WAD to play after Plutonium

[DemonSlayer21]

I'm just starting to get into PWADs and have recently finished Plutonium on UV with minimal save-scumming. I'm looking at Alien Vendetta or Hell Revealed. I've seen different difficulty rankings on other threads and am curious which one is better to do next and if it even matters at all.

[roadworx]

go for alien vendetta, hell revealed has aged pretty poorly

[DemonSlayer21]

31 minutes ago, Reelvonic said:

honestly it depends on your interest. there are good wads and bad wads, but it mostly depends on opinion.

i love puzzle centered wads.

doomworld and moddb and of course /idgames are great places to find new and exciting wads

I'm still getting a feel for what's out there. I don't really care for puzzle centered wads. There's nothing more annoying than having to go on Youtube because I can't figure out where to go. How would you categorize the different types of WADs? I know about slaughtermaps and such, but don't really know what's out there since I'm just starting out.

[SilverMiner]

7 minutes ago, DemonSlayer21 said:

How would you categorize the different types of WADs?

I remember there was a topic about that...

[Hitboi]

1 hour ago, roadworx said:

go for alien vendetta, hell revealed has aged pretty poorly

I agree, also Hell Revealed's first levels are claustrophobic and hard, and the rest is harder.

[P41R47]

39 minutes ago, DemonSlayer21 said:

I'm still getting a feel for what's out there. I don't really care for puzzle centered wads. There's nothing more annoying than having to go on Youtube because I can't figure out where to go. How would you categorize the different types of WADs? I know about slaughtermaps and such, but don't really know what's out there since I'm just starting out.

Welcome to the forums @DemonSlayer21 :D
Hope you have a good time in here ;)

 

Pretty much a little description of the mapsets, usually very accurrate, is on the .txt that comes zipped with the wad.

 

Aside from that, if you like The Plutonia Experiment, and don't like large maps as those that appeard on TNT: Evilution, you will have a hard time with Alien Vendetta as most maps are large, really large.
Just the first 6 maps are of medium size.

Think Alien Vendetta as if every maps was like The Plutonia Experiment map29: Odyssey of Noises, but on steroids, heavily detailed and atmospheric, and mixing the exploratory and moody style of TNT: Evilution with the good gameplay of The Plutonia Experiment.

 

If you want something like Alien Vendetta, but not that large, go with Scythe, its relatively easy and short up to map20, then it ramps up in difficulty really high. Higher than The Plutonia Experiment, the same with Alien Vendetta.

If you prefer something similar to The Plutonia Experiment, i think Kama Sutra is the best at it. Except it is highly detailed and semirrealistic in contrast to The Plutonia Experiment sheer abstract design.

 

There are unofficials sequels to The Plutonia Experiment, one is Plutonia 2, and the other one is not a sequel, but a mapset that revisits Plutonia style of mapping and its called Plutonia: Revisited Community Project.

 

Also, there is a midi pack for The Plutonia Experiment, with new music in case you want to replay it but are bored of the repeated songs of the previous IWADs.

[out_of_service]

I strongly suggest Requiem.

[entrywayy]

If you liked kinda small-ish and action packed maps from Plutonia, check out 1k Lines Community Project 2. I am almost done playing through it, and I had an absolute blast so far, it's freaking awesome, gameplay wise and visually of course (using the OTEX Texture pack).

[Chip]

Hi DemonSlayer! Since you are just starting with playing WADs, I recommend looking at lists like Doomworlds top 100 maps and finding the WADs that those maps are in, or even better, look at the cacowards! it's been around for a while now and recommends the best WADs of that year, as well as all-time. I would expand my horizons since there exist so many different types of WADs out there, even some you wouldn't imagine being something you're interested in, but as soon as you play it, you're hooked! Not Jabba a few years ago wrote a huge essay about the different WADs out there in certain categories of gameplay. 

hope this helped!

[Maximum Matt]

Icarus, Memento Mori 1 and 2, and Requiem will get you started.  

And Maximum Doom

[Mr Masker]

2 hours ago, DemonSlayer21 said:

I'm just starting to get into PWADs and have recently finished Plutonium on UV with minimal save-scumming. I'm looking at Alien Vendetta or Hell Revealed. I've seen different difficulty rankings on other threads and am curious which one is better to do next and if it even matters at all.

I'd say start with some of the more simpler but great ones mentioned here and then sort of go up in difficulty, its been many years since Plutonia so there is alot of wads that would be considered harder than it in areas

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

2 hours ago, roadworx said:

go for alien vendetta, hell revealed has aged pretty poorly

Just the first one, or second one as well?

