heretic is a dark fantasy first-person shooter\h video game released in December 1994 it was\h\h
developed by Raven software and published by ID\h software through GT interactive let's be honest\h\h
heretic was the game we all wanted at the time we\h all needed it we've been playing around with doom\h\h
for over a year by this point and we wanted a\h foray into the world of medieval into a world\h\h
of magic and the world of Mystery Doom scratched\h our sci-fi itch now it was time to scratch our\h\h
Dungeons and Dragons itch of course at this point\h it oftware had moved on with bigger fish to fry so\h\h
development duties were granted to Raven software\h who honestly did a standup job the basic premise\h\h
is the same as Doom fight enemies collect keys\h and navigate your way through levels in order\h\h
to defeat the serpent Rider known as the sparrow\h well maybe that last bit isn't the same as Doom\h\h
but you get the idea the game did improve Pro on\h Doom in a number of ways including the addition of\h\h
an inventory making it more RPG like if heretic\h was a good game then it sequel hexin was even\h\h
better building upon heretic by adding further\h RPG elements such as the ability to choose your\h\h
character class the game varied quite a lot\h depending on who you chose with the fighter\h\h
focusing on melee combat giving the game a more\h ancient and forboding feel hexen also introduced\h\h
a hub concept to which you return after solving\h puzzles and unlocking areas elsewhere its sequel\h\h
hexen 2 would expand upon the RPG element by\h offering four classes and incorporating more\h\h
fish puzzles to untangle so our DND needs were\h sated for a while but let's be honest that need\h\h
to explore these mystical lands never went away\h it's always been there that warming feeling of\h\h
watching Lord of the Rings that Pang of excitement\h when seeing a group of Warhammer figures that need\h\h
to feel encapsulated by the world of hexen once\h again we've got titles like wizdom project warlock\h\h
apocryph hands of necromancy and Amit evil but\h one that has piqued my interest quite a bit is
Graven mainly because of what it promises\h now Graven is developed by slipgate Iron\h\h
Works and published by 3D Realms and full crumb\h publishing who have sponsored this video and like\h\h
all sponsorships of this nature I told them\h I'd share exactly what my views were and they\h\h
were completely on board with that so here we go\h released on the 23rd of Jan 2024 early reviews\h\h
are in it's not looking great maybe I shouldn't\h have agreed to this but let's go back to those\h\h
promises solve puzzles and scour law to uncover\h the motives of foul heretical sects behind the\h\h
plagues and Seasons undermining by the land\h spread fires charge Machinery reveal hidden\h\h
paths and freeze rivers to walk across discover\h new weapons and upgrade them at blacksmiths and\h\h
Alchemists to customize your capability expand\h your horizons by returning to old stomping\h\h
grounds with new abilities and seeing how far down\h the chasms go and what powers they hide fantasy\h\h
blood and gore dismemberment and ludicrous\h jibs you know it sounds like they've nailed\h\h
the elements that made hexen fun exciting and\h enchanting with quick nod to rise of the Triads\h\h
as well the story is pretty straightforward we\h are a faithful priest of the orthogonal order\h\h
exiled unto death for a crime in defense of\h another and now we're living again in a small
boat okay we have to go forth as a Pious priest\h alleviating suffering uncovering deceptions and\h\h
smashing the eldrich perversions encroaching\h upon reality itself basically this land has\h\h
fallen victim to a terrible plague that sees\h the inhabitants going wild and violent and\h\h
for us well that's a problem at times\h the only light in this accursed swamp\h\h
of the funeral piles the first thing you\h notice though is the atmosphere this game\h\h
is absolutely drenched in it just taking in\h the surroundings on this forced boat ride is\h\h
glorious the droplets of water the distorted\h air from the PES the smog the shadows in the\h\h
distance you can almost taste this world once\h you get off your boat the level of detail\h\h
just gets better the glow from those little\h houses for plague filled screams coming from
inside the birds that fly over head you feel\h immersed from the go and honestly that's the\h\h
nostalgic hit I want it's the same feeling\h I'd get when playing heretic for the first\h\h
time feeling like this world actually exists\h did you know it's great the only difference is\h\h
that immersion back then was done by our awe and\h Wonder and Imagination these days we need these\h\h
details to draw Us in it's expected so a retro\h Boomer shooter like this works best where it\h\h
creates that same sense of awe and Nostalgia\h and it can do that by serving up how we felt\h\h
and what we imagined using details like this\h our first task seems to be smashing boxes in\h\h
taking whatever falls out Mana health potions it's\h all very exciting and again a throwback to games\h\h
like hexen where you do the same thing our next\h task seems to be talking to Residents and reading\h\h
notices to see what to do apparently this guard\h wants us to take care of some body piles in the\h\h
