Going Down

I don't have anything new to say that hasn't been said already about this wad, it's simply muah *chef's kiss ok hand* perfection. It blends great environments with sadistic, almost nerve-racking combat encounters. A beautiful, whimsical & twisted good time.

Ok...so it was fun and frustrating at the same time and we are forced to have strategy to progress on some maps and i liked that,because a lot of time i was like "Damn Mouldy you like to see people suffering that's sadism haha",i even laughed hard on some traps or on some deaths,yes we die a lot,it's old school hard doom gameplay,it's not for everyone,you are warned.

Nice concept of small/very small maps and going back to the elevator to finish the level,it reminds me Blake Stone.

It's challenging on UV and with Brutal Doom.

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.

One of my favorite wads mainly because of its mapping and the soundtracks that I love, the difficulty of this can be difficult for somevpeople but I feel that it is something that fits a lot with the wad, it is simply great

This and Revenge of the 90's are actually my two favorite megawads, but this especially. There is just so much hard work and creativity flowing through with this wad. It's honestly amazing. Friggin' love it. Good work!

As of right this very second, this is my favorite megawad of all time. There's so much creativity oozing from every single tiny bit of this thing, from every fight smacking you upside the head in unique ways that I'd never thought possible before playing it to the textures (to my knowledge) being exclusively stock Doom 2 textures (which I absolutely wouldn't have known if I wasn't told), to the music - GOD, I love the music. It's almost free jazz-esque, the way it jumps all over the place unpredictably. You definitely can't hum along to it or anything, but you sure as hell will remember it.

The difficulty's pretty reasonable, too (keeping in mind that I played through it on HMP, with saves, and single-segment lol) - I wouldn't say there were any maps that felt unfair, and the progression is done beautifully. Most of the maps are pretty short - they get in, get out, and don't overstay their welcome in the slightest. Like I said earlier, every fight sticks in your mind, with "oh shit" moments galore and mouldy's one-of-a-kind mapping style leaving you constantly guessing. To say this is "essential playing" would be an understatement.

(also the fact that "The Mouth of Madness" was the only map in Going Down to make it onto the "Top 100 Most Memorable Maps" list is a crime imo; no shade to anyone who worked on that list, y'all did a great job, but c'mon, "TMoM" isn't even the most memorable map in the set, and "Insanity" and "200 Mega Hurts" should've been on that list by default)

OVERALL RATING: 10/10

FAVORITE MAP: MAP26 - "Insanity"

LEAST FAVORITE MAP: MAP14 - "Secrets and Lies" (but even then I still really like it, it's just a bit too "heehee haha" for my liking if you get what I mean)

HARDEST MAP (for me at least): MAP18 - "Buried Alive"

MAP YOU SHOULD PLAY FIRST IF YOU WANT A SAMPLER: MAP06 - "Painframe"

I really like this wad's concept, I think it's really creative and has potential, except in practice. In practice the level design has some nice ideas to it and I like the short bite sized levels, but the enemy encounters all come down to "how many enemies can I cram in this tiny room" and then constantly teleporting more enemies, frustratingly so. It gets fairly repetitive and the awful, migraine inducing soundtrack doesn't help, so much so I never made past map 10 or so because I always got bored or frustrated with it around that point.

I may be harsh, but again I really like the concept and I'd love to see this idea of a Die Hard, going up or down an office building map pack done better, especially with less ear bleeding music accompanying it.

true to its description, this megawad consists of small, difficult maps packed to the brim with enemies. while it's still doom, it has its own unique brand of gameplay that consists of cramped, slaughterish encounters with tons of unique ideas thrown into the mix. it ends up feeling quite chaotic, but in a good way. the visuals are on the more "realistic" side, with doomcute being a pervasive feature throughout, and the music is in an absolutely bizarre with a style completely unique to the creator, cyriak harris. this all ends up combining to create one of the most distinctly unique, creative, and bizarre megawads in recent memory. btw it's also fantastic and you should play it

Cool idea of adding the ULTIMATE SPOODER as Spooder Mastermind's final form
Btw, the design of the maps are pretty cool, it feels like raiding a building in the early levels

Just the best megawad of all time.

The level design is absolutely great! i love how it makes you genuinely feel like you are in a building the whole time..

For some reason this wad gives me a Die Hard vibe [probably the whole "Go down a building" Motif... now all we need is a demonic Hans and we are all set]

but yeah.. great wad overall...

Would be a 4/5 if it weren't for the last stretch of levels (maps 20 onward) which are absolutely fantastic.

The levels are quite short, but combat is really challenging, especially if you try to get all kills (which I didn't). I think it leans a bit too much on ambushes in some maps, but thankfully there are concept maps like Gladiator, 200 Mega Hurts, and Demonology to prevent things from getting boring. That each level flows into the next, through the elevator (and sometimes other things), is a really nice touch. The visuals are probably the best possible with vanilla textures, and the music, while difficult to listen to, is perfect for this WAD's "chaotic evil" style. It's a WAD worthy of its author, the master of chaos Cyriak Harris.

nice wad

For me, at the moment I'm writing this review, #1 WAD of onces that I've played / seen / heared.

Options and things:

* GZDoom.

* Have played with "Complex Doom" modification.

* Difficult - "Ultra-Violence".

