The DWheretic Club plays: Heretic

[Walter confetti]

E1M7: Not a bad map, even if the timed platforms are a little boring. The map looks like a better version of E1M2, but with more interconnections in the layout and more places to see around. Lots of secrets, lots of crushers, lots of monster closets and also some neat stuff like the crushers and the thrones room of the two undead warriors (that are... the king of the crypts? Never get it since i wad a kid, but still a neat place). After the throne room you find another switch that activates a lift that leads to the titular crypts in the title and exit, including a ordinary tomb, a magical teleporting tomb (i used this trope in my HUMP mini map, E2M7, too) that leads you back to the starting ledge of the crypt room, why? For ending it, there's a red tomb (who is in it, anyway? Someone famous in the lore of the game?) and literaly, his tomb is also near the exit door.

 

Lots of monsters that make this map some sort of light slaughtermap imo. A cool map, overall.

[Capellan]

2 hours ago, Zedonk said:

This map is still stingy with weapons but the starting area's structure means you'll have a hard time circle-strafing.  This makes very hard (but probably still possible) to sit at the beginning at the beginning and slowly kill all the undead warriors. 

 

This may be true on wand start, but on continuous it is very different: very easy to kill stacks of monsters without ever even leaving the starting platform.

[antares031]

E1M7 - “The Crypts”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

The penultimate level of the shareware episode, once again, greets you with no weapons for wand starters. Be careful with grabbing a yellow key, which you need to take a lift, while golems and gargoyles are hanging around. Enter the yellow key building, grab the crossbow at the entrance, and start shooting down more monsters. Despite the level's name, there are not that many ghost monsters in this level. But the amount of total monsters, combined with quite cramped layout, compare to previous opened levels, may give you a feeling of slaughter-lite gameplay.

 

The layout is well-connected, while the progression itself is quite linear. There are actually two ways(three, if you also count one near the water) to enter the green key room. One is the door near the morph ovum and crusher, and the other one is at the bottom of the dragon claw pit, near the green key. The one near the pit is actually one of crypts in this level, throwing five ghost golems at you. The room with the blue key is guarded by lots of undead warriors, who were throwing axes at you at the beginning. The blue key area will lead you to an another crypt, where a bunch of wooden coffins are lying around. The red coffin near the exit will open the hidden passage, releasing disciples of D'Sparil. Nothing else much to say, a decent level with interesting layout.

[Capellan]

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

E1M7: The Crypts

 

This one is reminiscent to me of some of the earlier levels in the episode rather than the more recent highly representational maps - which is not to say that this is a step back, just a stylistic shift which enables the gonzo "deathtrap dungeon" theme and layout at work here.  You've got all sorts of separate crypts and tombs embedded in a disorienting labyrinth of stairways, switchback passages, and gradually unfolding loops which eventually serve to make the whole maze a bit more readily navigable as you acquire keys and open barriers; it's a much easier map to get around in the late game than in its initial configuration which makes the last pass for missed secret areas a smoother experience than it might have been.  I think the labyrinthine layout, the changes in elevation, and and less "ordered" structure than the likes of E1M4 and E1M5 contributes to the sense that these crypts weren't conceived or built as a single structure, that we're instead looking at the result of generations and centuries of different tombs all being built atop of and around one another, accreting gradually into this rookery of different styles, scales, and positions within the whole semi-organic mess - or perhaps it's a product of the warping influence of the gaping gateway to Hell we're about to explore...

[Endless]

• E1M7: The Crypts

 

We start in an area that seems to be flooded around a platform full of enemies near a fortress with more surprises. This map has a fantastic sense of direction that combines excellent visuals (for Heretic) with a nice touch of exploration combined with balanced combat that delivers excellent entertainment from start to finish, as well as a handful of pleasantly rewarding secrets. The map has a good variety of scenarios united with a visual theme, giving a nice touch to the natural style of the map, which makes good use of the texture of water and makes us pleasantly explore through this hidden fortress. 4/5

 

 

EDIT: Accidently posted E1M8.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Endless

[Alper002]

E1M7:The Crypts
Key count:3
As the name suggests, there are multiple crypts in this level. They connect together like they're one place, but there's clear differences in style and material between each major area.
The map starts on a high platform that you drop down, and then by the end you can find a way to get back there without using the wings of wrath present. In fact, It's possible to reach everywhere even without the wings. There's a teleporter to the one area you would think would be wings-only, but it seems to only be open until an arbitrary trigger is activated, rather than the usual fare of being closed until you find how to open it.
Also, the crusher early in the level seems like the first (and only) one that seems more like it's abusable in this episode. The other crushers are usually traps for picking up items, while this one activates arbitrarily and is conveniently placed enough to be used as an alternative method of killing monsters!

