Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #005

[Endless]

 

Endless, what the hell is this now ?

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures is a small project of exploration, interaction, entertainment and reviews where we meet once every 2 weeeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises or our worst nightmares! In case you didn't know, /idgames archive has a special feature where we can search for random files, of course, sometimes they are resources or unplayable stuff, so we will focus on looking for WADs!

  

So, what are we going have to do ?

1. We/I try to play at least 6 (or more if you can) random WADs on /idgames. For that, I use the Random File feature.
2. We comment/review the WADs for the duration of the event. There's no set time, but one WAD every 2 days is a good measure, or 1 every day in case there's plenty.
3. Try to take screenshots of your adventures.
4. Play however you want, on any skill-level, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Avoid shitting on people's work, try to review in a respectful manner, but of course, let's all have a good laugh in case we find something odd.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for ?

Mostly singleplayer WADs that work in your source-port of choice. You can skip DM WADs in case you don't have anyone to play with. Heretic WADs are also allowed. I will look for at least 4 random WADs for the event and add them here. Feel free to play them with me, or if you wish, look for your own! The point of this is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Tips/recommendations for commenting/reviewing:

Spoiler

• Do provide the name of the map and a link to the file. Very important.
• Sticking the name of the author doesn't hurt either, especially if you have previous experience with it.
• Commenting the source port and skill-level is also good if you wish.
• Try to stick to 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this is all up to you, champ!
• Screenshots or videos are awesome.
• Long or short format, both are good as long as you do it with integrity.

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

 

1. bildoom1.zip
2. THT: Threnody (oh shit)
3. Heroes 2 (oh fuck)
4. Hells Half Acre
5. Demon's Revenge
6. Dreams
7. FATE01.WAD "Fate Series"

 

BONUS:

Spoiler

A random WAD from Doomworld WADs & Mods subforum:

 

• Tribute to the Lamplighter - stonework in space?! A Boom map

 

 

Let the fishing begin! 

 

Introducing,

 

As a way to motivate and keep a catalog of our events and participants, I have decided to create a small points system that takes into account each participation and each WAD played and reviewed by the players. In this way, here we can see a table with the most prolific players of each event. Besides, I like to make point systems, hehe.

 

Scores:

Spoiler

The Top 10 out 20

^{Adventurer | Points}

1. @Roofi | 275
2. @Endless | 175
3. @Walter confetti | 165
4. @LUISDooM | 110
5. @Misty | 75
6. @Sena | 75
7. @leodoom85 | 55
8. @Maribo | 55
9. @Biodegradable | 40
10. @smeghammer | 35

 

Join the Doom Master Wadazine community for more events like this! » https://discord.gg/Q2RKn4J

 

» Previous adventures:

Spoiler

• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #001
• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #002
• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #003

• Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #004

[Sena]

Day 1, The Adventures of Sub: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/s-u/sub

Didn't manage to do one yesterday since my PC which is an antiquated scrapheap was unable to connect to the internet (and thereby download anything), and it took me an entire day to figure out that I should have done a factory reset, but this one was 6 maps, so longer than I probably would've spent anyway.

 

Probably the first jokewad, which has a vague story, from what I pieced together, you are Sub, a member of the German intelligence organisation, CIA, who has been sent to stop Operation Dungeon Blazt, an American plan to nuke Germany, for some reason, and the Americans, seemingly having learned nothing from Dr. Strangelove, will have no nuclear strike capability once you kill President Bill Clinton, who just so happens to be a mancubus. No ending, mind you, once you're done the level just goes straight to Map 8 without any flavour text.

