Werdito into demo game? Sure,
why not? So, here’s Productions Pluie De Sang’s Hell Worlds Reinvigorated
(2025)
The title screen art reminds
me of Raven’s Heretic though the menu looks bland. No spinning skull as cursor.
Anyway, let’s hit new adventure!
On to difficulty setting. Why
the necromancer considered weaker than warlock? I reckon they’re on same level
but with different department. Necromancer’s occupation domain is undead. While
Warlock’s is demon. Anyway, I choose necromancer. From this difficulty setting
you probably notice that it looks like from GZDoom because that’s the case. The
game is build using GZDoom. I don’t mind game that’s made using GZDoom as long
as it’s good quality like Captain Wayne’s – Vacation Desperation.
So, I start at this point at
the base of the stairs. I can’t go upstairs even with jumping, because of
stupid invisible wall. No turning back then.
There’s Gollum come after me
and I kill him with my scythe. It takes 2 hit to make him dead. I like the
blood pool grows bigger over time. I was about to say there’s no other DOS era
FPS does that but then I remember Duke Nukem 3D did that before this game.
By the way, the control is
pretty typical for GZDoom game: “W” button to move forward, “A” button to
strafe left, “S” button to move backward, and “D” button to strafe right. Mouse
to look around and left mouse button to attack. Space bar to jump.
My jump is not high that I
can reach that shinny thing on high ground. How am I supposed to get it. I
really want it. Fine. I will just proceed to door on the left and get on with
the mandatory progress. “E” button to push switch and open door, by the way.
Suddenly the game informs me
that I can switch rune for the switch. Left mouse button to swing it as melee
weapon. Right mouse button for alternative use depends on rune that I use.
Using blue rune makes the scythe fires green fireball. Using green rune makes
the scythe conjures green flame that later explodes into green fireballs fly in
random direction.
Knowing that there are blue
and green mana, I immediately think of Hexen, another DOS FPS game made
by Raven. I’m very sold with the idea of GZDoom game that takes inspiration
from Hexen and Heretic. The latter is my most favorite DOS FPS
game.
I’m stingy bastard that like
to conserve ammo to the maximum but using melee costs my health very bad
because necromancer is not known to be durable on taking damage. So, I start
using the scythe as magic projectile emitter. Don’t expect the green fireball
is akin to the glorious one like Baron of Hell (from Doom) has! The
projectile is weird. It has short trajectory so I have to aim higher to hit
enemy farther than 2 meters or 6.562 feet. Later I find out that the fireball bounces wall and floor! So, I don't need to adjust my aim when hitting ground enemy. Regarding flying enemy though, it's entirely different matter.
My health is quite low. I
need to heal. I found this Life Vessel that looks like portable healing item.
As I press enter button, the item consumed and my health is restored by 25. So,
it’s Quartz Flask from Heretic
There’s pool that I can swim
into and I find some blue mana! The control for swimming also simple: space bar
to swim up and “C” button to swim down. But the swimming is pretty intuitive
with mouse and WASD buttons alone.
Believe it or not but this ugly
blue circle is button that I can activate. I don’t know what’s for though.
Nice garden but the
tree looks withered even though it’s surrounded by ponds. See those floating
vials with yellow liquid? They’re heal item that restore 10 health on the spot.
So, they’re crystal vial from Heretic except with suspicious liquid that looks
belong inside of Jarate. Yuck!
Pressing “Tab” button to
bring the automap. I feel at home with the control. I’m lost and I don’t where
to go. I’m in the center room. On the west is where I came from. The starting
point of the map. On the north, is the garden but there are bars on the way to
progress. On East, is the room with 2 pool and door locked with crystal key on
its north. Everything seems dead end to me.
Do you remember the ugly blue
button? Turns out it makes the floor below to descend to reveal new corridor.
I’m not so bright.
So, the corridor ends up in a
catacomb with a hole that connect to this underwater corridor. Because there’s
(hidden) limited air capacity, I’m panic and rush to that door which on exact
the center of my crosshair but it won’t open. Fearing drowned, I hurry back to
the hole to breath then I come back swimming here. Turns out there’s hole on
slightly right and that’s where I’m supposed to go.
