Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures #066

[ICID]

^{(logo by @4MaTC)}

 

ICID, 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 two weeks to select random WADs in search of hidden treasures, lost promises, or our worst nightmares! We use the /idgames archive’s special feature that lets us search for random files. Of course, sometimes the results are resources or unplayable stuff, so we focus on looking for WADs.

 

So, what do we do here?

1. Play at least one random WAD in a two-week period of time. WADs are selected using the Random File feature on /idgames or from the list below.
2. Post a review of whatever you play.
3. Always provide the name of the WAD, the name of the author, and a link to the file.
4. Play however you want, on any skill level, and with any source port, as long as you play the WAD as intended/in working shape.
5. Be respectful. It's okay to criticize a map, but remember that many mappers read these review threads and behave accordingly. Also, please don't tag mappers into a negative review of their work.

 

What kind of WADs are we looking for?

Any file on /idgames is fair game, but most of us choose to stick to singleplayer Doom or Heretic WADs that work in our sourceport(s) of choice. If you're worried about finding Terrywads or broken files, I also pull at least five random WADs for the event. Feel free to play them with me if you wish, or look for your own! The point of the event is to encourage you to explore this vast, random world. 

 

Recommendations for reviewing:

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1. Please take screenshots or video of your adventures.

2. Commenting the source port and difficulty level is not required, but provides helpful context to your review.

3. Try to stick to no more than 1 WAD per day to avoid burnout, but this part’s all up to you, champ!

4. Reviews of all formats are valid. Both longform and shortform are good as long as you write with integrity.

 

Endless Random /idgames WAD Adventures of this event:

1. Boring Doom
2. LABYRINTH 1
3. Bloodflood
4. Holiday in the Village (Note: This is a Heretic WAD)
5. Dark Web

 

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The Top 10 (Out of 67):

 

1. @Roofi | 7295

2. @LadyMistDragon | 3815

3. @Sena | 2560

4. @Walter confetti | 2375

5. @ICID | 1450

6. @brick | 1225

7. @Endless | 1175

8. @Thelokk | 725

9. @Clippy | 570

10. @smeghammer | 425

 

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

 

And check the Doom wiki for the full list of past adventures.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 06 Day 22

 

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

 

[1] Ultimate Doom Poster by Peter Heinemann (2007)

 

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This is a reconstruction of a Doom poster seen in a photo of Id's offices. The poster features a red demon face set against a black background, a large version of the image that appeared on the cover of the "Ultimate Doom" box. The poster itself apparently was never commercially available, implying that the poster in the Id photo was a one-off one-of-a-kind print.

This is a high quality file suitable for printing as a poster at a print shop. As a result, the file itself is very large.

I (fraggle) am uploading this to the idgames archive; Peter Heinemann gave me this file to host several years ago as he needed web hosting for it. His original description of this file is included below

 

Something cool about idgames archives is that you can find part of Doom History like this. For my part, I'm not a huge fan of this poster but it's cool you can find it in high quality for free !

 

Just got caught by a satanic slow crusher in THEPIT.WAD

 

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[Endless]

5 minutes ago, Roofi said:

Something cool about idgames archives is that you can find part of Doom History like this. For my part, I'm not a huge fan of this poster but it's cool you can find it in high quality for free !

Probably my favorite poster art! Alongside the original art for Masters of Doom.

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Onslaught DM 3 1.1 (2007) by @hobomaster22 and AK-01 (Zandronuim and Crispy Doom)

 

What's here is a very solid set of 21 deathmatch maps, albeit with similar enough layouts and design tendecies that they all sort of blend into one another. But this is easily an equal of one of those 32x24 sets that were popular around the same time, if not better. It's very modern in the complete lack of doors and entirely open layouts. Textual consistency proves more dependent on similarly-colored as opposed to similarly-themed textures. Every so often, somethin different will be inserted in the supports or side windows. I can't say there's rhyme and reason beyond that but lots of work obviously went into these maps from the oftentimes exquisite trimming and there's no doubt these are quite fun to play 8/10

 

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[LadyMistDragon]

 

Haloguns (2006) by Sterling @Caligari87 Parker (GZ Doom)

 

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No, this isn't the over-hyped Haloguns2. Sorry. Actually, this is the first verison of Haloguns, which used DeHackEd to create the weapons. Here's where it all began.

This mod replaces all weapons in Doom/Doom2 With ones from Halo, except the BFG. Lotsa fun, although the game is rather unbalanced at times. Almost all the guns are more powerful than the Doom version they replace. Also replaces some pickups.

 

 

A weapons mod which basically replaces all of Doom's weapons with Halo's. Curiously, the sniper rifle ends up in the SS slot. Anyways, the sfx are satisfying, having a constantly firing pistol is really nice, albeit with a firing rate easy to lose control over, and every weapon has quite a bit utility and satisfaction applied to it. Two things: the berserk pack becomes useless since John Halo never punches anything apparently, and health packs have a more roundish appearance I don't really recall from Halo but that's ok! The sniper rifle proves excellent against low-tier weak enemies but not as strong against quick-moving tanks like Barons. Really fun, but maybe doesn't stand out so much against more modern weapon mods 7/10

 

 

Pain Above All (2011) by @Chubzdoomer (GZ Doom)

 

Chubzdoomer was of course, beloved at one time for his tutorials, although I'm not sure anyone can recall the projects he's been involved with. I guess one could call this Exhibit A but I don't think there's any need to be so harsh. Like it sort of seems the central area could've been a little bit better planned from the shape and progression, but this red cavern is actually really nice and has a few really nice locations. Hiding a progression switch which raises the bridge in the lava was a rather questionable decision. On the plus side, there are a fair few ambushes to take out your rage in. The far Pain Elemental in one cavern not immediately accessible might be the only mistake in that regard. The little sorta Pandemonium maze in the north is like, uhhhhhhh, kind of dumb, despite the obvious use of fog here. The transparent pinkies near the darkened lift are probably the most controversial aspect but they work in their location and really, they're bad but Spectres aren't? This concludes in a series of Slough of Despair outcrops somewhat flatly. All told, this was still a good map in the end 6.5/10

 

Video here!

 

 

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 06 Day 23

 

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

 

[1] dm_doomedfate by DSM (2005)

 

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In the phobic deimos moon there is an union aerospace corporations' hidden moon base. The map idea is based on dm_alesserfate and dm_lucifersfate maps in Aliens Versus Predator 2. This is sort of a tribute to those two maps.

 

A Deathmatch I already explored during Day 18. Here's what I said about it :

 

"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."

 

Nothing more to say.

 

[2] Doomer by Robert Tremblay (1995)

 

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The same plot as Doom II but with my ideas.

 

I think people are too rude when they say Doom II is abstract because you can still recognize a sense of place despite the poor texturing. Robert Tremblay's reimagination of Doom II's plot features a succession of ugly, unshaped and unthemed rooms scattered in a set of three levels. I think he took twice more drugs than Sandy Petersen did when designing "Nirvana". Also, "Doomer" contains randomly placed weak enemies and lot of items which whether translates the lack of mapping skills from its author, laziness or more probably both.