 

Apart from the fact the Americans are Nazis, because of course they are, there's not much to say regarding the gameplay, it's very plain, small confined areas, pretty much exclusively hitscanners, apart from one or two chaingunners placed in obnoxious places that prevents you from getting an angle on them, there's really nothing to say, that one archvile in the chair is situated in such a position that he'll lose half his health before actually trying to attack you, and a lot of the enemies are positioned in such a way that they can't actually shoot you, if you look at the screenshot with the chairs you can see only one of them actually saw me. The only other not-hitscanners that were noteworthy were two revenants, Bill's guards, who ended up killing him, and seeing Bill Clinton get punched to death would probably be more amusing if he actually looked like the man himself, but it was 1996 or something, can't complain about a lack of good spritework. No actual spritework, for the record, the only custom content that isn't a texture is the SS, who have new voice lines, specifically, replacing the "Schutzstaffel" with "I am American", as though being American is a fact on its own that should make you want to surrender, and "mein leben" is replaced with "I am dead", and the new SS guard probably rivals Richter from SoTN as the most disinterested voice acting in a video game. Maybe it's bad on purpose, maybe not, it was just dumb enough to get a smirk out of me.

 

The only real good part of the map is the way it sort of tries to replicate things such as submarines, board rooms, and airports, which are about as convincing as anything else I've seen in Doom, but like those other times, it's funny to see them try. Kind of hard to see because of my rad suit, but those fish are meant to be a window showing the outside. Regrettably the level design is quite poor, and it can become very difficult to figure out where to go, you're going to be pressing a lot of switches that activate things on all the other side of the map. 

So, it's not a very good map, but at least it's mildly amusing, and it is accessible, which is an issue a lot of jokewads seem to have, but that's another matter. 

  

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Sena

[smeghammer]

OK so today I got this:

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/themes/wolf3d/sod

 

Yep - a recreation of Spear of Destiny in Doom...

 

Used GZDoom. I played most of the first level only because issues...

 

Good:

Nicely done splash screens, and the level itself looked good as a SoD recreation, as well as the sprites and sounds etc.:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

And my playthrough:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bad:

Blocking light sprites everywhere. These are noted in the comments, and this does mean that progress is tedious and then impossible...

 

An interesting blast from the past and would be fun if it were fixed and updated. But ultimately a bit... meh...

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by smeghammer

[Walter confetti]

Adventures of Sub is a map / mapset i have to play from a long time, looks pretty hilarious and with lots of Doomcute... I have to play it!

 

Heroes 2 is a great historical megawad for my history with Doom, and one of the first wad that replaces all the 32 levels that i have played. The other one is Aliens X for Doom, replacing the first 3 episodes of Doom (27 levels). Like all the compilation megawads have it's high and lows but in general is a pretty good compilation of the "best" that 1994/5 Doom 2 maps have to offer...

 

Also, i still want to know how it was possible doing that crosses you see at the start of MAP01 without using new textures...

Edited April 20, 2021 by Walter confetti

[smeghammer]

Ahhh - more like it. A cheesy Christmas tree:

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/v-z/xtree

 

Played with GZDoom, UV. Quite fun actually - no thinking required, just shoot the fuck out of everything while running around the tree, PEs first... Seemed to be an "all BoH killed" exit, which was a bit unexpected.

 

Here is my playthrough.

 

 

[Maribo]

FATE01.WAD // Thomas Evans // 1995 // PrBoom+, UV-Max, No Saves

Really easy by today's standards, oneshot this on my first run. Opens up with a big chamber full of hitscanners and a handful of pain elementals + some lost souls. It took me 8 minutes to finish this wad and probably 3-ish of that was just cleaning up lost souls that pain elementals had made while killing the actually dangerous hitscanners. Gives you a ton of plasma ammo but I never actually found a plasma rifle or BFG, but maybe I'm just blind. You'll have enough ammo for everything else to easily get through it, though. It was okay, I guess, I liked one of the rooms aesthetically. The midi doesn't loop very well, which is a shame because it's not half bad.

