Catacomb 3-D is a landmark title in terms of first-person graphics. The game was released in November 1991 and is arguably the first example of the modern, character-based first-person shooter genre, or at least it was a direct ancestor to the games that popularized the genre. It was released for the PC platform with EGA graphics. The game introduced the concept of showing the player's hand in the three-dimensional viewport, and an enhanced version of its technology was later used for the more successful and well-known Wolfenstein 3D. Catacomb 3-D is seen as the precursor to later id published games Heretic and HeXeN in a similar vein as Wolfenstein 3D is seen as the precursor to Doom.