Grondoval (player), a knight from the land of Stazhia, has been just chosen to travel to the Island of Char, beyond the Veil in the realms of Chaos. Descending into a volcanic pit on the Island, you must fight your way through goblins, demons and other sorts of fiends toward the mystical lair of Witchaven to defeat the evil witch, Illwhyrin who has cast a spell to curse the land of Stazhia with a shroud of darkness and by using a gateway created by the humans to let the hoard of evil invade our world. Lord VerKapheron ventured beyond the Veil in the Realms of Chaos to undo her progress, he didn't consider the forces he would encounter in his quest to be formidable. Illwhyrin, sacrificed the foolish humans who dared to venture there. The witch's present goal is to remove the magical barrier known as the Veil, which serves as a portal to her Realm of Darkness. Fortunately the Veil is very powerful and has kept most of the creatures and their minions captive. Nevertheless they are trying to open it permanently to allow them to enter from their world to ours. Should she succeed, unspeakable evil shall arrive and consume the world. Grondoval must defeat Illwhyrin's demonic minions, reach the core of Witchaven, and defeat her before they can open the gateway.

Witchaven is a combination of a traditional RPG and first-person fantasy slasher. On the role playing side you find a classic rudimentary RPG experience level system which gives you access to more powerful spells and better use of weapons. You get experience points when you find specific items and when killing an enemy. There are some magic potions, health potions, poison, strength, invisibility, magic rings, amulets, etc. scattered around the levels. Weapons include such as knives, swords, bows, morning stars, battle axes, throwing axes, and halberds. Most of the combat is close in which the handling of weapons is necessary. The weapons wear out quickly which means that after a certain number of hits, depending on the nature of the weapon, it becomes damaged, and then unusable. The Armor in the game is also variable in the number of hits and damage prevention. Chain mail will stop 75% of the damage while leather armor only 50%. Similarly, chain mail will wear out quicker than plate armor. For long distance you can have the bow, The handling of the bow requires arrows and skill. Some spells are available that can be used from a greater range, but they are scare; Night Vision, Fly, Fireball, and Nuke!, are available via scrolls you find. The more powerful spells require that you have attained a certain experience level (Nuke, which obliterates your opponents, requires you to be level 5 to cast.)

You have a certain degree of freedom of movement, an optional superimposed map, keys specific to each door, the game is divided into levels, protections and powerups, teleports, four difficulty levels with the respawn of monsters as the toughest. If you like the slash and dice kind of thing, it is possible in the blood and gore menu to choose the blood option. The only difference with this option set on is that when you hit a monster you'll see blood and guts flying every where! Although it contains a setting that allows you to tone down the gore, even with this setting on, it's a very violent and gruesome commercial game for its time.

A good effort was made in the animation, with the hacking and slashing by the hero employed good effects. Some weapons have two kinds of attacks, which were all very well drawn. The sounds are good and go very well with the game in every situation. The quality of the sounds for normal or magical combat and the bow firing are extremely well produced. The music is also quite nice for the genre.

 

Characters

• Grondoval: The protagonist of both games (inc. WH2), a young warrior from Stahzia. Although the characters he converses with in the storyline tend to treat him as a bit of a clod, his skills include proficiency with many weapons and enough arcane knowledge to cast spells through the use of magical scrolls.

• Illwhyrin: A powerful witch from the Nether Reaches, boss of the first game. She dwells in the Witchaven, a vast dungeon she constructed within the isle of Char.

• Lord VerKapheron: Once Lord of the northern lands, whose keep was on the island of Char. His shade chose Grondoval to be his Champion and defeat Illwhyrin. Unclear if he is banished, dead or resurrected, the Witchaven outro claims he returns after the defeat of Illwhyrin, but Witchaven II does not maintain consistency with this part of the storyline.

• Midias: High Priest who led the priesthood to explore beyond the Veil. The energies released by his death allowed Illwhyrin to anchor herself on Char and the fragments of his soul were used to create the Midian Warriors.

• Cirae-Argoth: Sister of Illwhyrin who seeks vengeance on Grondoval. Boss of Witchaven II.

