Tower of Lies (LIES.WAD)

TOWER OF LIES

by "scwiba"

scwiba got his start in the 1 Monster project, kicking off a career of gimmick-dedicated mapsets. He was awfully quiet for the following nine or so years until 2016, with the Cacoward-winning Absolutely Killed. In the year prior in 2015, however, he published this level, Tower of Lies. It's a MAP01 replacement for Doom II to be played in a limit-removing port. Not hearing anything about it beyond its author just about disowning it, I wasn't sure what to expect. On its face, this is a regular ol' climb through a demon-infested tower. It's still deeply invested in being a gimmick level, though, even if figuring it as such involves a deep reading of its level design with respect to its name. It's all in the name, isn't it?

Inn-Escapable (INNESC3.WAD)

INN-ESCAPABLE

by Mike "Impie" MacDee

Mike debuted in the community making relatively vanilla Doom II levels in terms of action if not necessarily the intended settings. Impie made his first major mark exploring the Cthulhu mythos with Strange Aeons but he also delved into Alone In the Dark's Derceto manor. He additionally riffed on a toy line (MAX1 and MAX2, the latter for Heretic). Inn-Escapable doesn't reference a recognizable property because it actually comes from a series of one-off adventures that he composed for the HeroQuest board game. It doesn't look like it's currently available on his website, though. INNESC is a MAP01 replacement for Doom II that apparently requires a ZDoom-family port but not for any obvious reason. Jumping is not recommended as it could break the level.

Mayhem 1500 (MAYHEM15.WAD)

Every May since 2012 Doomworld community members have gotten together in an attempt to make a megaWAD in a month. It isn't polished and finalized by June, though, and it might not even be finished during the same year. The 2015 session followed in the grand tradition of MAYHEM13 insofar as it wasn't released until 2016. It is also the second of the projects to reach the symbolic status of a full game replacement, occupying MAP01-MAP32 with additional bonus levels in the MAP33 and MAP34 slots. MAYhem 1500, like its forebears, is meant to be played in a Boom-compatible source port. If you play it in something that supports a brand of MAPINFO, though, then the secret levels will transition smoothly into the extra stuff.

Derceto (DERCETOV3_UDMF.WAD)

DERCETO

by Mike "Impie" MacDee

Mike is more popular for his total conversions that explore a host of other universes, some his own and others from preexisting properties. His earliest efforts plied this same angle but stayed within vanilla Doom II's combat stylings. The references served as springboards for the imagination, allowing you to fill in the details left out by using id Software's stock textures. Derceto is a tribute to the original Alone in the Dark - a landmark survival horror title - and was originally released in 2014. It saw a significant facelift in 2015, though, where Impie gave the adventure a new coat of paint. The original is still available on /idgames if you're curious but this review covers the updated version that can be found on the author's personal website. Both are MAP01 replacements for Doom II. The first release targeted limit-removing source ports with jumping as a feature. The second has a much narrower band as it utilizes the UDMF format. Eternity should still be in the game, then. (G)ZDoom ought to work for sure.

PhobosDeimos Anomaly (PD1-ANOM.WAD)

When Hellbent more or less started Doom the Way id Did, I doubt that he considered its potential to become a movement. It's daunting to think of all the levels associated with the project, from the 27 in the official release to the 55 of the Lost Episodes, the insanity of No End In Sight's 38, and isolated releases like ProcessingControl's Castle of Fear. Callum Guy Oliver, aka phobosdeimos1, had no less than twelve submissions (thirteen if you count "Dark Passage"). Unfortunately, like his contributions to Interception, Oliver passed away before his DTWiD levels were published on the archives. PhobosDeimos Anomaly, released in the latter half of 2015, is the final element of his legacy supposing that no one has the unfinished third chapter in his Raw Action series.

Elf Gets Pissed (ELFGP.WAD)

Everyone loves Doom. Sadly, Heretic user levels are few and far between. Is it because of the bestiary? The colorful but muted impact of its weapons? Or does juggling an inventory get in the way of fantasy run and gun? Whatever the reason, Heretic faithfuls such as myself are so blessed that Doomworld Forum superstar RottKing has been nursing his Heretic fetish over the past few years. The end product, released in 2015, is Elf Gets Pissed - a Heretic episode one replacement to be played in ZDoom. RottKing's last big dance was his 2011 duet with Ralphis, Double Impact. But, uh, I can't really compare DBIMPACT with ELFGP as Heretic's gameplay carries certain inalienable elements that prevent it, for better or for worse, from being a mere fantasy reskin of Doom.

