The DWheretic Club plays: Heretic

[Biodegradable]

I'd like to throw in a vote for +++ Doom Zero next month.

[Alper002]

I've been catching up.... slowly.

Since there's so much ground to cover and the month's almost over, I have my thoughts on the maps be point lists rather than anything more written out. Don't read them unless you're actually interested.

 

Thoughts on the remaining E2 maps:

Spoiler

 

E2M9:The Glacier
3 keys
*A lot of corners that are best played really carefully cause how else are you gonna deal with the fast projectiles of the weredragons
*Liked the secret area that pops up when returning to the glacier, giving it a bit more meaning than just being an area you pass by once and forget exists
*Some pushwall secrets feel impossible to find without the map, I couldn't quite catch the clues.

 

E2M5:The Catacombs
3 keys
*I was out of fun options to fight the iron lich early on w/o noticing the invincibility ring secret, so I decided to power up the necromancer gauntlets whose health-drain works way better than you'd think. It got me laughing when it actually worked! Especially when I died later and did it on the second try as well!
*There's a river of sorts flowing through here... the water's source is unclear, but maybe there's some ice that isn't unmeltable around here?

 

E2M6:The Labyrinth
3 keys

*I like the look of the labyrinth itself, much more interesting than the average maze!
*Early combat outside the labyrinth is congested if you're not slowly plinking stuff down/not grabbing the crossbow, occasionally made me wish I had discs of repulsion from Hexen

*That big tree-looking thing is an interesting structure, weird how I forgot about it.
*First time I got a firemace! I got it while tomed up too so I got to use it's instakill properites on like 2 enemies :D

 

E2M7:The Great Hall
3 keys
*Seems particularly cavey according to texturing, but some parts containing cave textures are shaped with 90-degree angles that make them seem more built than anything else.
*Contains a room I'd identify as a storage room, even if there's no explicit crate textures.
*I like the slow lifts :)

 

E2M8:The Portals of Chaos
0 keys

*Noticing a similar motif to E1M8's theme in the track to this map for the first time.
*The sandy ground makes me think of the coliseum!
*The way I ended up playing this was to avoid attacking a lot and grabbing stuff asap, Once things winded down I noticed that the iron lich had died from infighting :D
*For some reason I remember this map having keys, but it doesn't! After checking I saw that the only boss map with keys is (spoilers) E4M8, at a grand total of ONE

Needless statistics on episode 2:
Amount of keys: 22
Key-to-map-ratio: 2.4444444444444

Pits that lead to secrets: 4
Secret Iron liches:2

 

Thoughts on the remaining E3 maps:

Spoiler

Right, episode 3 takes place underwater. I like the way the sky tries to give the imperssion of being in a dome.

 

E3M1:The storehouse
2 keys

*There's a lot going on to start with
*Might be that I was in an easily-angered mood when playing but I'm noticing I get somewhat ticked off at close-quarters weredragons on this difficulty
*2 Iron liches on level 1, tries to be an imposing start on top of all this other above-average difficulty stuff. I managed to take out both with tomed gauntlets :D
*Oh yeah ophidians exist too
*Wonder if the resources are running low for D'Sparil, noticed there's not that much being stored in a map titled the storehouse. Or maybe his army doesn't really need much upkeep? Whichever seems more fun to imagine probably

 

E3M2:The Cesspool
3 keys

*The beginning of the track to this map feels like it keeps starting "winnowing hall" from hexen and then faking you out (Like the rest of Heretic's soundtrack I like it)

*This level has more "crates" than the storehouse does
*Feel like the level opens up in an interesting way after the yellow and green keys.
*Going through the eastern green door with wings on lets you have a lot of chaos happen at once if you grab the blue key immediately lol

*That urn is begging for you to use the wings to get it, doesn't seem to be any good way of getting it otherwise.

 

E3M3:The Confluence
3 keys

*Possible among the trickiest wand starts in the original game, especially if you don't hunt for secrets.