sewers before going into the main town I mean it\h seems reasonable given we're an exiled priest the\h\h
seers are where you get your first taste of plague\h violence and honestly it's a little distressing be\h\h
these guys are not messing about they want to\h ruin your day and so swinging our staff truly\h\h
and directly is a must it's quite satisfying\h to be honest our first puzzle is finding the\h\h
handle to put on this door so we can grab some\h barrels fire some Flames at them using the magic\h\h
book we found in the sewer and clear these bodies\h clearing body piles is important as well because\h\h
they act as spawn points for enemies you know\h like those little bases you'd get in Gauntlet\h\h
now we're allowed to enter the main town and\h talk to a tax collector who has another task\h\h
for us right light some lighthouses yep no problem\h more box mashing more wandering more wandering you\h\h
quickly realize that you're actually doing more\h wandering than you like the level design here can\h\h
be confusing and sometimes you just don't know\h where to go it took me about an hour to find the\h\h
lighthouses and then light the lighthouses that's\h without being distracted by the the librarian who\h\h
also has a task for you in the library which\h you presume is the book fi building behind her\h\h
but which turns out not to be that at all this\h is actually the library which you get to a lot\h\h
later and I guess that makes sense this looks a\h lot more like a library but you know it's still\h\h
confusing in either case it still all looks very\h pretty so I guess that's kind of okay I guess the\h\h
initial problem is you don't really know what\h you're looking for you might be looking for a\h\h
tiny switch or little Corridor you've missed you\h just don't know so you don't know how long to\h\h
spend in each environment what I would say is that\h it feels like the game wanted to be more than the\h\h
developers delivered it feels like the RPG and\h exploratory elements were intended to be a lot\h\h
more there are big areas that really don't yield\h very much other than the odd note which doesn't\h\h
really serve a purpose other than to shower\h you with information the result is you end up\h\h
searching these areas thinking you're progressing\h and really you're just wasting your time it takes\h\h
about 3 hours to really understand how this\h game works and what doesn't work to get your\h\h
head inside the developers and designers heads\h for example once you light the lighthouses you\h\h
need to go back and tell the taxman which isn't\h immediately obvious it's also not immediately\h\h
obvious where the hell he is because vesky\h Rascal has ridiculously moved so find him\h\h
talk to him and then only then move the next area\h open up but once you've done those first 3 hours\h\h
that's also the exact time at which the game\h gets interesting you see once you realize that\h\h
this town area is just a central Hub just like in\h hexen and you're gradually unlocking other parts\h\h
of the town and those other parts are interesting\h places and often pretty darn beautiful as well you\h\h
just want to unlock more you want to see what\h Graven has in store sometimes I wander into a\h\h
new place and just take in the Ambiance and and\h I don't mean to sound like a pretentious [\h__\h]\h\h
but the mix of sound and light effects in this\h game are truly something to behold there are\h\h
often times I'd walk up to something like a\h bubbling stove and just take it in for a few
minutes yeah I'm starting to question my Insanity
too but then I still get excited about seeing\h translucent water in games so maybe I'm not\h\h
the best gauge of this stuff but you don't just\h start understanding the game at this point it\h\h
also becomes more of a gameplay experience\h at this point and that's mainly because it\h\h
gets pretty hectic and it gets hectic while\h you're still avoiding Arrow traps solving\h\h
puzzles and working out exactly where to go\h but this isn't a bullet hell kind of hectic\h\h
it's interesting and at times it's unsettling\h look at these guys they absolutely scared the\h\h
crap out of me when they appeared that rapid\h deter mined movement not only catches you off\h\h
guard but it's unnerving these skeletons come at\h you with a persistence that I admire plus I love\h\h
skeleton enemies but when you encounter them\h you'll have a flant which basically hurls rock\h\h
fragments at them and it's honestly a pretty\h satisfying experience especially when compared\h\h
to the cuff bolt you get earlier on which is a\h bit crap talking of satisfying once you level\h\h
up your staff a bit smashing the absolute\h crap out of characters so a literally fly\h\h
through the air and smash into a wall is also\h very great and these Dragon guys well they're\h\h
an absolute pain in the ass to be honest\h spilling this fire likee acid down on you\h\h
that spreads quicker than a leaking nappy is\h both horrific and annoying just like a leaking\h\h
nappy thankfully they're quite easy to take\h out but God damn I've met less annoying Morris
dancers this game is like from Dust Till\h Dawn it rapidly goes from a sedate and\h\h
sometimes frustrating exploratory\h experience to an all-encompassing\h\h
