Latest news with #NightdiveStudios
Metro
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Metro
Phil Spencer favourite Hexen returns in new Nightdive remaster compilation
Developer id Software has re-released two of its classic shooters on modern platforms, as Doom: The Dark Ages gets a new mode. The original Doom might be considered the defining pioneer of the first person shooter genre, but some of its imitators also helped evolve the classic formula. One of the most significant was 1994's Heretic, published by Doom creators id Software and developed by Raven Software – who now work on the multiplayer modes for Call Of Duty. The shooter took all the elements of 1993's Doom and added a fantasy setting, interactive environments, online multiplayer, and the ability to look up and down. It was followed by sequel Hexen: Beyond Heretic in 1995, which threw in character classes and larger hub levels. If you fancy an interactive history lesson in these two classic shooters, with some new perks, id Software and Nightdive Studios have partnered up on a new remaster. Although for some reason it doesn't include the 1997 sequel Hexen 2. As announced at Quakecon, Heretic + Hexen is an updated collection featuring both spellcasting shooters. Each game has been revamped for modern platforms, with an enhanced soundtrack by Andrew Hulshult, online cross-platform multiplayer across deathmatch and co-op, in-game mod support, and new accessibility options. The package includes Hexen's expansion, Deathkings Of The Dark Citadel, and two new 'episodes' created by id Software and Nightdive Studios, entitled Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges Of Grandeur. If you never played the original games you might recognise Hexen as one of the retro T-shirts Xbox boss Phil Spencer has worn in the past, which many fans took to be a clue about a new entry. Spencer has mentioned the series a few times but it's very unlikely he was ever hinting at this remaster, since that was back in 2023 – before Microsoft laid of thousands of developers. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. Anyone who already owns Heretic or Hexen will receive a free upgrade to the collection, which is a nice reward for long-time fans. You'll also still be able to access the old versions even if you upgrade, if you prefer to fully immerse yourself in the 1994 vibe. Heretic + Hexen is available across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC for £13.49. It is also available on Xbox Game Pass. Elsewhere at Quakecon, id Software announced a new update for Doom: The Dark Ages. Beyond quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes, the update adds a new mode called the Ripatorium, where you can customise a chaotic encounter with enemies in an arena. More Trending You can pick the stage, music, the type of enemies you'll face, the number of waves, a time limit, and the difficulty level, among other options, with more additions promised in future updates. Two new Doom Slayer skins are also available for a limited time. A Quakecon skin can be redeemed by playing Doom: The Dark Ages between August 7 and September 1, while if you complete three arenas available in the Riptorium, you'll unlock the Perfection skin. If you haven't yet picked up the sequel to Doom Eternal, Doom: The Dark Ages is currently 25% off across all platforms until Wednesday, August 13. Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: Nintendo rips off Playdate console in patent for new Switch 2 accessory MORE: GTA 6 cost might surprise fans as Take-Two boss talks 'fair price' MORE: Battlefield 6 already filled with cheaters as beta beats Call Of Duty records
Engadget
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Engadget
Heretic and Hexen have received a surprise remaster from Nightdive Studios
Nightdive Studios and id Software have announced a surprise remaster of fantasy shooters Heretic and Hexen . The games are now available for modern consoles in a new release, dubbed Heretic + Hexen, that includes support for co-op, cross-platform multiplayer and community-published mods. Heretic + Hexen combines Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders , Hexen: Beyond Heretic and Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel into a single bundle. On top of making the updates necessary to get the games running on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch, Nightdive also created "two brand new episodes" to play through called Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur that include new levels inspired by the original games. When they were first released in 1994 and 1995, respectively, Heretic and Hexen featured the novel pairing of Doom -inspired first-person action, with rudimentary RPG elements like character classes and an inventory. The games helped put developer Raven Software on the map not long before it went on to create games like Quake 4 and Wolfenstein for id Software. Nightdive Studios has worked on other id Software remasters, but the idea of remaking or rereleasing Heretic and Hexen has been in the cards for quite a while. Microsoft completed its acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of the games' original publisher id Software, in 2021. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer was on the record as recently as 2023 as being interested in rereleasing both games. It took a couple years, but the remasters finally happened. Heretic + Hexen is available now for Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers. If you already own any of the original versions of the games, you'll get upgraded to the remastered bundle for free.