*The music track to this feels like a natural extension of the music track from the previous map by starting similarly

 

E3M4:The Azure Fortress
2 keys

*Starting view makes me think there's just walls to the left and right of the dragon claw for some reason but NOPE that's not the case.
*Cool, a crusher you can use in combat!
*This is like the one time in the original game where I feel like the darkness is enough for me to use a torch to repel it
*The disciples at the start have a surprisingly large space to fight in when you return to them
*The secret exit is almost easier to find here compared to the normal exit, funnily enough.

 

E3M9:The Aquifer
3 keys

*Surrounds a big watery square you get to visit if you take the southern teleporter in the room containing the exit door.
*Oh look a crusher
*I am eternally awful at making interesting remarks on my own.

 

E3M5:The Ophidian Lair
2 keys

*The ophidians definitely seem to own the place, they've got a maulotaur and two iron liches locked up in a cage!
*Said cage is also very deadly to get close to, especially with black plague making the convicts attack so frequently. Too bad the crossbow's there!
*Favourite part was probably the pillar of switches past the yellow door, but the water mosaic is a good texture so that might be why

 

E3M6:The Halls of Fear
3 keys

*Really good at ramping up the tension, starts off with an early iron lich
*As well as a bunch of tough monster placements in general, and placements of tough monsters!
*The way the map reveals itself does pose a little more confusion than has been the case before, but nothing extreme.

E3M7:The Chasm
3 keys
*Start of the map is a bit similar to E3M3's start, but there's more openings this time! and I guess all the cells have their floors in the water.
*Wait, why are those ophidians locked up anyway? Not that I can answer but you could probably imagine something fun with that :P

 

E3M8:DSParil's Keep
0 keys

*The music is re-used from the first secret map, but in my mind this is the map the track belongs to. Hexen would go on to have the first secret map and the final map be related to each other via music as well, but it wouldn't go as far as outright re-using music like Heretic did here.

*Unlike the previous episode enders, the parts preceding the fight is completely separate from the place where you actually face the boss.
*D'Sparil himself is probably too hard for me on black plague... the difficulty setting makes every enemy attack constantly, and one of d'sparils attacks summons disciples, which shoot their projectiles constantly. Eventually everything becomes a mess and I lose. Turned the difficulty down right here because completing ~96% of the original heretic with wand starts on black plague is good enough for me. I wouldn't want to touch the later episodes on black plague regardless.

Needless statistics on Episode 3:
Amount of keys:21
Key-to-map-ratio:2.3333333333333

Needless statistics on the first three episodes:

Amount of keys:62
Key-to-map-ratio:2.296296296296296

 

 

I enjoyed the original Heretic, but I probably won't play it on black plague again. There's some fun to be had from the monsters attacking more frequently but at certain points I just can't enjoy it as much.

The levels I remember most from Heretic itself were from episode 4 and 5. In comparison to the first three episodes, the levels in those episodes often felt much more interesting and varied. That said, playing through this again did help me appreciate those original episodes a little more.

 

Not sure if I'll participate in the club again any time soon, but I do know I want to vote for this even if I don't end up doing so:

+ + + Hexen:Beyond Heretic

[FistMarine]

