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After, like, 30 years—seriously, that long—Heretic finally pops up on consoles, bringing its buddy Hexen along for the ride. Hexen’s been MIA on home consoles since the days of the PlayStation, Saturn, and, oh yeah, the Nintendo 64. So this new kid on the block, Heretic + Hexen, lands on Switch thanks to Nightdive Studios. They’re kinda the OGs of updating old games, right? Loads happening here: original games, Hexen’s Deathkings expansion, all shiny and new expansions for both Heretic and Hexen, plus sweet bonus stuff too.
Heretic’s like Doom, but with a medieval remix. Think swords and sorcery instead of guns and demons. Not saying that’s a bad thing. Even with all the same tech hurdles as Doom, it somehow makes the engine dance better. Yeah, you’ll spot the Doom-like weapons and baddies, but hey, it’s like a game of old-school spot-the-difference.
Now, Hexen? Total game-changer. Literally. Pick a class—three options, mind you—each packing its own gear, powers, and stats. The levels? Way less like running in a straight line, and more about exploring. Sometimes, puzzles will mess with your head—kind of like Zelda meets Metroid meets Doom. If that makes any sense.
More goodies? Yep. Three expansions. One’s been out since ’96, and the other two are hot off the press for this release. Heretic gets an expansion called Faith Renewed. It’s epic—pushing the engine more than ever. Hexen gets two new ones—Vestiges and Grandeur. They’re pretty solid, maybe better than the old Deathkings expansion, but, y’know, nothing beats the OG game vibes. Still, they rock.
Biggest hiccup for me was the weird save system. Like, why do these games all share the same save slot? I legit lost track—quicksaving in the wrong game, then scrambling to recover old saves. Sorting that mess? Takes more effort than it should. Every game’s save pile mashed into one. Ugh.
As for visuals, Nightdive keeps it old school. High def by default (it’s a Switch, not Switch 2—1080p max). Options to dial back to “classic” resolution or mix it up. Choose between 16:9 or 4:3 aspect ratios. Play with the HUD, crosshair, even swap soundtracks. But… about that HUD—choosing full screen made skies go all wonky, tiling in strange ways. Remembering the N64 setup, I checked—nope, only happens here. An issue from the old PC days, maybe? Who knows.
Speaking of N64, its Hexen version was the console king back then. Based on the floppy disc version—yeah, floppy discs!—missing cutscenes but rocking better performance than other ports. Playing side by side, the N64 version holds its own. Oddly, though, I wish this version had texture filters. Unfiltered HD can be visually noisy. Call me crazy, but a CRT filter might actually help.
All in all, Heretic + Hexen makes a killer package: one great game and one totally legendary. New and old content just adds layers. Sure, clunky saves and limited visual tweaks add a minor ding, but hey—a CRT filter could do magic here. Considering the best previous option was digging up a Nintendo 64 or dealing with sub-par PlayStation and Saturn versions, this feels like a win. Fingers crossed we see more from the Heretic/Hexen series down the line.