 

Spoiler

 

 

64 // 1337 Doomer // 2005 // PrBoom+, doesn't matter, lol

let me just copy the description: Description             : 32 maps not bigger than 64x64.

it was pretty funny

Spoiler

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Maribo
image embed

[Biodegradable]

Demon's Revenge

UV | GZDoom + Dead Marine

 

This map was a bit of a bitch to understand at first and I fully blame the mapper using switches in their on-state to confuse me lmao. Anyways, besides that nonsense and some cryptic progression in general (I mean, yeah it's Doom, whaddiya expect? :^P) this map's a cool challenge. The tight corridors while fighting mid-tier demons was hairy at points, especially with some cruelly-placed Archies. Got a bit fed up with the over-reliance of Barons towards the end, but I dare say this has aged pretty well. The layout, design and texture work are quite modern. I dare say DooMBoy was a little ahead of his time for a 2004 map and clearly did his homework. Honestly, this is the most impressive map I've played so far during one of these Random Adventures. It's a good, mean-spirited little map and it has my respect.

 

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Biodegradable

[Sectorslayer]

4 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

I dare say DooMBoy was a little ahead of his time for a 2004 map and clearly did his homework. Honestly, this is the most impressive map I've played so far during one of these Random Adventures. It's a good, mean-spirited little map and it has my respect.

Indeed. Also the eerie music fits very well.

[Sena]

Day 2, bildoom1.wad

 

I heard somewhere, I think it might have been from Chubzdoomer, that when making Doom, id set out to specifically make maps that would have been impossible in Wolf3D. Well, this mapset seems to be the opposite, it's so basic in its construction that it probably could have been in Wolf3D, there's at least one flight of stairs, and a few curvatures in the walls which just look kind of bad, and that's as advanced as it gets, it's covering a wound with a plaster, a superficial attempt to make the map look like it's anything other than what it is, room-hallway-room, a monotonous sequence which is not improved by making some of those rooms secrets.

 

The one good aspect of this WAD (3 maps) is that you only have to play for about 10 seconds to realise what it's going to be about, the first map's all the same blue texture, and it plays like a pop-up shooting gallery, as 99% of the enemies are so weak you can kill them all in less than a second, but like all good doom maps that consist entirely of one texture, there is no clear exit so you have to spend 5 minutes spamming use on walls to figure out where to go

Map 2 is the best of the lot, with a large, open slaughter map with way too few enemies for it to actually be difficult at all, and then after some unclear button pressing, you jump down to some place with explosive barrels and some lost souls, who presumptively were there to cause an explosion, but they didn't, and then there's some shite you have to fight in some tight corridors but no point, they're positioned in such a way that you can just run straight to the exit. Best of the lot, and still pretty bad.

Map 3 is the worst of the lot, didn't finish it because I couldn't be asked to, if it came out in the 2000s, I'd think that maybe it was a 'bad on purpose' parody of corridor shooters, perhaps Doom 3 in particular given how dark it is, but it's not, so I can't actually say anything good about it, a completely linear series of corridors that are extremely thin, and the map's circular, and after going through the droves of shotgunners who I didn't have to think twice about killing, I was evidently supposed to start spamming use on the walls, but I couldn't be asked. Presumptively, this was babby's first doom wad, and I'll summarise by saying it's like the Australian prime minister. Old and full of shit.

[Maribo]

Hell's Arena // Simon "Volte-Face" Broadhead // 2001 // PrBoom+, UV, No Saves

Cheese-able arena map, if you know how to induce infighting, it's pretty much an auto-win as long as you can dodge cyberdemon rockets. The cyberdemon round is a rocket/ssg duel by the way. Not very difficult, just slow and whatever-feeling. The last round is omega easy because you can induce infighting and then just chill out in the armory room til the exit platform lowers, it takes like a full minute or more. Didn't really like it.

