I remember I played the shareware episode of Heretic to death. I was absolutely ravenous for more Doom content, but had no money. So it was shareware Doom, shareware Heretic, and a copy of Doom 2 I had a friend down the street install on the family DX2. I’ve probably played Doom more than Heretic though, just because the setting appealed to me more.
It’s funny thinking about it, being a kid, and the only way you could buy Heretic when it came out was mail order? I was also so fascinated about the extra weapons and enemies in the teaser pages when you quit the shareware.
Years later I ended up with a copy of Heretic from the bargain bin. I guess at some point they made a retail version with two extra episodes. Mobygames says that happened in 1996. I might have bought it as late as 1999. I got it out of a nostalgic fondness for the shareware, but I don’t remember ever playing it.
I did finally beat it for the first time when I got into retro hardware a few years ago. Really enjoyed it, but playing it again this month I’m realizing I forgot how many monster closets they spring on you.
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