Most visually appealing wad?

[BladeWolf]

In my mind, Deus Vult II, Sunlust, and Abandon are on the top in terms of visual, and level design. There's always something appalling/terrific to the maps' dark theme, combined with its varied use of color, which adds to its eerie tone, and how open most of them are (especially Abandon). I'd love to hear others' views and opinions as well. :D

[Pechudin]

I suppose it depends on the role visuals play. I like how in Suspended in Dusk the gray brutalist concrete perfectly complements the corridor-crawling health and ammo starved gameplay. The visuals are 'hostile', just like the map.

[DSC]

Couldn't agree more about Sunlust. I'll also add Eviternity and Ancient Aliens. Plus, for old wads, Alien Vendetta is the king.

[Endless]

Pretty much the entire work of Eternal.  Hell Ground is especially beautiful and eerie to look at.

Eternal Doom, massive and beautiful classic vanilla landscapes.

Eviternity, needs no presentation. The heaven levels are just downright beautiful.

Ancient Aliens, color never looked so good. Actually, every map by skillsaw is amazing to look at.

Doomer Boards Projects, if your definition of beauty is variety, here you will find variety until the end. I'd like to mention Lilywhite Lilith. It is not the greatest or most fantastic WAD, but it has a modest style that evokes a sense of beauty so relaxing and simple, almost dreamlike. This is the only WAD I've played with this style.

Back to Saturn X, the entire series is just a vanilla miracle.

The Darkening 2, the first one was cool, but the second one is great. Beautiful levels that stand out thanks to what I consider the ''proto-OTEX'' texture pack.

Paradise, natural landscapes work as the arena for amazing combat thanks to the, also visually appealing, Supercharge mod.

The Mapwich 2, a combination of traditional combat and slaughter-combat maps, here you will find maps of an absurdly fantastic beauty. Supercharge included.

Avactor, gorgeous maps with Mesoamerican architecture and an unbelievable magnitude.

Winter's Fury, one of the best maps of winter, snow and ice that there is. Fantastic level design and a heavy atmosphere.

 

Actually, there are many many more maps that are visually beautiful and appealing to look at and play. Just look at the 2020 Cacowards, practically every single winner and runner-up is a visual wonder. These maps serve as a solid point (and are also the first to come to my mind) but if you look for more and explore, you will find wonders in this beautiful world.

[Gez]

Verdant Citadel.

[Roofi]

I'm not a gzdoom-addict but I will mention Ar Luminae.

[Michael Jensen]

Equinox, Daedalus: Alien Defense, Eternal Doom and Sunlust

[therealdrgray]

Sky May Be. 
 

Haha no I saw this post and immediately thought of some of the Tronesque neon designs of Sunlust and Back to Saturn X.

Those wads are incredible looking.

Eternal Doom for its unique style and Alien Vendetta for its time.

[DSC]

23 minutes ago, A.H. Sankhatayan said:

Equinox

Damn, how did I forget this masterpiece? Its a work of art.

[Omniarch]

Apart from those mentioned already (fantastic taste as always, @Endless!), one in particular comes to mind.

 

Sunder. To me, no other wad comes close in terms of artistic vision. It is one of the very few virtual experiences that leaves me genuinely without words. It is cosmic horror embodied in map form. @Insane_Gazebo is a mad genius.

 

Aside from that, other favourites of mine include:

 

All of Espi's work, for the pervasive sense of subtle, melancholic beauty. Suspended in Dusk obviously captures this the best, but his lesser known Back to Basics also manifests these qualities.

 

All of @antares031's varied creations, especially the jaw-dropping Antaresian Reliquary, for original aesthetics and insane attention to detail. Seriously, just thinking about the amount of work that goes into his maps makes my head spin!

 

@NaturalTvventy's more recent stuff, basically NEIS E2 onward, for immensely creative use of vanilla and alpha assets to create familiar yet strangely alien environments. NEIS E4M6 Sanctuary of Filth is the exemplar of this in my eyes.

 

@Lutz's entire body of work, due to his mastery of lighting and inventive pseudo-realism. His maps feel like real places, whisking me away to distant moonbases and hellish depths.

 

All of the @Xaser maps I've played so far, from the dead.x series to his NEIS contributions to The Lost Episode to Syringe. From a visual perspective, Xasermaps always have this air of intent to them, each one a place unto itself, divorced from reality and visionary in its own way.

 

I could go on and on, since there are so many talented mappers out there, but these are the ones that inspire/intimidate me the most.

[baja blast rd.]

Counterattack by Mechadon is the most visually impressive to me. Imo Mechadon is the best there is at the "craft" element of mapping. 

 

https://onemandoom.blogspot.com/2019/09/counterattack-mek-catkwad.html

 

Visually appealing has slightly different resonances, and for that I'd be torn between Lost Civilization by Jaska, or the visual setpiece highlights of Eviternity like map15 and map26. Xaser is basically my favorite all-around visual artist among mappers I think, when you combine different facets like craft and concept. I kinda wish he had his own equivalent to Counterattack ;). Oh yeah lupinx-kassman too. If I had zillions of dollars I'd totally sponsor people.

 

This question has so many answers. Among authors I haven't seen mentioned, I'd throw in Ed and Viggles and Dobu too.

 

Someone mentioned Espi and I'm a deep fan of Back to Basics for the way that it drew such an emotional impact out of me with a limited range of tools: basically just shapes and use of space. Espi had a phenomenal command of space contrast, among other things. The way you moved through the layout was often like a song in itself.  

