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Oh boy… It’s gonna be one of these…

G4: 5till L1 Complex

Main author(s): Lainos

Release date: July 21st, 2012

Version(s) played: 1.4

Required port compatibility: limit-removing

Levels: 1 (MAP01 replacement)

Today, we will be tackling another realistic city map, although in this case, it’s much more a bunch of smaller towns with a nearby futuristic colony rather than a real-life metropolis translated into a Doom WAD – 5till L1 Complex, created by Lainos. I remember playing one of his maps in the past – Comatose, which basically felt like this map, but bigger, more apocalyptic, and struggling on GZDoom. Let’s see if this map works better on UZDoom than its successor.

The map looks great. A lot of details and that other Doom-cute shit. It definitely gives me the post-apo vibes, even though it feels like half of the map looks habitable. Then again, there are two abandoned towns to the south and east of the colony, so what do I know.

The music is from an anime series called Angel Beats, and it’s fine. It fits well for the map, but I don’t think it’s my cup of tea.

Almost all the weapons have new sprites (the fist, meanwhile, is just mirrored). I don’t mind them; these are fine as well, except for the BFG replacement, which looks really bizarre.

Surprisingly, the map doesn’t feel complicated: Just go south to find the red key (by jumping from building to building), enter the so-called Phoenix colony, go east past it through the walls and find the yellow key near the shore, then find the hidden switch that will raise a structure to the blue key. From there, just go straight west in the maze. The map will only feel like it’s dragging since you are looking for ammo/weapons and enemies to kill.

Climbing on earth or rocks tends to get really annoying, since you have to find that one spec of dirt to climb on, and it’s usually in one place only, forcing you to go from one end of the moat to another.

There are invisible walls here and there, and while these are also annoying, they’re not as much as climbing, since there are less of them than the latter. Besides, at least they prevent you from soft-locking yourself.

Fighting on this map felt annoying (which is probably how I feel with most of these maps); it wasn’t hard, but the amount of enemies spread across vast areas started to piss me off by the time I entered the colony. Not to mention how you start out ammo-starved, forcing you to finish off pinkies and imps with a fist or a peashooter, respectively. May God guide those who decide to UV-MAX this map.

While playing the map, I managed to find one stuck imp and a couple of buildings/structures disappearing when you are placed in front of some of the shorter ones.

Stability-wise, I only had a very short freezing when it comes to loading the map.

And that’s all for 5till L1 Complex. Like every realistic/city map, it looked great, felt kind of overbloated, and killing enemies will make you want to rip the remains of your receding hairline. But not gonna lie, out of many maps such as this, I think this might be the least painful. I can’t exactly pinpoint where and why I think like that.

Anyway, we only have the third episode of DtWiD before finally saying goodbye to that WAD.

DTWID EPISODE 2

I have nothing to say here, so let’s just get to the review.

The second episode looks similar to the previous one, AKA abstract and simplistic, but with the coat of Shores of Hell (a mix of tech and hell architecture). Like with E1, my opinion is that I’m fine with this case.

Still liked the optional soundtrack, and still not sure which one of the new tracks is the best here.

The maps themselves felt more complicated than the ones from E1; they felt more mangled, and I ended up stuck more times than previously (usually by my fault).

Ore Processing felt like half of it was unnecessarily dark.

In Vault, there is a time-wasting opening of the titular area before fighting the siege cow.

Not to mention how some of the areas in other maps will suck your health dry with toxic slime and boiling blood if you don’t know where to go and what to do next.

Like the original Shores of Hell, this episode is noticeably harder than its predecessor, but still easy. If you know where the secrets are, you will have enough rockets and plasma to deal with barons and some of the cacos (when there is more than one); just don’t overuse these on the cannon fodder and pinkies.

I didn’t notice any bugs while playing the episode, but I think there was one with the optional soundtrack, where the track for E2M9 isn’t replaced.

That’s all I have to say about episode 2. Has problems and is more polarizing, but I had more fun playing it than the previous episode. It looks like it removed some of the more annoying quirks of the original episode, which I’m glad for (at the cost of new annoyances, but still).

Before tackling the final episode, there is another one-map WAD to check out from the 2012 roster. It doesn’t seem to require (U)ZDoom, so it might be easier to check secrets and get screenshots.

