Single-map wad recommendations thread - share your favourite hidden gems!

[Omniarch]

Exactly What It Says On The Tin.

 

Sometimes, a good single map can really hit the spot, whether it be an hour long adventure or something more modest. Unfortunately, such releases (apart fom the largest and most well-known instances) are often overlooked by events like the Cacowards or 100 Most Memorable Maps, and also by most recommendation lists, my own included. That leaves word-of-mouth as the main method by which to find stand-alone hidden gems, which is what this thread is for.

 

Before we begin, a couple of notes:

• descriptions / explanations / exhortations of any length are welcome, but not required.
• same goes for screenshots, though try to keep these to a minimum, to preserve vertical space (note: you can resize an image embed by double-clicking on it in the editor).
• don't worry about being redundant, especially if you have something  to say about your recommendation(s) - the more recs something has, the more inclined people might be to check it out, after all.
• all recommendations, whether they be award-winning hits or obscure idgames artefacts, are welcome. The only rule is that implied by the title. Do note that wads with end- or bonus maps still very much count - Mutabor, which has both, would be a valid recommendation, for example.

 

That's all - I look foward to what y'all have to say :)

[slowfade]

I found Tower of Lies by chance on the latest reviews panel and I'm still thinking about it once in a while, some weeks later. Such a quality, atmospheric map with some cool tricks up its sleeve. Link: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/j-l/lies

[Geniraul]

I think we needed a thread like this, so thank you! I will go with my usual but constantly updated list and recommend these fascinating single-map PWADs right here:

 

• Doom Center by @Doorhenge

 

Spoiler

 

 

• My House.wad by @Veddge

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Doomle Jump by JSO_x (this is basically Doodle Jump for GZDoom, so one infinite map C:)

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Engineer Nukem by @mArt1And00m3r11339

 

Spoiler

 

 

• The Stronghold by @Chubzdoomer

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Tech Gone Bad (E1M8B) by John Romero

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

• Phobos Mission Control (E1M4B) by John Romero

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Christmas Doom 2 by Yukio Ide

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Justec.zip by Thomas J

• Nuts 3 by @Foofoo

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Castle of the Damned by Massimo Ciano

 

Spoiler

 

 

• The House of Cyberdemon by Massimo Ciano

• Lullaby by @Danlex

 

Spoiler

 

 

• RainbowRubik.pk3 by @Danlex

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Doomdream by Doomguyer

 

Spoiler

 

 

• The Warlcok's Hearth by @Khorus

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Solitude by @Chubzdoomer

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Pain Above All by @Chubzdoomer

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Star Trek - Doom Invasion by Thomas Spaulding & Grant Jacobs

 

Spoiler

 

Personally, I really like this level, but I do understand Dwars' feeling about this WAD 😅

 

• Bratislava 2011 by @Jodwin
• Bathdoom by @Dieting Hippo

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Stanley by @Dee Legit

 

Spoiler

 

 

• No Chance by @Death-Destiny

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Gateway to Shangri-La by @Xulgonoth

 

Spoiler

 

 

• 15CC.wad by @dmslr

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Cybershot by @Jacek Bourne

• Okuplok by @Okuplok

 

Spoiler

 

 

• DisInsector by Иван Нефедов

 

Spoiler

 

 

• Revenant Bus by @Revenant100

 

Spoiler

 

 

I might say more about these maps and add some other ones (plus maybe multimedia packed into spoilers) in future, either by editing this post or making new more concrete posts dedicated to from one to three WADs or something like that.

 

P. S. I think this thread should be in WAD Discussion.

Edited August 18, 2023 by Geniraul
Juin 1: No Chance, Gateway to Shangri-La, 15CC.wad, Cybershot, Okuplok. June 6: Videos packed in spoilers. June 7: DisInsector. June 26: Revenant Bus.