Episode 3: The Dome of D'Sparil - Overview

Spoiler

E3M1: The Storehouse
A bit strange and rather tough of an opener (though not as tough as the later episodes in SOTSR). It starts you rather underequipped thanks to the fact that the crossbow is missing in this level (!) and there isn't much ammo available. Use your supplies wisely! Don't bother with those wizards at the beginning that fire behind the windows, ignore them for now and dodge their attacks. You can use them for infighting in a later part of the level, when the warriors get unleashed.
You can grab the Dragon Claw, at least. And the bag of holding is given early, too! You must get as much ammo as you can, so you don't completely run out of it! Even use the staff (until you get the gauntlets) against those gargoyles, though it is rather risky and sometimes I took damage when trying this, especially with the vanilla's low melee range.
The scarcity of ammo reminds me a bit of the beginning of Doom's Episode 3, Inferno. Although in that case ammo wasn't that scarce and the shotgun wasn't absent in first level either!
This level introduces the Ophidian, which is the last non-boss enemy you will encounter in the game. He has the most health of the non-boss enemies, although it goes down in two Phoenix Rod shots, sometimes even one shot, though rarely. You will get the opportunity to do that in next levels when the Phoenix Rod becomes available.
There is also an iron lich to be found later in level. Oh, sorry, I lied. There's two of them! Although one is in the courtyard and another is in front of exit.
To deal with all these enemies, you must go outside and get the Gauntlets and all the stuff above and even use monster infighting to your advantage. The ring of invincibility can only be gotten with the wings of wrath which are accessible later. Oh and make sure you stand on the platform to trigger the secret. This is important for those who play in vanilla, like I did here.
Interestingly, the Iron Lich came around the corner (after I went into that room to grab the stuff) when I was coming from the other room with beasts (since I needed ammo as was running out of it) and it scared me but thankfully didn't hurt me with its attacks. I don't think he goes downstairs and you can safely shoot him with whatever ammo you have left. Like in the screenshot below. After these difficult parts, the rest of the level isn't too bad.
The second secret can be found near exit in between those two "torches", it contains a much needed Hellstaff!
Before exiting, make sure you grabbed everything first. And you can now kill those wizards and hope they don't drop a tome of power that will be impossible to reach, for those who want to grab everything.
Only annoying thing was that once again I had an enemy missed (it was a beast), so I had to go back in that area (that had lots of beasts) and kill that thing with gauntlets. It worked nicely and it actually dropped crossbow bolts (the rest beasts didn't drop anything), which will come handy for the next level. Once again good thing I'm using saves and if I happen to miss something when finishing the level, I can just load the save from the exit room.

Fun fact #1: This is the only level in the entire game that doesn't have the Crossbow present. Mapping mistake or intended to increase the challenge?
Fun fact #2: You can skip half of the level by using the Iron Lich's tornado to "jump" over the platform, that is supposed to lower when activating the switch. Or if you are using a ZDoom based source port, you can just jump there directly, which is cheating.

E3M2: The Cesspool
When you start the level, you will be faced with a bunch of gargoyles and there's Ophidians behind the cages. Ignore them for now, save your ammo for more important things.
This level contains a number of interesting traps, so be careful when navigating the level!
This level also contains the Firemace, so hopefully it will spawn, to give you extra ammo. If it didn't spawn, you can find it on the next level. For me it spawned on those crates up there, in the room with the blue key at end.
The trickiest parts are the green and blue keys because they are guarded by disciples. The green key room is especially dangerous because the disciples are in close quarters, where they are most dangerous. So better use a tome of power before engaging them! And then kill those Ophidians that get revealed upon grabbing the green key.
When grabbing the blue key, don't sit there! Instead, run away and pick the disciples one by one from a distance. Another tome of power can be used, if still having one. What I did was activate the invincibility and kill the wizards quickly with the Phoenix Rod I picked up seconds earlier from a secret area (there are two secret areas guarded by those Ophidians from the beginning of the level) and then go to exit room and take down the iron lich (and the extra ophidian spawned, as a result of the firemace behavior) quickly before the ring expires!
After that, you are free to explore the rest of level and find more goodies. It is recommended to pick up the Enchanted Shield before exiting the level, to ensure starting the next level with maximum health and armor! Oh yes and don't forget to grab that mystic urn you saw on a pillar at beginning of the level! It will require wings of wrath to reach it, though.

Fun fact: This is the level shown in the third demo that plays in all Heretic registered versions. The player doesn't get very far, dies at the pods area by killing himself intentionally and getting gibbed from the pod's explosion! In the desync, the player doesn't make it past the starting room, he shoots at random and simply dies!

