Recommendations for E1 WADs to play

[Doom Marine]

Shareware Doom's E1 was all I knew during the summer of 1995. I would love to play more maps like it.

 

What are the community's recommendations for WADs that resembles the continuation of Romero's E1?

[Jello]

I would recommend Doom the Way id Did. It replaces episode 2 and 3 as well, but it was made to be relatively faithful to the original mapping styles and expanding upon them.

 

Which reminds me, I never actually played the final release. But the first episode was pretty damn good if I remember correctly. Guess I'll have to play it again.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Jello

[Rex R]

Lunar Catastrophe (file name 'Lunar.wad') is a pretty good 4 episode megawad that has similar feel to the original game.

Rex

[ReaperAA]

Fava Beans

DTWID E1

Lunar Catastrophe

Deathless E1

Romero's e1m4b and e1m8b

[Nancsi]

8 minutes ago, ReaperAA said:

Romero's e1m4b and e1m8b 

 

This should go first. They are made for the same episode by the same person with the same feelgood atmosphere. E1M8b felt like a time travel back to 1994.

[ReaperAA]

6 minutes ago, Nancsi said:

 

This should go first. They are made for the same episode by the same person with the same feelgood atmosphere. E1M8b felt like a time travel back to 1994.

 

I don't know. While its true that they are made by Romero himself, they are also a bit on the modern side both in terms of aesthetics, layout and gameplay difficulty (e1m8b has a tricky start and e1m4b has a tough end fight)

 

Though they are must play maps nonetheless.

[Gez]

Honestly neither of Romero's b-side maps feel like they could have been made in the nineties. They're limit-removing maps, and it shows. The cracks in particular feel out of place IMO; and as noted the difficulty is much higher.

 

I'm not saying they're bad maps, mind you. Just that they don't feel like E1 nostalgia to me.

[ukiro]

Almost anything by Jan van Der Veken. In my personal opinion he understands the gameplay, atmosphere, architecture, proportions, and flow of E1 style maps better than anyone else (and it's a crowded field!). Dawn of the Dead, Classic episode, No Sleep for the Dead.

[PeterMoro]

"In the mess of it" by Joshthenesnerd is really good for a Doom E1 experience! It's really well designed. 

 

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/m-o/messofit

 

Also, i started a similar topic a while back if you are interested:

 

 

[dmslr]

According to the list of notable wads by doomwiki:

• CH Retro Episode
• Classic Episode
• Classic Episode Part 2
• Fava beans
• Phobos Revisited
• Simply Phobos
• Southern Cross

[SGS Man]

Double Impact comes to mind if you want what feels like the logical conclusion of E1’s gameplay and tropes. An outstanding mapset with incredibly honed gameplay and traps, although it may not feel E1 enough as it brings out the entirety of Doom 1’s enemy roster and has a few instances of the Plasma Rifle as well.

[Archi]

Not quite the same as E1 but is one of the best doom 1 wads out there in my opinion.

 

[Nancsi]

5 hours ago, Gez said:

Honestly neither of Romero's b-side maps feel like they could have been made in the nineties. They're limit-removing maps, and it shows. The cracks in particular feel out of place IMO; and as noted the difficulty is much higher.

 

I'm not saying they're bad maps, mind you. Just that they don't feel like E1 nostalgia to me.

 

The cracks felt a little new indeed, but despite the limit removal, I still felt I'm playing the real, canonic KDITD episode, not a phony remake. Not because of Romero, but because that's how I feel it. Even the invincibility sphere didn't look out of place, in fact it just added to the level. I felt the same vibe, when I played Duke Nukem's World Tour episode, and played the Golden Gate level. That was like a genuine 3DRealms experience. Romero and Blum had that extra little thing that separate their work from others.

[TheNoob_Gamer]

5 hours ago, Archi said:

Not quite the same as E1 but is one of the best doom 1 wads out there in my opinion.

 

Also a very tough megawad. 
Anyway, here is my take on Doom 1's community megawads that partially recreate the theme of OG Doom's E1. (some have been removed in the editing of this comment.
-2002 A Doom Oddysey

-ConC.E.R.Ned

-Return to Phobos.

-Alien TC(okay, not quite, but still)
By the way, still wondering why there are not so many people map for Doom 1... 

[Pegleg]

44 minutes ago, TheNoob_Gamer said:

still wondering why there are not so many people map for Doom 1

 

Doom 2 has an extended bestiary and the SSG. Those are the biggest reasons why most people map for Doom 2.

 

There are some textures that were in Doom 1 but were left out of Doom 2 (inexplicably, in my opinion). The clear episodic structure is nice, too.

[galileo31dos01]

Alpha Accident, one awesome episode replacement that aims to give a fresh experience for those looking for KDITD wads. It features new dynamic objects such as explosive pillars and boxes with surprises. Rich in exploration=secrets, incidental combat, sprawling techbases and caves. Limit-removing, requires a source port like Crispy Doom or PRBoom+ complevel 3.

 

Wonderful Doom, by the same author, basically the four episodes replaced for those who want to play original Doom one more time, but with the author's special touch. You can take it as a memory test, there are some interesting plot twists. Should be vanilla, but just in case make sure to use a limit-removing port.

