What are you playing now?

[head_cannon]

Doom 2 In Spain Only has some of the best surprises, tricks, & rug pulls I've ever experienced, and it almost does the WAD a disservice to start memorizing every trap and every beat from beginning to end. But that's what I'm doing: studying the levels and figuring out routes for pistol start runs. Dissecting it in this way removes all the comedy, but the process of solving the levels and figuring out the most optimal use of resources is still quite satisfying. There's a few levels, though, which contain just straight-up brutality if you're trying to tackle it single-segment. A few situations where there's no trick to bypassing it and you just have to take your medicine.

 

MAP20's escalating series of reveals made quite an impression the first time I experienced them: a series of pinches that play like "out of the frying pan, into the fire", where every escape you make deposits you in a situation that's even more dangerous. But when playing it on its own, outside of Continuous mode, you can't fudge things & muddle through by panicking and spraying cell ammo. There's no choice but to play it as intended, without the weapons & ammo to efficiently fight back and stuck between a Cyberdemon & an army of Hell Knights (with caged Mancubi firing into the arena from outside). No choice but to try to survive in a storm of projectiles, floating like a leaf on the wind as they fight each other and hoping to pass through unscathed.

 

There's a kind of zen to navigating the maelstrom, but it also means getting swatted down over and over while making attempts at it. When I finally had a practice run get through that section, it was a relief. Upon exit, I noticed that the Secrets counter read 0%, a result which always raises hopes that there's a better way out there and it just hasn't been discovered yet.

 

Cowed by this brutal gauntlet and desperate for any advantage that would tilt the odds in my favor, I reloaded my practice save and started searching. Finally I noticed it: an off texture tucked away at the back of a monster closet.

 

 

Ah, a real game-changer. Totally breaks the level-progression wide open. Thanks. Thanks for this.

 

Spoiler

XD

 

[Xeogred]

Beat these two recently:

 

- Doom: Shotgun Symphony (PC)[UV/C,~2h28mh] - Fun super detailed E1, but I wonder if this would have been more fun in Doom 2 with all the extra monsters. Recommended though if you want some big Doom 1 tech bases, lots of detail, and decent difficulty.

- Doom 2: Revolution! (PC)[UV/C,~3h02m] - First dozen or so maps were really fun with a lot of Doomcute. But then the unchanging lack of difficulty and laziness of the second half waned on me. I also kind of liked how the first half channeled DN3D's urban city vibes and such... but the second half was generic Hell levels. There was one where it's like some giant demon snake eats you, kind of a cute idea... but yeah I'd only give this like a 2/5.

 

Looking for more chill wads that don't have original midis, since I just want to listen to a lot of Death lately haha.

[Lila Feuer]

Finished Doom 64 for Doom II, started Reverie, reached MAP05, so far me likey, you'd think the WAD was from 1997 but it was released in 2011.

[Loud Silence]

Playing Rage for first time and loving it. I'm amazed how well it runs on Intel GPU from same year as game (HD 3000) with detailed textures enabled.

[Yalmar]

Doom Eternal

[nrofl]

Just finished Phobia by Ebola (I think Ebola is the author? Too lazy to check). For a wad made so long ago, it is really interesting to see what was pulled off there. The gameplay was alright but imo the expierience as a while is much worth your attention

[nrofl]

I now just played UAC Ultra by 40oz and Super Jamie. I heard someone saying how this mod never lets up. And holllyyyy shit they were right on the money. The epitome of relentless is UAC Ultra. Every single map I audibly mumbled “oh shit oh shit oh shit” cause it can just get that hectic. If you haven’t played UAC Ultra, please do, more than worthy of your time.

[Origamyde]

Going through the whole pain of playing yet again Community Chest 1.

 

I still dread the moment I'll reach once more Citadel at the Edge of Eternity, to this day 😱

[Biodegradable]

Currently blasting my way through Valkiriforce's newest megaWAD, Anomaly Report. It's been great fun so far!

[Sleep Deprivation]

Replaying DOOM II. Still the best official IWAD to me.

[nrofl]

Currently playing Speed Of Doom with DoomRL Arsenal. Man oh man, I’ve missed out on both of these wads. I won’t lie though, Speed of Doom is amazing but Jesus Christ is it a ballbreaking experience on UV. I still like it though. And DoomRL is the only gameplay mod where you should definitely read the manual for 20 or so minutes before you decide to play it. Don’t misconstrue my words though, both are awesome wads and are definitely worth anyones attention.

[Lila Feuer]

Tearing through Hexen on International Hexen, tfw 3 hours in on a Cleric game and I'm already at Necropolis. This game used to feel so long.

[Frost-Core]

I'm playing Heretic since the story is complicated, so complicated i can't understand.

[Ahool]

"Lost civilisation" This one is an absolute visual treat. 

 

[Shepardus]

On 5/7/2022 at 10:47 AM, nue said:

And DoomRL is the only gameplay mod where you should definitely read the manual for 20 or so minutes before you decide to play it.

Only because the Hideous Destructor manual takes far longer than that to read. =P

[Pechudin]

Ashes: Afterglow. What an atmospheric game! Really captures that experience of loneliness desolate wasteland, while being playful and packed with pop-culture and Doom references.

[sincity2100]

A Game Called ZBloodpack, the reason I'm playing it because it was my first ever PWAD, and I played it a long time ago without the ZDoom Monsters , so I'm playing it this time with the ZDoom Monsters and Weapons, and it's a fun ride..

