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This wad is a great sequel to the Plutonia Experiment. But lol, there are more Imps than Chaingunners unlike Plutonia 1 and Go 4 It is an even more insane version of Go 2 It. Still, great megawad and it should be an official sequel of Plutonia

Really good megawad. Its has a lot of details and the maps are really good, imaginative and balanced. The sense of progression is stellar as this megawad was conceived on the progressive fiction thread, with a really detailed backstory and a really good story to follow while playing. The mapset has a really good climax at map29, but it is kinda ruined on map30. So completing the megawad left me with a sense of unachievement. The Story ends kind aon a cliffhanger, so it may imply a possible sequel. Anyway, its a real joy to play, but a think that the contextual narrative could be taken even further. On my reasearch while playing this megawad, i found that Hadephobia map31 has a lost song. But thanks to the good old Xaser, it is available again for anyone on this thread: Don't lose your chance of check it, its a really good piece of music that fits perfectly the mapset. Thanks Purist and all the members that worked on this megawad. I really enjoyed it.

One of my favorite megawads ever. Revilution is a great tribute to TNT Evilution that successfully modernizes TNT's strengths. Detailed techbases, a good mix of shorter, punchier maps and those fun to get lost in, and a strong sense of atmosphere. A few maps in the middle episode lean heavily into a dark survival horror style that actually works very well, especially Transduction which is the best map in the whole set. There are a few maps that act as sequels to a few from Evilution but they never feel like retreads; like Nukage Zone, which is like Evilution's Dead Zone but surrounded by a whole lake of nukage and with a significantly different feel. The soundtrack is also literally flawless and is one of my favorites.

This is my all time favourite megawad along with Hell 2 Pay and Perdition's Gate. Its a total adventure telling a new and rich story, with just a few number of new assets and full of creativity everywhere. And there are few out there that follows the trend that team TNT started with TNT: Evilution, thats its, action-adventure mapsets, full of story elements and details that make the story progress throught contextual narrative. Obtaining in the process a very inmersive, interesting, and fun experience. This megawads is little on the easier side, but it could be a challenge when it want. But being easy not stoped it from being one of the must fun mapset i have played. With no more to say, thanks Thomas Van der Velden, and also thanks Jimmy and all the community members that worked on the midipack and bringing us a mindblowing music collection. What i would really want to see some day, is a proper vanilla sequel to this masterfully made megawad.

While I think Revilution is a damn fine megaWAD, I don't think it's a good sequel to the original TNT: Evilution. It feels like it should have been it's own thing. The original Evilution had more of an adventurous feel to it and was more laid back to me. It oozed atmosphere. Revilution, on the other hand, oozes that same atmosphere in its level design but the gameplay is a tense fight from start to finish that left me exhausted. It felt and played more like Plutonia than Evilution. Some of the maps border on being somewhat slaughter-esque (the later maps in particular are guilty of this). The use of custom DeHacked work happening in map 30 was interesting but felt out of place. I understand wanting to not make map 30 another IoS fight but when I play a sequel to an IWAD, the last thing I want and encounter to see is any custom DeHacked stuff. This is however just a personal taste thing with me. It's still a damn fine megaWAD and I would recommend everyone play it at least once. I just think that it should have been its own thing rather than a sequel to one of my favorite IWADs because, to me, it feels more akin to a Plutonia sequel.

Really good and enjoyable mapset. Grasp the TNT feel quitly good without being a rip-off. Starts with really short and quite maps and then the last maps are kinda Eternal Doom's long with around an hour per map with a touch of sluaghterfest on some areas. The best maps are around map12 to map20, except map19 than can't be completed without noclip. Great set of maps in general, but last maps from map26 to map29 make it drag a lot. Not only they are really long, they have an obscure progression that make the player dwell around searching what the switch changed. I like this kind of maps, but for sure they become exhausting. And map29 has a bug that makes the mapset uncompletable without noclip right before the last room. The storyline is good, i like it, and there are neat details around the maps that help getting into it. But text screens could have been better. And the music, wow! The music just make the megawad far better than it would be without it. XenoNemesis and Stewboy really did something wonderful here. Thanks @Moustachio and all the team that make this possible. Now that the sequel will have a full released soon, i hope someone make a quick fix to those bug that make it uncompletable.

"Get out of the way!" So that you can watch me kill your brethren before I get to you. You can't stop the killing. Newgothic Movement 2 has been finished, played through GlBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on HMP difficulty. Or is that HMP? I'll get back to you in a moment. First things first, Newgothic Movement 2 is the sequel of the short slaughter megawad with the same name. It features a new menu background, end level stats picture, textures, and music. The gameplay is pretty much identical to the original, with large enemy counts, enemies placed in strategic positions, and emphasizing skill. This is pretty much all it has in common with the original, as the maps are generally very different and exploring more themes and locations, on Earth, Hell, and space, however, various ideas from the original have been recycled into the sequel, such as the tunnel sequence with the Cyberdemons underground, now taking place in a pyramid and more difficult, as it plays a much more important role as opposed being and area you could simply ignore by going straight to the right drop point. Additionally, there are no more levels that do not serve any real purpose in the megawad, unlike the original did with MAP03 and its Cyberdemon fest in the middle of nowhere. The progression between levels is also much more logical so it feels like a more coherent package and "actual" megawad, as opposed to just a collection of random slaughter maps. Compared to its predecessor, the sequel has much higher difficulty, emphasizing foreknowledge in many of its maps in order to get the full, enjoyable experience than just jumping into it and hoping everything goes well for the most part. Therefore, it involved quite a bit of trial and error in some of its maps to avoid making crucial mistakes than could bring your progression to a half. Moreover, items, such as Invulnerability spheres, are now sometimes put in secrets, some of them being mandatory if you plan on making the enraged wave of enemies calm down quicker, and with much less frustration. The difficulty curve is nonexistent as almost all levels start somewhat easy (apart from MAP02 and a few others) and the difficulty increases dramatically as you progress, but the following map with not be necessarily easier or more difficult as you'd normally expect. There are also crazy parts in some of the levels, particularly on the aforementioned MAP02, which has a really rough start with lots and lots of mandatory damage (no wonder there's health potions at every step), with waves of Imps at both ends of the tunnel and Chaingunners shooting you from their alcoves. This is going to be the only map I did not like in the entire megawad, simply because it's all about damage and challenge, but zero fun. It's best to try to speedrun this map instead of maxing it out as that needlessly complicates everything (as if it wasn't already complicated). Due to the drastically increased difficulty going in blind like I did will prove to be a challenge in itself as traps and ambushes are much less forgiving than they are in the original. I would not say you need to know the maps inside out, but it will absolutely make your life much easier in some of them if you have some knowledge before playing them, so that you at least know where the nuttier parts are. There are also no difficulty settings, so despite choosing HMP, what I actually got was UV, so you either deal with its difficulty the way it is, or skip it. When it comes to locations, it unfortunately does not explore cities. MAP13 was easily the one map that really stood out from the crowd in the original, despite not doing anything particularly mind-blowing. But it had an amazing grim atmosphere, and it was impressive both visually and gameplay-wise. All in all, Newgothic Movement 2 is a definite improvement in all areas over its predecessor, but also a significant departure, as while still preserving the core essence of the original and being much more coherent with its design, it places much more focus on difficulty and foreknowledge, something the original did not do, therefore it is going to be more challenging than it, and more frustrating in parts. As a result, it is good for veterans and demo recorders who have the time to analyze the maps carefully and fully, but not a very good candidate for more casual players who just want to play some slaughter. It's also not a good introduction to the genre for newcomers due to its high difficulty and lack of skill levels, so it's best to check this out only after you have familiarized yourself with the genre and have some experience. Otherwise, you might get your ass kicked on many occasions.

An extremely well made MEGAWAD with difficult enemies, well designed maps, good animation, original midis created by one man alone in a garage, great decorate enemies that simply put SkullTag's monsters to shame, epic effects, well-scripted cutscenes that weren't even worth skipping, great voice acting and amazing gameplay. PROS: Map design was clearly done by an intellectual with OCD. Voice Acting so great that it puts Hollywood to shame. Lighting effects that make the latest Unreal Engine look like shit. Cut-scenes that put some of the greatest, most epic movies to shame. Great, addicting gameplay that makes Quake 3 Arena seem dull by comparison. Amazing, well designed, original monsters. Great music that is amazing compared to the PSX Doom OST. CONS: Didn't win a Cacoward. Doesn't have a sequel. Simply a ten out of ten review from me. This is like Alien Vendetta combined with the epic book, War and Peace.

