Heartland - @skillsaw

Doom 2, Eternity engine, 7 maps

At this point, skillsaw doesn't need much of an intro. Besides, as being flung face-first into a cyberdemon in a certain map showed, he's perfectly capable of introducing himself. 

But if you need one: from Vanguard to Ancient Aliens, his last decade is a litany of some of the community's most beloved work, touchstones that have come to define an era. 

If you tried to pin down the qualities that made these mapsets and now Heartland special, you'd have, well, a lot of options. One might be the frenzied encounters that can feel like taking on the whole world and triumphing. Another might be all the iconic themes: the lunar colonies, the orange hellscapes, the polychrome laserlit Egypt mindfucks. There's of course the slick flow and relentless pace where for long stretches, playing dissolves into instinct. But what might be more special is his cinematic flair. So many moments of his -- light bridges and wolf warps and zombie parties and final countdowns -- have stuck in the collective imagination because they are like concoctions out of the mind of movies, direct to Doom, framed and staged in indelible scenes. 
 

So when Heartland leads with a train chase scene with dual pistols and shattering glass and spurting blood, you might be wowed by it all, you might be hyped for what is coming, but you can also know already it's not a one-off: that's skillsaw. This is just the first time -- and the first way of many -- Heartland serves up a jaw-dropper of this sort, has you operating machinery in its dilapidated jigsaw of factories and warehouses. The other master stroke is how organically this happens -- calmer strolls and heated scuffles flowing into extravagant showpieces and back again, so fluidly that playing can feel like one endless long take. 

Another way it melts your brain? You might want to look up to the sky.

When it peaks, the world of Heartland is an industrial nightmare that builds above you, a fractured grid of beams and platforms and highways, with cranes and smokestacks that loom like sentinels, the husk of an infested city burning in the night sky. It plummets below you, beneath gratings that tease impending fights under your feet, to dusky tunnels and nests of brick bungalows, with steep drops to blood-soaked caverns from towers countless feet high. All of this is possible thanks to the Eternity Engine's cutting-edge use of portals, which can seamlessly layer many physical planes while retaining the game's old feel. But as much as the pure technical marvel is monumental, what sticks with you even more is the experience created through it: all the cinematic rises and falls and shifts around the many thrilling fights; the possibilities foreshadowed in every direction; the way it can feel like you are inhabiting a real, immersive place even as the arenas pile up to, as it were, your heart's content.   

This is where the initial premise of pinning down specific qualities turns out to be quite entangled. Because skillsaw has always been, like Heartland's trains, a moving target -- one for acts of reinvention within his overall leanings. Even for the initiated, a lot of this feels new, down to how the abstract colorful bars and slabs of past work give way to a more earthly realm of factories and gas stations and subways. Which is why there's something poetic about it being Eternity's big homecoming, that most experimental of classic-minded ports. There's sort of a convergence of skills here: Xaser's smooth new arsenal -- sturdy fire axes, dual-wielded submachine guns, devastating flamethrowers, and weapons still more volatile -- that allows skillsaw's exuberant combat choreography to shine on an even grander scale; stewboy's melodies that can lift even peaceful moments to the height of elation, MIDIs that since Ancient Aliens feel every bit the core character as any kamikaze zombie or frowning scientist; even the dev support of Altazimuth that let Heartland's most experimental aspects mesh smoothly with the port. That is a whole lot of layers, and if Heartland's wizardry is making them all stack harmoniously, the underlying symbolism is that it always has been this way for the community, ever since the beginning.

- @rd.

Intergalactic Xenology 2 - @Dreadopp & @Lord_Z

Doom 2, Boom-compatible, 5 maps

In another installation of their epic otherworldly series, Dreadopp and Lord_Z return with even more mind-bending, color filled, alien action. In this universe, nothing is impossible- and the walls often speak lies. 

IX2 starts off innocently enough, dropping you off into a peaceful, mountainous forest area- nothing could possibly go wrong here, right? But as it turns out, the aliens have once again invaded Earth, sinking their scaly tendrils into the rocks and grass, here for what seems to be a hidden tomb that gets deeper and darker with every twist and turn. From there, you’re at the aliens’ mercy as they drag you through snow-topped cliffs, rainbow-bridged voids and grand, ancient structures with little clues as to why or how this is all happening. 

The duo’s mastery of both the technical and storytelling aspects of mapping is a full feast in this set, pushing Boom to its full potential in ways that feel natural to such an abstract type of story. The whimsy of the fourth map, Symbiotic Infestation, is one part great thematics and two parts Boom magic. It depicts a scientific facility with a shrink ray way better than any Duke Nukem game’s- so if you were ever wondering what the inside of a cacodemon looked like, here is your chance (although no, we’re still not going to talk about those holes). 

