Give a Doomer something to play

I like oldschool and somewhat roughly decorated adventurous levels with varied colorful texturing (think Ultimate Doom E2 rather than E1), a lot of freedom in choices (E1M4, not E3M4), relatively relaxed gameplay without carefully choreographed fights that force you to play in a certain way, and funky music choices (karaoke-like midis of pop songs, jazz, purely piano pieces, use of unusual instruments, etc). Soundtrack is an immensely important part of the game for me, and sometimes the music alone can make a level awesome in my eyes.

I love Marswar because it's so playful and at times surreal. I adore 1994 wads for being an endless source of surprises and creative ideas. I praise Eye Del Cul for not taking the game too seriously and putting Wolf 3D nazis or pictures of famous Spanish comedians in his maps. I respect Nicolas Monti for ignoring all conventions.

I can't get excited about Sunlust or Back to Saturn X. The gameplay in them seems punishing and almost anti-fun at times, and the visuals make me feel like seeing the starting room is enough to get the idea of how the whole level looks. I think Ancient Aliens is a highly professional work with absolutely zero soul, like a typical Hollywood production.

I'm at least partially familiar with most megawads and a lot of episodes, so currently I'm mainly looking for cool individual maps or really small collections (like 2-8 maps in a wad). If it's popular, I probably looked at it at least briefly at some point.

For some reason recently I also found myself oddly attracted to the 00's mapping with these overdetailed linear levels made with visuals in mind first and the gameplay added more as an afterthought. Think Karthik Abhirama, Dutch Devil, Agent Spork, and so on. I guess it's my reaction to the current popularity of primitive looking wads focusing primarily on gameplay.

I must say that I potentially like everything, from 90's wads to partial/total convertions, as long it's a Doom map it can interest me. I prefer oldschool oriented stuff, especially for the gameplay. Other things that I really love to find: a strong atmosphere, realism, puzzles (I love Eternal Doom and such).
After playing Sunlust I can't stand so much that visual style of using a strict selection of textures and colors, and I also lost interest in maps that have a gameplay that relies only on set-pieces or fights that are too much choreographed.

From what I have played it's as soulless and irritating as it's well done technically. I tried 3 times to complete it but I couldn't go further than the MAP10, it's really unbearable to me. Shame because I thought that the music was good, I didn't care for the wacky colors but I wanted to see the maps made by the guests.

Do you guys know some less known but nice episodes (less than 15 maps) released before 2015? If you lurk regularly on DW (and elsewhere) you can catch many interesting releases but older stuff it's hard to find, I tried a couple of times to dig in very old pages on DW wads & mods but at that point it's better to just use the random button on idgames.

joe-ilya

venom

I did some quick browsing through my archive, venom resembles a little bit of what I'd expect of Tim Willits if ATTACK.WAD and E4M9: Fear are anything to go by. I didn't get to play the map though so idk if it's any fun. It looks pretty populated with heavy monsters. The reviews seem to suggest its good though. The lighting reminds me of MAP04: The Focus. Here's an overhead view.

Unloved rules... that old psychiatric hospital area still creeps the fuck out of me! I always recommend UAC_DED1.WAD Doomsday of the UAC to anyone wanting to taste the glory of Doom. I’ve been playing that map since 1995 and it never gets old to me.

Super challenging single maps? I love the CHORD series for example. Anything from vanilla to ZDoom, I don't care!

Doomkid

Try the GermCity series!

gc_plant and gc_tower

These maps are tricky in a technical nintendo-hard sort of way. You will definitely be tested with stuff like fighting monsters in the dark, puzzle solving, and ammo conservation. I just found out about them recently, I haven't beaten them yet, but from what I've played they're very stylish in old 1997ish kinda way, and most of my deaths were tough but fair. (btw it took me forever to figure out how to get the blue keycard in gc_plant. If you want a hint I'll give you one)

If you're looking for something a bit more straightforward and combat oriented, go2kill is another fun one.

@gaspe

Blood Rust by Simon 'SLAYER' Judd

11 Maps for Doom 2

I haven't played it myself but I poked around through my archive, previewing the maps in an editor. Looks pretty good and the reviews seem positive. I've enjoyed Slayer's other wads too.

edit: Record FDAs, I wanna watch you play

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Thanks for the suggestion bro! That was a good half hour of good clean fun. It's 6 maps with not very many monsters which kinda fits the theme of our good ol DBP projects. The texturing is pretty plain which reminds me a lot of what my maps look like before i detail the fuck out of them. Also comes with a retro HUD, weird midis, and a sky that is begging to be stolen.

ANGRY MINIONS
Probably my least favorite. a little multi level maze, was a little confusing at times and the gameplay started off slow.



HALLS OF SUFFERING
I dig the stairs and the red key teleport attack



WELL OF TEARS
I like the little handrail secrets and the open space design. midi aint bad either.



HELL'S KITCHEN
Way too many cooks in this kitchen! I lold at the first room containing a big ol party of zombiemen that made up more than 50% of the monsters. This map is a good design and has big ol blocky archtecture that would be a thrill to detail.



CRY BLOOD
I lold at the Hell Baron kiosk



DAY OF RECKOING
heh terrible boss map. I'm not sure ive ever played a really good one though so... *shrug*

Diet 32in24 - The 32in24 team!
Boom Compatible - Solo Play - 3268088 bytes - (img) (img)
Reviewed by: JohnnyRancid

Ah yes! The 32in24 team strike again bringing a series that's just about as legendary as the Gothic DM series. (If not more)

I display here today to explain the significance of Diet 32in24. Unfortunately, we don't have 32 maps here, but instead a 16 map set. Less maps = less of that excess body fat, of course. It's a single player mapset with plenty of monsters and a fairly decent difficulty. I died at least once on just about every map except the first. All the maps have enough health to keep you alive for the most part. The maps definitely tend to have a feeling of more than one person working on the same maps. Many maps are just simple layouts with detail jammed into it to make you forget that it was initially a corny map. It uses mostly gothic and quake-ish textures, which is odd for the types of maps it features. (McDonald's grease processing plant, movie theatre, shopping mall, etc.) There are also some pretty entertaining advertisements littered around each map, making parodies of Doom-related nonsense and community members.

Aside from that, I don't have much to complain about. There are tons of monsters and enough health and ammo to leave you fighting them without much frustration. A real great slaughterfest this is which is what I adore so much in maps. The style of just random maps with lots of monsters and ammo has a Slige/Oblige style that appeals to me, only the maps look much better. A definite recommendation by me.

Source: www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/44563-the-newstuff-chronicles-329/

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"I display here today to explain the significance of Diet 32in24."

That must have been before I realized how important proofreading is...? I dont even know what I meant to write there.

Bumping this thread.

A couple random wads I like and picked out for you doom marines to die to before the corona gets you. Some of you may have already played them but maybe you didnt so w/e

Back To Hell (Hell episode; E3M1-E3M9; vanilla)

TNT Renascence (MAP01-MAP11; requires TNT.WAD; vanilla)

Midnight Tek Frenzy (387 Monsters; Challenge; Boom)

Stone Stratagems (MAP01-MAP20 + MAP31; vanilla)

The Shores of Phil (half episode; E2M4-E2M9; vanilla)

The Aqueous Rise and Fall (50 monsters; requires PLUTONIA.WAD; plays on MAP13)