Herald of Havoc

Herald of Havoc is a high-octane first-person shooter that plunges players into chaotic combat scenarios where they wield enormous firearms to obliterate relentless waves of enemies. Set across a diverse array of environments—from military complexes to eerie, cursed locales—the game delivers a compact three-hour campaign filled with varied situations, alongside a tightly designed survival mode that challenges players to dominate global leaderboards through repeatable, intense gameplay.

Herald of Havoc: Review

Introduction: A Harbinger of the Boomer Shooter Renaissance

In the crowded landscape of 2020s indie gaming, where retro-inspired first-person shooters (“boomer shooters”) have become a thriving subgenre, Herald of Havoc emerged as a confident, if controversial, participant. Released into Early Access in December 2022 and fully launched in June 2023 by the solo or small studio Zeldars Zone, the game explicitly channels the high-octane, strafe-based combat of classic Doom and Quake. Its premise is elegantly simple: an amorphous invasion force of soldiers, minotaurs, and giant metal colossi has overrun your land, and you, armed with a wildly varied arsenal, must become the titular “Herald” and mow them down. This review will argue that Herald of Havoc is a competent and often exhilarating homage that successfully captures the core visceral thrill of its inspirations, but its legacy is hampered by a noticeable dip in final-act quality, a reliance on recognizable Unity store assets, and a suite of persistent technical hiccups that prevent it from achieving the canonical status of its best contemporaries. It is a game of two halves: one of tight, inventive action, and another of fading ambition.

Development History & Context: Forging a Herald in the Indie Fires

Zeldars Zone, the developer and publisher, represents the archetypal modern indie studio—a small, passionate team leveraging accessible tools to realize a specific vision. No detailed history of the studio exists in the provided sources, but its output suggests a focus on pure, arcade-style FPS design. The game was built in Unity, a fact that becomes a significant talking point in its critical reception.

The technological context is key. By 2022-2023, the tools for creating a 3D FPS had never been more democratized. Unity’s asset store, while a boon for small teams, also presented a pitfall: the potential for a game to feel like a collection of purchased pieces rather than a wholly original aesthetic. Herald of Havoc’s visual identity is frequently cited as its most divisive element, directly tied to this development context.

The gaming landscape at its release was saturated with boomer shooters. Titles like Prodeus, ULTRAKILL, and Forge of Empires (to name but a few) had raised the bar for both stylistic interpretation and mechanical depth. Herald of Havoc entered this arena not as a innovator, but as a purist’s take on the formula—prioritizing raw, weapon-centric combat and level-exploration loops over complex narratives or meta-progression. Its Early Access period (Dec 2022 – Jun 2023) was used to refine gameplay and address bugs, a common and often necessary path for small studios aiming for a polished 1.0 release.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: The Story in the Shooting

Narrative is not the primary vehicle for Herald of Havoc’s experience, and the source material confirms this minimalist approach. The “story” is delivered through a combination of the official blurb and environmental context. An unnamed, heterogeneous enemy force—comprising soldiers, minotaurs, and giant metal colossi—has invaded. The player is the eponymous “Herald,” a lone warrior tasked with purging this “Havoc.”

There is no character development, dialogue, or cinematic exposition provided in the sources. The plot is a straightforward, classical fantasy/sci-fi hybrid invasion scenario. The thematic depth, therefore, is found not in lore but in gameplay metaphor. The player’s journey through 21 hand-crafted levels across varied biomes (Military Base, Desert, Forest, Cursed Town) becomes a symbolic march of righteous destruction. The core theme is cathartic, unadulterated power fantasy. The “Herald” is an agent of order through overwhelming violence, a concept neatly encapsulated by the weaponry: from the tactical to the arcane (Soul Reaper, ChainShotgun), each tool is a key to solving the environmental puzzle of “how do I kill everything here?”

The lack of a traditional narrative allows the level design and enemy composition to tell the story. A “Military Zone” implies a contested frontier; a “Cursed Town” suggests a fallen, corrupted space. The player’s role is to traverse these spaces, clearing them of the invasive “Havoc.” This is a story of reclamation through ballistic supremacy, a theme deeply rooted in the arcade and FPS traditions the game venerates.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: The Calculus of Carnage

The heart of Herald of Havoc lies in its meticulously crafted core loop: enter a hand-crafted level, explore to find secrets and weapons, and systematically eradicate all enemies to reach the exit. This loop is framed by two main modes: the 21-level campaign (approx. 3 hours) and the Endless Mode with Steam leaderboards.