All in all, IX2 is a great insight into what a spiritual successor to Ancient Aliens should look and feel like, and just the perfect length for an afternoon jaunt into the strange universe within. 

- @Major Arlene

Lullaby - @Danlex

Doom 2, GZDoom, 1 map

In breathtaking azure splendor, Lullaby brings to life a world equal parts whimsical and dark, a feast for the eyes as well as a holistically enjoyable gameplay experience. 

Like the way many good dreams begin, you’re awoken from your mundane bedroom, walking out to a visage of a grand castle, lit with bright turquoise and lying at the end of a path of stars. It’s very Alice In Wonderland, if Alice fell into a starry void instead of a forest. But don’t worry- there’s still plenty of creatures to meet, although they won’t be as accommodating or kind. Backed by a lilting score- Gluestar by Darkwave0000, there is still a sense of benign whimsy to this beautifully frightening place.

In this map, you’re spoiled for choice on how to proceed, a maze of branching paths all leading to the same goal- to collect three keys and return to the waking world. With monsters to be found around every corner and down each hall, their cries echoing in the great gray and teal chambers, there is little time to waste, although just enough to soak up the incredible scenery and vistas of falling stars.

Danlex isn’t afraid to create incredible setpieces- one of the most notable ones of this map is the Spider Mastermind fight to gain the blue skull key. Equal parts child-like and scary, the great spider watches, frozen in place until brought to life by the key’s retrieval- and then literal hell rains down upon you. Or, take a stroll through the caverns, shocks of strange cyan crystalline stone snaking along the walls and floors, unclear if malignant growths or simply benign parts of this foreign ecosystem teeming with life- both hostile and not so. And of course, the ending fight, gargantuan fractal curtains surrounding the frenetic scene as you rip and tear through the hopeful sweet end to this dream.

Beyond how simply gorgeous this map is, its technicality is something fierce to behold. Putting GZDoom through its paces, Danlex has managed to create some of the most uniquely styled architecture ever to be found in modern-day Doom. From star and mountain-shaped arches, to checkerboarded holes that seem to reach into an endless void (did we mention the snake-like bookshelves?), Danlex’s use of slopes, texturing, and intricate shapes brings the surrealness of this dreamscape to the next level, creating a sense of place that is not just a place, but an experience to be beholden. His mastery of new mapping techniques in this map, and in a map like this, it’s put to its fullest potential, the otherworldly setting allowing for non euclidean geometry and mind-bending texture wrapping. 

From beginning to end, this Lullaby enchants, thrills, and brings to life the sometimes terrifying beauty of what dreams can be- a waking experience of things we can only hope to see in our sleep. So- have a listen to Lullaby and see if your dreams really come true. 

- @Major Arlene

Cydonia - @AD_79 & @Scotty

Doom 2, limit-removing, 22 maps

Described as a ‘throwback’ set by its creators, Cydonia seems at first glance like a straight-forward reinterpretation of the (Super) Casali Bros’ masterpiece. Imitation is clearly not the objective, however, and the authors’ true intentions only become more apparent as one delves deeper into the set.

The essence of the source material manifests itself in the set’s open, curvaceous layouts, in its economical use of monsters and in the brevity and focus of its maps. These design sensibilities, which define the majority of the maps, form a certain set of baseline expectations that bind the experience together. It is, however, Cydonia’s ability to deviate from this mean, both mechanically and emotively, that truly elevates it in my view. Whether it be the strikingly contemporary design sensibilities of 04, the psychotic, BFG-fueled aggression of 13 or the quiet, arboreal immensity of 16, these deviations stand out in the mind, anchoring what could easily be a one-note (if highly enjoyable) experience with a series of stand-out focal-points.

The ratio of ‘non-standard’ to ‘standard’ maps increases as the set goes on, with the final third consisting primarily of these more experimental designs. This, combined with the brevity and originality of the individual maps makes Cydonia a very refreshing experience, constantly building on itself while never losing sight of its core appeal. This willingness to experiment within the bounds of its afore-mentioned foundational design-sensibilities is, in my view, what makes Cydonia the truest successor to Plutonia, more so than any of the sets which bear that hallowed name. This is no ordinary throwback, made lesser by uncritical adoration of the source, but a dynamic, forward-thinking piece that takes what it likes and leaves the rest behind.

- @Omniarch

Ashes: Afterglow - Vostyok & ReformedJoe

Standalone, GZDoom, 20 maps

2018's Ashes 2063 gave us a taste of the apocalypse across nine maps of irradiated landscapes, crumbling cities and hostile gang hideouts. Its expansion pack Dead Man Walking upped the ante with its ferocious hotel shootouts and explosive finale. And now three years later Ashes: Afterglow is finally out, and if we all thought 2063 was rad as hell, Afterglow completely blasts away all our expectations in a giant mushroom cloud.

