Few retro shooters command the reverence of Heretic and Hexen, Raven Software’s dark-fantasy siblings to id Software’s Doom. For decades, players relied on fan-made source ports, scattered re-releases, or aging DOS boxes to keep these classics alive. The new Heretic + Hexen Remastered collection finally delivers what the series has long deserved: a comprehensive, respectful, and modern restoration that preserves the originals while elevating them for contemporary audiences.
This is not merely a graphics toggle or a thin emulated wrapper. It is a fully curated preservation project—complete with meaningful updates, historical extras, and new content—designed to make these games both accessible and authoritative.
Presentation & Technical Enhancements
Nightdive’s signature KEX engine work brings both Heretic and Hexen firmly into the present day, offering far more than a superficial graphical facelift. The remaster fully supports widescreen and ultrawide resolutions up to native 4K, ensuring environments, textures, and sprites appear crisp and detailed on modern monitors. Alongside this, fully uncapped framerates allow the games to run smoothly on high-refresh displays, delivering fluid motion and responsive gameplay even at 120, 144, or 240 frames per second. This combination of resolution flexibility and high-framerate support not only enhances visual fidelity but also dramatically improves player control, making combat, movement, and aiming feel more immediate and precise than in any prior release.
The updated rendering pipeline further elevates the visual experience by stabilizing sprite scaling and minimizing the pixel wobble that often accompanied movement through complex or vertical maps. As a result, environments look cleaner, more consistent, and easier to navigate, while retaining the original games’ dark fantasy aesthetic and atmospheric design. For players seeking additional customization, optional visual filters—including subtle texture smoothing and a CRT-style presentation mode—allow the experience to be tailored to personal preferences, evoking either a modernized look or a nostalgic retro feel.
Control and accessibility improvements are equally robust. Full mouselook support significantly enhances responsiveness and aiming precision, transforming combat into a smoother, more intuitive experience without compromising the design of the original encounters. Adjustable HUD scaling, colorblind options, customizable input behavior, and aim-smoothing provide flexibility for a wide range of players and hardware setups. Nightdive has also carefully refined movement and firing timings so that each weapon behaves predictably and cleanly, eliminating quirks and inconsistencies present in the original DOS engines while preserving the intended pacing and challenge.
Performance across the board is exemplary. Load times are effectively instantaneous, frame pacing remains stable even during chaotic battles with numerous enemies and effects on screen, and audio timing is precise, with no latency or drift. The games run as if they were built natively for modern hardware rather than retrofitted from 1990s code, delivering a polished and consistent experience from start to finish.
Importantly, every enhancement—including modern controls, visual upgrades, and rendering improvements—can be toggled off individually. Purists can revert to the original experience, complete with classic controls and visuals, while newcomers can enjoy a smoother, more polished presentation that makes these decades-old shooters feel remarkably contemporary.
Heretic: A Classic Elevated
Of the two titles, Heretic benefits most clearly from the remaster’s modernization. As a dark-fantasy counterpart to Doom, the game has always excelled in its fast-paced arena combat, inventive magical arsenal, and gothic architectural style. Yet the modern engine reveals how gracefully those design elements age when freed from the limitations of 1990s hardware.
Weapon feel is significantly improved. The Dragon Claw’s rapid-fire projectiles behave more consistently, lending it greater accuracy and impact. The Hellstaff, long appreciated for its dramatic alt-fire effect, now offers clearer projectile visibility and tighter hit detection. The Phoenix Rod’s explosive blasts are easier to read and control, reducing unintentional self-damage. And the Tome of Power—one of the most creative modifiers in any classic FPS—feels more rewarding than ever thanks to refined animation timing and more responsive input handling.
Level design, already strong in the original release, becomes smoother and more intuitive under modern presentation. Heretic’s maps were always full of verticality, secret chambers, and clever enemy placement, and enhanced visibility and fluid movement highlight just how smartly these spaces were constructed. Navigation is less cumbersome, while environmental cues feel more readable.