The Arsenal: A Symphony of Secondary and Tertiary Fires

The game’s most celebrated feature is its arsenal of 12 unique weapons, each with a primary fire, a secondary fire, and—for some—a tertiary “special” ability. This design philosophy moves beyond simple reskins.
* Tactical Machinegun: Standard, reliable ballistic fire (primary), with a grenade launcher alt-fire (secondary).
* Powerfists: Melee-focused, charging punch (primary), with a radiating shockwave (secondary).
* Soul Reaper: A scythe-like melee weapon (primary) that can resurrect fallen enemies as temporary allied skeletons (secondary)—a brilliantly tactical twist on the health-or-ammo dilemma.
* ChainShotgun: A iconic spread weapon (primary), with a slower, piercing slug shot (secondary).
* Shock Rifle: Firing bolts of electricity (primary), with the game-changing ability to call down a massive lightning strike from the sky (secondary).
* Other weapons fill niches like rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and a “Volcanic Shotgun,” ensuring a diverse tactical palette. The absence of reload mechanics, ammo scarcity (outside of specific power-ups), recoil, or weapon degradation keeps the pace relentless and the focus on positioning and choice, not resource management. This is pure, unadulterated combat calculus.

Progression & Economy: Secrets and Power-Ups

Progression is level-based and non-persistent. Health and armor reset at the start of each level, encouraging efficient clears. The primary progression comes from secrets, hidden areas containing powerful weapons, armor, or crucial ammo reserves. These are brilliantly integrated, often requiring players to backtrack, find hidden switches, or navigate punishing ambushes. The risk-reward of seeking a secret that spawns a tough enemy in your back is a core tension.

Power-ups are temporary and level-specific, found in loot chests or from enemies. They include classic boosts (max health/armor), Slow-Motion (a fantastic strategic tool), Infinite Ammo (game-breakingly powerful), and Charged Weapons (overcharged alt-fires). The “randomized” loot in Endless Mode adds replayability, though the Irregular Gamer review notes this randomness can feel samey over time.

Combat & AI: Speed Over Smarts

Combat is fast, strafe-based, and emphasizes movement. Enemies are designed to be shot while moving. The AI is identified as a weakness in multiple sources. Basic mobs charge directly; ranged enemies have predictable firing patterns. Tactical depth comes from enemy composition and spawn design, not individual intelligence. The game excels at “sucker punch” ambushes, spawning enemies from multiple hidden locations as the player engages a visible threat. Key enemy types include:
* Somersaulting Ninjas: Agile, melee-focused.
* Charging Minotaurs: Create urgency and force player movement.
* Flying Drones: Thematically interesting but reportedly underused.
* Large Sentinels: Deadly area-denial threats in crowded spaces.

Bosses are present but criticized as underwhelming, particularly the finale. The Irregular Gamer review succinctly states the boss “needs a few more layers to make it as epic a finale as it should be.”

Interface & Flaws

The UI is functional but minimal, showing health, armor, ammo (an optional setting), and the current weapon. The controls are praised as slick and responsive, though high framerates can make precision movement tricky, and the Steam community notes a controller mapping bug where menus register double inputs.

Critical technical flaws include:
* A save system that can break (reported post-E2M6), where autosaves/slots appear to work but fail to actually save progress.
* Soft-lock potential and clipping issues.
* Weapon firing on save (an unintended round discharged when saving).
* E3M4 being a reused version of a previous level, cited as a major cop-out and sign of “design fatigue or just laziness” in the comprehensive community review.
* No controller support officially listed, a notable omission for a modern PC release.

World-Building, Art & Sound: A Functional, Asset-Driven Aesthetic

The world of Herald of Havoc is a patchwork of themed environments—Military Complex, Desert, Forest, Cursed Town, Volcanic Areas. The goal is variety and visual clarity for gameplay, not cohesive world-building. The aesthetic is stylized retro, aiming for a crisp, slightly low-poly look reminiscent of late 90s/early 2000s shooters but with modern lighting.

