Heretic

I would ask the rhetorical question "can anyone say doom rip-off" except this was given the blessing of dooms creator and even released through shareware back in the day, so this was always meant to be a doom game with a medieval setting.

I do mean it that this is just doom but with the Sci fi elements replaced with fantasy elements as many of the core mechanics in this game work the same as they do in the other game given how is uses the same engine to get them to work. This also goes for enemies as while they have creative designs, have similar attack patterns as the cast from doom which shouldn't be alienating to anyone who played that game. Heck it even had a rerelease which included additional campaigns that didn't make it into the original release for further parallels to doom, although that just proves how popular this was back in the day. The powerups are at least unique as this game has a flying mechanic that would be utilised as the jet pack from duke nukem 3d two years later as well. Also, a mechanic that other games would take from this game is the ability to choose when to use a powerup as that feature wasn't present in any fps prior to this game and would be a key staple in duke nukem and quake later in the 90s, this means we have special weapons like bombs as well as the ability to choose when to use torches or health powerups rather than them being activated upon collection. As usual, the soundtrack is amazing in this game as Kevin Schlider delivers a collection of catchy tunes that rise to the ranks if those composed by bobby prince and Trent Reznor from other Id software titles.

In some ways this is a rip-off, but in others it's very innovate. Regardless this is an often-overlooked game that deserves more attention than it gets nowadays.