• Ikethsti: A dragon who taunts Grondoval in Witchaven II. She has the power to enchant weapons, being credited with the creation of fire arrows and the Ice Razor sword. The Guardians in Witchaven II are also said to be her doing. More of her story was likely meant to be revealed in another sequel that never got made.

• Elizabeth: A princess who favors Grondoval after his victory on Char. At the end of Witchaven II, Ikethsti taunts that she may be considering leaving Grondoval due to his absence.

• Grondoval's brother: He was sent to Char before Grondoval was, and never returned. Nothing else is known.

 

 

 

Game: Duck, jump and fly! To fly, cast the spell and use INSERT to go Up and DELETE to go Down, combine that with forward or back movement to fly around, the END cancels the spell. The F key (follow mode), while viewing the map allows you to move the map around and release it to appear where you left off. With the map off the F key allows you to move very fast, faster than running, with the combination of movement keys. It also allows while holding down F and moving the mouse to lookup and lookdown.   Non-stop gruesome action above and below the player's view.   Wield swords, daggers, morning stars and other medieval hand-to-hand weapons.   Cast spells that destroy, freeze, scare your enemies and give you super-human abilities.   Drink powerful potions for strength, invisibility, fire resistance and more.   Bloodthirsty monsters with advanced intelligence, seek you out and engage in relentless battle. There are three different races of goblins and two races of ogres. The different tribes will attack each other on-sight. But your their primary focus.   Experience heart-pounding game play with stunning SVGA graphics (640x480) and a fully-rendered 3D cinematic introduction.   Tunnels, crypts, lava pits and secret chambers are part of this innovative game design with endless puzzles & plots. Explore this massive playing field with dozens of intricate maps.   Gut-wrenching special effects with swirling bats, cracking floors, pits of molten lava, arrows that stick into anything in their path, and much more!   Mouse calibration: F12 then use your movement keys to speed up or slow down the y axis. (adds x axis only with patch).   Network play for up to 16 and head-to-head Modem play.  * Capture The Flag * Each castle has a marked spot (Pentagram) which you must bring your enemy flags back to. You can pick up your flag and hide it in any location by walking over it to pick it up, and pressing the space bar to place it. The flags in the bottom right hand corner represent the number of points each team has. To steal opponents flags, simply jump over the opponent to snatch his flag from him, or smack him with one of your weapons; This will cause him to drop his flag.

Sound: Stomach turning original sound effects and CD-Quality music. Along with MIDI. I'm pretty sure all in game sounds are mono.

Art: The art is high quality, most are drawn, few are 3D-rendered. The weapon animations are good. There is some digitized art.

More Details: Arrows and thrown Pike Axes stick in the walls and stay there at the same angle they went in. You can climb on the arrows, there blocking. But you can only retrieve the Pike Axes from the wall. Water and Lave flows can be entered, while in the water or lava your movement is reduced. No underwater swimming. When blood or guts are stuck on a moving wall, they will fall when the wall reaches the ceiling and pool on the floor. There is ROR on map 2 with a spiral stair case, and map 6,9 with a passageway that goes under. Sprite elevators and sprite doors that open. Some of the creatures attack each other intentionally. There are flat sprite wall chains to open or operate secret passage ways. There are floor activated switches but they appear to be tagged flat sprites. Enemies can step up onto raised surfaces. Teleports to send you across the map. Also the level ending "teleports"/loads the new map instantly. Translucent walls and floors that you can enter or fall through. Also the game makes use of the function (F-Keys) to expand on the controls.

 

 

Fists (Weapon 1) - Each punch does 1 to 5 points of damage.

Dagger (Weapon 2) - Each slashing attack does 5 to 8 points of damage, 10 to 15 for stabbing.

Short Sword (Weapon 3) - 5 to 10 points of damage and breaks easily.

Morning Star (Weapon 4) - Large swing radius. Crushing blow does 10 to 15 points of damage, swinging does 15 to 20.

Broad Sword (Weapon 5) - Left hand swinging attack does 15 to 20 points of damage, right hand does 20 to 25.

