Cacowards 2021 Mentionation Thread

[Plats]

+ Haste

+ Fractured Worlds

+ MSCP

[kalensar]

Updating  My list to current perceptions:

 

I'll just make my Mentions of ones I've tried to keep up on by category of 2021:  

 

vanilla or vanilla-esque Megawads and episodic wads in order of best--

1. Ascent of Titan

2. Gehenna: Episode for Ultimate Doom

3. Almagamation 2 for TNT wad

4. ARCEON

5. Dragon Sector Remake

 

Gameplay Mods TCs with included maps in no particular order --

1. Meridian-- GZDoom TC

2. Ray Mohawk 2

3. Legend of Doom- The ZELDA 1 TC for GZDoom 

4. Castlevania 3 for Simon's Destiny-- The unofficial addon for Castlevania Simon's Destiny

 

Mods only-

1. Brutal Freedoom GZD

2. Xim's GZDoom3 for Classic Doom

3. Bitter Heretic (!!!)

[FrancisT218]

+++Ray Mohawk 2 deserves to follow right in the footsteps of Rowdy Rudy 2.

 

There are others I could pretty much nominate just based on watching others stream them...but Mohawk 2 is one I at least got to play a portion of (to date).

[Effektus]

ASHES: AFTERGLOW

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=69612

 

[Deadwing]

Atmospheric Extiction: Fantastic mapset with gorgerous soundtrack

[VoanHead]

Is the mockaward still a thing? If so I’d like to nominate Amogus.pk3.

[Dusty_Rhodes]

1 hour ago, VoanHead said:

Is the mockaward still a thing? If so I’d like to nominate Amogus.pk3.

Sadly it's not. But that mod did give me a good chuckle.

[VoanHead]

10 hours ago, Dusty_Rhodes said:

Sadly it's not. But that mod did give me a good chuckle.

Oh well :(

 

Anyhow, my last nomination for what I played so far this year would also be +1 for Ray Mohawk 2. I have yet to complete it entirely (got to level 6 before deciding to take a 2 week break from Doom and get some irl stuff sorted out), but so far it is tight. Doomkid really sat down and decided to come out w/ another banger after last year w/ Rowdy Rudy 2.

[Terminus]

While I already have mentionated way over 10 projects this year, I think Literalism deserves at least a runner-up mention.

It went way beyond my expectations for a community project and there are some absolutely wonderful maps in it.

 

EDIT: +1 Uprising

 

Edited November 25, 2021 by Terminus

[KeaganDunn]

There have been a lot of amazing releases this year. Good luck and godspeed to the Cacowards people on picking all this stuff out.

+1 for Lullaby and Atmospheric Extinction, having been the highlights of what I've played this year.  And man, this year has been quite a ride for me.

 

I really like the look of Fractured Worlds, Judgment, Haste, and a few other major releases but I've never gotten around to playing them for myself.

 

 

[Maribo]

Hi, stopping in to drop Wormwood ]|[ - The Horror, since no one else has posted it in here yet.

Ribbiks and Grain of Salt have delivered a Halloween set every year for the past four years, and I adore them so much. Go have some fun with the drunk arachnotrons, if you haven't yet done so. :)

 

Also +1s for Fractured Worlds, Judgment

[MFG38]

15 hours ago, Terminus said:

While I already have mentionated way over 10 projects this year, I think Literalism deserves at least a runner-up mention.

 

Heh. X3

[omnibot]

+Ray Mohawk 2

 

What a power trip! Doomkid knocked it out of the park on this one. All of the weapons are satisfying as hell to use, but special mention goes to the auto SSG. It's like a room clearing magic wand. 

[Dasha W. Frost]

Seems like nobody mentioned this one just yet! Ultimate Jazz Jackrabbit Doom TC, Episode 1 has been released not long ago.

I've been watching the progress with this mod regularly on creator's Twitter account, and I gotta say: these guys did an awesome, meticulous job on it! If not a winner, I'd say it definitely should be a runner-up this year ^.^ Check it out! It's really worth it!

[head_cannon]

+Doom 2 In Spain Only

 

A D2TWID sequel that raises the stakes but never loses its sense of humor. Mischief and mayhem abound, and I think that nearly every single joke at the player's expense lands. For my tastes, its Continuous campaign was pitch-perfect, and its Pistol Start setups were genuinely interesting in how I typically started off outmatched and had to explore - each death meant a little more learned, and it was never quite as oppressive as it first seemed.

[Steve D]

+ Project Osiris - Alien Breed 3D for GZDoom (v1.0.3)

 

I should have nominated this long ago, though I'm still not sure what category it goes into. As an Amigan, I can report that @Arcturus has done an amazing job translating the old Amiga game Alien Breed 3D to GZDoom, and in the process, he improved it. AB3D came out in '95 with some amazing features, including an over-and-under 3D engine, deep liquids, and freelook. Arcturus has added a killer soundtrack, a more survivalist gameplay design, and monsters more dangerous than the originals, especially the red hounds, which were mere cannon fodder in the original but are speedy killers in Project Osiris.

 

This is not so much a TC as a completely standalone game with its own IWAD. I leave it to the judges to decide what category, if any, it belongs in.

[Kaapeli47]

+ Rott!Zone Deathmatch

 

A very nice mixture of new maps as well as a few remasters of older maps, which all play well with 4 or more players! I heavily recommend this to any deathmatch fan!

[BiZ]

+ Atmospheric Extinction

looked amazing and played well.

[Salt-Man Z]

I'm having a lot of fun playing The Long Trek Back Home, where Doomguy, after beating the IoS, retraces his steps backwards from MAP30 to MAP01. The levels are still (if only vaguely) recognizable as the originals, but you work through them backwards, and of course they've been damaged and transformed extensively since your last visit. Everything so far (I've gotten to Nirvana) has felt very large and exploratory (if not exactly nonlinear) and definitely more nasty than the IWAD. Very cool stuff that I thought was at least worth mentioning here.

 

[Big Ol Billy]

23 hours ago, Salt-Man Z said:

I'm having a lot of fun playing The Long Trek Back Home, where Doomguy, after beating the IoS, retraces his steps backwards from MAP30 to MAP01.

 

+1 on this, TLTBH is kinda slept-on so far, but it's the best experience with a new project I've had all year (although there's *a lot* that I haven't played). I'm about at the halfway point now, but I've got a feeling it's going to end strong. The visual and thematic dialogue between the new "destroyed" versions of the IWAD maps and the original versions is really cool and clever, and the set keeps introducing new twists on this basic hook.

 

It's also honestly reshaped my attitude toward the D2 IWAD maps. Generally, I've tended to see D2 as a great mapping toolkit with some maps of varying styles and quality kinda thrown in as a bonus—many pretty good, some kinda bad, but almost all feeling kind of like vaguely-conceived first drafts. Here, though, @hervoheebo's maps really help you to see each IWAD map as a place with its own (abstract) atmosphere and logic. Great stuff! There's obviously a long tradition of tributes, spiritual sequels, and otherwise referential projects in the Doom community, but few others have shifted my perspective on their inspiration material so strongly.

Edited November 30, 2021 by Big Ol Billy

[Nimlouth]

+ Ashes 2063 Afterglow (sequel to original chapter) is a TC that is basically a masterpeice of an old-school fps. Post-apocalyptic mad max meets build engine games stuff. So good.
+ Abysm 2, another amazing TC that deserves AT LEAST a runners up and way more attention imho. Darksouls/Diablo meets doom/hexen, super well paced, consistent work.
 

[Mr Masker]

9 hours ago, Nimlouth said:

+ Abysm 2, another amazing TC that deserves AT LEAST a runners up and way more attention imho. Darksouls/Diablo meets doom/hexen, super well paced, consistent work.
 

Abysm 2 already got a runner up mention in 2020

Spoiler

 

[dei_eldren]

+ Sign of Torment

 

 

[dew]

1 hour ago, dei_eldren said:

+ Sign of Torment 

Sorry, but we're past the "soft cutoff" date for this cacoward cycle. Projects from roughly the latter half of November already fall over into 2022. Make sure to re-mentionate it in the follow-up thread!

[Major Arlene]

5 minutes ago, dew said:

Sorry, but we're past the "soft cutoff" date for this cacoward cycle. Projects from roughly the latter half of November already fall over into 2022. Make sure to re-mentionate it in the follow-up thread!

It was released early last year anyway so it missed the boat :v

[Kain D.]

5 minutes ago, Major Arlene said:

It was released early last year anyway so it missed the boat :v

Back, then it was WIP. And now it's completed. However I'm not familiar how this thing goes.

[dei_eldren]

3 hours ago, dew said:

Sorry, but we're past the "soft cutoff" date for this cacoward cycle. Projects from roughly the latter half of November already fall over into 2022. Make sure to re-mentionate it in the follow-up thread!

 

Ok - seems it was just on the threshold...  Thanks!

[Major Arlene]

2 hours ago, Kain D. said:

Back, then it was WIP. And now it's completed. However I'm not familiar how this thing goes.

fair enough!

[jazzmaster9]

On 12/2/2021 at 10:01 PM, Mr Masker said:

Abysm 2 already got a runner up mention in 2020

  Reveal hidden contents

 

The expansion Pharaoh's Judgement did come out this year, tho not sure if that's eligible.

[Doomkid]

On 7/19/2021 at 2:22 PM, roadworx said:

either they're gonna say fuck it and expand the winners to 15 or 20, or there's gonna be a lot of runner-ups.

 

also - unless there's another major pandemic that shuts down the world for nearly a year, then unfortunately there's no way that any year following this one is gonna have this sort of output.

 

So when will you be charging for your future-predicting abilities? Because you fucking nailed this and I only just now realized it.