Best map pack(s) since Eviternity?

[Kwisior]

14 minutes ago, Ludi said:

Equinox

Aw hell no

[elborbahquarama]

i think several people have already mentioned lost civilization which i like a lot but there is another smaller wad released at the same time that i like called syringe

[Gez]

They're for Heretic, but I recommend "Faithless: Trilogy" (by Jimmy) and "Quest for the Crystal Skulls" (by Captain Toenail) for high quality mapsets that tend to get overlooked.

 

[Celestin]

20 hours ago, Ludi said:

I highly recommend Alien Vendetta and Equinox, although those may not have the blockbuster sheen of something like Eviternity. Still very worth checking out, especially the former!

Both came waaaay before Eviternity did. 

 

I also believe Eviternity's strength was its mass appeal. It has great visuals, varied themes, but was also pretty accessible - I played it on HMP right after completing Doom 2 for the first time and I found it mostly fair and enjoyable. 

 

Auger;Zenith probably came the closest in gathering similar level of attention, though it has its issues related to being a community project created under time limits. I'm also discounting MyHouse.wad, which blew up far outside the reaches of Doom community, but also its appeal lies elsewhere.

 

I agree there are many great wads getting releases nowadays, but 1) because there are so many of them, they don't have as much staying power, 2) some of them, despite being well made, can be a bit too niche for the mainstream audience (Doom 2 in Spain Only, I'm talking about you).

 

 

[Kwisior]

A recent accessible megawad, which undoubtedly gained popularity because of decino's playthrough is Doom 2 in Spain Only. I didn't even finish it yet but it's already one of my favorite WADs.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Kwisior

[Dreamskull]

Hey man, can we hear back from you on a recommendation after the fact?

[Sirius104x]

On 9/22/2023 at 8:03 PM, Dreamskull said:

Hey man, can we hear back from you on a recommendation after the fact?

 

I will definitely need to find the time to try out a lot of these recommendations people posted here, over the next months. A lot of them seem like they would be fantastic. Of the ones mentioned, I happened to play Overboard somewhat recently and liked it. It was short, fun, very different level style and theme from the norm. Id recommend it although I wouldn't say it was map of the year or anything. I also tried Dust Devil which was a short one (2 maps) but again very interesting visually and different. It uses all of the new tricks ZDoom has to offer and very well. Such as angled surfaces, layer-over-layer geometry (enemies on balconies above you etc), special effects like dust/fog in an area, light sources such as TVs casting light onto the floor in front of them, vertical bouncing pads, swimming underwater or under slime. Very cool stuff. This was more like playing Duke 3D engine compared to Doom. I'd recommend it just to see what Doom is capable of these days if you're making maps that require advanced source ports.

Also I've played Ashes 2063 and Afterglow about a year ago. I didn't realize these were simply Doom mods. I thought they were an entire game/project all on their own, and free for some reason. These I would say are a project on another level compared to simply map packs or mods for Doom. These could be honestly retail games if they chose to sell them. It's really like its own entirely created game with the world they created.

If these two are part of the Cacowards or considered applicable as winning map packs, at least one of them should be the winner of its year. Seriously. For example Afterglow came out in 2021. I just didn't think of these as Doom map packs, I thought of them as entire games on their own hence why it didn't occur to me to mention them here. Oh and look, I just looked it up and Afterglow indeed did win a 2021 Cacoward. Well there's my answer at least for best wad of 2021 being that. And 2018 when the original came out could be mod of the year for 2018 in my book.

[MrGigglefingers]

On 9/14/2023 at 7:13 PM, Shepardus said:

I feel like it's not too early to say that MyHouse will be the best known map(set) of 2023 by a long shot.

Probably the most famous Doom mod in general since Brutal Doom, possibly even surpassing it.

[volleyvalley]

Off the top of my head:

 

- Doom Zero (2019)

- 180MPV (2020)

- Akeldama (2020)

- Nostalgia (2022)