[Kwisior]

• I've heard that Jade Earth is good, but I didn't play it. It's really long apparently.
• Decade - Map made for Doom's 10th anniversary. Features some 'deja vu' rooms from the original games, the combat flows well and it looks nice.
• No Chance is a CBT gauntlet, but maybe you're into that.
• Don't Turn Your Back On The City won a Cacoward recently. It doesn't take more than 20-30 minutes.
• Ar Luminae - huge, aesthetic, advanced
• Miasma
• The Vrack series is definitely worth checking out.
• Deus Vult - A classic. Also very difficult and big.
• Remnant won a Cacoward, but I didn't play it.
• Have You Seen Hungry Wolves - Ribbiks made it, so it must be good.
• Breathless - hard slaughter map.
• Hanging Gardens - a hidden gem by the one and only Skillsaw.
• The Chord series is a bunch of classics.
• Entropy - yet another hard slaughter map by Nirvana.
• Null Space
• Dead wire and Dead.air - inspired by the aforementioned Null Space.

[cannonball]

Both of these competitions held two years ago should yield some real gems. I remember playing Breezeep's map from the Tarnsman iteration that was sublime (It also won that contest).

 

 

 

All I can say for Breezeep’s “ Alfonzo throws hands with the purple people eater is that whilst the interiors a clean and well presented, it is the surrounding natural landscape that makes your jaw drop, couple that with a almost professional gloss in terms of combat and progress makes this a must see for any fan of modern doom mapping.

Edited May 31, 2023 by cannonball
Edited to fit with the op request. I may come back to this at some point.

[Bobby :D]

Here's an updating list of some of my recommendations:

Spoiler

Jimmy has a lot of really great & notable single map wads. One of my favorite of his in recent years is his teaser release of Gloombase, which really knocks it's 2000's ZDoom flair out of the park with some really tasteful use of the era's embellished-to-hell detailing and slightly self-serious cinematics and narrative, plus a side quest for a custom weapon to boot!

idGames link for Gloombase

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/g-i/gloombase

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Torn by Market Anarchy is a tight and methodical sunder-lite that emulates the aesthetics of old sunder, particularly my favorite map "Pale Monument". Like old sunder, it has a stark contrast in combat between tightrope/platforming crawls and splurging murder-fests that challenge your movement chops.

idGames link for Torn

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/s-u/torn

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 

Edited May 31, 2023 by Bobby "J

[Al-Faris M]

I enjoyed John Romero's Tech Gone Bad after SIGIL, also known as E1M8B which means it's John Romero's take on Phobos Anomaly. It's basically the quintessential Romero map: An E1-themed boss map with a little bit of resemblance to E2 with those red earthquake-ish floor things, LOTS of shotgunners, nukage and radiation suits, use of all 3 keycards, and an outside area with slight platforming. Nowadays I don't really see this map being mentioned.


^{Reminds me of E1M2.}

^{Looks familiar...}

Edited May 31, 2023 by Al-Faris M

[Omniarch]

What, you think I started this thread with altruistic intentions? Nay, ‘tis a fine occasion for a bit of a ramble, says I. Jokes aside, I felt like writing about a very special trio of maps that are very near and dear to my heart, and this seemed like a good opportunity. Without further ado:

 

The Tourniquet Trilogy (I wish I could say ‘Quartet’, both for the added alliterative appeal and for the implication of more tourniquet maps. Sigh)

 

Altitude

 

Perhaps the least-known among tourniquet’s singles, Altitude is more Mutabor’s scruffy grandfather than Miasma’s slightly deranged little cousin, despite coming out in the same year as the latter - it is, as the name implies, extremely vertical both geometrically and in terms of progression, and also vanilla compatible, somehow, both of which are defining characteristics of the latest of tourniquet’s one-man masterworks. It is also non-linear, though in a more straightforward way than either of its relatives, essentially boiling down to a choose-your-key affair for the most part. The combat also follows a similar formula to the author’s other outings, though for my money the individual setups are actually among his most interesting, emphasising as they often do the transformation of relevant geometry in interesting and unexpected ways.