This is a renowned community project that brought together prominent authors of the first decade of 2000s. As many have noticed, the cumbersome name Plutonia 2 aptly describes the visual outcome and the fact that this mod is based on PLUTONIA.WAD. It should not imply that the design or the gameplay follows the style set by the Casali brothers. In fact, this is an ambitious megaWAD made of sprawling maps, gradually increasing their size and monster count, presenting a good degree of detail and complexity, with quantity often surpassing the quality of the offering. Expect most maps to be open, disorienting, with a few progression choices that are not so obvious and destined to waste your time. Nothing extremely puzzling, just very long, and often tedious since every area contains a lot of enemies, sometimes placed effectively, but sometimes just there waiting to be killed. I played the easy way, continuous with saves, but I was surprised that the ambushes on UV did not kill me more often, since I was going in without any prior knowledge. I was also baffled by the ammo scarcity, which often left me without rockets and cells, despite the carryover ammo. In general, most of these levels were big and overstuffed with opposition that rarely managed to trap or surprise the player. On the positive side, there are lots of great-looking areas and scenarios. The first 15 maps were the sweetest part, with the size kept smaller and thus easy to navigate. I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the ride, except on a few occasions. The Doom Community must have a penchant for big epics to nominate MAP11: Arch-Violence as the most memorable map of this set (placing 20th in the 2018 poll), with MAP29: Ticket to Eternity following in popularity. While they had interesting areas and ideas (the "Escher Dome" in the first and the Keen puzzle to find the credits room in the second), they were both overstretched and never seemed to reach the end. I prefer smaller maps and adventures; among my favourites, I mention MAP10: Cosmodrome, MAP20: Lurking Fear, MAP25: Black Ice, MAP 26: Plutopia. All maps by Gusta and Thomas Van Der Velden were enjoyable somehow, and those two authors deserve praise for bringing the never-ending development to completion. On the other hand, I felt that the older submissions by Metabolist and others dragged for too long without going nowhere. Plutonia 2 is not a sequel to The Plutonia Experiment, except in the storyline. It goes further from there, increasing the size and complexity of the levels, but losing the peculiar use and efficient placement of monsters along the way. It still managed to be challenging at times (I confess I gave up the boss fight because I cannot hit the hidden brain, great Gatekeeper visuals though) and some levels felt quite an adventure. The problem is that too many levels want to be like that, going for a quantity over quality approach that I came to dislike in the second half of the playthrough. It was worth playing, but its high rating and name might suggest a closer affinity with the IWAD prequel. If you look for that type of gameplay, you will probably be disappointed; if you are familiar with community output from those years, this PWAD has some real epics to offer.

I was really torn between how many stars to give this. On one hand, I love the idea of there being mini-bosses and the use of Decorate to spruce things up. The level design is also great even with some minor HOM and texture misalignments. On the other hand, some of the choices for mini-bosses are questionable. I'm not a fan of the one with the shield that blocks most/all of your attacks. Some of the others feel like you need more room to fight them as the amount of projectile spam gets ridiculous. The ending is a real downer as well. I'm hoping a sequel will remedy these complaints. Personally, I'd still give it four out of five stars. However, if I were to recommend it to others, I'd give it more like a three out of five stars because I know this kind of WAD isn't going to be for everyone. It's not a conventional megaWAD and it doesn't try to be, which I appreciate despite its faults and frustrations. At least give a try.

I have a long lasting love/hate relationship with the original Plutonia. I find it to easily be the hardest of the classic vanilla official Doom releases to the point of frustration with some design choices, like chaingunners galore in their barricaded towers. The entire megawad is very brown or green in texturing too and gets a bit drab. That said I continue to go back to it off and on throughout the years. I finally hit up Plutonia 2 this year and it lives up to its name, it's tough as nails, more brown walls and green ooze everywhere, chaingunners, unsafe starts, etc. Some maps like MAP11: Arch-Violence I hated because it was so tiresome. There were others I found really frustrating in the later teens and early 20's too. Don't expect many safe starts in any of these maps, the majority of them have you in enemy crosshairs immediately, along with tons of cramped sections in several maps, to a crazy degree that it seems impossible to beat most of these maps on a first run without knowing the traps and gimmicks. On the plus side, like Plutonia 1, I still had a fun time overall and this definitely felt like an official sequel. The style changed dramatically in the last chunk of maps and for the best, environments started looking much more interesting with a lot of reds, some maps were simpler but very effective, and I really enjoyed the final stretch along with this incarnation of the Icon of Sin battle at the end. The new music is awesome. I played on continuous play via UV and GZDoom, no mods. Clocked in a little over 8 hours. If you're up for some pain and difficulty, check this one out.

Ah, one of the classic WADs, and one that still influences mappers today, what with its style of combat and episodic structure that can be seen in works such as Valiant, Resurgence (kinda) and, of course, its two sequels. What comes to progression and combat, the first 22 levels (secret maps included) are short, fun and, frankly, very easy, to the point that I'd say the original DOOM II is tougher. I like to think of the first two episodes as a more modern version of DOOM II, where easy, yet engaging and clever, gameplay are mixed with more detailed architecture (not quite as detailed as something like Alien Vendetta, but allow me). The first episode can be played with your eyes closed. This is sort of a self-preparation, to get accustomed to the sort of map-size and enemy placement we're going to expect in Scythe. Episode Two, in only two instances (Map11 and Map32), increases the difficulty, what with the use of an Arch-Vile and the last swarm of monsters respectively, but it continues the first episode's themes and structure, ending with a portal to, where else, Hell. And then, there's the final episode. Here, Erik really throws us for a loop by ramping the difficulty up several notches, then some. While keeping the compact mapping, his choice of [completely] limiting armour and devilish monster placement really puts the episodes into perspective. It's evident that the easiness of Episodes 1 and 2 is to finally shock players with the third's sudden increase in difficulty. The thing is, despite the fact that Episode Three's really tough, what I find interesting is the handling of weapons; for example, Map22 (the second in the episode) has the BFG, ableit a secret. This showcases, as mentioned previously, the smart placement, not just of monsters, but resources and secrets. There are some hinderances, none more so than the whole concept of Map28 which, while certainly interesting, is frankly very poorly handled so as it becomes aggravating. Fire and Ice (Map30), thanks to new strategies I employed, wasn't quite as bad as I remembered, but it still a chore to sit through, and where the progression at times comes to a halt, betraying the earlier structure of the WAD. Despite these two levels, this absolutely deserves its status as a classic. The interesting fast-paced gameplay, the mostly genius distribution of items, monster-usage and themes. Check this one out if you're new to fanmade megawads. Best Maps: 08, 09, 31, 19, 23, 26 Worst Maps: 03, 28, 30