[ReaperAA]

Mucking around with DNF2001. I'll wait for some more community fixes (mainly about renderer/performance fixes) before I start going into its campaign.

[Summer Deep]

Anomaly Report by Valkiriforce. I've actually completed the first two episodes (maps 1-11) this evening in UV continuous without dying once, something I don't think I've achieved before in a megawad. It's very enjoyable on the whole so far, old-fashioned and a bit basic in places. I seem to recall playing some far more difficult stuff by this author in the past, and I'm sure he has a good number of tougher challenges in store in the upcoming maps!

 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Summer Deep

[Captain POLAND]

I just beat Moonblood and started Plutonia 2.

[FEZ_GG]

I'm going through my first playthrough of Plutonia 2 right now.  The first 10+ levels weren't too bad, and I even got through some of them deathless on my first try.  However, from Map 15 onwards the difficulty suddenly shot up, and I'm loving it.  I've also come to admire Gusta's level design, even if a few of the maps blend together in my memory due to their similarities.  It's not hampering my enjoyment, fortunately.  I've put about 19 hours in so far, and I just beat Map 24.  The change in mapping style from the previous maps to Erik Alm's was recognizable right away, and I was surprised at how tense I was throughout the whole level.  I really admire how enemy placement was handled in this map, but it also makes me worried for what I'll encounter in Scythe 2, as that was what I planned to play next.

[Uncle 80]

TNT 2 TNT 2 TNT 2 TNT 2 TNT 2 and now for a little bit of Irkalla. That's a good one too!

[Summer Deep]

Finished Anomaly Report in four or five days (UV continuous). The only thing that really held me up was The IoS MAP30. God, this was tough on UV, and I had to do it from pistol starts on lower difficulty levels to familiarize myself with the map's mechanics. Finally got to grips with the UV version - you really have to do a thorough job of cleaning up the outdoor area if you're not to end up being telefragged on the rocket firing platform.

[Megatokyo]

JPCP. Love the creativity on display in these maps.

[Ultima_]

Currently I'm doing a first time playthrough of Alien Vendetta. I wasn't aware of Doom modding until some Brutal Doom videos popped up on YouTube and I spent many years mostly just playing Doom 1 with different mod packs which has been a super fun experience. It's only in the last few years that I've really started getting into custom map packs, and I've rarely finished whole MegaWADs. Decided to change that this year, with Alien Vendetta being the first I intend on finishing this year (I'm only 5 levels in as of writing this) and so far I'm quite enjoying it!

 

If anyone has specific WADs they think I should check out or anything, I'm more than open to messages of recommendations to work my way through :)

[Mr. Alexander]

Currently playing Anomaly Report, valkiriforce's new megawad. I'm not trying to UV-Max it, but I'm playing it on UV from a pistol start, and it's been a lot of fun. I just beat Map 20, "Diamond Apocalypse", by the skin of my teeth, using a lot of saves after picking up the secret mega-armor you can find after the initial claustrophobic horror show.

 

The arch-vile-trapped teleporter to the supply room late in the map tickled me, because it drops you behind one side of a brutal hitscanner pincer ambush in an apparently empty corridor. I love it when mappers let me subvert traps in that way. 

 

I'm glad the level telegraphs its secrets pretty well, because there's no way I could have survived the final room's evil, evil set of traps without the megasphere behind the secret door atop one of the revenant pillars in the red key room. I didn't even try to kill everything in the final arena, but just sprayed plasma fire and ran as fast as I could through the caged gallery full of imps and cacodemons, hoping the arch-vile didn't zap me on the way.

 

If I were an expert player, I probably wouldn't sweat the traps very much, but as a filthy casual, it's a lot of fun to get bushwhacked like this.

 

I highly recommend AR if you're in the mood for a fun shoot-em-up with chunky '90s architecture and lots of good '90s midis. It starts out almost trivially easy, but the difficulty spikes around Map 10 and 11, where the level layouts open up and allow for - and the difficulty demands - more creative routing. Don't miss Map 13, "The Crucible", a free-flowing Inmost Dens homage, or Map 19, "The Pavilion", a city level that ends in a riot of revenants and cacodemons overseen by a cyberdemon.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Mr. Alexander
Clarified the nature of the ambush you get to subvert; corrected the map number for "Diamond Apocalypse"

[Thelokk]

12 hours ago, Mr. Alexander said:

I highly recommend AR if you're in the mood for a fun shoot-em-up with chunky '90s architecture and lots of good '90s midis.

 

Seconding this, definitely a highlight of the year.

 

Just wrapped up Tangerine Nightmare (pretty good combat wise, monotonous palette) and UAC Ultra (left me cold), and now about to tackle Claustrophobia 1024. 

[Cinnamon]

Going to finally beat Alien Vendetta UV-max (I've told myself, we'll see about Demonic Hordes...) and I also have a few levels left on Ancient Aliens.

Then I think I might tackle the first episode of Back to Saturn X, I don't know why I haven't already, I usually love Esselfortium's stuff.

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Right now, I'm playing Half Life, Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, Terraria, Minecraft and Plants Vs Zombies 1.

[Azure_Horror]

Decided to finally play Scythe 2.

First episode was cool.

Second episode was INSANELY cool. Especially map08!

I was excited to play the next maps!

And in third episode we get old boring green techbases... sigh...

 

I also completed map 25, and tried to play maps 26 and 27, but all those maps didn't feet very fun to me. I prefer Fire and Ice from scythe 1 to these three maps.

Edited May 26, 2022 by Azure_Horror