There I found another hole
that connect to other part of catacomb. On top one of the graves lies crystal
key that I need to progress. It seems the necromancer can’t reach the key from
here. He can use the scythe to grab it but no. He has to step into the grave
like insolent necromancer he is.
How can I get back up there?
Turns out, I have to shoot the switch over there. I don’t like wasting my ammo
to make the lift goes up but I must.
I like that I have to
interact with the lock to use the key instead of the door like in Doom
or Heretic. I also like that the key is actually exist and stays at the
lock.
This door refuses to open
fully so I’m forced to crouch underneath the gap by holding “C” button.
I end up in open area but I
have to take shelter here because of gargoyle’s attack! Using the scythe to hit
enemy on the ground is already tedious now I must use it to hit flying enemy!
You know gargoyles in Heretic? They’re small and make annoying noise as pesky
lowest grunt they are. But they don’t take lots of damage. Meanwhile, this
gargoyle is stronger and making sound that what I can describe as sexy woman
voice. Peculiar.
Much later I got killed by
Gollum with stick from behind. So those Gollum named Wulkshtat. What kind of
name is that? It’s like the name come out from a cat playing around the
keyboard. Then I learn that the protagonist’s name is Cyris. It’s like Chris
but with Y instead of H. I also learn that there’s fight between the enemies.
It’s amusing to see them fighting each other knowing they don’t have anything
else to kill now that Cyris is dead. I’m satisfied that the bastard that killed
me ends up dead in the fight. Scout_taunts18.wav
After loading save file…
Scout_paincrticialdeath03.wav.
How am I killed by the same bastard again? I’m pretty sure area behind me clear
but suddenly this bastard Tenchu the heck of me with his primitive stick. I
learn that this Wulkshtat come out from high ground above. He and his friends
walk around the ledge like an idiot but once I enter the cave, he drops down to
ambush me. What makes thing worse is, I also have to deal with enemies within
the cave which means I get surrounded back and front withing narrow corridor.
This certainly doesn’t happen in Heretic. There’s one map where enemies
stationed in high ground but they never come down to me suddenly unless they’re
flying enemies. Perhaps the fortification prevents them to drop down.
After loading save file
(again)…
There you go. Somehow, I
solve the problem. My prize is: jade key on top of small fountain. Where’s the
door that require jade key to unlock? Look at the screenshot with the first
encounter. At that moment, the door is behind me back there.
Behind the jade door is this
large corridor with 2 doors on the sides and sealed door at the end. Left door
is unopenable. Right door is locked with amber key. The front door is unlocked
with the button nearby. Then there’s group of Wulkshtat guardians. Do they hit
harder than Wulkshtat master? I don’t want to find that out so I use the scythe
as ranged weapon for this occasion.
I encounter these two-headed
crawling zombie with amputated legs and they make moaning voice! I feel
uncomfortable with them. 3:
On the bright side, I found
new weapon: Book of the dead! Heavy_specialweapon02.wav
I also found some combined
mana nearby. I notice that Cyris’ has very long fingers compared to mine.
After walking through sewer, I
end up in this courtyard and I encounter Jaguar Lady. She’s fast and deadly. I
can use the book of the dead to summon dark ghost! But he doesn’t last long.
Jaguar Lady breaks his teeth very fast.
So, I have to rely on the
main shot of the book of the dead which is stone shards. I also need to keep my
distance with her because her projectile is very fast. Is the stone shard shot
supposed to be shotgun of this game? If it is, It’s the most pathetic shotgun
that I ever witnessed. I know people badmouth Doom 3’s shotgun but I feel like
Book of the dead’s shotgun is even worse. Plus, I don’t remember much about Doom
3. The reasons of that statement are: First, the shot is not hitscan. The
projectiles still fly fast but the jaguar lady moves faster so they can miss
the target. Second, the pellets do so little damage! Compared to any shotgun in
FPS. The bullet spread is not bad. It’s homogenously wide and there’s no
special mechanism to make the pellets into more concentrated group thus making
them deadlier unlike in Heretic’s ethereal crossbow.
I have beaten the jaguar
lady. Now I’m proceed to underground and encounter pain elemental, erm I mean
hell head that can shoot fireball from his mouth instead of annoying lost
souls.