Battle Axe (Weapon 6) - High resistance to damage. Left hand swinging attack does 15 to 20 points of damage, right hand does 20 to 25.

Bow (Weapon 7) - Long range. Does 15 to 30 points of damage.

Pike Axe (Weapon 8) - Swinging attack does 5 to 10 points of damage, an overhead chopping attack does 10 to 15. When more than on Pike Axe is found, they can be thrown doing 10 to 15 points of damage.

Two-Handed Sword (Weapon 9) - Does the most damage of all weapons. Left swinging attacks do 20 to 30 points of damage, while right swing does 25 to 30.

Halberd (Weapon 0) - Largest attack distance. Piercing attack does 5 to 20 points of damage, swinging does 5 to 35.
 

 

Damage Modifiers: (Experience level and strength)
+1 point per experience level.
x2 (double damage) drinking a strength potion.
x2 (double damage) wearing a helmet artifact, lasts thirty seconds.

Break Hits:
Each weapon breaks or dulls by an undisclosed number of hits.
The short sword is the weakest in quality while the two handed
sword is the strongest.

Weapon Proficiencies:
As you gain experience you can use two weapons at the same time.

ITEMS

Scrolls and Spell Book
Scrolls - Charges your spell book. There is a scroll for every spell.
Spellbook - Select your spell then use the ` key to cast spell.

Scare Spell (F1) - Invokes deep fear into an enemy for four seconds per experience level. Works on the weaker minded creatures.

Night Vision Spell (F2) - You can see in the dark. Lasts ten seconds per experience level.

Freeze Spell (F3) - A Ball of energy draws heat from creatures in a line of 3 feet per experience level. Making them brittle enough that one blow will shatter them. Fire based creatures are immune. You cannot attack at melee range.

Magic Arrow Spell (F4) - Launches 10 energy projectiles, inflicting 20 to 40 points of damage each.

Fly Spell (F5) - You can fly for thirty seconds plus one second each experience level.

Open Doors Spell (F6) - Opens any door that requires a key.

Fireball Spell (F7) - Incinerates all creatures within 10 feet that fail to resist the spell.

Nuke! Spell (F8) - Annihilates all creatures and items within 30 feet. The most powerful witches can resist this spell.

Ankh - Gives 250 health points.

Amulet of the Mist - Makes you invisible for one minute.

Shadow Amulet - Acts as a Scare spell for one minute.

Leather Armor - 50 points of armor, looses 4 points per hit and allows only half damage to your health. Sometimes deflects attacks altogether.

Chain Mail - 100 points of armor, looses 2 points per hit and allows only 1/4 damage to health. Better chance to deflect attacks.

Plate Armor - 150 points of armor, looses 1 point per hit and allows only 1/4 damage to health. Very good chance to deflect attacks.

Crystal Staff - Gives you 250 health points and 300 armor points that acts as Chain Mail.

Helmet - Gives increased speed of your attacks, 10 points of armor and x2 double damage for thirty seconds (Hero Time).

Horn - Every point of damage you inflict is added to your health for one minute.

Keys - Four types: Brass, Black, Ivory and Glass keys. They unlock locked doors.

Pentagram - You must collect one then find the exit before you can move onto the next level.

Blue Potion - Adds 25 health points.

Green Potion - Gives you more strength for 30 seconds. Allows you to do x2 double damage.

Orange Potion - Cures poison.

Red Potion - Immunity from fore for 30 seconds.

Brown Potion - Turns you invisible for 30 seconds. Creatures have a fifty percent chance to see you when you attack.

Adamantine Ring - Protects as if its Plate Armor, but gives no armor points.

Onyx Ring - Protection from missile attacks.

Sapphire Ring - Protection from fire attacks for a limited time.

Blue Scepter - Ability to walk on water, limited to the level you found it on.
Yellow Scepter - Ability to walk on lava, limited to the level you found it on.

Quivers - Adds to the amount of arrows you have.

Shield - Gives 50 points of armor and protects like Plate Mail. Also it can inflict 5 to 8 points of damage when used as an attack, like a dagger. You must be using a one handed weapon to allow for the shield. It can be damaged and rendered useless.

