Whoa, okay, so let’s dive into this whole Heretic and Hexen thing because, honestly, it’s been like, a million years, right? Or three decades, if you wanna be precise. Anyway, these games are making waves again, especially on consoles. It’s kind of wild seeing them on the Switch now, courtesy of Nightdive Studios. They seem to love dusting off these old gems—no complaints here.
So, Heretic. If you haven’t played it, just think Doom, but instead of shotguns you’ve got, like, magical staffs and stuff. Super retro, but with that whole medieval vibe. Not bashing it at all, just… it’s like Doom’s fantasy cousin. We’ve got the classic weapons and baddies too, which, if you squint, look kinda similar. Maybe intentional? Or just nostalgia playing tricks on us. Hard to say.
And then Hexen. Man, Hexen is a whole other beast. You’ve got classes like you’re in some kind of early RPG-FPS hybrid. Swords, magic, and puzzles galore. You could almost compare it to Zelda or Metroid in how you explore. Just really breaks out of that standard shoot-em-up mold. It’s ambitious and sorta makes you think.
Oh, and expansions galore. Like, seriously. There’s original stuff and new content for both games. Can’t say I’m sad about that. Faith Renewed for Heretic? Solid. And those extra Hexen expansions, Vestiges and Grandeur—fantastic, though, maybe not reaching the iconic status of the original. It’s all subjective, of course. Different strokes, y’know?
Now, let’s talk saves. For whatever reason—beats me—they’ve got this save system where every game shares slots. It had me all kinds of confused. Like, I’d be saving in Hexen, switch to Heretic, and bam, chaos in the save slots. Not sure why they did it this way. Keeps you on your toes, I guess?
Visuals? Pretty what-you-see-is-what-you-get here. High def, 1080p tops, sticking to that Switch vibe. But they could have thrown us a bone with options like CRT filters—yeah, a nitpick, I know. And there’s this weird sky box tiling thing in full-screen HUD mode. Got me curious if it was in the original but, nope, just this re-release hiccup.
Now, the old Nintendo 64 version of Hexen was—get this—the gold standard back then. Missing cutscenes but who cares when it runs better than the other ports? Playing it again made me wish for some tweakable textures on this new version. Unfiltered HD textures? Visual chaos. Maybe just me being picky.
In the end, Heretic + Hexen is like revisiting old friends. One’s good; the other, stellar. Sure, there are bumps: saving issues, limited viewing options, but hey, still better than dusting off a Nintendo 64 or dealing with the clunkier PS or Saturn versions. Fingers crossed we get more Heretic/Hexen goodness eventually.