The remaster also includes a completely new episode built in faithful 90s Raven Software style. The additional levels blend seamlessly with the original campaign, offering fresh combat challenges and inventive environmental themes without ever feeling like revisionist fan fiction. Rather than reinterpreting Heretic’s formula, the new episode expands it in a way that feels both respectful and natural.
Hexen: Rehabilitated Without Being Rewritten
Hexen has always been the more divisive half of the duo. Its labyrinthine hub system, tangled puzzles, and rigid class structure created a strikingly ambitious but sometimes frustrating experience. The remaster does not rewrite Hexen’s core identity—and importantly, it should not. What it does instead is apply a layer of modern finesse that reduces friction while allowing the game’s dark atmosphere and complexity to shine.
Navigation is the clearest beneficiary. The automap is far clearer than in the original release, offering sharper geometry, cleaner labeling, and better readability overall. Visual signposting has been improved subtly but meaningfully; interactive objects and puzzle-critical architecture are easier to recognize without being highlighted in a way that breaks immersion. Interaction prompts behave more consistently, eliminating situations where switches required pixel-perfect alignment to activate.
Combat benefits from improved control responsiveness. Each class—the melee-focused Fighter, the spell-driven Mage, and the versatile Cleric—now feels more distinct thanks to smoother animation timing and tighter input behavior. The Fighter’s hammer swings and punches feel weightier, the Mage’s projectiles behave more predictably, and the Cleric’s hybrid tools connect with greater clarity. These refinements collectively make Hexen’s class-based system more enjoyable without diluting the original difficulty.
The Deathkings of the Dark Citadel expansion is included and fully remastered as well. Its reputation for brutal difficulty remains intact, but improved clarity and refined controls make the challenge feel more intentional and less obscured by technical limitations.
New Content & Extras
One of the most remarkable aspects of this remaster is the inclusion of brand-new episodes for both Heretic and Hexen. These additions are not reinterpretations or modern reinventions—they are crafted with unmistakable respect for Raven Software’s original design philosophies. The new missions introduce fresh encounters, expanded architectural styles, and more varied environmental themes, yet they blend seamlessly with the existing campaigns. They feel like lost chapters rather than DLC grafted onto a classic.
Supplementing the playable content is a well-curated “Vault” that features concept art, design sketches, historical materials, and documentation that contextualize how the originals were built. The inclusion of modding support further reinforces the preservation-first spirit, ensuring that the community remains central to the series’ future. The decision to include the original DOS versions is a particularly welcome touch, effectively turning the remaster into both an archival resource and the definitive edition.
Audio & Atmosphere
The audio suite has been thoughtfully expanded. Players can choose between the classic soundtracks and enhanced modern mixes. The updated music respects the original compositions while adding richer instrumentation and depth, strengthening the mood without overpowering it. Sound effects have been cleaned up, giving spells, weapons, and enemies more presence in the soundscape.
Hexen, with its ominous ambience and foreboding environmental audio, benefits the most. Darker areas resonate with deeper reverb, and the overall atmosphere becomes heavier and more immersive. Crucially, despite the improvements, both games retain their unmistakable auditory identities. Nothing feels replaced—only restored.
Multiplayer Modernization
Multiplayer has been thoroughly rebuilt and modernized. Online and local modes now feature full matchmaking support, cross-platform connectivity, and significantly improved netcode. Cooperative play in particular stands out; navigating Hexen’s sprawling hubs with friends is now far more fluid and intuitive, and synchronization issues that plagued older versions are no longer present.
These updates turn multiplayer from a niche curiosity into one of the collection’s genuine strengths.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Heretic + Hexen Remastered stands as one of the most comprehensive and respectful classic FPS restorations released to date. It preserves the atmosphere, pacing, and identity of these dark-fantasy shooters while making them more accessible, visually coherent, and mechanically satisfying for modern players. Heretic emerges as the standout, revealing how elegantly its design has aged when polished with modern technology. Hexen, long appreciated more for its ambition than its playability, finally receives the quality-of-life refinements that illuminate the brilliance beneath its rough edges.
Whether you are a longtime fan or a curious newcomer looking to explore the lineage of dark-fantasy shooters, this collection is unquestionably the definitive way to experience both games.