G3: Putrefier

Main author(s): Edward Cripps (Ed)

Release date: October 25th, 2012 (database)

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: GZDoom

Levels: 1 (MAP01 replacement)

Once again, we are playing a map made by Ed Cripps. I played his previous maps AKA Sin City 1 and Valhalla, and, from what I can remember, I liked them in spite of being flawed.

While this map doesn’t have a plot, I think it takes place in the same timeline as Valhalla since there are at least two computer panels name-dropping that map.

Let’s see if it’s less polarizing than Ed’s previous maps.

Putrefier looks great. The visuals might be the best part of the map. While it mostly tends to get samey indoors, it gets jaw-dropping when you look at the buildings from windows and while outdoors.

That and also some 3D models here and there, usually involving demonic growth.

I’m not fond of the music here. It’s Zombi 2’s theme cover that, while not bad, feels overly dramatic for a Doom map. I feel like a MIDIfied ending music in Blade Runner would fit better, now that I think about it. Or maybe if the track was just MIDIfied.

The map also has new sound effects; these were fine. Some stuff typical for a (G)ZDoom WAD like from Quake 2, and some other stuff that didn’t bother me. I have nothing else to add.

Putrefier is kind of annoying to play, since you have to guess which switch does what where while also forcing you to travel from one end of an available part of the map to another. It gets repetitive and mind-numbing after a while, and the aforementioned similar locations don’t help.

The map wasn’t really that hard. I don’t remember how hard Valhalla was, but I do know that this map has more random mosh pits attacking you. At least you don’t have to wait for half a map for armor this time.

I liked the moment where a swarm of Pinkies was coming from the boss area; it was still easy, though (not that I’m complaining).

Also, there was only one stealth shitling. I thought there would be more of this crap, but thankfully, it didn’t happen (at least on HMP).

There are two new enemies. One is called Pustule, which is a red Spawn from Quake I but made out of demonic biomass and much easier; this one at least doesn’t act like a jumping jelly bean on crack.

The other one is called Valhalla (yes, the same name as the 2010 map), a corrupted power core (I guess) that shoots barrages of powerful projectiles and periodically summons more Pustules for distraction.

Also, I might add that the map slightly chokes up when loading.

I think I would put Putrefier on the same level as Valhalla, AKA good but flawed. It’s not overwhelmed with GZDoom features, it looks great, and it could’ve had better gameplay. So, yeah, you can give it a chance.

G1: Doom the Way id Did

Main author(s): various (project led by Jason Root (Hellbent))

Release date: December 11th,2011 (original release)/February 24th, 2012 (1.1a)

Version(s) played: 1.1a

Required port compatibility: vanilla

Levels: 27 maps (three episodes; all in standard format)

Well, would you look at that? Another WAD that replicates the original game while adding its own spin. That’s an interesting choice for the first Cacoward winner.

But anyway, what is Doom the Way id Did? Well, it’s the first installment of The Way id Did series, made out of four main WADs, three spin-offs, and a MIDI pack. Its development cycle lasted around 42 months (16 if you only count the final incarnation) and was finally released in December 2011, with version 1.1a released in February, 2012.

The concept of this community project was to replicate the style of the original game’s map makers, AKA John Romero and Sandy Petersen (and probably Tom Hall as well).

Did this CP succeed? I don’t know. I’m checking it on its own cords, but I might throw a line or two about the similarity between it and the original Doom here and there.

And, just like with every WAD with episodes, I’m splitting the review into three parts (don’t expect me to do all episodes in a row).

EPISODE 1

The first episode looks like KDitD, AKA bizarre and simple tech base, which isn’t really surprising since the maps try to replicate the vibes of the original game, not to mention being made with vanilla restrictions.

But, yeah, I guess this WAD does its job well here. I wish I could say more, but this post would turn into a school essay. Besides, I feel like it will be the same thing with the other two episodes.

Music-wise, while there are stocks (which is probably one of the rare occasions that these are tolerated in WADs), you can also play the WAD with the custom music made by Mr. Freeze. And it’s good to listen to, although I’m not sure which track is the best in E1 (maybe the one in Military Bunker).

Fun fact: the optional soundtrack would later be used in Base Ganymede (specifically when its final episode was released in 2012).

DtWiD’s first episode was rather easy to play through. I don’t remember getting stuck, but I wasn’t fond of Reactor Complex forcing you to backtrack a long distance after grabbing the blue and yellow keys.

