From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action


So, there's a Heretic/Hexen remaster available.

This shouldn't really surprise anyone. It's been developed by
Nightdive, who recently released the DooM+DooM II remaster, and
Heretic/Hexen use the same engine. It probably took the developer more
time to figure out the licensing for the games than it did to port the
game.

In truth, that's not fair. While the core game is the same and
Nightdive is just porting it to their proprietary Kex engine (again),
they did put some extra effort into it; Hexen, for instance, got an
entirely new soundtrack and an intro-cinematic. There are also some
tweaks to gameplay (not least of which is the ability to switch
characters in Hexen at the start of each hub).

Still, at its core the games are still -in essence- Doom mods ported
to Kex. I've never been a fan of the Kex engine; everything ported to
it always feels too floaty and smooth. I much prefer proper Doom
ports, but maybe that's just me being finicky.

If you already own the original games on Steam or GOG, you get this
one for free. Unfortunately, this means the originals are no longer
for sale, but you still can play those with this port (just choose the
"play DOS versions" on start-up). So I'm not going to complain too
much.

Overall, an okay product. Hexen was always my favorite of the two, but
its gameplay and level design is very mid-90s Doom-clone; lots of
pointlessly maze-like levels and keycards. But the added verticality
of its levels and the multiple classes gave it a character of its own. "Heretic" just felt like "Doom with wands". But both of them feel old
and I can imagine that a lot of modern gamers will find the gameplay a
bit tedious. It's not a game I'd recommend anyone rush out and buy,
but if you get it for free and one day decide to give these ancient
games a replay, the remaster isn't a terrible way to do it.




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

So, there's a Heretic/Hexen remaster available.

Some hints Quake3 is next

rms
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Fri, 8 Aug 2025 19:51:04 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
wrote:

So, there's a Heretic/Hexen remaster available.

Some hints Quake3 is next

Yick. They'll probably port that to Kex too... which seems completely unnecessary considering its the Quake 3 engine.

But all these Id-game ports seem extra pointless to begin with; these
aren't games that really need much love because the fans have been
updating and keeping them relevant over the years. I wish Nightdive
would focus more on /forgotten/ games. There are some classics that
really deserve a second chance to shine but are completely unknown to
most gamers because they weren't huge hits and have slipped between
the cracks in the passing decades.

Imagine a remaster of "Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri" or an
updated version of "Mechwarrior 3".




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

GZDOOM, it's the only way to fly. I already have legal WADs out the
wazoo. Get a good GM sf2 for FluidSynth and it's a supreme experience.

On Fri, 08 Aug 2025 11:47:55 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, there's a Heretic/Hexen remaster available.

This shouldn't really surprise anyone. It's been developed by
Nightdive, who recently released the DooM+DooM II remaster, and
Heretic/Hexen use the same engine. It probably took the developer more
time to figure out the licensing for the games than it did to port the
game.

In truth, that's not fair. While the core game is the same and
Nightdive is just porting it to their proprietary Kex engine (again),
they did put some extra effort into it; Hexen, for instance, got an
entirely new soundtrack and an intro-cinematic. There are also some
tweaks to gameplay (not least of which is the ability to switch
characters in Hexen at the start of each hub).

Still, at its core the games are still -in essence- Doom mods ported
to Kex. I've never been a fan of the Kex engine; everything ported to
it always feels too floaty and smooth. I much prefer proper Doom
ports, but maybe that's just me being finicky.

If you already own the original games on Steam or GOG, you get this
one for free. Unfortunately, this means the originals are no longer
for sale, but you still can play those with this port (just choose the
"play DOS versions" on start-up). So I'm not going to complain too
much.

Overall, an okay product. Hexen was always my favorite of the two, but
its gameplay and level design is very mid-90s Doom-clone; lots of
pointlessly maze-like levels and keycards. But the added verticality
of its levels and the multiple classes gave it a character of its own. >"Heretic" just felt like "Doom with wands". But both of them feel old
and I can imagine that a lot of modern gamers will find the gameplay a
bit tedious. It's not a game I'd recommend anyone rush out and buy,
but if you get it for free and one day decide to give these ancient
games a replay, the remaster isn't a terrible way to do it.

