a list of good horror and mindfuck wads

[roadworx]

so, there's a lot of really great maps/mapsets out there that actually do horror well instead of relying on low-effort shock value bullshit like they're a terrible creepypasta from the early 2010s, yet oftentimes don't get the mainstream attention that they deserve (i.e. they don't get a video from a Certain Clickbait Youtuber). so, i'm thinking that we should compile a proper list, that way we can just link people to it whenever someone comes onto the forums and loudly proclaims OMG HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF [insert stupid stuff here] IT'S SO SCARY I LITERALLY SHAT MY ORGANS OUT AND PISSED BLOOD WHEN PLAYING IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

for real tho, i'd like to have a list at the ready so we can just link to it before the thread gets locked or deleted, that way people can get more into actual doom stuff instead of creepypasta-tier garbage they see on the doom equivalent of history channel specials

 

for now, the only stuff on the list as of its creation is stuff that i can think of off the top of my head. lmk more so i can add them

 

      WAD LIST      

Abscission

^{by Snaxalotl; 2023; Vanilla}

A highly atmospheric megawad starting out as a moody Doom 2 remake that quickly turns into a surreal nightmare. Has an ambient, droning soundtrack somewhat reminiscent of John Carpenter films to accompany its creative combat encounters.

 

 

 

 

 

Aliens TC

^{by Justin Fisher; 1994; Vanilla}

This ancient Doom 1 wad set in the Aliens universe is not only one of the first total conversions for Doom, but is also one of the first horror-based mods for the game. It's much more dated than other wads in this list, but it's still a quality piece of work; very much something worth checking out, both for some scares and as a history lesson.

 

 

 


 

 

 

The All-Ghosts Forest

^{by Danlex; 2023; Vanilla}

A vanilla take on the survival horror Ghoul's Forest series that, through loads of Doom engine trickery, manages to play differently each and every time. Goes heavier on the jumpscares than other wads in this list, but still manages to be scary even without them.

 

 

 


 

 

 

A.L.T.

^{by Clan [B0S]; 2012; Limit-removing}

On the more "mindfuck" side of things, this megawad telling the story of a plane crash survivor has one of the most unique atmospheres in any Doom wad out there, unmatched even to this day. It does, however, feature lots of lengthy maps with cryptic progression that may turn many people off.

 

 

CABIN - An Apocalyptic Nightmare

^{by UndeadRyker; 2019; Vanilla}

This mod takes place after the events of Doom 2, with Doomguy having retired to a life of solitude in a cabin in the woods. Unfortunately, Hell isn't quite done with him yet...

Contains an original MIDI soundtrack made by James Paddock of Jiffy Bag fame.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Comatose

^{by Lainos; 2016; Limit-removing}

Enormous, richly detailed map depicting an abandoned Russian city haunted by its former inhabitants, with the events leading up to its current state being told in a story the player must slowly piece together.

 

 

 


 

 

 

dead.air

^{by Xaser; 2016; GZDoom}

A single map wherein the player is plunged headfirst into a bizarre, twisted cityscape with a new set of weapons and Doom monsters that are even more demented than the originals. Unlike many other wads in this list, this focuses heavily on the action straight away and is often very fast-paced.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Happy Time Circus II

^{by Negatronica; 2009; GZDoom}

A massive single map of an entire town that has been taken over by reality-bending clown demons. Much scarier than its premise lets on; considered a classic horror mod within the Doom community.

 

 

 


 

 

 

The Parasite of Good Will

^{by Emperor S P O O N; 2023; Boom}

A very dark survival-horror map that is rather blind-unfriendly and will take lots of time to figure out, with the darkness oftentimes obscuring progression and a variety of vicious combat encounters awaiting the player. However, it all ends up playing into the map's dread-inducing atmosphere.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Unhinged

^{by Jack101; 2012; GZDoom}

A large city map slowly being devoured by a strange, fleshy horror. The wad, which is a slow burn, is best experienced blind, though it does get very eerie and surreal. The second half does pick up in pacing considerably and is much more action-oriented.

 

 

 


 

 

 

Unloved

^{by BlueEagle; 2010; GZDoom}

A Silent Hill 4 inspired wad that takes place in a dark, decrepit home where the player must traverse various horrific realms accessed from within the house in order to find a way out. Combat can get rather difficult, with large amounts of enemies having to be fought in cramped environments towards the end.