 

Uniquely among the three, Altitude makes exclusive use of stock textures, which creates a surreal feeling of familiarity and alienation, as though the skin of something known has been stretched awkwardly around the figure of something very much not. Or something. Also, the yakfak midi accompanying the map is one of those pieces that really ought to become grating, but doesn’t, and also ends up defining the tone of the experience in a really transformative way.

 

Miasma

 

The first of tourniquet’s duology of big, bad, green (so very green) megamaps, Miasma is an authorial tour de force, an inarguable demonstration of its creator’s unique genius. Beautifully refined on every level, from its gorgeous detailing, fine-tuned encounters, artful progression and deeply immersive atmosphere, this map is an astounding work of craft, and yet conveys a surprising feeling of fluidity and intrigue despite that. There is no sense of stiffness or immutability about Miasma: despite their refinement, these spaces feel alien and mysterious. Perhaps it has something to do with the map’s truly non-linear and sometimes unintuitive progression, leading the player through the architecture in unpredictable ways, or maybe it’s the map’s many secrets, many of which require a degree of spatial awareness and lateral thinking that one tends more to associate with those who try to go out of bounds rather than regular players. Or something else. Or all of the above. Probably the latter.

 

Regardless, what I love most about Miasma is its marriage of fine craft, bold originality and some nameless quality I struggle to put my finger on. Also the midi, which I like better here than in The Mucus Flow. Fight me.

 

Mutabor

 

The culmination of everything great about both of its predecessors, Mutabor is (as of writing) tourniquet’s magnum opus, in my view anyway, and one of the greatest maps ever made, also subjectively objectively. A towering, beguiling and ever mysterious necropolis, drowning in poison ichor, standing tall in a nameless void, its gurgling innards swarming with the denizens of hell - in other words, a fitting backdrop for the most engaging escapist fantasy I can imagine! No, it’s not weird. You’re weird. Ahem.

 

Anyway, the initial plunge into this unfathomable space is an experience not easily forgotten: upon entry, one finds oneself stranded in the mid-point of some unknowable metropolis, under-armed and overstimulated with potential options. From this point a range of potentialities fan out in a fractal pattern, the sheer range of possible progression paths overwhelming even on second, third or fourth playthroughs. A given player’s path is liable to cross over itself on many occasions, and to span the full range of height-levels that the map has to offer, from dizzying heights to crushing, poison-drenched depths, and all betwixt.

 

This journey will be inevitably complicated by the otherworld’s erstwhile inhabitants: demons spew forth as though emerging from the walls themselves, so elegantly does tourniquet weave the action into the very bones of the map. This organic approach to combat casts player and monster alike as interlopers, scrabbling for respite in the bowels of a madman’s capital, which only deepens the immersion.

 

Tourniquet’s inspired decision to make use of transparent floors also serves to heighten (lol) this sense of alienation, allowing the player to appreciate the map's sheer verticality without resorting to freelook. Despite a strict adherence to the original game’s static limits, Mutabor is a sumptuous map, its distinctive texture-palette doing the bulk of the lifting in that ever-so-appealing way that began with Espi and has continued to evolve ever since. Composition also plays a role in this, showing off just enough of the map’s splendour to intimidate and impress, but hiding far more, giving the map a fantastic sense of depth. Now there’s an example of limitation leading to innovation! Either that or I’m reading too much into it. Eh. The effect is the same regardless.

 

Suffice to say, this map is a magnificent work of craft, much like Miasma, and one that retains and magnifies the sense of mystery present in that map and its cousin, Altitude. I could say more, but this isn’t really supposed to be a review or analysis or whatever; ‘tis just a light ramble (yes this is what passes for brief in Omni-land - welcome to my world; hope you enjoyed your stay!).

