations of the day popped up. The music that the games offer are still fun to listen to and while maybe not as iconic as other FPS games of the day, they hold up. But the team have also created updated versions of those tracks with composer Andrew Hulshult doing the work. These new versions feel like they were created for the game originally and just never included, that is how good they are.

Of course, one of the big things for a modern release of an older game is the size of the image, when these games released 320x200 was the standard PC resolution. Now the minimum resolution tends to sit at 1920x1080, so it is a lot of space to fill and the team have done a great job again. Nightdive Studios have always managed to make games run in 4K, on supported hardware and nothing ever feels like its stretched out and that is the same here. On the Switch in 720p in handheld, the game still looked and ran great and of course, on Switch 2 it looked even better. The visual design was quite striking for its time and still holds up today, but when you stretch the image onto a 4K display the pixels can look a little weird.

Heretic + Hexen have continued the great work that both Bethesda and Nightdive Studios are doing with these gaming classics. The enhancements to the games don’t break anything, but just make everything feel a little newer and I like it. The extra episodes are great additions, though I do question how they fit into the lore. Similarly, I am a bit let down by the lack of the third game in the series being omitted from the release, I understand business why, but still. If you have played the originals these are great ways to re-experience them and for newcomers, they are the best way to enjoy them.

The Score

8.5

Review code provided by Bethesda

The Pros

The gameplay updates and tweaks don’t impact the fun, so everything still plays great

The amount of game included, with two games and new episodes is just amazing value for money…

The Cons

… though not having the third game included, feels like it’s incomplete