Spoiler

 

Rock My World // Derek Altamirano // 1996 // PrBoom+, UV, No Saves

Very easy and basic, there's far too little enemy-wise for how big it is. It shows ambition in wanting to make something with a longer layout though, and I can't fault that, I suppose. The final courtyard is kind of cute, it also has this area that I think was meant to be an unmarked secret, because you can walk into this little damaging river and fall down into a little cavern, but then you're stuck and can't move at all, much less go back up. The reason I think it might have been meant to be a secret is that I idclipped out and there was a plasma rifle tucked away in small room connected to it. Unfortunate.

Spoiler

 

Fortress of Evil // mattjoes // 2010 // PrBoom+, UV-Max, No Saves

Small monster count, mid-high intensity encounters. Kind of mean with the hitscanners. Final encounter is a bit of a letdown, unfortunately. If you want to kill 5-10 minutes, it's not a bad pick.

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

DAY 15

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) August07.wad by Kenneth Jacobsen (TheAugustMan)(1996)

 

Spoiler

 

A small, very basic DM map with a rustic theme of stone and marble. The layout consists of a square arena with a RL accessible in the middle via teleporters. The map doesn't seem to be unplayable in DM, but it is far too generic. Also, it replaces map 07 slot.

 

File 2) Jam level #1 by jeff martin (1995)

 

 

Spoiler

 

Jam 1 is one of those wads where the author officially qualifies his map as being made for DM, but which is actually played as a singleplayer one because of the much too large and complex layout and the presence of monsters.

 

However, I enjoyed playing it because of the many spacious areas and the total non-linearity which favours exploration. On the other hand, we can deplore the absence of exit.

 

Artworks of the rock band "Grateful Dead" are scattered everywhere on the map. It adds a certain charm.

 

File 3) Tree2.WAD by Greg Lewis (1994)

 

Spoiler

 

Tree2 is a very high quality map for its time although it's still pretty basic by today's standards of course.

 

It is a level designed for the first episode but does not contain a specific theme. Sometimes you explore tech base like areas, sometimes marbled corridors or a cavernous red infernal passage.The map is linear and quite adventurous.

On the other hand, the level can be finished without difficulty although there are quite a few little traps using monster closets in particular. The big strength of Tree2 is its aesthetics, with the rather neat alignment of textures and the light gradations.

 

File 4) Fragglicution by Simon Howard (fraggle) (2005)

 

Spoiler

 

 

Another DM wad, but this time with a castle theme using Nick Baker's textures.

These are two small maps, but each of them has a detailling worthy of an Alien Vendetta map. To be honest, I think it's a shame that these are DM maps  can't be played in single mode.

 

File 5) DMATCH2.DEH (1996)

 

Well, it's a dehacked for Deathmatch. I don't know what it does since I can't open it in whacked4. I dont know who made it too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got bitten to death by two aliens in AvPvT2 - Alien Vs Predator Vs Terminator.

 

Spoiler

Edited April 21, 2021 by Roofi

[Sena]

Day 3, THT: Threnody (oh shit)

 

I recognised Chris Hansen and Doomkid in the list of mappers, and a lot of the custom sounds from Ancient Aliens, which are good, apart from one of the new pain sounds which sounded jarring, which I ascribe to the fact it's new pain sounds, so anything new is going to sound jarring no matter how good it is. But, despite the good precedent those good things set, I wasn't too impressed, this WAD totals 20 maps, but I think I was on 8 or 9 when I decided to skedaddle.

 