 

By the way, isn't it a bit too early to talk about E1M8? I'm pretty sure it's meant to be 9 days per episode, so E1M8 would be tomorrow.

[Walter confetti]

20 minutes ago, Alper002 said:

By the way, isn't it a bit too early to talk about E1M8? I'm pretty sure it's meant to be 9 days per episode, so E1M8 would be tomorrow.

Maybe where Endless lives (he's argentinian iirc or from some other latin american country) is passed midnight, so is the 9th of April and he's got the right reasons to write about E1M8 😂

[Gez]

36 minutes ago, Walter confetti said:

Maybe where Endless lives (he's argentinian iirc or from some other latin american country) is passed midnight, so is the 9th of April and he's got the right reasons to write about E1M8 😂

It's definitely not past midnight yet in the western hemisphere, since it's barely past noon UTC. Right now it's past midnight in New Zealand, Fiji, Wallis & Futuna, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands, Wake Island, and Kamchatka, though (UTC +12 timezones).

 

Depending on whether or not DST is applied, it may also be past midnight in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and the Bougainville islands (UTC +11 timezones, with an additional +1 for DST).

[Doritos420]

E1M7 - The Crypts - Right away I like how when you spawn in you can see the yellow key taunting you in the distance. I really enjoyed this level. Fairly large interconnected map, love how the whole map looped back in on itself and there were plenty of shortcuts to open up. It seems more complex on paper than many of the other maps, but I found it was easy to navigate and had enough unique rooms to not get lost. I was able to get all the secrets though I’m not sure what I did to trigger the last one with the Silver Shield, a Claw Orb. Very fun, especially liked the fight in the coffin room near the exit, where you can get the undead warriors to fight with the golems.

[ReaperAA]

E1M7: The Crypts

Kills = 162/162

Secrets = 6/6

Deaths = 0

 

This map is surprisingly easier than the last few maps. Only the starting is a bit challenging as you need the yellow key and then go through the yellow door to get the crossbow.

 

Thematically, this map seems like a bit of a mix of E1M3 and E1M6. I like the interconnected layout of this map as it makes it easy and quick to navigate to various parts of the map.

 

Not much much else I have to say besides saying that this map, while not as memorable as E1M4 or E1M5, is a fairly good map from an aesthetics, layout and gameplay point.

 

Overall, its probably my 3rd most favorite map of this episode.

[Zedonk]

17 hours ago, Capellan said:

 

This may be true on wand start, but on continuous it is very different: very easy to kill stacks of monsters without ever even leaving the starting platform.

Thanks for pointing out that.  I was referring to wand start specifically. 

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Heretic

Vanilla looking Lzdoom (320x200), bringest them oneth, saves. (I added some fancy lighting)

 

E1M7: The crypts (Loooooooong map if you're secret hunting) I FINALLY GOT ALL SECRETS!!!!!! Thanks map scroll.

 

Fun map, it has very good visuals and pretty curious areas, at the final section of the map (which is connected to the beginning) it really feels like you're descending into an ancient crypt, which has a teleporter that is a coffin? Ok... It's long, but it's also fun to play, kinda slaughy because of the amount of enemies and their placement. The midi is rather good. But, yeah, not much to say. Good map, not my favorite, but fun. Can't wait to play the last map of the episode.

