History VideoGame / Heretic

** Phoenix Rod = Rocket Launcher / Flamethrower

** Timebomb of the Ancients = Non-throwable grenades (placed in front of the player's point-of-view)

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Averted with the powered up Phoenix Rod. It acts like a flamethrower that does massive damage and is ''very'' ammo-efficient (only using 1 unit every 10 seconds). It's only drawback is it's relatively short range (about 30-40 feet.) It's powerful enough that the 3000-hitpoint Maulotaur can be killed in under a minute of continuous fire; just be sure to have a Ring of Invulnerability to neutralize their devastating hammer attacks.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Averted with the powered up Phoenix Rod. It acts like a flamethrower that does massive damage and is ''very'' ammo-efficient (only using 1 unit every 5 seconds or so). It's only drawback is it's relatively short range (about 30-40 feet.) It's powerful enough that the 3000-hitpoint Maulotaur can be killed in under a minute of continuous fire; just be sure to have a Ring of Invulnerability to neutralize their devastating hammer attacks.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: Averted with the powered up Phoenix Rod. It acts like a flamethrower that does massive damage and is ''very'' ammo-efficient (only using 1 unit every 5 seconds or so). It's only drawback is it's relatively short range (about 30-40 feet.)

* AllLowercaseLetters: everywhere, where possible, in the first game.

** 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 (terrible in tight halls), do not bounce on liquid, flying enemies are difficult unless you fire point-blank, and ghosts are completely immune to the weapon. The weapon also follows the player's inertia complicating aiming and against multiple enemies, you can't really chose who the super orbs home in on. You can use the machine gun on swarms of weaker enemies to get the most out of its regular mode, or send some power spheres out to for tracking D'Sparil after he teleports while another niche use is against Iron Liches as they are extremely slow and easy targets for the still-powerful super orbs. In short, their unpowered mode overlaps with HerdHittingAttack abilities that ''also'' work on ghosts like the powered-up Hellstaff or Elven Wand, and even when powered-up it remains situational.

** 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 and against multiple enemies, you can't really chose which enemies the super orbs home in on. At least you can use the machine gun on swarms of weaker enemies to get the most out of its regular mode, or send some power spheres out to for help tracking D'Sparil after he teleports. Another niche use is against Iron Liches as they are extremely slow and easy targets for the still-powerful super orbs.

** 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 and against multiple enemies, you can't really chose which enemies the super balls home in on. At least you can use the machine gun on swarms of weaker enemies to get the most out of its regular mode, or send some power spheres out to for help tracking D'Sparil after he teleports. Another niche use is against Iron Liches as they are extremely slow and easy targets for the still-powerful orbs.

** 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 or helpful to send some power spheres out to for help tracking D'Sparil after he teleports.

** The fire mace appears to be an exception, until you realize it works similar to how the BFG9000 worked in alpha builds of ''Doom'': spraying a massive amount of projectiles. (The BFG was eventually changed to its current form because of how much rendering that many projectiles taxed the CPUs of its day.)

* {{Expy}} Every (non powered up) weapon except the firemace has a direct Doom analog:
** The Staff is just like the punch
** The gauntlets of the necromancer are an alternate EmergencyWeapon similar to the chainsaw
** The elven wand shoots little {{Hitscan}} shots
** The ethereal crossbow is basically a non-hitscan shotgun
** The dragon claw is a rapid fire {{Hitscan}} weapon like the chaingun
** The hellstaff is exactly like the plasma rifle but shoots red instead of blue

** The fire mace is an inversion. There's nothing quite like it in Doom, but it works like a short-range ballistic nailgun (with spheres) predating the ''VideoGame/QuakeI''.

** Considering D'Sparil is your arch nemesis, Disciples of D'Sparil don't sound like friendly people that will be happy to meet you.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: ** D'sparil is pronounced like Despair-il.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: D'sparil is pronounced like Despair-il.

Most of the original team of these games have since left Raven Software following Creator/{{Activision}}'s acquisition of the company, and they went on to form Human Head Studios. In 2019, the team then joined [=ZeniMax=] Media (who own the distribution rights to the original ''Heretic'' and both of the ''Hexen'' games) under the name Roundhouse Studios.

Raven Software licensed the ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' engine from id Software to create ''Heretic'', a medieval-fantasy-themed FPS released in 1994.

* ''Hexen II'' (1997) - Uses the Quake engine, unlike the Doom engine of its predecessors. Four different character classes hunt down the third and final Serpent Rider, Eidolon.
* ''Heretic II'' (1998) - Based on a modified Quake II engine. Unlike the previous games, uses a third-person view. The protagonist from the first game, Corvus, must stop a mysterious plague that has decimated his homeland.

The first ''Heretic'' (specifically, the ''Shadow of the Serpent Riders'' edition) is available on [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/2390/ Steam]] and [[https://www.gog.com/game/heretic_shadow_of_the_serpent_riders GOG]] for use with UsefulNotes/DOSBox or any of the various Doom engine source ports on the net. ''Heretic II'' has not seen a digital rerelease, as of yet.

Most of the original team of these games have since left Raven Software following Activision's acquisition of the company, and they went on to form Human Head Studios. In 2019, the team then joined [=ZeniMax=] Media (who own the distribution rights to the original ''Heretic'' and both of the ''Hexen'' games) under the name Roundhouse Studios.

* FakeUltimateMook: Outside of their boss encounters, Iron Liches are hobbled by a severe shortage of speed. Their attacks can be devastating but they'll be hard pressed to use them in regular levels where the player can retreat and abuse cover. You also gain weapons that can devastate them such as the powered-up Hellstaff and Fire Mace (you can bounce the giant spheres around corners thanks to their homing). If you lack a Tome of Power, the unpowered Phoenix Rod kills one in 4-shots.

** The "Flechette" item is in fact a flask of acid.

The first ''Heretic'' (specifically, the ''Shadow of the Serpent Riders'' edition) is [[http://store.steampowered.com/app/2390/ available on Steam]] for use with UsefulNotes/DOSBox or any of the various Doom engine source ports on the net. ''Heretic II'' has not seen a digital rerelease, as of yet.

* FakeUltimateMook: Outside of their boss encounters, Iron Liches are hobbled by a severe shortage of speed. Their attacks can be devastating but they'll be hard pressed to use them in regular levels where the player can retreat and abuse cover. You also gain weapons that can devastate them such as the powered-up Hellstaff and Fire Mace (you can bounce the giant spheres around corners thanks to their homing).

* SpiritualSuccessor: The Maulotaur is a huge bovine-like biped with a ground-fire spell that hurts like a rocket in the face. They also have a bull-charge to close the distance and an attack that hurls a row of five fireballs.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The Maulotaur is a huge bovine-like biped with a ground-fire spell that hurts like a rocket in the face. They also have a bull-charge to close the distance.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The Maulotaur is a huge bovine-like biped with a ground-fire spell that hurts like a rocket in the face. They also have a BullRush to close the distance.

* SpiritualSuccessor: The Maulotaur is a huge bovine-like biped with a ground-fire spell that hurts like a rocket in the face. They also have a BullCharge to close the distance.