  

Our dear playable scavenger wakes up, bruised and battered, in the infirmary of an underground shelter after his search for the origin point of a mysterious radio signal ended, shall we say, less than gracefully. He discovers that things have changed rapidly while he was unconscious, as large scale mutant attacks threaten all nearby settlements, forcing him to move quickly if he wants to stay ahead of the game. And move he will, for Afterglow presents itself as an expansive, immense hub-based world. The initial shelter serves only as a starting point for your adventure, but it conveniently introduces many of the features you'll be dealing with. NPCs serve a much greater role than before, and several sidequests are available rewarding you with bits of lore and the hottest currency around, junk. This currency can then not only be used to purchase new supplies and guns, but more importantly, to upgrade your arsenal to be more devastating (and fun) than ever before.

Ashes: Afterglow is perhaps unusual compared to your standard Doom fare in that it places a heavy emphasis on narrative, much more so than its predecessor, containing hefty amounts of lore and dare I say it, even a kind of mythology. The well written dialogue is never boring and rarely if ever interrupts the most exciting gameplay moments, and also provides a lot of information about the world, its inhabitants, their goals and plans for survival and conquest. Be it refugees from a recently destroyed settlement, gang bosses full of bravado, or freakish mutants with sinister goals, everyone has their own piece of this broken world to share with you. Best of all, the story is often dynamic, with different choices impacting future dialogue and progression, but without necessarily forcing repeated playthroughs should one want to experience everything. Naturally, most encounters will not be on friendly terms, but the game's kickass gunplay is both rewarding and intense, enhancing the memorable original cast of enemies with interesting additions, which will frequently require new tactics to overcome.

The world of Afterglow warrants additional praise simply for how much it is able, and willing, to surprise the player. The mod could likely have gotten away with rehashing the same themes of gang encampments and abandoned subways, but while familiar sights abound, what truly steals the show is the more daring and experimental levels Vostyok and ReformedJoe have put together. The Arboretum in particular stands out, a colossal glass dome serving as a botanical garden, turned into an almost alien world following intense irradiation, filled with unthinkable creatures and horrifying, mutated vegetation. Initially seen from a distance as a small, unassuming building through a grate, its sheer scale and decaying splendor became apparent only after you've infiltrated it and cleared the initial rooms. It is without question one of the most striking and memorable levels released this year. That, and "Anomaly 210", for those fortunate enough to find it, which will surely have your jaw proverbially drop to the floor. Of course, the ambience is enhanced tenfold thanks to PRIMEVAL's magnificent soundtrack, ensuring you will not soon forget the gang-occupied facilities or the creepy military bases from the "Old World".

Ashes: Afterglow is an incredible accomplishment as far as total conversions go: it avoids common pitfalls such huge, complicated projects can incur and remains surprising and engaging throughout. The only question is, where does the apocalypse take us from here?

- @Dynamo

Time Tripper - Emma "@msx2plus" Essex

Doom 2, GZDoom, 8 maps

Time Tripper begins as many familiar stories do: a quiet walk through the woods results in uncovering a mysterious portal, leading to far-away realms, filled with strange creatures hostile to your trepassing. But that is where the familiarities quickly fade, for the journey that awaits our main character, Doomelph, is anything but typical.

Described by its author as "an exercise in embracing creative chaos as a vision", Time Tripper takes place across eight levels connected through time and space by several gateways. Doomelph himself prefers utilizing most of the Doom 64 arsenal as opposed to the more traditional Doom 2 weaponry, and he starts off with the shotgun and dual-bladed chainsaw - no pistol or fist to be had in this adventure. A number of new monster types are introduced throughout the set, but the old bestiary gets significant changes, as most of the familiar demons now unleash a variety of magenta-cyan projectiles, bringing to mind shmups like Ikagura and DonPachi even if the projectile density never quite reaches "bullet hell" levels. Coupled with an announcer for weapon pickups and checkpoints, it grants the mod an arcade feel that complements the dreamlike setting very well.

Indeed, the worlds you visit are incredibly surreal but also eclectic, molded from different materials and ideas which nevertheless work together in unison: this is in fact Time Tripper's greatest strength, its capacity to blend so many disparate elements in near-perfect harmony. And so exploring the cabins of a speeding train gives way to a snowy landscape, suspended in the void. Venturing into a derelict UAC base ultimately takes you to the Liminal Space, fighting featureless silhouettes of your enemies. Effects such as a sky flickering in and out or tv static-like edges on certain objects give the feeling that perhaps, the very fabric of reality is traversing the portals alongside you. The highly varied soundtrack is a perfect accessory to the maps, and in spite of its relatively short length, Time Tripper has no prolonged lapses in creativity and feels constantly active conceptually, remaining a rollercoaster of sights worth seeing - and experiencing - right up until the credits roll.

- @Dynamo