.gif)
Heretic (computer game)
Encyclopedia
Heretic is a fantasy
first-person shooter
video game created by Raven Software
, published by id Software
, and distributed by GT Interactive
in 1994. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007.
Using a modified Doom engine
, Heretic was one of the first first-person
games to feature inventory manipulation and the ability to look up and down. It also introduced multiple gib objects spawned when a character suffered a death by extreme force or heat. Previously, the character would simply crumple into a heap. The game used randomized ambient sounds and noises, such as evil laughter, chains rattling, distantly ringing bells and water dripping in addition to the background music to further enhance the atmosphere. All music in the game was composed by Kevin Schilder
. A sequel, Heretic II
, continuing the story, was created in 1998.
against them. The Sidhe were in possession of seven candles, each tied to a natural power of the world as well as that of one king.
In desperation, the Sidhe's elders extinguished these candles, destroying both the kings' armies and weakening the elves' own powers in the process. Taking advantage of the elves' weakened state, the disciples of the Serpent Riders struck against the elves and killed the elders. Afterwards, the Sidhe went into hiding. One however, revealed in the sequel to be named Corvus, sets out in search of D'Sparil, the weakest of the three Serpent Riders and the only one remaining in Parthoris.
The player must first fight through the undead hordes infesting the "City of the Damned", the ruined capital of the Sidhe (its real name is revealed to be Silverspring in Heretic II
), and the site where the elders performed their ritual. At its end is the gateway to Hell's Maw, guarded by the Iron Liches. After defeating them, the player must seal the portal and so prevent further infestation. However, the portal can only be sealed from the other side. From there, the player character's only choice is to fight onward, into the enemy's own territory.
Eventually he arrives at D'Sparil's fortress, whereupon after fighting through the Serpent Rider's guards, a final battle with D'Sparil himself commences. D'Sparil is initially mounted on a large serpentine beast, later called a Chaos Serpent in Hexen
. Once the beast is killed, D'Sparil fights on foot, summoning disciples to his aid. Once D'Sparil is finally destroyed, all of the creatures under his command perish as well.
A portal opens, which the player steps through to complete the game (referred to as "The World Ripple" in Heretic II
). The fortress crumbles into oblivion as the player is transported further away from home. Yet the player's character does not feel victorious, sensing greater dangers to come. The game ends with the image of the Heresiarch, next seen in Hexen
, gazing at the player character through a crystal ball.
, was titled Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders and features two additional episodes: The Ossuary, which takes the player to the shattered remains of a world conquered by the Serpent Riders many centuries ago, and The Stagnant Demesne, where the player enters D'Sparil's birthplace. A free content patch was downloadable from Raven's website to update the original Heretic to match Shadow of the Serpent Riders.
, sporting the ability to look up and down within constraints, as well as fly.
As with Doom, Heretic contains different cheat codes that variously give the player invulnerability, all weapons, kill everything on a particular level. However, if the player uses the "all weapons" cheat code from Doom, a message appears warning the player against cheating and takes away all of his weapons, leaving him with only a quarterstaff. If the player uses the "god mode" cheat from Doom, the game will display a message saying "Trying to cheat, eh? Now you die!" and kills the player.
of Heretic was published by Raven Software under a license that granted rights to non-commercial use, and was re-released under the GNU General Public License
on September 4, 2008.http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=238655 This resulted in ports to Linux
and other operating systems, and updates to the Heretic engine to utilize 3D acceleration. The shareware
version of a console port for Dreamcast was also released.
Much as FreeDoom
aims to create a freely-available WAD file to use with open-source ports of the Doom engine
(thus creating a completely free version of the game), a similar project called Blasphemer aims to do the same with Heretic.
#217 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Jay gave the game 2 out of 5 stars, while Dee gave the game 3 stars (but suggested that "if
you loved Doom, you'd call this" 5 stars).
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
video game created by Raven Software
Raven Software
Raven Software is an American video game developer. The company was founded in 1990 by brothers Brian and Steve Raffel. In 1997, Raven made an exclusive publishing deal with Activision and was subsequently acquired by them...
, published by id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
, and distributed by GT Interactive
GT Interactive Software
GT Interactive Software Corporation was an American video game publisher and distributor, which later developed both video games and PC games....
in 1994. It was made available on Steam on August 3, 2007.
Using a modified Doom engine
Doom engine
The Doom engine is the game engine that powers the id Software games Doom and Doom II. It is also used by HeXen, Heretic, Strife, Freedoom, and HacX, and other games produced by licensees. It was created by John Carmack, with auxiliary functions written by Mike Abrash, John Romero, Dave Taylor and...
, Heretic was one of the first first-person
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
games to feature inventory manipulation and the ability to look up and down. It also introduced multiple gib objects spawned when a character suffered a death by extreme force or heat. Previously, the character would simply crumple into a heap. The game used randomized ambient sounds and noises, such as evil laughter, chains rattling, distantly ringing bells and water dripping in addition to the background music to further enhance the atmosphere. All music in the game was composed by Kevin Schilder
Kevin Schilder
Kevin Schilder is a video game composer. He mostly composes synthesizer scores for Raven Software video games. His style is quite similar to the John Carpenter style, especially in Take No Prisoners....
. A sequel, Heretic II
Heretic II
Heretic II is a fantasy action-adventure game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 1998 continuing the story of Corvus, the main character from its predecessor, Heretic....
, continuing the story, was created in 1998.
Storyline
Three brothers, known as the Serpent Riders, have used their immense magical powers to turn the seven kings of Parthoris into mindless puppets. The kings, in turn, led their subjects in doing the Serpent Riders' bidding. However, the Sidhe elves are immune to the Serpent Riders' spells and had no allegiance to any of the seven kings; the Serpent Riders thus declared the Sidhe as heretics and launched a campaign of genocideGenocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
against them. The Sidhe were in possession of seven candles, each tied to a natural power of the world as well as that of one king.
