"Linear" WAD suggestions

[PhoenixBlade]

Hey guys, hope you are enjoying your Christmas festivities. At the moment, I'm looking for quality Doom wads that feature more linear gameplay, as opposed to labyrinthine mazes or confusing layouts. If anyone has any recommendations I'd love to see them!. And by "linear", I mean something along the lines of Half-Life or a Halo game. Troll wads like "Linear Doom" wouldn't count obviously, and I'm not looking for slaughter wads or those that involve short challenges.

[Drywtler]

can't get anymore linear than this (i didn't read till the end oops)

Edited December 25, 2023 by Drywtler

[PhoenixBlade]

Just now, Drywtler said:

can't get anymore linear than this

That's exactly what I was referring to. Troll stuff like this doesn't count.

[Doomkid]

Back when I was mapping more often, fairly straightforward Dooming was my specialty. The Sinister Seven and Rowdy Rudy's Revenge, as well as other short episodes on my idgames wad listing, should hopefully scratch your itch.

 

There's a ton of other excellent straightforward episodes that I'd normally list here, but I'm a bit out of the loop currently :)

[espilka]

Scythe is one that comes to mind - the levels are really well designed but navigation is never a problem.  Maybe also Zone 400.

[Polri]

2022 A Doom Odyssey consists mostly of linear levels (a few more open ended EP3 levels by Kristian Aro being the exception to the rule).

 

Nearly all levels have the same type of progression: opening section > find key #1, key #1 area > find key #2, key #2 area > find key #3, final area.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Polri

[pcorf]

13 hours ago, Polri said:

2022 A Doom Odyssey consists mostly of linear levels (a few more open ended levels EP3 levels by Kristian Aro being the exception to the rule).

 

Nearly all levels have the same type of progression: opening section > find key #1, key #1 area > find key #2, key #2 area > find key #3, final area.

 

2022ado has a few non linear maps: E1M5, E1M7, E1M9, E2M4, E2M8, E3M1, E3M2, E3M3, E3M5, E3M6, E3M7, E4M1, E4M4, E5M4, E5M9 and the super secret levels. Most of the linear maps are interconnected apart from E1M8, E3M8, E4M2, E4M3, E4M5, E4M8 and E4M9.

 

Yep my strategy is that if you see a key door you need to look for a key.

 

Zone 400 has similar linearity in some maps. But most maps are more interconnected.

 

Whispers of Satan might be much better for more strict linear maps, especially if you want more hub like maps with less interconnectivity. 2002ado is also much more linear than 2022ado.

Edited December 26, 2023 by pcorf

[Celestin]

UAC Ultra has a straightforward progression with little backtracking.

[Not Jabba]

Jade Earth is the creme de la creme of giant linear maps.

Edited December 27, 2023 by Not Jabba

[kalensar]

Oh boy. My favorite style generally. I'll try to keep my list relevant.

 

1. Mars War--1998 DOS compatible https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=15798
2. Ashes Afterglow Vaccinated-- GZDoom https://www.mediafire.com/file/5ux5d3imx5jasr6/Afterglow_SterilizedV1_20.pk3/file
3. Doom Tribute Project vaccinated-- GZDoom https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=49292
4. GMP Good Morning Phobos-- limit removing https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/gmp
5. EDay Vanilla 2019-- GZDoom https://www.moddb.com/mods/brutal-doom/downloads/eday-vanilla-for-vanilla-and-mods
6. Ascent of Titan-- GZDoom--Dont worry its free despite what it looks like. https://davidxn.itch.io/ascent-of-titan
7. Hellbound-- Limit Removing-- https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/hellbnd