EPIC 2

Alexander S is an author capable of taking regular Doom gameplay and making it stunning. you can put a number of positive adjectives to describe this mappers mapping style, but what Eternal does is immerse players properly into the settings he provides. it's no wonder that EPIC 2 does excellently as a wad. to give an Egyptian setting, similar to Powerslave and including a few assets from that game, but also giving to the weird puzzle aspect that that game, and basically any Egyptian-themed game, provides. there's even a look into the alienverse by way of the entire second episode.

Eternal's style of gameplay will probably turn a few heads. there's not much for slaughter until the later maps, but what you'll notice is the intricate placement of enemies. smaller enemies are always tucked appropriately at the corners, vigil guards ready to pounce. Eternal also values the shock value with teleport ambushes, you're bound to run into some cheap one-time placements of enemies right in front, or in areas you've been to, each and every time. anticipation is a major key factor in survival, and you gotta anticipate it always. when it comes to non-combat, there's definitely a lot of immersion, as I said, there's bound to be some required puzzles in this one, so looking for hidden clues in just about every place is required. this is the kind of thing that made Eternal Doom memorable, and the kind of thing that makes Epic 2 memorable too. there's a few instances of voodoo doll magic in vanilla Doom being used as well here, notable moments include the rising exits in MAP12 and MAP13, which use a barrel to push a voodoo doll to the exit linedef. a few more cases exist where the same barrel is used to push a voodoo doll to telefrag another one, these are used to show areas that are supposed to spell death if you enter them, such as the voids in MAP14 or the red lasers in later maps.

level-wise, aside from obvious Egyptian setting games being inspirations as well as a few Aliens-themed places in the second episode, the levels are memorable. although none manage to be in the top 100 most memorable maps, they damn sure come close. Luxor (MAP26), Ammut (MAP27), and Mortuary (MAP29) pay lip service to slaughtermaps, offering bits of exploring in between some nasty combat sections. Ogdoad (MAP28) is a love letter to the classic map Darkdome from Eternal Doom, and Osirion (MAP31) is an ode to the great Misri Halek of Alien Vendetta. The Tower (MAP11) evokes shades of Epic 1's The Citadel, while Mebius (MAP13) gives us a Hunted-style ordeal in a spaceship, fit with health stations. the rest of the maps definitely have shades of cool originality to them, and there's hardly a single dud to find. It's bona fide immersion into something that still is Doom but isn't Doom, yet plays exactly like Doom so it is Doom done differently.