Aeternum

"In Aeternum in triumpho tenebrarum... " (Forever in dark triumph)

 

Over the wad, what else? Aeternum has been finished, played through ZDoom 2.8.1 on UV difficulty. A rather short, 3-level wad.

 

So what's this... Aeternum is a short wad with skill-based gameplay, heavily inspired by the classic Alien Vendetta. It comes with new textures and energizing, action-oriented music. The first 2 maps appear to take place on Earth, while the final one exclusively in Hell.

 

The difficulty is not high, and it would be somewhere around the end of the first half of AV, with tricky traps but nothing too intense, therefore it's pretty accessible. It's also short, being easy to beat in one sitting as it takes little over an hour or so, depending on your speed. The second map however is the longest, being noticeably lengthier than the other 2, but it doesn't necessarily drag on as it gets better as you progress, and more fun. Although the first half of the map might be a bit underwhelming. Everything culminates with a short but more intense final level with slight slaughter tendencies, and an IoS awaits at the end.

 

There isn't much else to add, and it isn't as impressive as skillsaw's other works such as Valiant, Ancient Aliens, Vanguard, or Lunatic. His style is unmistakable but here it doesn't do a whole lot to catch anyone's attention. Thus, Aeternum can be seen as a sign of things to come, primarily due to its gameplay which would further evolve in the author's subsequent releases, in addition to his maps becoming much more impressive visually. It's a fun little wad to try out when you want to play a Doom map or two.

Quite a large gap between the releases of Sector 666 and Aeternum, skillsaw's second WAD. For those interested, the word "aeternum" is Latin for "forever", or "to eternity".

 

So yes, released in 2007, the aesthetics are greatly improved this time around (well, they should be, after WADs like Alien Vendetta, Scythe, etc.) and consists of only three levels. VERY short, even for skillsaw. Well, that makes my breaking-down review a little easier.

 

The first level (The Boditorium) is a semi-wide-open island surrounded by damaging blood. The secrets and enemies are all positioned well enough to be highly dangerous (yep, this WAD is pretty damn difficult), and is just paced enough to be pretty fun.

 

The second level - Archaeolophobia - is the adventure map of the WAD; travelling down sewage systems, traversing caverns, exploring old structures, fighting in church-like ruins... it's all pretty good, except for the fact that it simply goes on and on and on and on... it becomes utterly tiring after a while, not to mention that some of the monster placement is downright annoying (the Cyberdemon guarding the lift to the Yellow Key, and the YK section itself). It's too much to bare after a while.

 

Fire and Grimstone - the final map - is, once again, a nice-looking level with some lethal traps (though, once again, Cyberdemons are placed is semi-bullshit spots). This level feels more slaughter-y than the previous ones, and there's a surplus of ammo, but it forces you to switch between weapons, which is nice. The final boss is easy as fuck, though.

 

Overall, I feel that Aeternum is honestly skillsaw's weakest effort. Skillsaw himself apparently said that a lot of the stuff he did prior to 2010 wasn't very good (that's just false). With this WAD, it feels that he was experimenting with new mapping and new design quirks (more detail and whatnot). He succeeded in the actual map design and the choice of music (isn't it all from Unreal Tournament?), but the levels - well, more Map02 than anything - should've had a few cuts to prevent it from becoming stale, and the Cyberdemon placements should've been tweaked.

 

The Good Maps: 01

 

Average Maps: 02, 03

 

Overall, I give Aeternum a 2.5 / 4 (rounded to 3 / 5).

Great 3 map set with good encounters and a nice BGM to back it up. 5/5

Top notch. Well placed ammo, monster, and health placement. Match that with great architecture, and great music too. Challenging, but so so fun too. 5 stars. -TRRobin.

Aeternum is a 3-map venture of tight gameplay that pulls you on a thread til the very end. I enjoyed the length of MAP02 while MAP03 suited a tension-filled finale. Play this w/Complex for a brutal challenge of your wits. Health & ammo were sufficient when needed, while I never got a sense of boredom playing this. Architecture is basic, yet detailed with care.