I don't know if it was a typo, because I have no clue what THT means, and you see a fair few of the textures that read TNT, presumptively recycled from TNT itself, I wouldn't know, I only played about 3 maps of that, and from what I've heard it only gets worse. As for THT, it looks pretty good, as good as I'd expect from such a new map, for the aforementioned reason I can't comment on how closely it resembles TNT, or even if it meant to at all, and so if it is then maybe it's not their fault for making unintuitive maps, as they were constrained by having to stick to a bad aesthetic. But, to actually get to the point already, the maps are difficult to navigate, not because of excessive nukage or platforming, but just because it does a bad job of making it clear where you're supposed to go, an issue which is not improved by not properly marking all the switches, alongside the very large number of elevators, which are so numerous sometimes it's hard to tell when there are multiple next to each other if they're supposed to lead you to different locations, or if they're just different entrances to the same place. As a side note, their definition of a secret seems to be any powerup that isn't directly on the floor for you to take, sometimes you've got to do some crafty platforming to get to a secret, even if it's in plain sight, that's perfectly normal, but it does seem to be a bit backwards that the 'secrets', which should be difficult to find, can include shotgun shells that are exceptionally common and are proportionally difficult to acquire, whereas keycards or switches needed to get to those keycards are something you need to push every single button in the map to figure out how to find. I don't know the origin of the KILL texture, which I thought was kind of funny, I guess that's a cost-effective way to remind the UAC marines what their objective is, but it reads KILL, not OPEN DOOR, even though that's what it was used for. Enemy placement's not great either, too many chaingunners who are placed in groups that are just large enough you're guaranteed to always lose at least a little bit of your health, and they start throwing in archviles later too, which just become a pain, I think I only got hit by them once, but having to spend all that ammo on an enemy who keeps resurrecting meat shields isn't particularly enticing, even if other WADs are much worse about it.

 

Basically, it's kind of long, too much for its own good, too convoluted in its design, and too many chaingunners, so maybe if they make a redux where they retard-proof it so I can actually can play it without having to go in circles for 10 minutes, I might be willing to give it another try, but I didn't particularly enjoy what I got.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 21, 2021 by Sena

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Hello, good afternoon, this thing that is done regarding / idgames has caught my attention, and I wanted to encourage myself to participate in this, so, I have already made my first play of Wad, which I would comment on at this time.

 

Map given to me in Random mode:

UAC Chronological Academy

 

Autor: codyvangogh

 

Little description:

According to its author, the map was made with the purpose of serving as a kind of presentation for decino in his videos where he presents himself to his viewers, in addition to that, the author is a fan of decino, therefore, the map is full to references of his videos, mostly those with a yellow background.

.

.

.

 

Gameplay:

 

Ultra-Violence || GZDoom || Vanilla

 

Status:

Deaths → 0

Saves → none

 

 

(Ironically and unfortunately I couldn't do a UV-MAX here, so I'm content with just having 100% monster kills.)

 

This map turned out to be very curious for me, I mean, since I had found out that it was a map created exclusively for decino, I imagined a map with an exaggerated difficulty, in terms of enemies of course, with a style similar to that of Sunlust or Valiant, to give an example of very complicated Wads, but apparently, the result came to be something completely different, and by this I mean everything in general, as if it had not been made for a playthrough of which decino tend to do in their videos, because although this map is not easy to complete, the truth is that it is very accessible for veteran players of the Doom saga, because its difficulty is totally exact to be played without problems, since it does not have very Slaughter areas brutal as if they have other wads or anything like that, it is a map with a totally comfortable progression in terms of battles, and its visual aspect is really remarkable, mainly in the structure that is expanded in var the places of the Wad, and a little in the design aspect. It is a very good wad, it has a very acceptable difficulty, there are almost no negative points, except for some bugs that I found, but outside of all that, it is a map that is really worth playing.

[Endless]

Welcome to the adventurers club @ElPadrecitoCholo

 

@Sena THT stands for Ty Halderman Tribute.

[Walter confetti]

14 hours ago, Roofi said:

Tree2.WAD by Greg Lewis (1994)

 

This is a pretty neat series of maps, especially the 3rd (and final?) one, also the author is more know for a little program called Dehacked that maybe you heard of...

 

Also, how the point system works? How many points are given for each map?

Edited April 22, 2021 by Walter confetti

[smeghammer]

One I did yesterday...

 

It's Ledges 2, for Doom 1.

 

Turns out it's one I have had for many years, so quite familiar. Its basically a deep arena/pit with lifts and some alcoves around the edge. Decided to play with Brutal. Sorry...

