Heretic Review

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I went into Heretic not knowing much. I have no real personal history with it or nostalgia for it. I’ve played it before but never beat it. In fact, I haven’t beaten many of the Doom engine games, minus the Doom titles. But I’m going to be honest with you, I’m a little terrified of the Heretic series. I’m guessing “series” is the right word because it was followed up by Hexen, an indirect sequel, in 1995, and that was followed up by Hexen II in 1997. Heretic II, a direct sequel to Heretic, was released in 1998. What terrifies me about these games isn’t what you may think. It’s the stories I’ve heard about the level design. From what I understand, one of these games or multiple consist of extremely confusing levels. I don’t mind solving puzzles here and there but I hate, hate, hate getting stuck and running around in circles trying to figure out what I’m missing for long periods of time. After about five to ten minutes, I start to get annoyed. So I’ve been a little hesitant about playing these. But I figured if I ran into trouble, I could rely on the internet to help me out. Now that I’ve finally beaten Heretic, I can honestly say the level design is not any more confusing than that of its contemporaries that I’ve played. At least I don’t think so. So I guess that means I can expect to get frustrated in one or more of its successors.

Developed by Raven Software and published by id Software, Heretic was released for PC in December 1994. It was originally released as shareware and contained three episodes. The retail version titled Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders was released in 1996 and features the original three episodes along with two additional ones. Heretic is considered a dark fantasy first-person shooter and it runs on a modified version of the Doom engine. For this review, I played the retail version using the GZDoom source port.

Despite the source port’s enhancements, I wanted to keep the experience relatively vanilla so I did not install any gameplay or audiovisual mods. However, I did install Autoautosave, a mod that works as a configurable checkpoint system. It allows for periodic autosaves and autosaves at certain events and you can configure and fine-tune exactly when it saves among other options. It’s really great if you’re one who forgets to save after long periods of time and prefer to avoid save scumming. I’ve been using it for the Doom games for a while now and would highly recommend it.

The story goes that three brothers known as The Serpent Riders used their magic to possess seven kings and corrupt their armies. The Sidhe elves were able to resist their magic and have thus been declared as heretics. After the Riders succeed in controlling the great nations, two left the world leaving only the weakest, D’Sparil, behind. The player assumes the role of a Sidhe elf who sets out on a quest for vengeance. Heretic is structured like classic Doom. The game plays out in episodes with the gameplay front and center but the plot is there if you want it. Major story beats are conveyed through text at the end of each episode. I like the set up and fantasy theme but what I enjoy most is the game’s blend of fantasy and first-person shooter elements which I feel makes for a unique experience.

I’m going to get the comparisons to Doom out of the way first. The reason Heretic is compared to Doom is simply because it feels very similar. As mentioned before, it runs on a modified Doom engine and one might say it is Doom with a fantasy coat of paint. Instead of guns and hi-tech firepower, you’ll get your hands on fantasy weapons like staves, a wand, crossbow, firemace, rod, claw, and gauntlets. Much like Doom, you run around the levels shooting foes and circle strafing to avoid enemy attacks and you’ll need to find keys and interact with buttons or switches to progress. Each episode consists of multiple levels and ends with a boss battle. Also like Doom, Heretic comes with five difficulty levels. In Doom, I normally play on “Ultra-Violence” which I would equate to the “Thou art a smeit-meister” difficulty level in Heretic. But since I never beat Heretic before, I decided to play on “Bringest them oneth” which I equate to the “Hurt me plenty” difficulty level in Doom. I also consider it to be the Normal difficulty level.

Now maybe it’s just me but one thing I will say about Heretic in comparison with Doom is that I found it to be a little less frustrating. It’s a little more forgiving. And I’m not talking about the challenge as it relates to the difficulty level. I’m specifically referring to the general design of the game and encounters. There are ambushes and monster closets that can be annoying but I can’t say any encounters or situations felt cheap or just downright frustrating. There are no hitscan foes like zombies and no foe quite as deadly or dangerous as Arch-Vile. Foes can utilize melee attacks and unleash projectiles that can be easily avoided if you’re paying attention. Some foes even have ghost variants that are impervious to certain weapons. Don’t get me wrong, Heretic can be challenging and I certainly died more than once but I can’t say I ever struggled. But I do think the difficulty really picks up in Episode 3. In fact, the most challenging level for me was E3M1, The Storehouse, and that’s mainly because I found weapons hard to come by. Being the first level of the episode means you start with only the basics so I relied heavily on the wand which I would say is like the pistol in Doom.

Despite the similarities to Doom, there are some differences. For one thing, Heretic features an inventory system. Most of the items or artifacts you find in the levels can be stored in your inventory upon pickup and you can switch between them and activate them at any time. In what I’m guessing is an effort to maintain some gameplay balance, the number of all of your stored items will be reduced to one at the start of the next level with the exception of Wings of Wrath which are removed entirely. Several items grant you temporary benefits, some of which can be quite helpful in a pinch like the Ring of Invincibility which grants you invincibility and the Tome of Power which powers up your weapons. Other useful items include the Wings of Wrath which grant you the ability to fly, Shadowsphere which grants you invisibility, Morph Ovum which can transform enemies into chickens, and the Quartz Flask which replenishes some health.

