What are some good GZDoom WADs?

[seed]

Well basically what the title says, really.

 

I'm in the mood to play some fancy GZDoom maps/wads in the near future but, I don't know what. So, what good WADs/maps made for GZDoom do you recommend?

 

I already know/heard about Hanging Gardens, Hurt, Verdant Citadel, City of the Damned, Putrefier, Winter's Fury, Paradise, and Dead Air (I've also played the first 3).

 

I'm looking more for mapsets rather than, say, TCs for GZDoom, but those are also welcome.

[galileo31dos01]

Yeah, umm, The Alfonzone by Pinchy, surely would keep you busy for a while. Slaughter Spectrum by Bridgeburner, title says it all, crowd control and portals, many many portals, and the gayest end map <3. 

 

I guess NoMonochrome by Lorenzo. It's colorful so, think of it (:

[Misty]

I didn't see mentioned Cold as Hell. Maybe any Joy of Mapping sessions will interest you(4-5-6 are biggest ones) and sessions are compatible with gzdoom. Just be kind as most mappers were new during then. 

[Gez]

Echoing the above, especially Alfonzone which is a lot of fun.

 

Demon Eclipse, and its reboot Hell-Forged. Hell-Forged is technically better, but Demon Eclipse, especially the first half set in techbases on Earth, is much closer to "classic Doom" in theme and gameplay (though with lots of custom content already).

 

Demons of Problematique (1 & 2) are worth a look. Same author as Verdant Citadel.

 

Warphouse, same author as Putrefier.

 

Shadows of the Nightmare Realm, Umbra of Fate, and Freaky Panties, by Yuki Raven. Very striking visuals based on Quake-ish arcane realms and gothic citadels, with plenty of colorful lighting that gives it a striking ambience.

 

Speaking of colorful, you can take a look at Void and Rainbows.

 

You mentioned dead.air, but don't forget its predecessor dead.wire.

 

Dragonfly's stuff is worth a look, too. Skulldash, Order of the Odonata, etc.

 

Stormcatcher's Cursed Realms: Path Over the Abyss, too.

 

Arvy's Diabolus Ex has a striking aesthetic. The allusion to Deus Ex is blatant, but it's its own thing.

 

Batandy's Golden Souls 2 is a gigantic world melding Doom and Mario in a way that just works somehow. You can also look at the first, it's shorter but less polished and IMO less fun.

 

Dark Universe, by Payload, features a big derelict space ship invaded by demons. It's Doom, but with some touches that can remind you of Star Wars Dark Forces, or even of System Shock.

 

UAC Invasion: The Supply Depot, by DoomKnight. The very generic name makes it easy to overlook, but there's over a decade of work behind it.

 

Oh, and as always, ZDCMP2.

 

Also, there are recommendations one could make besides Doom mods. If you're interested also in Heretic/Hexen/etc. mods, just say so!

[SiFi270]

Pirate Doom. The closest thing to criticism I can think of is that the super shotgun isn't a blunderbuss.

[seed]

48 minutes ago, Gez said:

Also, there are recommendations one could make besides Doom mods. If you're interested also in Heretic/Hexen/etc. mods, just say so!

 

I will, but I've done this once before with Hexen and, suggestions stopped coming a while ago, so I had to discover (more like hunt) more wads on my own, heh (which was a rather frustrating process, as some wads that were otherwise well-received, at least according to ratings, turned out to be a chore to play through and I had to can the whole thing. Serpent Resurrection, The Dark Portal, and Hexen III are some victims, but each one of them for different reasons).

 

I've also realized that I missed to mention some more stuff I'm already aware of, or that I've already blasted through, oops:

 

14 minutes ago, SiFi270 said:

Pirate Doom. The closest thing to criticism I can think of is that the super shotgun isn't a blunderbuss.

 

Already played this one, I even made a let's play on my channel at the time and reviewed it afterwards, it was pretty solid.

 

48 minutes ago, Gez said:

Shadows of the Nightmare Realm, Umbra of Fate, and Freaky Panties, by Yuki Raven. Very striking visuals based on Quake-ish arcane realms and gothic citadels, with plenty of colorful lighting that gives it a striking ambience.

 

Same story, already blasted through Shadows of the Nightmare Realm, but not the others, so noted. SOTNR was great. The let's play is available on my channel.

 

48 minutes ago, Gez said:

Batandy's Golden Souls 2 is a gigantic world melding Doom and Mario in a way that just works somehow. You can also look at the first, it's shorter but less polished and IMO less fun.

