Update [Sat 29th May, 2021 02:00 BST]: GRAVEN went into early access on Steam this week, and to celebrate 3D Realms has released a new trailer. This spiritual successor to Hexen II is scheduled to arrive on the Switch at some point this year.
Original article [Sun 6th Sep, 2020 11:00 BST]:
Remember the 1997 FPS Hexen II? Well, here's its spiritual successor, GRAVEN - coming to Switch next year.
The game premiered this weekend at Realms Deep 2020 - 3D Realms' digital weekend celebrating all-things FPS. It combines the Hexen series' dark-fantasy gameplay with action-adventure.
You'll take up the mantle of a disgraced Priest in a medieval world where all sorts of monstrosities roam free, as you root out the heretics corrupting the brotherhood and help commoners with their woes.
There are more than 30 upgradable weapons and spells, three expansive open-ended regions and you can even team up with a friend in split-screen co-op, or form a party of four online.
Here's the full press release along with some screenshots and an extended look:
GRAVEN delves into a gruesome medieval world of deities and monstrosities as a disgraced Priest of the Orthogonal Order. When a heretical member of the Order sacrifices the Priest’s adoptive daughter, the Priest lethally retaliates in a bout of righteous fury. Tried and found guilty by his brothers and now exiled to the burning sands, he closes his eyes for one last prayer, for peace. The Creator speaks to him directly: “You will have to earn your peace.”
Heed the Creator by hunting down the foul heretical sects responsible for conjuring plagues and twisting the natural order of the seasons. Blending action, exploration, and puzzle-solving, GRAVEN takes cues from classic shooters, immersive sims, and action RPGs alike. Journey across three expansive, open-ended regions, and scour the lands to purge evil.
Carefully observe a reactive world to find the way: with a journal, the player drives the exploration instead of following waypoints. Listen to townsfolks’ woes and slay the monsters responsible for their torment. Banish over thirty distinct enemies from plagued madmen to swamp beasts with powerful sorceries such as wild blasts of lightning and scorching rays of flame. Solve environmental puzzles with those same powers, altering the world with spells.
Wield destructive conventional weaponry, including magic staves and wrist-mounted crossbows. Find hidden gold to upgrade weapons and spells at blacksmiths and alchemists. Return to previously-plundered areas with new abilities to uncover secrets and entirely new areas. With more than 30 weapons and spells, GRAVEN encourages experimentation. Play solo, with one friend in split-screen co-op, or even in a party of four online for complete arcane chaos.
Does this look like your kind of game? Tell us in the comments below.
Comments 69
That ... looks ... amazing!
Love already what I see!
Want want want want.
Yeah, this is the sort of content I want.
This looks really good. I'd prefer an official sequel to Hexen but I'll take this as well. I've never even played 1 minute of the series before but I've watched some gameplay videos, so I know I'd love it. Some of the best fun I've had on Switch has been with 90's Doom and Duke Nukem. Bring back Quake as well.
Just remembered, 3D Realms were the developers of Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior so this should turn out to be very good.
Looks pretty interesting, reminds me of another game from maybe 15 years ago but I cannot remember for the life in me what it was called. I'd love to see the original Hexen games on Switch like they did with Doom.
Day 1 purchase, in the mean time, I’ll be playing ziggurat again.
I'd occasionally play Hexen on PC as a kid. This looks pretty cool!
I was skeptical when I saw the headline of the article but it does seem "Hexen like". I loved that series but it was difficult to control at times. I will probably grab this one but would love to see it on PC
Oh this looks very good! Will keep an eye out for it.
Wow, this looks amazing. I want it now haha
Looks spot on.
1 question though, when I buy the box containing the eight 3.5' floppy discs where am I supposed to insert them, b/c my PC hasn't had a floppy disc drive in about a decade?

This looks great! I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on it. Loved Hexen back in the day.
While it looks interesting, I wouldn't get my hopes up too much guys. This is 3D Realms we're talking about. Their track record hasn't been the best as of late. Ion Fury was their best received game in over 15 years.