 

Anyway - it's very dated and definitely showing its age but quite fun nonetheless. Played with GZDoom 4.4, with freelook.

 

 

[smeghammer]

And today...

 

A Doom2 map, "UFO" (https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/d-f/dl_ufo).

 

Played with GZDoom 4.4, no jumping and freelook used.

 

A quick, cramped, UFO interior. Very short and easy, with plenty of ammo. 

 

 

[smeghammer]

Well, I had sod all to do today, so I had another crack. I got one called 'WET' (https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/v-z/wet) - a sort of sci-fi tech arena from 2001 (deathmatch, but with monsters). It uses 3D floors to very nice effect (IMO) and also uses deep, swimmable water. This latter is not implemented well at all (and is noted in the reviews, so I won't reiterate here). Aside from this, I thought the visuals were very cool and I had a blast playing this one.

 

I played, as usual, with GZDoom 4.4 and used freelook, but no jumping/crouching (though did use 'swim up' on this one in places)

 

My playthrough (with one death!):

 

 

 

[Roofi]

DAY 16

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) BILL2 by Bill Reynolds (Dallas DWANGO Senior Moderator) (1995)

 

Spoiler

 

An old DM map, which, according to the author, was designed for close-quarters combat. This map uses the music from map 23 which fortunately saves us from the traditional D_RUNNIN. I don't have anything special to say to be honest, it seems to be fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

... I got (very) sadisticly crushed at the very first map of the  2001 speedmapping project Doomworld Speedmapping Compilation #3

 

Spoiler

 

[Sena]

Day 3, Heroes 2 (oh fuck)

 

It's shite. Mostly for the same problems as the last one. It's got custom sounds, the stuff that plays when walls lower was good, everything else wasn't much of an improvement, and I heard some crackling which probably suggested that at least one of them wasn't that great.

Big problem, Doom is a game where you have to open doors in order to advance, but if there is one thing this WAD hates, it is opening doors the simple way, i.e. you walk up to them and press space. If there are two things this WAD hates, it is opening doors the simple way, and actually using door textures for doors. I wouldn't be surprised if at least 90% of the doors that didn't require keys, (at least they marked those properly) was something other than a door, and when those big things that are necessary to move forwards in the game look identical to the rest of the room, and part of that gameplay involves having to backtrack through areas to get keys, it's just an extra step they didn't need to make, just means once I clear an area rather than moving on, I have to spend several minutes on every single possible wall texture to find out where to go. Played map 1 and 2, they're mostly the same, normally I don't skip maps unless I'm completely lost for a good portion of time, but I skipped map 3 immediately because when I started it reminded me of Slough of Despair, and map 4 was as bad as the rest of them and I needed a piss. 

Didn't take many screenshots, the first one in particular looks exceptionally unremarkable. It's a useless area that holds nothing needed to advance, but to leave, rather than the elevator activating when you stand on it, like every other map I've played, you have to activate a switch. A switch which is on the right, which looks identical to the wall in front and to the left. It's not like it's actually a cleverly built trap, like a small room with a megasphere where the door locks so it forces you to fight the enemies, you can cornerpeek so easily that you'll be fine, it's just there to create confusion, if I wanted a game where figuring out how to leave this room that seemingly has nothing I can use was part of the experience, I'd play one of those escape room point and click adventures, not Doom.

[Maribo]

Meek // Chris Hansen // 2007 // PrBoom+, UV-Max, No Saves

Took me two attempts in total, pretty neat E1-tribute. I have a real soft spot for E1 stylistic levels, even if they're easy I tend to like them more than other levels just because I love the general pacing of a competent E1-like level. This one kept me tighter on ammo than I expected, at least up til like, maybe halfway through. It's also a bit cramped in some places, more cramped than I remember E1 generally being, aside from the obvious instances. Not bad at all, 5-10 minute time killer for E1 fans.