Bizarro KDitD is rather easy, although it has some bullshit encounters sprinkled here and there. I think it’s tougher than the original episode but, frankly, I think even the easiest WAD out there is harder than Knee-Deep in the Dead.

There are some bugs here and there, described on the Doomwiki. From my personal experience, I think I found one of the slime pools not damaging me.

That’s all I have to say for the first episode of Doom the Way id Did. For another E1 homage, it does a good job. It’s even more impressive that it is a community project that didn’t completely feel boring.

Now with the runners-up out of the way, it’s time to promote some of them for the main ceremony event.

Let’s start with choosing who will appear in the Sole Survivor category (1 map) – Frozen Time or Planisphere 2.

…

Okay, the answer couldn’t be any more obvious; it’s Frozen Time. Let’s ignore the fact I’m biased towards Eternal’s maps. While Planisphere 2 looks impressive since it is basically a recreation of the USA’s rotten apple, its scale is both a pro and a con, dragging itself to a halt if you are not rushing for keys. Meanwhile, Frozen Time, while still a slog to go through, is not as painful as in the other map, and it has a much more interesting theme.

As for the default winners, we have Coffee Break for the Platinum Revenant category (10-19 maps) and Beyond Reality for the Ruby Cyberdemon category (20-29 maps).

Masters of Chaos doesn’t get promoted because I only managed to finish its first episode, and even then, I threw in the towel after reaching its second half during the second playthrough.

With that out of the way, thank you all for reading, and I’ll see you with the reviews of the ten best WADs of 2012.

Looks like we have another WAD for the unfinished full MegaWAD pile.

S5: Coffee Break

Main author(s): Matt Tropiano (MTrop)

Release date: July 22nd, 2012

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: Boom

Levels: 11

To finally conclude the runners-up of 2012, we have Coffee Break, made by Matt Tropiano, who contributed a couple of maps for Community Chest 3 and Plutonia: Revisited, and would later become project manager for The Adventures of Square.

The development started in 2009, and, like with other full megaWADs, stuff happened in the author’s life; so, we will be only dealing with 11 maps.

This WAD looks good, but nothing really special if you ask me. It gives me Plutonia vibes, especially when you reach Deadly, where you go from the human base to some old ruins.

I liked most of the music. The most interesting one is from Channel, which uses the MIDIfied main track from ZDCMP1 (better than the original IMO). There is also Dulce Base from Jimmy Paddock, which is some old MIDI he made; I don’t know if it was planned for something.

Coffee Break was rather easy to understand. The only moments where I got stuck were in the later maps, and even then, these were short and happened once per map.

The aforementioned Deadly is your typical Dead Simple clone, although it has different stuff to do for its first half.

Fort has one of the switch areas covered in mud that severely slows you down; it also has a portal to hell where you have to grab the yellow key.

At the end of Stalker, you enter the coffin that kills you. My guess is that the WAD was originally split into three episodes where you would be forced to pistol-start MAP12 and MAP21.

The WAD gets challenging, especially during the final maps, but I wouldn’t call it hard. If you don’t pistol-run through Coffee Break, you can make some of the fights incredibly easy, especially with BFG and some of the secrets.

One of the cheesable moments is with the cyberdemon who plays the role of the titular Stalker; you encounter him a bunch of times, and he is a big nuisance every time he appears, but you can easily kill him during your first meeting if you have enough plasma, BFG, and the secret invun in one of the corners of the area.

Also, it might be me, but I’ve noticed that you can’t go inside pain elementals once they start dying to stop lost souls from appearing anymore.

That’s all I have to say. Coffee Break is a good WAD, but I wouldn’t call it great, especially when compared to other runners-up that I managed to finish in terms of… probably everything when combined together. Worth checking out if you are curious.

... Now, guys... I do realize that a chance for Krusie to happen in Deltarune is... You look at the arrow of the Wheel-of-Charts being on zero. It suddenly explodes in a comical way. ...yyeeaahh...

But after all that happened in Chapter Five (especially the prologue -_-)... All I can say... At least we can eat well...

LET'S FUCKING GO, BOYS!!!!!!!!!

Disclaimer: The review is based only on my blind playthrough.

S4: Planisphere 2

Main author(s): Perro Seco

Release date: Around the last quarter of 2012 (possibly October 6th)

Version(s) played: Original

Required port compatibility: limit-removing (GZDoom recommended)

Levels: 1 (MAP01 replacement)

After my unsuccessful attempt to explore Bytom but Doom, also known as Dawn of Reality, it’s time for another attempt at exploring a real-life city ported into a Doom WAD (featuring over 550 demons on HMP).