 

Anyway, I hdad fun cleaning each room since the maps are undemanding but that's all. The last level is a tad better than the other thanks to the pseudo-city theme but overall, it's a poor mapset.

 

Grade : D+   (7/20)

 

And the next wad is the beautiful, the unique, the intimidating, Hell Revealed II but I have absolutely not the time to play it entirely and I've 99% of chances to die before the end anyway. So I stop here for today.

[Endless]

8 minutes ago, Roofi said:

And the next wad is the beautiful, the unique, the intimidating, Hell Revealed II but I have absolutely not the time to play it entirely and I've 99% of chances to die before the end anyway. So I stop here for today.

Admit it, you didn't play it because it would be too easy for you ;)

[ICID]

I'm glad this is a safe space to admit that both Hell Revealeds are good lol

[brick]

1 hour ago, ICID said:

I'm glad this is a safe space to admit that both Hell Revealeds are good lol

It's funny you say this, earlier this year I rolled Hell Revealed II and considered this a safe space to admit that I in fact like neither of them XD

[ICID]

6 minutes ago, brick said:

It's funny you say this, earlier this year I rolled Hell Revealed II and considered this a safe space to admit that I in fact like neither of them XD

 

Forgot about this lol. Very well-written review! HR1 and 2 are WADs you had to be there for, I'll fully admit.

[LadyMistDragon]

Squum (2022) by Simo Sievanen (GZ Doom)

 

Funny story: the search won't work if you don't include an umlaut, and since my keyboard doesn't have that symbol.....anyways, none of that really matters. This is a seven map set of some fairly generic stuff which still contains a strong sense of place. From a ruined city, we head into mountains with slime lakes then into more generic hellish temples. Still, Map 06 Carnage Castle is easily the best map here! Maybe the bridge with the Barons and BFG is a little generic but it's at least a moderately impressive sight. Making the last map which shows up here "Blood Ocean" feel a little flat in comparison and as we all know, "Bye Bye American Pie" really only works for short maps, unfortunately, some of ya didn't obviously get the memo 6/10, it's just kind of forgettable.

 

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AMBUSHDM.WAD (1995) by Moto (Crispy Doom)

 

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This level was designed to be used in deathmatch mode mainly, but I did throw a few monsters in to allow a user to lump up someone other then a human opponent. This WAD has some real nice defense features that I have not seen in any other WAD to date.

 

 

You know, I feel like there's really more that a "few" monsters in here. Anyway, the layout is a kind of generic square thing but varies rooms and symmetry enough to keep things interesting. Although it's safe to say the outdoor fortress with the weird and gimmicky collapsing bridge over the river is the most impressive part. It's probably best to enter through the river though, unless you like getting chopped to bits by tower chaingunners. Inside are some rather generic long corridors, although the mezzanine contains some massive lava pillars. Truth be told, I'm not even certain there's an exit. It does seem like it could contain some decent deathmatch fun, although the blocking verticality makes things awkward and the floor collapsing in random locations is um, annoying 5/10

 

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Edited August 24, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 06 Day 24

 

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

 

[1] Invasion of the Vile: Chapter 1 by Ryan Albright (High Flyin' Ryan) (2010)

 

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This is an eight map series for Doom 2 using ZDoom (or a related engine such as Skulltag).

::STORY::

Somewhere between defeating the Icon of Sin and going on your Final Doom mission, UAC calls upon you to investigate a new threat.

Remaining on Earth, they teleport you to your starting location Gateway. You are directed to head to the Caco Caverns and find the source of the problem.

Full Story will be in download.

::Other::

This map series is to bring back the classic feel of Doom. The 1995 feeling is the goal with this series and I hope you enjoy it. -Ryan Albright

 

Ryan deliberately chose to adopt a old-school mindset but it will not hide the obvious fact that Invasion of the Vile is the result of a rookie's imagination. it's a short 8-levels adventures featuring Zdoom features and some kewl monsters which appear most of the time at awkward places. Prepare to fight a giant cacodemon in a tight cavern for instance, because yes, this wad proves to unexpectedly challenging at times. In the second level, I almost died because of a surprise nasty ambush involving a gang of chaingunners. Another exemple is the cyberdemon you meet in the slime facility, in a rather tight space.

 

Even if I can understand the good ol' doom vibes, I still think the visuals are lacking and the progression a bit too linear. Among all the wads I played, I visited more detailed and elaborated maps from 1995 and the custom monsters look out of place to me. The Hell knights equipped with a shield would better fit for a medieval-themed wad for exemple.

 

Overall, it's a respectable beginner's wad. The visuals aren't sensational, but they're not horrible. Battles are generally not very fancy, but a certain amount of challenge is offered. I don't think the quality is high enough to make me wait for episode 2, but it's far from a throwaway.

 

NB : The final boss is stupidly easy. Just shoot 2-3 BFG shots on the diabolist and you're done. Kinda disappointing , but I'm not dead at least.

 

Grade : C (9/20)

 

[2] lithe2m1.zip by Chris "Lithium" Hopkins (1994)

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This is a PWAD file that replaces Episode 2 Map 1 in the REGISTERED version of Doom. It is not a very large level but is of fair size (for a level 1). There may be a future version of it in which I will add more if there's any point so please send your comments and suggestions to me. Please be kind, this IS my first wad.

 

Even if you're a total newbie, you're suppose to understand that nobody like waiting for the elevator whether in game or in real life but Lithium didn't and placed some long and slow elevators you have to take multiple times. And about the aesthetics, I think he forgot to open the eyes while designing the map. Nirvana from Doom II is a masterpiece compared to this.

 

Play this level only if you don't have the money to buy sleeping pills.

 

Grade : F  (3/20)

 

I couldn't stand against the terrible duo of pain elementals in one of the speedmaps from 5 Minute Map Collection.

 

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[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 06 Day 25

 

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

 

[1] Quad by Ellis Rygg (1995)

 

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For Deathmatch. Four main rooms, passageways, hidden raised walkways, sniper perches, good chainsaw use (for real men only), etc. My friends and I had a lot of fun on it. Anyway, It's hard to describe the best deathmatch pwad available for Doom ][, so I won't continue.

 

Just a bunch of flat empty square rooms linked by square rectangular corridors. The map could only be oversimplistic but the radically different texturing between each room burn my eyes. However, the text file gave me a chuckle :

 

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Single Player           : If you really want, get your own doom editor and
                          add monsters, but I didn't put any in.

 

The author was so lazy that I have to manually add monsters in order to make it compatible with singleplayer mode....