[Zedonk]

E1M7 The Crypts

Secrets: 6/6

You'll find the crossbow immediately behind the yellow door which is relatively early compared to the some of the other maps.  The strategy I employed for this map was to run past all the monsters and get the crossbow asap (yes you can very easily deal with all the monsters using the elven wand outside first before going inside but I find doing that a little tedious.)  Most of the monsters you fight are going to to come out directly in front of you (the morph ovum trap being the exception) which seems a little on the boring side but there's plenty of ethereal crossbow ammo so the encounters should be fairly quick.

 

All in all, a decent map.

7/10

 

[Silhouette 03]

E1M7: The Crypts

We've almost come full circle.. sort of.

 

The crypts is probably my favourite map of the episode, mainly for the really nice layout and the combat feeling really, really satisfying. There's some really nice verticality on display here, and the use of more natural environments does spice up the mostly stone environments, without feeling disconnected or out of place. Just a fantastic map, overall. Not really much else to say..

 

Please don't make me fight the Iron lich...

Silhouette's stats:

Kills:162/162

Secrets 6/6

Willpower: low

Jokes: None

[Walter confetti]

E1M8: The final map of first episode, and a pretty tought map both for the layout and the boss monster, the Iron Lich. Now, the Iron Lich is the most hardest mf in the game: imagine if a Baron of Hell (or a Cacodemon, since this is a almost flying monster) have a fireball that breaks into other fireballs when hit the player and also a fireball wall and a Archvile fire-attack... that keeps attacking you. Isn't this a wonderful enemy, guys? Yeah, this fucker is hard as you expect. And think to you have to meet this giant skull A LOT, especially on episode 3 iirc

Also the level itself is like Phobos Anomaly on steroids, with damaging lava lakes for all the level, lots of monsters like a massive group of undead warriors at the start in the one of the few safe sections that is not surrounded by lava, joined by a big group fire gargoyles. Hit a switch that activates the middle section with nitrogolems and respawning explosive gasbags, activate the last switch that opens the arena with the bosses, pray every God of Parthoris to get out alive and you'll be rewarded by a final horde of monsters that comes out when the bosses dies, then cross over a final large lava lake that leads you to the exit and then you'll be gretted by reaching the titular Hell (or Hell's Maw, like the map title) section of the game, horray!

[LadyMistDragon]

The Crypt (Black Plague, wand start, Wayfarer's Tome)

 

I can't say this has quite the intensity or has quite the same degree of interesting design (who thinks vined stone walls aren't used enough, eh?) as the previous few maps, but the challenge's sufficient for a penultimate level, and it's largely open, as compared to the earlier outings. Wand starting, you'll be under some pressure, and you'll have to run past a large group of foes to grab the yellow key at the other end of the starting courtyard in a sort of gazebo area. You'll find the crossbow shortly after passing through the yellow door and things become more manageable. There's one large area with a central tower containing the Dragon's Claw which you can't reach yet. You can drop into the sludge, push against the wooden structure and watch the platform lower. Or you can wait until you passed through the green door and take a teleporter which opens up shortly afterwards to collect it. But I don't think many wand starters will want to play that way. The agglomeration of golems guarding the green key is quite tedious otherwise. Anyways, that's not a huge deal. The secrets are are all pretty fun to find though, with no silly wall-humping to be found here.

[antares031]

E1M8 - “Hell’s Maw”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

One of only two levels in the original Heretic with no "The" in the name for some reason. Just like Doom's Phobos Anomaly, this is an episode closer with a boss fight. But before we face the boss monsters, here we have a new environmental hazard; the lava. It's really hot, and it'll hurt you twice as fast as Doom's damaging sector, 8 damage for each cycle (so it's basically -16hp damage floor in Doom). Activating the switch at the other side of lava pool will open the door to the room with lots of explosive pods. But, these are not just ordinary pods. There's actually invisible pod respawners in the room, so even if you blow them all, they'll keep respawning infinitely. This makes this room tricky to pass through, especially when those nitrogolems on each side are spitting skulls, igniting newly-spawned pods. Make sure to find useful secret items in this room for the boss fight.

