Doomed for Two Years

Two years ago, I started a blog where I would share my experiences with Doom PWADs that I'd played. Today, it boasts 255 in-depth reviews of WADs composed of 2129 maps by 424 different authors. That's...

• 5 maps per author
• 8.3 maps per WAD
• and 1.65 WADs per author

And today, I'm opening a new wing of the site, "New Ways to Die", which specifically features reviews of mods that alter Doom's gameplay, whether they have levels or not. The only caveat - I'm not playing WIPs, which the vast crop of popular mods are. Consider that the version of Brütal Doom that won the 2011 Cacowards was v.13 and Sergeant Mark IV is currently working on v.19, more than a year after the fact. I don't mind something like Reelism's expansion packs, given that Kins and co are adding cards to a deck rather than tweaking the overall balance of what is supposed to be a well-oiled machine.

Other cool stuff... I helped save the 2012 Cacowards, alongside St. Alfonzo and Xaser. Props to them for being able to come up with articles on stuff on such short notice. I wasn't anticipating having to do something like that or I would have spent more time in 2012 playing recent releases. I'm keeping a better bead on 2013...too bad so many of the releases I'm looking forward to are trapped in bugfixing / development. Like...

BTSXE1 (well, I reviewed it, I just want a concrete link)
BTSXE2 (I know it's getting close to a public beta!)
BTSXE3 (it would be cool to see this finished before the 2013 Cacowards, but I am starting to doubt it!)
DTWID: The Lost Episodes (being Xaserified, who has his hands in tons of stuff)
Phobosdeimos Anomaly (probably a final release out of respect, but I'd like confirmation)
NEIS (being Xaserified / NaturalTvventified)
NEIS2 (maybe not this year but it's totally happening and it will be totally awesome)
The Shores of ZDoom (taking a backseat to like a ton of other projects currently in development)
Doom II Redux (Tarns is too busy with every other project to finish his own)
Vela Pax (I've seen this kicking around for awhile... Love your maps, Mechadon)
Supplice (far from being a 2013 release, but I want to talk it up)
D2TWID (though it's kind of strayed from being a "community" project)
ZDCMP2 (looking forward to the finished release)
Interception (it got released but the MegaWAD club spurred a lot of tweaking)
Unholy Realms (SNAAAAAKES)
Revelations of Doom (it's going to hurt but it will hurt so good)
TNT2: Devilution (slowly but surely)
DoomX (it's been awhile...)
Concerned (Cannonball's OG Doom megaWAD)

There's other stuff kicking around in 2013 that's super cool. Pirate Doom, Fortune's Run, Alpha Accident... Best of all, Eriance resurrected Demon Eclipse under a toned-down production scheme. I'm looking forward to it like you wouldn't believe. If the dude who was doing Killian Reed sees this, finish your stuff. I want to play it. If you didn't see your project in the above list, it's not because I hate it (NOVA, Doom II in Name Only, PULSE, Bedlam, HPack, etc., etc.,) but because I could list ongoing / beta projects all day long. I'd also like to throw the usual names out there... Vaporware, Doom Millenium, and Mordeth. And KDIKDIZD, because it's fun to type.

Stuff I know is out there but have yet to play... Hadephobia is one. Stomper is another. Also Soul Crusher. Those last two fell victim to NMN (Pawel Zarczynski) leaving the Doom community. I'm hesitant to play Soul Crusher as it seems like it's still a potential WIP, with the author adding in more levels due to some huge story gaps. I say, finish your work and fuck the people complaining about wanting more original sprites.

Ummm, there are still a ton of 2012 nominees (and one WAD winner) I haven't gotten around to playing, but I think I've done a decent job of it after coming back from a month-long hiatus. Here's to another year of really cool stuff that makes playing through 1999-2010 take forever!