History VideoGame / Heretic

** Episode 3 ramps things up, with at least one Iron Lich per level on the higher difficulty settings.

* FirstPersonShooter: All games in the series take place in this genre except ''Heretic II'', which is a ThirdPersonShooter with action-adventure elements.

** Dragon's Claw = HitScan Submachine Gun / Large-Area {{BFG}}-style weapon
** Hell Staff = Energy-projectile Submachine Gun / Area-effect-red-rain

** Fire Mace = Short-range gimmick submachine gun / Gimmick {{BFG}}

The gameplay differs from ''Doom'' seemingly only in setting (medieval fantasy vs. futuristic military/hell). The levels follow the same formula of "get yellow key to open door to green key which opens door to blue key which leads to exit." The original order-by-mail full game consists of three episodes of eight normal and one secret level, with two more added in a licensed retail version (''Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders'') vis-a-vis The Ultimate Doom.

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: The difficulty levels, with the third one, "Bringest them oneth", being the most egregious example and may actually count as an ExaggeratedTrope, as it's basically "randomly stick -est and -eth endings on a modern English phrase".

* {{Mondegreen}}: The Disciples of D'Sparil seem to alternate between saying "He's steppin' out [[SuperMarioBros Yoshi]]" and another phrase which sounds slightly rude; D'Sparil himself appears to say "I've seen Mr. Davros". All of these are actually English phrases reversed.

* DamageSpongeBoss: Maulotaurs are fairly easy to avoid if you have enough space to move around in. However, they have an absolutely obscene amount of health, and you can deplete much of your ammo reserves just taking down ''one'' of them if you don't use a Tome of Power.

* NotCompletelyUseless: The firemace. It's normally like a weaker version of the hellstaff (as it has a much shorter range, doesn't work on ghost creatures, and sinks if the floor of area has a water texture. If you use a [[QuadDamage Tome Of Power]], the metal orbs it shoots become ''much'' more effective, being a OneHitKO for mooks and other players. Even against bosses it does a respectable amount of damage (about the same as the phoenix rod).

* PowerupLetdown: Like the Blur sphere in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', the Shadowsphere causes enemies to fire shots wildly. While useful if you stand still, it actually makes projectiles harder to dodge, especially in large groups. One advantage it does have is that certain physical attacks (Like the undead warrior's axes) will pass right through you.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: Besides the usual case of lava not hurting you unless you walk on it, "The Ice Grotto" level has [[http://i.imgur.com/xTGFr.jpg ice pathways atop seas of lava.]] Try figuring that out.

** The two episodes added in ''Shadow of the Serpent Riders'' ramp up the difficulty. [=E4M1=] alone has a Maulotaur and a whole posse of Iron Liches, and not a lot of weapons or ammo to go around. Later levels have ''at least'' two Maulotaurs and five Iron Liches, sometimes all nearby each other.

** Episode three has this to a lesser extent, with at least one Iron Lich per level on the higher difficulty settings, but that's still a lot more manageable than the new episodes.

* ExplodingBarrels: Takes the form of strange plant pods (or, as they're called officialy, gasbags). For even more fun, some clusters grow back.

* FlunkyBoss: One of the main things that distinguishes D'Sparil from Korax and Eidolon is that he constantly teleports away while summoning mooks to help him, instead of just straight up trying to tank you like the later Serpent Riders do. Korax does this to a lesser degree, where he only teleports away once and opens doors to {{Monster Closet}}s, but D'Sparil is much more annoying in this regard.

* HeroicMime: Corvus never says a word, at least until ''Heretic II''.

* HyperspaceArsenal: What's beneath that cloak? A crossbow, several staves, enchanted orbs and disks, torches, numerous tomes of power, up to sixteen hourglass-shaped bombs, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking eggs]].

* ArtifactTitle: An in-universe example in the three Serpent Riders. When you fight D'Sparil he is indeed riding around on a giant fire-breathing Chaos Serpent. The other two, much later, do not ride serpents and would not even physically be ''able'' to do so.

** The powered-up Fire Mace deals exactly 10,000 damage (18-144 on bosses) and can therefore kill a non-boss monster with one sphere. However, the spheres move and bounce around very slowly, will disappear if they strike a wall before hitting a monster (terrible in tight halls), do not bounce on liquid, flying enemies generally are immune unless you fire point-blank, and ghosts are completely immune to the weapon. The weapon also follows the player's inertia complicating aiming. To top it off, the unpowered mode is like a worse version of the Hellstaff, thanks to pitiful range and zero effect on ghosts. At least it's fun to use the machine gun or power mode on weaker enemies for a laugh.

** "No Blood" turns enemy gibs into debris, excises blood particles and decals, and removes the ability to dismember enemies. Should Corvus be gibbed, the game will immediately bring up the Load Game menu with no input from the player to cover up the gibs.

* ShockAndAwe: The Gauntlets of the Necromancer shoot Green lightning. Powered up, the lightning is red and steals life.

* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Similar to Doom, the ring of invulnerablity makes everything sepia toned (presumably because they thought that seemed more old fashioned than black and white.

* MeaningfulName: The scientific name for the common raven is ''corvus corax''. The protagonist of Heretic goes by the name of Corvus, while the BigBad of ''Hexen'' goes by Korax.

* SophisticatedAsHell: The manual.

The Serpent Riders, three powerful evil beings, have enslaved the seven human kings and turned their subjects into their puppets. The Sidhe Elves, of which the player character Corvus is a member, remain unaffected by the Serpent Riders' magic powers and are declared Heretics, to be wiped off the face of the earth. The Sidhe respond by extinguishing magical candles that weaken the seven kings' armies but also the Sidhe themselves. The Serpent Riders opportunistically destroy the Sidhe elders and force the rest of them into hiding. That is, except Corvus, who won't take the near-extermination of his race lying down. He wants payback, so he sets out to find D'Sparil, the weakest Serpent Rider, and destroy him. His stronger big brothers, Korax and Eidolon, who left soon after all of them took over this world to conquer different worlds, will each eventually be faced by the heroes of those worlds in ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'' and ''Hexen II'', respectively.

The Serpent Riders, three powerful evil beings, have enslaved the seven human kings and turned their subjects into their puppets. The Sidhe Elves, of which the player character Corvus is a member, remain unaffected by the Serpent Riders' magic powers and are declared Heretics, to be wiped off the face of the earth. The Sidhe respond by extinguishing magical candles that weaken the seven kings' armies but also the Sidhe themselves. The Serpent Riders opportunistically destroy the Sidhe elders and force the rest of them into hiding.

Your task as Corvus is to seek out the weakest of the three Serpent Riders, D'Sparil, and destroy him. The other two Serpent Riders, Korax and Eidolon, are faced by different heroes on different worlds in the game's sequels, ''VideoGame/{{Hexen}}'' and ''Hexen II''.