THT: Threnody

A fine WAD with solid, atmospheric levels and good music.

Not good as everyone say. Some maps are decent but there're some maps that are way to confuse to navegate (namely maps 08/15/16 and 19). The best map are number 10 and both of antares031 are also pretty good. The gameplay is overall fine but some maps need saves or foreknowledge to survive.

"In memoriam Ty Haldermann. "

And thus, THT: Threnody ended, played through Eternity 4.00.00 Voluspa on UV difficulty. What a surprise it was, but was that for better or for worse? Let's find out.

THT: Threnody is a 20-level megawad that pays homage to Final Doom's TNT: Evilution in both in terms of visuals and gameplay, but does not stick to its philosophy as closely as other projects such as Plutonia 2. It is also dedicated to Ty Haldermann, the essential pillar of the community, who passed away back in 2015, as well as his contributions to the community as a whole. It comes with new music, status bar, intermission screens, and textures, some of them even being from TNT: Evilution.

As previously mentioned, although THT: Threnody is a TNT-styled/tribute wad, it does not aim to be a community sequel of any sorts. This is easily seen in the (number of) great liberties taken with the design of the maps and their themes, ranging from techbases, to medieval levels heavily inspired by Heretic/Hexen, while others carry an Epic vibe. Many of them also pay homage to TNT classics, most notably Wormhole.

The difficulty curve is the traditional kind, starting easier and gradually becomes more difficult as you advance in the wad or even the same map. It does not exhibit difficulty spikes, but does very much present a challenge, especially in the later maps which feature increasingly deadlier traps. Resource management also plays a role, but not as much as it does in other, radically more difficult wads, and it's relatively forgiving with mistakes, although if you do something stupid, punishment can come very quickly in your direction. The enemy usage is also solid, and there are no underused or overused enemies.

The maps themselves are beautiful, looking very modern, with good navigation and interesting layouts. Many of them use various interesting tricks, such as deep water that also slows down the player. Another notable example is the second Wormhole tribute map that appears to use some enemy teleportation trickery for enemies, making them appear and disappear in a fraction of second, as if they're constantly travelling between worlds. After all is said and done, the journey comes to an end on MAP20, a map with very aggressive areas and a punishing exit but otherwise a rather peaceful atmosphere, set during daytime.

As for flaws, perhaps the only problems in THT are the fact that there are 2 Wormhole tribute maps. They're both very different in their approach, but it doesn't make any sense to have 2 maps paying tribute to the same concept in such a megawad. Both maps, and a few others, also drag on due to being extremely long, taking over an hour to finish. MAP19, which is quite possibly one of the most difficult maps, also uses cheap tactics to kill the player, namely the notorious group of monsters popping out in front of an unsuspecting target without any indication, or effects. This particular kind of trap only belongs to the darkest, coldest, and most distant black hole of the universe. Some of the earlier maps are also aesthetically unimpressive, but are very fun to play nonetheless. One of Doomkid's maps also seems to be a nod to Master Levels' Canyon, insofar as it uses its core feature, which was constant revisiting of previous areas, as monster closets usually opened there.

The new music is great and comes from various sources, ranging from more atmospheric to more action oriented tracks, and some songs from the IWADs are also used.

To sum up, THT: Threnody manages to be a fantastic wad inspired by the likes of Evilution, gracefully capturing its core essence while also paying homage to an important figure of the Doom community and their contributions. It's very experimental, similar to Evilution, but the quality of THT is vastly superior with much more engaging combat and far better level design. Perhaps the most curious aspect is the fact that THT ends after MAP20. Curious, because there is also a common notion within the community that Evilution is great up until MAP20, but goes downhill immediately afterwards, something yours truly personally agrees with. It's well worth the time, a very solid work of art from the community, and at least on par with fan sequels such as PL2, if not actually better. My favorite levels are going to be the medieval ones that are heavily inspired by Heretic/Hexen. So what are you waiting for, get your ass here and check THT out. Don't forget to pay your respects when visiting Ty Haldermann's grave on Fomalhaut.

