Soaked in Blood - An Ultimate Doom Episode 1 Replacement [Now on Idgames!]

[Super Jamie]

Really enjoyed this.

 

The first three maps are skippable. Too slow and the shotgun overstays its welcome.

 

E1M4 really picks up. From there, these become some of most enjoyable maps I've ever played. Stays strong right until the end of the episode.

 

Positives: You nail that wandering nonlinear E1 feel perfectly. At times it felt like the best parts of vanilla 1994 all over again. It's wonderful. There are a lot of good classic episode PWADs but it's really rare to get that aspect of classic mapping done well. Great achievement. Some extremely satisfying barrel kills too, just often enough that it feels like a treat every time.

 

Criticism: Secrets are barely hinted at or not at all, I needed automap cheat for most. A few dud encounters, like traps with no escape because you get boxed in with no warning, or monsters bottlenecked in doorways providing no challenge. Way too much health and ammo but when I'm having this much fun I don't really care.

 

Overall definitely worth the time from M4 onwards. I will keep this to play again in future.

[T.Will]

22 hours ago, Super Jamie said:

Really enjoyed this.

 

The first three maps are skippable. Too slow and the shotgun overstays its welcome.

 

E1M4 really picks up. From there, these become some of most enjoyable maps I've ever played. Stays strong right until the end of the episode.

 

Positives: You nail that wandering nonlinear E1 feel perfectly. At times it felt like the best parts of vanilla 1994 all over again. It's wonderful. There are a lot of good classic episode PWADs but it's really rare to get that aspect of classic mapping done well. Great achievement. Some extremely satisfying barrel kills too, just often enough that it feels like a treat every time.

 

Criticism: Secrets are barely hinted at or not at all, I needed automap cheat for most. A few dud encounters, like traps with no escape because you get boxed in with no warning, or monsters bottlenecked in doorways providing no challenge. Way too much health and ammo but when I'm having this much fun I don't really care.

 

Overall definitely worth the time from M4 onwards. I will keep this to play again in future.

I’m really glad you enjoyed this set. This wad feels so long ago with all I’ve improved on in my maps. Either way it’s amazing this wad is still creating fun moments for many.