Unlike that WAD, Planisphere 2 takes place in the rotten American apple itself – New York, and you can play on more source ports than just GZDoom (although, as I mentioned above, it’s still recommended).

There might be some plot to explain what’s going on, but you need to know Spanish to understand it. All I got was that it takes place in 2040, and the rebuilt Twin Towers look like 9/11 never happened.

There is no denying that this map looks incredible. I might know less of the landmarks than I have fingers on one hand, but it definitely feels like a typical metropolis – a jungle made of concrete and steel, with some patches of green here and there, sprinkled with demons in this case.

The music fits really well; it gives me the vibes of a desolate and abandoned city. I have nothing to add further here.

Despite being a gigantic map, Planisphere 2 is actually much easier to play through than you might think at first. When it comes to the key hunting, these were usually at one of the ends of the boroughs (for me, this word feels like a mix between a county and a district with some extra steps). The part of the not-Alcatraz was the most annoying part, since you kind of have to precisely place yourself to shoot the switch that will open the cell you end up in.

When it comes to fighting enemies, it’s rather easy, even when there is a moment when you fight four cyberdemons at the same time. The real challenge comes from the slough you will be going through; it might take you around 2 hours to finish this map if you don’t rush for the keys; that’s how long it took me.

And by the way, those siege cows that I mentioned? They will be attacking you from one of the twins for around 75% of the playthrough until you… lower it; literally, you lower the tower to the ground, antenna and all.

Doomwiki mentions how the map doesn’t have any of the lumps created by a node builder, and would therefore only work in source ports which featured an internal [one] (it was fixed in the updated version from 2018). It also has glitching collisions and hitscan traces due to its size.

From my personal experience, I think I might have seen some small stuttering in some areas when looking at some angles. Thanks, GZDoom.

And I guess that’s all I have to say about Planisphere 2. It wasn’t a bad experience, but definitely another one that tested my patience. I do realize that New York is a ginormous city, but I feel like the WAD should’ve some parts of it trimmed down; I think I’m one of the WAD fans who’s not into maps based on real cities, let alone that big.

I think you might have a better experience if you turn the monsters off (if your source port allows it) and just walk around the map.

Thankfully, the final runner-up of 2012 is not like this one, so I’ll probably have more fun with that one.

Deltarune's fifth chapter will be coming out in a week. So I might as well tell you two things that I want (or rather, NOT want) to happen in this chapter:

Hello. It has been a while, huh?

One of you might wonder what happened to me?

To put it simply, another burnout from Doom WADs happened; not to mention finally being employed since the last full week of March. Tried some games and idled the other ones to get some Steam cards in the meantime.

Now I think it’s time to come back.

S3: Frozen Time

Main author(s): Alexander S. (Eternal)

Release date: November 30, 2012

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: GLBoom+/GZDoom

Levels: 1 (MAP01 replacement)

Last time I was properly checking WADs, I took a look at Beyond Reality, and I remember having a great time with it.

Today, we are checking yet another WAD made by Eternal – Frozen Time.

Ironic, considering what season we are about to have in a moment, but I’m going off track here.

This map might be the best-looking one Eternal has made to this point. It looks great. The main area of the map, AKA the citadel stranded in the middle of the ice valley, looks jaw-dropping. Some of the other areas (especially the ice caves) are not too far either.

The map uses Mark Klem’s Junkie Smack from Memento Mori II; it’s a good track, but I’ve heard better tracks made by him (STRAIN had at least three absolute bangers).

The map has new sound effects, and these are a mixed bag for me. I was not a fan of most of the weapon ones, where the peashooter sounds more like a peashooter, shotgun sounds louder than anything else (it sounds good, but it is at least as loud as a plasma gun), and the rocket launcher now does a thump sound when firing. The remaining sound effects get a thumbs up. I especially liked Quake’s ogre’s death sound replacing the hell knight’s one.

Frozen Time is split into three parts: The first being calm before the storm, exploring caves, some buildings, and (probably) ancient structures. The second part is the aforementioned citadel, where you will spend most of your time, and most of the enemies are. The final part is in another ice mountain with a power generator, a clock cube, and the pentagram that you have to shoot into.