And the sequel has been finished. Oh boy what a journey it was, one that didn't really pay off unfortunately, so let's see why that was. First of all, as the name implies, this acts as a sequel to the original classic and popular megawad Hell Revealed, however it is mostly HR in name only. This is a consequence of multiple factors. The main factor is the drastic deviation in style from the original for more than its half, and it's not for the best. The first 15 maps or so, with very few exceptions, are not slaughter-esque at all, and there's barely anything of even decent quality to be found at this stage. Their design, the enemy placement and usage is absolutely mediocre at best. These levels are very boxy in their design and pretty short, but they are full of often almost unfair enemy encounters that don't push your skills to the limit and are instead meant to be simply deadly and nigh impossible to survive with no fun, forcing you to take damage in the best case scenario. A perfect example to illustrate this would be MAP04. This level is extremely boxy and the enemies are placed in such a way that they are lethal and extremely difficult to avoid, besides always forcing you to take damage of some sort. It's full of Arch-Viles, the last 2 being almost impossible to avoid as you don't have very powerful weapons, save for the Rocket Launcher, and using it will likely result in taking splash damage since the area is very small and there's nowhere to hide. If this isn't enough, up ahead are 3 Hell Knights waiting in a very small room where you must press a switch. In front of that switch is also a Lost Soul, sitting on a Berserk, and the door closes behind you once you step inside... Unfortunately, this is not an isolated case. As I've previously stated, over half of the maps are similar to MAP03 in terms of overall design and gameplay, but a bit better with less deadly encounters. These maps are not fun to play but instead frustrating because they do not make you think and act smart as the original did, instead resorting to terrible design and enemies placed in such a way it's more or less guaranteed to take damage, if not die, which can be extremely quick early on. The other half on the other hand is mostly slaughter-esque stuff similar to what's seen in the original, and yet, even these maps suffer from the same problems, but to a less extent. It would seem the authors tried to craft challenging levels in the vein of the original but which ultimately turned out as maps that offer no real satisfaction or sense of difficulty, because they are poorly designed and suffer from almost unfair traps and encounters. The environment is not used efficiently. The original required you to act smart and fast whereas HR2 seems to want you to be just fast most of the time, as this is how the most "challenging" levels seem to work... MAP21 for instance is one of the worst levels in the megawad. It exhibits most, if not all the gameplay and design flaws mentioned. Boxy design, poor navigation, boring or outright terrible encounters, such as Barons waiting for you on very small elevators who block your path and damage you with their melee attacks when you're standing close to the said elevator to activate it since its height is very low, and waves of 'em + Hell Knights teleporting in near the end, but you can just climb a floor and blast them to pieces, easily avoiding all damage. There's also a few waves of Pinkies in cramped spaces at the beginning but they feel more like they're placed there just so that there's an obstacle in your way or something to kill. Not challenging, and nothing interesting to see in action. MAP22 is not a whole lot better either, being easily summed up in a few words as "a sewer mess". Lots of Chaingunners, possibly unfair Arch-Vile traps, uninspired teleporting waves of Hell Knights and Spectres, general ugliness accompanied by a few strange design choices, potentially insufficient ammo, and so on. Another difference in design is the final level, MAP30, which requires the player to destroy a reactor similar to what's seen in Icarus as opposed to an Icon of Sin as it was the case in the original, but both are working the same way so it's a change that doesn't really impact the actual gameplay, with the only exception that you also need to pick up the 3 skulls to open the door with the switch that makes the pathway to the core accessible, and they're not hidden. A requirement that doesn't add anything to the experience, but neither complicates the situation. One of the problems in the original were the overused enemies, though it wasn't that big of a deal to be honest, as I've already said in that review. HR2 however does not correct this but does the exact opposite. It does indeed add more hitscanners overall, but most of the enemies who were overused in the original are overused here as well, to an ever greater extent, those being the Hell Knights, Barons, Revenants, and especially Arch-Viles. It is simply ridiculous how common they are, which only gives the impression the authors were struggling with ideas of how to make the combat more interesting but failed, instead over-complicating everything. Be it a trap, a cage with other enemies which makes them very hard to reach depending on your position and angle (and infighting doesn't always work since there may not be any tough enemies around such as Cyberdemons to use the technique to its fullest potential), whatever, it's absurd how frequent you run into Arch-Viles who are coming for you, and in sheer numbers on a couple occasions no less, thus overwhelming the player, while other times they may block your way out, giving you a very quick death. HR2 also includes a couple of maps from the original that were redesigned, such as The Path, which is MAP15 here. This is also my favorite map in HR2, just like it was in the original, even though there were technically better levels in it. Not so much here... Either way, MAP29 was pretty interesting as well, and probably one of the best maps in the megawad, excluding the remade levels from the original which are honestly very faithful to them, and a bit more difficult. Surprising, considering the vastly inferior quality of HR2 compared to HR. Still, MAP29 is a simple, straight to the point level with overall good enemy usage, but as expected the number of Arch-Viles is crazy in some parts of this level. Eh, at least there's Invulnerability spheres around I guess. The sequel also includes a new status bar, menu background, an animated ENDOOM screen which is just sick, new music, and a few (sky) textures. Now the music. There was some confusion here as some of the tracks are credited to the death metal act Grave, but these songs are apparently mistakenly credited as such. From what I could find they were in fact composed by a guy who goes by the name "Petter Mårtensen". The soundtrack is of course not limited just to death metal, there's some brilliant, very atmospheric and epic stuff in it as well, some of the songs reminding me of the Hammerheart era Bathory. To sum things up, Hell Revealed 2 is unfortunately Hell Revealed only in name. It does a few things right, particularly the remade levels from the original, it has some nice new textures, some interesting levels here and there, but falls short due to the mediocrity of over half of the maps, and even those that are not bad are little more than decent, nowhere near the expected quality from a sequel of a classic. The only reasons I've finished this were my willingness to complete the duology since both megawads are classics that are held in high regard (the first one justifiably so, the sequel, not at all), how enjoyable and satisfying the original was, and because if I start something, then I finish it, I'm giving it a chance until the last moment so that I can best evaluate it and make a solid opinion. No, I cannot recommend this to anyone, especially to a fan of the original because it just fails to deliver, it doesn't live up to the name. And if you're looking for slaughter-esque, pure slaughter, or challenging megawads that make you think and act fast and smart while still being fun and enjoyable there's much better stuff out there. I'd recommend the original, Alien Vendetta, Ancient Aliens, and maybe Scythe instead, although there's very few such levels in the latter, and play HR2 only if you want to experience and complete the duology, because there isn't any other reason to do it.

"In memoriam Ty Haldermann. " And thus, THT: Threnody ended, played through Eternity 4.00.00 Voluspa on UV difficulty. What a surprise it was, but was that for better or for worse? Let's find out. THT: Threnody is a 20-level megawad that pays homage to Final Doom's TNT: Evilution in both in terms of visuals and gameplay, but does not stick to its philosophy as closely as other projects such as Plutonia 2. It is also dedicated to Ty Haldermann, the essential pillar of the community, who passed away back in 2015, as well as his contributions to the community as a whole. It comes with new music, status bar, intermission screens, and textures, some of them even being from TNT: Evilution. As previously mentioned, although THT: Threnody is a TNT-styled/tribute wad, it does not aim to be a community sequel of any sorts. This is easily seen in the (number of) great liberties taken with the design of the maps and their themes, ranging from techbases, to medieval levels heavily inspired by Heretic/Hexen, while others carry an Epic vibe. Many of them also pay homage to TNT classics, most notably Wormhole. The difficulty curve is the traditional kind, starting easier and gradually becomes more difficult as you advance in the wad or even the same map. It does not exhibit difficulty spikes, but does very much present a challenge, especially in the later maps which feature increasingly deadlier traps. Resource management also plays a role, but not as much as it does in other, radically more difficult wads, and it's relatively forgiving with mistakes, although if you do something stupid, punishment can come very quickly in your direction. The enemy usage is also solid, and there are no underused or overused enemies. The maps themselves are beautiful, looking very modern, with good navigation and interesting layouts. Many of them use various interesting tricks, such as deep water that also slows down the player. Another notable example is the second Wormhole tribute map that appears to use some enemy teleportation trickery for enemies, making them appear and disappear in a fraction of second, as if they're constantly travelling between worlds. After all is said and done, the journey comes to an end on MAP20, a map with very aggressive areas and a punishing exit but otherwise a rather peaceful atmosphere, set during daytime. As for flaws, perhaps the only problems in THT are the fact that there are 2 Wormhole tribute maps. They're both very different in their approach, but it doesn't make any sense to have 2 maps paying tribute to the same concept in such a megawad. Both maps, and a few others, also drag on due to being extremely long, taking over an hour to finish. MAP19, which is quite possibly one of the most difficult maps, also uses cheap tactics to kill the player, namely the notorious group of monsters popping out in front of an unsuspecting target without any indication, or effects. This particular kind of trap only belongs to the darkest, coldest, and most distant black hole of the universe. Some of the earlier maps are also aesthetically unimpressive, but are very fun to play nonetheless. One of Doomkid's maps also seems to be a nod to Master Levels' Canyon, insofar as it uses its core feature, which was constant revisiting of previous areas, as monster closets usually opened there. The new music is great and comes from various sources, ranging from more atmospheric to more action oriented tracks, and some songs from the IWADs are also used. To sum up, THT: Threnody manages to be a fantastic wad inspired by the likes of Evilution, gracefully capturing its core essence while also paying homage to an important figure of the Doom community and their contributions. It's very experimental, similar to Evilution, but the quality of THT is vastly superior with much more engaging combat and far better level design. Perhaps the most curious aspect is the fact that THT ends after MAP20. Curious, because there is also a common notion within the community that Evilution is great up until MAP20, but goes downhill immediately afterwards, something yours truly personally agrees with. It's well worth the time, a very solid work of art from the community, and at least on par with fan sequels such as PL2, if not actually better. My favorite levels are going to be the medieval ones that are heavily inspired by Heretic/Hexen. So what are you waiting for, get your ass here and check THT out. Don't forget to pay your respects when visiting Ty Haldermann's grave on Fomalhaut.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2. - Ultra-Violence - Continuous combined with pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. A nice entertaining mapset. It's a mixed bag consisting by different styles of action to spend a weekend or two, using the resources from TNT. This gets you to travel through different landscapes like ruined cities, egyptian catacombs, the inner of a spaceship, well-known sewers and some caves here and there, mostly resembling the aesthetics of the iwad but not acting like a sequel to it. The first map might not leave a great impression, suffice to say it's the most vaguely detailed of the mapset, but the second and forward maps show a progress in the way to create more natural, realistic environments, whether grand scale red fortresses, cramped tunnels of lava, or castles built with brown bricks. The music selection consists of several tracks from the iwads, which all casually fit very well, along with multiple tracks I'm pretty sure I've heard before, like the one in map 17, that's an amazing slow track for a dark cave. Being a speedmapping community project the results are uneven, not to understand it as a lack of quality control. There's an atypical flow we often don't see in megawads, like when certain species of monsters are introduced and their context, which also go in line with the maps slots, but difficult gradually raises in a similar way most megawads do, in general above the iwad-level. Also, the styles of the authors aren't that different from each other, nor the size of the maps is a determiner of what they're going to be like. There're shorter maps where the core of the gameplay is concentrated in an arena where you're demanded to slaughter big numbers of enemies (not as high as in natural macro-slaughter wads) before you're able to exit, such are the cases of Archi's map 22 and Shadowman's map 27, or in other levels apply your skills to survive several nasty ambushes in more claustrophobic areas and call it a day, like most maps in the first and second episodes. You'll get breather maps in between too, which some share a bit of TNT's classic aesthetics and incidental combat, and I had fun with them too. What larger maps have is that sense of exploration reminiscent from older megawads, such as map 28 having the premise of a large epic adventure in a massive hellish landscape a la Alien Vendetta, or a city in ruins after an earthquake in map 10, depending on how you interpret scenarios, and you build progression bit by bit. However, there're also a couple large maps devoted directly to slaughter setups, as is Shadowman's map 21. My only gripe with him is the archvile usage, it seems like he wanted to enforce meticulous approaches to deal with them, except in certain situations these can target you while out of your FOV, and there's nothing you can do about it. But this and a blind drop on damage floor type 16 are about the only bits of "unfair" design I found, the mapset counts with so many distinct scenarios to test your abilities that a mishap with an archvile or two didn't stop my enjoyment. Secret-wise, nothing hard to peak or miss, but you'll definitely want important weapons and resources if you play on pistol start, like that juicy BFG in map 21. For maxers, the secret SSG in map 03 becomes unavailable if you don't take the lift. My favourite maps are 03, 10, 11, 15, 16, 23, and 27, mainly stuff from the second and third episode, but the first one is a solid introduction too. The final map is, fortunately, short and kinda easy. The bonus map requires you to make decisions, and it's better to have a certain degree of foreknowledge. Still a good map imo. Overall, this might be my second experience in megawads by the Russian community, and I'm certainly hyped to try something else from them in the future. Heroes' Tales should be on your list too, it's worth the try, there's material for every taste here. My rate is 7/10.