By the way, Hexen and Heretic were made by Raven Software and I doubt Graven is going to be as good as those classics. Maybe they can prove me wrong, but I won't be holding my breath.
This is really cool! Loved Hexen and Heretic back in the day.
@Donutman
Never heard about Ziggurat. Did a search and it sounded really cool until I saw it was a roguelike. Don't like them very much.
Hexen and Hexen 2 were solid FPS and are still a blast to play today, this looks like more of the same only more developed...
Should be good, this came out of nowhere..
Can we get the original Hexen on Switch?
I 'm a bit wary about these "resurrection" projects.
I want to see it's good before I feel safe.
looks so cool loved the original ones
I played the hell out of Hexen II when I was a little kid. This could be interesting.
I loved Hexen 64! I thought it was so cool. It had 4 player co-op which was a rarity.
@diegoarthur I can’t say I’m a fan of roguelikes, I’m a fan of good games, aside from a few frame rate drops, which the switch version is much better then the Wii U, it’s a very fun game I prob logged 50-60 hours with.
Wow, was just talking to a friend the other day about how I would want to have Hexen join the list of old games like Duke Nukem and Doom on Switch...
The simpler graphics than the usual AAA FPS-games have this nostalgic charm that I can't explain.
I also really hope that after release we will get some kind of option for physical release like ION-FURY.
This I can get behind!
I understand that the guys at 3D Realms and Slipgate were in hot water last year over some insensitive dude-bro jokes in Ion Fury, but hopefully we're past all this, and a wonderfully dark and comically camp game like Graven won't risk any damage from internet retribution.
I like what I see here. I have heard of the series but not played it before.
Doom and Heretic.
Doom 2 and Hexen.
Eventually Quake...
That was my life as a young teen in those days. The Raven-developed DOOM-from-the-dark-ages series of games was one of the only copycat FPS franchises to faithfully recreate an Id Software experience, while completely doing its own thing at the same time. It helps that it was overseen by John Romero himself.
Heretic especially had awesome level designs, fantastic lighting for its time (updated Doom engine), and an amazing soundtrack (especially when played through Sound Blaster Awe), and the upgrade system (each weapon had a boost mode when paired with a special book) still feels fresh today.
Hexen added cool classes and a hub world, but it could actually get really confusing due to the sprawling, open levels and constant backtracking (and random portals). I liked it but it wasn’t as good as Heretic.
This new game looks cool and has a grander scope (sounds like there’s lots of different weapons and enemies), but I’m worried it will try to do too much again. It also probably doesn’t help that Raven isn’t making it.
Cautiously optimistic, but also hyped
That looks really good
this looks promising.
This looks delightful, I hope it plays as well as it looks! Keeping my eyes peeled for this one in the coming months.
The footage gives a great first impression, which can't be said of the player character arriving at the port...
-smashing all crates, even the ones being carried.
-finding a drink inside, consuming it at the spot, tossing the empty bottle on the ground.
-burning even more crates and barrels.
-taking all the money
-...
So can we get a hexen/heretic download to celebrate. I used to play hexen on my Saturn. I preferred it to doom back then since it had so much more depth to it.
What do they mean by “3 expansive regions?”
Instant buy. I had countless hours with the one that was on the N64, hehe! <3
3D Realms is the publisher, the game is being developed by a group of Quake modders =)
Still waiting for Wrath: Aeon Of Ruin...
WOW, that looks stunning!
@rjejr Hexen was also released on CD-Rom format I hope you have 2x speed drive installed.
Yes I love me some Hexen, play that and the sequel on PC back in the late 90s, getting a Switch successor of that would be epic.
@Zidentia This is also coming to PC.
@khululy I upgraded my 4X CD-ROM recently to a 16x DVD-ROM drive so I'm good to go. 😁
I loved Hexen. Never played Heretic or Hexen 2 (didn't even know there was a Hexen 2...) though. This looks awesome so I'm sold!
as a skyrim and kingdoms come fan , this looks really nice , cant wait.