The more indoor parts of the map were rather easy to understand, even when they have a moment or two where you have to think slightly outside of the box. The citadel itself was kind of annoying to move around, since it felt mangled, not to mention switches that make you wonder what they do and where.

I liked how the demonic pentagram was revealed. It seems to me that 12 spiderdemons are getting killed one by one, with their death sound changed into a clock bell getting hit, revealing the fake wall with Romero’s head after the final ding.

I also kind of liked how the yellow switch doesn’t indicate that you require a key for it.

Now, changing the subject, the map doesn’t feel that hard. Sometimes you get attacked by a platoon of revenants or two, and the final fight with two siege cows in a clock area is tough (I like how these are foreshadowed, for lack of better words), but aside from these, it’s manageable; even the final encounter can be made easier by pressing the clock to receive BFG. My only problem is how the map (the citadel to be exact) is so vast that you might get sprayed by hitscanners from kilometers away.

While the map doesn’t have bugs (or at least I didn’t notice them), it has problems with stability on GZDoom UZDoom; to be more precise, I had to wait around 1,5-2 seconds when loading the map. I tested it on PrBoom+ as well since it can render OpenGL stuff in its final version, and, lo and behold, it loads the map smoothly.

GZDoom (and, by extension, UZDoom at the moment of writing this) tends to have these problems when the map tends to get gigantic. You would think that, by now, people behind this source port would take care of stability issues, but I guess le no chicken himself smelt too many of his farts to believe that his magnum opus requires it. I can only hope that the UZDoom developers take care of this problem (if they can).

Anyway, I kind of went off the rails here.

Frozen Time, despite my rough starts with it, is still another great map from Eternal. I still think Hell Ground is his best WAD, but this map has very high quality as well. Just mind some of the problems I mentioned with the main part of it.

Next WAD on the list is… another bloated and realistic city map…

...

It’s time to take yet another detour to Heretic. We have another WAD for that game… a Polish one, I might add.

S2: Masters of Chaos

Main author(s): Caleb26 and Doom_Warrior

Release date: June 24th, 2012 (version 1.1)

Version(s) played: 1.1

Required port compatibility: ZDoom

Levels: 31 (around 10 maps per episode)

Masters of Chaos is a Heretic MegaWAD split into three episodes, each with ten maps (eight normal and two secret ones), aside from the final episode that has eleven maps (with only one secret map).

Its plot is that Corvus, the main character of Heretic, manages to return to his hometown. Five years later, a new serpent rider arrives to wreck stuff off, a secret, fourth serpent rider – Voltrog, who betrayed his brothers in the past, and now uses chaos crystals to suck planets dry. I’ll give you three guesses what you have to destroy to weaken Voltrog; not to kill him, but weaken him so you have a chance to properly kill him yourself.

Now, let’s see what the first episode has to offer.

The Dark Tower looks great. Say whatever you want about the WAD, we Poles are capable of making jaw-dropping locations. From docks and forests to caves and snowy areas, not to mention the titular tower itself.

Musically, most of the tracks are from Hexen, which kind of helps break the monotony. Otherwise, I simply mute the stocks.

There were some new sound effects here and there from what I can remember. The one I remember the most (for the wrong reasons) is the zogging thunder from E1M7 and 8, not completely cacophonic, but you could barely hear anything else, no matter if you are on the ground, under, or above it.

Now, this is where things start to get… interesting.

You see, from what I’ve experienced playing this episode, Masters of Chaos is problematic when it comes to the level structure. Not in how the maps themselves are complicated, because they are not; the maps are rather understandable enough to not get stuck (at least when it comes to the non-secret ones). My problem is how the maps (but mostly the secret ones and the second half of the episode) feel bloated.

Due to ZDoom being used, most of these maps are gigantic. While I find maps this big more tolerable when they are one-map WADs, it starts to get problematic when you have to play them one after the other. And these maps felt like they were dragging out, with the shit amount of locations to visit, and the shit ton of secrets to search for that most of the maps have. The fact that the Heretic weapons and enemies feel underpowered and like damage sponges respectively doesn’t help.

Two secret maps, accessible from Ruins of the Shadowkeep and Chapel of the Fallen Moon respectively, are some of the biggest contenders when it comes to the problems with the level structure. And while Bleeding at least lets you get the Hellstaff and Phoenix Rod before, and after entering the map respectively, all Borderlands has to offer is a new weapon that you only get the ammo for on this map, and not even in E1M8, while also being the most bloated, mangled map in the entire episode.

