"Edge" praised the game for its mixture of platform and shoot 'em up action, saying that "Heretic II" is different enough to stand out from both first-person and third-person games like id Software's first-person shooters or Core Design's "Tomb Raider" games. "Heretic II" was a finalist for "Computer Gaming World"s 1998 "Best Action" award, which ultimately went to "Battlezone". The editors wrote that "Heretic II" "proved that the "Quake II" engine could work in a third-person game "and" that a spell-casting, shirtless elf could actually kick ass".