For those of you that have read my recent post concerning the confusing series of sequels that followed Heretic and Hexen, you should have a decent idea of what these games mean to me. Doom, Heretic, Hexen, and their respective sequels all have a very special place in my heart.

So imagine my excitement when I find that someone had breathed new life into all three titles at once! Enter "Heretical Doom", a Doom Wad that takes everything familiar with Heretic and turns it on its head while also addressing issues I had with the main game.

One of the first things one would notice about Heretical Doom is that there are a lot of new icons and bars. On the far lefthand side of the screen, there is now a blue bar that represents your personal "blue" mana stores. This mana was first addressed in the game Hexen, and makes its return in Heretical Doom, right down to the floating blue icons that boost it. While these pick ups provide an immediate surge to mana, this resource also collects slowly over time. Emphasis here is on "slowly", as there never seems to be enough of it at any time.

Beside this bar are a series of icons that are selected via a special set of keybinds. These represent permanently owned artifacts that the player can activate over the course of their adventure. You begin play with all of them, although only one can be active at a time. Each are items from the original Heretic, but made accessible at any given time. The Tome of Power makes its return here. Originally, it was found throughout the level, many times throughout the game. This felt like there was more than one copy of the Tome, despite instruction manual lore stating otherwise. The torch, wings of wrath, protective armor (protects from environmental damage), and "Time Bomb" also make returns... each doing what the items did originally, with the exception of the hourglass. Previously, it would be "set" in the world, float for half a second, then explode like a grenade... often killing the curious player ("Hmmm... what did that do?... BOOM!). Now, it freezes time while draining mana like crazy. During this time, the player can drop several shots before unfreezing time... potentially killing off entire rooms of monsters before they can even react.

In the bottom right of the screen, you have different colored flasks. These work like assorted grenades/land mines. While you can bind keys to "quick use" the different flasks, they are also selectable via the mouse wheel as you scroll between weapons. This makes it rather hard to not use them at all... resulting in my more than once throwing a flask-grenade into a monsters face... only inches from my own.

In the top right of the screen, there is an XP gauge. Collecting items, not killing monsters, gives XP. The mod features a level system, which ties the various weapons' alt-fires to different levels. In addition to all weapons having an alt-fire, they behave quite differently now. These changes were brilliantly designed, and when tied into the leveling system definitely feels satisfying. As you grow, you unlock better attacks for each of your weapons. Even the basic staff feels useful now! Melee attacks can combo, and if your hits are timed, can even be given a bit more magical "oomph". The alt fire for the staff has the character spin the staff along its middle axis, like a windmill. This can return projectiles back where they came from. When powered up with the Tome, this spin attack creates a vacuum, which can suck targets up close from a distance, eliminating the need to chase them. If you attack while spinning, the character leaps into the air, smashing the staff into the ground, releasing a massive shockwave that splatters anything nearby.

The Tome is more important than ever, powering up your primary fire considerably... but the tome also increases the level required for "Tome-powered alt fire". While you may only need to be level 8 to use the crossbow's alt-fire, you'd need to be level 18 to activate the tome-powered alt-fire... and every step on the progression is worth it, folks. The alts and powered alts are just THAT satisfying to use.