As I concentrated with the
hell head. Another jaguar lady kills me from behind! Getting Tenchu'ed from behind seems to be the theme
here.
After loading save file
(several times)…
Apparently, there are 3
jaguar ladies in total! A part of courtyard revealed more jaguar lady after I
killed previous ones. That doesn’t sound bad compared to my fear that jaguar
lady can fake death or resurrected. Once I kill 3 of them, I proceed further
underground to encounter more hell head but my blue mana is zero! Luckily, the
scythe can still be used as ranged weapon even though I’m out of blue mana.
Albeit the fireball becomes white with less power.
I take it, over there is
amber key. I don’t remember classic Doom ever this sadistic about catwalk. Not
only narrow, but also the catwalk is jagged. If I fall, I’m instantly dead
because there’s fall damage…IN GZDOOM GAME!!! I never witnessed any Doom
mod game with fall damage and it’s super unnecessary. Ok. I get this.
Demoman_sf13_magic_reac05.wav.
As soon as I pick the key, I’m immediately attacked by ghost! This is very mean
trap. In classic Doom or Heretic, there’s also trap when I pick key but in
slower pace. Whereas this ghostly bastard just flies up to me very fast and
hack me. First time, I was panic and fell to my death. This time I can defeat
him on time.
After quite long walk beyond
door unlocked with amber key, I’m stumbled upon this majestic sight. What’s the
thing under this majestic light? It’s conjurer shield that increase my A.C to
4. I assume A.C stands for armor class. This armor system also exists in Hexen
though I believe it’s adopted from Dungeons & Dragons.
These Wulkshtat prance on
upstairs so I slay them pretty easily. Though sometime they can go down the
stair in random occasion. One of them kindly dropped tears of vitality when
killed. Not much but I appreciate it.
After I walk long way inside
a water cavern, I find myself in center of lots of fountain. I think the
developer wants to show off how well they can make fountain in GZDoom game. I
need to jump through this series of waterfall so I can activate that button on
rightest fountain and the button is important because it lifts portcullis on
the water cavern to progress. The platforming is quite arduous but I make it.
The portcullis is shortcut to
that large room where I found life vessel for the first time. This map confuses
me a lot. There are lots of shortcut to previously secured place but no
apparent destination to progress. In classic Doom etc. etc., I only need to
follow unlocking door yellow-blue-green. The last locked door should lead to
exit. But not in this game. The last locked door ends up in another shortcut so
where I must go to finish the map? On the other hand, somehow this door opens
unveiling more gargoyle girls and necromancer helmet that further increase my
A.C!
Luckily, I remember that
there’s another portcullis beyond jade-key door. My intuition is right. The
portcullis open but when I take few step walls besides me open to reveal
Wulkshtat ambush and I barely have no time to react!
After loading save file (once
again)…
I manage to defeat the ambush
this time. I’m now at another super spacious open area. This place doesn’t look
bad until I get killed by demon heads from above and these bastards are very
sneaky. There’s some occasion in Heretic where flying enemies ambush me from
above. However, the difference is enemies in this game always fast on their
trigger. I mean finger. They don’t use gun. They use projectile magic from hand
but you know what I mean. Right?
Then I’m forced to do
platforming and it’s super tight. I have to jump from one log to another with
jump that’s barely high. Turok is fine with platforming because his jump is
good. While Cyris, his jump sucks. To make things worse, there’s hell head wait
to ambush me while I’m busy platforming. I can use the dark ghost but the
result varies in degree of success.
Then I come across huge field
with abundant provisions which means boss fight is near. The boss is over there
on a small island. The biggest Wulkshtat with magic staff and he keeps
summoning Wulkshtat minions. However, this boss fight is very easy. What I do
is keep chucking these crimson bombs at them and let them engulfed in
explosion, fire, and intense agony. I forget to tell you that I got crimson
bomb which works like Fighter’s flechette in Hexen. Basically, it’s hand
grenade. I expect the bomb to be like time bomb of ancient from Heretic but
this does nicely.
That must be damned portal to
hell. But before I go there, I have to deal with these gargoyles. The stone
shard does work better than the scythe’s fireball for aerial enemies but I’m
still baffled with how little damage that the pebbles do.