Released in 2003, Hell Revealed 2 is a spiritual sequel to everyone's favorite excessive megawad from 1997, Hell Revealed. Yonatan Donner and Haggay Niv are nowhere to be found in this project, making way for a team of 14 people, such as Jonas Feragan, Sam Woodman, Yashar Garibzadeh, Martin Friberg and Andy Olivera, just to name a few. Their mission: make the hardest Doom 2 WAD ever made. They sure have succeeded, but will this result in you wanting to play it? As early as MAP02 (High Voltage), you will see that unlike its predecessor, Hell Revealed 2 is not interested in easing your way in the level set. On paper, these levels feel like HR: the levels are small and cramped, they're full of beefy enemies that you have no room or supplies to fight with, the levels also look very basic for their time, being full of tiny hallways and square rooms, but in HR2, the game feels way less interested in giving you leeway for your mistakes and it loves to spring gotcha! moments that will assuredly kill you in almost every map. The other major difference between HR1 and HR2 comes in the form of its signature enemy: HR1 abused barons of hell to an absurd degree, HR2 instead overuses archviles. Sadly, its use of archviles is often not even that interesting: instead of letting them loose in interesting arenas full of cover and corpses to resurrect, HR2 loves to spawn archviles in tiny hallways where they trap you and freely incinerate you unless you have a BFG9000 handy (MAP22: Sewer Slaughter has the worst encounter of that kind). And even then, survival is not always guaranteed. While Hell Revealed 2's mission statement is to be as hard as possible, it also does that at the detriment of trying to be original. There's a staggering amount of maps that are content to not only openly recycle concepts from Hell Revealed, but also other WADs as well. Look at some of the level names: Not That Simple II? The Siege II? The Path II? The Descent II? The Inmost Dens III? Some other levels go under different names but still wear their influence openly on their sleeves. MAP13 (Hardcore) is a straight remake of HR1's MAP 25 (Dead Progressive), but while the original level served as a break, Hardcore instead wishes to break you, making the gameplay much slower, calculated and grindy. It's likely one of the better examples of HR2's grindy gameplay because the map still is fun to play despite its intimidating exterior. MAP27 (Resistance Remains) is also a direct remake of HR's MAP22 (Resistance is Futile) and it barely tries to disguise the inspiration. Yet, the map fails because its archvile placement, it prevents the map from being the slaughterfest it wants to be and forces a much slower, calculated approach. Later on, the map devolves in you sniping away cages of archviles and revenants with a rocket launcher, stopping the pacing of the game dead in its tracks. While HR1 had a simple yet distinct visual identity, HR2 doesn't. There are no distinct themes in any of the episodes and the constant author switching make it so that about no 2 maps seem to belong in the same map pack. Maps like MAP16 (The Chapel of Black Granite) feature stronger visual chops than the average HR2 map but in turn, it feels like they belong somewhere else. Jonas Feragan mostly has a basic feel to his maps, but when you feel like you got a grasp on his maps, he also has crown jewels like the majestic hellish mountain of MAP29 (Hell's Cauldron) and nice setpieces like the lighting of the opening staircase in MAP21 (Conflux). Another thing you'll see a lot in HR2 are room over room bridges, which sometimes are nice and fit the scenery well, but other times they're used for the sake of being used and very often break (MAP12, Anti Static is a prime offender). Faring better is the soundtrack, entirely composed by Sam Woodman and Petter "Thyrbse" Mårtensen. The soundtrack is a nice mixture of ambient (MAP13) and metal as all hell (MAP15: The Path II). The failing point of HR2 is that the beginning stretch is almost all uniformly poor and punishing. MAP1 (IGNITION!) promises a fiery and fun beginning, but maps 2-6 all are clunkers, all favoring the most flavorless tiny corridor shooting where mistakes are not allowed, without any deviation to the formula. MAP7 (Not That Simple II) is the first inkling of fun you'll have in the WAD, all because it features an interesting platform switch mechanic and finally... IT GIVES YOU SPACE TO MOVE. Then you get MAP9 (The Siege II), which takes the opposite route, stuffing you in a tiny box, surrounded by hordes of revenants and flying foes you must drive back for over 4 minutes while you wait for the exit pad to be accessible. Out of all episode 1, I can only recommend MAP7 and MAP8 (Ballistics); the rest of the episode feels like a thankless chore. Episode 2 is not as aggravating and likely features the most fondly remembered maps of the set. MAP15 (The Path II) goes against all odds and is a brilliant re-imaging of The Path. It features the best MIDI track of the whole set and makes the concept of the deadly giant cave with a small safe pathway work, thanks to Jonas Feragan axing the original's baron of hell count and making each encounter more massive and varied. Whether you like it or not, you remember this map. Another winner is MAP32 (Playground), which was the king of slaughtermaps back in 2003. Packing a whopping 1651 monsters and no wimps, it's a fight for your life, only hindered by its somewhat cryptic out of reach 8 megaspheres which will constantly taunt you (HINT: after climbing up any of the pyramids, go down the stairs and go in a straight line for the other pyramid in front of you). Sadly, these successes are balanced by the usual grind and gotcha! encounters of MAP17 (Eye for an Eye) and the completely disjointed MAP18 (Excess Meat) which can't commit to a singular theme to save its life. Episode 3 is well... more of the same than Episode 2, but with bigger extremes. MAP29 (Hell's Cauldron) is the best overall map of the set, which sets a great climax to a megawad which sadly has no buildup or feel of progression. Its scenery is impressive and the fights often are a welcome change from the tear and grind in tiny hallways. It's massive, majestic and yet very oppressive. It only loses points for its completely random teleporting monsters at the very end. MAP23 (When the Heavens Fall) is ugly as sin, but features some of the best action in the WAD and features some very fun (and large) arenas. On the other end of the scale comes MAP24 (The Inmost Dens III), which takes HR2's claustrophia factor and multiplies it by 10. It's painfully linear and no fight in it can be postponed for later, while also mandating the player to find secrets to even have a fighting chance. Fighting archviles and mancubi with only a shotgun? Seriously? MAP26 (Dis 2000) is a lazy remake of Doom's E3M8, favoring similarly boring and grindy gameplay. MAP25 (The End is Nigh) comes straight in the middle with a map that both features steam-blowing slaughter gameplay in fun and roomy arenas and the usual, tiny hallways full of big monsters fare that plague most of HR2. It feels like wasted potential and it further shows the fractured identity of the pack; this map was devised by 3 people and virtually no effort was made to not make their disparate mapping styles violently clash against each other. Then you get hit with MAP28 (Beyond The Sea). This is the most asphyxiating map I have ever played, making you fight hordes of heavy monsters (which include 4 cyberdemons, 18 archviles and 57 revenants with nothing stronger than the super shotgun and a rocket launcher with only 87 rockets. No plasma rifle, no BFG9000 and no cells. Even then, reaching the super shotgun in a pistol start is a herculean feat which require dispatching many barons, mancubi and archviles with just a shotgun and chaingun. If this seems fun to you, then go ahead and play it, but there's no way this map can ever be remotely fun for me. This map actively hates you and shows the worst possible extreme of HR2's grindy gameplay. Thankfully, the Icon of Sin fight in HR2 is short and merciful. The demon spawner now shoots 10 cubes at once, but the spawning points are all marked so accidental telefrags won't be an issue and there's no finicky elevator to ride and time rocket blasts on. Kill the archviles, get their keys, kill the cyberdemon standing on the platform allowing you access to the brain, then get there and kill the icon. Just don't fall in the lava; there is an elevator granting you access out of this death trap but the monster spawning is so intense that climbing out of the pit is near impossible. So there's Hell Revealed 2. It doesn't have the same ruffian or happy-go-lucky charm that Hell Revealed 1 had. It's hard for sure, but it's not enjoyable and that well made in general. Too many of its maps devolve in a slow, methodical approach that often require an in-depth knowledge of the map to disarm and its fun moments are way too far and between big chunks of tedium. If you feel like you have something to prove, then play HR2 by all means. Chances are you will not like it, though. It feels too anonymous, fractured and charmless and doesn't have anything to offer to the player other than extreme difficulty.

