Whispers of Satan

Cacoaward winner megawad for Doom 2 by Paul Corfiatis and Kristian Aro. It is boom compatible  with some Zdoom exclusive bonus levels. I played it on GZDOOM on Hurt Me Plenty difficulty using the Freedoom2 Iwad.

The map set is divided into 5 thematic episodes. The player is allowed to keep his inventory. The episodes consist of:

- Earthbase: consisting of UD-esque levels.
- Brick: inspired by real life structures such as schools, alleys, warehouses and so forth.
- Plutonia: brown hellish fortresses full of ambushes and tricky fights.
- Plutonia / Hexen: a very gothic feeling episode, expect manors, mines and similar fortifications. 
- Hell: self explanatory.

The map quality and complexity increase on each episode. The first episode feels as if it was out of the authors Ultimate Doom megawads; however,  the map slowly introduces more vast environments and tricky sections. Overall, I feel like this map set gets its personality around the Plutonia episode and reaches its highest point on the hell levels which are both gorgeous and a blast to play.

Difficulty wise this is similar to Doom 2. Most levels focus on linear action sequences with some nasty traps every now and then. The designers have made sure to include secrets to ease some of the harder fights, so exploration savy players will have an easier time with some of these encounters. There is a difficulty spike on the last chapter, but this is more or less expected and it never becomes frustrating. 

The soundtrack is completely new and it was composed by Corfiatis, overall it is pretty good quality and sounds great if using an external sound font. I like *2002 A Doom Odyssey* soundtrack more, but it may due to familiarity. 

Similar to their previous collaboration, *2002 A Doom Odyssey*, the maps follow a basic formula from which they rarely deviate. Many of them are built around a hub section in which the player faces several challenges to unlock the next color section of the map. The big difference between both wads, is that this one tends to be a much more symmetrical. Many of the challenge sections tend to be variation of a single theme, in which the player will have the same fight for each of the keys. This hurts the experience a little bit, as the maps feel repetitive. 

It is not a bad wad,  it is full of nice architecture and a classic 90s feel. The repetitive nature drops the score as it can get occasionally boring when you reach a new hub, with similar wings over and over again. The hell episode is amazingly good and well worth the boring early middle section. which i thinks brings the megawad quality up a notch 4/5

Best Maps:

- MAP05: Pumping Station 083A: cool looking crate level full of small nooks and crannies to explore. 
- MAP14: The Wasted Dens: one of the most expansive level of the WAD, the player explore a non linear brown base on a water canal. Some nasty ambushes and lots of exploration. 
- MAP16: Undervilla: a creepy manor with some Doom cute touches. Really atmospheric.
- MAP19: Cryosleep:  action packed level set in a ice cave system, some cool fights against almost invisible specters. The player receives ton of rocket launcher ammo to clear up the valleys outside the cave system.
- MAP25: Vulcana: a level base inside a volcano, amazing architecture, and oppressive atmosphere makes the player feel as if he was exploring a place not meant to be. One of the best and hardest levels in the wad, full of nasty surprises and an awkward Cyberdemon fight.

Worst Maps:

- MAP06: Covert Operations Facility: an infamous map made of 4 similar rooms and an small underground section. Very repetitive.
- MAP09: The School: the player is tasked to clear an school that has been invaded by demons, starts of very good but looses steam due to the repetitive encounters and the similarity between both wings of the installation. 

This is a bit of an interesting one to revisit for me: Whispers of Satan was a mapset I played fairly early in my mapping career and it's influenced my approach to level construction and visual design more than I initially realized. At the time I ran out of steam around MAP22, but recently I decided to take another stab at it and finish all the levels. Which I did! Having done so, these are my thoughts.

Gotta start with the big one: Whispers of Satan is a damn good-looking mapset. Excellent texture usage and attention to detail were big draws for me when I first played this years ago and I ended up mimicking it a lot in my own work: to some degree I still do, honestly. Maps like MAP10, MAP16 and MAP28 stand out as particularly good examples of this school of design, with all the detailing work coming together to craft an excellent sense of place. This is bolstered by the custom soundtrack, which has some absolute bangers in it (in my decidedly unmusical opinion :P).

I also gotta shout out the fact that Paul and Kristian undeniably had fun putting this together, as can be evidenced by the silly little easter eggs and gags that are present throughout. There's the secret and super secret maps of course, but you can also spot a little bit of silliness in the main lineup and it's a touch I appreciate in the way that it gives a mapset life and charm. Again, it's something I was inspired by in my early mapping career and you can thank WoS for any gaff or joke you find in my own maps.

There is however an elephant in the room that I have to address and that is the map design itself. Other reviewers have pointed out the excessive symmetry that plagues a lot of the map architecture, but there is also a general sense of formula that can wear on you as you progress through the megawad: by the time you're in the final third of the main block of maps, you can distinctly see them falling into the same gameplay pattern and it starts chafing in a big way. MAP25 and MAP29 are two big culprits in my eyes, but there are plenty of early maps that follow the same formula and get a pass simply because of their placement in the megawad and (relatedly) the length of those experiences. This formulaic approach also creeps into the gameplay and monster usage and serves to make the latter half of the megawad something of a slog to get through, which explains why I didn't progress past MAP22 all those years ago.