 

Now here comes Heretic's one of the most interesting monster; the Iron Lich. This floating(it's actually not a flying monster, by the way. It's just how its sprites look like) giant iron clown is capable of casting three different attacks. First, it can spit six fireballs, which spread out vertically. Second, it can shoot an ice bomb, which will be shattered into ice shards, once the bomb hits anything. Lastly, it can cast a tornado, which chases you, and stirs you crazy like a blender. A tornado has its own health(but you can't shoot it, of course), and it gets damage, whenever it collides with a wall or a thing. Even if it didn't collide with anything, it'll disappear after 20 seconds.

 

One useful tip to kill an iron lich is shooting it until it dies using a shadowsphere. Sure, it will make you more difficult to dodge the fireballs, but you'll notice that the iron lich's main threat is the tornado. By using a shadowsphere, the tornado is unable to detect you, losing its chasing ability. A shadowsphere also affects iron lich's ice bomb attack, since the bomb itself is counted as a physical attack, while only its shards are counted as magical attacks. Since the majority of ice bomb's damage comes from the multiple shards, right after you get hit by the bomb, letting the bomb through you makes it easier to deal with it.

 

On hard difficulty, three iron liches are waiting for you, locking the hidden gate to the exit. Killing them all will unlock the gate, unleashing lots of nitrogolem ghosts and disciples. So make sure to leave some useful items to deal with them as well, because getting killed after you defeat the boss would be anti-climactic, unless it's a cruel nightmare, leading you to Deimos.

[Alper002]

E1M8:Hell's Maw

Key count: zilch, zero, nothing, etc.

 

Our first M8 features our favorite skulls that look like they float but never really leave the ground, iron liches! The way to reach them is the hard part on this level though, particularly on a wand start. It's a good thing there's also a surprisingly generous supply of quartz flasks around...

Unusually of most boss levels in most things ever, there's also a bunch of monsters after the boss has been defeated to contend with. There's a helping of helpful items right at the opening of the closet with said monsters, so they don't pose much threat, but it's something.

On top of being unusual for that reason, this is the only boss map in the game that ends on a switch exit, even when counting shadows of the serpent riders. I think that's a bit odd though, it'd make more sense to me if it were a teleporter exit like the rest of the episodes. You're still warping to a different place going from this episode to the next, like the endings to the other episodes. You could also interpret the exit switches in such a way that this makes perfect sense, but I really wanted to point this oddity out! :P

 

Silly key statistics (episode 1)

Key counts this episode: 1, 3, 2, 2, 3, 2(, 3), 3, 0

Key-to-map ratio: 2.111111111111111

Seems like there's an average of about 2 keys per map in this episode. We'll see how the later episodes fare in that regard.

[Endless]

@Alper002 @Gez @Walter confetti I'm pretty sure it was already the 9th when I published that. My apologies. I lost track of time and accidently posted the wrong map. I mostly publish everything in the early morning. Like 2 to 3 am (I don't usually sleep early) so that could be the reason. For example, right now in my country it's 1:33 am, Friday the 9th, as I write this. This is my time zone just in case:https://time.is/es/UTC-6

 

• E1M8: Hell's Maw (Iron Liches are bosses)

The end of the first episode introduces us to an interesting fight on a chaotic map where the amount of enemies, although small at first, is doubled in strength thanks to the level design that promotes tightly packed combat and gathers enemies at specific points, as well as a multitude of lava areas and of course, 3 mini bosses that function as a good premonition of the kind of pain that will follow in the next episode. 3/5

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by Endless

[Capellan]

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

E1M8: Hell's Maw

 

The music in the first episode of Heretic tends toward the fast-paced and aggressive, uptempo if not upbeat; it is the music of conflict and of confrontation, encouraging you to get in there and wreak havoc with your arsenal of enchanted weapons and mystic artifacts, "music to rip and tear by," to borrow a phrase from a later era.  Compare and contrast this to Doom, where I'd consider four of the shareware maps to have "action" music (levels 1, 4, 6, and 9) versus five with music that contributes more toward an atmosphere of suspense and horror (2, 3, 5, 7, and 8).  In Heretic, it's been "action" music all the way... right up to this point, where the fast pace and tendency toward big drums and distorted guitars all give way to something more understated that carries with it a palpable sense of dread.  The fun, roller-coaster fantasy romp has come to its end; here, the game's tone suddenly gets serious.