Edited December 24, 2020 by rd.

[⇛Marnetmar⇛]

The Darkening E2

Edited December 24, 2020 by Marn

[DuckReconMajor]

59 minutes ago, Omniarch said:

Sunder. To me, no other wad comes close in terms of artistic vision. It is one of the very few virtual experiences that leaves me genuinely without words. It is cosmic horror embodied in map form. @Insane_Gazebo is a mad genius.

 

Same. The combat (which is usually too hard for me anyway on most difficulties) will always come a distant second to the gargantuan abstract beauty of the maps. When I first saw that screenshot of The Cage I was frothing just to explore the space, which I still do on occasion while cheating or -nomonsters

 

Speaking of abstract 

 

2 hours ago, therealdrgray said:

Sky May Be. 

 

I always love big flat color textures and the atmosphere in Sky May Be is unforgettable.

 

And yeah Equinox, another fantastic one as noted

[Omniarch]

4 minutes ago, DuckReconMajor said:

Same. The combat (which is usually too hard for me anyway on most difficulties) will always come a distant second to the gargantuan abstract beauty of the maps. When I first saw that screenshot of The Cage I was frothing just to explore the space, which I still do on occasion while cheating or -nomonsters

Exactly this. Though, I do intend to get my skills up to the point that I can play Sunder in its entirety. That's a ways off though, and the maps are interesting enough to explore even in -nomo. My favourite Sunder map is Archive of the Technomancer, due to its sheer size and alien beauty.

[Decay]

I will forever shill out Esselfortium's Space Tokyo from Space DM9. One of the most inspiring maps I've come across, ever.

[AtticTelephone]

Sunder, Sunder forever.

 

Oh, and Equinox too, love MAP10 and MAP13.

Edited December 24, 2020 by AtticTelephone

[ChopBlock223]

Crucified Dreams is one I always thought looked stupidly goddamn gorgeous. I don't play DM so I have no idea how well those levels actually play, but once in a while I like dropping in and just taking a look at the thing and awe at it. I do take inspiration from some of its visuals myself, though I also keep in mind to not go nearly as far in meticulous linedef detailing, for the sake of performance.

 

Had some pretty cool music, too.

[Decay]

Crudreams is definitely an artistic masterpiece but consensus is it plays like garbage lol

[ChopBlock223]

1 hour ago, Decay said:

Crudreams is definitely an artistic masterpiece but consensus is it plays like garbage lol

Kinda figured, since you've got all this stuff to get stuck on when in a hurry (which is all the time).

[whybmonotacrab]

Some that haven't been mentioned that definitely deserve some praise:
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Devalaous]

Sadly it seems like the more visually stunning wads are all in the slaughter/brutal difficulty territory, where the looks are damaged by floodfilling imps across the rooms for example.

 

50 Shades of GRAYTALL was my personal favourite, with @Mechadon's map being the standout of the set. Infact I'd recommend a lot of his maps.

[Pixel Fiend]

On 12/25/2020 at 1:20 AM, ChopBlock223 said:

Crucified Dreams is one I always thought looked stupidly goddamn gorgeous. I don't play DM so I have no idea how well those levels actually play, but once in a while I like dropping in and just taking a look at the thing and awe at it. I do take inspiration from some of its visuals myself, though I also keep in mind to not go nearly as far in meticulous linedef detailing, for the sake of performance.

 

Had some pretty cool music, too.

 

I wish I could play this. Is it possible to play gzdoom multiplayer with the community members here?

[ChopBlock223]

If you can find some people, it should run just fine in GzDoom or Zandronum.

[SilverMiner]

Lillith.pk3

[Sotenga]

The unoriginal answer: Ancient Aliens and Eviternity. Two of the greatest wads ever are two of the best-looking wads ever.

 

The less expected answer: It may not be a wad that's immediately associated with the word "gorgeous," but I think the Japanese Community Project does a lot of creative stuff with what it's given, like the fruit-based sectors of "My Fav," the surprisingly realistic and almost Build-esque construction of "Blood Fund Gang," and the cold gray void giving way to an increasingly worrisome hellscape in "Remind." The three maps before the final one particularly take the cake, with "A Resplendent Emerald Green" evoking Sunlust-esque architecture, "Hellport" feeling vast and oppressive with its use of blood red contrasting against its immediate predecessor, and "Hazmat Hazama..." Wow. I can't put that one into words, it just has to be seen to be believed. Granted, not every contribution in JPCP is a knockout (with the likes of "Manufacturing Plant" and "Space Port Panik" feeling a lot like mid-nineties maps), but when it hits, it hits hard.

[Crusader No Regret]

Since it hasn't already been mentioned: Lost Civilization.  The screenshots in the forum thread speak for themselves.

[P41R47]

how this isn't more known actually baffles me. :/

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by P41R47

[Scypek2]

The first thing that comes to my mind is @dobu gabu maru's The Given. It consists of nothing but vanilla textures, and yet playing it feels nothing like Doom at all. You begin by harmlessly wading through the soothing shallows of the emerald river, and then it just continues to be otherworldly.

 

 

Also, if you're tired of all the pretty mapsets being slaughtermaps, this one's as far from it as it gets!

[Diabolución]

On 12/24/2020 at 8:23 PM, rd. said:

If I had zillions of dollars I'd totally sponsor people.

 

This. Especially composers, they provide the cure of that disease named D_RUNNIN.

[OpenRift]

Ancient Aliens. That WAD will be forever cemented in my mind for its incredibly unique visuals.