In desperation, the Sidhe's elders extinguished these candles, destroying both the kings' armies and weakening the elves' own powers in the process. Taking advantage of the elves' weakened state, the disciples of the Serpent Riders struck against the elves and killed the elders. Afterwards, the Sidhe went into hiding. One however, revealed in the sequel to be named Corvus, sets out in search of D'Sparil, the weakest of the three Serpent Riders and the only one remaining in Parthoris.
The player must first fight through the undead hordes infesting the "City of the Damned", the ruined capital of the Sidhe (its real name is revealed to be Silverspring in Heretic II
Heretic II
Heretic II is a fantasy action-adventure game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 1998 continuing the story of Corvus, the main character from its predecessor, Heretic....
), and the site where the elders performed their ritual. At its end is the gateway to Hell's Maw, guarded by the Iron Liches. After defeating them, the player must seal the portal and so prevent further infestation. However, the portal can only be sealed from the other side. From there, the player character's only choice is to fight onward, into the enemy's own territory.
Eventually he arrives at D'Sparil's fortress, whereupon after fighting through the Serpent Rider's guards, a final battle with D'Sparil himself commences. D'Sparil is initially mounted on a large serpentine beast, later called a Chaos Serpent in Hexen
Hexen
Hexen is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on September 30, 1995. It is the sequel to 1994's Heretic, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series...
. Once the beast is killed, D'Sparil fights on foot, summoning disciples to his aid. Once D'Sparil is finally destroyed, all of the creatures under his command perish as well.
A portal opens, which the player steps through to complete the game (referred to as "The World Ripple" in Heretic II
Heretic II
Heretic II is a fantasy action-adventure game developed by Raven Software and published by Activision in 1998 continuing the story of Corvus, the main character from its predecessor, Heretic....
). The fortress crumbles into oblivion as the player is transported further away from home. Yet the player's character does not feel victorious, sensing greater dangers to come. The game ends with the image of the Heresiarch, next seen in Hexen
Hexen
Hexen is a first-person shooter video game developed by Raven Software, published by id Software, and distributed by GT Interactive beginning on September 30, 1995. It is the sequel to 1994's Heretic, and the second game in the Serpent Riders series...
, gazing at the player character through a crystal ball.
Shadow of the Serpent Riders - Expansion pack
The original edition of Heretic was only available through shareware registration (i.e. mail order) and contains three episodes. A retail edition, distributed by GT InteractiveGT Interactive Software
GT Interactive Software Corporation was an American video game publisher and distributor, which later developed both video games and PC games....
, was titled Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders and features two additional episodes: The Ossuary, which takes the player to the shattered remains of a world conquered by the Serpent Riders many centuries ago, and The Stagnant Demesne, where the player enters D'Sparil's birthplace. A free content patch was downloadable from Raven's website to update the original Heretic to match Shadow of the Serpent Riders.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Heretic is heavily derived from Doom, with a level-based structure and an emphasis on finding the proper keys to progress. The weapons are also almost exact functional copies of those from Doom, with the same key bindings. Raven did however add a number of touches to Heretic that differentiated it from Doom, notably interactive environments, such as rushing water that pushes the player along, and items. In Heretic, the player can pick up many different items to use at their discretion. These items range from health potions to the "morph ovum", which transforms enemies into chickens. One of the most powerful pickups that can be found is the "Tome of Power" which creates a much more powerful projectile from each weapon, some of which change the look of the projectile entirely. Heretic also features an improved version of the Doom engineDoom engine
The Doom engine is the game engine that powers the id Software games Doom and Doom II. It is also used by HeXen, Heretic, Strife, Freedoom, and HacX, and other games produced by licensees. It was created by John Carmack, with auxiliary functions written by Mike Abrash, John Romero, Dave Taylor and...
, sporting the ability to look up and down within constraints, as well as fly.
As with Doom, Heretic contains different cheat codes that variously give the player invulnerability, all weapons, kill everything on a particular level. However, if the player uses the "all weapons" cheat code from Doom, a message appears warning the player against cheating and takes away all of his weapons, leaving him with only a quarterstaff. If the player uses the "god mode" cheat from Doom, the game will display a message saying "Trying to cheat, eh? Now you die!" and kills the player.
Source code
In early 1999, the source codeSource code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
of Heretic was published by Raven Software under a license that granted rights to non-commercial use, and was re-released under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
on September 4, 2008.http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=238655 This resulted in ports to Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
and other operating systems, and updates to the Heretic engine to utilize 3D acceleration. The shareware
Shareware
The term shareware is a proprietary software that is provided to users without payment on a trial basis and is often limited by any combination of functionality, availability, or convenience. Shareware is often offered as a download from an Internet website or as a compact disc included with a...
version of a console port for Dreamcast was also released.
Much as FreeDoom
Freedoom
Freedoom is a free Doom engine based first-person shooter game currently under development. The game is currently in an alpha stage and many features are missing, for example some monsters and other sprites are replaced by placeholder images, some levels are missing, and some levels have no music....
aims to create a freely-available WAD file to use with open-source ports of the Doom engine
Id Tech 1
- See also :*List of game engines*First person shooter engine*id Tech*Doom engine*Doom *Quake engine*Quake *List of first-person shooter engines...
(thus creating a completely free version of the game), a similar project called Blasphemer aims to do the same with Heretic.
Reception
The game was reviewed in 1995 in DragonDragon (magazine)
Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...
#217 by Jay & Dee in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Jay gave the game 2 out of 5 stars, while Dee gave the game 3 stars (but suggested that "if
you loved Doom, you'd call this" 5 stars).