Jump to content
Search In
  • More options...
Find results that contain...
Find results in...
Jiggahertz

What's considered to be the highest quality, most top tier WAD out there?

Recommended Posts

So I've been wanting to get into playing some community made WADs and I'm looking for a good place to start. What's considered by the community to be the most well made, high quality, top tier WAD out there? Or at least what are some of the top contenders.

 

I'm looking for vanilla gameplay btw.

Share this post


Link to post

There's no single megawad out there that everyone would agree on, any more than there is a best ever song or movie. 

 

But some megawads are consistently popular among the forum members here. This thread gives a good list: 

 

Share this post


Link to post

There's an insane amount of WADs out there, lucky you, the Doom community is one of the few where we not only have we quantity, but lots of quality too. Here's a WAD guide made by me that can help you find out what to play if you're new to this world.

 

 

Share this post


Link to post

This list of the Doomworld community's top wads has a bunch of cool stuff. And all of the mapsets to make the ZDoom community's top works list  -- which is otherwise largely gameplay mods -- are cool. 

 

Notes: 

 

1) these threads are sampling of x% of one community, so for example a 10th place doesn't literally mean "X wad is the Doom community's 10th favorite thing." 

2) differences in renown cascade into bigger differences in vote share, because of how voting like this works. so the "real" difference in community esteem between say 50th place and 5th place can be small. in other words, don't just look at the top.

 

You can check out the Cacowards and various other related features too. Make sure to not look at just the winners, but the runners-up and side features too. In modern day times, those are increasingly close to winners in intended praise, because of how the bell curve works. And of course variance in personal taste means that any given person might enjoy some of those as much as, or more than, the top 10.  

Share this post


Link to post

eviternity

every level has unique music and gimmick and the level themes are also always changing

it also looks and plays like a dream so i recomend starting there

Share this post


Link to post

If you like the gameplay of actual Doom 1 & 2, then Eviternity would be at the top of my recommendations as well. If you don't care for Doom style gameplay and are more into fps games like CoD or Battlefield, then Eviternity may not scratch that itch. Some of the greatest mods though are ones that intentionally went out of their way to not be like Doom and push it to it's limits in other ways. For a lot of them, refer to the Cacowards as mentioned. Eviternity is...so f*cking good though (sorry, I almost started crying), that IF you don't like it, then I have no respect for you. Just joking...I didn't almost start crying.

Share this post


Link to post

Dunno why everyone is lying to you, dwango5.wad is the greatest wad ever made and it is actually physically impossible to create something better

Share this post


Link to post
20 minutes ago, Doomkid said:

Dunno why everyone is lying to you, dwango5.wad is the greatest wad ever made and it is actually physically impossible to create something better

legends say dwango9.wad is better

Share this post


Link to post

Classic gameplay all the way, mainly without the Imp of slaughter present, in increasing order of difficulty:

- Serenity

- Hatred Removed

- Eternal Doom

- Moonblood

- Eviternity

 

If you come straight from playing IWADs, don't hesitate to turn to HMP or HNTR especially for the last three (i always prefer to play HMP (i seem to remember it's the original 'standard'), but had to turn to HNTR for last third of Eviternity.)

 

i also agree with people who say Sunlust, because it's my favourite wad to watch others play with its strikingly gorgeous dreamlike landscapes and hundreds of deaths - just have zero interest in playing it myself. :P

Edited by dei_eldren

Share this post


Link to post
3 hours ago, Doomkid said:

Dunno why everyone is lying to you, dwango5.wad is the greatest wad ever made and it is actually physically impossible to create something better

Clearly the correct answer is wow.wad

Share this post


Link to post

As far as consistency goes, my votes would be Bloodstain, Scythe 2, Community Chest 4 and Going Down. I can say I like almost every single map in these.

Share this post


Link to post

Doubt something so subjective can possibly get any definitive answer, but for me, that's Sunlust, AA, GS2, and Deus Vult II.

Share this post


Link to post

Depends on what sort of paradigm you're following. Roughly, there's map sets that play like extensions of the vanilla Doom or Doom II experience (these two games are not the same and don't have the same vibe, and the community mapping efforts targeting them also don't have the same vibe). A good exemplification of Ultimate Doom modern wad design I would say is the Return to Hadron series. For amplifications of the Doom II experience, I would look to stuff like Eviternity, Ancient Aliens, Vanguard, Valiant, so on.

Then there's 'challenge map sets' exemplified by the Sunder school of design, that are very popular and their biggest current representative is Sunlust any way you cut it. Another option that I recommend is Abandon. These are hard and require you to know the ins and outs of all the gameplay mechanics of Doom II, from infighting to pain chance ratios to the correct use of the right weapon in the right situation in the right mix of enemies in the right kind of terrain. 

