Serenity (SERENITY.WAD)

Published in 1994, Serenity is among the first of many episode replacements for Doom that have cropped up since its release. Tested by Bjorn Hermans and mapped by Holger Nathrath, it's also the first of a trilogy of episode replacements, continued in Eternity (Episode 2) and ending in Infinity (Episode 1). Serenity doesn't attempt to follow the themes of Inferno in spite of being an Episode 3 replacement. Nor does it have anything approaching a common theme. Rather, it just looks like Bjorn and Holger having fun, creating a series of eight maps (no secret) that goes down smooth, all things considered.

That's not to say it's without its flaws. Bjorn and Holger make extensive use of linedefs that block monster movement, removing much of the sting of roaming monsters that caused so much grief in the original Doom. They also neglected to optimize maps for pistol start. It's possible, of course, but you'll often find yourself wondering just when the chaingun will show up, only it never does, or finding cells and rockets in levels that lack weapons that use either, and that can create some tense ammo situations. Finally, though it's purely an aesthetic note, there's some...questionable midis for Doom, particularly E3M5.

It's still pretty fun, though, with a couple of neat tricks, and a palpable gimmick to round it out. Each level features a letter from Serenity, in sequence, a trend continued throughout the series. It's cheesy as all get out, but this was the dawn of user-created levels.

SERENITY
by Bjorn Hermans and Holger Nathrath

A Warm Welcome

E3M1

Boxy, wood-themed level. The most interesting parts are a teleporter trap outside the yellow key door and the damage maze at the beginning of the map. It's not a maze proper, just a long, winding trail of ground that's safe to walk on vs. the damage floor surrounding it. Fighting is pretty easy, all shotgun stuff here. There's a baron at the very end, and if you get caught next to an exploding barrel, all of which are well-obscured, it could be rough, but you've got plenty of room to maneuver.

E3M2	Doom – The Movie
	More wood and concrete. This map's most interesting feature is a movie hall featuring cinematography of unknown source. The gunfight around the E figures as the most interesting encounter, with a lot of lost souls making things a little dicey. The organic exit is kind of cool, though the scrolling textures don't line up properly.

R You Lonesome?

E3M3

Wood, concrete, and a sewer section. The wood part of the map has some nice looking elevators and a decent puzzle involving the yellow key. There's also a wacky secret room featuring four temporary powerups turning you into a virtual god for a limited time. The level ends in a crate room shootout that has enough free players to keep you a little wary. The R is pretty easy to find, and features an animated texture that bizarrely oscillates between the blue fire and golden chains.

E3M4

All the Marbles

They start to roll out with the green marble and use a nasty trick where the alcove the cacodemon hides in blocks movement but not projectiles, so using it as cover is a big no-no. The marble maze portion of this map doesn't really bog it down, but the skin-bolted maze does, as it's sprinkled with demons and sergeants, exactly what you don't want to round a corner into. The stash of powerups with the red key has a nice method of access.

Dungeons of the Dark

E3M5

Things step up a bit. There's a few barons in the latter half of the map, which is dominated by concrete textures. A few firefights that can quickly get out of hand, namely the fights beyond the red door as well as the fighting around the blue key which takes place in a surreal, hellish cylinder, out of which the player ascends. The marble/sewer section is kind of a drag and your ammo gets really tight there. Actually, I'm not sure there's enough ammo to safely get 100% what with the caged baron.

E3M6

I'm Here. I'm There. Stairs are Everywhere

Predominantly techbase with lots of maze-like action and, yes, stairs. It's not bad by any means, it's just that so many small rooms and hallways and doors really bog down the gameplay. The fighting can be a little rough at times with a few blind drops into enemies as well as cramped quarters with cacodemons. It's all skirmishing, so the shotgun is supreme, though there's 300 cells lying around with no plasma rifle (intended to carry it over from E3M4). It's kind of short with other ammo as well as health, so the pressure doesn't really let up until you grab a refresher around 2/3 of the way through the map. Two special mentions – there's a trick with stairs that you can go up but not back down due to the ceiling height. There's also a problem with the lift leading to the yellow key. There's no switch to let it back down, which can be embarrassing if you get caught exploring, like I did my first time.

Big Time

E3M7

It's still the weakest level of Serenity, but I hate it less than when I originally played it (especially because I didn't get interminably lost this time). It's a very large level, and far less focused than any of the others in scope, texturing, or theme. There's a lot of grand hallways with a few scattered monsters and there's a Spider-Mastermind fight that makes things not so simple. That's about the most excitement you'll get out of the map, though, and the texturing is so painful, especially in the "secret" sections, that I can't really recommend playing this.

E3M8

Church of the Poisoned Minds

A dark gray concrete cathedral with stained glass windows. Sadly, the windows obscure the imps sniping from the sidelines. It's kind of tough going from pistol start; there's a few barons you'll have to take out with the Shotgun and / or Pistol and you won't really get to use your cells until the level's partway over. You get a decision toward the end, easy way or hard way. The easy way is just that, easy, with an invulnerability powerup to boot. The hard way has a tricky barrel puzzle as well as a hall of monsters you'll be hard-pressed to defeat normally. It will dump you out at the beginning of the easy path when finished, of course. The clever Doomer can use the invulnerability for the hard way, just be advised that you'll have to do the big showdown vs. the Spider Mastermind with no cover whatsoever.

DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.
GO DOWNLOAD SERENITY, NOW!

This post is part of a series on
Doomworld's Top 10 WADs of 1994

Crossing Acheron	Aliens TC
Doomsday of UAC	Galaxia
Serenity	Eternity
The Unholy Trinity	Return to Phobos
Slaughter Until Death	The Evil Unleashed

This post is part of a series on
the Serenity series

Serenity	Eternity	Infinity
Arachna	Trydent	SER3LV11
	STRAIN