Earlier today, NintendoLife ran an article indicating that two of the classic shooters of the late 90s was back. Unannounced. No fanfare. No bravado. Just a simple, stripped down posting to the Nintendo eShop. A shadowdrop. Heretic and Hexen were two of the seminal shooters that helped cement the FPS shooter as an institution in gaming beyond the foundations that Doom and Quake had laid. And its arrival on the store, on a platform other than XBox, is poignant in a time following Raven Software being impacted by Microsoft’s recent round of layoffs.
Raven has been one of my favorite studios since I discovered the Soldier of Fortune series back in the early 2000s when I entered by second foray into the PC gaming space. I actually missed Heretic & Hexen during their original heyday and arrival as a new PC title. I got a copy of Hexen bundled with my first GPU, a Diamond Monster Fusion, that I threw in my Intel Celeron powered Packard Smell before I started building my own rigs. I never did much more than pick at it. But I’m downloading this $14.99 remaster bundle to my Nintendo Switch 2 right now.
Raven has been subdued from visibility since it got acquired by Activision and then got incorporated into the Call of Duty machine. And then again by way of second-hand acquisition via MSFT acquiring ATVI.
But I have always believed that they were inside the machines doing the work, even if that belief was born solely out of nostalgia. I believe they have been the principal hands in putting together some of the single-player campaigns, handling campaign structure layout and mission design. But they have come to the fore as principals in leading Warzone. They are the core of the CoD team, central to much of the integration, back-end connectivity across the multiple titles, and handle the HQ launcher. This particular remaster is done by NightDive, which is carving out its own legacy as port & remaster experts in the industry, and it’s a shame Raven Studios couldn’t participate. I’ll have to be satisfied that their legacy has found a way to peek out from behind the veil of CoD via second-hand means. And hope they remain protected in this tough time of industry upheaval while inside the belly of two beasts.
Now to get hands-on with the Heretic + Hexen remasters in handheld mode.
Rounding Off Infinity 