50 Monsters

Amazing levels, however I had to stop playing halfway through because I was annoyed by the poor choice of monsters in certain segments (revenant+mancubus everywhere, too many archvilles, chaingunner snipers, etc.). The first 10 maps were very good, but it quickly turned into slaughtermap hell starting in map 11. Some better choices with monster placement and this would be an easy 5 stars.

- Designer has the bad habit of silently spawn monsters (especially Revs) right behind you while you are busy

fighting the hordes in front of you.

- Too many deadly traps

- You'll find yourself saving/loading A LOT because you die a lot.

- Many gamers will find this hard to play and an unenjoyable experience.

- Map design is good but maps are small.

Many enemies roam free around here. Or are they few?

50 Monsters has been finished, played through the Eternity Engine 4.00.00 Voluspa on HMP difficulty. So fast, almost like it was never here, so let's see what do we have here.

50 Monsters is a 32-level (+2 bonus) megawad consisting of short, compact, and gameplay based maps with a few puzzles but without much exploration involved, similar to Plutonia and the early levels of Scythe overall. The gameplay takes place almost exclusively on techbases, with a more hellish and natural level thrown in from time to time. It comes with new music, background menu, end level stats screen, intermission screen, textures, and enemies, with a few returning from Scythe and Valiant.

The difficulty curve is mostly the traditional kind, starting easy and gradually getting more difficult as one progresses, with a spike every now and then. The final levels in particular can have a rather rough start as they require the player rather fast, or get blown away. After all is said and done the journey ends with a short map that features mid-tier and high-tier monsters, introducing 50 Monster's main boss enemy, a flying demon rather similar to the Cacodemon but with far more devastating attacks.

Although the maps are generally good, there are a few stinkers, most notably MAP31. The main problem of that map is the texturing of certain assets, namely the crushers in the starting area, which look like the starry sky. This can make the exit out of the starting room pretty frustrating as it can be difficult to estimate the position of the crusher since it can't be clearly seen, taking unnecessary damage in the process. Otherwise, the map in itself is alright, and a very good candidate for speedrunning, but could have been even better if it wasn't for some bizarre design choices.

There's not much else to add to it, as from the very first level it makes its point clear, and the formula never changes for its entirety. A good, short, and fun megawad that could be beaten in one sitting if one has the time, considering the maps are short and straight-to-the point. The first few levels might not be impressive, but this works in its favor as it does get better down the road, so it's not necessarily a drawback, and remains pretty consistent, apart from a few difficulty spikes.

balance is one of the absolute hardest things to do in a Doom wad and the dirty answer almost everyone tries when answering that question is to simply add more monsters. this isn't gonna cut it in most cases, and 50 Monsters is an example of that. how would you actually make a challenging map with only 50 monsters, or perhaps make 32-ish maps with 50 monsters challenging and make it seem like a megawad that goes along like any other one? as it turns out, that's what we get here, layouts are made so that they manage the most out of each of the monsters, and supplies are accordingly balanced. combine that with a few dehacked assets, like the cybruiser and afrit inclusions, the new overlord bosses that make up MAP30 (real tough shit here, but this is the last level after all). overall it manages to do wonders, and the levels themselves are not overtly long or annoying. only things i'm not a fan of are the usage of the SS-chaingunner swap, which makes it so they don't drop chainguns. never liked it in the first place if we're being honest here. and the other being MAP31 which can roll eyes with the crushers and possibly the secrets too.