Remains (REMAINS.PK3)

2019 appears to be Serious_MOod's year for excavating past endeavors. Outbreak of Evil was a remake of their debut 2013 episode, Opening. It punched up the architecture, detailing, and gameplay to the author's standards some six years later. Remains isn't a retread, though. It is an attempt to deliver on the promise of a project that died before it ever really began. S_M was working with partner in crime ChaingunnerX and devived]asts[. They had built up a resource pack for a prospective megaWAD but it obviously never materialized. Serious_MOod took what remained of their dreams and then crafted a single level plus an isolating coda, occupying MAP01 and MAP02 respectively. The finished product is meant for play in GZDoom.

Remains doesn't have an included story and nothing in the PWAD implies a complex narrative. I dunno if the original project had one in mind; its designers are free to avail me in informing me of whatever ideas that they had. S_M's solo release is more of a mood piece, taking place at an infested installation. The compound's purpose is unspecific but appears to serve some sort of water inventory function. At least, the predominance of a sewage system inside and under the base suggests as such. It's pretty easy to shoehorn into the great continuum of Doom as Yet Another Outpost for you to fight through. It's also interesting to imagine it as the springboard of a much larger set where the player roams a ghost world inhabited by nightmares... sort of like Lainos's stuff, I guess.

The set strikes a great balance between atmosphere and action. I feel that the former is the true star, though. Remains is a neat aural experience; it reminds me off my time spent with Nihility: Infinite Teeth. One of the fundamental differences is the presence of an actual spot of background game music that plays throughout the whole thing. It's a simple drone but it's a great way to allow the tone of your playthrough develop dynamically as you progress. Serious_MOod has affixed ambient noises to the various locales. The outdoor segments are dominated by a whistling wind and the inundated areas are pervaded by the sound of a similarly flowing fluid. In this case, water.

The effects wax and wane as you move between portions of the map and they are complemented by other level elements. The skies are overcast and there is a constant, light rain in the outdoor areas. The audio is also amplified by the underwater reverb which makes the moments where you're swimming and in danger of drowning feel almost oppressive. If you made it a night level and changed the lighting to match then you'd have a pretty spooky setting for something on the order of survival horror. I dunno whether the author was chasing this sort of vibe but S_M made a pretty massive but subtle gameplay change in reducing the speed at which the player moves.

It sort of engenders a realistic, survivalist-style bent. It also makes Doom's monsters more dangerous since you're neutering the player's greatest defensive tool: mobility. You're not completely hobbled, though, and the number and types of monsters reflect an authorial awareness of your new, lower capability. Most of the enemies hail from the original Doom. There are only a couple of revenants and one pain elemental, each type appearing in something akin to a miniboss encounter. What arachnotrons and mancubi that you'll face are conveniently positioned next to barrels, which you can use to soften them up. Hot death chaingunners have been replaced by rifle troopers who aren't quite as deadly. Most of the existing enemies were tweaked; the changes range from adding footsteps to the mancubus and are as invasive as nerving the raw health of demons.

None of the other Doom II beasties appear which is great because this is a strictly shotgun / chaingun affair. I think that Remains used a black-gloved variant of Per Kristian's smooth weapon animations mod as a base for its chosen aesthetic. I'm not savvy enough to be able to tell whether the pistol and chaingun were mechanically modified. They feel kind of different but I am sure that the spread pattern for the shotgun has been modified toward a more realistic cone and away from idtech1's fatal fan. There's also added gore, altdeath frames for the revenant and cacodemon that you aren't likely to see since you're limited to the hitscan weapons, and bullet casings for gun fetishists.

I already mentioned two of the standout encounters. The pain elemental is probably the single scariest fight because your ammo is tight early on and your armaments sub-shareware. Most of the connective tissue is vs. zombies and imps, the former making difficulty a matter of attrition and recognizing when you're looking at a rifle trooper. And not, you know, a plain ol' zombiman. My favorite cinematic piece is basically the map's climax. The lowest recesses of the base are flooded and you have to find a way to lower the level before you drown. It's a great moment since the shock of being submerged carries less weight than the dual revenants. This allows the tension to build as you scramble to figure out the solution.

The progression isn't crazy complicated. Serious_MOod has a few sealed doors, some of which are in the vein of "this door must be opened elsewhere". The message is also attached to the three in the southeastern catwalk room which go nowhere and do nothing. The message may be meant to enhance your immersion since some players dread prop doors. They just confused me for a bit so it took a moment to figure out that I was supposed to leap over the handrailing and into the water below. It's not a large level, though, so you don't have much where else to go to find the blue key.

The architecture is in S_M's competent style. GZDoom enhances the experience through a few choice portal effects and stuff like the scrolling clouds behind the static mountain backdrop. There isn't a lot of interesting light contrast. It's either gray sky bright in the open-air portion of the installation, which figures, or murky brown dark in the bowels of the base. The auras given off by the installed sprites - particularly the little ceiling lamps - are so subtle that I didn't even see them during my initial playthrough. The aural atmosphere does a great job of pegging the derelict base vibe, though, and I really dig those scrapheaps seen in the main yard.

Remains ought to be a great mini-adventure for those folks who enjoy an aura of realism in their Doom experience. It ought to especially appeal to players looking for a post-apocalyptic vibe. The initial project that spawned this unfortunately never got off the ground but I'm glad to see the birth of another microcosm in its place.

ALL THAT REMAINS