Now, let’s change the tone to something more neutral. You can now jump and duck. Sometimes it’s mandatory, sometimes it lets you get to secrets.

You can also find disc of repulsion from Hexen; it pushes enemies and projectiles out of the way; I rarely used it.

Also, both the aforementioned Ruins of the Shadowkeep and Forest of Silence have an exit right next to their beginnings.

Now, you might be wondering – How hard is this episode? It is challenging, I guess? It can kick your ass, but, again, it’s such a slog to fight the monsters that I don’t know if the actual challenge is mustering enough determination to finish it.

This WAD made me fully realize how flawed the designs of Heretic’s enemies and weapons are. I wasn’t thinking about it that much when playing Curse of D’Sparil, even if it was much more of a slog to go through than this WAD, because I thought that it was more of the author’s fault that the maps there felt like that. Now I think that the problems with the enemies and weapons are more severe when it comes to making WADs for Heretic.

Like I said earlier, weapons feel underpowered when you don’t use the tome, and the enemies have too much health. I didn’t even mention how, among other problems, the flying enemies fly like balloons when hit (especially by hellstaff), or how Phoenix Rod’s fireballs fly through ghosts even if, by the logical standpoint, they shouldn’t.

This WAD could benefit if the number of enemies from secret maps and the second half were cut by at least 1/3rd, even by half, for a better pacing.

As of writing this, I’m around the middle of E1M5 on my second playthrough, and I think might throw a towel at this point. I am so done. I don’t even think I want to talk about new weapons and enemies, because they replicate the problems the original ones have.

The first episode of Masters of Chaos is another case of a WAD that looks great, but that’s it; everything else is compromised. It would benefit the WAD if it were made less like a Doom WAD and had better pacing.

Now, to not end this unfinished review on a hopeless note, there is a gameplay mod for Heretic called Wayfarer's Tome, which supposedly makes the pacing (at least when it comes to enemy encounters) better, closer to Doom. I’ll probably try it one day with other Heretic WADs, but by now, I think I’ll save the non-Doom WADs for the end of the decade, as in the end of the 2010s in this case, after dealing with all of the other WADs.

In my Beyond Reality’s monster list, I forgot to mention a head monster; his attacks doesn’t always go straight at you (and it usually hits like a truck), and he uses Gnaar sound effects from Serious Sam 1.

With that out of the way…

PART 2 – BONUS MAPS

Besides the main 17 maps released in 2012, by 2026, there are an additional five bonus maps to play, split into two new episodes, featuring more gimmicks and more new enemies. The only thing left to do is to ask if these maps are as good as the original ones.

I would say that the maps look at least as good as the main ones. Like there, the bonus maps have a bunch of cool-looking structures, along with portraits referencing other media, this time having stuff like Ratchet and Clank, Psychonauts, and Brutal Legend; and yes, there are two more GOATs.

As I mentioned above, the bonus maps kind of split into two episodes – the first three maps look like they have bases in some green valley, while the other two maps feel less consistent, but I can see some of the ancient Greece elements here and there.

I think music was better than in the main campaign, simply because there was only one track from Pursuit of Greed, which wasn’t bad at all, mind you. Favorite track was probably Castle of the Mists; it fitted perfectly for the episode finale.

The maps were as complicated as the main ones – might be confusing in some parts, but overall, pretty straightforward.

The first (or rather, technically, sixth) episode’s gimmick is gravity. You have to make the gravity weaker in the area or a part of the map to progress further (or, in one case, reach a secret soul sphere); some map parts even have a stronger gravity, making you unable to jump, and forcing you to play that part of the map good, old Doom Classic style, where jumping didn’t exist along with vertical looking. The stronger gravity was somehow more manageable to travel with, since the weaker gravity makes you constantly fly too high when wanting to go through something; at least I can slightly control myself in the air while at it.

The colors surrounding the gravity-affected areas indicate how strong it is – red color is the normal gravity, green is weaker, blue is stronger, and yellow is a bridge between red and green.

Insert Map Name Here (just roll with the title) takes the crown of the most confusing map in the WAD, since not only it has a maze that gets darker the further you progress, but the entire map also doesn’t appear on the automap, forcing you to memorize which switch in the starting area sends you where and what key is where (you have to thankfully find only three).

Speaking of memorizing, Technofrenzy has a bunch of pillars in the hub, showing you in which order you should go with the colors when getting the key to avoid additional encounters.

