In the lead-up to QuakeCon this year, I had been speculating with friends about what we could see as a potential shadow drop. All signs pointed to Quake III Arena, and I was quite disappointed by this. Not because of the game, but because I wanted a Heretic re-release with a console version. A few hours prior, Wario64 posted about Heretic and Hexen being made unavailable to purchase on GOG. At that point, it felt like Heretic and potentially Hexen would be seeing something at QuakeCon. A few hours later, Heretic + Hexen from Nightdive Studios was released on Nintendo Switch, other consoles, and PC platforms.
QuakeCon 2025 took place on the same day as Nintendo’s Indie World Showcase last week. Getting UFO 50 and Heretic + Hexen shadowdropped on Switch the same day was quite something. I’m working on a review for the former, but I’ve spent most of the last few days playing Heretic + Hexen across Switch and other platforms, both online and offline.
Before getting to this new release, Heretic was a very important game during my childhood. Back when I was playing DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D on DOS, Heretic was the first game I remember scaring the crap out of me as a kid. I still remember playing the shareware version and deciding only to play it during the day. Yes, it got me good back then. I didn’t end up playing much of Hexen as a kid, but Heretic is etched into my memory quite well. I even remember typing IDKFA and IDDQD (the DOOM cheats), which led to funny results looking back, but it wasn’t fun to see the outcome as a kid.
Coming from Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM, Heretic’s new controls were quite something, with the ability to aim up and down as well, the inventory system, and what felt like a visual step up to me as a kid. I was also enthralled by the fantasy setting. I know a lot has been said about DOOM clones, but Heretic was exactly what I wanted from one of those. I just wasn’t able to play it as much as DOOM as a kid. I never played any of the DLC or much of the sequels, and that’s where Heretic + Hexen from Nightdive Studios comes into the picture.
For a while now, Bethesda has released a lot of id Software’s older published and developed games on Steam and GOG. I’ve owned the Quake, DOOM, Heretic, and Hexen games for many years, but didn’t end up going back to Heretic or Hexen much through the previous releases.
Hexen, like Quake (which I never played at all until Nightdive’s release), was released a year after Heretic, but this was around the time I was moving away from DOS games and was playing more on PlayStation. I don’t remember much of Hexen from back then, so its inclusion in this package is almost as good as a brand-new game for me.
Hexen was built on the base of Heretic with a new class system. You can choose between a mage, a fighter, or a cleric. Hexen even had a hub system and tweaks to the inventory system Heretic had introduced. After properly playing it now through Heretic + Hexen, I really wish I had experienced it back in the late ’90s, but this is one of the best parts about fantastic re-releases like this.
Heretic + Hexen from Nightdive Studios isn’t just those two games ported over for modern consoles and PC platforms, but the definitive way to experience Heretic and Hexen with a plethora of enhancements, the ability to turn off said enhancements for the pure experience, visual upgrades, control improvements, cross-platform multiplayer support, and even new content.
This release includes Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders (1994), Hexen (1995), Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel (1996), and two brand-new episodes developed specifically for Heretic + Hexen. These are Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur. The two new episodes are fantastic. A friend of mine said some of these newer episodes for classic games feel overdesigned, but I think both of the new ones here feel like either long-lost episodes or perfect throwbacks with some modern design sensibilities.
Nightdive has even made changes to levels featuring less obscure progression, improvements to positioning, rebalanced items, rebalanced weapons, enemy behavior changes, and more. These can be turned off, but they aim to address how spongy a lot of the enemies felt back in the day. Heretic feels a lot more polished thanks to this, but I’m glad the pure experience is still available.
On Switch, Heretic + Hexen defaults to gyro controls being enabled, and they work quite well. In fact, this is one of the first games I tested out with my new Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller when playing docked. Even the HD Rumble implementation is quite good. Heretic + Hexen is an original Switch game, but it plays great on Switch 2, both docked and handheld. I didn’t play much of it on my Switch OLED, but I did notice the load times are a lot better on Switch 2.
While the original Switch took about 26 seconds to get to the title screen of Heretic + Hexen from the dashboard, the Switch 2 (installed to internal memory) took 16-17 seconds. Even loading one of the games or episodes from the game selection screen gets cut from 2-3 seconds on the original Switch to just 1 second on Switch 2. These aren’t massive upgrades, but it is good to see improvements before we even get a potential native release.