--
Pope Zaghadka III

````````````````````````````````````````````````````|
Every man, woman, and child on this Earth |
is a genuine and authorized Pope. | `````````````````````````````````````````````````````

As Pope, you are entitled to the following privleges:

1. To invoke infallibility at any time, even
retroactively.

2. To completely rework the structure of the Erisian
church.

3. To baptise, bury, and marry (with the permission
of the deceased in the latter two cases)

4. To excommunicate yourself and others,
To de-excommunicate yourself and others,
To re-excommunicate yourself and others,
To de-re-excommunicate (no backsies) yourself and
others.

5. To perform all rites and functions deemed to be
improper to a Pope of Discordia.

Hail Eris!
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 8/9/2025 8:05 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Fri, 8 Aug 2025 19:51:04 -0600, "rms" <rsquiresMOO@MOOflashMOO.net>
wrote:

So, there's a Heretic/Hexen remaster available.

Some hints Quake3 is next

Yick. They'll probably port that to Kex too... which seems completely unnecessary considering its the Quake 3 engine.

But all these Id-game ports seem extra pointless to begin with; these
aren't games that really need much love because the fans have been
updating and keeping them relevant over the years. I wish Nightdive
would focus more on /forgotten/ games. There are some classics that
really deserve a second chance to shine but are completely unknown to
most gamers because they weren't huge hits and have slipped between
the cracks in the passing decades.

Which is exactly why the developers aren't "wasting" resources on them.>

Imagine a remaster of "Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri" or an
updated version of "Mechwarrior 3".

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

So, there's a Heretic/Hexen remaster available.

This shouldn't really surprise anyone. It's been developed by
Nightdive, who recently released the DooM+DooM II remaster, and
Heretic/Hexen use the same engine. It probably took the developer more
time to figure out the licensing for the games than it did to port the
game.

In truth, that's not fair. While the core game is the same and
Nightdive is just porting it to their proprietary Kex engine (again),
they did put some extra effort into it; Hexen, for instance, got an
entirely new soundtrack and an intro-cinematic. There are also some
tweaks to gameplay (not least of which is the ability to switch
characters in Hexen at the start of each hub).

Still, at its core the games are still -in essence- Doom mods ported
to Kex. I've never been a fan of the Kex engine; everything ported to
it always feels too floaty and smooth. I much prefer proper Doom
ports, but maybe that's just me being finicky.

If you already own the original games on Steam or GOG, you get this
one for free. Unfortunately, this means the originals are no longer
for sale, but you still can play those with this port (just choose the
"play DOS versions" on start-up). So I'm not going to complain too
much.

Overall, an okay product. Hexen was always my favorite of the two, but
its gameplay and level design is very mid-90s Doom-clone; lots of
pointlessly maze-like levels and keycards. But the added verticality
of its levels and the multiple classes gave it a character of its own. "Heretic" just felt like "Doom with wands". But both of them feel old
and I can imagine that a lot of modern gamers will find the gameplay a
bit tedious. It's not a game I'd recommend anyone rush out and buy,
but if you get it for free and one day decide to give these ancient
games a replay, the remaster isn't a terrible way to do it.

I tried it and I am a bit disappointed:

- There's no way of capping the framerate to the original 35 fps. 60fps
is weird, and at 144fps I get motion sickness
- All the music options are pre-recorded. Even midi synth is fake. I
noticed that it sounded nothing like the soundfonts I had loaded on the
Sound Blaster Bank Manager. Removed them... and the music was still
playing rather than getting no music at all, as it would happen with
real midi.

Thanfully, Crispy Doom supports both Heretic and Hexen, so I will simply
wait until the new episodes can run on them. https://fabiangreffrath.github.io/crispy-homepage/
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