This is where the game faces its most consistent criticism: the pervasive use of Unity Store assets. The Irregular Gamer review directly calls this out, noting it gives the game a “lower quality feel than is preferable” and a “minimalistic” uniform look. While not ruinous, it robs the game of a unique visual identity and can make different levels feel less distinct than their designs intend. The art direction prioritizes readability over artistic cohesion—enemies are clearly silhouetted, hazards are obvious.

The sound design is functional. Weapon sounds are “basic, but indicative”—they communicate impact and type effectively. The soundtrack is a highlight, described as an “atmospheric multi-track” system that shifts from “spooky” to “pumping” electro-keyboard themes as the action intensity changes, effectively manipulating player adrenaline. It’s a smart, dynamic system that compensates for the visual repetition.

Reception & Legacy: A Very Positive, Yet Flawed, Contender

Commercial & Critical Reception:
* Steam User Score: An outstanding 97% “Very Positive” from over 250 reviews at the time of writing. This indicates immense satisfaction among its target audience.
* Critical Reception: Essentially non-existent in traditional outlets (Metacritic shows no critic scores). The most in-depth professional-adjacent analysis comes from curator reviews like The Irregular Gamer’s, which gave it a “MAYBE” ranking. This encapsulates the divide: it’s highly enjoyable for its intended audience (fans of minimalist, fast FPS) but is held back by “shortcomings” that prevent universal acclaim.
* Common Praise: Satisfying gunplay, weapon variety and creativity (especially Soul Reaper mechanics), fast-paced core loop, good secret design, strong soundtrack.
* Common Criticisms: Asset Store visuals, weak final chapter (E3 compared unfavorably to E1-E2), simplistic AI, technical bugs (save system, controller issues), lack of multiplayer, and the reused level.

Legacy and Influence:
Herald of Havoc is unlikely to be remembered as a landmark title that changed the industry. Instead, its place is in the second or third tier of the modern boomer shooter revival. It demonstrates that the Doom/Quake formula can be competently replicated with modern tools (Unity) and a focus on weapon sandbox creativity. Its influence is likely to be seen in how smaller teams can leverage asset stores to create mechanically sound products, for better or worse. The most positive legacy may be the proof of concept for weapon mechanics like the Soul Reaper’s ally-summoning, a clever twist on the genre’s health management that other developers might note.

Its reputation has stabilized post-launch as a “solid but flawed” recommendation. The developer, Zeldars Zone, appears responsive to bug reports in Steam discussions, but the fundamental asset-based aesthetic and the uneven campaign structure are immutable design choices. It serves as a case study in the trade-offs of indie development: speed to market and functional variety versus consistent artistic vision and polish.

Conclusion: The Herald’s HonestPlace in History

Herald of Havoc is a good game that aspires to be great but settles for being reliably entertaining. It succeeds brilliantly in its primary mission: delivering a fast, violent, and weapon-diverse FPS experience that feels like a lost classic from the mid-90s, updated with modern conveniences and a fantastic dynamic soundtrack. The core 16 levels of its first two episodes are a masterclass in tight, encounter-based level design for this subgenre.

However, it is undermined by a precipitous drop in quality in its final act, a visual identity shackled to pre-made assets, and a suite of bugs that, while not game-breaking for all, are sufficiently prevalent to mar the experience for a vocal minority. The absence of multiplayer, a feature many fans desire in such games, also limits its long-term community footprint.

Final Verdict: For the patient player who can look past the generic visuals and a final chapter that feels rushed, Herald of Havoc offers a highly satisfying 10-15 hours of blasting, with the creative weapon systems providing enough novelty to sustain multiple runs in Endless Mode. It is a “Worthwhile” or “Compelling” title for die-hard boomer shooter fans, sitting just below the pantheon of genre-defining masterpieces like ULTRAKILL or Prodeus. Its historical importance is not as an innovator, but as a durable, modern template for how to build a satisfying retro-FPS with Unity—warts, assets, and all. It proves that the old formula still has life, even when the new wrapping is imperfect.