Doomverse #19 - QDoom: Knee Deep in Chthon

Quake and Doom can never be overstated as titans in the gaming industry, especially the First Person Shooter genre. So, since both of them represent the height of their respective periods of graphics and gameplay, why not shove them both together and get the best of both worlds? Sounds testy, right? Well, not if the ones modding it know what they're doing. Well, they did know, obviously, and what we get is Doom levels with Quake gameplay and enemies from both! 

Does it all work out together perfectly? Not exactly, but it certainly gives you all of the good, gory gameplay parts you would want. The starter Quake shotgun still has its meaty feel when you fire it at your enemies and get a decent spread. You can use the Super Shotgun (double-barrel shotgun) on both enemies from Doom and Quake together! When you start the game, you can choose to have either one or both, and you want both! 

There is nothing more chaotic than a whole batch of enemies, monsters and demons coming at you with different AI and tactics to attack! Pinkies are coming to eat you while the Fiend is jumping at you even FASTER! With zombies throwing their meat and imps throwing slower and longer range fireballs with gunmen coming at you with different gunfire rates, it's a whole new ball game! Does this get rather difficult? Yes, yes it does. 

One big problem with this whole concept is that the ammo and monster ratio of the two games are entirely different. Quake came out back in the mid-90's, when computers couldn't handle quite as much as they can now, so monsters were limited in their numbers. This was not as true for Doom. Even though it was a smaller game, the monsters did not take up as much data, so you can be fighting far more. The guns needed more ammo in Doom, but now in QDoom, they have the weapons from Quake with less ammo but you are expected to take down far more. This means you need to start using your little hatchet a lot more in the starting levels, but you don't get as many weapons unless you get all of he secrets. So, basically, you need to be badass as Doomguy while being as strategic as Ranger. Shape up, Doom Marine! 

There are parts of this where you should have been able to jump into secrets, but were unable to jump in Doom. Well, now that you have the Quake jump ability, they flat out WALL OFF these areas. Darn, it was a good thought! A lot of these that don't affect the overall gameplay, and some of them let you jump, but don't count on it. Being able to do all of this while fighting the Cyberdemon sounds like an amazing experience, so let's all wait anxiously for the Shores of Hell mod. 

The only episode that is available, at the time of writing this, is the greatest episode, Knee Deep in the Dead. This entire episode was beautifully rendered as a Quake episode and playing through to the Bruiser Brothers is a joy once again! This is one of the single greatest Quake mods, making it a Doom mod by default! You can't ask for greatness like this and they offer the first episode for free. It says a lot that these modders are doing this for nothing and QDoom is planned to have more episodes in the future! Planet Virtua needs Doom Marines to take care of demon problems that may or may not exist, and this is just an awesome way to train your shotgun aim! Virtua Bang!

Doomverse #15 - Brutalization

We have seen so many mods come and go for Doom, and they have kept it thriving throughout the decades since its release in 1993. One of these mods was Brutal Doom. While we will not get into the creator of this mod, given his reputation, you are well within your rights for looking it up. What we are focusing on here is the moderation itself. We're also taking a look at some other mods that have subsequintly come out as a response to this, creating new and exciting experiences for Doom and its many iterations of BRUTAL!

These mods not only bring about new life to the game, but also gave us a taste of what Doom was supposed to look like, according to the original developers. Given PC restrictions back then, they obviously couldn't do everything they wanted. These ports make the game 10 times more violent and has some very amazing weapons to go along with it. These mods, along with GZDoom, transform the game into a full 3D experience with 2D characters. Does that make sense? Kind of?

What you'll notice right off the bat is that they add new flavors to the gameplay in the ways of spectacle. Your guns pack more punch and the blood sprays even harder. Not only that, but their ammo type does different things according to their nature. If you're using the flame-thrower from the Mancubus, the monsters will burst into flame and even begin to panic before they are left a dried, sizzling husk on the ground. Plasmarifles will turn them into a literal pile of dust. Head shots will also have their heads pop off and spurt blood from their neck. Yes, these have "brutal" in their titles for a reason.

