Doomed in SPACE: 13 Maps for ZDoom-based ports (fixed version)

"Space all over again."

Thus Doomed in Space has endeth, played through GZDoom 4.1.3 on Expert difficulty. An interesting story oriented wad, so let's see what else is there to it.

DIS is a 13-level Doom wad centered around exploring space stations and story. It comes with a background menu, fonts, status bar, intermissions screen, enemies, weapons, and sounds, almost TC levels of modifications. The actions takes almost exclusively on various stations, apart from some a few open areas here and there.

The difficulty curve is the traditional kind, starting easy and getting more difficult as you progress, although it never really gets difficult overall. And this is perhaps where the one major flaw lies: the gameplay.

In simple words, the gameplay of DIS is very slow paced. The enemies are moving very slow, their attacks are slow, and the weapons have a slow rate of fire as well, in addition to not carrying any punch (they're all laser based, so I guess they can't really carry any). This unfortunately makes the whole experience very, very tedious, to the point it's a struggle to keep pushing forward. Everything is so slow that is rapidly turns into boredom, after just a few maps.

The maps themselves also feel too similar to each other, despite contributions from various authors. Apart from a few which have open areas and also make use of GZDoom features and tricks, they have a very vanilla and cyberpunk feel but fail to impress and use the textures to their maximum. The white color is also overused, almost Doom Alpha levels of overused. They have an interesting layout and good flow, but with the sole exception of certain places on a few maps, they're boring to explore.

Unfortunately, there isn't much else to add this time, so to sum up, DIS is an interesting concept but it doesn't capitalize on its ideas. There isn't much that stands out and it doesn't have a whole lot going for it, apart from the ideas and an interesting story. According to the last intermission screen, there may be a sequel, and my personal advice for a sequel is to: make the maps more impressive. As they currently are, there's barely anything that really stands out. The weapons and enemies need to be much faster than they currently are, if the action is too slow paced it is way too easy to fall into boredom, in addition to the weapons not feeling satisfying to use, their sound design is lacking. Coupled with a few peaceful music tracks, and you have a serious problem in your hands. If all these things get remedied in a potential sequel, I think it will really shine, because there are fundamental issues going on which prevent it from reaching its full potential. Is it worth a shot? I say yes, but I will also not pretend that if it fails to catch the attention of the player it is best to stop after a few maps. The formula doesn't change and after a few levels, you have pretty much seen everything. Otherwise, if you're looking for something slow, just to relax, it might be a great candidate. If you prefer faster paced combat and more impressive levels, I would recommend checking out Doomed Space Wars after/instead of Doomed in Space. They share similar goals, but have very different themes and vary greatly in execution. DSW also has much faster paced combat and is noticeably more difficult, so if you're looking for a challenge, it offers just that. So, pick up your futuristic weapons and start blasting monsters to pieces.

this is a strange wad, with assets similar to Darkest Hour and other Star Wars-themed wads, many of the maps focus on small killings, as most of the maps are actually small. Pinchy's finale sure makes this worth it. oh yeah, quite a few custom stuff was done. the flamethrower marines were quite annoying, while other monsters gained multiple attacks, new ones, it's all so zany. the maps are pretty well done overall and this is worth a try.

zombieman killing simulator. Was actually better than I expected though

This is an absolute must-play wad! All the maps have been made with care and the pacing is excellent! You have added some pretty interesting custom enemies that spice up the gameplay, making it one heck of an awesome journey! Enjoyed this wad immensely when it was played on ZDS and TNS ZDaemon sessions.

Astonishing work guys!! <3