E3M3: The Confluence
This is the level that I got stuck as a kid in E3. I probably got stuck somewhere after the starting area and just didn't understand where I was supposed to go next. Kinda weird because this level isn't THAT confusing!
The level starts out in the open, you are situated on top of the waterfall and you have to drop down. There are various monsters waiting you, including an iron lich! What's funny is that monsters will wake up as soon as you land! I don't know if this feature was in Doom but I'm sure it was in Hexen as well.
I just realized, before you drop down the waterfall, you can get the Hellstaff secret as soon as you begin the level. I wasn't aware of that and I usually grabbed it later, when clearing the level. It is especially useful for people who start each level from scratch.
The most dangerous parts are the ones with the disciples where you get locked inside that room until you press the switch, so be ready before you enter that room with the goodies! I would suggest using a ring of invincibility there, because the lights turn off as well and the gold color helps you to see better in darkness.
There is also a crusher above Phoenix Rod ammo, so if you want to grab it, run as fast as you can! Preferably after clearing the room, so that you don't get stopped by an enemy blocking your way!
Another iron lich guards the exit and it can be taken out easily with the Phoenix Rod!
Firemace can also appear in this level. If it didn't appear, you have two more chances: E3M9 and E3M6! In my current run, it didn't actually appear in this level (the only level where it didn't appear for me) and screwed up the enemy count at end of level. I don't know if it's because I had to reload the game before exiting (and finding last few items/secrets) but it seems I had one more kill than the enemies present in the level, something like 142/141 kills. Yeah, I had to reload once because the wizard at end dropped the tome, exactly like how I expected to happen! Since he was behind exit, it couldn't be picked up and I wanted to reload anyway, even if that extra item doesn't directly affect the item count. I just don't like leaving any inventory item in the level.

 

E3M4: The Azure Fortress
The starting area has two windows with a bunch of disciples in each. They can't reach you yet, so if you have enough ammo (assuming continuous playthrough), you can take advantage of that and kill them earlier and safely from behind cover. Don't worry if they drop stuff, you can pick up the dropped stuff later when the walls will lower.
I chose to kill them early but it was difficult to dodge the projectiles and I decided to use the Phoenix Rod to quickly get rid of them. I took quite a bit of damage in these rooms (as in nearly half of my armor was already gone) but I redeemed myself with the rest of level where I rarely took damage from attacks.
Once ready, step on the elevator and it will start descending. If you are fast enough, you can grab the ring of invincibility, though you also have to deal with the gargoyles shortly after. If you missed it, you can return to it later, although it will be harder to reach since you need to drop down and hope you reach the platform while falling.
This level has quite a few tricks, including a crusher (that is very useful because there were many enemies that decided to step in middle of room and get crushed) and some golems hidden behind fake walls that can shoot you while you don't even see them. They are mostly behind a secret area when going to get the yellow key. The others are in the crusher room, behind walls that can be reached by visiting the other door.
After going through green door, you will come across a room that contains many beasts in cages and three iron liches beyond windows like the disciples earlier. It is recommended to kill them before advancing. I admit I reloaded here a few times (though I used tome and ring) just because one of liches decided to drop an egg and you can't reach that area at all, so I had to rely on RNG a bit by loading a slightly earlier save every time this happened. This is a rare instance where I reload as I often prefer to just play the game without having to reload or save-scum, even if I admit I save often after clearing some rooms nicely.
Once you press the switch (after clearing the enemies), you will unlock the normal exit as well as the secret exit. The beast cages are also open now, though it is likely you already killed them before, so you can now collect the goodies. Before doing that, first visit the regular exit to get all kills. Then return to the secret exit. If you chose the exit correctly, you will end up in E3M9!

Fun fact #1: This level contains the most secrets (13) out of all original Heretic levels.
Fun fact #2: There are FOUR armor pickups in the level, two of which are silver and the other two are the enhanced type. Very easy to end up with 200 armor at end of this level!

 

E3M9: The Aquifer
Secret level time! This level is fairly interesting. It seems to contain the most Iron Liches of all levels so far. Four of them are located inside the secret waterfall area, so it's recommended to have a powerup active to make it easier to deal with them, like the Ring of Invincibility and then equip the Phoenix Rod. The other two liches are located in the exit room. What's up with cramming iron liches into exit rooms, anyway?
Aside from that, not much to tell, it seems like one of those secret levels that reward you with tons of ammo and stuff. As the remaining levels may hold a surprise or two. You will see shortly what I mean!
The Firemace also appears in this level. If not, then your only chance left is E3M6! For me, it appeared near the exit room.