InstaDoom (INSTADM.ZIP)

INSTADOOM
by Andrew "Linguica" Stine

If you bore witness to any aspect of the InstaDoom craze back in 2015, it was probably its included add-on, Selfie Doom. Given the mod's title, it's clear that the selfie stick wasn't the original focus, but for awhile it was One Hot Topic. I was right there, too, taking a number of Doomguy selfies for the Doom WADs Tumblr until some people became especially tired of them. Like Vuvuzela Doom, the star burned bright, searing its place in the big book of Doom history as one of the more humorous footnotes, to be resurrected for a laugh when the need presents itself.

Sharp Things (XA-SHARP.WAD)

SHARP THINGS
by Xaser Acheron

Xaser published three individual maps to the Doomworld forums in 2015, only one of which had its genesis in that year. Interestingly, the other two owe their existence to Battle of the Bits bouts from 2014 and 2013. Where 2014 had All Aboard the Mega Magilla Gorilla Flotilla, 2013 takes things in a different direction - Sharp Things. For starters, the level is for the original Doom, being an E1M1 replacement. It's also a bit longer, and not completely soaked with damage floors. No; where XA-GORIL explores the economy of movement in Doom, XA-SHARP is about running around like an astronaut and liberally hosing everything with plasma.

All Aboard the Mega Magilla Gorilla Flotilla (XA-GORIL.WAD)

ALL ABOARD THE MEGA
MAGILLA GORILLA FLOTILLA
by Xaser Acheron

Xaser is nothing if not industrious. While all of the big projects continue to drift at a glacial pace, he cranked out a handful of single level releases in 2015 to whet the appetites of those who have come to wait with baited breath. This little number is All Aboard the Mega Magilla Gorilla Flotilla. Kind of a mouthful, no? Actually, while XA-GORIL was "released" in 2015, it originates as part of a jam hosted by Battle of the Bits that wrapped up in late 2014. I see that it's got ten other compatriots, some of which are familiar faces. Interesting! Gorilla is a MAP01 replacement that should be playable in your source port of choice, supposing that it isn't some crazy engine that's more broken than vanilla.

Realm 667 Doomjá-vu Competition

DOOMJÁ-VU
hosted by Realm667

as featured in Super Serials

Mouldy Old Void	Put Up Your Dukes!
dead.wire	Black Magnetic
The Heart of Stone	Celestial Site

If you think about it, in a certain way, just about every community project is some kind of a competition, where managing to get a level in the running order is the reward. And then, you get events like Doomworld's 10 Sectors, which had almost 150 submission and actual prizes. Daniel Gimmer, aka Tormentor667, decided to do his own little contest in 2015 - Doomjá-vu. The grand prize was Spikey, a custom-made plush imp, but there were prizes all the way down to 5th place. The way things turned out, well, Torm only had six entries, so it almost turned out that everyone got a prize just for showing up. Ah, well, sucks to be that sixth guy!

Mouldy Old Void (MOLDYOLDVOID.PK3)

MOULDY OLD VOID
by "zrrion the insect"

zrrion doesn't have the biggest back catalog, but he's still got a pretty good reputation as a GZDoom map author. As far as I know, he was pretty quiet after the release of ZDCMP2, showing some work on a Hexen level, but that all changed in 2015. Tormentor kicked off a contest where authors would take a deconstructed layout based on Doom's E1M7 and build a map off it. The end result was six interestingly varied GZDoom levels, with zrrion ultimately winning the vote with Mouldy Old Void. As with the rest of its peers, it's a MAP01 replacement. And, like the others, zrrion has brought his own incalculable character, contributing to Doomja Vu's rich patchwork of experiences.

The Heart of Stone (THE HEART OF STONE.PK3)

THE HEART OF STONE
by "evil space tomato"

So. Tormentor may not be known as the most organized community organizer, but he sure knows how to kick a party off. Take 2015's Doomja Vu, for instance. The project kicked off with a lot of discussion on Doomworld, but the furor just seemed to evaporate once things got underway. At the end, with all the people giving their opinions, we only got six levels built around a sort of abstracted layout of E1M7 ("Computer Station"). This one is The Heart of Stone, from evil space tomato. Like every other entry, it's a MAP01 replacement for GZDoom. And, like some of the contestants, EST has given the action a bit of a framing story.

Put Up Your Dukes! (CLIFFBASE.WAD)

PUT UP YOUR DUKES!
by "Sgt. Shivers"

In 2015, Daniel Gimmer - aka the infamous Tormentor667 of Realm667 - decided to host a contest, complete with physical prizes. Doomja Vu gave players a streamlined and depersonalized layout of E1M7 and asked them to build a map around it, with some additional provisions. Of all the entries, Sgt. Shivers' is the least ambitious, but it's refreshing when compared against the space-bound labyrinth of Celestial Site. Put Up Your Dukes! (or, per the filename, CLIFFBASE) is a fun slice of arcade-style action that abandons pretty much any pretense of being Doom II.

