Action, Fantasy Video game released 1995 A first-person hack and slasher and Doom clone with rpg elements about a knight, Grondoval, who must find and kill an evil witch in her hellish fortress. Skeletons, goblins and her other minions stand in your path.

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1. Witchaven

Description of Witchaven

Witchaven is a decent first-person shooter from Capstone/Intracorp that introduces a few innovations to the genre at the time (1995 - the era of Duke Nukem 3D and DOOM), but falls flat with repetitive gameplay and poor graphics.

The plot, should you feel it important in this sort of game, goes as follows: you are an intrepid hero chosen to enter Witchaven, Lord VerKapheron's Keep which has been overrun by evil creatures from the Nether Reaches. Your job is to kill them all before they could open a permanent portal that connects their world to ours.

The gameplay is a mix of Heretic and traditional RPG elements. As in Heretic, you will wield a number of weapons and can cast spells at the enemies. On the RPG side, we have 'realistic' factors such as the classic experience points to accumulate to gain experience levels. Higher levels grant you access to more powerful spells and better weapons handling. There are also numerous fantasy power-ups such as various magic potions, magic rings, amulets, etc. Weapons and armor also suffer from wear and tear: the weapons wear out the more you use them, and the armor wears out the more damage you sustain.

One big difference between Witchaven and Heretic (and other DOOM games) is that most of the combat is not conducted from long range, but hand-to-hand with close combat weapons such as knifes, swords, etc. There is a number of moves you can make with these hand-to-hand weapons, but ultimately the weapons feel too much like each other.

In typical Capstone fashion, the few good aspects of the game are overwhelmed by many bad aspects. For starters, the monsters look downright ugly. Sure, graphics is not the most important thing in games, but it is quite important in a first-person shooter - especially one that emphasizes so much close combat where you see your enemies up close most of the time. The monsters in the game are badly pixellated and downright ugly, and the dull color palette doesn't help things that much. It is hard to believe that this game is based on Build, the same 3D engine that powers Duke Nukem 3D: it looks more like some shoddy in-house engine.

The AI of monsters is also horrendous: once you attack monsters, sometimes they won't counter attack but even turn their back on you! Level design is also not worth mentioning: every level looks more or less the same as the last one, and there is no ingenuity at all in the design to keep you interested in the gameworld.

Overall, Witchaven was a decent attempt at creating a good close-combat-oriented FPS. But now that we have Interplay's far superior Die by the Sword, there is no longer any reason to tolerate Witchaven's ugly, pixellated monsters and uninspired gameplay. Pick up Interplay's game at your favorite software retailer and leave this average underdog alone.

Review By HOTUD

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Comments and reviews

sarcasm2020-03-240 point

you can use BuildGDX to run the game. It also works with other masterpieces like Tekwar :))

itRocks2018-11-281 point

I'm using the Linux version of DOSBOX 0.74 and this works out of the box with music and all! Cycles=24000.. Even the jump works right!! Just had to modify mouse 'Sensitivity' to 20. And play the game in 320x240 it runs much smoother. It's no use a game running at 640x480 if it runs like donkey a**

Skully2016-12-063 points

If you are having trouble with the lack of sound, you'll need to run the included setup.exe file through DOSBox to set up the audio. Music/Sound ConfigurationExecute Sound Configuration Program. My setting are: [Select Digital] Sound Blaster, Port 220, DMA 1, IRQ 5 and [Select MIDI] Microsoft Sound System, MIDI Port 388. Hope this helps. :)

Frank2016-09-151 point

Tried playing it years ago and got bored after awhile. It had lots of unique environments, but the progression from one to the next had no rhyme or reason. One level you're in a cavern, the next outdoors, the next in a castle.
Also, though there was a bow, most fighting was at close quarters. That got old quickly.
I seem to recall there were witches - young women of identical hairstyle and body type - I never figured out how to kill or neutralize. Tried to find a walkthrough, but apparently nobody ever wrote one.

Anarchaic2015-10-093 points

This game is amazing!

Hieroglyphics2015-05-010 point DOS version

The lack of sound is disappointing, but it ultimately kills the appeal of this game for me because that scary skull thing just isn't as impactful. Pit people characters. ':l

alx2014-05-221 point DOS version

this game on duke3d's engine

DOSBox2014-02-180 point DOS version

no sound :(

indstr2014-02-12-5 points DOS version

Hm, I remember this, but it was pretty much just a crap HeXeN clone.

Leandro2013-08-291 point DOS version

Nice Game

lrgpns2013-05-160 point DOS version

Great concept, but lots of bugs and quirks :(

Carlsgro2013-01-081 point DOS versionSpace ace kiss.

This game is awesome

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DOS Version

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Various files to help you run Witchaven, apply patchs, fixes, maps or miscellaneous utilities.

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By Headnazgul

Players can find Witchaven east of Ardougne, south of the Legends' Guild. It plays a prominent role in the Sea Slug, Slug Menace, and Kennith's Concerns quests. The shrine in the west is home to the Family Crest and Slug Menace Dungeon, also known as the Witchaven Dungeon. Players may also travel to and from the Fishing Platform here.

Special thanks to: pokemama and Zaaps1

Last updated by: Zaaps1

Last updated on: 13-Sep-2010