E3M5: The Ophidian Lair
You begin in a room with a switch. Press that switch to lower the elevator and you will get dropped in center of the map. But wait, what's this? A maulotaur? Indeed, the Maulotaur is back! Although, he only appears on the last two skills. There are also two iron liches present in that same caged room. Funnily enough, according to Doomwiki.org, on third difficulty, there are four iron liches instead.
You need to take extra caution to not have the maulotaur surprise you with his attacks through the gates, though thankfully this is rare, it is more common to have an iron lich shoot an ice ball or flame attack, although still rather rare to happen, so don't worry about it, focus on the direct threats instead.
Honestly, I don't have much to say about this level. You can take it slowly and clear the main rooms first, then deal with the enemies inside secret places.
I had some situations that nearly screwed me when I got surrounded by some enemies (like at part you press a switch and many disciples and sabreclaws get unleashed) and got lucky I escaped with only a bit of damage taken. It would have sucked to get stuck between those sabreclaws and wizards for longer. The other tricky parts are those with the sabreclaws/ophidians that appear once you press the switches or just enter a sector. I'm talking about the green key room, mostly. Tricky level!

 

E3M6: The Halls of Fear
This level is the only level in Heretic that can't be 100%'ed due to various reasons, especially in the initial version of the game.
First, there is a quartz flask outside of map that is not reachable to the average player. It can STILL be grabbed by performing the grab glitch, near the yellow door, you just have to bump into the wall several times. This is a mapping mistake and there is no need to noclip if you want all items, just grab the item with the glitch or ignore it and pretend you got everything. I only discovered how to grab it in last few years, before that I left this level with one item missing. May be helped by the random chance another enemy dropping an inventory item to inflate the item count at end of level.
Second, the Firemace spawns in this level (the last chance to get it on this episode!) and in the original v1.0 release, the spawned Ophidian will block the Bag of Holding secret. This means, if Firemace doesn't spawn exactly on THAT spot (which I couldn't confirm myself, since every time I played v1.0 in last few years, I got this glitch and either Firemace spawned in other locations or didn't spawn at all), you will NOT be able to get 100% in any category! You will end up with an enemy, an item and a secret missed. The behavior of extra firemace spots was changed in Heretic v1.2, however I have never played v1.2, so I can't confirm here but I can speak from experience that v1.3 does NOT have this bug, so you can 100% this level in Heretic SOTSR, as long as you grab that item from the wall.
While playing, the Firemace spawned in level at a different spot (inside the secret area near end with golems and bag of holding) and unfortunately this meant that other secret with bag of holding got blocked thanks to that Ophidian spawning inside wall. I did have all items gotten thanks to an enemy dropping an item for me.
As for the level, it's pretty interesting. There is a maulotaur behind green door, in an area required for level progression this time. The key to deal with it is to keep distance and dodge the attacks correctly.

Fun fact: Maulotaur's fire ground attack gets nullified if it's created in water, so you don't have to worry about that nasty fire ground attack. This may apply only in vanilla (and compatible ports).

 

E3M7: The Chasm
The level has nothing to do with the identically named Doom 2 level, thankfully (although I didn't dislike that level as much as most other people). The most interesting part of the level is the wind currents area that you have to traverse to get the blue key.

The maulotaur shows up once again and for the last time in the registered Heretic levels! It is quite in a tricky spot and if you are not careful, it can do some good damage with his ground fire attack! 
Because of that, I decided to take a different approach and lure him outside in the water and that meant no more ground flame attack spawning, so I was able to get rid of him easily and that meant conserving all that precious armor. After killing him, he dropped BOTH a Mystic Urn and a flame orb at same time. There is a rare chance enemies that drop items (namely Disciple, Iron Lich and Maulotaur) can drop TWO items at same time.
Anyway, I still had a good amount of armor left by the time I cleared the level, although there were some things I initially missed (few monsters, items and secrets), so I loaded a backup save before I went to those secret areas that require the wings (namely those that contain the goodies, ophidians and last two liches), as I wanted to end up with everything maxed out (full ammo, armor, etc). Of course not before I first deal with the three final iron liches in the exit room. There was another item dropped (from the liches inside those secrets) and that meant I finished with 2 extra items at the end of the level!

