Megawad of the decade?

[Tartlman]

As 2020 draws near, I suppose we should look back at all of the great megawads of the decade.

 

Personally, i'm split between Ancient Aliens and Eviternity, but I think that Ancient Aliens is better for having (in my opinion) better designed combat.

[seed]

That's a tie between AA and Sunlust for me.

 

There's been lost of good stuff coming out this decade for sure, but these 2 really stood out from the crowd IMO. I would've also put Eviternity there but I have to agree, combat was definitely better in AA.

[Horus]

I'm still less than halfway through AA. It's pretty good so far overall but I preferred the diversity in theme more in Eviternity

[HavoX]

Ancient Aliens, without a doubt.

[ReaperAA]

One word: Eviternity

 

AA is a close second.

[Linguica]

The megawad of the decade is Doom the Way id Did. I stopped paying attention to Doomworld before it was dreamed up and I returned well after it had been released and I believe it was the most important megawad of the 2010s. It found a surprisingly deep well of enthusiasm for an idea that was incredibly old (can you make an "id-quality" level?) and it was ran in the method we now associate with successful "community projects." It asked people to think about Doom in a different way, where you are considering it as a cultural artifact in its own right, and not merely as the basis for new levels and mods. It led people to ask what the original designers had thought / think now, which showed Romero there was still intense interest in classic FPS design and convinced him to return to it. The high level conceit led to people thinking hard about the nuts and bolts of Doom level design and what sort of aesthetics and tropes can be distilled and imputed to a specific creative vision (sort of how the aimless Doom 4 got canned in favor of a new version that was more interested in building on those tropes). It also had a strong interest in quality control, which has become a given for projects nowadays. And of course DTWID was the first project heavily influenced by the 2010s doominati of essel, xaser, alfonzo etc, who had their fingers in every pie.

[NiGHTMARE]

For me, it has to be BTSX Episode 1.

[Jaws In Space]

Ancient Aliens

 

2010 - Epic 2 #8

2011 - Doom the Way id Did #6
2012 - Base Ganymede: Complete #4
2013 - Doom 2 the Way Id Did #10
2014 - Nova: The Birth #7
2015 - Valiant #9
2016 - Ancient Aliens #1
2017 - TNT: Revilution #3
2018 - REKKR #5
2019 - HocusDoom #2

[NuMetalManiak]

Best Ultimate Doom megawad: No End in Sight, honestly nothing really comes close to this, not even the DTWIDs, loads of innovative stuff for what it held.

 

Best Vanilla Doom 2 megawad: Probably BTSXE1 (was Epic 2 vanilla-compat? can't recall if it was), most vanilla wads were decent but then again a lot weren't that great.

 

Best Doom 2 megawad: Eviternity, I love Ancient Aliens for all the good stuff but Eviternity just did what it did and better.

 

Best full TC: Golden Souls 2

[VanaheimRanger]

Sunlust has been the best megawad I've played from the last 10 years, but there are a lot of things I haven't played.

[Firedust]

If Avactor counts, then it's that one for me. If not, Ancient Aliens for sure. Skillsaw is the best of the best.

[Not Jabba]

Nice to see so much consensus on Ancient Aliens; sometimes I worry that it's mastery has gotten a bit buried under the constant waves of "the next big thing."

My personal favorite megawad is ALT, which is from the 2010s, but that's kind of a class of its own, an orange in an apple orchard if you will. More generally speaking, I would agree with AA.

[Gaia74]

Ancient aliens and sunlust 

[Grain of Salt]

Firstly I'd like to say that it is Sunlust, and additionally I'd like to add that it is not Ancient Aliens or Eviternity. Merry Christmas everyone.

[Doomkid]

It's so hard to pick between the AMAZING multiplayer megawads released this decade..

 

https://www.doomworld.com/22years/multi.php

https://www.doomworld.com/23years/multi.php

https://www.doomworld.com/24years/multi.php

https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/2019/multi/

 

All worthwhile contenders. I'd have to pick Don't Be a Bitch overall, though. dbab01 is the perfect newschool map.

[StoneMason]

I really want to say Back To Saturn X Episode 2: Tower in the Fountain of Sparks, but it's technically not finished, so not sure if it can really count or not. Ancient Aliens is also a good contender for me.

[Firedust]

@Not Jabba are you guys planning on doing a decade special at some point? Like for the next year's cacowards?

 

EDIT: @StoneMason I am glad I'm not the only one who prefers E2 over E1.

[Not Jabba]

3 minutes ago, Firedust said:

are you guys planning on doing a decade special at some point? Like for the next year's cacowards?

 

I doubt it. 25 Years of Doom was big enough. I, for one, need a break.

[Quagsire]

One of the only recent memory ones that comes to mind for me is Golden Souls 1 or 2. I have yet to beat 2 but 1 was nothing short of a masterpiece. It's rare to see anyone implement a good amount of platforming into their wad.

[[McD] James]

Ancient Aliens. 

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Geez, it kind of seems like I need to get my ass in gear and actually finally play Ancient Aliens.

[Uni]

I absolutely love the Doom the Way Id Did series and it's a big inspiration to me when it comes to ideas for mapping but Back to Saturn X Episode 1 is definitely the most important. I still remember the first time loading it and how much I was blown away by the new assets and level design, and how I couldn't stop thinking about it after beating it. 

[R1ck]

Ancient Aliens

Valiant

Eviternity

BTSXep1

 

[pcorf]

All of the above mentions plus Reverie as well.

[ReaperAA]

3 hours ago, Grain of Salt said:

Firstly I'd like to say that it is Sunlust, and additionally I'd like to add that it is not Ancient Aliens or Eviternity. Merry Christmas everyone.

 

Now u have done it.

[cannonball]

Ancient Aliens - Skillsaw took what he did with Valiant and made something even better.

Sunlust - The epitomises the slaughter genre perfectly.

Both I feel are the pinnacle of megawads this decade.

[Steve D]

I have never gotten over my first flush of love for BTSX E1. The ending aboard The Unsinkable Fats Domino is one I'll never forget. :)

[Firedust]

But E2 is clearly better.

 

EDIT: Wait, did we have this conversation before?

[JDR]

IMO: Valiant>Ancient Aliens because of the thematic variety, more consistenty achieved without having guest maps (even though AA guest maps are quite awesome) and best lineup of custom monsters so far.

Edited December 21, 2019 by JDR

[Poncho1]

There are so many to choose from. Ancient Aliens, Vanguard (I think it was this decade, anyway), BTSX E1, Sunlust and Eviternity are my personal contenders.