There are so many versions of this game, it's kind of hard to review all of them without going into great specifics. It really depends on which one you download and they come with their own features, weapons and even alternate monsters. 

There are black Imps that fire multiple fireballs at once, there are zombies with super shotguns and plasmarifles and there are Cacodemons that spit out smaller Cacodemons. So, now you have some technical Lost Souls coming out and firing fireballs at you as well. They don't do as much damage, but any Doomster will tell you, that adds up. 

Walking up to a monster in the game and hitting the melee button will prompt a cutscene of you basically doing a full on glory kill. You'll punch them or rip them apart until they are splattering blood across the screen. Instead of the predetermined pile of viscera you normally see, they will fall to pieces and those things fly FAR. You even get some gory death animations if a Cacodemon somehow comes up on you and EATS YOU! Hell Nobles can grab you and literally rip you in half with their bare hands. Do not play this game if you are squeamish about gore. You're Doomsters, so my assumption is that we're on the same page. If not, SACK UP!

These mods are also BRUTALLY difficult. If you go up to one of the higher ranking difficulties, you're going to feel the pressure. These monsters are faster and their attacks do more damage, but so do yours! Your guns pack more punch and you can blow apart a lot of them with the supershotgun. There is also the automatic shotgun, which eats up your ammo but also munches some amazing demon flesh. So long as you're moving and circle strafing, you can get out of a lot of situations, but do not stop moving for any reason! 

Project Brutality 8.5 is equipped with a vast array of different guns at your disposal as well. There is one known as the Black Hole Generator and it does exactly what the name implies. Now, it is awesome and all that, but it also comes with its own little pitfalls. The generator takes a few seconds to actually fire, and when it does, it will literally vaporize anyone in its path, especially the smaller mobs. It will suck in all of those around it and even bring the Cyberdemon down to a fraction of his health. Be VERY careful, though, because if you touch or even get near this BLACK HOLE, you will also die immediately, no questions asked. Your death animation will often show you becoming a small pile of dust and it's rather humorous. 

Brutal Pack V10, developed by JTC3, dropped in September of 2024 and it has a very different twist to its mod. The weapons are more grounded with the Doom weapons of old, but they also do a tremendous amount of damage. This, however, is to make up for the absolute ferocity of the monsters within. These monsters are fast and they run at you like a linebacker, ready to break your face on their horns! The Barons of Hell, you can blast rockets in their faces all day and they will keep firing these multiple fireball attacks at you until you burn. This mod earns the name Brutal because sweet mercy! 

The great things about all of these mods and updates are that they are completely free and they can be paired with any facet of Doom. You can create maps of your own and put any of them through the meat grinder! There are mods that pair Brutal Doom with Doom 2016 and you can basically get the more 2.5D experience, if that's what you fancy. The possibilities are limitless and we have barely even scratched the surface! 

Just give it a try. All you need to do is download it, get GZDoom and the Doom 2 pk3, put drag them all to one place and you're set! Look up tutorials for it if you need to, you'll get the experience. It is worth it! Do not miss out on these amazing mods and make sure you tear those demons a new one! The Icon of Sin may come out with mutliple heads, the cyber imps may shoot rapid fireballs at you and they may come at you from all angles! You are the one who grinds them into meat! Show no mercy!

Doomverse #14 - More Doom Upon Doom

The fact that ID Software equipped Doom with the official stamp of approval for any custom made Doom game is what has kept the franchise going forever! Even if Doom 4 had not graced us with its presence in 2016, there would still be a vast number of fans, even if not as many. The custom made maps and episodes known as MegaWads have been created for decades and some of them have reached the official status. 

These are the maps that were not created by the original Doomsters, Romero and his gang of misfits. These are the maps that were approved by the official teams and marked for release to the general public. Evilution:TNT and Plutonia were released under the title, Final Doom. TNT was supposed to be a free mod for the game, but ID decided to release it as official. While this did garner controversy in that sense, it also garnered a reputation... I have discussed some of these expansions in my Top 10 Doom Games, but I will be covering them in a bit more detail this time. 