and quite exciting experience you\h have to keep on your toes and you\h\h
have to work out things at the same time\h and honestly that's quite an addictive
combination alongside this entire experience you\h also have your infantry this can be expanded upon\h\h
by visiting the town Alchemist or blacksmith who\h can offer upgrades like these explosive alternate\h\h
firing rocks which are great but the most\h important things to have really seem to be health\h\h
potions that you can neck on demand and some\h kind of armor without armor your life depletes\h\h
pretty damn quickly you know once you get into\h it this game is good it has its flaws but it's a\h\h
good game and it does remind me a lot of old style\h medieval games like hexen and heretic it's got the\h\h
same elements and the same kind of atmosphere but\h I do have gripes and one of those is sometimes you\h\h
still feel lost even after getting into the game\h and if you're impatient that's a problem '90s me\h\h
would have loved the opportunity to explore and\h look in every nook and Atmospheric cranny 20204\h\h
me just wants to crack the hell on plus Early\h Access versions literally had a map here the\h\h
map is gone according to the publisher that's\h because Acts 2 and three are more complicated\h\h
and it was too much to implement the map so they\h took it out entirely that's a shame because a map\h\h
would be mighty handy there are other gripes\h I have such as burning wood for some doors\h\h
you need to set fire to the wood that protect\h them but then there are doors like this which\h\h
burn but don't actually fall away why do that it's\h just confusing should I just stand here and wait\h\h
or just try to find another entrance navigating\h ladders can be a pain in be ass too I mean just\h\h
get down what are you doing you know you'll find\h lots of little gripes which don't make it a bad\h\h
game they're just more questionable you'll ask\h yourself why is that the case I've seen other\h\h
people complain about save points but honestly\h I didn't have a problem with that if you quit\h\h
then you start back at the Town Square which is\h fine because you still have all your progress all\h\h
your ammo all your things and and even Treasures\h you've smashed open from boxes remain in place if\h\h
you die in the game then you'll go back to your\h nearest respawn point which also works you know\h\h
fine but then the developers do already seem to\h be taking care of a lot of reported problems I\h\h
had heard the game had an awful stamina system\h in Early Access builds which will never not piss\h\h
me off please please stop implementing them the\h fact that you can get out of breath after running\h\h
for 10 seconds is ridiculous imagine being able\h to fight enemies to Absolute crap carry tons of\h\h
weapons and jump massive gaps but yet you can\h only run for 10 seconds I can literally run\h\h
for more than 10 seconds I can run for a minute\h at least what the hell is it with these cardio\h\h
sock blowers that have to sit down on a bench\h after a few Paces but thankfully like I said\h\h
the developers do seem to be listening to feedback\h and the stamina system has been changed to make it\h\h
a little more forgiving and I didn't really have\h a problem with it you know maybe my gripes are\h\h
a bit harsh because honestly though Graven is\h addictive it's weirdly addictive I find myself\h\h
getting frustrated trying to find something but\h then an hour later I want to play it again and\h\h
then I can often work out where to go or what\h to do I want to keep immersing myself in this\h\h
atmosphere drenched fantasy world and maybe that's\h just because I often prefer style over substance\h\h
to be honest maybe a game having the ability\h to pull me into a world is more important than\h\h
it having the perfect combination of rewarding\h gameplay and progression maybe but then maybe\h\h
it's the same for you that's the thing with games\h like this you'll either love it or you'll be upset\h\h
trying to find your way around the bottom line\h is I myself am enjoying Graven quite a lot out\h\h
of the many games I've played of this type this\h game actually gives me that nostalgic feeling of\h\h
exploration that I used to love and I'm kind\h of getting back into it it feels like a game\h\h
of old and I can't really ask for more than that\h oh apart from the fact that it also does have an\h\h
online co-op mode which is absolutely my favorite\h way to play games online it's just like playing\h\h
juk Nukem 3D Co-op which was always the best way\h to play it oh and it does have a 3dfx graphics\h\h
mode which kind of makes the visuals feel like you\h know you have a 3dfx card so that's a nice element\h\h
too if you want to play this on Steam deck then\h it seems to work absolutely fine there's nothing\h\h
I could find that I couldn't do whil playing on\h PC so you know there it is that's Graven it's a\h\h
pretty good game and I'm not just saying that\h because I've been paid to if you're a fan of\h\h
hexen or heretic then really you should take\h a look and see if it's your cup of tea because\h\h
honestly this might be the one you're looking\h for until next time I've been Nostalgia ner to
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