Geek Culture
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Culture
'BioShock' Creator's Upcoming 'Judas' Will Be A Complete Single-Player Game With No Microtransactions
Ken Levine, best known for creating the BioShock series and his work on the 1999 sci-fi classic, System Shock 2 , has revealed that his upcoming first-person shooter (FPS), Judas , will be an 'old-school' single-player experience, and will not include modern gaming troupes like live-service elements or any online component. Speaking during an interview with System Shock 2 developer Nightdive Studios on YouTube, Levine confirmed that Judas will not only feel like BioShock , something that was already obvious from what its trailers have shown, but it will also follow the same format of the games, being purely a single-player adventure focused on 'telling the story and transporting the player', and not on an abundance of multiplayer content or monetisation that's prevalent in many modern titles today. 'I grew up playing single-player games,' Levine said. 'And I grew up before certain types of monetisation existed. I'm not here at all to say this is bad, or this is good, right? That's not really my thing. I know the kinds of games I like to make, and so we never made a [live-service] game.' 'Juas is a very old-school game,' he continued, 'You buy the game and you get the whole thing. There's no online component. There's no live service, because everything we do is in service of telling the story and transporting the player somewhere.' In an industry so plagued with rampant monetisation and the constant push for 'shared experiences' by including some sort of multiplayer component, it's refreshing to see a developer double down on what makes gaming so great to begin with, transporting a player into an immersive digital world in a finely crafted story-driven experience, instead of blindly chasing trends. Let's hope that Judas becomes a great success, so that more developers will learn from Levine's example and return gaming to its glory days, free of live-service and monetisation woes. For now, the game does not have a firm release window, so fans will just have to wait and see how it shapes up. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. bioshock Judas Ken Levine
Metro
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster PS5 review - the horrors of AI
One of the best PC games of the 90s has been remastered for consoles, as Nightdive Studios gives the sci-fi horror sandbox a well-deserved makeover. Ken Levine is an influential, but increasingly forgotten, figure in video games. Starting his career working on Thief: The Dark Project at Looking Glass, he went on to co-found Irrational Games, which made System Shock 2, before leading development of the BioShock franchise. As CVs go, his is not short of highlights, and while the immersive sim genre he helped invent never quite found mainstream appeal, players who enjoy it can be almost fanatical about it. Levine is set to return with the upcoming game Judas, but meanwhile remaster masters Nightdive Studios have been working on keeping his System Shock legacy alive, with a full remake of the first title in 2023. That stopped short of the more ambitious reboot they'd intended in their Kickstarter campaign, but its generally warm reception was enough to ensure the sequel would get similar treatment. System Shock 2 was originally released in 1999, and while Nightdive's aspirations for its 25th anniversary edition once again had to be scaled back – and released a year late – it is finally here. As such, it provides a fascinating window into gameplay that helped shape the current generation, not to mention Half-Life 2, which came out five years later and most certainly owes it more than a nod. Set 42 years after the events of System Shock, you're a solider aboard the UNN starship Von Braun, waking from hyper sleep to find the place overrun by zombie-like human-parasite hybrids, deranged psionic lab monkeys, and killer robots. Your job is to figure out what happened and try and make your way through the carnage to survive. Once again, you find yourself pitted against corrupt AI, SHODAN, but this time you also have to contend with the Von Braun's rogue computer, Xerxes, and in a foreshadowing of BioShock's structure, a single human survivor, Dr Janice Polito, whose disembodied voice issues instructions and rewards from afar. Her vocal delivery is wonderfully cynical, calmly dismissing the ghosts of the recently deceased crew members you occasionally see, as 'self-hypnotic defects', telling you not to let them distract you from the tasks she's assigned you. It's a compelling set-up and prepares the stage for a game where every single word counts. The audio logs that deliver the majority of the game's lore also contain essential tips and passwords to open doors. Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. It means you're always paying close attention to everything that's going on, which helps emphasise the profoundly unsettling atmosphere. Along with the noises and occasional explosions of the decaying UNN Von Braun, the game's fast drum and bass theme music is so jarring it adds to an overriding sense of wrongness. You'll also find the hybrids who continually try and kill you apologising as they do so. 