Final Doom

When asked which is the hardest of the early Doom maps, many will point to the Plutonia Experiment. This is mostly because of the countless traps, monster closets, Chaingunners and Revenants littered throughout every single map. Even in the easiest setting, these maps are very hard to navigate while also dodging an indecent amount of Archviles. Milo and Dario Casali wanted to make maps that cut to the core of difficulty, and they did so. These maps apparently didn't take very long to make at all. 

Congo, the first level, starts with Chaingunners and Shotgunners at a long distance. You need to, not only dodge these countless bullets, but also arm yourself very quickly. The traps start very quickly, but you also need to concerve your ammo or you will not be making it even close through the second map. The second map, Well of Souls, has more Chaingunners in traps, but it also has distance rooms. These distance rooms are widespread out from the door you open. You need to shoot a few of the monsters, close the door, and let them come to you. Take them out in packs with the rocket launcher and keep dodging traps. 

Ghost Town is probably one of the hardest maps there is. There are even death traps of blue acid (or water  I guess) that you cannot escape! The keys are ridiculous! There's a Spider Mastermind and a whole entourage of demons! The amount of Chaingunners and multiple faceted traps are dizzying in this episode, and there are levels that represent this whole-heartedly. The Super Shotgun will be your best friend. There are even Cyberdemons waiting for you at a moment's notice. By today's standards, yes, they have outdone Plutonia, but this was the difficulty standard of 1996! 

Seriously, when you begin Ghost Town, you take one step and everything is not fine all at once. You are greeted with a host of Chaingunners, Cacodemons, you name it, anything short of an Archvile is on display here. At least, it is for the first part. The second part, however, starts out with this horrifying visage of a stairwell of spiked zombies. As SOON as you climb the stairs, it's all over. There's a horde, there's two Archviles, and there's my first death of the level. I was so proud of myself for making it that far. The rest of the episode is really no better. There are some ridiculous traps that exceed anything Thy Flesh Consumed was even remotely capable of. The final secret maps are proof of this in spades.

Then TNT came along and decided that you don't need to actually know what to do in any of the maps. These maps, while difficult, are also very much like Hexen in that you really have no idea who made them but they obviously don't like you. The good thing about this game is that it follows a story and a theme rather well. Some of the maps are themed by their skies and others are themed by their interiors and exteriors with how it is all presented. This part of TNT was well done, but that doesn't really excuse the fact that the levels are just not all that interesting at all. They are usually long, over-bearing and some of them you just flat out can't find where to go because you missed that one switch in that one place. 

There are some gems of levels here and there, though. While the level design can become rather samey with wide open areas filled with little hiding spaces, they can also have little sparks of enetertaining genius. I came across a level called Last Call and it had quite the interesting level design. The torches at the beginning, to my surprise, was a clue as to how to progress through this section. You need to at least partially memorize these torches while also taking on a small horde of Cacodemons and Imps. Surprisingly, when I discovered this little gimmick, it took me three tries to get through it. I felt pretty proud of myself.

These levels were not as hard as Plutonia, but do not let them fool you. They have their monster closets and their very spread out group of monsters that arrive at a moment's notice. However, one of the worst things that these levels continuously indulged, much like Plutonia, was Archviles resurrecting Chaingunners. Seriously, Chaingunners and Shotgunners just screamed "resurrect me!" and suddenly, more bullets and shells are headed your way. That's on top of the fire!

Upon inspection of walkthroughs, it's clear that they wanted to tease your brain quite a bit, but that doesn't help matters when you are looking for a second key and it's in a place that is so obvious that it's actually not. The strongest parts of this episode were great when they threw some big demon hordes after you, but that didn't happen enough to keep a whole lot of interest. It is interesting to see multiple passages to spawn enemies ad nauseum that you can cut down with your shotgun, but really, there's not a lot to cover here. 