The bonus maps were somewhat in the middle ground when it comes to difficulty. Maybe a bit harder than the main campaign, probably because I think there was slightly more bullshit here.

The traps are still here. The spears are more utilized here than they were used only once in MAP05. There is still one moment where it goes completely asinine with these.

Unfortunately, the stealth shitlings come back as well, in MAP19; almost all of them are in a darkening maze.

There are seven additional new enemies. Some more nuts than the other:

We start with Tiny Mancubus. Basically like Tiny Pinky but with another classic monster.

Floating Cyberdemon Head shoots green projectiles at you, at the same speed as a normal siege cow with his rockets.

Another new variant of a cyberdemon is his blue mini version that walks upside down and shoots tiny BFG balls that bounce off walls.

Speaking of walking upside down, Upside-down Imp… I rest my case.

There is Arachnotron Rider, straight out of All Hell is Breaking Loose; for a reminder, it’s a two-headed Hoovy riding a spider. When the latter dies, the former continues to be obnoxious. This WAD fixes the problem with this enemy, in that it finally stops firing when you are out of sight.

Living chainsaw is even more annoying than your floating head since it’s smaller and can do a melee attack.

Finally, there is Megamind – a flying mancubus that changes colors depending on what attack he does (except for yellow, where he flies faster).

I only saw a bug with one pedestal where you could see the void.

That’s all I have to say on Beyond Reality’s Bonus maps. I would say these are at least as good as the original ones; annoying in some places, but not completely obnoxious. They were fun to play.

My verdict on Beyond Reality as a whole – it was great, despite being annoying sometimes; worth checking out.

Hi.

This is the list of new enemies you encounter in Beyond Reality’s main campaign. I recommend checking my review on the WAD’s main part before reading this post [add link to the review].

If you are done reading my review, let’s take a look at the enemies.

Ordered by the maps they appear in, for lack of better words.

First off, the pinkies are now tiny. They attack in swarms, but thankfully, they deal minimal damage.

Plasma elemental is a meatball that vomits plasma in volleys of three. When killed, it explodes into more plasma balls.

Demonic crate shoots either a mancubus fireball or a hitscan bullshit, and both of the attacks have next to no wind-up.

Remember that decoration with heads on a pike? It has been turned into a gigantic enemy called living shish kebab; it throws out smaller heads around it, explodes when it dies, hurting other enemies, and it can also resurrect them.

Face bot is a flying robot with a face of the spiderdemon, and shoots blue projectiles.

Insanity Spider is a smaller spiderdemon that, instead of hitscan crap, shoots red projectiles. Thank God for that.

There is an interesting enemy called random demon. It is basically a monster that constantly shapeshifts between classic monsters. It can also resurrect enemies when it turns into Arch-viles (even other randoms -_-).

Barrel man is a walking, exploding barrel that acts like the headless kamikaze – runs at you and explodes, dealing you damage.

Barrel soldier, meanwhile, shoots tiny barrels at you from his gun.

Then there is maephisto, which looks like some kind of Frankenstein’s Monster made of a dinosaur, and other junk. It can shoot blue projectiles at you (homing or not), do the hitscan shit, or charge up for a one-shot-kill. Kind of a mini-boss enemy.

Flying Doomguy head acts as a lost soul replacement… a much more annoying one, since it’s another enemy that has no wind-up.

Speaking of no wind-up, zombie leader is yet another enemy with that; a heap of zombies with three different types of attack that always go in the same order.

Giant imp doesn’t really need a description aside from the fact that his fireballs are kind of like mini nukes.

Bloated caco is a red mancubus with a caco for a head; I remember it shooting a barrage of fireballs, homing projectiles shaped like cacos, and also mini cacos.

There is also a boss variant of it called King Bloatus, with different attacks.

Haunted sword looks more ghostly than haunted. It shoots its copies at you, and the copies drop shells upon getting killed. Very annoying to fight; I recommend plasma barrage to get rid of it quickly.

Ghosty revenant is a green, headless spook meister, that is basically a beefier variant of the original revenant – shoots two missiles instead of one, and walks through walls.

There are also some small changes when it comes to hitscanners – punks now cosplay as headless from Serious Sam; baldies now drop two shells instead of a shotgun; and hoovies now have two heads, straight out of All Hell is Breaking Loose, and drop two ammo clips instead of a chaingun.