 

[2] A day of revenge against Seg Violation a.k.a. by Cecelia ultimauw@excite.com (2005)

 

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I'm pissed at those damn seg violations that
Win-Legacy sometimes puts out. This is my way of getting back at it. Ironicly,
Windows Legacy ran this map without a hitch! (Win-Legacy must be feeling
my pain).                                       
                                                      

 

Oh god what have we done. It's probably the poorest jokemap I have ever played. Your mission consists to defeat an error message, which is just a disguised Spider-mastermind and for that you have to enter in the completly dark hand-drawn bathroom in order to grab all the weapons and ammo you need.

 

This level doesn't even have an exit.  The only "good"" thing I can find is that you can survive easily, unlike the countless terry-wads. Nevertheless, the latter are generally much more creative when it comes to troll the player.

 

Grade : F (2/20)

 

[3] violenc.wad by Bob Sayers (1997)

 

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Violence: leet ass deathmatch level. Ok this is my first attempt at a deathmatch .wad and I am quite pleased with the results. The design is pretty simple but as several elements which make it good for deathmatch, in my own opinion anyhow. try it out. Hope you like it.

 

Another old low-effort DM map but instead of square rooms , this is a looping layout with no detail nor height variation this time. However, this file contains a nice midi track which seems to come from a rock band. Anyway, don't download it.

 

[4] August09.wad by Kenneth Jacobsen (TheAugustMan) (1996)

 

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Another DEATHMATCH lv in the August-series...Just can't stop! *This one's a bit spicy; it contains monsters!* The lv is not crammed with 'em, i've just placed a few to make the game more interesting... so please play August09.wad with monsters ON and with the *respawn* option ON. The lv itself is quite small so even with 2 players, the action may get too hot sometimes...love it! August09.wad has support for both DEATHMATCH 1 and DEATHMATCH 2 and it's got ALL weapons available (the BFG is not reachable at skill 1/2/3 though).

 

It's not the first map from the "August" series I visit according to my files directory but the others opus didn't leave me a big mark. The ninth episode could have been a nice quick and easy singleplayer map because it has some weak monsters, small traps and a certain sense of progression. The theme reminds me a bit of TNT evilution.

 

[5] Elements by Henry Chang (1995)

 

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This is a WAD for Doom II that can be used for either single-player, cooperative, or deathmatch play. There are three "worlds," if you will, (earth, fire, and water) that you must fight through to get to the exit. It's pretty straight- forward.

 

A rather pretty-looking old-school vanilla map which mostly takes place in cavernous setups.

 

The first cavern a.k.a the earth world is the weakest to me since the omnipresent grey don't inspire me that much. The hellish cavern , synonym of the fire world has much improved scenery and remind me of Limbo probably because of the fireblu. The last area filled with water offers a great architecture and notably a spiral staircase which has the particularity to open a closet housing a arachnotron each time you climb a step. The repetitiveness of the action makes this section quite memorable despite unchallenging.

 

Talking about monster closets, the author put a lot of them which release a small horde of enemies repopulating the zones you already explored. Don't miss the "hidden" closets containing secret weapons. They're easy and satisfying to find thanks to the automap.

 

I liked Elements. Of course, it's far from reaching the quality of Elementalism but Henry Chang delivered a good ol' classic map for us.

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

[6] fulcruml.wad by Steve Suchon (Tacohead) (1996)

 

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This is more of a test level than anything else

 

A small undercooked level I already played during Month 3 Day 19. Here's what I said about it :

 

"Very basic indeed, you adventure yourself in an undercooked tech base using stucco texture . You have to find a single red key in order to reach the exit located outdoors. It was a pretty fun short map which I completed in under two minutes. You find pretty good weapons (CG and SSG) considering how weak the bestiary used is.

 

Not interesting but not seriously bad too."

 

I played on Prboom+ instead of crispy Doom this time and managed to kill the 34 enemies and find the lone secret. Nothing change. The secret megasphere is useless for a map of that size. My opinion don't change. "fulcruml.wad" is too devoid of content to be qualified as a decent level but it's harmless and quick.

 

Grade : D+  (7/20)

 

[7] HOMICIDE by Jason Garoutte (aka J-Dog) (1995)

 

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"HOMICIDE.WAD" is just another Deathmatch level. It is a beta wad and I need some feedback. Just e-mail me or try to post a message to "J-Dog", there isn't too many J-Dog's out there...

 

What a cute name for a wad but this is what you actually commit when deathmatching. Beside that, it's just a tasteless symetrical arena built with dirty cement textures and using the city sky from the episode 2 of Doom II. In order to obtain the goodies locked in the cages, you have to take the strange teleporter characterized by a small lava pool located at the centre of the map. I don't think the author got a lot of feedback about his map.

 

Also, about the txt :

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Single Player           : If you like chasing your tail.

 

Yes, I like! Woof!

 

[8] R.A.V.E. by Andy "FearKeeper" Leaver (2003)

 

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In this map I designed it to ware if you don't try real hard to find the secrets (both of em) then it will be extremely difficault (maybe even impossible for some) to complete the map..

 

As a true Hell Revealed apologist, I can only approve the usage of ROTT's soundtrack and we have three midis in this wad ! The midi playing in the map is "Chant", which I like a lot but I don't think the level is long and adventurous enough to fit like a glove. Indeed, R.A.V.E consists into a small tech-base finishable in more or less 5 minutes. 

 

Beside the music, this map presents an another common point with maps from the HR series : it's packed with a considerable number of mid-tiers and the SSG is your only friend to get rid of them. However, the barons and hell-knight are the mightiest enemies you'll meet so don't expect anything frustrating. It'll be a tad grindy if you're really allergic to idea of super-shotgunning hell nobles though.

 

This single map has its own titlepic, which is pretty cool while ordinary.

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

[9] Vroom.wad by Blake Baltzley (a.k.a. Phm (1995)

 

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Small wad, with lots of moving platforms in the center, and a shadowed area on the outside, cool with 4, has khoon sounds

 

Well, I'm EXTREMLY disappointed that I can't drive or just see a sector car in a DM map called "Vroom". What a shame ! Or probably the battle zone takes place in the motor of a giant car... Also, the stupid sounds clash with the ominous red sky and creepy music from UD's E1M5. Nothing worthy here.

 

I stop here for today.

[Roofi]

Year 2 Month 06 Day 26

 

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

 

[1] DREAMS OF HELL 1 by Phire & 1101 (1995)

 

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A great new and challenging wad file by the new wad group "Phire Lordz." It features a tough fight for single play and a nice layout for deathmatch play. Dreams of Hell 1 will cause you to wake up screaming in the middle of the night!

 

You start in a grey fortress which has even less texture variety than a wolfstentein level and your goal consists to find three keys in order to unlock the exit. The first one (the green key) is located at the spawnpoint whereas the blue one is guarded by a lone malotaur. There's absolutely no sense of adventure and the level is finishable under 2-3 minutes if you know the road.

 

If you adore the grey brick texture from Heretic , this wad is for you. Nevertheless, except the large watery courtyard, this wad has nothing to chew on.