 

E3M8: D'Sparil's Keep
Here it is! The final level of Heretic!
You start in a waterfall room surrounded by gargoyles with their backs at you. Kill them with your gauntlets and collect the stuff. I did have a bit of bad luck with two gargoyles got stuck over my head (a very rare glitch that can screw your run) and lost 60 armor and 20 health just for this, as if game tries to screw me so close to the end. At least I managed to kill one and get away in time before more damage was done. Anyway, grab the wings then use them to reach the teleporter. You will get teleported to a room with two disciples. Kill them quickly (I used Hellstaff), then proceed to next area. You will teleport back and access another teleporter. Go straight ahead and you will get teleported to a room with many golems. Kill them quickly to minimize damage, preferably with Hellstaff! After that, go through teleporter to return and you will access the third room, which features THREE Ophidians in a cramped space! Kill them, press the switches and kill the Iron Lich that guards the teleporter. Return to the main area!
Now, before stepping into last teleporter, check that nearby secret door and grab the goodies! You will need them! Since I had 67 armor left, I decided for once to replace my better armor with the silver shield from the main room. When ready, hop in the portal!
You will teleport to the arena and you will see D'Sparil riding the serpent right ahead you! Before dropping, in your left it's a tome of power and in your right the Enchanted shield! If you still have plenty of armor left, don't grab the shield, save it for later as you may need it!
Grab the Phoenix Rod and drop down and fight D'Sparil! To kill him quickly (or at least its serpent for now), combine tomed Phoenix Rod with the ring of invincibility and he will die quickly! Watch out for the serpent's fireballs, they do a lot of damage and can push you around while invulnerable, preventing you from getting close to him! He first throws a fireball and when injured, will start throwing 3 fireballs at you!
What I did this time was simply shoot at him from around the trident and take cover, I was able to dodge every attack. I wanted to save the tome of power for D'Sparil himself! After the serpent fell down, I quickly ran and grabbed the wings in the corner of the arena and flew straight to the last two secrets!
Once you have killed the serpent, D'Sparil gets up and fights you! He isn't that hard but he can be annoying with his constant teleporting, making it seem like he is a coward, as others already mentioned! Make sure to dodge the attacks! He can also summon disciples, although they should be ignored unless he has managed to summon a lot of them and distract you from killing him!
Focus your shots on D'Sparil, so that when he dies, all enemies die in the level, unless the disciple got summoned AFTER he died! In my case, I managed to kill him relatively quickly with my tomed Phoenix Rod, around time the invincibility expired and the wings & tome were also running out! He didn't even get to summon the disciples! Once D'Sparil is dead, a switch is revealed that raises the stairs to the exit portal! Step into the portal and finish the game!

Fun fact #1: The chaos serpent that D'Sparil rides becomes a common enemy in Hexen, albeit much weaker. It also gets a "brown" variant that throws poisonous fireballs, except they don't actually inflict poisonous damage.
Fun fact #2: D'Sparil battle is MUCH harder on the hardest difficulty. Personally, I never played Heretic on hardest difficulty before but I have watched YouTube videos and the fight becomes incredibly difficult with the constant teleporting and summoning disciples that fill up the whole arena!
Fun fact #3: The ending picture shows that the Heresiarch was planned to be the second Serpent Rider but it was changed so that Korax is the second serpent rider and Heresiarch is a boss encountered twice in Hexen.

 

BONUS: E4M1
Bonus level time! Wait, what? It's not over yet? That's right! The original registered version of Heretic includes this level as a bonus inaccessible level. It can be accessed with following parameters (or just using ENGAGE41 I guess, haven't tried to see if it worked):

HERETIC.EXE -WARP 4 1 -SKILL 4

In Heretic SOTSR, the level was moved to E6M3 slot and yes, there is an extra episode 6 as well, although only 3 levels and not listed in menu, so you must warp to E6 like in this case.
The level has no name on automap, however it is unofficially known as "American's Legacy" and it is a conversion of a Doom 2 map (id map01) by American McGee. Despite being a rather short DM level, it contains several monsters (including an Iron Lich) but it lacks an exit. I suggest you drop down as soon as you begin, grab the Crossbow and kill the enemies from starting room, then go to left and grab that shield and then you should be able to clean the rest enemies. Make sure to first explore the main area before fighting the lich and disciples. Don't drop down yet in the back of starting area as you will be surrounded by three nitrogolems and it's better to kill them when better equipped.
Firemace can also appear in this level. If it didn't, it isn't a huge loss because you can still get a decent amount of ammo for the rest weapons. For me it spawned on the place up there that requires the wings to reach (the other side contains an enhanced shield).
Once you killed everyone and collected everything, you can pretend you finished the level.