TNT has a cool technological cyberpunk theme to it, unlike many of the other episodes. This is a nice change at first, but after a while, it kind of takes away from the ambience and the theme of Doom. It feels more like a Duke Nukem 3D level set when he was in space those times. It is seen as one of the lesser levels sets, but at least TNT has some good material here and there. The levels are difficult, and there is a lot of creativity on show with both of these iterations. Though, the overreliance on Revenants are ridiculous at times, and the Archviles are always a pain, that's basically what we paid for. 

Master Level for Doom 2                          

You want some more Doom 2? Here's 20 more levels for your pleasure. There is, however, a reason why they are called the Master Levels. Much like Plutonia, these levels can be rather hard to figure out, while also being especially brutal with their number of monsters. This WAD Pack is great, because they stuck with the Doom atmosphere. This does feel like an expansion of Doom 2 itself. The problem stems from the fact that multiple people created these maps. While this is also true for the original games, those games obviously had a direction with which to go. Sandy, John and American were on the same page for a great deal of these maps. It also helps that it's done by the OG. 

The Master Levels explore more types of structures, while also sticking with the same basic ambience. While TNT kept to its own, Master Levels give you a good amount of castles and evil structures that look nice and gothic. The levels are a bit more free wielding in that they will not be afraid to have a Cacodemon pack come at you from multiple places on the map. This map pack is not without its monster closets, but they obviously didn't need to rely on them. These levels are easier to figure out and actually flow a lot better than Evilution, all things considered. 

All in all, if you liked Doom 2 and wanted more maps that play like original, classic Doom, you could do a lot worse than this one. The gameplay can be very fast, run and gun, especially in the first level, the aptly named, "Attack". There are various enemies spread throughout the level in the early parts. Thankfully, the shotgun and chaingun are picked up early and you get the ammo you need to take them down. Then the second level happens and it gives you a Shotgun from the very start. So, you're well armed, but the level designs can still get overwhelming. 

There's one level that I've remembered in every single playthrough, since the first around 4 or 5 years ago. While many would assume I mean Bad Dream, yes, but I actually mean a level that begins with you punching the door to get the Red Key immediately as you start the level. As you attack the door, Lost Souls will attack you immediately from both sides. Then both red doors on either side bring out more monsters upon monsters. Bad Dream, of course, is the level that many remember from the Master Levels of Doom 2. This features an entire room of Cyberdemons that, if you don't know what you're doing, will turn around and turn you into mashed Doomguy. You need to mash them first. It's imaginative, but also a little gimmicky.

The Master Levels was a good bunch of levels, although, it wasn't as well remembered as Plutonia. I consider it one of the stronger Doom expansions, but that's also noting that it has those samey level designs here and there, depending on which levels were designed by whom. Overall, this game ranks rather high on the Doom scale. That means it rocks harder than any other game under DOOOOOM!

No Rest for the Living

Nerve Software decides to throw their hat in to the ring with this modern look at Classic Doom. The levels actually play very well, keeping pace while also offering new types of level designs. The episode is short but the maps are clean and well made. Sometimes their insistance on coming at you with hidden enemies can be a bit annoying. Not only that, but some of its more experimental gimmicks with puzzles and bridges didn't really pan out that well.

This episode takes advantage of the switch and higher/lower elevation fighting. The maps are also very natural to get through, and don't act like they are trying to drive you crazy with backtracking and trial and errors. There is some of that, but thankfully, it is rather merciful. That doesn't mean this level set is easy, it has its many difficult areas of Revenants and Archviles. It doesn't try too hard to be difficult, though, it does so quite naturally. The best thing that can be said about No Rest is that it has a very tight but fair health/ammo/monster ratio. It's not strangulating, but it does make you think twice about using your precious ammunition, as good levels ought to do. 

One great example of a level is the final one, Tomb of Molevolence! This one takes the cake when it comes to level design in both looks and mechanics. You need to be FAST! You have to dodge an entire array of Imps while also waiting for the Cyberdemon to unleash your real artillary. Do not waste all of your good BFG ammo on the little guys, save some for the guy with the missile launcher! Very tastefully done with a good atmosphere of a dungeon beneath a bloody tomb. One great highlight of the episodes we're covering, especially when it comes to boss battles!

