spoiler: I'm NOT a fan of Hexen AT ALL but I love Heretic and its weapons

I played a bit of Heretic (halfway through e1m2) but honestly I had a hankering to play AE lol. big fan of the crossbow and gauntlets. Will probably like the dragon claw & hell staff (as for Hexen, i'm a dungeon crawler fan, so i might like it... but we'll see)

(also i'd feel really dirty using the "improved" balance and whatnot hexen adding the character change spellbook is nice but aside from that but i kinda wish it was just vanilla)

I haven't played enough Hexen to comment on the enemy balancing but Nightdive did add two QoL balancing things: you can select a different character in the hub, and they try to show you where to go next I don't really care about the former, but the latter made the game bearable for me

There's something about the simple doom mechanics being tweaked just a little bit and suddenly it's magic... That and the beautiful bright colors But yeah I need to revisit Amid Evil now because I distinctly remember them taking huge advantage of the engine's verticality

Hexen is a good looking game, I will say and i'm goddamn certain some hexen made it into Hedon (tho i treated the puzzles more like resident evil) and raven's soundtracks have a nice dire atmosphere

Now i do say this as someone who Likes doom i know you're still not exactly a fan. Some parts understandable, some parts that i kinda agree to disagree on I wouldn't say Doom is my favorite boomshoot ever, but i do enjoy jt Visually... impressive Then, but a bit colorless Now

Doom 2 is particularly bland color wise. Has some good setpieces w/ gore and the like, but it's not as easy on the eyes as something like Doom 64 (yes i've become one of Them)

I really do like Doom and I've played it more times than might be good for me 🥺 But you're definitely right about the colors.... It's not that they're bad, but they didn't really explore the spectrum that was available at the time. So what they have left is kind of limited

They kind of worked themselves into a corner with all the red and flesh colors, you know? Funny you would mention Doom 64 as I love its colors and overall look... And was just playing it too

fanmade stuff also has a tendency to be beautiful w/ custom texture packs but i don't wamma judge those because we had years of hindsight and hammering technique. Of course stuff like the Eviternities or Ancient Aliens look more visually impactful than Doom 2

I really think Heretic did a great job taking a fantasy setting and giving you every kind of landscape it felt it could manage. Blue skies and water are especially nice along with the colorful weapons. And the stained glass. Brilliant.

Oh they're absolutely solid as far as music goes Speaking of which, the remastered soundtrack is maybe not to the level of Doom, but it's definitely not too bad

Okay, that post comes across way more harsh than I intended. The remaster kicks ass