The items are another reason why I feel Heretic is a little more forgiving than Doom. Being able to replenish health at will and decide when to become invincible, invisible, and teleport yourself out of a jam, and when to fly to easily get to certain locations, and when to power up your weapons – the items can alleviate many of the challenges and frustrations that typically come with games like this. Certain items can make boss battles significantly easier. For example, using both the Ring of Invincibility and Tome of Power during a boss battle basically renders the boss as a non-threat, at least for as long as the benefits last. This combination is also great against mobs of foes that are attacking you from multiple directions.

I would say most weapons in the game are useful but feel less distinct than those in Doom. I found myself using starting weapons like the staff and wand less often when I got some better stuff and all of the better stuff remains useful throughout the entire game. While the weapons in Doom are often best used for specific situations, threats, and purposes, I found myself simply using whatever weapon I had the most ammo for in Heretic and this is mainly due to the lack of enemy variety. Many enemies kind of feel the same and most of the time I never felt the need to switch weapons or use a specific one. Several foes simply unleash projectiles that are not all that difficult to avoid. Nevertheless, I really like the bestiary here and I only disliked one enemy in particular and that is the Iron Lich. It acts as the boss of Episode 1 and then it’s thrown in as a kind of a regular enemy in the rest of the episodes. I can’t say it’s a super hard foe to deal with but I just really despise its tornado attack and also annoying is that it’s often found blocking exits. But this enemy is one instance where a single weapon is perfect against it. The Phoenix Rod can take it down very quickly. In fact, it can take down most enemies very quickly but I always made sure to conserve its ammo for Iron Liches and other boss types.

Heretic’s what I’ll call gunplay does feel good, overall. Enemies bleed when shot, many will fall in a satisfying gory fashion, and the weapons have pretty good visual feedback. But, unfortunately, in my opinion, the sound effects are lacking. It is fun using the Tome of Power to experiment with each weapon’s powered up attacks. For example, the Phoenix Rod basically becomes a flamethrower and the Hellstaff’s projectiles will cause red rain to fall on their targets. The way many levels are designed, there is a verticality to the combat and unlike vanilla Doom, Heretic allows the player to aim up and down but with some constraints. However, source ports like GZDoom basically eliminate those constraints. Being able to aim up and down does prove beneficial here mainly because you encounter a lot of flying foes.

Many levels are intricate, some can be maze-like, and it can be easy to get stuck or lost. You will have to find keys and interact with switches to progress and sometimes accomplishing certain tasks or interacting with certain things will reveal nearby enemies and new paths or areas. Some of the ambushes and monster closets can be annoying as mentioned earlier and I also started to get irritated with some of the not obvious ways to progress. Parts of walls that are really doors and not secret doors or obstacles you have to shoot so they move out of the way – that’s the stuff that held me up on more than one occasion. Like there’s just no way to know sometimes.

For the most part, I enjoyed the levels and as I indicated earlier, I went into this game expecting super confusing level design. But that’s not really the case here. No more confusing than some classic Doom levels, anyway. I got stuck and found myself running around in circles a few times and outside of the few occurrences of not obvious ways to progress, it was usually the result of a path or switch I missed. In general, I would say the levels are well designed and I enjoyed the medieval theme the game conveys. The game takes you to dungeons, lava pits, an ice grotto, crypts, catacombs, and cathedral among many other locations. You’ll navigate through a good mix of tight and open spaces, plenty of corridors, there’s plenty of secrets to find, and levels will showcase some neat details and effects, like fireballs shooting out of lava and rushing water that pushes the player. You’ll want to explore every nook and cranny to find and see everything and I’m happy to say that weapons and ammo are usually not hard to come by. At least in my experience. As mentioned before, I only had trouble finding weapons in one level. Enemies often drop ammo when killed and I always seemed to have a weapon capable of dealing with whatever threats I was up against.

I admit I’m a fan of pixel and sprite style games like Doom and Heretic so, personally, I think Heretic’s presentation holds up really well. The presentation is colorful, the sprites look great, the animations are good, and the gore and visual effects make for some satisfying shooter gameplay. The action is backed by a pretty good soundtrack with a nice mix of ominous, dramatic, and more intense tunes that help drive the fantasy theme the game is going for. As I mentioned before, I think some of the weapon sound effects are lacking. I think several weapons would have felt even better if they actually sounded more powerful. On the technical side, I did not encounter any problems and I want to mention again that I did play this using the GZDoom source port.

I had a great time with Heretic. I expected it to be a little more confusing than it is. I expected to get lost and frustrated more often. But in my experience, Heretic is no more confusing than what I’m already used to in a Doom engine game and I found it be fun, rarely crossing over into the frustrating territory. I really like the blend of fantasy and first-person shooter elements and the bestiary even though the enemy variety is lacking. In the end, I’m most impressed with how much I enjoyed it. It does come with a multiplayer component which I did not get to try and like other Doom engine games, it’s surrounded by a strong and active community and there are plenty of mods for it out there. Heretic isn’t a perfect game but it is fun and I think being a fantasy FPS makes it kind of unique even today. Sure, there are more out there nowadays but not all of them capture this kind of style and atmosphere.

I would absolutely recommend Heretic. It’s a fun game that blends fantasy and first-person shooter together. If you like the classic Doom games, I don’t see why you wouldn’t enjoy this. It’s basically the same style of gameplay but with some new features. There are plenty of ways to get it running on modern systems and it’s the kind of game you can come back to and always have a good time. I also have no doubt the community will keep it alive for years to come. Definitely check it out.

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