TheRetroArcade
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Posts: 1,975
Joined: Feb 2026
Joined: Feb 2026
"The game plays as you remember it."
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Classic boomer shooters Heretic + Hexen received a lavish overhaul courtesy of Nightdive Studios last year, making these classics of the 2.5D FPS era much more accessible on PC. Playing the sequels to Raven Software's early shooters is not so straightforward, however. Hexen 2 is available to buy on Steam in its original, unvarnished form, but the only way to play Heretic 2 is to summon an evil demon and sell your soul for a boxed copy.
This is a shame, because Heretic 2 is the most unusual entry in the whole Heretic/Hexen coven. The sequel breaks rank with all the others by being a third-person action adventure rather than a dedicated FPS. Released in 1998, it received decent reviews at the time, praised for its large, complex level design and grisly 3D action.
There is some good news for those who happen to own a copy of Heretic 2 though. There is now a way to make it easier to play on a modern PC. A programmer who goes by MaxEd on Github has created a "reverse-engineered sourceport" for Raven's fantasy blaster, which is pretty much a remaster in all but name.
Dubbed Heretic2R, the sourceport introduces a bunch of new technical features to the elf wizard Corvus' second adventure. For starters, it adds widescreen support with automatic HUD scaling, and unlocks the framerate to a theoretical maximum of 1,000 FPS.
On top of this, Heretic 2R ensures that in-game special effects update at the appropriate rendering framerate, improves map loading times, and makes "lots of cosmetic improvements" so that "the game plays as you remember it, not as it actually played". Which sounds very remaster-y to me.
Naturally, you need the original Heretic 2 game data in order to run the sourceport, specifically a copy updated to version 1.06. I can't help you with finding a copy of the base game, but the patch is available via PCGamingWiki. Once you've got the right version, you can either overwrite the Heretic 2 binaries with their Heretic2R equivalents, or copy the Heretic2\base folder to the Heretic2R folder (though without the .dll files).
The big question, of course, is whether or not we're likely to see Heretic 2 get a rerelease at any point. At the time of their respective releases, Heretic 2 and Hexen 2 had different publishers (the former Activision, the latter id Software). But since both companies are now owned b...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?
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Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
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Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Classic boomer shooters Heretic + Hexen received a lavish overhaul courtesy of Nightdive Studios last year, making these classics of the 2.5D FPS era much more accessible on PC. Playing the sequels to Raven Software's early shooters is not so straightforward, however. Hexen 2 is available to buy on Steam in its original, unvarnished form, but the only way to play Heretic 2 is to summon an evil demon and sell your soul for a boxed copy.
This is a shame, because Heretic 2 is the most unusual entry in the whole Heretic/Hexen coven. The sequel breaks rank with all the others by being a third-person action adventure rather than a dedicated FPS. Released in 1998, it received decent reviews at the time, praised for its large, complex level design and grisly 3D action.
There is some good news for those who happen to own a copy of Heretic 2 though. There is now a way to make it easier to play on a modern PC. A programmer who goes by MaxEd on Github has created a "reverse-engineered sourceport" for Raven's fantasy blaster, which is pretty much a remaster in all but name.
Dubbed Heretic2R, the sourceport introduces a bunch of new technical features to the elf wizard Corvus' second adventure. For starters, it adds widescreen support with automatic HUD scaling, and unlocks the framerate to a theoretical maximum of 1,000 FPS.
On top of this, Heretic 2R ensures that in-game special effects update at the appropriate rendering framerate, improves map loading times, and makes "lots of cosmetic improvements" so that "the game plays as you remember it, not as it actually played". Which sounds very remaster-y to me.
Naturally, you need the original Heretic 2 game data in order to run the sourceport, specifically a copy updated to version 1.06. I can't help you with finding a copy of the base game, but the patch is available via PCGamingWiki. Once you've got the right version, you can either overwrite the Heretic 2 binaries with their Heretic2R equivalents, or copy the Heretic2\base folder to the Heretic2R folder (though without the .dll files).
The big question, of course, is whether or not we're likely to see Heretic 2 get a rerelease at any point. At the time of their respective releases, Heretic 2 and Hexen 2 had different publishers (the former Activision, the latter id Software). But since both companies are now owned b...Read more: Full article on www.pcgamer.com
What do you think about this?