captain caleb

Nearly every time I logon to Doomworld, I regret it. This is a shining example of why. Do better, Doom community.

When the trailer for Doom 2016 released, I was taken aback. I'd never played a Doom game, but I had played FPS games for over 15 years. Doom 2016 pulled me back into the genre where no other game could've. I adored it from beginning to end. The industrial environments. The Gauss cannon. The final cutscene of BFG'ing the Spider Mastermind's brains. When I completed it, I thought to myself, "This was really cool. But the difficulty curve stopped halfway through. It'd be nice to see a wider variety of environments, and a more challenging difficulty curve. The bosses could've been more challenging, too." 4 years later, we got that with Doom Eternal. And Jesus H. Christ, did it deliver. The gameplay went from "quickswapping power trip" to "use all of your utilities and make every decision count." It's hellish chess. We got a larger scope of environments, all being more colorful and a delight to gaze upon than the last. Many classic designs returned in full glory: Plasma gun, Mancubus, Archvile, Tyrant/Cyberdemon, Soul sphere, you get the idea. The Gladiator and Icon of Sin made me their bitch on Nightmare. The Icon took me +30 attempts. Is Doom Eternal perfect? No. The story is garbage (2016 was much better at being immersive and not thrusting more cutscenes into the campaign than a dog dry humps his stuffed duck). We never got to find out what took place after 2016's events, or how Eternal's demonic takeover actually began. The DLCs' ideas feel forced and less polished than the main campaign. My biggest personal gripe is removing the Gauss cannon - seriously, that thing was perfect. They should've kept it with the Siege mode altfire, and maybe changed the other mode that I don't even remember at this point. BUT. I'll be damned if it isn't the most satisfying thing ever to overcome a particularly challenging arena of demons that takes me multiple attempts to figure out. Dashing and meathooking your way through the frenzy of demons, especially the quick moving ones that have been possessed by the Spirits, is a heavy metal delight. When I zoom in on my heavy cannon rifle and fire a shot at a Hell Knight, tearing the flesh off his shoulder, I can hear God echoing through the Heavens as that gun makes its sound. The meathook delivers swift, brutal justice that gives a new level of utility to what has been the most utilized weapon in Doom for decades. The runes and upgrades allow you to play the game exactly how you damn well please. Anyway, I like Doom Eternal.

i can't not shill E1M1 Magazine's discord since i write for them. we're all diehard fans of retro FPS games. Kingpin.info - Life of Crime discord - these guys play Kingpin: Life of Crime DM every thursday & sunday.

Doom Eternal is more difficult all the way through. Doom 2016 becomes a breeze and never gets hard again once you get the upgraded SSG and gauss cannon about halfway through.

Alfredo is a mean SOB but it's a really fun vanilla-style wad that utilizes some UDMF tricks. Love the theme with blood powering everything. You know I gotta say it - the levels could have more health and ammo. ;p

Half-Life 1. Anything HL2 has to offer, HL1 beats it with Opposing Force.

It seems like DUSK still has the stronger campaign while Prodeus will be able to be played for years to come with that sweet map editor.

Here's what I've gathered so far: You like Doom Eternal and you welcome the silliness, but apparently the devs went too far with honoring a popular YouTuber's late father who had introduced him to Doom. You don't like Doom 2016 or 64 because "serious". Even though 64 is filled with corny monster designs and 2016 featured collectible dolls and a Commander Keen easter egg. Uh, right. What's your point here? I hope it's not "...other people would think the game is a joke..." because that's about as baseless as it gets. Doom has never focused on being extremely serious or humorous. It's about having fun, which it sounds like something rather difficult for you. Might be better off sticking with Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior.

Fun little mapset with some nice tunes. You can beat this in ~30 minutes. Note if you're playing v3, you'll have to give yourself the blue key on MAP05 as it's inaccessible.

Overall, I had a lot of fun and never struggled to know where to go next. The combat feels refined and well thought-out. I almost always found the door before I found the key needed for it, so it was easy to remember where to travel back to. I saw a lot of neat mechanics and concepts that worked well here. UV felt punishing yet fair; I had to stop at MAP05. I'll definitely revisit this on lower difficulty on release. I saw a lot of attention to detail and great textures added in (status bar, red/yellow wall used for exits and doors, etc). The wad feels like a nice adventure, and you even made swimming and platforming segments quite entertaining. Edit: And that MAP04 boss. Hot damn, Guardsoul. Well done.

Cheers Endless - great work from everyone all around. Definitely a privilege to be a part of the wadazine.

Off to a good start Obake! Feels very different from anything I've played before and I enjoy it for that. Notes - Fly noise is rather hard on the ears - Level feels a bit short. Might help to have it go on a little while longer and fight another ~10 monsters. - Can't figure out how to unlock 2nd secret despite 1st one being very easy. I know where it is (flew around) but zero clue on how I would get there in-game.

Loads of fun! Very much enjoyed the colors and architecture along with the fights. Pairing it with Supercharge definitely sweetened the experience. The arena where you circle around on tight pathways is my definition of good, challenging gameplay. Will revisit this one and be on the lookout for upcoming releases.

Loved how you guys interviewed a wad author - the info in that confirmed I should give the wad a go. Touching on other games like Doom Eternal and 64 was appreciated. Cover art and screenshots helped keep me intrigued. Great stuff.