Its Meh. To busy constantly running to pay attention to anything, the combat isn't paced well, and the unpredictable spikes in difficulty are highly annoying. +1 point for keeping ammo scaled with the combat, +1 point for the musick.

despite being skillsaw's second oldest wad, I have to say, this one is still one of his hardest levelsets. I mean god damn. the first map is a real doozy with how exposed you are right from the beginning, it helps to get rid of any hitscanner over there as well as get the secret SSG. but fuck what a difficult starting map. then you got the marathon level that is MAP02, which is a little easier, but there's more meat to grind through, and then the last one with some semi-slaughter gameplay before a painfully easy IOS. these maps are killer, so make sure the best weapons are procured and used, this will still be a harsh set to get through.

Less polished than Skillsaw’s later work but still great. First map is a Plutonia-like arena, second is an epic-length journey with a couple slaughter moments, third is… a secret. A must play for those who like Alien Vendetta, Resurgence (though this is easier), Skillsaw’s other stuff, or all three. Works fine with PrBoom+ if you follow his advice above.

This is very nearly as good as Vanguard or Lunatic, so go get it and don't leave this gem behind!

map3 is one of the best[if not the best]hellish themed maps I have ever seen/played. gameplay was top notch with ammo never in too short of supply. 5/5-d.d.koop

Effin' sweet.

very good. the second map was a bit long, but the action through out the set of maps was top notch. i hope to see greater things to come from skillsaw. -JOKER-

really good.

The maps border between disappointingly easy and frustratingly unfair. It has a sine difficult curve. It goes from boring to frustrating over and over again. For example, in map 2 it goes from a few imps in an open area to hell knights and other big monsters in cramped hallways with insufficient ammo, tand Trying to pacifist is suicide. Progression is linear. Most of the secret areas are jokes and the wad shouldn't even require ZDoom- the maps appear to be in BOOM format. 2/5 - Soccerghoul

This has a latin name, so you know it's classy. All three maps are very good and tricky. Map01 has a hectic start and then mellows out; it's a compact map with almost perfect ammo balance (very hard to get 100% kills though). Map02 is huge (700+ baddies) but feels relatively easier, perhaps because of all the ammo - it's a meaty, manly feast. Map03 is hellish and I wasn't as fond of it, but the first two are killer.

Wow - these 3 maps should go in place of three of the weaker AV maps! They feel just like AV!

Sweet music but too hard for my lame ass.4/5

Wow this guy is so awesome, these maps are a killer. Personally, I liked the first map the most because its layout was both dynamic and memorable. The other two maps were also really nice, though I did die quite a lot in the last one :) Paul, I'm glad that you decided to make a few more maps.

Very nice

Excellent maps! It was very intense for me. It felt like an Alien Vendetta mapset. MAP03 wasn't my favorite, but I loved MAP01 and MAP02. The music was really cool too.

Map03 is excellent and you can play with the latest prboom plus. Map01 starts really well and apart from a few small issues can be played in prboom plus too. Only in the second map you have to idclip one door (red key part, after bfg turn to left enter the room and that door won't open). Overall a little bit too much switches for my taste, but great combat. If you're good with the bfg/rl then the first map will be rather though. Recommend coldfusio 5

Nice bit of fun - second map felt like a never-ending adventure and all three maps ended up swamping yuo with low-level mobs at some point. In particular MAP02 with the seemingly endless number of imps near the end. Recommended to all of you who like a good challenge in a nice environment (or three). 4* -Phobus

hard.

Probably the "Zdoom needed" stipulation is the main reason this impressive-looking wad has received so little attention. As far as I can tell, the decorate and mapinfo are cosmetic, and the maps work fine without Zdoom - maybe they need just a limit-extending port. But before playing them, it would be nice to know whether Boom or "Zdoomism" features are used.

The maps do work on prBoom+ but you have to make sure to enable "Walk under solid hanging bodies" and "Use passes through all special lines." They do play best with ZDoom though. -skillsaw