Done with these settings: - GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9 - Ultra-Violence - Continuous combined with pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. This is a slightly improved sequel of a mediocre megawad. It has no story whatsoever, not that it needs one, it's practically designed without an overarching theme and focused on Boom compatibility, something that the prequel didn't communicate very well. Although you rarely see tricks like conveyors and silent teleports put to specific purposes, they're mostly for the atmosphere. A couple of maps use custom colormaps in particular setpieces. One is to simulate immersion in toxic, and the other in blood, or perhaps portals to hell?. Anyway, Community Chest 2 has some nice visuals using stock textures. While not every map looks great, a bunch are simply awe-inspiring because of the author's creativity. I dig the idea in "Death Mountain", the sinuous terrain with mounds everywhere is very neat, as it's theoretically a mountain floating in the air. My only gripe is the trees are placed to get stuck in. Other locations are plain techbases, brown caverns, wooden complexes, Inferno-styled hell and unknown places. Most of the music available are tracks from other wads and games, with only one self-made piece for map 24 by the same author, an amazing melody by the way. I would suggest to add your own tracks for the maps lacking them, for a stronger experience if it helps. For those who have played the prequel first, and I'm sure everyone did, there are quite a few familiar names to be found, some of which contributed with more than one map. Gene Bird cooked around five for example, evoking a conservative "rooms with monsters" 90's style. His maps don't vary in any aspect to each other, nor to his previous works in Community Chest 1 unfortunately, but they blend well enough with the tone of the mapset. The first map is already by Erik Alm in his well-known Scythe fashion. Then we have individual entries from Andy Leaver, Kaiser and Use3d, the latter came as an improvement to be honest. On the other hand, a big portion of the people involved were completely new to me, and that's when I had to expect the unexpected, sort of. I'd say the maps had their ups and downs, generally enjoyable if some exceptions. They were also organized in a very random way, but that's no news. Just like a traditional community project, this megawad features a wide range of concepts, layouts, and forms to entertain the player, for better or worse. Fans of old-school and/or adventure maps will be delighted, as there are a lot of them in all sizes and difficulties, even several inspired by the original Doom levels. The obvious standout is "The Mucus Flow", a brutal map that can only be understood with patience and dedication, mostly the former one, and heavy chainsaw practicing. Besides, its curvy "mint-chocolate" design is beautiful and unique, or used to be, since tons of future releases found inspiration from it (e.g. Speed of Doom). A shame it has glitches in the sky. There are other remarkable moments to be experienced, such as to explore a city in depth to figure out the secret exit, or to fall in a sequence of fake exits that only exposes you in circles of chaingunners. I'm not sure how others will take it, but I couldn't hold my laugh after the second time. Secret-wise, the first thing to know is that PRBoom users need to activate the "Linedefs w/o tags apply locally" option to enable access to some ZDoom-only secrets in maps 06 and 24. There is also a secret in map 20 that requires an archvile jump, but it's not possible to reach it outside of ZDoom versions. Other than those, hope your sense of exploration is wide awake, as there is plenty to locate and highly appreciate. I'm thinking of the standout map, of course. For favourite maps I will pick 19, 24, 27, and 31. Some others like 06, 13, 23 and 32 were entertaining for the most part, but not convincing as a whole. The rest range from good to dull or tedious, like the final map. Overall, it's certainly an upgrade in quality, and I'm inclined to believe the successors are much better. Still, it's nice to traverse the history of the community chest projects. If you and I share similar tastes, then you'll probably find content to enjoy here, and if not, well, skip the unnecessary. My rate is 6/10.

"Deja Vu all over again." Therefore Plutonia Revisited has been finished, played through GlBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on UV difficulty. A mostly pleasant surprise but could have offered more, so let's why that is. Plutonia Revisited is a 32-map megawad consisting of revamped versions of the existing levels from Final Doom's Plutonia Experiment expansion, made by various members of the community. It comes with new textures, music, status bar, intermission screens, and fonts. Unlike Plutonia 2, Plutonia Revisited does not aim to be a fan sequel of any sorts to the original IWAD, but rather aims to offer a different spin on the original maps from Plutonia while sticking to its design philosophy very closely and not taking too many liberties most of the time. Which is perhaps its greatest flaw. Although most levels bear striking similarities with the original, they are sometimes taken to a whole new level where they basically descend into rip-off territory. This is due to preserving too much from the original levels on quite a few occasions where its no longer about staying faithful to the original as these places in maps are almost identical, apart from perhaps a few changes here and there. This can be observed both early in the wad as well as later, when nearing the end. Another problem would be the music. The soundtrack is good and fits the theme, combat, and overall atmosphere of the levels, however it repeats the same mistake PL2 did, by being all over the place. Ultimate Doom, Doom II, and various sources or original works. Not particularly good for consistency. Luckily, those are also the only (major) problems of Plutonia Revisited. It does a great job at preserving the overall atmosphere, gameplay, and otherwise essence of the original while also adding its own spin to the levels, and the liberties taken are fairly big sometimes. As it was the case with PL2, it seems that MAP11 is once again the map that stands out of the crowd by being a re-imagining of the original while keeping its core element intact. This time, the player finds themselves into a city-like map, not too dissimilar from Odyssey of Noises sometimes, with an occasional PL2 vibe to it, but its much larger with wide, open areas, many enemy types, and complete lack of the door gimmick. It does keep the many Arch-Viles in place though, and they ambush the player in many ways, but usually only one or two of them is encountered at one time, apart from a few instances. Similar to PL2, the quality is fairly consistent considering the number of people who contributed to the project, but at the same time it's also easy to tell who made each map because they all play differently and have their unique play style and design. After all is said and done, the journey ends with the traditional IoS boss fight, short and straight-to-the-point, only needing to press a couple of switches to raise a platform and lower a lift, then blast the brains of the boss to pieces. It is by far a better take on the concept than PL2's effort with the awkward and hard to determine firing angles. Overall, PLR manages to be a good effort at re-imagining the original Plutonia while adding its own spin. It's fun and refreshing, despite its occasional dick encounters/traps, which are very, very few, and easy to see coming unlike the various instances seen in PL2 which were also more numerous. It could have been better if it took more liberties or at least didn't almost copy-paste parts from the original with only a few changes in places. Worth a shot for fans of Plutonia and PL2. My favorite maps are going to be the ones seen in the first half, and my least favorite level is going to be MAP20, the single and most obtuse level in the package. So, grab your weapons and prepare for the Revenant and AV onslaught.

