If you're a member of the Xbox Insider program and is a huge fan of Bethesda games (particularly their older ones before Skyrim), then Microsoft has got a very nice treat for you.
A visitor plays a game using Microsoft's Xbox controller at a flagship store of SK Telecom in Seoul on November 10, 2020. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)
As reports by Engadget, Xbox insiders on PC (no consoles, sorry) now havve access to a handful of classic Bethesda first-person shooters from the 90s. Here are the titles that you can preview now if you're eligible:
- Heretic: Shadow Of The Serpent Riders
- HeXen: Beyond Heretic
- HeXen: Deathkings Of The Dark Citadel
- The Elder Scrolls: Arena
- Quake Champions
All but one of these classic games are now playable in Windows 10, though not normally. Since they're all almost three decades old with the exception of Quake Champions, the 90s games are running on Windows via DOSBox emulation. According to ArsTechnica, the emulation can be clunky at best - but freebies are freebies, and you can't really complain when Microsoft gets generous.
If you're unaware about these games but want to try them anyway, you need to know what they'e all about. Starting with the vaguely more familiar Elder Scrolls: Arena, you get an Elder Scrolls game with a first-person perspective. But it's far from being a shooter, because all you wield are melee weapons and magic. It's a retro open-world action RPG before the genre became as big as it is today, so it's almost like an interactive time capsule of sorts.
As for Heretic, HeXen: Beyond Heretic and HeXen: Deathkings, these are all actual first-person shooters set in a dark fantasy world. All games were built on the foundation of the original Doom's engine, with the development being helmed by Raven Software.
All of these games are made possible by Microsoft now owning Bethesda, and their impending $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
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How To Access These Games As An Xbox Insider Program Member
Microsoft shared the specific steps you have to take to access all of the classic games on Xbox Wire, and they're pretty easy to follow. Here's what you need to do:
- Sign in to your Windows 10 PC and launch your Xbox Insider Hub app. If you don't already have the app installed, get it from the Microsoft Store first.
- After singing in, go to Previews. There, you can access whichever game on the aforementioned list you want to play, whether it's Heretic or Elder Scrolls: Arena. Pick the game title you want in Previews, then click Join.
- Wait for the registration to complete, then you'll be directed to the Store where you can finally get the game and install it. And voila! That's it!
But before we close, we have a few other things to mention, especially for those who are previewing Quake Champions. If you're getting Quake as a member of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you also get access to the Champions Pack. The pack includes a full roster of Champions, from the current and future ones. And for everything else, ensure that you're actually signed into Microsoft Store using the same account you used to register for the previews in the hub app.
Happy retro gaming!
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This article is posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce
