Tristan Posted September 21, 2020 Let's talk about some gems that never got the attention they deserved, or got unfairly bashed when they were released. No examples from me because I haven't played doom in forever but like some others I'm tired of 'worst this, overrated that' threads so here's a counter. More positivity, people! 39 Share this post Link to post
Biodegradable Posted September 21, 2020 Gonna stick this older post here since it's relevant. https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2179374 4 Share this post Link to post
P41R47 Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) There was a similar thread almost a month ago, but this is always good to let those underrated project come to light. Here is the list i made for that thread, but added a few more that i think actually fit in this category: -Fragport, in the same vein of Eternal Doom and TNT: Evilution. Pretty good exploration maps. -Interception, save for a little bug on map19, this megawad is a blast. Hope that now the sequel is getting release, someone fix it. -Atonement, really good mapset, hope @Moustachio return to it after completing Interception 2. -The Invasion, by Paul Fleschute. Really good complete megawad for Ultimate Doom. Some really fun maps here. Last episode feels rushed. -Baculus and Sinergy by @Crunchynut44, both are awesome mapsets vanilla style. Hope Baculus get out of RC (EDIT AS TODAY: it come out from RC, but its still not playable on other port than zdoom base ports because a bug on the texture1). -Czechbox, already mentioned, but this mapset is awesome fun. -Doom II: RELOADED, pretty much what would be if Doom 2 was made by teamTNT. Awesome mapset! -Doom 404 by Capellan, the epitome of hard map without being an slaughterfest, and reduced to its minimun space. Marvelous and hard as hell. -Mars War, take all that is bad about doom mapping and make something good with that. Fun and beautiful. -Tangerine Nightmare, awesome medieval style with a new palette that gives it a peculiar and outstanding look. -The Journey, limit removing mapset made by one man. Fun and really good. Needs more love! -Three is a Crowd, this is the most imaginative and experimental project that come out for vanilla mapping in a long time. Love it! -Urania, hate Plutonia Experiment? well, you didn't tried his longer, harder, and badass big brother. Perfectly mixes TNT with Plutonia and make something awesome. -Doom: Damnation & Perdition, a match made in hell that makes Ultimate Doom fun again. -Realm of Chaos, this is on par with the original Memento Mori, if not better. And the new ones since that post: -CPD amazing limit removing megawad, really similar to the absolutely marvelous Vile Flesh, if not better. -25 Years on Earth limit removing megawad that is a tribute to our really old favourite game. -The Beggining of the End and it sequel, Natural Tvventy before he get awarded was really really good and almost no people know it. -Dark Covenant vanilla love to the max with some really big city maps. -Moonblood awesome mapset that is really overlooked. -The Abyss vanilla megawad that has amazing puzzles and feels a lot like Indiana Jones meet Doom. -Gods & Guardians 6 mostly vanilla outtakes from DTWID that are really good on their own. -Wonderful Doom play again the old classic Ultimate Doom as if it was new but kinda familiar at the same time. -Zones of Fear, another czech megawad. This guys are amazing! -2048 Units of /vr/ a community project from a community outside of the community. Simply amazing megawad! -180 minutes pour vivre, Frech Doom community making something far better than their already awesome 3 heures d'agonie serie -NJ Doom 2, one of the first megawad for Doom 2, and it still holds up pretty well for today. -Bloodstain runner up or not, this one is seriously overlooked. -Killing Adventure and it sequel, sometimes we want to fool around. -32 Inch Nails, Eternal experimenting and left us mouth open. -Osiris, Doom meet Stargate and Jeremy Doyle made some of the best track ever. This are my favorite for sure. Enjoy, Eris! Edited September 21, 2020 by P41R47 39 Share this post Link to post
galileo31dos01 Posted September 21, 2020 Garrulismo, which I'll never understand how it's so forgotten between the "doom 2 design/difficulty" enthusiasts. The nazi soldier regularity may shoo some people but imo it adds flavor to the carnage, since the enemy type is a valid low HP hitscanner. That you can liquefy an army of them is good stuff. 2 Share this post Link to post
Biodegradable Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) I think Oops All Techbases needs more love. It's great fun with really interesting designs and slick combat scenarios. Also, if you're a sucker for good techbase maps like me, you'll love it. 7 Share this post Link to post
vdgg Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) I discovered Alleys.wad just a week ago, and it is one of the very best from 1995. It has a Mordeth vibe to me (even if it was supposed to represent 1858 London (!) ), but with better gameplay, although no dehacked magic. Perdition's Gate from the same year by Alex Mayberry, not to be confused with the commercial official WAD, is a bit uneven, but MAP05 has to be played at least once IMO by oldschool map afficionados. More modern stuff, 2012, I always, always, mention Can't run from Evil, with MAP01 being probably the most engaging. Beautiful maps with tough gameplay. Edited September 21, 2020 by vdgg 3 Share this post Link to post
Redead-ITA Posted September 21, 2020 Scientist 2, while it might have been popular on it's time i can't seem to find much about on the wiki It has a sick soundtrack (not original but a banger nontheless) Mapping is impressive especially seeing it's vanilla compatible and has some unique dehacked weapons to come with it, some more crunchy sprite aside, and a neat boss fight at the end. One more thing, according to the wiki it also was an inspiration for jenesis! 8 Share this post Link to post
Roofi Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) TimeOfDeath maps in general for slaughtermaps but not only. Its style is not suitable for all audiences, but most of its maps are quite underestimated for my taste. Some maps are genius in terms of evolutionary layout and eccentric but fascinating progression. In terms of wads, I'm especially thinking about : - Nina Dobrev 1 and 2 - Cassie Steele - No Health maps that provide a good challenge - The Room Below - Peter Perv Private Place (PPPP.wad) 4 Share this post Link to post
Moustachio Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) 14 hours ago, P41R47 said: -Interception, save for a little bug on map19, this megawad is a blast. Hope that now the sequel is getting release, someone fix it. The bugfixed version of Interception is now live on idgames, I just haven't resurrected the Interception thread yet. Also, pretty good list of underrated wads! I just started on Mars War and I'm enjoying it thus far! 4 Share this post Link to post
MattFright Posted September 21, 2020 As inconsistent as After Doom is in gameplay quality, i feel like it should get much, MUCH more attention than it currently has. It has some gorgeous areas, some really fun custom enemies, some of which got used in other wads such as Hurt (which reminds me of Afterdoom in many ways, too), OUTSTANDING ambience, many mechanics i'd love to see used in many more wads, and generally such a unique wad that i can't really compare to much else. 8 Share this post Link to post
P41R47 Posted September 22, 2020 21 hours ago, Moustachio said: The bugfixed version of Interception is now live on idgames, I just haven't resurrected the Interception thread yet. Also, pretty good list of underrated wads! I just started on Mars War and I'm enjoying it thus far! Thank you for this bugfix, pal! This will surely give it more rating ;) Oh Mars War is, for me the summary of the 90's. At first some horrible maps that had enganging gameplay, and then some really amazing maps with awesome ideas everywhere. Until the final revealing that made me fall from my chair in laugh. Really underrated experience. Thanks @Xaser for uploading it to the archives and bringing it to light! 2 Share this post Link to post
RichardDS90 Posted September 22, 2020 22 hours ago, MattFright said: As inconsistent as After Doom is in gameplay quality, i feel like it should get much, MUCH more attention than it currently has. It has some gorgeous areas, some really fun custom enemies, some of which got used in other wads such as Hurt (which reminds me of Afterdoom in many ways, too), OUTSTANDING ambience, many mechanics i'd love to see used in many more wads, and generally such a unique wad that i can't really compare to much else. Seconding this. I swear every type of these threads I ALWAYS give this a shoutout, it reminds me of Threshold Of Pain and it's so stunning to look at! While I'm at it. Tower Of Lies, it's very obscure but it's so fun to play and it is a really nice looking map as well. 2 Share this post Link to post
Spooner5020 Posted September 22, 2020 Final Fantasy Doom. People seemed to bash it on Idgames because it didn’t feel like Final Fantasy and you weren’t playing as Cloud. I think people forgot that this was supposed to be based on the SNES FinalFantasy games. Yes it’s a bit cartoony and some of the sound effects are a bit silly, but you can’t fault the creator for at least trying to make it FF like. Ghostbusters Doom 2. Always thought this one never got the love it deserved. It was very unfinished, but it really was pretty well done for the time and this was made during a time when I don’t think Zdoom was even huge if I’m correct. 3 Share this post Link to post
TheMagicMushroomMan Posted September 22, 2020 Threshold of Pain SE and its sequel are incredible. 2 Share this post Link to post
Paul977 Posted September 23, 2020 Rebel sky by valkiriforce. Intriguing to see a max of this map 2 Share this post Link to post
whybmonotacrab Posted January 8, 2021 Sorry to necro an oldish thread, but an Ultimate Doom episode from last year that absolutely rocks and is underrated would be Infernovasion. Nice and atmospheric with great pacing and nice combat encounters. Needs more love because I need an episode 2. 4 Share this post Link to post
taufan99 Posted January 8, 2021 6 minutes ago, whybmonotacrab said: Sorry to necro an oldish thread, but an Ultimate Doom episode from last year that absolutely rocks and is underrated would be Infernovasion. Nice and atmospheric with great pacing and nice combat encounters. Needs more love because I need an episode 2. Ultimate DOOM mapsets in general are sorta underrated IMO. Thanks for the suggestion anyway! 1 Share this post Link to post
Somniac Posted January 8, 2021 Dark7 + Mission Pack I know it got a Cacoward back in the day but I never see anyone talk about these anymore. Yes, they have issues (underwhelming final boss fights, segments that are basically ripped from Quake II and an entire UT99 level) but it just works. It was the first WAD where I saw things I didn't previously know that Doom was capable of doing. Great music choices, great aesthetic and sound design, a ton of atmosphere, and its a true blast if you run it with the included Sin weapons mod - that chaingun just rips! Stone cold classic IMO. 2 Share this post Link to post
Kuro_mahoh Posted January 8, 2021 This wad was really fun, even works in crispy doom! (because of its age) It was really fun and I think it should be known more, had some good reviews. https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/a-c/aday2die 1 Share this post Link to post
Maxie Posted January 8, 2021 Are any of the maps mentioned already, classic-like? I'm looking for a more chill approach focusing in lesser monster count (ergo NOT slaughter) and more about placement and map construction. You know, stuff like 25 Years on Earth and Japanese Community Project? 1 Share this post Link to post
Arrowhead Posted January 15, 2021 Danne's E1 10 Levels, 10 Monsters Infernovasion Death in the Ass of the Universe... Antarctica Excavation Chief's WAD [chief.wad] Slugfest Vampire5 [frodo5] The Journey pugilist.wad, rocketeer.wad Linear Doom Baculus Confinement Community Project Phobos Revisited Dying Camel's Demons Series Running Late Good Morning Phobos At least I think these are fairly underrated / unknown! 1 Share this post Link to post
nrofl Posted April 20, 2022 (edited) Lets bump this cause I feel like it Mayhem Mansion - Darsycho So wonderfully weird as a whole. As a "reimagination" of Exploding Lips comes a ridiculously strange but curious set of six levels with cardboard swords, stompy feet, helicopters, lamp turrets--the whole nine. The gameplay encourages cycling through weapons via certain enemies being weaker to certain weapons/ammo types. Random mini side quests fill the strange atmosphere with personality and humor. Oh also, those six levels are massive. Level 1 took me an hour and a half alone, absolutely worth checking out if you want something very far away from doom. AOD DooM 1 2 - AOD Team Maybe im a sucker for the Evil Dead trilogy, but AOD doom still holds up as a fantastic TC in my opinion. For being a wad made in '97, the environments play accurately to the locations in the movie which makes it feel more organic of sorts. The gameplay is hectic and interesting (and for me quite difficult, but I play doom like fdr trying to walk so take that with a grain of salt). I havent seen many people talk about this wad recently, but to me it hold up incredibly well and is still a really fun time. 1 Share this post Link to post
RichardDS90 Posted October 19, 2023 Don't want to make a new thread but I'm seriously surprised I've never heard anyone bring Oripathy up. Right shame as it's gameplay really hits the spot, and the maps are very entertaining, always felt that Origamyde could imitate mappers to a degree, one minute, emulating Mouldy, next minute, putting his own spin on Skillsaw. But it still manages to have a consistent feel. Also can't wait for the sequel, Origamyde has even released a few maps that will be in the sequel ans they're brilliant! 1 Share this post Link to post
Li'l devil Posted October 20, 2023 MyHouse.wad is an underrated hidden gem. 4 Share this post Link to post
volleyvalley Posted October 22, 2023 The Deimos Subway is a pretty good level, even more so in 1994. 1 Share this post Link to post