Then there's more experimental stuff and you'll never get a consensus on what's a must to play. There's more adventure and puzzly map sets. There's gimmicky map sets that explore a narrower niche. There's total or partial conversions, all very different but still Doom in their DNA. 

There's 27 years of community modding on top of an already excellent game. You're spoiled for choice, so you'll have to immerse yourself in the culture and make up your own mind as to what the creme de la creme is. And while you're doing this, and it'll take years, new stuff keeps coming out on the cutting edge. I am excited for you that you've got this opportunity to do this kind of cultural deep dive! Welcome to the community and good luck!



EDIT: biggest piece of advice. It's nice to watch videos about map sets, to look at screenshots, read reviews or watch people play them. But you never know how a map set plays until you... play it. Seriously, nothing else really compares with hands on for doom because every map is a 3d space that is completely unique, made by a completely unique single author. Even if the map doesn't play well, you will get a feeling and a sense for it only if you play it yourself. There isn't much point to ask other people what they recommend because you have your own unique -and evolving- tastes that can only be satisfied by hands on experimentation with the range of map sets available. And they're all free. So it's up to you to figure out what you like by playing, not by reading lists and looking at screenshots. It'll look like doom, you know? It's just chunky geometry and imps. But when you play them, they're all subtly different.

 

Edited by Helm

Share this post


Link to post
5 hours ago, dei_eldren said:

- Hatred Removed

Hatred Removed is just an episode by Datacore, have you tried the complete megawad that includes Hatred Removed?

It is called Endless Torture.

 

TNT: Revilution is one of the best out there, aesthetically. Combines BTSX style-ish maps with the mood of the original TNT, but going even further making something really amazing.

Share this post


Link to post
8 minutes ago, P41R47 said:

Hatred Removed is just an episode by Datacore, have you tried the complete megawad that includes Hatred Removed?

It is called Endless Torture.

 

In my review of HR i was hoping Datacore would've actually done the other episodes, too, but was unable to find them - thanks a lot!

Share this post


Link to post

If you are just starting out, the best wads are probably:

- Scythe 1 (I played it on HMP the first time and only the last level was stupidly unfair and difficult)

- Eviternity

- Valiant

- Vanguard (13 maps)

- TNT: Revolution

- Japanese Community project

- Hell ground (7 maps)

- 90's wads like perditions gate, icarus and eternal doom. Wads from that era have a lot of weird shit regarding map design (weird enemy placement, horrible texture usage, progression not clear or behind secrets) and these are overall consistent.

- Doom Zero

 

My Favorite wads have to be (No particular order):

- Hell Ground

- Deus Vult 2 (Incomplete but the maps currently there are really amazing, though the last 3 maps can be extremely challenging (map 23) or cryptic as hell (map 22)
- Eviternity

- Scythe 2 (The last 7 maps could be extremely difficult if you just started)

- Sunder (Don't even try this if you started playing community wads)

- Sunlust (The first half is really difficult but it wasn't rage inducing to me as the second half, excluding the last 3 maps or so)

- Holy Hell (Single map with 20k enemies)

 

The last three can prove to be extremely difficult to a new player.

 

Finally, other highly regarded wads by the community are:

- Memento Mori 1 and 2 (Highly overrated imo but I started with those along with scythe 1. Very very cryptic in some areas and weird balancing for a new player in some because it is balanced around coop)

- Alien Vendetta (Very good maps, but the last 5 can be stupidly difficult and frustrating for a new player)

- Hell revealed (It has some nice maps but should only be played for historical value, a lot of levels aren't really fun and REALLY unfair if you are playing blind. Watch decino's playthrough of it on youtube if you plan on playing this one)

- Hell Revealed 2 (Amazing maps, but really difficult if you started)

- Kama Sutra (Hell revealed inspired levels, it's pretty nice)

 

Sorry if my post was kind of overwhelming to you.

Share this post


Link to post

From the stuff I've played, the level of craftiness of stuff like BTSX 2, Eviternity, Ancient Aliens and Valiant impress me a lot.

 

So many stuff that I have no idea how it was made or if I know I think, "holy hell, did the creater really went through all this to create that stuff?" lol

 

Other great examples, from what I've played, would be Avactor and Struggle.

Share this post


Link to post

I have to say, one of the most fun WADs I've ever played was Dark Tartarus. I've played a fair amount of the other WADs here, and they're great too, but Dark T is just brilliant. 

Share this post


Link to post

Some commonly regarded as excellent community made WADs that are among my favourites:

 

Alien Vendetta 

Scythe 2

Monuments of Mars

Ancient Aliens 

Back to Saturn x

Dark7

Hell Revealed 2

Memento Mori 2

Antaresian Reliquary

Congestion 1024

Japanese Community Project

Community Project 2, 3 and 4

Karma Sutra

 

That's barely the tip of the iceberg really.

 

Share this post


Link to post

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×