 

Grade : D-   (4/20)

 

[2] bestmus.wad by Justin White (1998)

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A music wad that makes me proud (cuz all other music wads suck in my opinion. Except the NIN.wad) Don't know if it will work for D2. I tried to go for a dark and eerie theme hear, but, had to through in some cool and upbeat tracks to. Alot of the music in this wad is unique to say the very least. Let me know what you think. This is my very first wad every by me, so feed back is very important. Be very very candid!!! Honesty is important

 

A compilation of unauthentic midis. I could recognize lot of tracks such as the theme of the movie "Halloween", the TV series "Airwolf", the famous song "Zombie" by the Cranberries. The unfortunate thing is that the number of music tracks has been artificially increased. Indeed, I was able to listen to the Cranberries song at least three times, and it's not the only one to be used several times.

 

Whereas I find the name "best mus" a "bit" exagerrated, the quality of the midis is pretty good. The music replacing E3M1 was notably used for map 01 of the 1994 tune up project.

 

[3] JAX04.WAD by Glenn Jackson (1996)

 

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Another pointless battle in the world of DOOM!! This WAD will convince you that sometimes it's just better to throw in the towel while you have the chance. Please don't play this wad if you have a good life, this wad is for people who have a chip on their shoulder and need something to shoot at just for the the sake of it!

The wad you're about to play was strictly designed for the "ANGRY PERSON" so, if your one one those "normal" people please don't even bother playing this wad because you will pretty much get your butt kicked in so bad that you might just go into shock and end up in the "fetal position". . .then (of course) I'll get sued and possibly, end up in jail.

The wad you're about to play is, well...evil, no fair and, full of traps and surprises which you will learn quickly hate but, take my advice. If you ARE a TYPE-A person then, this wad is right stuff for you.

I designed this wad when I was pent-up and full of anger after yet another nice and patronizing day at my job, which I hate but must go to. So, trust me...you're in for a war.

I also included a *.LMP recording of this wad so you could clearly see that this wad is indeed a nightmare come true so, lock and load.

And try NOT to use codes. If I can make it through the game, than you should be able too! Anyway, give it a go and tell me what you think.

 

JAX04.WAD or rather JAX06, because the file name is called "JAX06.wad" isn't the first map I played from Glenn Jackson. He's what I would call an "avant-garde slaughtermapper" in the same veins of Georges Fiffy for instance. JAX06 features quite a lot of monster to chew and an absurd overgenerosity about the ammo and power-ups. It's the kind of level in which you can take the megaspheres without regrets while having more than 150 hp and armor.

 

Contrary to the other JAX maps I played, that one has some grindy parts which are an acquired taste. The most typical exemple resides in the labyrinth made of computer textures and 64 pixels-wide corridors, populated by a lot of barons. JAX06.WAD resembles to a Hell Revealed map whereas HR wasn't released yet.

 

Anyway, I liked JAX04.wad a lot. It's another exemple of proto-slaughter map.

 

Grade : B+   (15/20)

 

[4] DREAD by TCGAMES (2022)

 

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DREAD is a four map tech base themed wad for Doom II. These maps are designed for classic Doom style gameplay and progression and each of the four maps in this wad are designed with pistol starts in mind. Each map includes 12 multiplayer starts and all four co-op player starts.

These maps are made in Doom II format and should be compatible with any limit removing source port. However, in order to get the full range of features included in this wad it is highly recommended that this wad be run with ZDoom, GZDoom, or a related source port that can utilize the ZMAPINFO lump included inside this wad file.

For ZDoom/GZDoom users the game will end after MAP04 and go to a special ending screen. For users of other source ports the game will simply proceed to Doom II MAP05 once MAP04 is completed.

This wad contains a DEHACKED patch for use with older source ports and older versions of ZDoom or GZDoom that do not support ZMAPINFO, but certain features such as the special ending screen after MAP04 will be absent. This wad was tested with and found to function correctly in ZDoom, GZDoom, and PRBoom.

 

A short episode of 4 small to average-sized tech-base maps. The longest one is the third one and it more or less takes 10-15 minutes to complete. DREAD seems to take place in a sort of a polluted coastal facility and visual elements indirectly tell of a rather aquatic/portuar theme. Some maps contain 3D pipes designed with middle texture, metal fences that give the impression of being on a boat and the wad features a blue-tinted STATBAR which directly brings water to mind. The cherry on the cake to me is the dark cloud sky which provides a more mysterious tone to the set.

 

The wad follows a classic recipe indeed and therefore remains approachable even on Ultra-violence. I think it contains more mid-tiers than the commercial doom's maps did but I never struggled with ammo or health. The final combat involves a duo of cyberdemon and horde of monsters but some careful circlestrafing suffices to finish in one piece. Honestly, I prefer this to a Icon of Sin.

 

Overall, DREAD is a minisode which is very easy to appreciate and has its own visual flair despite its very "classic" appearance. The bluish tint adds a relaxing touch.

 

Grade : B+  (15/20)

 

I stop here for today.

[Chubzdoomer]

On 8/23/2023 at 11:37 AM, LadyMistDragon said:

Pain Above All (2011) by @Chubzdoomer (GZ Doom)

 

Chubzdoomer was of course, beloved at one time for his tutorials, although I'm not sure anyone can recall the projects he's been involved with. I guess one could call this Exhibit A but I don't think there's any need to be so harsh. Like it sort of seems the central area could've been a little bit better planned from the shape and progression, but this red cavern is actually really nice and has a few really nice locations. Hiding a progression switch which raises the bridge in the lava was a rather questionable decision. On the plus side, there are a fair few ambushes to take out your rage in. The far Pain Elemental in one cavern not immediately accessible might be the only mistake in that regard. The little sorta Pandemonium maze in the north is like, uhhhhhhh, kind of dumb, despite the obvious use of fog here. The transparent pinkies near the darkened lift are probably the most controversial aspect but they work in their location and really, they're bad but Spectres aren't? This concludes in a series of Slough of Despair outcrops somewhat flatly. All told, this was still a good map in the end 6.5/10

 

Thanks for the review!  I completely agree with all of your criticisms.  Boy did I make some poor decisions with that map (the Pandemonium-esque maze was just plain bad).

Edited August 27, 2023 by Chubzdoomer

[LadyMistDragon]

HPF's Citadel (1996) by Jerome "Mike" Xavier (Crispy Doom)

 

This is a large fortress map, reminiscient of something like Castle of Evil or some map from Eternal Doom with its sprawl and general crypticness. Although it should be said this map is not terribly difficult if you know to look for the unmarked walls in the right places. The puzzles are generally fun, with the main issues rising from the anemic combat (I really don't like shotgunning mounds of pinkies in lieu of other potential combat situations) and rather dull map overall. One exception being a dining room with wooden tables and some dudes having a few brewskis by the fire. The room with the Cyberdemons that will block any further progress if you hit the wrong button was fairly egregious because the arrow was pointing at the wrong damn switch! It's actually the very next one on the right buuuut.....I just hit every other one for like 5 minutes.

