Black Fortress X

Well this was quite the surprise! This is a ZDoom WAD from 2003, considerably old but solidly stable. While I was expecting something average, I ended up stumbling upon a map with some attractive and modest visuals that evoke a fantastic sense of dark fantasy; it feels like a Hexen map but made for Doom, with love and lots of demons.  We begin on the outskirts of the so-called Black Fortress, and we can clearly see the beautiful black brick walls that surround this structure. The brown color of the earth and the beautiful skybox create a tetric atmosphere that reminds me of a metal cover. In fact, I feel that the whole air of this WAD evokes fantastic ideas of power or even black metal. It feels dark, heavy and bloody. The map is medium-large in size but in UV it has over 500 enemies, all separated between different rooms where we can sometimes find some considerable challenges. Curiously the map is for Doom 2, but it doesn't make much use of the qualities of Doom 2; in this case the enemies and the SSG, which we don't get until almost the end of the map. This was my experience in HMP, which I must admit was a bit of a letdown in that case, however, it was a fun map that despite being of considerable size didn't get me seriously lost and I was able to follow a steady and consistent progress that carefully elevates the difficulty as well as varies between different rooms and sections.

I almost didn't play this, but I'm so glad I did! Lots of great SSG action, well designed, and well balanced. I thoroughly enjoyed this map.