(Games) - Hellraid - The Return of Heretic/Fantasy Shooters?

Everyone has a game that they really loved in their gaming past (I mean really REALLY loved), and for me one game really stands out in my PC gaming memories, and that is Raven Software's Heretic. Heretic was just a perfect game in it's day, it had the atmosphere, it had incredible game music by Kevin Schilder, it had great combat fueled by the Doom engine, and the multiplayer was a riot. The games that came after were fun, Hexen, Heretic 2, and Hexen 2, but none of them really had the magic (pun intended) of the original.

Games that were similar in style to Heretic that came later were Witchhaven and Witchhaven 2, Dark Messiah, and even Quake somewhat with its Lovecraft meets fantasy atmosphere. I enjoyed all of those, but nothing really grabbed me like the original Heretic. Heretic was by some just a Doom clone in a fantasy setting, and I would agree to that, but that is why I loved it. Hexen was good but it has less weapons though it had classes, Heretic 2 was in third person and was a blast multiplayer wise (Who could forget the super Chicken?) but it wasn't really like the original game, and Hexen 2 was fun but was again more like Hexen, and didn't have the same feeling or intensity of the original. (UPDATE: I had forgotten about a great game from Starbreeze called Enclave, which was one of my favorite original Xbox games. Still not as fast paced as heretic, but a great fantasy First person shooter and released in 2002. You can buy it on GOG.com for PC)

Heretic came out in 1994 and there hasn't been a great intense fantasy FPS game (that I know if) since Hexen 2 came out in 1997. Dark Messiah of might and magic came out in 2006 but I wouldn't really compare it to Heretic, it was a bit more like Hexen, as it was not as action heavy but still a very good game.

Today I read about a new game from Techland called Hellraid and I could not be more excited about it..
It looks to be the game I have been waiting for, a fantasy First person shooter/ action title, heavy on the action but with role playing elements. This is literally a dream come true for me, I have been waiting for this game a long time!

                                                       You can watch the trailer below

You can read about the game at Eurogamer here, VG247 Here, and check out a Q&A at Worthplaying here

I also recommend checking out Kevin Schilder's website here and if you just listen to one of his tracks, please check out the opening theme to Heretic, still one of my favorite gaming themes of all time.

Kevin's music has been an influence on my own compositions. When he wrote this it was midi file and only as good as your equipment, most had the crappy FM soundblaster and it wasn't till soundcards like the Gravis Ultrasound and Awe32 that you heard what was really intended. There was the Adlib of course, but
it only did music, not audio, and most people I knew didn't have it.

They have created some marvelous texture mods with the Heretic games, the video above shows the hi res models and textures for Heretic's Sequel, Hexen.