 

 

 

 

shit that i still gotta do little blurbs for or need to learn more about:

- A.L.T.

- Liminal Doom

- Outpost 13

- Reconstruction/Decomposition

- S.U.P.E.R. Natural [WIP]

- Hell Ground

- CountryCide

Edited February 3, 2024 by roadworx

[Shepardus]

If single maps within larger WADs count, then there's MAP26 of GOODWAD. And, unironically, MAP25 of TNT Threevilution.

[roadworx]

no, because a lot of those maps are somewhat context dependent and you gotta play the whole wad to get the proper experience

Edited January 30, 2024 by roadworx

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

Aliens TC

City of the Damned: Apocalypse

Asylum of the Wretched

[Ozcar]

-insert hilarious and original Hdoom jokes-
Anyway, back to the topic, Agforest and CABIN - An Apocalyptic Nightmare.

Edited January 30, 2024 by Ozcar

[natashanightmare]

AtmosFear

Unhinged

Somnambulism

 

[whybmonotacrab]

Hell Ground by Eternal is really damn good.

[Decay]

Rainbow factory 1

Rainbow factory 2

 

[roadworx]

On 1/29/2024 at 6:21 PM, TheMagicMushroomMan said:

Aliens TC

City of the Damned: Apocalypse

Asylum of the Wretched

i feel like aliens tc is way too old to include, and the other two are just...idk, too classically spooky? they're definitely horror, but i don't think people nowadays are gonna find them actually creepy :p

 

keep in mind that i only took a cursory glance at them, so who knows, maybe i'm wrong!

nah fuck it why not

Edited February 3, 2024 by roadworx

[fruity lerlups]

the most controversial wad ever

hello spartans

[VoanHead]

What about TNT Revilution? It’s middle chapter is where it begins to lean a bit into horror territory, with abandoned spooky techbases.

[Maribo]

Gorehounds of Doom

The Parasite of Good Will

Liminal Doom

Reconstruction/Decomposition

Outpost 13

The Room Below

Saturnine Chapel

Orange is True Love + Wormwoods

Volumus

Maskim Xul + Frost

Northern Powerhouse

[WASFDDDDD]

On 1/30/2024 at 8:15 AM, VoanHead said:

What about TNT Revilution? It’s middle chapter is where it begins to lean a bit into horror territory, with abandoned spooky techbases.

Is that a typo or is Revilution some sort of fan-made sequel? Because if you mean Evilution, then I'll just say this:

The real horror of TNT: Evilution is playing TNT: Evilution

[esselfortium]

1 hour ago, WASFDDDDD said:

Is that a typo or is Revilution some sort of fan-made sequel? Because if you mean Evilution, then I'll just say this:

The real horror of TNT: Evilution is playing TNT: Evilution

It's an unofficial sequel. https://doomwiki.org/wiki/TNT:_Revilution

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

1 hour ago, WASFDDDDD said:

Is that a typo or is Revilution some sort of fan-made sequel? Because if you mean Evilution, then I'll just say this:

The real horror of TNT: Evilution is playing TNT: Evilution

There are many vilutions out there, you'll see.

[roadworx]

2 hours ago, Maribo said:

Saturnine Chapel

Orange is True Love + Wormwoods

hmmm.

 

not sure i wanna kill people.

[RataUnderground]

I understand that the purpose is to discover wads that are not well known, but for posterity, this list will not be complete without the addition of MyHouse.

[plums]

Data Corruption was an interesting idea that didn't get much attention. GZDoom only since it doesn't say so in the OP.

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/139466-data-corruption-a-doom-ii-mod/

 

Edited February 2, 2024 by plums

[Maribo]

3 hours ago, roadworx said:

hmmm.

 

not sure i wanna kill people.

Skill settings exist. There's also nothing in the OP that indicates that the WADs should be easy, or whatever this arbitrary secondary criteria is.