 

Side note: the yakfak midi that accompanies this outing is fantastic, forming the musical half of one of the best track-map pairings I've... er, seen or heard.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Omniarch
forgot the links like a dumbass

[Somniac]

An older one and a newer one:

 

The Cognition Engine - This map does "tense" just so well. Its like being in the corrupted mind of a dying technological monstrosity. I haven't really seen the tech/flesh look done quite like this before. There's some great high-octane combat at points and the entire thing has a great tension running through it. 

 

Deimos Subway - an early WAD from 1994 that does a really good job of replicating a more realistic space, given the tools available. Its pretty easy, but its one of my favourite maps for some quick chilled out Doom. The Jazz MIDI choice is IMO super cool, if not a product of its time. 

[HQDefault]

1 hour ago, Omniarch said:

What, you think I started this thread with altruistic intentions? Nay, ‘tis a fine occasion for a bit of a ramble, says I. Jokes aside, I felt like writing about a very special trio of maps that are very near and dear to my heart, and this seemed like a good opportunity. Without further ado:

 

The Tourniquet Trilogy (I wish I could say ‘Quartet’, both for the added alliterative appeal and for the implication of more tourniquet maps. Sigh)

 

    ~Snip~

 

Any chance you have the link for these? I'd like to give at least one of them a spin.

[Omniarch]

Just now, HQDefault said:

 

Any chance you have the link for these? I'd like to give at least one of them a spin.

Oops, I forgot that part. My bad, heh. Check the post again - they should be in now.

[HQDefault]

1 minute ago, Omniarch said:

Oops, I forgot that part. My bad, heh. Check the post again - they should be in now.

pog

[INfront95]

Saw it pop up and second Dead.wire its a great and atmospheric wad with good and eery visuals. Not too long to overstay its welcome.

Spoiler

 

City of the damned: Apocalypse cool, blood style, semi sandbox city level. Nice atmosphere , interesting idea when siren sound you need to seek shelter or you will die, REALLY good sound desing. Long story short, Recomend.

Spoiler

Monster Hunter LTD - Is a good wad set in the abandoned factory, again nice visuals, chill midi, fine gameplay, VERY doomcute factory, also had a sequel map MH.ltd 2

Recommend.
 

Spoiler

 

Edited May 31, 2023 by INfront95

[Maribo]

Ashen Garden

Kiln of the First Flame. I wish Skepticist made more maps. There's a particular searing heat (haha, a pun) to a couple of the fights he put into this map, and it made me wish that there was an entire episode worth of this ashen world aesthetic.

Spoiler

 

Sigma

Underwater portion has to be seen to be believed. Touches my heart for reasons that I'm not quite how to articulate. Didy's work as a whole has a particular soul to it.

Spoiler

 

Long Days

Nuts love letter - world-ending, regretful, drowsy.

Spoiler

 

My Soul Trapped in A WIN98 PC

Nostalgia and emotional attachment to technology. Envisioning digital spaces as physical, flesh meets data.

Spoiler

 

Nuts 3

"You buy a single black balloon with white stars on it for your grandmother's birthday. As you walk out of the balloon store, something happens. The balloon starts to grow in size. Bigger and bigger. Until it's so big that it pops, and from within it, an ancient world spills out over your reality and all your consiousness slips into it's dark shoes."

Fantasy, melancholy, framing.

Spoiler

 

Black Room // The Secret Energy // Darkest Room

Paul977 spent several maps dedicated to mastering the craft of "tech base carved into mountainous terrain".

Spoiler

 

 

Elysion

I really do have a thing for things that I perceive as melancholic in Doom. I don't mind the rain.

Spoiler

[MtPain27]

I'll steal Nirvana's sleeper answer because it's a good one:

 

 

[Capellan]

Triple-Play is very long in the tooth, now, but IMO still worth a look as an early example of "the map plays completely differently on different difficulty settings".

