Anomaly Report - a new 33-level megawad for Doom II

Oh by the way I'm aware MAP02 has a couple of bugs - the window sector with a tagged secret and a computer panel with a W1 line. I'll be fixing and updating these bugs and making other small changes over time.

that looks really cool im going to download it

okay so the first thing i have to say is the difficulty and game play of the first level is really good. and the wad looks very good and uses the textures and architecture extremely well and it looks awesome. and the game play is fun. and its not to big and wide but enough space to run around fast like in doom. it s really good. but the progression is not so good. you should have made the door that leads to the room where u can find the blue key more obvious. i think you probably should have put like , some lights or contrast inducing textures at it so the door will seem like its important , because it is. and when i have an important room , i also always put windows or some thing there , where you can see the important thing which is the key and how to get there will be difficult or not as easy because theres gonna be enemies because this is doom. at least that is how i do it and that is my feedback for this first map but, besides this criticism it is a very good openning map. and the surprise with the imps when you collect the key was extremely good and clever. and the exit area looks really awesome , and the chaingunner there was really cool.

the second level uses the pinkies , barrels and hitscanner sergeants there very well because you can abuse the pinkies to make them a shield that the bullets fly into. and thats always really fun to do. so when they look at you you will know , oh my god i gotta react to that and stand behind the pinky , and that feels so cool to do. the pinkies and hitscanners in the big area are very oppressive and are a very good and interesting challenge and the gameplay in this area just feels awesome. the comnbat is just much better than the doom 2 remake wad you mentioned and the original doom 2 iwad that you mentioned , and your wad also looks better than them.it is what i do with my own currect project except i make my wads in the style of doom 1 , except i use the doom2 enemies and textures in it. but your level architecture and texturing looks better than my own. and the red key ambush with the chaingunner behind you was awesome , i heard the door and got almost hit but because it was only 1 chaingunner it was not unfair. also the teleporter thing before you get the blue key was awesome , and the reason why it is so good is because first you get to collet some dead hitscanner ammo and then you think you go back but you get to the blue key , that was so good. but also , the progression of it sucks again , what the switch does near the blue key is not obvious and i dont know what it is doing. so please make it more obvious what this switch does because its making me angry. the teleport destination there had encouraged me to get down there and to fight the enemies but i had to go back which was not obvious.

level 3 is very good. it starts with a good surprise at the beginning. and it makes the imps and humans infight so thats fun to do and its cool to destroy the rest of the survivors when they re done. the next enemy encounters are very well made with all the enemies in the distance and it encourages the chaingun and sniping with it very well , and i like it. the berserk secret is really good. and the way where the enemies at the red key are coming from shows the player , oh theres enemies i did not kill yet but i already was a tthjis area and that means there is some thing new , and it really was so that was very well made. the secret with the gray well was cool where the health bonuses are. the blue switch where the blue gaters are coming down into the ground are a ve3ry good way to tell the player , oh this thing made ALL blue things in the map sink into the ground , anmd with that the other bars i just saw 1 second ago also are going down , so that was awesome. the barrel chain after that was so funny.

level 4 starts out really well and uses the hitscanners from the distance again , which objects and towers to hide behind , while youre still attacked by imps and pinkies which is very good. and i liked the spectre after the red key. i also have to say the way the chaingunners are placed are so good because they re very well used to make the plasyer feel pressuerd and on edge but not too much so it becomes unfair and frustrating. the levels are much better than the original doom 2 and doom2 the way id did levels. the red door was much better placed here so in this level , the progression is much better. and the teleport secret was really nice. the way to the blue key was not as obvious but less fruistrating than the other levels where i already criticized the progression so , it is getting better with that.

level 5 looks awesome and sniping the cacos dead is funny xd they have silly faces. and you get the ssg. in doom 2 you get the ssg earlier but its boring when you get all good weapons too early so giving the ssg at this moment was perfect. its a very good circle of death remix. its better than the original circle of death or as good. but its awesome.

and from now on i will only say what i dislike about the wad , because it will be hard to understand if its too long , so if i like something im not gonna say it , because it will mean that the moment was good. only if something is really awesome or not so good from now on i will criticize.
and i think in generall all the surprises every where in the wad are really good and creative , they are very well placed and well made , i really like all this entire gameplay so much. its really just much better than everything thats in the original doom2. i think this is the perfect continuation from doom1. it also has a lot of very good secrets that i really like.

the progression of level 6 sucks because there is no red door. and i dont know why the rocket launcher was there , i did not need it. the bluey key ambush was really good with all the barrels. the traps there in the brown room with the switches and the elevator was really cool. the revenant trap was awesome too.

