Nightdive and id Software have released ‘definitive’ remasters of FPS classics Heretic and Hexen
Both games come in one bundle and include two brand new episodes
The classic first-person shooters Heretic and Hexen have been given remasters for modern platforms.
Announced during QuakeCon’s welcome stream, id Software‘s Marty Stratton and Hugo Martin revealed that Heretic + Hexen will be available today on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One, priced at $14.99 for the bundle of both games. The Xbox and PC versions will also be available for Game Pass subscribers.
The new releases have been handled by retro specialist Nightdive Studios, which has already released modernised remasters of Doom, Doom 2, Doom 64, Quake, Quake 2, Star Wars: Dark Forces and the first three Turok games, among many other early polygonal PC games.
Originally released in 1994 and 1995, Heretic and its sequel Hexen used a modified version of the Doom engine to offer similar FPS action but with a dark fantasy theme instead of a sci-fi military one.
Heretic was one of the first FPS games to allow inventory management and the ability to look up and down, while Hexen introduced hub levels and the ability to choose between three characters with their own unique weapons.
These new re-releases feature up to 4K resolution and 120 frames per second on hardware that supports it, as well as numerous texture enhancements.
They also include a remixed soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult, who previously worked on Doom Eternal: The Ancient Gods and the Doom and Doom 2 remasters.
Other features include in-game support for community-published mods, local split-screen for 4-8 players (depending on platform) and online multiplayer support for up to 16 players.
Perhaps most notable, however, is the addition of two entirely new chapters, Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandier, which have been created by members of Nightdive and id Software.
“For me, much of what remastering is about is the question of striking the right balance between what to change and what to preserve,” developer Matthew Tropiano told the official Xbox blog.
“For Heretic + Hexen, we added a lot of new textures and graphics to Heretic that helped flesh out its locales, while also giving the community more resources to work with when creating new content.
“For Hexen, most of the changes focused on gameplay improvements. Players can still play the original games sans changes if they want to, but we feel that what we changed improves the experience of these titles.”