* 100% secrets and enemies.

* No annoying maps found.
* #9 in community top.

Pros:

1. + Great, own, unique style level design. I just tell a few words about some of the levels:

* MAP07. Bad Reception. Small arena. Tough fight.
* MAP08. Hide and Seek. Small warehouse map with 18 enemies in total. But this enemies - arches and pinkies. And if you start with the pistol - there is only chain gun on the map in additional to it. If you using Complex Doom add-on - those arches might be way tougher then regular onces.
* MAP09. Broken Records. A lot of hard enemies in small arena that is look like library.
* MAP12. Dead End. Nice, circle like, map.
* MAP15. Gladiator type arena. Literally. First you fight with some upcoming enemies. After "viewers" (another demons) starting to fight with themselfs and you.

* MAP20: The Mouth of Madness. The name speaks for itself - from a kind of mouth, from the very start of the map, hordes of demons move directly to the doomguy. And BFG will not save you at all. Strategy here - as fast as you can use switch on the left side of the map (climb the islets) and then run and use switch on the right. Break through the pack of barons to teleport, which is on the right side, in lava, and hide in the top type location. Wait till most of the enemies will kill each other. I've attached some screens.

* MAP21. Indigestion. No ammo or weapons. Only pistol with few shots. Tough enemies. As result you need to use local traps and enemies attack enemies strategy to deal with, in total, 135 of such onces.
* MAP28. Necropolis. ~ 1411 enemies. And mostly no regular place to hide from them. Few cyberdemons, a lot of cacodemons.
* MAP30. Game Over. That what can happen if you will play Doom too much... Or, by other hand, some Silent Hill 4: The Room atmosphere here.

2. + Horror-inspired music on some horror like levels.

3. + Combines just fine with "Complex Doom" modification.
4. + Challenging.

5. + Unexpected gameplay twists.

Contras:

Zero, but,

* - If you play with Complex Doom you can stuck on MAP29 in case here was unique boss and mod just change it to it's own regular one type. So. To proceed further use console, ~, and write there "MAP MAP30". MAP30 can be beaten with pistol start without much troubles.

It's like Die Hard meets Doom with a dash of humor, if that sounds interesting to you this is is your gig.  The maps themselves are very clever with a huge amount of variety so you never know what's going to happen next.  If you're one who likes shorter maps, you'll be pleased with the somewhat bite sized to medium layout of the levels.

While it's fairly Vanilla in nature, it makes use of some DeHackEd and Boom scripts that are tastefully done.

However, the difficult is fairly extreme and only seasoned players should attempt Ultra Violence or Nightmare.

As some have pointed out, the music may be an acquired taste if you aren't into rather psychedelic tunes.

my personal favorite WAD

just make sure you're prepared for some intense fights on UV

Going Down is hard for me to review because of how unique it is despite being just another Boom compatible megawad. Plenty of megawads exist that have unique themes and brutal open ended levels but Going Down sets itself apart through intelligent use of Boom actions. No two maps feel exactly the same because under the hood they always have something different going on. Walls falling to reveal a new hellish underside, a dark mirrored version of our world, rooms that transform faster than you can blink an eye, and a literal descent into the mouths of hell are just a few of the things Going Down does to stay fresh. Go play it and you will not regret it. 

The tight, close quarters horde fights keep you constantly on the razor's edge.  There are few safe spots or ways to bullshit through.  In that way, they're like normal Doom maps but with all the fluff trimmed out; no wasting several minutes knocking down enemies who pose no threat to you, they leave only the parts where you're about to die.

Super fun mapset. Very challenging, even on Skill 1! Would definitely recommend.

The author utilized Dehacked. The wad is tough, can get very slaughter-ish and hectic sometimes, but it's fair.

Also, the wad featured a pretty humorous story™. Check it out, but remember to play on HNTR/HMP if you aren't used to slaughterwads.

When first reading this wad's description I thought this will be a 1994 style map, where someone just tried to recreate his office building to shoot up his colleages. Boy, was I wrong!

Going Down emerged as one of my favourite megawads so far, with its very clever use of small to medium map space and interesting gameplay mechanics in every single map. The first couple of maps start innocent enough, but soon you will find yourself navigating literal crawl spaces, thinking about use of space and / or slight puzzle mechanics just before being thrown into hell itself and fighting for your life. Going Down is designed as a literal descent into hell, which was the most beautifully realized aspect of it. How every map slightly changes into a more and more hellish theme is just great, great design work. Even though the later maps delve into slaughter territory I must admit that I still quite enjoyed it. Actually this was the first time I enjoyed being slaugthered and figuring out how to approach the map.

Going Down is simply an amazing piece of work, oozing quality from start to finish and rewarding the player with incredible elevator music inbetween. A must play.

I've made it to the first basement level.  So far my favorite map is Time Warp, which fucked with my mind.  Very interesting puzzle there.  I can't wait to go deeper.  Also the first splash screen was hilarious, I hope to see more of those.

Took me one year to find out that this wad made by a youtuber I often watch

Still the best example of using only base textures for real like-like maps

Played on UV.

Unique & quite fun megawad. Love the voodoo tricks.

However, map 22 is horribly unbalanced. Also, map 21 has an interesting idea but doesn't work for us average doom players.

I do recommend it.

Nah.