 

Otherwise, the open Arachnotron marble room was a nice concept, telltale arrows letting us know its ok to make leaps of faith (means the map has failed, trolololo). The last one brings you to an entirely open hallway with that nasty TNT bugaboo of Chaingunners and archnotrons firing from unfair distances. Although one could kill the Arachnotrons, they all get crushed anyway when the puzzle concludes so it's fine to leave them alone.

 

The blue key door has a fun situation where you've got to use a chained series of easy Arch-vile jumps to get to the room at the other end, containing a Cyberdemon on each side but shortly after landing, they all end up getting crushed! Although the Cyber crushers clearly could've used a faster speed.

 

Only regrets are missing the red key, probably because the library puzzle took some time to figure out adequately and there was nothing leading to that. 

 

Might be something to look at again perhaps. In either case, this is a solid map overall and actually has good puzzles 7/10

 

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https://i.imgur.com/DFfJ4So.png

 

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 2 maps

 

Boring Doom (2005) by B.P.R.D. 2 SP maps for vanilla Doom II.

Yes, it's another low-effort "joke"wad by the master of low-effort jokewads. This one's not quite as pointless as Doom2:2, but in some cases it's worse since it has actual maps and the joke is that they're really awful. There's a corridor leading to a room with imps and pinkies guarding a key. The key opens a door to the next identical corridor with an identical room with imps, pinkies, key. One more time for the key, then on the last run instead of a key there's an exit teleporter. The next map is almost identical except the textures are different. Thankfully BPRD stopped here instead of doing copy/paste another 30 times, so I can claim I finished the wad. The whole thing takes less than 5 minutes, and probably took him half an hour to make (I'm being generous). Certainly lives up to its name.

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

6 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

HPF's Citadel (1996) by Jerome "Mike" Xavier (Crispy Doom)

 

 

I played this level too, months ago and I also enjoyed the large-scale and puzzle of this maps. It gave some "Citadel at the edge of eternity" vibes.

 

Year 2 Month 06 Day 27

 

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

 

[1] Volcano by Marcus Kazmierczak (1995)

 

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Good quality entertainment - loads of fun and frags not a very complicated or tricky level to insure the quantity of frags will be HIGH! Plus with the different heights the quality of the frags can also be quiet good. Love those frag falls!

 

 The theme of Volcano reminds me of Doom's Mt Erebus but the grey rock from Doom II adds a more volcanic aspect. Still, it rather looks like to a weird castle surrounded by a lava ditch than an actual volcano. On the other hand, impassable lines prevent you from falling into the lava, which is a bit of a shame.

 

The map contains silly sounds but what made me laugh were the sounds of applause every time we picked up items, as if it was a great achievement.

 

Talking about items, this map contains lot of power-ups and big guns.

 

I jumped in a nukage pool from PstLevM, thinking it was walkable, but it turned out to be a deep deadly pool from which it's impossible to get out.

 

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Edited August 27, 2023 by Roofi

[LadyMistDragon]

Widow Maker (1994) by David L. Farrington (Crispy Doom)

 

Quote

Clues discovered at Gates of Anguish and Despair base have led you to the corporate headquarters and genetics labs of UAC. The evil infestation has reached even here. You enter an otherwise unguarded building a take the elevator to the upper floor. Things seem quiet, soft music is playing and there is a familiar guard outside the elevator door. Hmm, they have changed the decor since the last time you were here. You look over at the Reception Desk, and spot the Imps! Things are going to get tough. But you're the best, heh? Nothing is going to stop you from your mission, not some pesky little Imp! Play it cool, ammo and healing are in short supply (this is corporate life). Monsters abound, and have many places to hide. They may come out to find you, so watch your back.

 

 

 

Well, points to David for choosing a Tom Hall-esque "realism" style I guess. But as everyone knows, these types of square and seemingly open-ended maps that tend largely to be "myschool" wads, it's confusing and boring with far too many empty rooms. Although seeing the function of what's here isn't too terribly difficult in most cases, David either on purpose or because he didn't think about it, failed to texture several progression-related doorways with the result being a wholly illogical sense of progression which defies all logic and intuition. Like why would anyone place the yellow key behind a rock wall that just happens to be between a couple of equipment sheds? There's zero indication of this and the map that would tell you is located very deep into possibly the worst part of what largely had some competent design up to that point. Even though the individual rooms (specfically, the one with slime pools and crates that seem like some sort of experimentation location) are actually quite neat places in some circumstances, there's so much dead air and anonymous walls that completing it in a entirely legtimate fashion was not deemed worth my valuble time. Moreover, I didn't even end up finishing at the point where I should've had the blue key because according to an /idgames review, you can softlock yourself from pressing the wrong switch. This gets a 2/10 because the progression is indeed horribly cryptic, too much so.

 

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Video here!

 

[brick]

Brick | 2 wads | 2 maps

Adventure | 3 wad | 4 maps

 

LABYRINTH 1 (1994) by Henning Møller-Nielsen. 1 SP map for vanilla Doom.

Henning's stated goal was to make a labyrinth. He succeeded, but unfortunately the map is just not good. It is completely flat, filled with shotgun guys, and its design is just completely uninspired. There are some side areas outside the maze with attempts at more elaborate architecture but even these look plain and amateurish. About the only attempt at detailing is that one torch casting a cone of light, and it stands out so much because everything else is otherwise fullbright. Texture choices are questionable, such as using the door patch for smaller doors so everything looks cut off. There also seems to be a dearth of health, unless it's hidden in secrets I never found. There's a voodoo doll inexplicably hanging out in one of the side rooms. Eventually the shotgun attrition killed me, and frankly I was fine with moving on.

Spoiler

 

Bloodflood (1995) by Sverre Andre Kvernmo (aka "Cranium"). 1 SP/DM map for vanilla Doom II.

It's hard to remember this in a world of Sunder and Jumpwad and the like, but Cranium, who I think goes by @Soundblock now, used to be the synonym for high difficulty maps in the pre-Plutonia age. For a long time his only work (aside from one Hexen deathmatch map, because why not) was the Cabal series, a full 32-map megawad he was working on when id asked him for submissions for the Master Levels. 5 maps made it into the compilation, the remaining 7 he uploaded to idgames. Sadly he never completed the series, but this did leave us with 12 maps, and some IMO great ones both in and out Master Levels. Bloodflood is typical of the set, a relatively small map with dangerous monster placements and death traps around every corner. Everything is vanilla, no custom assets, but Cranium works well with what he has to create some cool-looking rooms. He also likes to keep the player on edge, entire walls open up to reveal ambushes when you least expect it, running away from them without paying attention to your feet means you fall into inescapable toxic pits (with mercy-barrels to end the pain quickly). There's little health and little ammo (the chainsaw and berserk are here for a reason!), but I don't think the map is unfair, just pretty devious. It's both an Sp and DM map and you can see this from the size, the layout, and the abundance of traps that would work in either mode. Detailing is adequate but it's lifted up by some very nice special effects (especially the titular flood). It's not my favourite Cabal map but it's definitely memorable.

Spoiler

 

[ICID]

 

Boring Doom (2005) by B.P.R.D.

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

 

I've said in the past that I consider B.P.R.D. probably my favorite artist to ever work in the medium of Doom and I stand by that. It goes without saying that his work isn't for everyone - Equinox is the closest thing he made to a normal WAD and its unusual design still manages to elude players used to the comforts of modern map balance (I'm sure I don't need to mention a certain namesearching YouTuber and his infamously clueless review of the thing to make my point.)

 

True, it can be hard to tell when B.P.R.D. is trolling, making a satirical point, or actually trying to make something enjoyable, but that obscurity is part of the joy of his catalog - it makes it endlessly replayable, re-visitable, mysterious. His work is the kind of true internet oddity that something as polished and obviously prestige-hungry as MyHouse can never truly replicate. At its best (Grove, NUTS 3, Equinox) I find B.P.R.D.'s work legitimately moving, even if I can't exactly explain why. At its worst, it's at least interesting, certainly much much moreso than the usual ER/iWA slop.

 

So we come to Boring Doom, a series of six identical rooms where you kill the same groups of imps and pinkies, pick up keys, and walk down plain corridors to meaningless exits. This is one of B.P.R.D.'s last Doom WADs and is usually interpreted as a sign of becoming disinterested with the medium - something like a commentary on the fact that at the end of the day, no matter how much you pretty it up, Doom is really just a couple of repetitive actions remixed over and over again. It's obviously not especially fun to play or even particularly insightful, but it is a WAD I have thought of many, many times while playing hundreds of maps for the ER/iWA. No matter how much you pretty it up or try to make combat interesting, at the end of the day Doom is nothing more than clicking on monsters and picking up keys, and after playing too many identical techbases from first-time mappers with zero new ideas, I sometimes find myself very much relating to B.P.R.D.'s ennui - it's part of why I tend to take long breaks from this event after going too hard for too many weeks in a row.

 

B.P.R.D. himself was a mapper who really did try to find new gameplay within the confines of the Doom engine - through Grove's ultra-deadly switch hunting, Mucus Flow's famous ammo starvation and secret kills, Equinox's custom weapons and hub levels, etc. - and by this point clearly felt that his efforts were futile. Maybe they were. Maybe it all is.

 

I can't possibly grade this WAD and I certainly wouldn't introduce anyone to B.P.R.D. using it, but I do love it, and I was thrilled to pull it for the task description because I knew I would relish the chance to try to write about it. Wherever Bernie is, I hope he's doing okay. And I hope he never even considers coming back to Doom.

 

 

LABYRINTH 1 (1994) by Henning Møller-Nielsen

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence}

^{Source Port: GZDoom}

 

A hideous FULLBRIGHT maze that's pretty easy to beat if you use the automap, but why would you want to?

 

Some of you might be wondering why I would critique this and complement Boring Doom when they're pretty much the same thing. The difference is that Boring Doom is made by someone with an interesting body of work, and it's clearly in conversation in that work (even the negative review from comrade Brick acknowledges this.) Plus the name, layout, and description clearly identify it as a "joke", or at least something made with the intention to be boring. It achieves its goal whether you like that goal or find it interesting.

 

Conversely, this is Møller-Nielsen's only known work, and is self-identified as "pretty good". It was clearly designed to be a fun Doom WAD that players enjoy exploring. It self-evidently fails at its goal - you might call it "Wolfenstein-like" but fuck man, at least Wolfenstein mazes had personality, not to mention a greater variety of weapons, enemies, and textures.

 

Grade: 2/10

 

 

Bloodflood (1995) by Sverre Andre Kvernmo (aka "Cranium")

 

^{Play Settings}

^{Difficulty: Ultra-Violence (listed in a custom difficulty screen as "Total Carnage!")}

^{Source Port: Crispy Doom}

 

I'm not familiar with the Cabal series but I'm most certainly familiar with Cranium, who followed up a mixed bag of Master Level contributions (mostly pretty good if you ignore Mephisto's Maosoleum) with a bunch of great Eternal Doom levels and a stellar mapping career that has continued into the 2020s. This was his first post-Master Levels contribution but even knowing who made it I wasn't expecting much for 1995. This was a mistake, because Bloodflood (aka "Cabal 1") rules.

 

What I really like about it is that it's mean-spirited but also feels reasonably fair. Take the wrong turn early on and you're trapped and dead, but you'll lose less than a minute before restarting. Now go the other direction. There's a blursphere in the middle of nowhere. Use it too early and you'll waste it, but run outside with it and it'll make the wall of hitscanners a lot more beatable, granting you a chaingun. It feels a bit like a puzzle WAD but where the "puzzle" is resource utilization and combat, which is a lot more fun than switch-hunting.

 

The main setpiece, of  course, is the maze - amusingly, a theme of all three WADs I've played today. One room has a tiny maze of imps - get to the center and you'll raise a platform with a blue key, but also barrels that you can easily kill yourself with. Get the key and a wall of shotgunners opens, forcing you to run through the maze quickly to find cover. Once you do, chaingunners and pain elementals spawn into the center of the maze. You're constantly running in and out of this tiny labyrinth, and it's a genuinely unique idea I don't think I've seen anywhere else in Doom. Really good stuff, highly recommended.

 

Grade: 8/10

 

 

 

[brick]

Brick | 2 wads | 2 maps

Adventure | 5 wads | 6 maps

 

Holiday in the village (2011) by Wraith. 1 SP map for vanilla Heretic.

I hope this is not the Wraith of Wonderful Doom fame, because this Heretic map is frankly not very good. By the text file's own admission the map is "quite ugly". I don't mind the texture misalignments so much (though they are ubiquitous), but the pegged doors got on my nerves. The real problem isn't so much the ugliness but that the architecture and level design are just not very well done. The idea is nice, exploring various buildings in the village to open the way to others or find keys, but everything is blocky and flat, and there's nothing to really make the switch more interesting, it's as straightforward as can be. There's also a bad bug in the later part that softlocked me due to an S1-opened door also being needlessly marked DR on the other side, and which monsters closed because that's something they do, leaving me with no way to reopen it and proceed. Combat is not as hard as Wraith claims, ammo is a bit tight early on but there's a turning point after which I was swimming in it. The map really adheres to its E1 slot, none of the weapons or enemies from later show up, though there's a large number of them to mow through. Ultimately the map's not awful, but there's not much to recommend about it either.

Spoiler

 

Dark Web (2023) by Powerlord. 1 SP map for Doom II in Boom.