[roadworx]

1 hour ago, Maribo said:

Skill settings exist. There's also nothing in the OP that indicates that the WADs should be easy, or whatever this arbitrary secondary criteria is.

i was hoping that when i said that i wanted to get people "more into actual doom stuff" that it'd be implied that this is more for people who're newer here and are coming in from youtube and such, but i probably should've been more clear with that

 

ribbiks wads are pretty notoriously difficult even on itytd, so i should probably add some descriptors explaining each wad and giving a disclaimer if certain wads aren't very beginner-friendly

[Xaser]

I don't understand the reasoning for excluding several of the suggestions here (aliens tc, satchap, etc.) -- its fine to put disclaimers next to em (e.g. "this wad is pretty old" or "this one is mega-hard"), so people know what they're getting into, but they absolutely fall under the "horror-ish" umbrella. Let folks pick their own favorites rather than pre-emptively DQ something notable.

 

Sorta related: it may also be worth separating wads into "action oriented" and "survival horror ish" categories, just to manage expectations a bit. That's somewhat biased I guess since one of dead.air's quirks is that it's a fast paced actionfest with a horror aesthetic, which occasionally throws folks off if they're only interested in the spooks. A bunch of the other mentions are in the same category too.

[Logamuffin]

I’m gonna say it so get your collective groans and boos out now…. MyHouse.wad

 

Also Dark Universe, which is horror and atmosphere on a Star Wars: Dark Forces inspired space station. One of few Doom mods I’ve played to give a few genuinely good scares though it does mellow out a bit in later maps.

[roadworx]

5 hours ago, Xaser said:

I don't understand the reasoning for excluding several of the suggestions here (aliens tc, satchap, etc.) -- its fine to put disclaimers next to em (e.g. "this wad is pretty old" or "this one is mega-hard"), so people know what they're getting into, but they absolutely fall under the "horror-ish" umbrella. Let folks pick their own favorites rather than pre-emptively DQ something notable.

the reasoning is that i was told that stuff like wormwood wasn't for my target audience and shouldn't be included, but if i'm gonna add descriptions to each then i may as well include them with disclaimers. may as well have this also be for doom fans in general rather than exclusively for newcomers

 

12 hours ago, RataUnderground said:

MyHouse.

45 minutes ago, Logamuffin said:

MyHouse.wad

everybody and their pet duck already knows about this one, so i'd rather not

Edited February 2, 2024 by roadworx

[june gloom]

I don't think it's quite what you're looking for but I want to bring it up in this thread regardless, but Nihility is an E2 replacement that removes all music and replaces it with ambient sounds and to be honest the change in tone is severe. May be worth playing with some gameplay/graphics mods to up the scare factor.

[LadyMistDragon]

Somambulism, a low combat wad with a whiff or two of Silent Hill

 

Someone also did a TC of Silent Hill like a year or two ahi but I think the forum link got taken down.

 

The end times is basically if someone wanted to see a reality slowly shifting into hell. The lighting's a little funky but I think it might still be appealing at points.

Edited February 2, 2024 by LadyMistDragon

[roadworx]

okay, so this is the format that i'm thinking i should go with for each wad. any suggestions? is this good or are there things i should change?

i'm trying to be descriptive enough to peak people's interest yet still vague as to not spoil anything

 

Unloved

^{by BlueEagle; 2010; GZDoom}

A Silent Hill 4 inspired WAD that takes place in a dark, decrepit home where the player must traverse various horrific realms accessed from within the house in order to find a way out. Combat can get rather difficult, with large amounts of enemies having to be fought in cramped environments towards the end.

 

 

 


 

 

Edited February 2, 2024 by roadworx

[june gloom]

Seems like as good a format as any.

[natashanightmare]

Lilithpk3

defy the omphalos

akashic migraine

 

all three probably fall into mindfuck, photosensitivity warning.

[june gloom]

Down the Drain, maybe? Though that one might be more of a metacommentary about Doom mapping than anything else, like myhouse but in a different way.

[Crusader No Regret]

Sign of Torment, specifically Ep 3.  Manages to be very unsettling in a minimalist way with its textures, decoration edits, and a creepy, droning, soundtrack.

 

Dawn of Reality didn't strike me as a horror map at first glance.  But it has some rooms and setpieces that seem inspired by the genre and creeped me out as I went through the map.

 

Beyond Reality may not meet the threshhold of mindfuck you're looking for.  But it does delve into those waters in the various maps and those speedy mini demons are scary to encounter.  Actually, most of the monster cast is pushing the weirdness boundary.