LONGPLAY: Heretic - Episode 1: City of the Damned - 100% (1994) [MS-DOS]

Heretic is a dark fantasy first-person shooter video game released in 1994. It was developed by Raven Software and published by id Software through GT Interactive. The game was released on Steam on August 3, 2007.

Using a modified version of the 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 that 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. The music in the game was composed by Kevin Schilder. An indirect sequel, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, was released the following year. Heretic II was released in 1998, which served as a direct sequel continuing the story.

Three brothers (D'Sparil, Korax, and Eidolon), known as the Serpent Riders, have used their powerful magic to possess seven kings of Parthoris, turning them into mindless puppets and corrupting their armies. The Sidhe elves resist the Serpent Riders' magic. The Serpent Riders thus declared the Sidhe as heretics and waged war against them. The Sidhe are forced to take a drastic measure to sever the natural power of the kings destroying them and their armies, but at the cost of weakening the elves' power, giving the Serpent Riders an advantage to slay the elders. While the Sidhe retreat, one elf (revealed to be named Corvus in Heretic II) sets off on a quest of vengeance against the weakest of the three Serpent Riders, D'Sparil. He travels through the "City of the Damned", the ruined capital of the Sidhe (its real name is revealed to be Silverspring in Heretic II), then past the demonic breeding grounds of Hell's Maw and finally the secret Dome of D'Sparil.

The player must first fight through the undead hordes infesting the location 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, but after he enters the portal guarded by the Maulotaurs, he finds himself inside D'Sparil's dome. After killing D'Sparil, Corvus ends up on a perilous journey with little hope of returning home.

0:00:00 Heretic - Episode 1: City of the Damned
0:00:53 E1M1: The Docks
0:07:27 E1M2: The Dungeons
0:21:00 E1M3: The Gatehouse
0:31:31 E1M4: The Guardtower
0:40:54 E1M5: The Citadel
0:55:40 E1M6: The Cathedral
1:06:25 E1M9: The Graveyard
1:16:38 E1M7: The Crypts
1:28:36 E1M8: Hell's Maw
1:34:11 Lore ending

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MS-DOS Gaming gameplay videos for all of you retrogamers in Full HD/60 FPS 🎮🕹️!

[Dosgamert]

Did you know that there are some mods out there that can make this game insanely great? HD textures, resolution, lighting and even some additional gore... You can check it out here!:

[TwoVloggersMore]

I loved this game when I was a young-un. Really cool. This, Hexen, Quake and Doom were my jam. Enjoyed seeing it played again.

[MarkOrrb]

This game gave me an eternal interest in magical, gore, medieval, sorceress type of things and i'm glad I was playing this gem

[JerryBurke]

Man so many memories as a kid. My little brother used to hold onto his seat watching me play this on pc. Lol

[KBAFourthtime]

Come December 23rd this year, this game (its original edition) will hit the big 3-O!

[HimizuCuliao]

Iron lich always scared the hell out of me, even today is so intimidating

[Athesies]

1:01:47 THATS HOW YOU RAISE THE STAIRS? if opening a secret wall like that is required to beat the level I am very pissed

[MediumMonitor]

I just saw a very small but familiar DOS icon on my recommended which prompted me to check the name that confirmed it was DOS related. it was the Doom: The Gallery Experience. I am trained to ignore Doom related stuff now because it's become so popular even kids born in the 2000s somehow feel nostalgic about the 90s but i couldn't ignore, "The Gallery Experience" because you just know the big bang theory watching culture vultures wouldn't attach themselves to that.

...then I saw this. boy did i explode when you started it with:
C:\> Heretic

[GOVAUS]

good times - the music is one of the best to this day

[Kaz-n_n]

A true classic! So many hours spent on this one…

😎🎮

[tiltedentertainment]

Man I loved all of these old first person shooters like Heretic, Doom, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior, and Blood.

[DOSRetroGamer]

Even though it's bright and colorful, for some reason this game gave me the creeps

[YouMayCallMeDanny]

Ah the in game music was so awesome back then.

[KBAFourthtime]

I used to play _Heretic_ in MS-DOS form as a kid, and it was possible to choose a starting episode, and to decide whether to play "Deathmatch" (in which case, I automatically had all keys and all previously-selected artifacts or ammo were returned) or "Cooperative" (not so much), and whether or not to have monsters. Of course, "No Monsters" didn't make certain damaging floors, such as the gray slime, lava, or fire, or any crushers, any safer... and I know neither "The Portals of Chaos" nor the boss levels of the extension pack's levels ("Shattered Bridge" and "Field of Judgement") could be completed without them, not even with the "kitty" cheat code. When I started playing *with* monsters, I did it in god mode.

Really enjoyable was any level with liquid water... splashing in it, the looks of the splashes in the graphics, the graphic animation of the water moving. In fact, there were times when I lured the golems into the water so when I killed them, only part of them stuck up from the surface.

[PatricioHondagneuRoig]

This game gave me so many headaches with those graphics and movement, but it is so good at the same time.

[miltonedwin]

My 1st PC game as a 13 years old back in in the good old 1995. Imagine playing this without the option to save the game🤣🤣🤣

[The_Husband_of_Jane_Lane]

The Ultimate DOOM CD-ROM has the shareware version of this game. I only played the first level of the first episode and I liked it. I have yet to get the full version of the game and HeXen: Beyond Herectic.

[VerdantEye]

Thanks. I hate playing Boomer Shooters, I tried this game on Steam for half an hour but became too frustrated, here I can view it instead. You're a good person in my book.

[mitsubishigenetech]

I love how the title screen image has nothing to do with the game. It should have become another fps from the series instead of Heretic 2. It was an original painting by Gerald Brom btw. He also did the DooM II cover and a really cool painting of Baratus fighting the death wyvern from HeXen.

[enielsenvideos]

I am currently playing this game in 2024 using dosbox. This will help as I have been stuck in the Cathedral.