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Haste - Various
Doom 2, Boom-compatible, 17 maps
Similar to the Micro Slaughter Community Project which emerged early this year, the aim in Haste was for a coven from the more shadowy recesses of the Doom scene to channel a tidy little grimoire of challenge maps that not only could be finished in under 10 minutes apiece, but would also be approachable to players who don't necessarily live and breathe hardcore gameplay every waking moment of their bedeviled lives. Unlike with its slightly older sibling, however, which managed to keep its demons either mostly in check or at least carefully locked away in the secret slots where only fools and lunatics would find them, in Haste's case something went awry during conjuration (whether by accident or by sinister design, who can say...?), resulting in a set that mostly adheres to its initial aims of compactness, while quickly wandering to places much weirder in form and more sinister in intent, making for one of the most exquisitely composed sets of its type.
While built foremost for speed and fluidity rather than as an imposing display of ominous grandeur, Haste is nonetheless lavished with a great deal of care for aesthetics, with results as richly appointed as an Elizabethan devil-worshipper's prayerbook. Working on a more zoomed-in physical scale invites the exploration of some offbeat themes, and indeed the variety and fidelity of settings delivered over the course of the set's relatively succinct runtime is impressive. The opening snapshot of a gore-soaked prison tower teetering over a desiccated wasteland soon gives way to mysterious phosphorescent burrows deep underground, a sombre Plutonian floodplain, a bizarre industrio-gothic shrine of moldering concrete and rusty circuitry, prehistoric temples bathed in flames, a coma-sealed mind palace where evil thoughts manifest in flesh, and places stranger still beyond. Dynamic tonal shifts between the traditionally grimdark, the more whimsically fantastical, and the eerily abstract lend proceedings the air of a festively macabre anthology, and an uncharacteristic lean towards more mellifluous tracks for most maps' musical selections creates an emotive texture that stands out from kindred genre fare.
The action itself is equally diverse in texture. Scotty's maps are very immediate, tight-knit affairs heavy on raucous point-blank brawls that are approachable and straight to the point without sacrificing intensity. Insane_Gazebo's characteristically expansive style and emphasis on insidiously complicated terrain proves to be quite adaptable to a more intimate scale, where death is quite literally always close at hand. Kindred in spirit in crafting an experience as much out of perplexing geometry as out of tangling with bloodthirsty monsters, Nirvana's pair of entries focus on creating distinctly poignant scenes that read like subtly Escherian shadowboxes. Serenely straddling the line between the set's dual sensibilities is genre veteran Ribbiks, whose first map is a highly atmospheric, even cozy little outing, and whose second is a grueling hillclimb that's harrowing, yet slyly irreverent. Archi, of Rush fame, makes a special guest appearance with a bloodspattered fantasy fortress blurring the line between dream and nightmare, while arch-weirdomancer Benjogami offers an unsettlingly abstract ordeal that feels like scurrying as a mouse through the sub-basement of eternity, desperately trying to avoid awakening whatever might be slumbering there. Finally, Bemused brings the ritual to an unforgettable finish with a pair of maps that both look and feel like the most intimate personal histories of medieval torture devices made manifest.
Truly something grand in an ostensibly 'small' package, Haste is inspired and engrossingly eclectic in both mechanical design and emotive tone from start to finish, and offers something for everyone in a surprisingly approachable yet wholly authentic hardcore gameplay idiom. If you have ever been skeptical of the deeper and darker end of the Doom pool, or felt that it's always "business as usual" with challenge-oriented fare, this just might be the one to change your mind.
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Doom 2, vanilla, 32 maps
One of the year's strangest releases by far, Down the Drain warrants some explanation, though I'll warn you up front that this is likely to be the sort of release you'll have the purest experience of the less you know about it beforehand. The set is glibly presented like one of the 'compendium' megaWADs of Doom antiquity -- an assortment of unrelated maps from all over various personal websites, BBSes, shovelware collections, etc., compiled into a single WAD file, often by some anonymous outside party.
The resulting compilations were both grab-bags and snapshots in the truest sense, and looked at today are something like ancient insects trapped in amber, recalling a primordial shape of creative life in the community, now buried by time and dust. As a modern interpretation of this form, Down the Drain showcases a plethora of original specimens that will be familiar to any Doom paleontologist worth their salt. Here we see, among others: a WW1 trench-themed map, a post-lobotomy IWAD remix or two, a multitude of "maps that look like something in automap view" (several are decidely distressing in tone...), from-memory recreations of PWAD relics ala the RAVEN series, a number of ancient "deathmatch map" references (none of which you will see in actual MP rotation today, because none of them were remotely functional as DM maps in practice), and quite possibly the most demented take on a Go 2 It -style secret map one could have the dubious pleasure of uncovering, all of them rendered in earnest lo-fi glory. Surprisingly, there is no MYHOUSE map, though there are a couple of town/villa maps which arguably cover this base by hosting a number of mini-MYHOUSES within themselves.