E3 deaths: 0
E3 overall: Pretty good! Although the blue theme kinda wears off after a while. Otherwise, it's same as in previous episode's case, better than Doom's counterpart episode (Inferno in this case).

Total Deaths (E1 + E2 + E3 + E4M1): 0 (FLAWLESS VICTORY!)
Heretic overall: Very good! Far better than some people give this game credit for! I agree with ReaperAA and others, the game isn't just a Doom clone, it is far more than that! All the extra things: looking up/down, inventory system, flying, tome of power, morph ovum and other features that didn't exist in Doom, are proving that the game is much more than a simple Doom clone!
Heretic is criminally underrated and the original levels are far better designed than those from the first Doom, especially episodes 2 and 3. I'm sorry Doom Registered/Ultimate, you came far too late to me, years after I was stuck with the shareware version (1.2, 1.666 and 1.9), I already played community made megawads for Doom 2 on Skulltag servers in 2009-2010. And by the time I got Ultimate Doom, I wasn't impressed much by the extra episodes and thought E4 was also too hard at first (only the first two levels are hard, which still give me trouble even to this day, despite the fact I can complete the first 3 episodes without dying).

The combat in Heretic is a bit more interesting as well (especially with the random chance the enemies drop something), although far too easy when you have full health, armor and many useful inventory items most of the time. I never went below 50-60 health in this playthrough, meaning it is possible to complete HERETIC without dying if you are a resourceful player like me and a bit lucky, as well.
The only negative thing is that most weapons (unpowered) feel slightly weaker and less satisfying than Doom's arsenal and there is no BFG9000 equivalent, unless you count Firemace powered spheres since they will kill any non-boss enemy in one hit (and even the Iron Liches in version 1.0, which I played for the club, although I didn't try doing this as I usually used other weapons to get rid of the liches).
I hope one day Heretic (and even Hexen) gets a proper remaster/rerelease like the recent Unity ports for classic Doom.

Since people have started voting for the next month's wad, I might as well vote for:
+++ Hexen: Beyond Heretic
I was going to vote for Hexen no matter what and I'm glad to see many others are voting for it as well. I will be there for next month as well, even if Hexen doesn't win the next month choice, as Doom Zero is another wad I would like to play. I just hope this time I will not be so late as this month.

Screenshots:

Edited April 28, 2021 by FistMarine

[LadyMistDragon]

I'm kind of surprised to see Hexen doing so well. I guess maybe it's because we may not see another Heretic WAD for a while (maybe Faithless or something, but like Call of the Apostate or Soldsoul....just seem less likely, idk)?

[Walter confetti]

Time to wrap this up!

 

E3M8: A good final boss map for a great final boss for this game! Level starts with you inside this octagonal star shaped room (a good symbol for the christian iconography, that with the 777 lines in E1M1 wants to give you the final "heresy" of the game... I think?) and the only way to get out is enter inside a teleport at any point of the star, this leads to a series of small fights where each room is a type of battle with a group of monsters, complete them and reach the arena where D'sparil awaits...

The final boss have two forms, in one it rides the serpent creature (that in Hexen is more common to find than the golems in this game), a gigantic horned lizard with a 3 fire balls attack, after you defeat it, D'sparil resurrects from the corpse of the serpent, showing you it's great force, with thunder attacks, spawning disciples and teleporting around the arena! Kill him, watch the satisfying animation of it's death, get in the portal and end the game, where more riders are looking at your steps!

 

And since the wiki says that this is a bonus level, I'll give a short review in the spoilers of American's Legacy (in original release is E4M1, in Shadow of the Serpent Riders is E6M3)!