This was a nice surprise! It's a techbase, short and not very difficult, but it is lifted by the care @Powerlord put into the construction. The lighting is beautiful, it really builds a good atmosphere, complemented well by the moody music. It's also the little things: a crate positioned in such a way that the light only illuminates one corner, the sector spider in the final room, the simple but very effective detailing that hints at function while maintaining a sense of mystery. There are a few secrets and there's a wonderful variety in how they're accessed considering the small map size: shootable switch, hidden switch, timed lift, even a secret key to unlock a room full of goodies. The map is relatively easy even on UV, and doesn't utilize all the available enemies, but I don't see either as an issue, just a design choice. The low lighting does make the combat more tense, as you sometimes can't quite see what's out there while it attacks you, it's a nice way to add to the tension. It's hard to believe this is a beginner's map, there's so much care put into everything and none of the amateur flaws that I normally expect in a mapper's early works. I really enjoyed playing through it.

Spoiler

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by brick

[Powerlord]

9 hours ago, brick said:

Dark Web (2023) by Powerlord. 1 SP map for Doom II in Boom.

This was a nice surprise! It's a techbase, short and not very difficult, but it is lifted by the care @Powerlord put into the construction. The lighting is beautiful, it really builds a good atmosphere, complemented well by the moody music. It's also the little things: a crate positioned in such a way that the light only illuminates one corner, the sector spider in the final room, the simple but very effective detailing that hints at function while maintaining a sense of mystery. There are a few secrets and there's a wonderful variety in how they're accessed considering the small map size: shootable switch, hidden switch, timed lift, even a secret key to unlock a room full of goodies. The map is relatively easy even on UV, and doesn't utilize all the available enemies, but I don't see either as an issue, just a design choice. The low lighting does make the combat more tense, as you sometimes can't quite see what's out there while it attacks you, it's a nice way to add to the tension. It's hard to believe this is a beginner's map, there's so much care put into everything and none of the amateur flaws that I normally expect in a mapper's early works. I really enjoyed playing through it.

  Hide contents

 

 

Thank you so much for the review! A slight correction, this is only my first map under this name. I made three maps a while back, 5 or so years I think, under a different name and I admittedly wanted to distance myself for them for my return so I took a new name, didn't like the old one anyways. I'll try not to repeat too much from what I say in the readme or in my doomworld post for dark web, but long story short, I can still appreciate some of the weird ideas I had in my older maps but they were far too big, ambitious, and simply lacking in polish (and combat design for the most part lol). Needless to say, this map's goal was to reign in my desires to cram everything into one map and to fixate on making the map more pleasant to look at and live in. I've been having a lot of difficulty working on my next map, focusing on difficulty and low-tech aesthetics this time, but this review has been a nice shot in the arm and hopefully I'll see my next map on here soon, even if it's as disappointing as it feels to me at the moment. That's the learning process, after all!

[LadyMistDragon]

Portal Gun (2006) by Cutmanmike (GZ Doom)

 

Basically, a little mod which replaces the BFG with the Portal Gun from Portal! Primary will fire one kind and secondary fires the other. It'll probably make more sense if you've played through it though.

 

 

Defiled Waters (2019) by Carlos Lastra (GZ Doom)

 

A fairly simple square-shaped map, with decent variation in rooms and lighting despite the essential monotexturing of tan marble and brick along with  some cool floor cracks that probably were inspired by you-know-who. Not too much else to really say, besides it's possible to get trapped between Cacodemons and Pinkies in one long sewer hallway and also I may have broke something by firing the portal gun. But otherwise, there's not really lots going on and I sort of wish there were more rockets for the Cacodemons encountered throughout. 6/10

 

 

 

 

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 3 maps

Adventure | 6 wads | 9 maps

 

The Wasteland Series (1994) by Alberto Barsella. 3 SP maps for vanilla Doom.

I have had a soft spot for this series for a long time, and so was a bit worried that I'd repaly it and find out most of my memories were nostalgia-tinted. Yet the more I played, the more I remembered why I love it so much and hold it up as a perfect example of high quality in 1994 mapping. The striking thing about the series isn't that there is a story, or even that it's particularly good (it's honestly quite pulpy), but that it's so effectively implemented. Alberto uses all the tools at his disposal: there are prologue and epilogue texts for each map, screens have paragraphs of text or map schematics to elaborate on what's going on, but there's also such a good use of environmental storytelling. The detailing might be vanilla, even 1994, but the text really fires up the imagination and lets it fill in the gaps. Not that the detailing isn't good; there's a conference room and a bedroom of course, but also really neat touches to create a sense of space. Early on in the base you run across a door that jams and won't fully open, requiring a way around. As you go up, around and then down again (a teleporter that Alberto asks you to ignore simulates being on another floor in the same building), sure enough you come across the other side of the door, still jammed (except you're really in a completely different space, because this is Doom and there's no room over room). Later in the volcano there's a broken bridge over lava that requires going the long way round, and a control room that seems to have been split in half by a volcanic crack running through it. Once you reach the volcano core, being outside on the ledge around it is damaging (simulates the extreme heat), so you run into a side passage only to have it "collapse" under your feet, sending you into an underground tunnel. There are so many such moments in the wad, it really feels like one of those adventure maps, long before they were a thing. Lighting is well done with a few standouts, and in the third map it's used for more than just aesthetics: the sun will scorch your health off, so you must try and move within the shadows of the buildings as much as possible. Combat and progression are both well balanced, neither takes over (though there are a few hairy fights, especially in the third map) and the emphasis is on exploration without turning into a switch hunt. The cinematic feel of the maps is striking considering this was long before scripts were a thing, it's all done with vanilla actions. Alberto made a fourth map that isn't part of this compilation, but sadly the planned maps to make this a full episode never materialized, though they have WILV lumps with evocative names. It's a shame Alberto made no other maps, I would have loved to play them, and it saddens me that the series will forever remain unfinished. What we do have is one of the best mapsets of the early years, and a style of mapping that unfortunately did not survive; combat challenges became much more popular, and narrative-driven wads went the way of linearity and scripts.

Spoiler

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by brick

[Endless]

On 8/26/2023 at 3:11 AM, Roofi said:

If you adore the grey brick texture from Heretic , this wad is for you. Nevertheless, except the large watery courtyard, this wad has nothing to chew on. 

Curious, but what source port do you use for Heretic?

[Endless]

MINES.WAD version 1.1 | Iikka "Fingers" Keränen | 1996

 

 

Man, I'm going to eat shit in the leaderboard, anyway lol

 

Here we have Mines, by the legendary Iikka Keränen, a classic from 1996 made by one of the early legends from our community. This little piece of lovely landscape exposure already captured since the very first moment when you start inside a little hillside cave, and proceed to what seems like an outpost surrounded by a mountainous landscape and a nukage river. Just lovely already! As you might have guessed, the map mostly takes place around a series of connected tunnels inside a massive mine shaft with a central hub-like elevator that takes you to different levels of the mine to explore. Simple in nature, but great in execution. The visuals are particularly noteworthy due to its consistency and ''alive'' feel. While not necessarily realistic, it does succeed in replicating a more logical sense of being. It feels like the mines were used and people roamed around digging minerals and the like.