 

As boss maps go, it's not bad, with four distinct combat encounters that pit you against two separate hordes of monsters, then the Iron Liches that serve as the episode's bosses, and then a final horde of monsters between you and the exit button; no death-sector trickery or "What the Hell is this?" bait-and-switch here, just the confirmation that you've achieved your goals only to find a new purpose laid out before you.  I think it's inevitable that the Iron Liches will face comparison to the Barons of Hell at the climax of Phobos Anomaly; with their various magical attacks, I'd say the Iron Liches present the more interesting fight, but they're let down a bit by the usual Heretic understated monster sound effects and a somewhat goofy design that casts them more as glorified guard dogs than as the architects of terrible schemes and the masters of all the evil at work in the City of the Damned.  Still, it's a fitting and action-packed conclusion to the episode, dispensing with the labyrinthine dungeons and urban mazes of earlier maps for a succession of set piece battles in straightforward arenas, and I do like the fact that the fight doesn't end with the destruction of the Iron Liches, with one final wave of monsters spilling forth from the passage that opens upon the defeat of the bosses to challenge the player one last time.

[antares031]

E2M1 - “The Crater”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

Welcome to the land of fire and brimstone. A group of gargoyles are gathered to greet you with fireballs and free hugs. Once you activate the switch from the cave at the beginning, the level introduces a new enemy, Weredragon. Compare to undead warrior, weredragon is slightly more tanky, slightly faster, and spits fast fireball, which is much stronger than undead warrior's green axe, but still weaker than bloody red axe. After you clean the cave with weredragons, jump into the lava pit with no fear to grab a yellow key.

 

Yellow key room is filled with gargoyles, instead of new monsters. Passing through the rocky bridge will open the hidden passage behind, allowing you to grab a new weapon, Hellstaff. You may expect that this is a rocket launcher, since it occupies slot 5. But this is actually a plasma rifle with slightly weaker damage. Empowering the staff with a tome will change its attack drastically; with slower firing rate, it shoots one powerful projectile with a cost of 5 ammo. It casts an invisible raincloud on the ceiling of impact point, and the cloud drops lots of magical rain drops. Each drop deals more damage than normal projectile, so it's more ammo-efficient against a group of monsters or a large monster.

 

A non-official secret area near the green key gives you a new inventory item; a Mystic Urn. It's basically a super quartz flask, healing the player up to full HP instantly. In overall, it's not a bad opener, but I think it's way too simple, compare to the first level of the first episode.

[ReaperAA]

E1M8: Hell's Maw

Kills = 62/62

Secrets = 4/4

Deaths = 0

 

Notice that the name of this map is the same as the name of the episode 2 of Heretic. Thematically, this map acts as a bridge between E1 and E2. Apart from being the boss map, this map introduces the fire/lava damaging floor, which damages you very quickly (you better get used to this as Episode 2's early maps have plenty of these types of damaging floors).

 

Right at the start of the map, you can see some undead warriors across the horizon and the path between you and them is separated by damaging floors (and some platforms with flasks) which you have to cross to get to them. Instead of jumping down immediately, go to left and right paths to obtain the crossbow and gauntlets.

After that, jump down to the safe platforms and then climb the stairs to obtain the wings of wraith and kill the undead warriors. You can also use the wings to kill the enemies more easily (strategy I used to deal with them).

 

Once they are dead, press the switch and take the teleport to go back to the starting area. You will notice that the wall is opened, revealing a room with tons of exploding pods and nitrogolems guarding. It's useless trying to destroy the pods, as pods keep regenerating indefinitely. Your best bet is to immediately go hit the switch on the other side, revealing the dragon claw and the arena with the 3 iron liches. Once you grab the dragon claw, don't jump down in the arena. Instead, look back and you will notice that the golems have been freed. Use the exploding pods to kill them and then take your time to strategies and wall bump (all 4 secrets are in the pod room that include shadowsphere, armor, ring of invincibility and bag of holding)

 

Once that is done, you are ready to fight the Iron Liches. As antares031 mentioned, they have 3 different types of attacks and the most annoying is their tornado attack that homes on you and starts spinning you in the air if it gets you. On skill 5, dodging the tornadoes in the arena mostly filled with damaging floor is quite challenging, so I recommend using the shadowsphere or the 2nd wings of wrath situated in the arena to deal with the liches.