Done with these settings: - GLBoom+ 2.5.1.4. complevel 9. - Ultra-Violence - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. Actual pistol start on map 33. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Not bad, generally a well received megawad. No story, but I dig the overall theme being hell(ish), meaning red textures dominating the set. There are also some grey/green/brown rooms with tech stuff here and there, not making a huge contrast or for episodic purposes, and at least for me personally maps with only brown textures didn't look quite appealing, although the usage of green in map 29 was an attractive difference. I played with GlBoom+, but on ZDoom there are a few additional details, such as the lava moving different than usual, or smoke that comes out of things touching lava, anyway I think they are worth to check if you like reality effects in Doom. The soundtrack is a mix of stock tracks plus other cool midis that really bust the gameplay imo, the one that I loved hearing again was in map 23, the Jazz Jackrabbit bonus level track!. People who played Hell Revealed and its sequels will find themselves in constant deja vu here. The gameplay resembles the earliest conceptions of slaughter, as in monsters appearing en masse in front of the player where spam mostly hitscan ammo or maybe die is the key. Well that's what HR offered in general, don't know about the sequels, and here the author replicated not just the style but the maps' layouts too, with some minor differences, so it felt like playing the same thing again, which still wasn't much of an issue since JC added the "hellish" visual touch... Of course not everyone is familiar with the old-school too-many-monsters style, so what you can see here in terms of combat is, indeed hordes of monsters as the main concept, but number isn't always correlated with quality. While JC provided tons of cases for each weapon class, either preparing you for sweaty combat or a boring slog, more often you won't need to think twice about what you'll have to do, as these hordes can come in single types or mixed types, and you know what happens in the second case, but in the first case, it can happen that you have more than enough space to implement your ammo spamming without risk, or monsters can't go further due to block lines, which severely trivializes the combat. In other cases, it's possible to be overwhelmed if you don't react fast, or have no idea what's going on (e.g. being infinite-height-scratched when platforming). What can be attractive to some players is that many of these maps allow you to "choose" how many monsters you want in the same area, given size and space, which can elevate difficulty and infighting shows. There are also a few bite-sized maps that empathize in tight combat, those are probably the trickiest ones yet not that interesting on the weapon progression side. Oh and, about progression, generally linear, triple-key hunt, getting lost is never a thing here. The new set of monsters have their ups and downs, mostly downs, and that's due to their usage: Belphegors are abundant, they are red buffed barons that attack twice, I liked them in general, but their usage as walls with health in some occasions really put me off. Afrits rarely appear, they are deadly flying barons that don't wait a second to spam their multiple projectiles, and in this case they can't be pushed too far away, I only wish their appearance was more casual. Last baron's cousin is the Cybruiser, though unlike Valiant's, this one shoots twice and their attack's frame is so short that it's nearly impossible to notice when it shoots, and that was super annoying, keeping a distance is recommended. Then there's the Poison Soul, a buffed skull that shoots green fireballs, they look cool, but hardly ever appear, if not just two times in the whole mapset. The new final boss isn't a joke at close range, I'd say his usage didn't favor him a lot, plus he isn't so aggressive, still a cool looking enemy though. Finally, last enemy is, basically a bomb, can only be found in the bonus map, hopefully fans of that particular game will know better what that thing is. Some stock monsters have been reskinned or modified too: Cacodemons are now grey, less cute unfortunately. Spiderdemons are slower and lack their "boss" class, meaning rockets are more effective on them, and you can't hear them from afar, there's only one case where its usage is hilarious, just pay attention. Revenants and pain elementals won't show blood when being hit with hitscan, which was confusing at first but not a big deal. Secret-wise, what mostly caught my attention is the tiny visual "thing" that can be found in all (or most) of the secrets, a neat something I've never seen in other wads. Aside of that, nothing in particular to point out, maybe the fact that one requires SR50 and can be frustrating for some maxers. For favourite maps I'll pick 22, 23, 24, 29 as they look gorgeous compared to the rest. Overall, while not providing always original contents, I think it's worth to check if merely for the music and all the red going on. Difficulty is there, but I doubt it'll impact on anyone there who has moved on from the 90's slaughter style. Still, if you are keen of the HR trilogy, this could be up your alley. My rate is 6/10.

Finally, a proper sequel to the other half of Final Doom - TNT: Evilution. Much like Plutonia 2 was to the original, this feels like a well-detailed modern equivalent to TNT with old-school vanilla flair. This time however there are plenty of all-new textures to add to the experience of a new flavor of TNT. First off, I want to say the soundtrack is AMAZING. I listened to the intermission track almost every time I completed a map in its entirety. There's so much character put into the soundtrack I would almost suggest giving it a listen before playing the WAD, but really it can be appreciated in either respect. I was glad to see (or hear) many talented musicians involved with this project I was not previously aware of - with the likes of Eris Falling, Viscra Maelstrom, Bucket, Eradrop, and one returning composer which I do remember from the 90's - Jeremy Doyle. Some of the tracks include remixes of days long past - with a cover of TNT's, "Into The Beast's Belly" and "Blood Jungle" in the form of TiN Toker and Reaching Deeper. Also featuring a couple tracks that echo Memento Mori and Requiem with, "Sea Bats" and "Your Last Resort". Anyone who remembers their playthrough of these WADs will be pleased to pick up on some familiar notes. Also worthy of note is Jeremy Doyle's involvement including some old tracks that date back as far as Requiem's development now making headline 20 years later with this past Summer release of Revilution. The tracks, "Neato" and "REQ-JD10" do remind me of an older time in Doom's WAD release history, but there's so much old-and-new content to be found in this WAD it's difficult to narrow down all the highlight moments. In my playthrough, I went for 100% kills/secrets on every level, and was only bested by purist's map in that regard with 1 secret that was difficult to notice. I also found out the hard way that MAP21 has a secret that can lose its effect when going for the yellow key, since it lowers the sector and erases the secret "effect" entirely. Otherwise, the only other odd instance was missing a few monsters on map 15 when I didn't properly set off a linedef-trigger to release their teleportation. A mishap on my part when I failed to thoroughly explore one of the outlying towers in a sea of toxic waste. I recall someone likening some of the new textures to that of Quake II's offerings, and I agree somewhat. They have a strong, gritty outlook in a sort of deep metallic-brown with plenty of TNT-isms to be found in silver-sheen borders and computerized-hellish environments. It has that contradictory nature of the original TNT, but fleshed out tastefully in an imaginative way. The only way I can think to fault this WAD is also somewhat similar to what could be said of Plutonia 2's offering compared to the original - in that TNT: Revilution doesn't delve deeply into the same level of absurdness that TNT sometimes had with some of its old-90's design tropes - although I'd argue that it seems to work well enough in favor of what's usually passed for quality. In other words - if you were looking to experience oddities like Administration Center or Mount Pain again, I'd suggest waiting for the eventual release of Final Doom The Way Id Did. All this aside, I was greatly surprised by what the mappers on board had to offer; collaborative efforts like, "Transduction" and Phobus with "Portal Facility" have a haunting atmosphere perfectly captured in the ghostly tracks that occupy them. The kickstarter map, "Uprising" with its guitar-driven soundtrack really excites me with the impression that TNT has finally returned these 20 years later - at the very least as a spiritual successor as driven by the community (that is - apart from not including the original members of TeamTNT). Eternal's sole offering, "Hell's Signs" probably feels the most like an offspring of the original TNT, as it nicely captures that otherworldly sprawl into a suspended hellish-cave in space. Purist's, "Spider Colony" to me almost felt like a John Romero take on TNT, which was an incredible delight. I'm also appreciative of Steve D's murderous affairs, "Blood Factory" and "Abandoned Port" which were some of the more troubling encounters save for gaspe's entry, "The Crash Site" and the joint Tarnsman/Alfonzo effort, "The Visage of Time." I won't spoil the new offerings of the last level, "Malignata" but I will say it makes very good use of DeHackEd and it's probably one of the most memorable last levels I've ever played in any megawad setting - I was happy to play it more than once if even just to find 1 of 2 secrets that were still missing. Really there's much to be said of what TNT: Revilution has to offer on board, but without sounding too long-winded I'd say it's better to experience the WAD and decide for yourself what map encounters stood out the most. Most of all I can appreciate that this WAD was setting out to do something new with each map - there were a few callback moments in my experience, but not enough to warrant the, "remake" label. As a sequel I felt it was right were it needed to be - a 21st-century transliteration of what made the original TNT especially unique, capitalized by no shortness of modern talents like Dobu Gabu Maru, Eradrop, Pinchy, Steve D, gaspe, and a great handful of others. I would gladly give this a 5/5 - I'd only apologize that I also have a couple of entries (maps 24 and 31) occupying the WAD without knowing what I was contributing to. That's still 30 maps worth of long hours of effort I was otherwise not involved with, and I'm surprised to find myself enjoying this megawad so much. Well done on the part of all the mappers and musicians involved including former project leaders Kyka and Eris Falling, and a big thank-you to Jaws In Space for seeing this project through to completion.