Treasure Chest - They contain something that may help you or harm you (exploding chest).

Wooden Barrel - They usually contain something to help you.

Glass Skull -  Adds one experience level.

ENEMIES

 

Rat - They run away from you.

Spider - They have a poison's bite.

Skeleton - They claw at you.

Brown Ogre - The Weakest. They hammer you with their fists.

Green Ogre - Higher Intellect. (I don't this one is in the game)

Red Ogre - The Keenest and strongest.

Forest Goblins - The weakest.

Mountain Goblins - Loyal to the Witches. Average in strength and intelligence.

Desert Goblins - Strongest and most cunning.

Lava Fiend - They attack with fire.

Mino Drake - Stubborn and intelligent. They attack with large battle axes.

Grey Witch - Summon Spiders and attack with both a stream of sludge and venomous touch.

Skeletal Witches - They attack with a fiery of magical missiles.

Guardian - Spit balls of fire at all living things. Some hang on the walls.

Scary - They appear out of nowhere randomly and make contact. (Not sure what they do to you, besides scare you.)

Willow Wisp - Are usually followed by a red wisp. They attack with fireballs at a distance and drain experience levels on contact.

Dragon - They attack with long columns of fire.

Midian - They guard Illwhyrin. There are Purple and Blue one's too. The Purple may cast fireballs before they charge attack on you.

Illwhyrin - Attacks by raising the dead, using fire attacks, and summoning minions.

CHEAT CODES

While playing the game, press the backspace key (default controls) to bring up the message prompt (pause game), and type in the following and hit Enter.

WANGO - Max out health and armor, gives you all the key, and makes you experience level 7
SCOOTER - Get all weapons and spells
MOMMY - Get 9 of each potion
RSVP - Instant Death
IDKFA - Instant Death
RAMBO - Instant Death
*DARKNESS - God Mode
*GOTHMOG - Teleport Key
*SPINACH - 200 Health

*=Requires IntraCorp Cheat Patch Update.

 

For the demo:
RSVP - Max out health, ammo, and magic and gives you 9 of each potion (Invulnerability)

 

 

 

 

 

Witchaven. Witchaven was re-released by US Gold in Europe and softkey/The Learning Company years later.

THE SPELL IS CAST! A FIRST PERSON, MEDIEVAL ACTION ADVENTURE WITH ROLE-PLAYING ELEMENTS.

Descend into a dark and gruesome nightmare! You alone must face evil within the volcanic pit of the Island of
Char, toward the mystical lair of Witchaven. Confront witches that have cast a shadow of evil spells shrouding
you in the never-ending darkness. Make use of your magic, might and mind as you engage in bloody warfare with
vile demons and monsters. Use medieval weapons to destroy these creatures of the night and cease the chaos. Dare
to enter this 3D Hell...Dare to enter Witchaven!

Features.

• Duck, jump and fly! Using the powerful "Build" engine, exclusively licensed from 3D REALMS. Witchaven has a greater degree of movement, perspective, flight and control...It's like no other first-person game! Non-stop gruesome action above and below the player's view.
• Wield swords, daggers, morning stars and other medieval hand-to-hand weapons.
• Cast spells that destroy, freeze, scare your enemies and give you super-human abilities.
• Drink power potions for strength, invisibility, fire resistance and more.
• Bloodthirsty monsters with advanced intelligence, seek you out and engage in relentless battle!
• Experience hear-pounding game-play with stunning SVGA graphics and a fully rendered 3D cinematic introduction.
• Tunnels, crypts, lava pits and secret chambers are part of this innovative game design with endless puzzles & plots. Explore this massive playing field with dozens of intricate maps.
• Gut-wrenching special effects with swirling bats, crackling floors, pits of molten lava, arrows that stick into anything in their patch, and much, much more!
• Network play for up to 16 and head-to-head Modem play.
• Stomach turning original sound effects and CD-Quality music.
   

 

 

 

 

 

 

348 pages. Includes hints and full solutions to the puzzles, descriptions of the various plots, list of combat weapons, guide to the spells, original artwork and behind-the-scenes with the game creators.