 

Aware of this as well, discovered via BigMacDavis. On my list to play in the future :), along with Batandy's other TC, Castlevania: Simon's Quest. Thanks for the rest of the suggestions.

[chowbar]

You try Dark Universe?

 

[Bauul]

Gez listed pretty much everything I could think of!

 

I couple of other suggestions are:

 

Confinement 256, especially the Community portion, has some extremely novel applications of GZDoom for the limited space. 

 

More recently, the Mapwich has its RC1. It's a collaborative mapping project where two authors took each map. A warning though: Insane Gazebo was one of the contributors, and it ended up rather influenced by his particular brand of sadism.

 

And for something a bit fun and quirky, there's the portal heavy Quirky Domain. 

 

There's a whole bunch of amazing looking GZDoom/UDMF megawads on the horizon. Refracted Reality, Age of Hell, a couple of unannounced things, and of course Elementalism. The next few years should see some amazing full scale releases that really push UDMF mapping without deviating too much from core Doom gameplay.

[leodoom85]

I can suggest Spooktober Mapping Project which also uses a lot of GZDoom features if you want to play one at Halloween.

Also Atmosfear or Unloved.

Quote

If you're interested also in Heretic/Hexen/etc. mods, just say so!

Faithless by Jimmy...

[galileo31dos01]

Heretic you said?

 

Elf Gets Pissed and The Realm of Parthoris both frequently encourage what the iwad rarely or never does (e.g. usage of timed bombs, tombed phoenix rod, puzzles with iron liches, etc, basically thinking inside the Heretic box).

[ReaperAA]

Okay, I'll try to give some suggestions:

 

- Dead.wire

- Dead.air

- Order of the Odonata

- Umbra of Fate

- Shadows of the Nightmare Realm

- The Darkened Outpost

- Skulldash

- Hell Forged

- Knee Deep in Zdoom

- Slaughter Spectrum

- The realm of Z-magic

Edited August 25, 2019 by ReaperAA

[Kappes Buur]

My personal favorites are Paranoid and the sequel Paranoic by Rex.

Or if you want a tour de force of the latest GZDoom features Wolfendoom: Blade of Agony, which is still in development, but what there is is playable, albeit best played on a later model gaming computer, if you want to avoid a slideshow.

Edited August 25, 2019 by Kappes Buur : updated link to paranoid.pk3

[seed]

7 hours ago, Kappes Buur said:

My personal favorites are Paranoid and the sequel Paranoic by Rex.

Or if you want a tour de force of the latest GZDoom features Wolfendoom: Blade of Agony, which is still in development, but what there is is playable, albeit best played on a later model gaming computer, if you want to avoid a slideshow.

 

Heh, someone decided to put HL in GZDoom, this should be interesting. But the link to download Paranoid is dead though.

 

15 hours ago, Bauul said:

Confinement 256, especially the Community portion, has some extremely novel applications of GZDoom for the limited space. 

 

And for something a bit fun and quirky, there's the portal heavy Quirky Domain. 

 

Whoops again it seems, more stuff I'm either already aware of and actively following (Elementalism, Age of Hell, Refracted Reality, Slaughter Spectrum), or that I have already finished (Mapwich). But thanks anyway, there's still some stuff I've never heard of in your list.

 

7 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

- Shadows of the Nightmare Realm

 

Missed my previous post :p. But thanks nonetheless.

[Roofi]

Mock 2

[RonnieJamesDiner]

I released an 8 level map set called Bloodicide a little while ago. It’s still a work-in-progress but it’s definitely a playable map set, with several GZDoomy features. 

 

[/end shameless self-promotion]

[seed]

7 minutes ago, RonnieJamesDiner said:

I released an 8 level map set called Bloodicide a little while ago. It’s still a work-in-progress but it’s definitely a playable map set, with several GZDoomy features. 

 

[/end shameless self-promotion]

 

Already on my list to play :).

[Kappes Buur]

5 hours ago, seed said:

 

Heh, someone decided to put HL in GZDoom, this should be interesting. But the link to download Paranoid is dead though.

 

Very odd. That must have happened right after I got the link.

Anyways, new link to Paranoid on idgames.

[DynamiteKaitorn]

La Tailor Girl is an armour/weapon mod if you wish to play with a different gameplay twist. also pairs well with Colorful Hell.

 

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=47980

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=43&amp;t=58343

[Payload4367]

 

32 maps for GZDoom with 3d floors, slopes, dynamic lights, scripting, new music, etc while still having classic gameplay.