Done with these settings: - Crispy Doom 4.2 - Ultra-Violence. - Continuous combined with a pistol start mindset. - Saves every 10 minutes or so. Now this is a damn good sequel. An incredible amount of quality in every way you look at it. First of all, the visuals. This includes a ton of different textures, lots of red, green and brown for naturalistic environments. Thematically it's after the destruction of the demon-spitter in Evilution, thus it goes through different ambients that are more hellish/fleshy than the infested techbases we were used to. I'm a fan of spookiness in Doom, so this wad gave me a lot to experience in its abandoned computer stations, corrupted by the demons as if the recurrent text "Kill us" wasn't enough for me to feel tense. However, it is not as simple as it sounds to generalize the themes in Revilution, since every map is an individual case of different colours and geometry, and that nourishes variety in my opinion. What is also worth mentioning is the amazing music selection, like valkiriforce commented in his review, there're a few astounding covers from the Evilution soundtrack, as you'll notice right in the starting map, plus a whole bunch of atmospheric midis, just excellent works to accompany the playthrough. Reiterating, this was much more than I expected. Being a spiritual sequel to one of my favourite iwads, this didn't disappoint in any way. I'd think of Revilution is to Evilution what Plutonia 2 was to Plutonia Experiment. Why? Both share the atmosphere of their prequels, adapted to the current gameplay interpretations of their eras. This means that some of the most memorable concepts in Evilution are present here, in a trip to nostalgia and, most importantly, higher quality entertainment, but not exactly in an iwad fashion. So, with a lot of contributors, there's an extensive variety of scenarios to appreciate. Of the numerous remarkable experiences I had, one part is Dobu's approach to bring back the mysterious atmosphere, the silence and the surprise, and the eccentric geometry from the more natural maps like Quarry or Deepest Reaches, which Eternal took charge of making a charming remake for map 18. Back to Dobu, his map 16 is an excellent example of scavenging resources in dark caves, while you deal with exposure, claustrophobia, and clever puzzles. If you're playing with carryovers and freedom of choices, ignore them in this map, the gimmick is real fun. The tribute to Wormhole in map 12 is another standout, both the cinematic transition to an alternate dimension and what awaits you there, but also the secret hunt in the map, an exploration task I'll take any day. Phobus and Gaspe went on a similar style, the latter did a super dark corrupted underground base, with a few tight quarters that will make you sweat, while the first guy invested in a sort of abandoned facility that might not develop so much action, but you'll want to speed things up before it's too late. Another honorable mention goes to Steve D, his creations are probably going to stick in everyone's minds as purely mean-spirited maps. Maybe I wasn't expecting such demanding traps, with an emphasis on locking the player's way out with fat hitboxes, but satisfaction comes with success, guaranteed it'll take some serious effort. One prominent author is Jaws in Space, his style here is hard to describe in simple words, there's a bit of fast-paced run-and-gun, also some quick incidental combat a la old-school TNT including stronger beasts, generally short-medium sized linear maps with or without a task/gimmick, save his entry a la Dead Zone where progression might not be easy to figure for a while. Talking about tricky progression, that was the case of valkiriforce's map 31. I really liked his throwback to Pharaoh, although with many predictable circumstances if you remember the original map. What rubbed me wrong way was a hidden switch to grant access to one of the keys, which I needed a video to point me that switch. I guess that's another throwback, thankfully no missing keys. His other map somehow didn't fit with the rest of the maps, although still an enjoyable tutti frutti of themes. All of the other authors did an incredible job in their individual and/or dual contributions, that includes a love-letter to spiders courtesy of Purist, fun with elevators and height variety by Tourniquet, a quick punchy entryway by SFoZ911 that hides more than you'd expect, even a trip to Eradrop's vision of hell in a slaughter-esque fashion while you're being observed by statues of cows, and many more that you'll love to experience by yourself, because you should must. Secret-wise, all my love to exploration and multiple worthy secrets in a same map, namely in Dobu's maps. The first map of the wad already anticipates what Revilution has in hands for you about secrets: hidden encounters, shortcuts to find tasty weaponry, telefrag chains that will answer all your doubts, etc. There's basically everything you don't want to miss if you're a fan of exploration. A small thing: in map 21, it is possible to nullify the secret tag that has four boxes of rockets in a red room behind bars, read this. Anyway, there aren't favourite maps this time, because I enjoyed them all a lot, some more than others though. Perhaps 12, 16, 17, I don't know, this is too hard lol. If one map needs a shoutout is 30, it's an unique piece of art, one of the best finales ever. Overall, I suggest you add it to your list, there're no reasons of why you shouldn't pick this megawad to spend a weekend or play periodically. Even if not all maps may suit your wishes, or the word "TNT" holds you back, it's not a remake, this has way more to offer than empty big rooms or ripoffs. I guess what's missing is TNT Revisited? :P. My rate is going to be 9/10.

"The infidels have returned... " Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Probably a bit of both. Thus, Deus Vult II has been finished, played through PrBoom+ and GlBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on HMP difficulty. It's back and better than ever, so let's see what we have here. Deus Vult II is the sequel of the popular challenge megawad Deus Vult, focused primarily on gameplay and difficulty and is split into multiple episodes. It comes with new textures, music, background menu, intermission screen, sounds, status bar, weapons and enemies. The new enemies include the Cleric, a small knight capable of firing multiple Imp fireballs, is somewhat tough, and moves fast, and the other one is the Red Baron, which is a flying version of the vanilla Baron but with far deadlier attacks, capable of firing multiple Mancubus fireballs and Revenant rockets, also seen in Scythe 2. It also has increased health, acting as a mini boss on its own. The new weapons are Sauron's Gantlets, originally seen in Hexen, and the pistol is replaced with a dual wielding version. In terms of level design, Deus Vult II marks a significant departure and improvement over the original. It is much more experimental and does a great deal of things, both in terms of locations and actual gameplay. The original relied mostly on techbases and Hell, whereas DVII explores a variety of places: Mars, different regions of Hell, mysterious dimensions, and space. Some Earth levels for instance have an Asian or an Egyptian setting. The Asian one, MAP03, appears to take inspiration from over-the-top kung fu/fighting movies in the design of its encounters and general aesthetic, taking place somewhere in a forest and fighting demons both in rings and small waves outside of them. As the name implies ("Crouching Demon, Hidden Arch-Vile"), the most interesting fight is the one in the dojo with the AV and the resulting assault, although it can be a bit tricky to locate it. There are 3 main teleport pads and although they can be seen clear as day on the automap, reaching them can prove to be a bit problematic due to being hidden behind trees. If you fall from the (mountain? Or whatever it is) you can either take the teleport down there to go back up, or actually climb on it as there are some very small stairs around. Whatever you do, make sure you don't play this level (at the very least) with a Software render, the performance seems to be very poor, stick to OpenGL instead. The Egyptian one on the other hand is rather similar to what can be seen in Epic 2, but more straightforward and doing some neat tricks with the portals. You also have to climb steps in order to reach it. In fact, climbing stairs to reach the main location seems to be a recurring theme in DVII: a mountain, a pyramid, a fortress/castle, but the pathway is fun as, obviously, it features gameplay. And speaking of portals, both sides usually teleport you to different locations. One side to advance, and the other side for secrets. The levels are incredibly more modern and polished compared to the predecessor, this is obvious especially in the Hell maps that aren't just your average temple or cave, with high quality assets, complexity, and fun, same for the mysterious dimensions. Although one of them kinda bites more than it can chew. MAP21 has a bit of an obtuse progression as some switches, particularly those in the library area, are incredibly easy to miss. In fact, you can say the whole library portion of the map is one, big puzzle. Despite being cryptic, it's actually fun, and very creative. MAP21 also features some crazy traps, such as the one that leads to the blue skull where you need to step on pentagrams around a pillar to replenish your health due to being on a damaging floor, and monsters slowly teleport to your location. Mandatory damage? Yes, absolutely, but using the gantlets or the fist to destroy everyone proves to be satisfying. Similar to MAP03, only 2 keys are actually needed to finish the level. Then there's the space maps, which look very futuristic and are incredibly modern, kinda similar to Ancient Aliens. Although it can be easy to get lost on a few occasions, but having 2 of the main switches being in the same room and the other one around the corner helps. Additionally, the rooms containing the cards cannot be missed once located. I haven't talked about the difficulty and balance. Overall, DVII has vastly superior balancing compared to the predecessor, with a more traditional difficulty curve, starting (somewhat) easy and increasing gradually over time. Moreover, the actual encounters, while getting more difficult as you progress, are fair at all times, no longer giving you enough resources while at the core, the fights themselves weren't well balanced. Obscenely difficult maps are also completely gone, MAP02 of the original being the worst offender here with the insane placement of the enemies, notably the AVs. Sure, it was perfectly doable, but without previous knowledge there's just no way you weren't going to die a lot and it would immediately become frustrating, turning into a real test of patience. It placed far too much emphasis on the challenge part while forgetting the fun element almost completely. "Torture Chamber"? Yes, very much so. To add insult to the injury, the Singleplayer version of the levels was also advertised as being exceptionally balanced, but that wasn't always the case. Difficult or not, DVII is fun from the first moment up until the very end. Speaking of which, DVII features 2 different endings. Sort of. After escaping from the Red Barons on MAP22, then the slaughterfest on MAP23, the players find themselves in Heaven, where they are tasked with choosing their destiny. Going through the left gate ends the game, with a final intermission screen. This is most likely the canonical ending. Going through the right gate actually takes the player back to the original DV to play it all over again. It appears to be the single map version of DV. All things considered, DVII is a dramatic evolution and improvement over the original, expanding and correcting its flaws. The sequel takes what DV got right and expands upon it, while bringing a great deal of new, refreshing ideas to the table. It completely eclipses the original. My favorite maps are going to be MAP01, MAP02, MAP03, MAP12, MAP19, MAP21, and MAP22. The only problems of DVII would be: 1) The fact that, although the maps go up to 29 (or 32, if counting the secret levels), only 12 of them or so are actual levels, the rest are skipped through some kind of countdown to the next one, and 2) The final levels in particular are full of easter eggs. They're almost everywhere, some even in the title ("You Shall Not Pass!"). Au contraire, I shall. Quite unnecessary, especially in such large quantities, probably the result of logic going south. Looking for a fair, fun challenge? Look no further, DVII has this, and more. While there aren't a lot of maps in DVII, they can take a while to complete, so it's best to experience them when you have some spare time.