Once I enter the hell portal,
I encounter some more Wulkshtat and the game abruptly ends. I say this is
decent way to stop the demo. However, this is not the end of the review yet.
2 days ago, I notice that
Steam automatically updates the game. So, what’s new in this updated version? I
don’t think there’s much of it. For starter, there’s full screen mode with
minimum HUD or even no HUD at all. Personally, I like the screen with border as
I always prefer in any DOS FPS. So, the update isn’t impactful to me but I
appreciate it. Second, I notice that dead lowest Wulkshtat drops more tears of
vitality. Back then the heal item drop is about 1 or 2 throughout my
playthrough. But this time, I got 2 or 3 from 7 first dead Wulkshtat. Then dead
gargoyle can drop green mana and that’s about it. The game become slightly more
bearable although the main problem is within the map that lacks of provision
and overly big. Anyway, we can wrap things up now.
Productions Pluie De Sang’s Hell
Worlds Reinvigorated (2025) is deemed as spiritual successor of Heretic or
Hexen and I really appreciate the developer for making the game as it is. The
combat is more variative than Heretic/Hexen due to alternative use of each
weapon. However, the game is very tedious. All of the enemies are too fast and
too strong. Even the weakest Wulkshtat is too strong in dealing damage but just
enough speed and durability. Compared to fragile gargoyle in Heretic or
slow-moving Ettin in Hexen. As I have mentioned before that enemies also
fast to shoot projectile at me and the projectile itself is too fast. Maybe
it’s meant like that because I have smooth control with keyboard + mouse
compared to classic DOS FPS that have relatively stiff control but my point
stands still.
Also, I have mentioned before
that the main problem is the map itself. It’s too big for first map also lacks
of provision. I feel like there are lots of part of the map that feel empty or
unnecessary long or spacious. I can see that the developer wants to show off
how capable they’re on making huge map but at least put more ammo and health
item there. Do note: because the game adopts Heretic/Hexen health
item, that means the on-the-spot healing item: tears of vitality only heal for
10 health which is very lacking. I do believe Heretic or Hexen
put more crystal vials in more significant number yet necessary. I hate new
enemies spawn at the area that I secured first when the number of ammos is
already lacking. I know Hexen did that but it only spawn Ettin who’s the
weakest and slowest enemy in the game, one creature in a while to keep you stay
on your guard. But this game spawns more ghosts and gargoyle on area where I
came from, which feels like the game trolls me in rather cruel way. I have said
that I like the weaponry but there’s one fatal flaw: the stone shards are too
weak! In Heretic, I can kill lowly gargoyle with one shot of ethereal crossbow.
But in this game, I need 3 shoot of stone shards to kill lowly Wulkshtat when
the cost of each shot is 3 mana! The developer needs to fix this at high
priority. The thing with universal ammo of mana as in this game and Hexen
is it can be depleted without you realize. Sure, with the universal ammo
system, I can check my ammo rather fast and simple unlike in Doom or Heretic
where I need to check various kind of ammo such as shotgun shell, plasma cell,
phoenix orb, or claw orb. But that means each ammo spent must worth for every
shot! Or they can add more mana refill for each mana picked up. Necromancer in
Hexen 2 can have health and ammo refill by picking up soul of dead enemy. That
could be alternative way to solve the lack of provision. Making lowly Wulkshtat
drop tears of vitality on slightly more occasion, doesn’t solve the problem by
much.
For other things. The music
kind of interesting with woman sing serene song. The sound effect is good but I
appreciate if the zombie monster doesn’t make sexual moaning. I also don’t like
that there are decoration with naked woman brutalized. I mean, yes classic Doom
has gory violence decorations but they don’t show “vital” nudity. Whereas in
this game, there’s totally naked woman impaled and another one is cut in half
and hanged like beef on meat stall. Those are too much for me. I get the
message of these monsters are totally evil but at least give those victims
underwear or breast wrap.
Summary:
Not on my wishlist
Game too tedious even though I like the homage
of Heretic and Hexen games. Those games deserve better fate *sniff*
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3512550/Hell_Worlds_Reinvigorated_Demo/
