You play as knight Grondoval, a one-man army sent to defeat the evil witch Illwhyrin. Killing trolls, imps and other enemies will make you level up and become tougher still. Higher levels also mean less weapon corrosion and access to more potent spells and you will need those to be able to defeat Illwhyrin.

Talking about defeat: the need to think tactically or die is exactly what makes Witchaven so compelling. In the beginning, combat is mostly a close-quarters affair, but you will soon find out that the combination of degrading weapons and imprecise controls makes it an especially dangerous one. Thankfully, most of the minions are just as susceptible to terrain-induced damage as you are, so using the environment to your advantage will end many fights early.

In later levels and at higher difficulty, you'll find fewer potions, scrolls and even weapons, and chances are that you will run out of essential supplies at the most unfortunate moment. Discovering that you have no spell scroll left when the trapped corridor you reached by flying turns out to be a dead end (and you haven't saved in a long while!) would be an example. But if you were a little thrifty yourself, you might still be able to cross the corridor with the help of your bow and arrows – provided you saved those up.

There are a few shortcomings (mainly squishy controls and visually poor interior design), but the game scores with its clever use of physics and gripping combat. Defeating foes with environmental help is even more rewarding than using the ‘Nuke' spell.

Witchaven stands today as a product of its time, when games like Doom and Hexen were kings and everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Too bad that its 1996 sequel expanded primarily on the shortcomings: Witchaven II: Blood Vengeance suffered from horrible controls that rendered it nearly unplayable.