Doom II In Name Only RDC

By some accounts, Doom 2 In Name Only was a disaster. The initial goal of the project was to just take a level name and then do whatever seemed appropriate - to create a map that justified its appellation. When opened up to the community, though, some of the authors went counter to the potentially experimental direction, creating a mixed bag of levels that at times explored one of the most common criticisms of Doom II, that the experience did not hold up to the expectations of the setting, enforcing monster progression and vanilla textures (outside of Xaser's madness) coupled with clashing author styles and a lack of focus. The Russian Doom Community took some inspiration from the release, from which comes this episode covering the first nine levels. Doom 2 In Name Only RDC has some clear goals; it dumps any aspirations of vanilla compatibility, even sneaking in a few scrolling floors. It also uses a bunch of new textures to further distance itself from the original Doom II experience... even if there are some obvious homages crammed in there.

Whitemare 2 (WHITE2.WAD)

The Russian Doom Community has this thing they do on occasion where they build a megaWAD out of selections from assorted "freakmapping" speedmapping competitions, after tuning up some of the submissions and adding a few new ones. This gave us Heroes' Tales back in 2009 and Whitemare in 2011. Whitemare 2, released in 2014, is a full-fledged megaWAD for Doom II for Boom-compatible engines (specifically PrBoom+). This time, the demons decide to ruin Doomguy's New Year celebration by stealing winter, disrupting the normal progression of the seasons. Or, something like that. I think that Doomguy starts off by fighting off another demon invasion, with them absconding with winter and causing a skip right on through to spring. You rush off to rescue it, and succeed, only to find that something evil has snuck back with the season.

Heroes' Tales (HT.WAD)

If I know anything about the Russian Doom community, it's that they love their speedmap competitions. A year ago, this gave birth to the Christmas time megaWAD Whitemare, but back in 2009 an assortment of entries were combined with brand spankin' new material to create Heroes' Tales. It's a full-fledged megaWAD for limit-removing ports that requires the Evilution IWAD for resources in several areas. HT doesn't work as a sequel to TNT, though. Its story is more or less draped over the framework of the rearranged levels. The text is vague and could really apply to any scenario, to the point that I'm not really sure it's even worth expounding upon. Suffice it to say that you're going to fight your way through a bunch of demon infested areas until you put the hurt on the big bad that's responsible.

Da Will (DAWILL.WAD)

Da Will is a 2009 release of Russian mapping team Clan [B0S], a ten-map episode for The Plutonia Experiment (Doom II) meant to be played in limit-removing source ports. Clan [B0S] has gone on to make more ambitious releases; Da Will should be a comparably comfortable mapset, especially for players more at home with traditional Doom II action (namely Plutonia). The plot takes the player through Central American jungles in search of the mysterious Object "33", continuing on from Lainos's Object "32". I think I've finally come to understand what the Objects are (though I'm probably wrong) – they're foreboding ruins which the UAC has foolishly constructed bases nearby. The installation by Object "33" has ceased communications, and you've been tasked with locating the ruins and finding out what went wrong.

Whitemare (WHITEMAR.WAD)

Whitemare is a Russian Doom Community project, steeped in the theme of winter. Near the tail end of 2010, iddqd.ru had a speedmap competition; twelve levels produced from the event form the base of this megaWAD, some undergoing serious renovation. The other six were added in after the fact, forming the eighteen-map work released near the beginning of 2011. It's got a rudimentary framework-plot to boot. Demons can't abide by Christmas and New Years celebrations so it's Doomguy's job to stop them from ruining everyone's fun. And, yes, this WAD has a very slight Christmas theme in addition to the general winter feel, if the numerous Christmas trees made out of level geometry didn't tip you off.

Sacrament (SACRMENT.WAD)

Sacrament is the second collaboration from Clan [B0S], a loose confederation of Russian Doomers. It's a large episode (thirteen maps) for Doom II for limit-removing ports and features a host of new graphics as well as ingenious use of stock material. The plot isn't very clear, though I suspect it's a language barrier difficulty. From what I gather, you wake up from a nightmare (MAP01) and are contacted to proceed to your base of operations. Gradually you discover that the apocalypse is in full swing, and in some twisted form of the rapture, the worthy have ascended to heaven while the damned turn into unholy abominations and fight each other on a now-deserted Earth. Which begs the question, why have you alone retained your humanity? The mysterious voices – angels, perhaps? - wonder that themselves. It's a question unanswered when the finale rolls around, sadly.