All the maps are above average, but this is Legendary wad because of Ty and Map10, which is true masterpiece of art. 5/5

Done with these settings:

- GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9.

- Hurt Me Plenty.

- Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset.

- Saves every 10 minutes or so. 

Interesting fun mapset. I think it develops its aim quite well, lots of Evilution bits and use of Boom quirks. Really nice visuals, apparently textures that come from Eternal Doom (which I haven't played yet), and they look really good. Detailing is a notorious feature, some maps are greatly detailed, with messages and hints, and others are a mess, good mess in my opinion, like map 19. I found some cool effects like the runway in map 07 and the doors in the RL secret room in map 13, and there's more. 

Gameplay is very varied, in terms of the kind of monster placement and flow of the levels. The difficulty curve is odd, meaning that some further maps are easier than earlier maps, in a way that it feels like playing two different episodes stuck together to form a megawad. In other words, maps 13/14/15 were, for me, much easier than 10/11/12. That is not to say it's a bad arrangement, it's just not usual to have many breather maps after many harder ones... Combat comes in many colors and shapes, there're a lot of incidental encounters, multiple traps, and bits of slaughter. Puzzles, switch hunts and lengthy levels are present too, in fact, most maps are of a considerable wide length and long progression that might demotivate some players. I found them all completely playable and enjoyable for the most part, but it will depend on each one's tastes. 

Secrets are easy to find in general, I think I may have used IDDT only for two maps. Maps 08, and 12 are the stars of secret hunt, and map 19 has the most interesting secret (BFG), which is non-Doomish in every way. Midis are mostly good, there is a nice remix of Death Bells and another one of TNT's intermission text screen. 

My favourite maps are 03, 10, 11, 15 and 20. The other ones are good too, the only two I had mixed feelings were 17 because of the last trap (invasive detailing), and 12, if you want the full experience try it on UV, HMP cuts 1/3 of the map and over eases it too much.

Overall, a pleasant experience. It's not a hard wad, but it has it's nasty moments. I'd rate it 8/10.

20 maps only but it's worth it just for MAP10 - “Formalhaut” by Mechadon. Everything he does is dope as hell. Everything else is pretty above average with only a few miss steps but enough excellence to make you forget. Had a fun time going through it with "the club."
 

the more I played THT: Threnody, the better it got. this is a set that seems outright perplexing at first, with weird-ass level names, crazy usage of the RETRES resources, and gameplay to match. 20 levels of this tribute to Ty, showcasing homages to some of Ty's work (most notably Wormhole), along with several sendoff easter egg areas. some of these maps will certainly be long and confusing, starting with MAP08, while they are then contrasted by maps that are significantly shorter. action seems to be consistent throughout, and with practice some of the longer levels can be done a lot faster.

just by looking at who authored what level, you can tell what style they are going for. Chris Hansen, honestly I'm not a fan of his maps. even though he surprisingly made the shorter ones here there's still gonna be some bumpy moments of me trying to figure out where to go. Paul is still pretty professional with making serviceable and easy-flowing layouts. Doomkid and joe-ilya go for the hyperactive clusterfuck ordeal, with Doomkid's rampant monster placement making some of the shorter levels pretty hard. didy, Liberation, and M_D make fairly small outings (MAP15, MAP14, MAP18), which contrast to Mechadon's Fomalhaut (MAP10), the two Fonze collabs (MAP12 and MAP19) as well as Angry Saint's Tyvivec (MAP17). dobu's level (MAP18) is naturally a mindfuck chock full of stuff.

those last few levels I mentioned are the real big ones that are standouts. this is like my fourth playthrough of the whole thing but with levels like these, my actual route of travel through these bigwig maps tends to be different each and every time. yet despite the path differences I make, I end up managing to not get lost, coming back to a place I would've gone sooner and still managing to realize where I would end up. a grave fate had befallen the community upon losing its essential pillar, but this tribute was the perfect sendoff to a perfect pillar and it shows.