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

21 minutes ago, Maximum Matt said:

Icarus, Memento Mori 1 and 2, and Requiem will get you started.  

And Maximum Doom

Memento Mori 1 is kinda meh for me but its sequels are solid choices.

[P41R47]

2 hours ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

or second one as well?

I like the second one, but most people seems to not like it as the only thing that has in common to the original Hell Revealed is it name :/

But since it was approve by Yonatan Donner himself, i would not say it is bad.

In fact, it offers a great challenge more in line with Plutonia, as the maps are small-ish and kinda interconnected and non linear approach with an interesting semi-reallistic touch to it.

 

And the first one, aged pretty poorly...on UV. I had a blast playing it on HNTR. Its not the best mapset ever, but its interesting to see how Yonatan Donner and Haggay Niv developed their style the more they mapped.

The best designed maps are on the second chapter, and then are some really experimental on the third, to finaly close with a more traditional approach.

Edited May 1, 2021 by P41R47

[roadworx]

1 hour ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

Just the first one, or second one as well?

from what i've heard, the second one has always been kinda controversial in terms of how it's viewed by the community

[Maximum Matt]

7 hours ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

Memento Mori 1 is kinda meh for me

Nah man there's some classics on it

[out_of_service]

11 hours ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

Just the first one, or second one as well?

Give them both a whirl they're worth your time. Folks around here tend to exaggerate things to caricature levels.

[Valboom]

Try Perdition's Gate!

[Andromeda]

Plutonium Winds

[Pixel Fiend]

 

Something about this view made me chuckle. Cool wad. I mean, props and all for beating Plutonium Winds but I'd say you can't go wrong (re)playing Sunlust and Eviternity. The greatest Doom wads to be played ad infinitum. Quality time.

 

Here's another recommendation:

 

Doom 4 Vanilla BTSX Edition

 

[Crispy Doom] - Back to Saturn X E1.bat

[Crispy Doom] - Back to Saturn X E2.bat

 

^ Both episodes have completely different weapons, try it out.

Edited May 1, 2021 by game

[T-Rex]

Honestly, I think the first Hell Revealed is a good wad to follow after Plutonia, as despite its issues, I find it to be on par with the difficulty of Plutonia. I know some would find that unbelievable due to the number of cyberdemons, arch-viles and revenants they throw at you and how the RNG can throw you off if you're unlucky, but hear me out. I find that Hell Revealed offers more than one way to tackle the opposition, and most of the more intense combat scenarios are set in large areas where you have plenty of room to maneuver, so the maps give you a lot of leeway, plus the terrain is designed accordingly so that you can take cover if you're feeling overwhelmed. Plutonia, on the other hand, despite its lower monster count, the monster placement is really nasty, and there's little to no alternate choices, thanks to the cramped and at times claustrophobic layout of the maps, so you need to find the exact strategy to battle the enemies, otherwise you're going to be in trouble. The only thing I can agree with some of the HR detractors though is that the learning curve in UV, especially on pistol start, is somewhat unbalanced as it seems only the Doomgods can be able to withstand the challenge on that difficulty since some of the levels force you to tackle the opposition with a limited arsenal (eg. a group of barons using a super shotty). The issue isn't apparent on continuous play, and HMP is much more lenient as it offers more weapons and ammo in several of the levels. HNTR is at least there if you want a game that plays more like Doom 2 on UV. So yeah, while the lower difficulties are plenty of fun, UV seems to play more like a Dragon's Lair in Doom 2 kind of way as whether you survive and make it through the levels depend on how you handle the opposition and where you go. It's more frustrating than extremely difficult in that sense. Doable, but all it takes is time and familiarity of the levels in order to pull it off. Alien Vendetta and Kama Sutra are much more pistol-start friendly on UV than HR, for certain, so they're also recommended, and there's also Scythe, while the first two episodes are mostly easy, the third episode throws you with Chord/Plutonia/HR style carnage.

Edited May 2, 2021 by T-Rex

[dei_eldren]

What T-Rex says about HR is well put, and i agree with it. Personally i think it's a must-play.  It has some crazy moments (and a few unfair ones!), but on HMP i survived them, and only a few times i had to look for help from decino on strategy.  i'm a much better player thanks to that WAD, and the level design itself was really to my liking, even if i don't generally like to play that difficult stuff.

 

My other recommendations would be Kama Sutra and Moonblood.

[Jacek Bourne]

Dimensions by Killer5

 

Might be a bit difficult however...