There is a lot of good Chaingunner and Hellknight play here, if such a thing exists for Chaingunners. There was a surprising lack of Barons of Hell. Usually, they're used ad nauseum in other custom wads. While still seen in pairs, it's on occasion. 

Speaking of Hellknights, then there came the secret map! The March of the Demons is one of the better crafted levels I have seen. It works in flipped switches, but it's in an open arena area. So every time you flip a switch, a structure in the area will go down with it. One of the best things about this is that you can flip two switches and then it's actually easy for them to fight themselves. The Mancubus will gladly take down the Hellknights if they get in their way and it is a mutual agreement of hatred. Have them fight it out with some Pinky demons gnawing at them and this is not a terrible episode to get through. There is some challenge, of course, but it's a lot of fun to do with such a great arena! 

There is a TON more Doom to discuss, and there will be more that the Doomverse will cover when it comes to the new Doom + Doom 2 update. If I went into every single awesome or horrible thing in every single episode, this review would take forever. It took long enough to get through some of the levels themselves. Soon, there will be more on the Legacy of Rust and maybe even some more on the other maps we haven't covered! Until then, Rip and Trousers---oh crap, CUT!

Doomverse #13 - Doom + Doom 2 + THE Doomverse itself!

There's a new Doom update, and much like Quake, there was skepticism. Also much like Quake, there was beautiful liberation. This update is not without its little problems, but overall, it is very much worth the change. If you already owned Ultimate Doom on Steam (which they changed back to Doom recently before this), then you already own the update. While you may have, for some reason, not wanted the update, it looks like they didn't give you much of a choice. Though, you do have the option of opening the DOS version. 

The best thing about this update is that it gives you a whole lot of options. This includes all of the official expansion to Doom, along with No Rest for the Living and Legacy of Rust. With Plutonia, TNT, and the Doom 2 Master Levels, this was a whole lot of guts with which to rip and tear. On top of all of this content, there is extra content from the original Doom. Original meaning, the demo and the shareware versions. You can look through images of concept art and the figures they scanned for the monsters and weapons. 

Legacy of Rust is technically being considered official as well. Since it was created by ID Software in collaboration with Night Dive Studios. Night Dive is responsible for this collection of content and deserve a lot of praise for such a complete collection of Doom put all in one place.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! Yes, if I sat here and talked about how much content you get from this, it would take a long while. There are even custom made wads and maps that you can download like from the Steam workshop. They download them and you can unsubscribe to them if you desire to do so. This will allow you to play maps like NUTS, and face down a ridiculous amount of monsters in what they call a "Slaughter Map"! This is a very fine example of a slaughter map, and there is a way to beat it, but good luck pulling it off. 

Some basic nitpicks here and there, though, as there are some. The menu looks awful. The font is very basic, and even the HUD text looks a little mundane. Another small problem was, if you had mods on your Doom already, you need to look through and get them again. At the time of writing this, the custom maps are being reuploaded to the servers and a lot of people are having to wait. Oh well, honestly, this is very much worth it. 

This means that Death Matching and Co-op multiplayer is back on the menu, boys! We have a whole new generation of Doomguys to blow apart with missile launchers! At least, this is true for a little while. Quake, sadly, seems rather baron at the moment, as the update hasn't seemed to have the same staying power. It also doesn't help that many of the players are only playing on private servers. Either way, Doom multiplayer is some of the oldest and greatest multiplayer, as it is one of the very first games that did it. John Romero was also the first one to coin the phrase "Death Match" and basically INVENTED trash talking! 

There is seriously a ton to cover and Doomverse is up to the challenge! Stay tuned for even MORE DOOM! Planet Virtua will be taking a closer look at this update and look more into some of the expansions! There is so much to look at and there are even some custom maps that we'll be investigating for Doom awesomeness! Virtua Doom Mania!!!