Heretic

The Serpent Riders have made the kings of Parthoris their puppets and their undead legions are swarming the land. Only you, the Elf Corvus have the power to - you know what? The story probably isn't one bit more important than it is in DOOM, the masterpiece that this month's game is based on. Heretic was the breakthrough success for Raven Software, though, the company that would later become known for games like Jedi Knight II. But Heretic is remembered fondly by many fans, as well. Rightfully so? Or did it just ride the wave of DOOM clones, even using the DOOM engine in this case?

Let's find out!

Joining hosts Martijn ("Tijn") and Florian ("rnlf") on this episode we have DGC members DRS (returning from the Karateka episode) and Wouter ("jefklak"), who's on the show for the first time.

[ download mp3 ] (101 mins, 115 MB)

Many thanks to DGC member Richard ("Pix") who helped produce the show, to DGC member Bernd ("console") who edited this episode, and to Bjorn ("TigerQuoll") for providing the game audio & music. Thanks to all who help us make this show possible, we can't do it without you!

RELEVANT LINKS:

* Heretic Hack Editor

* Deep dive into DoomEd on NextStep on YouTube, as used to create Heretic's levels

* Interview with Raven Software level designer Michael Raymond-Judy

* Original Heretic webpage on ravensoftware.com (archived)

* Official id Software history mentions Heretic (archived)

* Heretic retrospective on YouTube, by Seanzen Gaming

* id Software was previously discussed on DGC in episodes: 001 (Doom), 009 (Commander Keen), 067 (Quake) and 093 (Wolfenstein 3D)



26 Mar 2025

5 Replies to “Heretic”

DJ_HiP says:

100! Congrats team, amazing effort to still be going after all these years!

Here’s to the next hundred!

Katsumoto says:

Congrats on making it to 100!

PS, it is indeed HEretic, not heREtic. 🙂 enjoyed that little discussion!

jameswoodcock says:

I really enjoy the music in Heretics although as the composer intended using a Roland Sound Canvas SC-55.

Like most people, I didn’t own one of these back in the day as they were an expensive addition just for music playback. Thankfully in more recent years been able to go back and enjoy what I missed.

Fab podcast as ever!

williamtries says:

Another great episode from start to finish! Thank you for keeping up with the podcast. It’s a brief getaway from 2025, which is much appreciated!

It also encouraged me to work on my 486 computer project. I got Heretic running in DOS with sound and music from the AWE64 sound card. Worked well but I found my CRT pretty dark and I can’t imagine playing a 3D shooter without mouse look. I mean, alt to strafe!?!? Any muscle memory of that is long gone.

Instead I got Crispy Heretic on my PC and it runs perfectly. It supports mouse look and tons of other features.

Keep up the DOS gaming! I’m along for the adventure.

rasz_pl says:

Yay for 100th episode. Love you guys!

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