Nightdive Studios wants Microsoft to let them do remasters of Heretic and Hexen

[Lila Feuer]

https://www.neowin.net/news/nightdive-studios-wants-microsoft-to-let-them-do-remasters-of-heretic-and-hexen/

 

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Microsoft's Xbox leader Phil Spencer has stated on more than one occasion that he is a fan of Raven Software's early games like the Heretic and Hexen series. He even wore a t-shirt with the Hexen box art during last June's Xbox Games Showcase. Raven Software is an Activision development studio that Microsoft now owns as of a few days ago.

 

The subject of reviving old games like the Heretic and Hexen titles from Activision's catalog came up again this week when Spencer was being interviewed for the official Xbox podcast. He stated, "If teams want to go back and revisit some of the things that we have and do a full focus on it, I'm going to be all in on that."

 

As it turns out, one person is throwing his and his team's hat in the ring to release remastered versions of those games. Samuel Villarreal, the lead engine designer at Nightdive Studios stated on X (formerly Twitter), 

 

@XboxP3 Just letting you know, having a long running history and extensive knowledge with Heretic and Hexen, just want to point out that me and my team are very well suited for the job. Just saying.

 

Heretic and Hexen remaster

Now Phil Spencer approved!

[HavoX]

I'm not surprised..

 

As long as we also get Hexen II and Heretic II remasters, I'll be happy.

[GibFrag]

I sort of hope they give the fighter the ability to use his sword without mana. It always felt weird he could use all of his weapons (which are all melee weapons) without mana except the one weapon a warrior would likely use all the time: the sword!

[Rudolph]

A SIGIL-style Heretic 1 campaign would be cool too.

[alexsa2015sa]

Also known as, "the news I really really really did not want to hear anywhere anytime at all"
Oh well, I can treat this as being on a deadline before another wave of H/H hype comes and goes, for all a double-edged sword it is.

[Noiser]

I would prefer a new game on that universe tbh. Maybe one day :-)

[Jayextee]

I want Heretic on console. Always have. Please let this be a thing.

[xScavengerWolfx]

If night dive can remaster Doom 64 (which i want to dip my toes in that mapping scene someday) i am pretty sure they can do Heretic / Hexen.

 

[Dimon12321]

And what will it be? Doom Unity, but it's Heretic/Hexen Unity?

[Matthias]

31 minutes ago, Noiser said:

I would prefer a new game on that universe tbh. Maybe one day :-)

Such a game would probably look like Witcher or Skyrim or something.

Fantasy Doom clones were extremely isolated in a short period of time and then fantasy games were always rather open-world RPGs and such.

[Sonikkumania]

We never had Heretic nor Hexen. How was the multiplayer or was it even existent? 

[Vermil]

I always wondered if the WIP modern model pack for Doomsday HeXen could be reused for a full on remake now that Dday seems to have ended development.

 

The creator of the models works at Blizzard on Diablo 4 and was making them in their spare time.

 

EDIT: https://talk.dengine.net/discussion/2910/elv-project-hexen

[Captain red pants]

44 minutes ago, Jayextee said:

I want Heretic on console. Always have. Please let this be a thing.

Heretic isn't my favorite FPS but if they do an PSX style bonus episode complete with Aubrey Hodges soundtrack that would be amazing

[Jayextee]

Where exactly do you pull that from though? What's the possibility of it actually happening?

[Vermil]

One can dream can't they :)

[Jayextee]

I can think of better things to dream of than cut-down maps containing a limited number of enemy types with an ill-fitting soundtrack.

 

1 hour ago, Rudolph said:

A SIGIL-style Heretic 1 campaign would be cool too.

Like this. This would be cool.

[GibFrag]

40 minutes ago, Sonikkumania said:

We never had Heretic nor Hexen. How was the multiplayer or was it even existent? 

Heretic and Hexen have fun deathmatch for sure. Hexen though, is really worth playing in coop with at least 2 other people. It is a great experience!

[Xaser]

I don't have much more to add other than "Hell yeah DO IT", so let's leave it at that. :P

[Gothic]

Betting for Curse of D'sparil to be added if they go the Doom Unity way.

[Master O]

Can we also get the original Heretic 2 on Steam and GOG as well?  Half of the legal issues with this game involves Activision and ID having different legal rights, so now that they're both under Microsoft, this should no longer be a problem.

[Nikku4211]

As long as they let you look up and down with the mouse instead of requiring you to awkwardly use the keyboard for that.

[Graf Zahl]

I'd rather see Heretic 2 as well. I can play the originals and Hexen 2 with existing source ports, but getting Heretic 2 to work again is a completely different story...

 

[Pechudin]

Maybe I play Heretic one day becasue of this ...

[Wadmodder Shalton]

Hope that they can also include the mapset from the Saturn & PS1 versions of Hexen as well.

[Xaser]

Actually, I do have one more thing to add, 'cause nobody's mentioned Hexen's most important piece of missing content on the PC: Bring back the fly!

[ETTiNGRiNDER]

25 minutes ago, Wadmodder Shalton said:

Hope that they can also include the mapset from the Saturn & PS1 versions of Hexen as well.

Did they differ in any appreciable way?

[Murdoch]

1 hour ago, Graf Zahl said:

I'd rather see Heretic 2 as well. I can play the originals and Hexen 2 with existing source ports, but getting Heretic 2 to work again is a completely different story...

 

 

Yes, seeing an improved version of Heretic II would be great.

[Murdoch]

39 minutes ago, Wadmodder Shalton said:

Hope that they can also include the mapset from the Saturn & PS1 versions of Hexen as well.

 

Why on earth would you want versions of the maps which are all but identical but demonstrably worse than the PC originals?! What possible value would this have?

Although all levels are present in this version and feature their correct layouts, their architecture details are somewhat simplified and there is some loss in overall lighting quality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexen:_Beyond_Heretic#Console_versions

[Gothic]

2 hours ago, Wadmodder Shalton said:

Hope that they can also include the mapset from the Saturn & PS1 versions of Hexen as well.

There's nothing unique about the console ports. The only thing worth noting is the N64 version having a cool level transition.

[Caffeine Freak]

Love Hexen and Heretic, and I love every remaster from Nightdive that I've played thus far. Crossing my fingers for this to proceed.