Heretic (1994) | HERETIC.WAD
Raven Software
When Doom was released in 1993 it was a runaway hit. Fast-paced, violent and scary, it represented what at the time was the peak of sci-fi action horror. But it wasn't for everybody -- what game is? And for some people, the only genre that matters is fantasy. Luckily, Raven Software had those folks covered: Heretic is the closest thing to a fantasy-flavored Doom there was, at least in 1994.
Video games and the fantasy genre have had a long relationship, going back to the mid-1970s with multiple fantasy themed games for the PLATO system, chief among them dnd and Moria. Tabletop fantasy RPGs have also long played a role in the gaming industry: Ultima and Wizardry both have roots in Dungeons and Dragons, eventually forming the basis for Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Much of the early lore of The Elder Scrolls was based on a homebrew campaign conducted at Bethesda during the development of Arena and Daggerfall. And, more relevant to first person shooters, the seed that Doom sprouted from was a D&D game that id Software were running in their off time. Before that was Catacomb 3-D, a 3D remake of one of John Carmack's older games and an early implementation of what would become the Wolfenstein 3D engine (which we might affectionately call idTech 0) depicting a fantasy world (with some sci-fi elements, a trait also seen in Ultima and Final Fantasy.)
While Heretic has some of its own conceits -- namely, a simple inventory system, a few tweaks in enemy behavior and even the very basics of a loot system -- in some ways it really does feel like just a fantasy reskin of Doom. Much of this can be attributed to the influence of id Software, which had a direct hand in the game's development; those jokes about Raven being an id Software subsidiary had some truth to them, after all. This likely played a big role in the game's success, as it copied a lot of what made Doom successful in a way that understood why it succeeded. It's all here: a varied arsenal, a cool bestiary, interesting map design that sometimes feels a little more immersive than Doom, and Kevin Schilder's cool soundtrack (bolstered tremendously by the Raven MIDI Pack.)
The story is the kind of clunky, bulky fantasy storytelling we're all used to. A rather extensive introduction in the manual gives us the basics: the world of Parthoris was like any other, divided into seven nations. An indigenous race of Sidhe elves predicted apocalypse, but nobody believed them until three Serpent Riders -- the villains of what would be an overarching storyline between Heretic, Hexen and Hexen II -- appeared, took over the world and set up a new religion worshipping them (declaring non-believers, including the Sidhe, as heretics) before finally leaving the youngest, D'Sparil, behind to wrap up. With the Order of the Triad (no relation to the bad guys from Rise of the Triad -- maybe) in control of the world, hordes of undead and other beasties roaming the wilderness and ruined cities, and most of the Sidhe dead, it's up to a single Sidhe by the name of Corvus to track down D'Sparil.
He's got his work cut out for him, though. Across three episodes (of eight levels plus a secret each) you'll be facing an array of fantasy monsters. The bestiary isn't as expansive as you'd expect: of the fifteen monster types you'll be facing, five of them are variants, with the golem having a whopping three different variants. Episodes also tend to focus more on some enemy types over others; while that's to be expected in the shareware episode, with its abundance of golems and undead warriors, they all but disappear in the later episodes.
You'll always have the gargoyle, however, little flying bastards, that screech and swoop, some of whom also throw fireballs at you. Golems are exactly what they sound like, big claybound bastards that release a (harmless) ghost when destroyed. Some of them will launch flaming skulls at you that home in; both variants have a ghost version as well, immune to physical damage (thereby making your crossbow less useful.) The undead warrior is a lanky corpse of a knight, still wearing its armor and chucking axes glowing in green flame at you. On occasion it'll throw a more damaging bloody red axe at you instead -- and if you're fighting the ghost variant, it's oops! all bloody axes! Rounding out the shareware bestiary is the Disciple of D'Sparil, a floating hooded asshole who conjures three magic blasts to throw at you, more or less fitting in as a Cacodemon replacement. There's a moment where he has to conjure up his spell, at which point he'll flicker in and out of corporeality, thus pure magic is better for dealing with him (though a well-timed crossbow shot at point black can work too.) At the end of the episode is the Iron Lich, a giant skull wearing a helmet that casts elemental magic at you and can take quite the beating. He's very tanky and his tornado is annoying, but he's slow and fortunately can't fly.
Episode two introduces us to the sabreclaw, a weird robot xenomorph-looking motherfucker that is strictly melee-only. They're significantly faster than the golems and take more damage, and as they often appear in groups they can quickly overwhelm a careless elf. Also appearing in episode two is the weredragon, a big angry humanoid dragon thing that moves fast, hits hard, and throws quick-moving fireballs at you, but at the very least presents a very wide target. The Maulotaur at the end of episode two is pretty much the Cyberdemon equivalent, a huge hulking man-bull swinging a big hammer with fire attacks that do serious damage.
