Three brothers, known as the Serpent Riders, have used their powerful magic to possess seven kings of Parthoris into mindless puppets and corrupt their armies. The Sidhe elves resist the Serpent Riders' magic. The Serpent Riders thus declared the Sidhe as heretics and waged war against them. The Sidhe are forced to take a drastic measure to sever the natural power of the kings destroying them and their armies, but at the cost of weakening the elves' power, giving the Serpent riders an advantage to slay the elders. While the Sidhe retreat, one elf, sets off on a quest of vengeance against the weakest of the three Serpent Riders, D'Sparil. He travels through the "City of the Damned", the ruined capital of the Sidhe, then past Hell's Maw and finally the Dome of D'Sparil.
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gAmers AKA posers will never admit to it to maintain their popular consensus approved online gaymer cred but it is indeed a much more fun game than Doom 1, especially in this current day&age. you bOys have fun with E3M7 and the like, im gonna be over here flying and HAVIN A HOOT!!
I'm pretty partial to this style of game anyway, so this being yet another of the very early Doom-style of shooter with a memorable, enjoyable aesthetic to it and a decently breezy playthrough meant it was hardly going to settle lower than "this is pretty great" in my estimation. It's decently short too, only three episodes (with a couple more with the version I have that were part of a DLC), and each one has decently fun locations, interesting enemies and cool weapons. Really not much else to be said than that. Simple, very fun, and that's what i'm looking for with this stuff. Definitely playing the two expansion episodes next.
Heretic is ok but feels like it misses most of what makes Doom good. It is cool to see some new weapons and enemies but there isn't much beyond that.
The level design here is more straightforward, with almost every mission just being a collect the keys in order as you fight through rooms of enemies sort of affair. There are a couple with some interesting teleportation or exploration challenges, but for the most part these feel like straightforward, fantasy caves and temples. I do like that the levels feel much different than Doom though.
I like the art in Heretic quite a bit. It presents a bright, Saturday morning cartoon version of fantasy with saturated colors and lighting that gives it quite a contrast to the dark hellscapes of Doom. Things like the final boss, D'Sparil being the guy that you have seen over and over in the stained glass windows throughout your ordeal are cute and fun.
The weapons start out promising but the team seems to run out of ideas fairly quickly and most of them fail to really make a case for their inclusion here. Individual weapons don't feel suited to defeating particular enemies or particular challenges and where Doom makes your ammo resource an interesting source of power increase (from the pistol to the chain gun) or decision-making (between the energy rifle and the BFG), ammo here just ammo. Each weapon has a different type and you sort of cycle through your armaments as you run low on a particular type. It isn't really very satisfying or fun.
The Spectral Crossbow is by far the standout to me, with its somewhat interesting shot pattern it functions like a hybrid of a shotgun and a sniper rifle.
Enemy design doesn't do the weapon designs any favors. New enemies are introduced throughout most of this three episode campaign and they have different attacks, but your approach to them never really changes. Fighting a Maulotaur is basically no different than fighting a golem, it just goes on for longer.
Heretic plays well enough, but definitely feels like a by the book proof of concept done by a team that didn't really have a clear idea of what makes Doom's systems or level design work. I do love the swing at making this weird, fantasy fast-follow to Doom even if it ends up being a fairly mundane experience to play through.
The level design here is more straightforward, with almost every mission just being a collect the keys in order as you fight through rooms of enemies sort of affair. There are a couple with some interesting teleportation or exploration challenges, but for the most part these feel like straightforward, fantasy caves and temples. I do like that the levels feel much different than Doom though.
I like the art in Heretic quite a bit. It presents a bright, Saturday morning cartoon version of fantasy with saturated colors and lighting that gives it quite a contrast to the dark hellscapes of Doom. Things like the final boss, D'Sparil being the guy that you have seen over and over in the stained glass windows throughout your ordeal are cute and fun.
The weapons start out promising but the team seems to run out of ideas fairly quickly and most of them fail to really make a case for their inclusion here. Individual weapons don't feel suited to defeating particular enemies or particular challenges and where Doom makes your ammo resource an interesting source of power increase (from the pistol to the chain gun) or decision-making (between the energy rifle and the BFG), ammo here just ammo. Each weapon has a different type and you sort of cycle through your armaments as you run low on a particular type. It isn't really very satisfying or fun.
The Spectral Crossbow is by far the standout to me, with its somewhat interesting shot pattern it functions like a hybrid of a shotgun and a sniper rifle.
Enemy design doesn't do the weapon designs any favors. New enemies are introduced throughout most of this three episode campaign and they have different attacks, but your approach to them never really changes. Fighting a Maulotaur is basically no different than fighting a golem, it just goes on for longer.
Heretic plays well enough, but definitely feels like a by the book proof of concept done by a team that didn't really have a clear idea of what makes Doom's systems or level design work. I do love the swing at making this weird, fantasy fast-follow to Doom even if it ends up being a fairly mundane experience to play through.
It's basically Doom with magic and Medieval weapons. I don't find Heretic quite as engaging, but it's a creative take on the genre. The enemy designs are imaginative, and the levels are full of interesting architecture. I also like that the fantastic setting allows for some unique weapons with different types of attacks than you get with guns that are based somewhat in reality. Overall, a cool FPS game that's worth checking out.
As the first entry in a series, Heretic is the coolest "Doom clone" out there, featuring amazing weapons, wicked monster designs and great levels throughout 3 episodes (+2 with the expansion) with a very simple story where you need to kill one of the Serpent Riders.
I am not gonna lie, Heretic is as simple as it gets, even with the added features such as an inventory for items. It has magical weapons, staffs and artifacts but they are pretty much identical to the weapons in Doom, so anyone can find their favorite in no time. What makes this game unique is the levels themselves, offering great visuals with challenging designs. The enemies are fun and unique, and the whole game does not need to be called a "Doom clone" as the game has a lot to offer on it's own.
If you never played Heretic before, I would recommend it, especially if you are interested in Hexen.
I am not gonna lie, Heretic is as simple as it gets, even with the added features such as an inventory for items. It has magical weapons, staffs and artifacts but they are pretty much identical to the weapons in Doom, so anyone can find their favorite in no time. What makes this game unique is the levels themselves, offering great visuals with challenging designs. The enemies are fun and unique, and the whole game does not need to be called a "Doom clone" as the game has a lot to offer on it's own.
If you never played Heretic before, I would recommend it, especially if you are interested in Hexen.
If you like Doom, you'll like this! The level design is much better at the very least.