Duration: 19:20

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Yeah, you're seeing that right... I beat all of Episode 3's levels back to back in just under 20 minutes. Herald Of Havoc doesn't have many problems, but damn Episode 3 is short, and honestly the difficulty is nowhere near as bad as what some of the earlier levels had on offer. That's not to say the levels are bad, in fact the first 3 are really cool, but it's kind of shame that Herald Of Havoc ends on such a disappointing note.

Well, let's dive into the levels.

E3M1 - Hide and Seek: A very unique map that spawns you in with only 10 health and requires good dodging and knowledge of enemy placement in order to succeed. Since you're Runeblade has it's damage amped up the entire level, it's not a bad idea to stick with it for the majority of the time, and the level does feature some degree of stealth. Overall, cool concept and good execution for an intro level.

E3M2 - Black Fortress: Yet another unique map which features batteries used to open up certain parts of the map. You have exactly enough batteries to open up everything in the level, but finding them while weaving your way through hordes of enemies can be a bit tricky.

E3M3 - Unstopable Force: Yeah, the name is misspelled, but more importantly this level is an absolute power trip. Like E2M7 - Lethal Tempo, you once again get an Infinite Ammo powerup that lasts for the whole level as well as a bunch of weapons and enemies to kill. Really awesome map, probably one of my favorites in the entire game.

E3M4 - The Cursed Town: This level is very similar in concept to DUSK's E3M8 - As Above, So Below. There aren't that many enemies to kill and it's more for the spectacle than anything else. The level is comprised of different areas from previous maps and ends simply by jumping through the exit portal. Cool map, but a bit lackluster for a penultimate level.

E3M5 - Herald Of Havoc: Ah yes, the classic trope of naming the final level after the game. Your one and only goal is to kill the boss. The fight itself isn't that difficult but at least the attack patterns are interesting to dodge and it has some cool visuals... at least until the final phase which sucks. He drops a chaingun and health overcharge and the idea is to kill him before he destroys all the floor tiles below you. Kill him and you win, plain and simple.

Even though the last 2 levels aren't really that great, I absolutely adore this game. The weapons all look, feel, and sound amazing. Enemies all have unique idle, wakeup, and attack sounds (something a lot of indie developers forget about), on top of having unique visuals and serving distinct roles during combat. Levels have memorable layouts, arena fights, visuals, music, and atmosphere (even the techbase levels all feel different from one another). Lastly, the movement is very crisp, responsive, but with just the right amount of jank to give the game some character... Oh, and none of the levels rely on precise platforming over death pits! THANK GOD!!!

If it's not already obvious, I love this game. It's gotta be the best FPS game I've played all year since Turbo Overkill (at least before update 1.15 dropped and royally messed up the difficulty balancing). For an indie developer to get so much right with their game and to always be improving it show just how much time, passion, and care was put into this product. I would highly recommend checking out this game if you like challenging FPS games and are looking for something to master.

Thanks again for watching and as always, stay Serious!

Herald Of Havoc on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1963510/Herald_of_Havoc/