Spoiler

 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

14 hours ago, Endless said:

Welcome to the adventurers club @ElPadrecitoCholo

 

Thank you very much @Endless 

[ElPadrecitoCholo]

Second map given to me in Random mode:

Hell's Arena

 

Autor: Simon "Volte-Face" Broadhead

 

Little Description:

According to its author, the map is designed to serve as a small combat arena, although unlike other maps that go to the brutal with placing enough medikits and exaggerated amounts of enemies as if this were Serious Sam, and that on top of that they are made in gray rooms And boring, here the author only provides limited Medikits, a reduced amount of enemies and a lot of detail to his map, because he does not want it to look monotonous and that the challenge he did in this Wad is very well done.

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.

.

 

Gameplay:

 

Ultra-Violence || Zandronum || Vanilla

 

Status:

Deaths → 0

Saves → none

 

 

A map that I found quite entertaining because of the content it offered, the truth was that it was very well prepared, no complicated Slaughters or that included a single enemy but multiplied to make things very horrible, as is the case of using many Revenants, Archviles or Barons of Hell, in this case, the variety was quite noticeable, I really enjoyed it a lot, even more so the battle of the Cyberdemon, all this made the map very entertaining and not so predictable, although something here is a fact, if you are a distracted player and are not careful during battles, the enemies will easily destroy you without much problem, even though the amount of demons here is small.

Edited April 23, 2021 by ElPadrecitoCholo

[Roofi]

DAY 17

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

 

No review today. I died in the first wad "The Lower World" which is a very strange underground level filled with many low-tiers/mid-tiers monsters. 

 

Spoiler

 

[Walter confetti]

Dreams - Joe Winter (Vanilla Doom 2, 1997, played with doom2.exe on dosbox)

Spoiler

A not so dreamy dark castle / medieval (i think?) level with some good and bad parts, especially after the red key door, everything is broken! Sectors bleeding, rave lights that hurt your eyes and no way to pass in the other sections of the room without idclipping, that part is freaking disaster! But for the level, is a pretty generic map with nothing groundbreaking or notable, also feels more older of it's actual year... Layout is extremly rectangular, with some minor interesting expections that works as a eye candy of the wad, gameplay is basic but kinda hard when you enter in the "secret" BIGBRIK tunnels. Yes there's a lot of "secrets" that appears in this map. The "Sweet Dreams" midi used here is not bad. Not the first time i hear this song used in a 90s wad, but the first time i heard this midi version of it.

[Sena]

Day 4: Hells Half Acre

 

Well, it's a maze. A reasonably short one, and the enemy placement's pretty good, and it's very dark, ranging from "Doom 3 level" to "unless you're getting shot at there is zero light at all." A fair bit of verticality, which means if you're a dumbass like me you're going to walk through the same areas multiple times, and when exiting that area means dealing with some nukage, might cause some problems, might not. It does what it says on the tin, the combat encounters are pretty okay, even if it's way too narrow in places, and its simplicity means it's not actually as bad as some other maps that involve getting lost for extended periods of time.

 

 

[Walter confetti]

Searching for a small to play before sleep using the random button, i've got...

Build - picklehammer (Zdoom, 2002, played with Gzdoom 4.5.0 -compatibility zdoom 2.0.63)

 

A dark room with 4 archviles, 3 pain elemental, 3 revenants, a arachnotron, various guns with no ammo and also no health.

A icon of Sin is in the middle the room, unguarded and easily killable even from other monsters.

 

A pretty generic "jokewad" with a cute, funny music track. The other point of interest is that this map was made by a "big" name here on doomworld, at least 20 and plus years ago (iirc he was or even still be a moderator of this site).

