Review of Heretic and Hexen Games

Alright, let’s dive right in. So, Heretic and Hexen are back—suddenly on consoles after, what, thirty years? It’s wild to think about. Last time Hexen was on a system you could play at home, we’re talking PlayStation, Saturn, and N64. Fast forward to now, and we’ve got this bundle—Heretic + Hexen—thanks to Nightdive Studios. They’ve been brushing up older games for ages, so you’ve probably stumbled upon their work somewhere. There’s a mountain of stuff packed in here: original games, Hexen’s Deathkings expansion, totally fresh expansions for both games, plus extras. Yup, we’re spoiled.

Okay, Heretic first. It’s like they took Doom, slapped on a medieval theme, and called it a day. Not saying that’s bad, mind you. Sure, it shares Doom’s constraints, but it’s more creative with them. The weapons and baddies kinda mirror Doom’s, though. That’s obvious.

But where Heretic stays medieval Doom, Hexen flips the script. Picture this: you’re picking classes like you’re in an RPG—each one with its own gear and abilities. The levels? They’re more like a maze, filled with puzzles and chances to explore. It feels kinda like Zelda or Metroid when you think about it—yeah, in the good way.

Beyond these, there are three expansions. Heretic gets one, Hexen gets two. The first Hexen add-on is from way back in 1996. The others, however, are hot off the press. Heretic’s new bit, Faith Renewed? It just pushes boundaries further. I sorta dig the new Hexen ones, Vestiges and Grandeur over the original Deathkings—but nothing quite beats the OG game’s vibe. They’re still solid, though.

Anyway, moving between what’s basically five different games, I hit one snag: the save system. They all share one, annoyingly enough. Just one quicksave slot, ugh. Sometimes I’d forget which game I’d saved last. Oh well. Hunting for the right save when jumping between games… it’s a headache.

Visuals? Nightdive kept it simple. High-def by default (but hey, it’s Switch, not Switch 2—hello, 1080p max). You can tweak resolutions, flip between 16:9 and 4:3, mess with HUDs, and switch soundtracks. The full-screen HUD bugs me out a bit, though. The skyboxes? They loop weirdly if you look around too much. Didn’t find this issue in the N64 version, so maybe it’s just this remaster?

Speaking of N64, that version was always the fan favorite for Hexen. Except… it didn’t have the cutscenes. But other than that, it was smoother than the PlayStation or Saturn ones. Seeing it now, I missed those textures. Weird, huh? They may be better unfiltered, but in HD, all that texture makes my eyes twitch. Might be a strange opinion, but I’d love a filter option—or even a CRT filter!

So, Heretic + Hexen is a killer set—one solid game, one epic one. New stuff, old stuff, it all beefs up the package. Yeah, the save quirk and basic visual options on modern TVs make me grumble a bit. A CRT filter could smooth things over, you know? Still, it’s better than digging up old consoles or playing those messy PlayStation or Saturn versions. Fingers crossed for more Heretic/Hexen drops someday!