Oh man, so Heretic and Hexen, after what, thirty years? They’re finally on consoles again! I swear, last time I touched Hexen on a console, I was probably tangled up in controller cords playing on a Sega Saturn or something. Anyway, now they’re out on the Switch thanks to Nightdive Studios. These folks got a knack for revamping old games – can’t deny it! There’s a lot to digest here with the original games, plus expansions. And some are fresh off the press, or should I say digital realm?
Heretic is like, if Doom had a medieval sibling, you know? It’s swords and spells instead of guns and demons. Not a knock on it, though. It makes good use of what Doom started, though, yeah, similarities are a bit hard to dodge. It’s almost like a mirror match with different outfits.
Now, Hexen, on the other hand, threw a curveball. You pick a class – yeah, kinda like D&D vibes – and each has its own weapons and powers. Plus, the levels are all twisty and exploratory. Sometimes I wonder if I’m playing Zelda or Metroid instead. And the puzzles – don’t get me started. They’ve got layers, man.
Then we hit the expansions. Three in total. One’s an oldie from ’96 and the others are shiny and new for this release. Hexen’s new ones – Vestiges and Grandeur – are solid, maybe I even like them better than Deathkings of the Dark Citadel, but, y’know, the original Hexen still holds a special spot.
Okay, there’s a snag. And it’s a weird one: the saves. All five games – because these expansions feel like new games – share the same save setup. I mean, you forget what game you saved last in and it’s chaos. Trust me, I learned the hard way.
Visually, Nightdive didn’t go wild. It’s HD – which is nice – but remember, it’s the Switch, not their hypothetical next-gen console, so 1080p it is. I played around with the aspect ratios and HUDs, and, fun fact, noticed a weird tiling issue with the skyboxes. Not sure if it’s a glitch from the new port or an original quirk.
Speaking of quirks, let’s talk about the Nintendo 64 version of Hexen – often lauded as the best. It didn’t have those fancy cutscenes but played well. Playing the old and new versions back-to-back, I couldn’t help but miss filtering options here. HD is cool, but man, those raw textures can be a bit much. It’d be neat to have a CRT filter – just a passing thought, I guess.
Wrapping it up, the Heretic + Hexen bundle is a wild mix of nostalgia and fresh content. Despite the clunky save issues and visuals longing for a CRT touch, it’s an upgrade over the old console days. Fingers crossed they release more from the Heretic/Hexen saga soon.