I ain't gonna say that it doesn't deserve its Cacoward or anything though: I can appreciate the work that went into creating Whispers of Satan and the influence it had on what came after. It definitely has its flaws and as a gameplay experience it doesn't really hold up, but I can still admire it as a piece of Dooming history and I wouldn't be the mapper I am today if it didn't exist.

it's alright, but nothing amazing. the architecture n shit is gorgeous, and the hell levels are absolutely incredible, but it's unfortunately plagued with symmetry and repetition. it can get to the point where some sections feel like a chore to get through. that's not to say that it's a bad megawad - it's not - but it's far from flawless. despite those issues, it's still fun to play through, other than the aforementioned parts

proper way to make a megawad,real doom right here

Bland and generic. There's nothing terribly wrong about Whispers of Satan. If you want more Doom levels, here's more Doom levels, and these will satisfy any cravings you may have. But if you're looking for great level design or something really memorable or interesting, look elsewhere. The wad wasn't all that fun to play for me, personally. 3 stars for being just average.

really good personally i like the simplicity i like that for most of the levels it many uses doom 1 enemy's and weapons it kinda feels like it could have been released back in like the 90's

Designers had no idea what they were doing with the gameplay. Uncreative layouts with basic progression, too much symmetry and boring gameplay really make this a wad worth skipping...

The soundtrack is alright, until episodes 2 and 3... then it becomes laughable at best.

Maps from 12 up to the end are great without any gameplay mods.

EDIT:

Comparing this to the 2002 DooM Odyssey I must say WOS is dead, it has no soul. The guys who mapped for it hadn't even think about tweaking textures for good. As example: plutonia skull tex looks odd and AROCK is not animated (but it wasn't too hard or time consuming to make it animated, right? As long as it was a Boom wad). 

Arise, Pcorf, I want you to make a 2020 Doom Odyssey but not soulless as this.

This wad is pretty fun and the maps are competently designed, but it's tough to recommend this wad because many of the maps are easy and forgettable. The last few maps are decently challenging, so WoS may be worth the download for maps 25 through 30.

It's a great megawad! The maps are well designed and combat is balanced (albeit a little easy) in UV for experienced players. One small complaint I have is the overall monster count is low, it could be higher, at least in UV. Favorite maps = 08, 09, 14, 15, 31, 32, 34, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28 and 29. Will certainly replay this one. 

Note: Played continually on UV. This wad definitely gives a great first impression: The architecture is excellent, the music is fantastic and the maps are complex. The issue for me is that it just wasn't all that exciting. The biggest reason for this is frequent predictability in the map design. For instance, you'll walk across the exit halfway through the map, only to realize it's locked. This normally wouldn't be a problem, except that it's used time and time again over the course of the wad. The same goes for the use of symmetry. I don't think it's as bad as others have made it out to be, as one door might lead you to a room that's carved out differently than the one on the other side, but it is something you learn to spot a mile away and it adds to the overall repetitive feeling. Lastly, enemy layouts are supremely predictable and pose little challenge (here are a few shotgunners; OK, now here are a few imps; OK, now here's one mancubus; OK, now here are two hell knights; OK, here's a single revenant; All right, back to a few shotgunners, etc). Very rarely do you face groups of enemies, nor do you typically face larger groups of same types of enemies (imps and pinkies aside). Also, while there was a clear attempt to vary the enemy variety in each map, the way enemies are mixed into each map becomes predictable in and of itself. It doesn't help that rocket and plasma ammo is quite limited overall, leaving you to the SSG for much of the playthrough, and all this does is compound on an already tedious experience.

I do feel that for those that like a more traditional "vanilla" experience that's on the easier end of things, this is surely a four or five star wad. However, for people that need some semblance of a challenge, not to mention some kind of progression in this area over the course of the wad, this one will not do it for you.

I'd personally rate this two-stars from a gameplay standpoint, but am leaving my rating at three overall due to it being clear a lot of care and effort was put into this. It's just not for me--I need something that is going to make me work a little bit more than this does (tedium is not the solution to that).

Probably my favourite Megawad. I was surprised when people talked about symmetry here. I don't see it at all, but then I'm the kind of guy who can't see the difference between 4k and 1080p either, so take that with a pinch of salt.

Most notably, though, its good for those of us who want reasonable quantities of monsters. May be a detriment to those that love slaughter, but I don't.

My actual only beef with it is how it loves keys sitting on raised pillars. It literally does lead you from pillar to post on some levels.

Pretty good wad if you like symmetry and visually striking architecture. Gameplay also has a symmetrical element to it, that might put some people off, but the visuals kind of make the whole experience ok. As a result of the symmetry the navigation is also easy.

Most frequent fight setpiece is a door, that needs 2 switches to be flipped. Of course enemies appear, teleport or guard it, usually a symmetrical set on either side. A common end enemy is the archvile, which might get repetitive/boring/annoying to fight depending who you are(the last 2 maps managed to annoy me)

There are a couple cheap trap maps, but not too many. The best maps are in the hell section as this is where they went nuts with the architecture and visuals. A major thing I disliked however was the secrets as most were behind a very very slightly misaligned wall texture. Not going to even bother humping every wall. Some were also accessible only once. The secret levels were also strangely enjoyable and/or weird.

Difficulty is just right, no slaughter combat(if that is a detriment to someone) in sight. Maps are pretty balanced for pistol start, although some maps get tricky and you'll probably need to find the secrets for ammo.

Altogether I can definitely recommend this wad, might be a bit too mechanical, but it's all very polished and solid for what it's offering.

I find the whole "copy/pasta" and "symmetrical" level design complaint to be funny. For some reason it's bad if this wad does it but if other wads do it it's fine and they get five stars. In any event, I thought the level design and gameplay encounters were fine despite being a bit on the easy side. It's a nice break from some of the more challenging stuff I've been playing. Admittedly I'm a pcorf and Kristian Aro fanboy though so I guess take this review with a grain of salt. In any event, I enjoyed it and I'd recommend it.

Maps look pretty nice, but playing them isn't that fun. Most of them are very repetitive and layout itself is too symmetrical - maps mostly consist of mirrored parts or quarters, and copypaste mapping isn't something acceptable for me. For good part - music fits well to the maps and overall atmosphere quite good. So 3/5.