 

I do wish it had a little more of exterior landscape goodness, but the little it has is pretty cool. It does get quite confusing once you get inside the mines due to the multilayered tunnels, but it's not as maze-y as other examples from the era. It does, however, have a very fucking stupid ending that I wasn't even sure how to properly finish. After you get the red key and find the red door, you'll end through a tunnel that leads you to a portal in puts you inside a tubular room... and you are trapped, I think. Either that or an intentional softlock, but honestly I'm not sure. I wasn't able to properly find the exit so I just nocliped and found that you are supposed to kill an IoS to finish the level. Either something is broken, or I missed some steps, but that was a big disappointment.

 

Anyway, for the visuals alone, this is sweet, the gameplay? Eh, not really, but still, if you are interested in the annals of 90s history, go check it out.

[LadyMistDragon]

Imperfection Has Its Charms (2009) by Josh @Joshy Sealy (From Doom with Love)

 

I'd apologize for not switching the IWAD if this had been a shorter one. But anyway, here's a 9-map set of maps that I guess mostly predate Hell's Grammar School and they actually aren't too bad for the most part

 

The opening map starts us out in jail because of course. It's kind of a Tyson map since there's no shotgun of any kind. Despite the exit not being so far away, a key is needed so we then have to enter this little base and retrieve the necessary one from inside.

 

02 had another version appear in Speed of Doom but honestly, this horrifically boring series of metal lifts was deemed not really being worth the time

 

03, on the other hand opens with a hallway of E2 vine, along with solid and stimulating combat encounters. (I'll provide some more detail here later) There is a rather annoying puzzle involving platforms in the middle of central moats in a large area we'll just say doesn't quite line up with the rest. There is a very cool expansive fight with a Cyberdemon and several Barons that you better hope you have the rocket launcher for. Overall, the second half was filled with fun and exciting encounters whereas the first half consisted of annoying Revenant dodging with rather miniscule amounts of bullets

 

05 was the second favorite. Even though there's some repetitive, cramped caves and it's not immediately clear how one will have the ammo for the large Revenant trap without having possibly found a secret, this was actually mostly pretty good!

 

The last couple of maps start leaning heavily into the sort of slaughter-lite approach Josh became absolutely notorious for in Speed on Doom. Unfortunately, I don't think I have the time for 9 and 10 might have been lacking in some balance issues.

 

Some of my main gripes besides the repetitive visuals would be the large amount of invisible blocking lines when they really don't need to exist. It's one thing if the goal is to keep you from going out of bounds but there are too many of these barriers which make absolutely no sense. Less concerning is the starting weapon placement in a few maps might try the patience of many when trying to navigate the many cramped corridors

 

Probably 6/10 in the end

 

Video here!

 

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[brick]

Brick | 1 wad | 1 map

Adventure | 7 wads | 10 maps

 

Umbra of Fate (2018) by Alexa "YukiRaven" Jones-Gonzales. 1 SP map for Doom II in GZDoom.

 

@Remilia Scarlet has carved a reputation for high quality maps that lean heavily into horror and atmosphere and push the features of advanced ports, specifically GZDoom and K8Vavoom. What often impresses me is just how much of a one-woman show her wads can be when they're so complex and she's pumping out multiple ones every year. This one posits itself as a prequel to Doom (though it's not really related to the games we know), with a protagonist (not Doomguy) drawn by some dark whispers into a ravine leading to some eldritch temple.

 

Everything looks so different from regular Doom thanks to all the special effects, the fog, the striking choice of colours, and even custom shaders that Alexa coded herself. There's a Quake inspiration for sure with some of the texture choices, some of the setups with stairs and lifts, and the way liquids look. The Quake atmosphere is further enhanced by the soundtrack (entirely composed by Alexa; I wasn't kidding about the one-woman show), which could have easily passed for Doom The Way Trent Reznor Did, none of it echoed Quake directly but the style and use of ambient sounds are similar. The music works incredibly well with the eerie visuals to create a pretty unique atmosphere.

 

The map itself is deceptively linear; although it seems like it'll be a sprawling adventure (which it still is in some ways), the progression clearly breaks down into individual segments that you complete in order, usually with no access to previous sections until the current one is done. The segments themselves are quite varied in looks. Progression usually boils down to finding the next switch or key, though scripts sometimes liven things up a bit (again, more along the multi-switch puzzles of Quake than Hexen). Combat is much tougher than it initially seems; I played on Very Easy (again with Quake; skill selection is done in-game instead of a menu), and while the map lulled me with the promise of a low monster count, scripted spawns more than doubled it by the end. The biggest pains were the Barons, whose green balls now fly at you much faster and do obscene damage, and the succubi, whose nasty habit of setting me on fire was the cause of almost all my deaths. Secrets were a ton of fun to hunt, there are a dozen and some get pretty creative, including a super-secret that requires finding five triggers scattered across the map (I shamefully admit I had to look up one of them).

 

On the technical side, there are a few things to keep in mind when running this with modern GZDoom. The mod is completely incompatible with Vulkan (probably an issue with a custom shader), it will crash very early on unless set to OpenGL mode (ES is partially ok; some shaders won't run, but they won't crash the game). The readme has an extensive list of what settings (both graphics and gameplay) to use and I recommend following them exactly for optimal looks and for everything to run properly. The only hiccup otherwise seems to be with the secrets, 4 are inaccessible and as far as I can tell shouldn't have been tagged as secrets. I had no other issues at all, quite remarkable considering how complex the wad is.

 

If you like your Doom on the side of atmospheric horror and with gorgeous visuals this is a must-play.

 

Spoiler

 

[Roofi]

23 hours ago, Endless said:

Curious, but what source port do you use for Heretic?

 

I use crispy Heretic.

 

Year 2 Month 06 Day 28

 

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

 

[1] Fun with Teleporters by ruiner and robert d. (1995)

 

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An AWESOME deathmatch level with all the essential elements. Great teleporter action, an awesome, DEEP arena, and good placement of weapons. You will enjoy this one once you know your way around. The file is small and runs well on slower connections/computers, even though there are big rooms.

 

I think both authors were a bit too proud about their works because it doesnt resemble either to a singleplayer map nor a multiplayer one to me. Of course, it's clearly designed for DM mainly because it has no exit and weapons scattered in the level but the layout doesn't allow smooth movements mainly because of the tall slow elevators and the overall lack of consistency in terms of rooms. The minimal monster presence tells me this level could have been a (mediocre) level involving a great emphasis on heights variations and a puzzle with colored teleporters.

 

Overall, the authors had more designing the teleporters than I had navigating the map. A mapper appreciating his own creation is what matters afterall.

 

I fell in the deadly water of Cliffs.wad

 

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