The third episode introduces us to the Ophidian, the requisite race of snakemen that seems to be in every fantasy setting; in this case, they're armed with a polearm that fires a trio of energy blasts followed by a nastier fireball. They can take quite a beating, too, at least compared to for example the golems, but are fortunately slow. And at the end of the game is D'Sparil himself, a two-phase boss that starts with him riding a fireball-belching Chaos Serpent -- hence the title of Serpent Rider -- before eventually dismounting to take you on directly with electric bolts and summoning Disciples before teleporting away, something he does more often as the fight wears on. Annoying little bitch.
Of course, with such a terrifying array of monsters, you'll need an arsenal, and Raven are here to provide. Your staff does double-duty as a hitscan wand and a bludgeon to bonk enemies with, but if you'd rather use the Gauntlets of the Necromancer, it's pretty much a better version of the chainsaw. The Ethereal Crossbow is Heretic's version of the shotgun, albeit a bit weaker. It shoots one big magical bolt and two smaller physical ones (that are actually affected by wind, too.) The Dragon Claw -- the last weapon you'll get in the first episode -- takes up the fourth slot, and the Doom parallels continue as the weapon fills basically the same role, but uses its own ammunition. The Hellstaff is a skull-topped staff that works like a plasma rifle -- no surprises there, though it lacks the plasma rifle's delay. The Phoenix Rod occupies the rocket launcher role, and behaves just like it, albeit with the flaw that its projectiles are affected by player movement. Finally there's the Firemace, a strange weapon that's tricky to use. It basically fires little explosive balls in an arc at a high rate; it promises a high DPS but it's functionally useless in areas with liquid floors and the balls are affected by the player's momentum. However, it's much more useful when powered up -- more on that in a bit.
Heretic's inventory offers a new layer to the item system. While you'll automatically pick up ammo, keys, bags of holding, maps, armor (in 100hp and 200hp variants) and the little blue 10hp crystal vials, a sizable amount of the items you find will actually be stored in your inventory to be used later. You can carry up to 16 of each item, but when you change levels you lose all but one each, for balance purposes. Quartz flasks are big purple jars that give you 25hp on use; mystic urns will fill your health up to 100 (there is no overheal like in Doom.) The Chaos Device will teleport you back to the start of the level, handy for getting out of trouble. The Morph Ovum is one of the weirder items in the game, turning most low-level enemies into chickens -- angry little chickens, in fact, who attack you. The Ring of Invincibility does exactly what it sounds like, but the shadowsphere actually differs from Doom behavior in that it renders you actually invisible to enemies while also making certain physical attacks go right through you. The Time Bomb of the Ancients is an hourglass that explodes after a few seconds, another odd item with mostly situational usefulness. The Tome of Power -- well, we'll get to that. Torches act like the light-amp goggles from Doom, which is pretty un-torch-like but whatever. And the Wings of Wrath allow you to fly -- yes, you heard right. (This one is also pretty situational, and the game doesn't let you keep any when you change levels... usually.)
I've been hinting at it, and now I gotta talk about it: the Tome of Power. A recurring element in Raven games, even showing up in their 2009 Wolfenstein game, what it ultimately does is supercharge your arsenal, making for enhanced or even completely different effects. It most notably turns your gauntlets into a vampiric weapon, draining enemies of health to give to you instead, converts the Phoenix Rod into a lethal flamethrower, and allows the Firemace to shoot large steel balls that deal tremendous damage (thus letting the otherwise semi-useless Firemace fit more into the BFG role.) It's probably the single most important item in the game just for its short-lived damage capabilities, while also playing a big role in the background plot (to the point that the title screen for the retail version of the game features a big picture of it.)
The game initially shipped with three episodes; the retail version added two more, but we'll talk about those another day. The three episodes are mostly thematically distinct; the first episode has you traversing a ruined medieval fortress city, crawling with undead warriors and golems. The second episode takes you to one of the dimensions that D'Sparil had conquered, a gloomy, frozen volcanic region full of caves and lava and abandoned temples. The third takes you to D'Sparil's hidden undersea palace complex, a series of great domes keeping you from the ocean. There's a lot of water theming in the third episode, which makes sense I guess.
