Is the Heretic + Hexen Collection on Steam worth buying?

http://store.steampowered.com/sub/439/

Should I buy this? I've never really had any interest in Hexen or Heretic but I'm considering buying this package because it seems good for the money.

It's cheap enough to be worth it, yes.

And Heretic is a fun game with a kickass soundtrack, give it a try.

It's good to have IWADs for the possibility to play mods. That was my main motivation why I got myself this package too. Go for it.

Ooh, I might grab that myself. Nice find.

I say go for it. You can have your very own spinning skull book!

Interesting that the Hexen 2 expansion isn't in there, I guess it was published by Activision. Still a good deal though.

I bought it some time ago and it provided me with hours of fun.

The package gets a -75% discount each year during Quakecon (coming in July this year) so if you're willing to wait a few months you might get it cheaper.

Patrol1985 said:

I bought it some time ago and it provided me with hours of fun.

The package gets a -75% discount each year during Quakecon (coming in July this year) so if you're willing to wait a few months you might get it cheaper.

Yeah I was going to say it'll be 75% off some time.

Its definitely worth a buy even through the collection is missing one particular game that NEEDS to be up on Steam...Heretic 2...*sniff* no one doesn't care for that underrated game ;_;

Totes worth it, and I'm not even that much of a Heretic/Hexen fan... Not saying I don't like those games, just they're not my favorites, and I have to be in the right mood. But either way, it's a great buy and an easy way to help fill out your id/games based on id tech collection. Gotta say though, unless you're dying to play them right now, wait for a sale. Steam has big sales often enough that you should be able to get a really good deal on them sooner or later.

Yep. Fun fact: I originally only signed up for Steam because Heretic and Hexen were readily available for it and I didn't have a workable copy at the time. If I'd known Hexen 2 was there sooner, I may have just knocked it all out then (still don't own it, as it turns out), but those two alone are worth the grab. Heretic is a gem that's so slept on that it hurts.

Heretic is the only Doom engine game I haven't finished, and I have finished the other games multiple times on multiple platforms. When I was younger and could play through any old shit I got through the first three episodes fine (I remember almost nothing about them) but the extra two that added for what ever the special edition was called just felt like some shitty slaughter wad. Also the weapons are fucking dull.

But my views are the minority and it cost less then a pub lunch.

Heretic has a better IWAD than Doom, so I'd say it's worth it. It flows beautifully towards a spectacular ending, with a steady increase in difficulty, unlike Doom 1's anticlimax. Stuff like the inventory powerups, such as Tome of Power or Wings of Wrath, go out to provide a gameplay different enough from Doom's.

Hexen is even better, especially if you like switch quests and don't have trouble getting lost. It's definitely better than Hexen 2, in case you bought the second game first and were disappointed with its pseudo-realistic settings (medieval Europe, native America, ancient Egypt, ancient Rome) and disjoint gameplay. Hexen 1 instead is 100% fantasty with a more coherent world, lots of combat and generally better scripted sequences. Try to obtain the Deathkings expasion especially; it boosts the challenge to immense levels, and the new puzzles are up to the task as well.

They both benefit from a skill level that's the hardest but generally playable, unlike Doom's experimental Nightmare! skill, which just doesn't scale very well in instances like Doom.wad where simple E1 turns out to be the second hardest on Nightmare!, and E3 the easiest.

printz said:

doesn't scale very well in instances like Doom.wad where simple E1 turns out to be the second hardest on Nightmare!, and E3 the easiest.

So, I guess E4 is the hardest on Nightmare! ? or you meant E2?

For $10, that is a collection of games very much worth obtaining. Kinda sucks they don't have the Hexen II expansion or Heretic II. Then again, I don't think the Hexen II XP was real common to begin with. I had to buy my copy off EBay for around $30. Still very much worth the price. Of course... I still have my fully intact copies of all those games and their expansions. >:)

Philnemba said:

Its definitely worth a buy even through the collection is missing one particular game that NEEDS to be up on Steam...Heretic 2...*sniff* no one doesn't care for that underrated game ;_;

Like the Hexen 2 expansion, it's published by Activision so it's not going to get included in that bundle.

I really loved Heretic 2 when it came out, and for a long time it was in my top 5 games of all time. However the things I really like about it are the melee combat and freedom of movement. And unlike Doom, I think that some modern games have improved upon those elements that I liked. The atmosphere is still great though.

Captain Red said:

the extra two that added for what ever the special edition was called just felt like some shitty slaughter wad. Also the weapons are fucking dull.

I really liked the extra episodes but they definitely crank the difficulty up. And also as much as I love the game, Heretic's Firemace, the game's "super weapon," is the lamest thing in any Doom engine game there is.

Thanks for the advice guys. I ended up bagging it. So far I like Heretic a lot more than Hexen.

Definitely, buy these exquisite games now!

SFoZ911 said:

So, I guess E4 is the hardest on Nightmare! ? or you meant E2?

Episode 4 definitely wins on Nightmare!. You're dead meat on E4M1 Ultra-Violence, let alone Nightmare!. The high count of Sergeants and great height variation throughout the episode makes it very hard to do what you can easily do on E2 and E3: run away to the exit, ignoring the enemy. E1 is like E4 with weaker monsters (fewer barons and cacos to torment you and empty your shotgun).

Yes I bought the pack its very good for the money

i did play a bit of Heretic, i think to the middle of E4? it's definitely got vastly better gameplay and level-design than Doom, in terms of IWAD quality, that is. however, i don't play Heretic that much because the vanilla content still bores me out, particularly the unsatisfying sound-effects that doesn't give any good response for me when you kill a big guy like the Maulotaur, even though they're much more interestingly laid out to fight.

Anyone think it'd be possible to convince Activision to put Hexen 2 expansion and Heretic II there?