Speaking of a potential native Switch 2 version of Heretic + Hexen, I would love to see Nightdive add mouse controls, 120 frames per second (fps) support, and higher resolution visuals. Right now, Heretic + Hexen looks good scaled, but native and crisp resolution support with 120fps would make this even better.
There is a downside to Heretic + Hexen on Nintendo Switch, though. Just like DOOM + DOOM II, mod support is limited on Switch to just featured mods. Other platforms have access to any player uploaded mods as well. This has resulted in a funny situation where PlayStation, Xbox, and PC players can use the Hexen 64 audio as a mod, but Switch owners cannot. Hopefully, Nintendo’s platform policies allow for better mod support in the future.
Barring that, Heretic + Hexen on Switch is at feature parity. It is capped to 60fps right now with 1080p docked support, but everything else is the same as on Xbox Series X or Steam Deck, where I also tested Heretic + Hexen. Even the cross-platform multiplayer works well. I was able to test this across Xbox, Switch, and Steam with no issues.
Visually, I initially thought Heretic looked the same as it did back when I played it, but just scaled for the new screen. Going into the settings revealed how much of a visual upgrade we have here, thanks to the higher resolution scale option. The Original resolution scale option matches that of the original game, but for modern displays with widescreen support. The Maximum resolution scale option, which is the default, renders the game at the display resolution (1080p on Switch docked).
On the performance side, I didn’t notice any drops when playing Heretic + Hexen on Switch 2. Obviously, I’ve not been able to test some of the crazy mods like on other systems since those likely will not be available here, but right now I can say that Heretic + Hexen is an awesome experience on Switch 2.
So far, I’ve not commented on the audio, a huge part of the experience. Before getting Nintendo Switch review code, I had Heretic + Hexen as a free addition to my Steam library since I owned the prior versions. After installing it on my Steam Deck and launching the game, I was prompted to select a soundtrack. I had the game muted, so I just kept pressing A to get into Heretic as soon as I could. I didn’t realize I had selected the new remixed soundtrack when I did this.
After playing for a few minutes, I thought Heretic looked and sounded fantastic. I wondered if this was because the team used higher-quality audio samples. I still hadn’t figured it out. Clearly, this was my rose-tinted memory of Heretic because when I did look at the sound options a few minutes later, I noticed I had selected the “Remix” soundtrack, which mentioned a modern take by Andrew Hulshult. I switched to the original and was shocked. I think this is a testament to Andrew’s work on the soundtrack. He managed to not only make Heretic and Hexen music feel modern, but also match my memories of the original Heretic score. I don’t think I could give the soundtrack more praise than that.
Tracks like The Dungeons and The Graveyard feel like a middle ground between the punchy uptempo music you’d hear in AMID EVIL’s DLC and the original soundtrack. I never thought I’d be listening to music from Heretic outside the game, but here we are. This score is fantastic.
I know there are some who might have wanted an IDKFA-style heavy guitar-driven soundtrack, but I don’t think that fits the theme here. While many associate his music with the heavy and punchy guitar work with Prodeus and Dusk, Tome of Power (Official Heretic + Hexen Game Soundtrack) is another kickass soundtrack from him that perfectly manages to capture the Heretic and Hexen vibe while still sounding modern.
With that mini soundtrack review out of the way (how could I resist?), my major complaints with Heretic + Hexen on Switch right now have to do with the limited mod support and limited museum content. Yes, the Raven Vault with scans and sprite designs is great to see, but I was hoping to have a similar set of museum content like in Nightdive Studios’ recent System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster with box scans, manuals, and more. Hopefully, these can be addressed in potential patches.
Heretic + Hexen is a bit harder to recommend compared to DOOM + DOOM II given the source material quality, but Nightdive Studios has done a superb job bringing both games back for modern platforms with a plethora of quality of life and visual enhancements that can all be toggled off as well for the original experience. While the Switch version is a bit lacking thanks to limited mod support, it plays fantastically on both Switch and Switch 2 with gyro controls. If you enjoyed Nightdive’s DOOM and Quake releases, Heretic + Hexen is an essential even if you never played them before. I know Heretic isn’t going to appeal to everyone, but it feels like a dream (and nightmare) to have this game from my childhood return in such an amazing way.
Review copy provided by Bethesda Softworks
Version tested: Nintendo Switch
