When it comes to preserving long forgotten or unavailable shooters, Nightdive Studios is leading the charge. While older games often struggle to be preserved properly due to a myriad of issues–licensing disputes, asset loss, tech limitations and simply being forgotten chief among them–studios like Nightdive have made a concentrated effort to prove that no game is beyond preservation. In the past few years, Nightdive has restored and released new versions of System Shock 2, Star Wars: Dark Forces, and Turok, bringing the beloved classics to modern audiences. Yet even more impressive is the studio’s commitment to including a wealth of accessibility options, making these titles more playable and accessible than ever before.
Nightdive’s most recent re-releases, Heretic and Hexen, are prime examples of this. Released in 1994 and developed by Raven Software, Heretic was one of many “Doom Clones” from that era. Instead of a space marine taking down the hordes of Hell, players took on the role of a spellcaster named Corvus who navigates a dark fantasy world brought to ruin by the Serpent Riders. Heretic is notable for being far more interactive in its environments compared to Doom and even allowed players to look up and down: a rarity for shooters at the time. A year later, Raven Software released Hexen: Beyond Heretic, a distant sequel to Heretic that saw players pick one of three protagonists as they set out to defeat the second of the Serpent Riders. Like its predecessor, Hexen was notable for its distinct features, such as a darker fantasy setting and a central hub that connected all the game’s levels.
While these games had their devoted followings, neither reached the popularity of games such as Doom and Quake and, as such, fell into obscurity. For a long time it felt as if these games would never get their proper due. That all changed, however, at this year’s Quakecon, when Microsoft and Nightdive announced a remastered collection featuring both games–complete with numerous accessibility options and enhancements–was now available. According to Nightdive founder and CEO Stephen Kick, Heretic and Hexen’s focus on accessibility is not a passive effect of remaking the games, but an intentional choice that reflects the studio’s larger priorities.