 

After the liches are dead, a wall opens, revealing a decent group of disciples and nitrogolems. My usual strategy is immediately using the ring of invincibility and the tome of power to go all out against them to end the level.

 

Overall, a fun map to end the episode. In fact, I have probably said this before and I'll say this again, Heretic might not be as great as Doom, but Heretic's boss maps and fights (not counting E4 and E5) are much better than Doom's boss maps/fights.

[Zedonk]

E1M8 Hell's Maw

Secrets: 4/4

The boss map!  You start in a ledge immediately being attacked by undead warriors and fire gargoyles but at least you can get both the gauntlets and the ethereal from the getgo.  After beating the inital enemies you have to fight nitro golems that are hidden by explosive pods which can kill you if you're not careful.  There's also 4 secrets one of which contains a shadowsphere.

 

After that, you have to fight the iron liches.  The shadowsphere proves extremely useful against them as it renders 2 of their attack much less effective.  Also, make sure that you don't use the tomed version of the dragon claw against the iron liches as it is much less effective.

 

Overall, a map with lots of strategical elements that I thoroughly enjoyed.

9/10

 

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Zedonk

[Silhouette 03]

E1M8: Hell's Maw

It's about time we had a talk with the upper management of the invaders...

 

In order to get to the final bosses of Episode 1, we'll have to deal with some annoying enemy placement heavy resistance. Enemies are placed on the other side of a massive pain sector, which you'll have to traverse if you want to eliminate them. A switch on the other side opens a door leading to the most annoying area of the map. but before we get to that, I need to take a second to talk about pods.

 

Pods are explosive that trigger when shot, similar to an explosive barrel, though some of them can regrow. So why is the area in question so annoying? Well, the area is filled with pods that regrow, and has enemies on either side that are hard to hit, and an accidental bunch of stray projectiles will cause a chain reaction that will almost certainly kill you.

This area leads to the Iron liches, the bosses ( yes, plural) of Episode 1. The Iron liches are large, floating Iron heads that have three attacks: A flame pillar, a ice shard that splits into smaller projectiles when it hits something ( this is the pinnacle of good writing) and a whirlwind that throws you around like a ragdoll and irritates the hell out of me, especially since this attack can drain you of your health fairly quickly.

 

Fortunately, I discovered that the best way to dealt with them is to do what my ancestors did: run around it and keep shooting it until it dies. Only in this case I have the wings of wrath, which help to avoid the pain sectors. After killing all three of them, one final horde breaks out, though it is relatively easy to dispatch.

 

I find it to be a sick joke that they give you a ring of invincibility AFTER you have to run to the exit through a pain sector. Very funny....

 

With that, we end Episode 1, and we're moving onto Episode 2: Hell's Maw.

Silhouette's stats:
Kills:62/62

Secrets 4/4

Deaths: 3

Spoiler

I'd like to apologize if I haven't been giving some of the maps more of an analysis, or if I've bored you all with my writing. I don't usually like sharing things with people, but I'm feeling a bit unwell at the moment, so my mind is all over the place. I'm not saying this for you to feel sorry for me, or think any different of me. I just want to try to communicate better with people, since I struggle to communicate effectively, and sometimes take things the wrong way. I am, however, working on my communication skills and how I come across. I do enjoy writing here though, and I enjoy seeing what you all think of the maps in Heretic :)

 

[Omniarch]

I did manage to find the secret exit in E1M6 eventually. Not sure what triggered it, but whatever.

 

E1M9: The Graveyard - 100% / 50%

 

Ghost monsters, wide-open layout, bland palette, no thank you.

 

I burned through most of my spare ammo in an attempt to get through as quickly as possible. Busting out a Tome and letting loose with the Crossbow and Claw was pretty entertaining, makes me wish the game facilitated such rampages more often.

 

The only thing I like about the map is its midi, which I recognize from Alien Vendetta. While not as underwhelming as, say, Fortress of Mystery from Doom, The Graveyard still lacks any outstanding virtues.