the chaingunner and revenant traps in the brown room with the blue lights were awesome. the other part where you could run up to the wall where the sergeants at the beginning were so you could kill them in the way that you prefer was really awesome too. in the dark room there were the sergeants when the hellknights and revenants were standing there and that make me feel really angry. but the level also encouraged using the rocket launchger because you did not enough ammo at the end of it , so if this was intended to do , then its fine , but if not , then you should place more ammo in the level.

the tanker level looks really awesome , and i love the skybox of this level. and it looks really good too even if it has too much gray. but its awesome that this is a ship. and it reminds me of when we were on such a ship , and it made me feel sad.

the los amalos level looks really awesome and colorful and it reminds me of the plaza level in mario kaart ds. but the mancubi are so boring to kill. i think it would be more exciting to play this if it had like more stuff to infight with the mancubi. the tv screen looks so stupid xd because it looks like a computer panel but its placved as if it was a tv. but the revenants that come later are really good. but the progression of this level is not very good , after you activate the red switch i dont know where to go.

in the pendleton level there is a room with red shining lights , after you go through the hole the tank has shot into the wall , and the fact i could press the switch there without having a red key was confusing and strange. also the green stairs there were really confusing and at first i did not step on it , because it made me feel scared.

in map 11 i noticed that i could switch red switches without having a red key again. that establishes that this will always work now. but until now it was staying consistent so maybe this is okay. and in the countdown map the progression is not so good because i cant find the blue door. you should make the blue door more obvious. and i did not like that you had to run so fast to get the yellow key , that was not really fun. the yellow also was too hard to find. but the exit with the explosion was awesome.

the crucible is the best looking level so far i think

in the fortress floodgates i was able to open a door with yellow lights , but i did not have a yellow key with me , and that was confusing.

the bridges always make me feel scared because they look like i could fall through them. and you can get trapped in a secret with the computer map.

the colosseum confuses me and i dont know what to do there at the beginning.

i did not play more levels but its really awesome. and i gotta take a break now cuz im hungry and i gotta eat so i wanna stop makinmg the review and i hope its enough feedback for you. but i think its one of the best wads i ever played. its the best doom 2 vanilla style wad i ever played and its awesome and i think everyone should play it , and i recommend it to every one because its really awesome

i also like this wad extremely much

yes , its really great

Thanks everybody - I've updated to include RC2, which features these updates:

-Fixed the secret sector bug on MAP02 and removed the W1 line near the computer
-Changed teleport pad on MAP02 to indicate the secret more clearly
-Made lots of difficulty changes throughout - mostly for easy/normal
-Changed yellow key teleport ambush on MAP04
-Added more health to MAP06
-Removed secret effect from the chaingunner platforms on MAP12 and added a switch
-Added switch function to opposite side of trap door for co-op players on MAP20
-Added another invulnerability on MAP25 for easy/normal difficulties
-Small change to secret function on MAP31

There were other things I meant to include in this update, but I'll be sure to have them ready for RC3 when that rolls around. Until then, I hope everyone has fun!

Well, I don't really think this is doomer boards exclusive, but indeed doom-related activity makes forum better in public eye than other kind of posts, and this one is in subforum viewable by guests. And since this megawad is going to be in spotlight for a while, I think it is important to mention how accessible it is, so players in search of frustration-less wads can take note.

To watch my demos, one would have to register though. But since this is for RC2 and not the final release, I think it's a non-issue I put them as attachments (that only logged-in users can see), most don't want to spoil the wad by watching a playthrough but if they made up their mind, they can as well go through registration process. But if they hate this place, they might be hesitant to do that and thus won't watch it, which is not my problem either.

Also, the attachments eventually expire and get deleted, again non-issue, this is for "release candidate", demos might desync with the final version that will be released at some later point of time.

Just to avoid confusion - all the demos I've posted so far in this thread are for RC2.

I am going to take a break for a few days, maps start getting uncomfortable for me to make FDA playthroughs. My death tolerance is at the moment low, for real-life reasons. map20 start is some grind to get to know where the weapons are, what enemies await you at what corner (and they're literally at every corner, and tend to be cheaply placed) etc. Right now too tired to cover what I think about map19 (specifically, it being easy to miss rocket launcher and the ammo stash behind a lift until the cyber and co fight is triggered), and map20 seems to indicate there is a shift in map design, specifically it no longer tries to make any path equally good but is instead more leaning towards "player will restart map a few times until he figures what needs to be done in the beginning to survive or to have a good time".