 

Spoiler

This is a compact map with many monsters and no exit designed by American McGee, original born as a free wad for the community by the name of IDMAP01 years before Romero even think to remake E1M8' here reconverted for the game Heretic. Layout is really great for DM but a little too harsh for SP, mostly for the monsters choice. Overall, is a very fun and short map, great surprise!

 

Overall, this game is a really good Doom clone even with it's limitations in textures and monsters! Some good and distinctive levels that have also a feeling of semi-realism are here, but for the major part is mostly "monster closets - the fantasy game in 3D", since it's mostly some sort of giant anonymous dungeons where monsters pops out from the walls everytime, but it's a pretty good dungeon to visit.

 

Best map: E1M4 and E3M6

"Worst" map: E2M6

[Zedonk]

3 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

I'm kind of surprised to see Hexen doing so well. I guess maybe it's because we may not see another Heretic WAD for a while (maybe Faithless or something, but like Call of the Apostate or Soldsoul....just seem less likely, idk)?

I too am surprised that Hexen is doing this well since I thought that I was one of the few people that like game.  There's two reasons I voted for Hexen:

A) Hexen is the sequel to Heretic so I thought it made sense to do them back to back.

B) Hexen is my favourite game : )

[Nate42]

I'm pretty much just a lurker around here, but you guys inspired me to play through Heretic for the first time in almost 20 years probably, so thanks for that. I'm more of a Hexen guy and my memories of Heretic were fuzzy but it was both better and harder than I remembered. Hexen beats it on atmosphere and pushing the Doom engine to its (at the time) limits, but a lot of what I loved about Hexen was already there in Heretic, I suppose I have underappreciated it. 

 

I have to say though, that even though I enjoyed it quite a bit, the biggest impact it had on me was to make me appreciate even more just how great Faithless is. Seriously if you haven't go play Faithless right now, you won't regret it. 

[LadyMistDragon]

37 minutes ago, Nate42 said:

I'm pretty much just a lurker around here, but you guys inspired me to play through Heretic for the first time in almost 20 years probably, so thanks for that. I'm more of a Hexen guy and my memories of Heretic were fuzzy but it was both better and harder than I remembered. Hexen beats it on atmosphere and pushing the Doom engine to its (at the time) limits, but a lot of what I loved about Hexen was already there in Heretic, I suppose I have underappreciated it. 

 

I have to say though, that even though I enjoyed it quite a bit, the biggest impact it had on me was to make me appreciate even more just how great Faithless is. Seriously if you haven't go play Faithless right now, you won't regret it. 

"right now" lol. No, but you have convinced me to make it my next Heretic wad playthrough, but probably once I've finished this one that has 'fruit' in the title. maybe....

[ReaperAA]

5 hours ago, Nate42 said:

I have to say though, that even though I enjoyed it quite a bit, the biggest impact it had on me was to make me appreciate even more just how great Faithless is. Seriously if you haven't go play Faithless right now, you won't regret it. 

 

Agreed. Faithless Trilogy is arguably Jimmy's best mapset and it's an almost must play for those who enjoy both Heretic and Hexen.

Edited April 29, 2021 by ReaperAA

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

19 hours ago, Zedonk said:

I too am surprised that Hexen is doing this well since I thought that I was one of the few people that like game.

 

Me too, I personally prefer Heretic, but Hexen is pretty good too. It may win, who knows

[ReaperAA]

20 minutes ago, Lol 6 said:

Me too, I personally prefer Heretic, but Hexen is pretty good too. It may win, who knows

 

I hope Hexen wins because this might the best chance for it to be voted for the megawad club playthrough.

[Doritos420]

Whatever wins, it was fun playing with everybody and reading through the posts on the game. 

[dei_eldren]

+++ Doom Zero (even if i just played it, i'd be ok with playing it again in May)

+++ Endless Torture

+++ Deathless

Edited April 30, 2021 by dei_eldren

[Andromeda]

1 hour ago, dei_eldren said:

+++ Doom Zero (even if i just played it, i'd be ok with playing it again in May)

+++ Endless Torture

+++ Deathless

Deathless has already been played by the club :P

[dei_eldren]

5 hours ago, Andromeda said:

Deathless has already been played by the club :P

 

And i thought, what are the chances for that ha-ha :)  Fixed.