 

The weak sound effects are particularly noticeable here, since the lack of audio feedback can make it hard to tell in the moment whether or not the ghost monsters are dead.

 

 

E1M7: The Crypts - 100% / 100%

 

Now this, this I like.

 

Verticality? Check. Looping progression? Enjoyable combat? Atmosphere? Check, check, checkity-check. The Crypts is probably my favourite Heretic map so far, manifesting all of the game's good qualities whilst minimizing the bad. While my ammo did run a little low towards the end, I didn't face any true bottleneck that a bit of Gauntlet use couldn't solve. I also used the Morph for the first time here, to amusing effect.

 

 

E1M8: Hell's Maw - 100% / 0%

 

This levels beats the crap out of Doom's boss levels.

 

Sure, its not a great map, but cutting loose with all my accumulated ammunition and powerups was cathartic as hell. The Iron Liches didn't stand a chance against a Tome-powered Claw barrage, followed up by a volley from the Crossbow. I barely had time to observe their attacks, so quickly did they fall to Corvus' wrath.

 

My favourite part of the map, though, is the massive wave of Disciples released after the death of the Liches. This is for a very particular reason. Turns out, the respawning pods in the hallway connecting the first and second arenas can be used to one's advantage...

 

I'll admit, I felt pretty clever after luring D'sparil's toadies into an explosive death trap, daft as it may seem. This unorthodox occurence makes me want to see what creative encounters might be found in Heretic PWADs. Food for thought.

 

 

Right, and that concludes the first episode! Overall, I've found the game to be a mixed bag so far, with many good ideas bogged down by questionable execution. Hopefully, the application of the game's new mechanics will improve with time, growing to overshadow the generally grindy combat and poor sound effects. Only time will tell, I suppose.

[Zedonk]

3 hours ago, Silhou3tte said:

 

  Hide contents

I just want to try to communicate better with people, since I struggle to communicate effectively, and sometimes take things the wrong way. I am, however, working on my communication skills and how I come across. I do enjoy writing here though, and I enjoy seeing what you all think of the maps in Heretic :)

You and me both friend!

 

[Doritos420]

E1M7 - The Crypts - Right away I like how when you spawn in you can see the yellow key taunting you in the distance. I really enjoyed this level. Fairly large interconnected map, love how the whole map looped back in on itself and there were plenty of shortcuts to open up. It seems more complex on paper than many of the other maps, but I found it was easy to navigate and had enough unique rooms to not get lost. I was able to get all the secrets though I’m not sure what I did to trigger the last one with the Silver Shield, a Claw Orb. Very fun, especially liked the fight in the coffin room near the exit, where you can get the undead warriors to fight with the golems.
 

E1M8 - Hell’s Maw - Fun boss battle, to me the real challenge came after with the large amount of Disciples and Nitro Golems that can shred your health if you’re not able to dodge the large amount of projectiles. Like many of you said this seems a lot more difficult than Doom's bosses. Especially with all the lava and the seeking tornado attack.

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Heretic

Vanilla looking Lzdoom (320x200), bringest them oneth, saves. (First and only death of the episode because of a golem)

 

E1M8: Hell's Maw (Last map of the shareware and the end of E1)

 

Not a bad way to finish the episode, the map itself (I guess) tries to look like a volcano with lava, or a cannon or something like that. There are a lot of monsters, and if they hit the pods, you may take massive damage or even die. The iron liches are the bosses and are one of the most annoying monsters in the game, especially in BPPT (Black Plague Possesses Thee). As you may know, the Shadowsphere is rather helpful against these suckers. After that, D'sparil's minions are opened up to say "Hey corvus, thou shall not pass". The music could have been a lot better, IMO E1M9's music could have been used again to give it a more epic style. Not much to say. Good way to finish City of the Damned. For the second episode I'll play in Russian Heretic (If I get WINE to run it).

 

EPISODE CONCLUSION: E1 is a good episode, with lots of interesting areas and maps, my favorite map would be E1M9 because of the visuals, the killer midi and the gameplay. Let's see what E2 has to offer.... (I may not be super active, depends of how many homework I'll have, but, I'd like to let you know I enjoyed playing E1 with you.)