Tindalos

I really enjoyed this visually, but the gameplay is not my cup of tea.

A very thematically interesting pack resembling a slow descent into hell where the environments gradually become more dangerous and oppressive. The maps are all relatively small and claustrophobic sequences of battle arenas with gorgeous aesthetic design and occasional interesting gimmicks or puzzles thrown in, which on one hand I found a much welcomed change from the sprawling, labyrinthine switch hunting maps I've played in some of the other packs, but on the other hand these were some of the most challenging and brutal fights I've ever slogged through, my experience resembling something like a suffocating and frantic panic attack with precious few moments where I could gasp for air.

When I played this megawad I thought it was made in the early 90s, but to my surprise it was released in 2011. It emulates the style of maps from that era and is reminiscent of mapsets like Plutonia and TNT: Evilution which I don't like very much, so unsurprisingly the level design and aesthetic of this megawad didn't appeal to me either. If that throwback experience is what you crave then that's what is on offer here, if not then your enjoyment will probably be interspersed between much boredom and frustration. Personally this just felt dated way beyond its actual age, and sure loves to craft its gameplay around cramped corridors, switch/key hunting puzzles, and surprise ambushes (especially the chaingun monster closets :/). I don't think this mapset is terrible and is still probably worth your time, it just really wasn't my cup of tea at all.

Classic and memorable megawad

Gets way too exhausting by the end, sometimes feels its age and the progression is odd with inconsistent quality. However I'd still recommend it, during its high points it was superb and there are many great maps, just feel bad I couldn't give it a higher rating due to the aforementioned reasons - its quite enjoyable until it isn't.

I prefer this one to its predecessor, the levels are not as small and don't feel as rushed as some of them were in Scythe and I really enjoyed the theming and the different aesthetic styles. Having to start over in each group of 5 maps was a nice challenge that I didn't mind, but I didn't like some of the other gameplay aspects: those super fast plasma gun marines are a nightmare, but at least they're used sparingly, and the balancing takes an interesting turn from Whispering Winds (map 23) onward when the difficulty suddenly spikes and the design spirals into slaughterfest maps with hundreds of challenging enemies crammed into confined spaces forcing you to rely on invincibilitys and BFG spam. I revisited this one on a lower difficulty (HNTR) after many years to compensate for my abilities withering away in the absence of playing and the progression felt even odder with the juxtaposition of how easy and chill the maps in the first 2/3 of this pack are and the 500+ demon spam and archvile/revenant/cyberdemon orgies that followed. However it is mostly high quality stuff and the 30 maps breeze by faster than they seem

Not really a fan of wandering for hours in huge maps trying to discover what hidden unmarked switches unlocked (spoiler: it was more switches) but has some very cool design.

Silent Hill style wad, with interesting map design, non-linear gameplay and a lot of custom textures and enemies. Good challenge to play. Great atmosphere and the custom content is well integrated into the adventure. I got a ton of enjoyment out of this one and even replayed it a few times with various settings.

Maps are interesting, but the gameplay sometimes gets repetitive as well as the switch hunting/puzzle solving is frustrating at times. Over reliance on ambush spawns and too many damn revenants for my liking, especially toward the end. Aesthetically the maps are consistently impressive, the setting and atmosphere are great and there's enough variety and memorability in them. Despite those drawbacks, its still an enjoyable experience for the most part.