Knowing this, actually playing through the set is not quite the experience one may expect, however. Soon enough, the zany 90s pastiche gives way to stranger and stranger fare, carrying a marked shift in tone towards awkward, eerie silences, pervasive darkness, ominously overscaled spaces, and increasingly bizarre, illogical progression schema. Demons pour from every crack and cranny, and the progressively dysfunctional architecture begins to practically bleed ghosts, sometimes literally. The superficial silliness of the mapset's basic premise makes a strange and oddly affecting contrast with the acerbic quality of the gameplay and the palpable bitterness of the scattered narrative interludes; there is an undeniable playfulness throughout, but it's the sadistic playfulness of a cat with a grasshopper caught between its velvety-taloned paws. A distinct impression begins to emerge of something attempting to speak out from beyond the bounds of its quaint form -- something that knows it has been forgotten, moved on from, and is resentful of that fact. Resentful, yes, and aware.....of you. -
Doom 2, GZDoom, 3 maps
As a Demon-B-Gone employee, you're an exterminator hired to clear out demon colonies and their tag-along masses of disembodied flesh. This extremely relatable premise -- who hasn't had a summer job as a kid doing exactly that -- belongs to the unexpected gem that is ginc's Infested. Before it had received any community buzz, all of us who played it had loved it. If you've never wondered what truly comes along with a baby cacodemon, here's where to start.
Sort of the demented lovechild of mouldy's Going Down and Jaska's Lost Civilization, Infested promises a comic tone early that it emphatically delivers on -- including some seriously backwards communication channels for our lead character, and lobby posters that announce an art exhibition with real objects swiped from Doom 2's hellish invasion (I sure wonder why this building got plagued).
These early stops are imaginative enough it's hard to anticipate a much higher gear, but ginc goes just there in the impressively intricate "The Tower" -- which is part office building, part boutique mall, and like multiple floors of Going Down stacked into one multiplex. Homages and references show up regularly yet can be subsumed so fully into the story you feel they were made specifically for Infested's own tale. Despite no (live) humans in sight (although there is a cafe with a donut stand), the building still holds the storylines of their old presence, what might have gone wrong, and the future you are trying to restore. Each floor has an identity that is a character in itself, including a FIREBLU-branded storage company, and an opulent top-floor loft that holds some goofily ostentatious interior decorating. The way these identities mix goes beyond creating a sense of place; it creates a sense of a world alive with real activity.
All of that alone would make Infested deeply interesting, but what seals the deal is that it's quite fun to play too. From Lost Civilization, it inherits not just the Doomcute and pseudorealistic city touches but also a fulfilling backbeat of exploration, now in a more vertical sense. The ragtag cast of monsters gets nutty, but ginc had a handle on their dynamics -- so the frantic scrambles to avoid being cornered are exciting, with scuffles feeling like dark, terrifying takes on slapstick chase scenes. I replayed this as much to tangle with the endearing band of oddballs as for the laughs and charms.
After you're done, don't forget to stop by for some Caco Bell in the epilogue.
- @rd.
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Deadly Standards 3 - @Walter confetti et al
Ultimate Doom, limit-removing, 9 maps
Inferno is a chaotic realm, a mish-mash of themes and ideas unified by a common thread of twisted, otherworldly un-logic, diverse in its manifestation but singular in its malign intent. Deadly Standards 3 follows gleefully in this tradition by allowing each author to weave their very own tapestry of torment, to take the set’s overarching void-hell aesthetic and make it their own.
The result is a wildly divergent yet strangely cohesive set of nine concept-oriented maps from an eclectic collection of authors representing a variety of skill-levels and proclivities. Here can be found a range of experiences, among them a casual romp through a directionally-challenged hell-mansion, a brutal slaughter-lite battle for survival against the backdrop of a jagged, lava-filled cavern and a sombre sojourn through a crumbling necropolis, the last bastion of unreality in an all consuming void that cares naught for the struggles of man nor demon.
Variety is, as they say, the spice of life, and DS3 has variety in spades. While any given player is unlikely to enjoy every map, they are also unlikely to finish without having clicked with at least one of the set’s offerings. They may even find themselves a new favourite… as I did.
M4: Ventose seems tailor-made for me and me alone, a twisted wonderland of disparate themes united in their otherworldly abstraction and bound together in the form of a magnificent, domineering dream-castle. Distorted pseudo-realist structures, subverted techbase locales and vine-choked marble hell all intermingle to form a mercurial realm of devious progression-puzzles, elaborate set-piece encounters and enigmatic secrets.
Making my way through this utterly foreign space was one of the most engrossing interactive experiences I’ve had all year. Ventose inspires in me a sense of childlike wonder, awakens within a desire to explore, to understand, to conquer. It is one of the few digital spaces in which I can fully lose myself: immersed in its palpable atmosphere of wistful melancholy, mundane existence simply fades away, until only wondrous unreality remains.