And thus Scythe 2 endeth, played through PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5 on HMP difficulty. Been a while since the last time I finished a megawad and especially wrote a review, but here it is at last. And what better way is there to start 2019? What a journey it was, it's almost sad when you remember it's over. So, what can I say about it? Well as I do with all my reviews we'll first take a look at what it is and what it introduces. Scythe 2 is a 32-level megawad and the sequel of the popular megawad made by Erik Alm centered around fun, skillful, and engaging combat. It comes with a new background menu, new textures, new music, and new enemies, namely a tougher, pink, flying Baron of Hell who fires Mancubi fireballs and Revenant rockets, and a very fast, deadly, but weak marine equipped with a Plasma Rifle, a difference from the original which did not introduce new enemies. Scythe 2 follows the philosophy of the original Scythe, that of skillful but fun and engaging combat without descending into the pits of frustration. The levels have a more modern look, are larger, more detailed, and also explore more styles and themes than the original did. It starts with a few medieval-looking levels and gradually progresses to Egyptian ones a la Epic, techbases, cavernous as well as natural ones in the vein of Plutonia, and eventually culminates into hellish levels with a tough MAP30 consisting of over 700 enemies, no traditional Icon of Sin boss battle or new enemies reserved specifically for it. The slow exploration of various themes and styles contributes to the immersion and narrative, giving the player a sense of purpose and logic to the progression as opposed to merely visiting a bunch of locations which do not connect with each other in any way, apart from being designed by the same author and bundled into the same package. The overall atmosphere and experience is also greatly enhanced by the new, very creative soundtrack, there are also much more new tracks in Scythe 2 than there were in the original. The quiet and mysterious maps are even more mysterious and the more combat intense ones more epic thanks to it. The difficulty increases nicely in steps, with a few notable exceptions where it spikes a bit in order to build anticipation or lay the the groundwork for the upcoming episode or map, ranging from fairly easy to difficult, slaughter-esque in the final episodes. When it comes to the design of the levels, they's not only more variety, but also less experimentation and risk compared to the original. For instance, there are no timed levels in it as opposed to the original which had MAP28 "Run from It" where the player was tasked with escaping and unseen enemy he could not fight. However, it does include suicide exits after a certain number of maps when the theme also changes. Some of them are pretty creative, such as the one seen at the end of MAP25 "Forgotten City" where the player has to kill himself with the Rocket Launcher and let his body slide into the exit, which cannot be reached by normal means as the entrance to it is smaller than the player. Fascinating. The difficulty and balancing. Scythe 2 is definitely harder than its predecessor which is only made more obvious by the limited usage of its new enemies. Easily justifiable as the new Baron and Marine are very deadly. Which one is more dangerous is difficult to say as they both work very different in different surroundings. The Marine might be more easy to kill in open environments since a simple circle-strafing is typically enough to dodge his Plasma, but you might find yourself in trouble in tighter rooms where you may not be able to react quickly enough since he's very fast. He has low health however and usually a good SSG blast kills him. The Baron is especially deadly in tight rooms but depending on their design it's possible to use the environment against him, but he can prove just as problematic in open areas if he's covered by other demons, preventing the player from reaching him or even seeing his projectiles. Keep in mind that he does not appear to have any weaknesses and is tougher than a regular Baron. Despite this, Scythe 2 appears to be more forgiving with its enemy usage and placement than the original. Some traps from the original Scythe were a bit cruel, such as some Revenant ones seen on MAP24 in an area with barely any cover to take from their rockets. It should, however, be noted that I had chosen to play each on different difficulties by taking the author's advice, since he warns people that the levels after MAP20 can be pretty rough. And it's certainly true that some traps can be very deadly if you're not careful and don't expect them, so in these cases trial-and-error is usually the best course of action until and optimal, consistent tactic is found. So, it could perhaps be argued that Scythe 2 is less cruel with its traps despite having some rather difficult ones, but necessarily be easier overall. Also, did you just enter a room with some rather seducing resources and expect something to go down? Then you're right, certain traps are quite predictable. You might not know how exactly you're going to be ambushed, but you most certainly will be. I would say you should trust your instincts. There's also enough ammo so you should never run out of something you need if you pay attention to the game and don't pointlessly waste Plasma for example when something else might've been just as useful and easier to come by. There are some instances where the game seems to troll the player. The best example I can think of is a tunnel in which you find the yellow skull on MAP29 "Dust to Dust". If you decide to go further into the tunnel after picking it up you'll come across a few enemies and a Soulsphere, but the floor is very damaging. Even if you manage to reach it you'll probably waste much of your health on your way back so you're basically gaining nothing from the trip. What you need to do is to rely on an Arch-Vile to make you jump into a fountain seen on the surface (don't worry, there's only one in the whole level, you'll know it when you see it) to pick up a secret Radiation Suit. If you kill the AV before doing so it's best to just come back after picking up the yellow skull when you descend into the tunnels and forget about it, it will most probably not be worth it otherwise. My favorite levels are going to be those which comprise the first Episode, the Fourth, Fifth, MAP16, MAP19, MAP26, MAP27, MAP29, and MAP30. MAP16 "Mr. X" is a pretty interesting concept. It's the first map to feature the Plasma Marines and it acts as a boss. Technically, there are 12 more enemies in the level but they all die mysteriously, and you have to battle only the Marine, having started fresh after a suicide exit from MAP15. It works quite well as an introduction to the new enemy while being a boss level at the same time, and reveals the deadly nature of the Marine. MAP29 on the other hand is a relatively quiet level which sets the mood for the final battle that is to take place on the upcoming map. Just like with the original all maps play well and since its design is more modern it has aged wonderfully. It's fun, it's tough, it's fair, it's atmospheric, it's Erik, you have everything you need. My only problem would be the recurring afterlife motif. It makes a lot of sense for the later part but doesn't quite tie with the earlier one since you also explore some techbase levels, and you die in order to access them. Afterlife in techbases? I don't know how I feel about that, and yet, it might make sense if you look at it as a struggle in a seemingly never-ending nightmare where demons follow you wherever you go, the living shall not rest but neither shall the dead, doomed to haunt all sorts of places, many of which familiar, only to see them twisted into something different from what you remember by the same forces you keep fighting. Fight for eternity to finally be free. And thus the review endeth. A classic worthy of the title which everyone should play. It's the same Scythe formula but better, expanded, and more modern, an improvement in all aspects without making the original look outdated or irrelevant. It's easy to see how Scythe became the foundation for many modern wads with its formula and acted as a source of inspiration for many modders. They offer much but not at the expense of the overall experience, as in, making navigation difficult, progression cryptic or very confusing with no real sense of direction, or be unnecessarily difficult, which are all problems I have with both past and present stuff. Totally recommended.

^ That's because Doom_Dude is still working on the sequel, you goofy goober. In any event, I liked the megaWAD. Visuals are meh but I didn't really grow tired of the gameplay. Do hope Doom_Dude posts some news/updates regarding Vilecore 2 though.