Edited April 24, 2021 by Walter confetti

[Sena]

Day 5: Demon's Revenge

 

The mapper's first map, and judging it alongside most first maps, this is actually very good. Judging it alongside all maps I've played, it's serviceable, pretty short, it has no music, and it's map 21, but since I didn't feel like playing the first 20 maps beforehand I was on a pistol start, which meant SSGing a lot more barons than I'm normally comfortable with. The level itself is very narrow, once an archvile appears towards the end of the level it makes you realise how little architecture it really has, the map is composed of various 'boxes' without any cover or variation. And, for such a narrow map, it is surprisingly difficult, not much else to say since it's so short, but it's a lot better than plenty of other first maps I've had the displeasure of enduring on the archive.

 

[Maribo]

oh // Walter "Daimon" Confalonieri // 2015 // PrBoom+, UV, No Saves

Basic, easy, couple of minutes map. It's okay. There's not really a lot to talk about. The automap kind of looks like a face, I suppose.

Spoiler

 

In Loving Memory // MidnightMage // 2021 // PrBoom+, UV, No Saves

These are dark, so dark in fact that I said fuck it and changed from 8bit to OpenGL rendering to make things actually visible. I really really like these maps, they're a bit hitscan and trap-heavy but figuring out the best way to trigger and deal with them was a lot more fun than I thought when I first began playing. Good Archvile placement. Some weird secrets, both in the form of things that don't really feel like a secret being marked as a secret anyway, and things that are hidden and feel like they should be marked as a secret, but are not. They're straightforward, not very long, and the finale is a slaughter-lite with how much ammo it gives you relative to much you probably need to complete it. Very fun experience, though if I'd sequenced the wad I might have swapped MAP01 and MAP02 in placement. MAP01 is definitely paced like an opening level for a set (though it's my least favorite by far), but MAP02 convinced me to finish the whole thing in one go.

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

DAY 18

 

I play until I die or intentionally stop. I don't comment the wad where I die/stop.

 

File 1) dm_doomedfate by DSM (2005)

 

Spoiler

 

A DM map for Ultimate Doom designed to be played with jumping and item resealing. This level replaces the E3M3 slot and keeps the original music.

 

I have to say that I liked the height variations on this map but the jump is not really useful except in some places. Indeed, most of the areas are accessible by stairs or lifts. Also, the level doesn't use any zdoom features, which makes it playable on a limit-removing port such as crispy Doom

 

For some reason, this map reminds me of the earlier Mechadon works. I have to say that the unopenable doors make the level feel more vertical.

 

However, unless I'm wrong, the BFG and the soulsphere are not accessible. There is also no exit.

 

File 2) Desert Crypt by Ken Phipps(1998)

Spoiler

 

 

A rather long and difficult heretic map replacing the E2M1 slot taking place in a desert temple with a heavy use of ochre textures.

 

I'm far from being a big Heretic fan but I enjoyed this particularly adventurous map. The author thought of putting elements such as tombs or a pyramid to create a mystical atmosphere.

 

During my journey, I had a tendency to run out of ammunition simply because I had found some weapons rather late. You manage to find your way around but the progression is sometimes quite confusing with lots of little switches to activate.

 

In any case, it remains a very good map for the time with a lot of exploration and well thought traps.

 

File 3) Another Terry WAD made for the sole purpose of getting Aquarius199's attention. by Nambona890 (2016)

Spoiler

 

 

The title is quite explicit. It's a silly terry wad made in 10 minutes to get Aquarius' attention.At the end, you end up in an untextured room and get thrown around with unbearable sounds. However, you don't die so I consider that I can continue my adventure.

 

Regarding Aquarius, I used to watch it a lot back in the day and thought it was funny but the concept has become too repetitive and therefore boring.

 

File 4) Infernal Nuclear Plant by nambona890 (2014)

 

Spoiler

 

Another troll map by nambona890 (I'm very lucky...). It's just a regular tech base with deliberately missing textures and things. You can't beat it without idclip because there is a door requiring a yellow key but no yellow key...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I died in the 2007 jokewad It Only Gets Worse. (Forgot to take screen). It was a strange day with terry and heretic wads...