Loved the original back in the day, so if it comes to physical, yes please
@Boo-Thang
Awesome, thanks
@rjejr Damn, you must be one of those fancy Pentium owners, with your 133 mhz cpu and Svga screens.
Ok, this is awesome.... Miss Raven but they're stuck on CoD nightmares..
@khululy Upgrading from the 486sx to 486dx improved Heretics framerate from about 8fps to 15fps, making it playable.
Conventional weaponry, such as magical staves. Yep, got me about 6 uh dem back home, use ‘me fer huntin’ varmints.
This looks great by the way!
NINJA APPROVES ALL CONVENTIONAL WEAPONRY
Looks fantastic, can't wait to get it as I did enjoy the original Hexen and Hexen 2.
Would be nice to have ports of the original Hexen I and II on the Nintendo Switch.
This looks awesome. I can’t wait
@rjejr : The future is here!
So they're trying to make it look dated on purpose? 🤔 Those pixellated wall textures up close were definitely mid-90s. The rest tends to look early 2000s.
And let me guess... it'll still only run at 30fps on Switch? 😅
@shgamer @doctorhino Sorry guys, but re-releases of the Heretic and Hexen games are unlikely.
id Software and Raven Software had held co-ownership of the franchise. Since Activision bought out Raven Software in the late 1990s with Bethesda's parent company buying out id Software in the late 2000s, it means, through some legal nonsense, that one of them has to forfeit their stake in ownership in order for a game to be developed and/or published.
Looks great but this is one title I’d prefer to play with keyboard and mouse.
Oh my this looks so good
@rjejr It is a USB Stick that looks like a floppy
@John_Koshiro
Well, a Collection appeared a few months ago on gog:
https://www.gog.com/game/heretic_hexen_collection
But Heretic and Hexen aren't as balanced as Doom or other Shooters of the Time.
Heretic has many "bullet" Sponges and Hexen sometimes really bad Level Design.
I can recommend playing Heretic on Zdaemon on the PC with others, it is much more fun
Will it have physical edition?
@Azuris Impressive to see this, however, it is missing Heretic II and Hexen II: Portal Of Praevus, which were published under Activision. I guess those ones are going to be M.I.A. for an indefinite amount of time.
I should get around to installing Zdaemon. I've been playing Doom solo on Switch (and recently Chocolate/Crispy Doom) for a bit too long.
@John_Koshiro
Yep, thats right.
I have to think about that Webpage that shares the Download for No one lives Forever, that also sticks in the Limbo of undefinied rights, to trigger the owner.
If you'll play on Zdaemon, today is a pirate event "defend your captain"
https://www.zdaemon.org/?CMD=news_zds
3DRealms? is that a joke?
I’ll definitely be trying this on PC, no way am I playing an FPS on twin sticks! Looks amazing!
NINJA APPROVED
A little warning from someone who has it: the magic in this game is not a weapon but used as tools, at least for now. A lot of PC players were upset that the fire spell is extremely weak but the devs explained it's supposed to be a tool and it also makes sense considering the story elements and who you play as. Don't expect to come in and start throwing fireballs and such.
Definitely getting this one! Hopefully there's a physical release!
@Azuris @Silly_G It was strange getting not 1 but 2 replies to an article I knew I never even bothered to click on. Never occurred to me it was a repost from September. 😂
I do think in the future all games will be on USB or some such, making them shaped like floppy disks would be kind of funny.

Decided to watch the trailer since I was here. 25 years ago I may have played that. Now I think those USB game sticks should be distributed via coin operated machines for $5.

This looks awful.
Didn't even know Graven was planned for Switch!
Hooray!
@__jamiie THANK YOU...
I was reading the comment section in pure disbelief, i know this site is full of shills but damn. This is just hilarious.
Now i played Hexan and i liked it but no... just... No... this game LOOKS like Hexan, that isn't a compliment anymore.
It looks godawful and i genuinely hope they pull the plug on this, or the game just gets lost in the bin or something to stop this from being released.
Trust me...
@John_Koshiro or one of them could license it to the other? Man it just doesn't seem that hard vs not making any money off it.
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