It's hard to say who designed what levels, unfortunately. It seems that much of the level design was headed up by Michael Raymond-Judy, who got hired at Raven through an improbable chain of knowing-a-guy-who-knows-a-guy; Madison, WI (where Raven originally hailed from) is not exactly a hotbed of the game industry, and Michael was looking for work to put his medieval history degree to use. It's an odd knowledge set, to be sure, but it turned out to be useful in the kind of game that Michael wound up working on, and I'm willing to guess that the more realistic levels are his. From research and interviews, it seems he had help across both the mail order version of Heretic and the retail version, Shadow of the Serpent Riders, from a small team of people that included Eric Biessman (who did the majority of the new maps for Shadow of the Serpent Riders), Tim Moore, and at least one contribution by Brian Raffel, Raven's then-VP. This is probably the most complete knowledge we have of everyone who was involved in making maps for Heretic -- we may never get a complete picture of which maps are whose.
(Full disclosure: Wayfarer's Tome isn't the only mod I used for my playthrough. In addition to the Raven MIDI Pack and the standard Brightmaps+, I also used HeresyPal, a palette mod that adjusts the game's colors, mostly in the greens and blues, that makes the game feel less garish in important ways.)
Modded or not, you should play Heretic. It's not as good as Doom, but it's still a fantastic game full of atmosphere. It doesn't have as robust a mapping community as Doom does, but there's still some good stuff out there, ranging from the Faithless Trilogy to Quoth the Raven. There's some great gaming here; if a more fantasy-flavored take on Doom is what you're after, Heretic might not have done it the best, but it sure did do it first.
Episode One: City of the Damned
E1M1: The Docks
E1M1 is the coveted spot, the single most important map you'll ever make for a game like Heretic. It's the first impression, the level that sets the standard and tone for the rest of the game. Unfortunately this one kind of whiffs it. The little dock area is cool-looking, but most of the level is grinding your way through hordes of gargoyles and golems with just your wand until you find the easily-missable ethereal crossbow. And then, if you're playing vanilla, you find out that the crossbow is a disappointment too. (With Wayfarer's Tome the crossbow becomes a mainstay much like Doom's shotgun.)
E1M2: The Dungeons
This is a little more like it. A sprawling, multi-winged map centered around a squat tower. The dragon claw -- likely your most important weapon this episode on vanilla -- is right there, but it's inaccessible until you raise the crusher. Be prepared to deal with a surprising amount of enemies, most of them popping out of monster closets which seem to be at every turn. A good, moody level, albeit a very abstract one that doesn't really look much like a dungeon.
E1M3: The Gatehouse
Tough level. Gargoyles throw fireballs now, and undead warriors start showing up as ghost versions now, who throw bloody axes at you exclusively for high damage. It really helps emphasize the paucity of the bestiary that they have to throw what's essentially alternate versions of existing enemies at you. It's not a big level, but it's confusing, especially with the nested loops of paths in the southeast. The yellow key fight is enough to make me feel, for a brief moment, like I was playing Doom.
E1M4: The Guard Tower
Now we're getting somewhere. A big, semi-flooded city section to the north serves as the gate to a circular tower to the south. It's a well-realized level that looks a little more like a real place -- it's a pity the guard tower is walled off, making it feel less useful in its implied purpouse. The fairly open nature of the city makes for some chaotic combat.
E1M5: The Citadel
A huge map, bisected from east to west by a wall (something that Michael Raymond-Judy lamented was due to hardware restraints of the time) and from north to south by a river. The two southerly quadrants each have their own buildings, while the northern half is dominated by a keep that stretches across the river. Clearing out the south won't be too tough, but assaulting the north end will be a challenge, especially if you still have Disciples sniping you from the central wall. Fun level.
E1M6: The Cathedral
The Cathedral is deceptively simple; while it's dominated by several large rooms, navigation can be difficult and so can combat. The stained glass room ambush can be pretty hair-raising, especially as undead knights will be chucking axes at you from behind the windows. Figuring out what to do next can be frustrating, but finding your way to the secret exit is fairly easy.
E1M9: The Graveyard
I hope you like ghosts, because most of your enemies here will be the spectral versions of undead knights and golems (which renders your crossbow less effective.) For something from an official shareware episode the combat inches towards slaughter, which is about the only interesting thing in a mostly abstract level resembling, well, a graveyard. Those who've played Alien Vendetta will definitely recognize the music.
E1M7: The Crypts
The penultimate level of the first episode is a bit like Doom's E1M7: A vast warren with different sights to see and a sense of adventure. This tomb complex is well-connected and complex, loaded with enemies who make you fight for the gold key before you can even get inside. I like how there's three separate tombs each with their own aesthetic. Great map.