Celestial Site (CSITE.WAD)

CELESTIAL SITE
by "DooMSkeR Scratch"

Tormentor hosted a competition in 2015 for some actual prizes. The goal - take a sort of generalized layout of Doom's E1M7 ("Computer Station") and turn it into something...else. Each author approached this in different ways, of course, and the few levels I've played so far are vastly divorced from one another. This particular entry is DooMSkeR Scratch's Celestial Site, named I believe for the fact that it occurs on a space station, you having just arrived by shuttle. The text file has zero setup for the action, but it doesn't really need any. It's about as simple as a big fuckoff starbase that's been invaded by Hell.

Black Magnetic (BLACKMV13.WAD)

BLACK MAGNETIC
by "Angry Saint"

Daniel Gimmer's 2015 Doomja Vu contest resulted in six brand new levels based on a sort of deconstruction of "Computer Station"'s (E1M7) layout. But, well, "level" hardly describes any of these offerings. Angry Saint's Black Magnetic is still Doom to the core, but with some important differences in gameplay based on his custom bestiary, and looking very different due to widespread 3D floors and almost exclusive use of Pawel Zarcynski's NMN Corporation textures. The end result is a pretty unique experience that reminds me of Enjay's Gene-Tech, insofar as it's a microcosm distilled into a single map.

Nashville, Tennessee (NSHVILLE.WAD)

NASHVILLE,
TENNESSEE
by Paul "Skillsaw" DeBruyne

Brian Knox's ill-fated Secret Santa project had two official releases, Forsaken Overlook and Drown Stone. A few more have trickled out - Joshy did Xaser for Resurgence's MAP31. And, now, we have Skillsaw's gift. Nashville, Tennessee may seem an esoteric title for those not in the know, but most Doomworld regulars will be able to put two and two together and figure out that this is a thinly veiled Secret Santa gift to Memfis, done in the style of what was his most popular release at the time, Kuchitsu. In a case of classic situational irony, Kuchitsu was something Memfis wanted to do as a sort of swan song to a style that he wanted to distance himself from. I can only assume that this level, released two years later in 2015, comes as an unwelcome reminder.

The Last Sanctuary (TLS.WAD)

THE LAST SANCTUARY
by "cybermind"

The Russian Doom Community never fails to amaze. It's not that they have fun events like the First-try Demo Contest (FDC), but the fact that they manage to secure fantastically memorable maps as FDA fodder. I still remember the labyrinthine, action-packed techbase of 2013 - Archi and C4tnt's Fuel Devourer. This time, it's Cybermind's chance to shine, an author I only know through his contributions to Whitemare and Whitemare 2. This particular item, released in 2015, is The Last Sanctuary, one bigass MAP01 replacement for MBF-compatible ports.

Strange Aeons (STRANGEAEONS*.PK3)

Strange Aeons is a full 36-level megaWAD for the original Doom, released - more or less - in 2015 by Mike MacDee aka Doomworld Forum superstar Impie. As it requires ZDoom, it's something much more than a plain ol' Doom mapset; its almost exclusive use of textures from Chasm: The Rift, coupled with a few new weapons and a basically brand new bestiary, puts it right alongside the other "total conversions" of yore... and recent memory. It also has a plot, set up in the PDF and expanded in the end text of each episode, so you're free to get as invested as your imagination will allow.

Plutocracy (PLUTCY.WAD)

PLUTOCRACY
by Franck "franckFRAG" Livolant

franckFRAG has made a bit of a name for himself as a purveyor of levels that seem composed almost entirely of death starts, mostly in his Swift Death, where every map begins in a bad situation that only seems to get worse as you poke your head around looking for some sort of foothold. Plutocracy is sort of a logical offshoot of this action brand, a MAP28 replacement released in 2015 to be played with The Plutonia Experiment (naturally). Like most of Franck's work, it doesn't come with any sort of story, but you're free to insert it anywhere in your personal Doom chronology. I think it fits in pretty well with the spirit of Swift Death, if not in its entire execution, but historical sticklers may note that it started out as a Plutinya 1024 map before quickly overgrowing its bounds.

The Warlock's Hearth (WARLH.WAD)

THE WARLOCK'S HEARTH
by Adam "Khorus" Woodmansey

I know Khorus has done a ton of things, but I only really know him from his 2011-now stuff, starting with Khorus's Speedy Shit. As such, the vast majority of my Doom II experience with him is relegated - almost entirely - to fairly difficult speedmaps. Imagine my surprise when Adam announced The Warlock's Hearth, a single map released in 2015 for limit-removing ports which is not at all short, and while it may have its moments, it lacks the omnipresent oppressive feeling that comes with Khorus's shorter, wilder levels. Plus, unlike all those KSSHT levels, it actually has a title!