 

The Evil Unleashed, this E3 replacement is from '94 and it's hella fun if you don't mind getting perforated by sergeants continually. Thematically like all the episodes mixed together, so you get a bit of E1 early. There's also Slaughter Until Death which replaces E2 I think, by the same people. Vanilla, so anything should be fine.

 

Absolutely Killed, if you're looking for concepts and gimmicks, instead of traditional gameplay, this is a good place to stop by. It's all Doom themes together btw. Requires a limit-removing port.

 

Mapgame, a E1 replacement for Boom ports, there's a change in the palette most notably in the blue colours. It's solid enough, just like your typical KDTID wad. 

 

The Beginning of The End: Part 1, another old one with plenty of action and sprawling levels. Not a very hard one, nor a cakewalk. You could also try part 2 if you enjoyed it.

 

No End In Sight, a full megawad that can be played in any limit-removing port. I'm surprised nobody mentioned it already, although I can't call it "memorable" aside from a few situations and the last episode, it should provide a good experience with traditional and non-traditional Doom action.

[Nancsi]

3 hours ago, Pegleg said:

 

Doom 2 has an extended bestiary and the SSG. Those are the biggest reasons why most people map for Doom 2.

 

There are some textures that were in Doom 1 but were left out of Doom 2 (inexplicably, in my opinion). The clear episodic structure is nice, too.

 

What are those textures?

[fraggle]

Seconding No End In Sight, which I recently had a lot of fun playing through over the holiday.

[Walter confetti]

Deadly Standards (not really too much strict to E1 fell, however a good mapset)

Doom Awesome: Episode 1

 

[Pegleg]

2 hours ago, Nancsi said:

 

What are those textures?

 

The ones that immediately come to mind are the SLADRIP textures and some of the overhead computer textures, such as are used in the room with the zombies and sergeants in E1M1, but I'm sure there are others. I don't remember the names of them all, however, there is a texture pack for them all here.

[riderr3]

2 hours ago, Nancsi said:

 

What are those textures?

https://www.realm667.com/index.php/en/texture-stock-mainmenu-152/607-doom-textures-for-doom-ii
I think they removed them because it's not suited well for Doom 2.

[chowbar]

11 hours ago, galileo31dos01 said:

No End In Sight, a full megawad that can be played in any limit-removing port. I'm surprised nobody mentioned it already, although I can't call it "memorable" aside from a few situations and the last episode, it should provide a good experience with traditional and non-traditional Doom action.

 

I'll third NEIS as well, although I'll also add that it starts to get weirder and more elaborate (in a good way) as the episodes progress.

Episode 1 is definitely inspired by and feels like Knee Deep in the Dead, but its details and complexity are more in line with a modern map.

And while not all of its stranger ideas stick, it's a worthwhile download especially for weirdos, like me, who prefer Ult Doom to Doom II.

Edited January 15, 2019 by chowbar : Wording

[ketmar]

count me for NEiS too. i especially like design of Hell levels there: they makes me feel... uncomfortable. tbh, i always thought of any Hell-themed levels in doom as mediocre at best (the engine is not really suited for organic structures Hell presumably consists of), but NEiS authors managed to create environments that feels... alien. exactly like Hell should be for me.

 

(of course, i am talking about vanilla-style Hell, with vanilla textures, no slopes, and such)

[Doom Marine]

 

 

Thanks to everyone's input, I compiled a list to play for the next year or so.

I will start playing in release chronological order, as seen above.

FAVA's beaten, a few dozen left to go.

 

I play before I map. I get only about 2-3 hours a day combined for mapping and Dooming. That's life for me as a stay-at-home dad.

PRBoom+, E1 only for each PWAD, UV, no save... If I die, I used up the single attempt for the day for the PWAD... and it's time to resume mapping.

That's how I roll for 2019 :)

[holaareola]

Hey, what program is that shot of the filenames from? Please tell me there some kind of idgames-querying Doom launcher where you can create play-queues!

[Please Delete This Account]

How about these WADs:

Return to Hadron

Return to Hadron Episode 2 - The Collider's new clothes

Thy Flesh - Turned into a draft-excluder

 

[Doom Marine]

12 hours ago, holaareola said:

Hey, what program is that shot of the filenames from? Please tell me there some kind of idgames-querying Doom launcher where you can create play-queues!

I just created a bunch of PrBoom+ shortcuts.

 

 

Initially, I just wanted to drag and drop WADs with PrBoom+, but it doesn't work with UDoom stuff, so I had to create these.

[RjY]

If you can find the time, please look at UAC Experiment. A single large map, it is as classically-themed as one would expect of the author who went on to found DTWID, but is also gigantic and sprawling, with multiple solution routes, and 30+ secrets. As the designer of dvii's famously labyrinthine unholy cathedral and ultra-complex space port which justifiably calls itself "vrack4", I think it will appeal to you a great deal.

[Kira]

I don't know if you are still looking, but right now I'm playing map10 of Perdition's Gate and it's a nice take on Knee-Deep style maps, except with Doom 2 bestiary.