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1000 Lines Community Project 3 - @Liberation et al
Doom 2, vanilla-compatible, 32 maps
Of the countless community projects released this year, 1kL3 stands tallest among them in my view, a set far greater than the sum of its disparate parts, made strong by the caliber of its participants and bound together by an overarching sense of vision. Restriction does not define this set, as it does the series’ previous entries, serving instead as an antidote to the dreaded magnum opus syndrome, as well as a driver of innovation and experimentation.
Despite challenges posed by its namesake limitation and adherence to the vanilla limits, 1kL3 is among the most striking applications of OTEX I’ve seen this year, with an unusual sense of groundedness that runs contrary to the colourful abstraction that defines the majority of the resource’s manifestations. Each of the set’s three episodes take place within a clearly-defined setting, reinforced through the use of bespoke decor, which adds an extra layer of visual flair and immersion without costing a single linedef. This emphasis on world-building lends the set an adventuresome quality, a sense of narrative cohesion that makes the map-to-map progression all the more satisfying.
In the course of your journey across 1kL3’s many offerings, you will battle your way through the litter-strewn, neon-drenched underbelly of a decaying Martian metropolis, swashbuckle through the castles, manors, caverns and cities of the old-world’s sixteenth century, plunge deep into the verdant jungles, vine-choked ruins, underground volcanoes and super-secret bases of a comically troperiffic rendition of Earth’s tropics, before finally piercing through the veil of reality and plummeting into the heart of the malign voidborne god-machine underlying it all.
Opposing you in your quest to return home is the familiar rogues’ gallery of dastardly denizens of damnation (some of whom may or may not have undergone cosmetic surgery), supplemented by a handful of complimentary new faces, one for each episode. Fear not this new menace, however, for your trusty arsenal has been similarly revised, seeing a general increase in rate of fire across all slugthrowers, as well as the implementation of fast weapon switching, which together give 1kL3’s action a delightfully spirited tempo almost by default.
This, combined with the restriction-induced brevity of the average map, gives the set a brisk pace, whisking the player from exotic locale to exotic locale, keeping the experience fresh and entertaining all the way through to the end. Weaker entries flash by in the blink of an eye, allowing the standout maps to define one’s perception of the set, minimizing the biggest downside of the CP approach while retaining the variety-hour element that makes it appealing to begin with.
Underscoring this grand adventure is a masterful and largely bespoke OST, courtesy of AD_79, Dragonfly, Eris Falling and Psyrus, comprising a veritable treasure trove of rich, emotive tracks, all of which greatly elevate their parent maps, some to a borderline transcendental extent. I expect to hear many of these tracks again and again in the years to come, complementing a range of experiences as yet unimagined.
Judge this set not by its stringent limitations, dear reader, for it is undoubtedly one of the most consistently engaging and enjoyable releases of this most bounteous of years, and a testament to the skill and imagination of its contributors.
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Auger;Zenith - Various
Doom 2, limit-removing, 22 maps
Members of the Doom community found great joy uncovering and posting graphical glitches and gameplay bugs they found while playing the biggest Cyberpunk release of the year. Yes, CD Projekt RED rushed their flagship title resulting in a project that was rife with errors—Auger;Zenith on the other hand, is a delightful romp through a futuristic, neon hellscape.
One of the benefits of the Doom engine is the relative ease with which creators can build maps, but any of those developers will tell you, idtech1 is not particularly good at replicating convincing, real-world environments—as Doom 2’s ‘Downtown’ is happy to demonstrate. This might be why I love the aesthetic of Auger;Zenith so much; the best maps in this wad attempt to simulate real place with apropos ‘doomcute’ details but, because the authors are working with a cyberpunk theme—really more of an emotional appeal than rigid characteristics—each author is allowed the creative freedom to build maps that feel uniquely abstract and “futuristic.”
From the opening map, none of the authors capture this aesthetic better than @SuperCupcakeTactics. ‘Glass Messiah’ and ‘Luminescent Synapse’ are the crown jewels of Auger;Zenith which combine gritty streets with the dizzying neon lights that are so ubiquitous in this genre. @lunchlunch's ‘Android District’ is another delightful map which demonstrates that the illusion of a reality is more powerful than accuracy. Hypersubways, laser discotheques, and even a bizarre drug-altered VR experience—which, being honest, is hit or miss, but I appreciate few things more than experimentation–keep the experience from feeling stagnant. This includes a varied combat experience which ranges from cramped urban shootouts to sprawling, slaughter-fest malls.
Auger;Zenith was one of the most highly-nominated projects of 2021; add this one to your playlist and don’t let it get lost in the deluge of releases from this year—like tears in the rain.
