Not long after my previous post about the tease regarding QuakeCon 2025, we were surprised to see both Heretic and Hexen getting delisted for only a few hours.

A temporary delisting but what resulted was the release of a remaster for both Heretic and Hexen: Beyond Heretic. I've did a video on Heretic for my YouTube channel's 10th anniversary so check that out.

Because this is developed by none other than Nightdive Studios, the ones who have remastered Doom + Doom II previously, what does the remaster offer?

For Heretic, it features enhanced toggles for the levels, items, weapons, and enemies. The enhanced weapon behavior is most noticeable to me because now the Eleven Wand has more spread, the Ethereal Crossbow shooting more slower (but faster when the Tome of Power is used), the Phoenix Rod had a more powerful explosion sound, the Hellstaff projectiles homing into enemies and so on.

These enhancements were made of good use for their new episode, Faith Renewed.

I played through the episode yesterday and honestly like what was offered aside from one of the additional enemies having projectile issues. Not sure if it was thoroughly tested because I feel like it was just a copy-pasted version of the Chaos Serpent from Hexen.

Granted the earliest appearance of the Chaos Serpent was from the final episode of Heretic when you face D'Sparil himself, the Chaos Serpent on it's own only made it as a monster for the sequel. (A indirect sequel but it's more so a second entry to the Serpent Riders trilogy.)

Faith Renewed also makes use of additional enemies, which are basically unused enemies (from the game's original development) repurposed. (See the Raven Vault)

The first new enemy are what appear to be more thinner version of the Golem called the Draugr, which shoot out projectiles but are easier to kill (compared to the Golems)

The second new enemy are also another repurposed pre-release one, called the Troll. (see screenshot above)

They are more aggressive thanks to their "charge at you" behavior, similar to enemies like the Fiend (from Quake) and facing a group of them can be a challenge. (especially when mixed with Disciples of D'Sparil)

There was one more additional enemy but it's just a port over from Hexen, the Green Chaos Serpent. I don't know what their purpose is since the projectiles go past the player on top.

Another gripe I have is more related to 4:3 displays. The intermission text are adjusted to widescreen displays in mind, that reading the text gets cut out on the right side of the screen.

I know having widescreen support is a good addition but what if somebody wants to play the game on a 4:3 display?

Even in widescreen resolutions (w/ widescreen turned off to preserve 4:3 aspect ratio), the intermission screens look weird thanks to the text covering the pillar boxing.

Aside from that, just like Doom + Doom II, the new remaster also has the ability to play and upload user created content (same applies to Console users excluding the uploading part obviously) even in multiplayer as the player is redirected to the addon of choice. (I think it only works in public lobbies as joining via room code somehow bypasses this)

Do note that the multiplayer is also not safe from unusual bugs where a pile of health vials suddenly appear. (Might be related to the Hellstaff's powered attack)

Anyway, I will save the Hexen talk in another post since I haven't completed the original Hexen (and Deathkings of the Dark Citadel) yet. I need to complete those before playing their new episode (Vestiges of Grandeur)

Either way, you can grab a copy of the remasters on Steam or GOG for $15, but if you have bought either one of these games previously, you get it for free. (Which I feel like should've been done for a lot of remasters on Steam. I had Dark Forces previously, but I am not spending $30 on a remaster that won't see frequent updates)

Thanks for reading!