 

[Biodegradable]

Here are my top 3 picks in terms of recent releases that I've really enjoyed. While none of them are necessarily earth-shattering in terms of design, they are all built on strong foundations that help remind people that you don't need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to make an engaging map. None of these are necessarily "hidden", but I think they all deserve a lot more attention. :^)

 

 

[ICID]

Wow, two whole replies before somebody mentioned MyHouse - the hype is really dying down!

Anyway, here's a few oddities that I've encountered in my ER/iWA adventures and elsewhere:

• Warpzone (Phobus, 2006) is an epic (if slightly dated) magnum opus that takes you to four distinct dimensions full of memorable setpieces.
• Foursite (Bauul, 2016) is a gargantuan adventure with an insane level of visual detail, perfect for if you play Warpzone and somehow want something even longer.
• dead.air (Xaser, 2016) is a Cacoward winner you've probably already heard of, but that doesn't stop it from being one of the coolest and most unique GZDoom experiences ever.
• Infraworld - Coma Moonlight (2021, StormCatcher.77) is another GZDoom-based Cacoward winner that will make your jaw drop with its gorgeous visuals (which to be fair is true of all StormCatcher maps.)
• Pigeye 3.0 (1998, Sparkle Tom) is very much a 90s map and therefore won't be to everyone's taste, but stands out from its contemporaries with well-balanced slaughter-lite gameplay that has stuck with me.
• Assault on Chextropolis (Stormwalker, 2018) is the best Chex Quest map, period - it even manages to build a brilliant setpiece fight out of the stupid wall monster from E1M5. If you (like me) are one of the 12 people who still play Chex Quest for fun, this is a must-have.

[DeafPixel]

+1 for Elysion, pounds my ass on UV yet it still feels so peaceful

[LadyMistDragon]

EVIL.WAD - So maybe the name's a bit shit. However, anyone who's up for a map that's both concise, secret-rich and packed with visual storytelling should really check this out. It can be divided into two distinct sections. The first is an underground mine, leading to a nasty tomb at the end which will prove much easier to handle if a nearby secret is found beforehand. The second is a moderately-detailed outdoor area, containing lots of brown rock a la Fragport but spiced up with different areas scattered throughout. Combat is probably a little besides the point in most locations, but trust me, there are some fights that can be seriously nasty! The Mastermind fight is probably a little bit awkward, due to the raising/lowering pillars and the fact that you've got to drop down into the funnel at the center and pick the blue key up for the surface to raise up. In the meantime, she'll probably tear you to shreds for a bit. Elsewhere however, flares can be spotted in certain remote locations, some very interesting sprites are used (a Doomguy skeleton in one case) and even a couple of odd Easter eggs that are some private in-joke of the author. If you find a certain hidden switch, the author's signature in fireblue will even be raised near the end. The sloppy placement and overly large area at the end are undoubtedly further proof of this. As an exploration map that's not too long, it gets close to being very good! Another note: the midi of Alice in Chains' "Junkhead" feels like an excellent choice for a map that in many ways feels like an outtake from a Fragport sequel! Good stuff.

 

 

 

Another E1M1 remake - Don't be deceived by the name, this is a very extensive reimagining. Even though it's possible to reach the exit in roughly the same time as the original, there's so much more going on! An underground cave with the strongest baddies, some other additional facilities and an incredibly absorbing environment overall, it's very easy to lose time here.

 

 

 

Cognition Engine - This has already been mentioned, but with very good reason. The internal narrative is intriguing, the secret areas are fascinating in how they flesh out said narrative and best yet, the way tech melds seamlessly into a flesh aesthetic while utilizing a non-vanilla aesthetic gives it the sort of qualities that leave it in strong Cacoward contention!

 

 

 

dead.wire - I already wrote about this for the spoopy club of spoopiness but needless to say, the static background and transparent enemies make for a highly unsettling atmosphere. It's kind of like a more normalized Cruelty Squad blended with something adjacent to Quake and it's really, really good!