E1M8: Hell's Maw
Compared to "Phobos Anomaly" this is a significantly more difficult fight, but the game does help you get loaded for bear. You'll need it for what's ironically the most difficult boss monster in the game: the Iron Lich, and here you get to fight three of them. The tough part is staying alive as most of the arena is lava; a combination of invincibility rings and Wings of Wrath will help, but avoiding the tornados the liches spit out is easier said than done. And when you finally kill them, a cave opens up and out spills another horde of monsters. Good luck.
Episode Two: Hell's Maw
E2M1: The Crater
Episode 2 starts us off a little sedately with a big, naturalistic lava cavern. In addition to a pack of gargoyles in the opening area, your first weredragons lurk in the caves at the bottom of the hill. All in all, a straightforward opener.
E2M2: The Lava Pits
The opening can leave you hot-footed as you jump from platform to platform across a lava pit, but once you get into the fortifications to the north half of the map things will only get hotter as a pretty hefty garrison comes your way, including hordes of sabreclaws and your first non-boss Iron Lich.
E2M3: The River of Fire
The north half of this map is dominated by a looping lava tunnel with walkways on either side, and it'll be a job clearing out the opposition as safe terrain is a bit limited. It doesn't get much better in the southern half, in which hordes of weredragons guard a series of chambers with lava pools. No secrets to help out, either.
E2M4: The Ice Grotto
We caught a glimpse of ice earlier, but we'll be really dealing with it here. The opening area with its icy terrain will be difficult to navigate with the hordes of weredragons lurking in the rock formations to the east. Eventually you'll find a way up onto the stone wall protecting a small cave village. The village itself is like something out of the first episode, a collection of buildings with beasties in them to clear out. Not the toughest level once you've cleared the ice field, but I would save those Wings of Wrath for when you're done to get back over the wall to the secret exit. Probably my favorite map in the episode.
E2M9: The Glacier
An odd level to say the least, especially since the titular glacier is just an icy stairway in the north end of the map. I actually have vague memories of watching this level played in the demo loop on a computer in a computer store and for years wondered what game it was. I could have sworn it was Hexen, but nope, Heretic. Anyway, this is a pretty straightforward level, made up of a staircase with two separate wings, and a large chamber to the north hosting the glacier itself. You might be able to use the regenerating explosive pods to deal with the enemies at the bottom of the chamber. Toughest fight is probably the western hallway, filled with weredragons popping out of nooks and crannies to get at you.
E2M5: The Catacombs
A bit of a throwback to the first episode. It's not much of a catacomb, in all honesty, but oh well -- it's a cool map. I really like the fight in the southern chamber where you're fighting rushing water as much as the enemies -- and that iron lich only makes it more dangerous! I also appreciate how the map continually teases you with the blue key, sitting smugly atop the sarcophagus at the center of the map, unreachable until you've worked your way down the river.
E2M6: The Labyrinth
Again, a level where the name is more descriptive of a single part of it than the level as a whole. The titular labyrinth is a maze of mossy stone blocks of varying heights that dominates the middle part of the level, but ironically most of it is open -- the ceilings are just so low that you can't traverse most of it. But the gargoyles can! More interesting to me is the giant stone(?) tree in the northern swamp; while the surrounding area is simple, with just a few crowds of sabreclaws, the tree itself is a cool setpiece with some interesting implications for the world. I like how there's these little hints throughout episode two about the nature of the realm you're traversing, and what it might once have been.
E2M7: The Great Hall
An oddly abstract level that doesn't really seem to be anything, but it's a sprawling complex that looks and feels more like something out of Doom. The opening area is a large crater, but the rest of the map is a maze of rooms and chambers (including a rare "crate maze" -- more just a small storage room.) It's more sedate than the last couple of maps, which might be a blessing, but the soundtrack gives it something of an ominous feeling.
E2M8: The Portals of Chaos
It's less bullshit than E1M8, but there is still bullshit, literally so in the form of at least one Maulotaur. The level is made up of one big diamond-shaped arena with a few different features at each of its four corners, blocked off from the center by walls. The central pit is ringed by portals which will zap you around the map, which might be good if you need a breather from dealing with the big boy(s), but don't get caught out by the hordes of baddies who populate the outer fringes of the map. Once the boss(es) are dead, you can exit, and it's a lot easier this time.
Episode Three: The Dome of D'Sparil
E3M1: The Storehouse
People like to talk shit about Shadow of the Serpent Riders' E4M1 and its crazy difficulty. And yes, they're right to. But E3M1 is just as much of a nightmare on skill 4 and up. Ammo is extraordinarily tight -- especially with the lack of a crossbow -- and the monster count is high, with large amounts of gargoyles and sabreclaws. The large storeroom in the southwest is full of weredragons to make your life hell, too. An Iron Lich guards a large flooded area to the south with lots of goodies, including a Tome of Power if you can safely throw the switch to lower the platform it's on. All in all, a pretty hectic intro to the episode, but the underwater dome theme is cool.