'Sorry', they say, and 'Run', as they lay into you with guns and iron bars. Just as alarming are the lab monkeys, their lurid purple brains exposed through their trepanned skulls, multitudes of whom you'll need to beat to death with a spanner. The more you notice, the more disquieting it is. It makes Nightdive's choice to add four-player co-op with cross-play pretty baffling. For a game so dependent on its sense of creeping dread and the need to dwell on occasionally subtle clues in its environments, adding the knockabout fun that automatically occurs when two or more people get together in a first person shooter seems antithetical. When you're laughing it up with friends, the Von Braun becomes a playground rather than the intended retro-futuristic haunted house. It does help offset the difficulty though, which has in no way been dumbed down from the original. Fights are frequent and often deadly, ammo and medical supplies are scarce, and the packets of crisps and soft drinks you find only heal a single hit point. It's just as well every section of the ship has its own regeneration room, where you respawn after dying, and once you unlock the key to surgical tables that heal you free of charge, you discover things aren't quite as brutal as they initially appear. What really impresses though, are the systems that make up its sandbox. For example, another new addition is your choice of career background, which influences the stats your character has at the start of the game. They provide the foundation for quite different builds, from the gun-toting marine to the physically weak psionic-focus of the OSA. Although inadvisable for a first play through, once you work out which psi powers work best, by the mid-game some of them can become comically over-powered. The downside of the latter approach is that you'll regularly have to navigate the game's over-engineered menus. Finding and selecting a new psionic power is a faff when you're standing in an empty room. In combat, since menus don't pause the action, it's a shortcut to getting yourself battered to death by mutants. Its insistence on mapping the stand-still-and-lean-around-corners button to the one most first person games use to sprint, is similarly inhumane. More Trending Graphically, and in keeping with its status as a remaster rather than a remake, things have been polished instead of reinvented. Cut scenes are much sharper looking, as are enemies, guns and scenery, but they all still have the unmistakable low-poly blockiness of the late 1990s. The most important thing though, is that what made the game such a landmark in the first place is still entirely present. That includes its labyrinthine level design. You eventually discover that sections generously loop back on themselves, creating shortcuts after long and gruelling periods of exploration, and that you can safely dump spare inventory items in the lift that acts as a bridge between those vast floors. That doesn't prevent each new area you discover from feeling genuinely intimidating though. Despite moments of mechanical clunkiness, and the occasional odd design decision, System Shock's 25th Anniversary Remaster is a reminder of how much sophistication was possible even with pre-millennial technology. It's still utterly engrossing to play, and with so many different possibilities to experiment with, invites multiple playthroughs. This is a sensitively made and bug free remaster that should delight devotees of the 90s original and curious newcomers alike. In Short: A meticulous and polished remaster of the classic sci-fi survival horror, which retains the original's atmosphere and complexity while adding new mod cons, most of which enhance the experience. Pros: Level design that feels fresh and refined even today. Wonderfully dark ambience and environmental storytelling. Systems that allow for an inspiring variety of character builds. Cons: Very difficult compared to most modern games. Four-player co-op is fun but annihilates all hint of atmosphere. Menus remain a headache to navigate. Score: 8/10 Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and PCPrice: £23.99Publisher: Nightdive StudiosDeveloper: Nightdive Studios (original: Looking Glass Studios and Irrational Games)Release Date: Out now (PC), 10th July 2025 (consoles) Age Rating: 16 Email gamecentral@ leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter. To submit Inbox letters and Reader's Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here. For more stories like this, check our Gaming page. MORE: The 10 best summer video games to play if you're missing the heatwave MORE: Halo team promises 'official scoop' on series' future later this year MORE: Fans call Steam Summer Sale 2025 'mid' but there's a reason it seems so bad
The Verge
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Verge
A shockingly short wait.
Posted Jul 1, 2025 at 5:00 PM UTC Following news of a brief delay, Nightdive Studios announced today that System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary launches on consoles on July 10th. The PC version launched on June 26th.