 

 

Vinyl Choloride Volcano - Made by a contributor to /vr/ projects, the design shows about as much inspiration and sense of place as anything from those projects! The minor Hangar homage was kind of cool. But also, there's something incredibly charming about blending some incredibly nice bases inside a Plutonia-styled layout to create a secret-rich environment that always left me eager to explore more! Might also just be a sucker for docks as it happens. I'm not sure. I just know I loved it.

 

Dead End Dust-Up One might compare this to a less-detailed Never Turn Your Back on the City. In either case, this is a very nice city environment. Crack houses and basketball courts can be spotted and what's more, the combat is up-to-snuff easily! There isn't lots that can be called difficult but monster placement is deliberate enough to keep most people engaged! And that's a nice midi it's got too!

 

UAC Bioweapons Facility - There's technically a map after this one in the wad as it stands now but this one stands out due to its general expansiveness and secret-rich environment. The trucks outside are really cool and layout shows serious thought given to it. There's lots of details and also surprisingly strong use of custom monsters. I'd go so far as to say it's better than something like Waterlab the Cacoward winner from 2017! It was just more intriguing, if more confusing than that map.

 

Orcus Base - This is one of those rather inconsistent maps that has some seriously cool moments, the teleportation activation room the barracks with the Polybius machine that kills you, then the trip to Hell, then finally, return to the base and exit into a beautiful night sky after a big battle....well, calling these moments few and far between might be a stretch but things are drawn-out enough that one's patience might be tried....

 

Toxicity - It's strange. LVENDead did not make a huge impact on me with a GZDoom map he did some time back but with this and that hell-themed map he released a month or two back, he's quickly rocketing into the ranks of mappers I always look forward too, whether I've got time for them or not. This multi-layered extravaganza shows there's still plenty of juice that can be squeezed out of that ol' slime lime. Fairly open-ended, fairly easy to navigate and dangerous without getting frustrating (mostly) it's very fun trying to figure out where to go and how to handle everything. The lift raising us to the end is actually pretty nice!

Edited June 1, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[TheShep]

11 hours ago, cannonball said:

Both of these competitions held two years ago should yield some real gems. I remember playing Breezeep's map from the Tarnsman iteration that was sublime (It also won that contest).

 

 

 

All I can say for Breezeep’s “ Alfonzo throws hands with the purple people eater is that whilst the interiors a clean and well presented, it is the surrounding natural landscape that makes your jaw drop, couple that with a almost professional gloss in terms of combat and progress makes this a must see for any fan of modern doom mapping.

 

These were the first maps I streamed and made highlights of... definite gems for sure.

[xScavengerWolfx]

This was supposed to a 4 map set for plutonia using UDMF but i ended up scrapping the second map for it since i got busy with other stuff. So this is my first plutoina wad i made a while back learning the UDMF Format. If your a fan of getting you ass handed to you mixed with the plutoina flare, there give my single map called Hidden Congo Facility.

 

 

Edited June 1, 2023 by xScavengerWolfx
Can't spell wright

[uber]

It's a very recent release so most people might already be aware of it, but I haven't seen AD's Terminal Stages of Nostalgia posted here yet. The fact that it manages to stand on its own as a single map is a testament to how memorable and well executed the main concept is - and I also can't say no to a map with that many barrels.

Edited June 2, 2023 by uber

[Nefelibeta]

Raddicted wads :>

(experimental, hyper-detailed with stock textures, and challenging gameplay if that's what you liked)

Spoiler

 

 

 

rd. maps :P

Spoiler

 

 

Previously...?
A little bit more than a simple tongue-in-cheek fan-fiction.

Spoiler

 

stuff2 (ok technically 3 maps but they are short)

Maybe a little dance as a break was what we needed afterall.

Spoiler

 

On 6/1/2023 at 6:30 AM, Maribo said:

Elysion

I really do have a thing for things that I perceive as melancholic in Doom. I don't mind the rain.

Beesong

Minus the sympathy, double the cruelty.

Spoiler

 

 

[Captain Ventris]

Void by Cyb. Absolutely legendary.