E3M2: The Cesspool
This level starts out curiously symmetrical, though as you work your way to the south end you'll see some differences. Ultimately it doesn't matter which way you go, as you'll wind up sweeping both sides eventually. The most dangerous part however is a disconnected pool area reached by teleport and populated by Disciples -- it's tight quarters with little cover, meaning the Hellstaff is probably the fastest way of clearing the problem.
E3M3: The Confluence
A nice little naturalistic spot in the middle of D'Sparil's version of Rapture, three rivers meet -- via waterfall -- to collect in one large pool. Don't be fooled by the ease in which you get the gold key: this is a sprawling map, with a large amount of golems to soak up your crossbow arrows. The weredragon ambush in the north puts on the pressure, but it's the Disciples hanging out in a dark side room that may be a bit tricky to root out.
E3M4: The Azure Fortress
We begin at the base of some steps, in some kind of antechamber guarded on either side by squads of Disciples. Riding a lift down, we find ourselves in a complex of chambers and corridors. The spiral staircase in the southeast, the weredragon cages to the southwest, the big pool that dominates the north of the map -- all of it makes the place look bigger than it really is. I really like the sabreclaw ambush hallway just on an aesthetic level, but it's the fight in the crusher intersection that sticks out to me just for how easily exploitable it is. Very cool level.
E3M9: The Aquifer
This one is defined by its large circular flooded chamber that dominates the west side of the map. Most of your work here will involve clearing out the hallways and rooms surrounding the chamber, resulting in what's something of a semi-linear affair that does loop back around via teleporters. The throne room fight is a thrill but I think on balance it's the threat of the horde of Iron Liches in the water chamber that most sets the tone of the level. Otherwise, a pretty short jaunt.
E3M5: The Ophidian Lair
Cool intro with you descending into a watery chamber populated by the Ophidian snakemen. Ironically, despite the name, the Ophidians are outnumbered by a large cohort of sabreclaws, who will pop out of every door, nook and cranny. The Ophidians however are no small threat, sniping down at you in the entrance chamber and accompanying sabreclaws in their various ambushes. While the boss enemies hanging out in the cage in the corner can be ignored, you may not want to if you want to grab the stuff they're guarding later.
E3M6: The Halls of Fear
With a name like that you'd be forgiven for thinking it sounded like a Doom level, and to be fair, it does feel a little like one. It's something of a boxy little fortress set in a flooded canyon; you start on a walkway with no real way forward, forcing you to take a jump in the drink to work your way around. Overall the combat is pretty straightfoward, just clearing groups of enemies along the stairs and chambers. The northern hallway with its enemies popping out of the walls is a good fight, but the Maulotaur waiting for you in the western basin might require a little strategic thinking to get him in a more favorable position.
E3M7: The Chasm
Decidedly more tolerable than the one in Doom II, the penultimate level before D'Sparil is a gloomy complex of cisterns, caves and ruins. It doesn't really have a sense of finality -- it's just one more obstacle between you and that cloaked asshole who's caused all this trouble. But it's a good level nonetheless. The northern end is dominated by a watery chamber, but it's easy enough to clear out. More difficult would be the Maulotaur dominating the temple complex in the center of the map, or the sabreclaw nest in the south-east. After all that, the windswept walkway to the south that runs the risk of you falling off into the poison swamp isn't so bad, even with the Iron Liches and hordes of gargoyles harassing you.
E3M8: D'Sparil's Keep
A straightfoward arena fight. You start off in a flooded room that you need to use the (provided) Wings of Wrath to escape, but once you enter D'Sparil's arena proper, it's as straightforward a fight as can be. D'Sparil shows up on a big dumb dragon thing that's not much of a threat, but once you get him alone he starts summoning disciples to make things more hazardous. Still, though, he is very much a pushover, especially if you keep hammering on him with the Hellstaff. The only serious challenge he presents is forcing you to chase him down every time he teleports away. Once he's done, however, you can leave the level. Congratulations, you've finished Heretic! ... For now.
-June<3
Part of a series on Raven's fantasy games
| Heretic | Shadow of the Serpent Riders |
| Hexen: Beyond Heretic | Deathkings of the Dark Citadel |
| Hexen II | Portal of Praevus |
| Heretic II | |
| Shadowcaster | |
No comments:
Post a Comment