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.

Valiant (VALIANT.WAD)

Skillsaw owned 2011's mapper of the year with two releases; Vanguard, an episode inspired by Speed of Doom that elicited cries of "make it a megaWAD!", and Lunatic, a minisode full of projectile-dodging that takes place on Earth's moon. In 2015, everyone who prayed for a megaWAD got their wish... and then some. Valiant is another full replacement for Doom II, and it's got all the bells and whistles, including five distinct episodes, extensive DeHackEd work that adds a handful of new monsters to the roster, and changes to Doom's most overlooked weapons, the pistol and chaingun. When all is said and done, the megaWAD hopefuls may have got more than they'd bargained for, or at the very least, something completely unexpected.

Sector 666 (666.WAD)

Paul DeBruyne clinched the Best Mapper Cacoward (in addition to two awards for two excellent mapsets) in 2011. He's a much older fixture in the community, however, having released this episode for Doom II back in 1998, after which he took a long break, returning to author in 2007. Sector 666 consists of ten limit-removing maps, with an implied story of a marine fighting his way through a conquered Earth Defense Force base to Hell itself. Actually, 666.WAD spans eleven map slots, but MAP06 was intentionally left blank. Did DeBruyne just wanted to get it published? Or did he just want to end the episode with the intermission text?

Hanging Gardens (HGARDEN.PK3)

HANGING GARDENS
by Paul "Skillsaw" DeBruyne

Hanging Gardens is a single map for GZDoom by Paul DeBruyne, released concurrently with Lunatic. It's the only part of an abandoned project he deemed worth releasing. It was supposed to take place on some kind of desert base, and judging from some of the elements present, it appears to combine elements of Serious Sam's gameplay with Doom's, but after having played DeBruyne's other maps I think this kind of slaughtery action is just his style. It also has a few new monsters, pulled from the Realm 667 Bestiary, the Suicide Bomber and the Archon of Hell. If I'm not mistaken, HGARDEN also has its own special effects pack, derived from Nash's gore mod.

Lunatic (LUNATIC.WAD)

Lunatic is a five-map minisode by Paul "Skillsaw" DeBruyne for limit-removing Boom-compatible ports. To make a long story short, if you enjoyed Vanguard (another 2011 release by DeBruyne), Lunatic should be right up your alley. It's a similar style of gameplay with smaller, tighter maps (compared to Vanguard's later, sweeping epics), and a few new twists. It's set on the moon, which recently collided with a giant ball of demons, the combined mass breaking it from its orbit and sending it toward Earth. You've got to fight your way across Luna's surface and through the resident UAC outpost to make your escape.

Vanguard (VANGUARD.WAD)

Vanguard is a Boom-compatible episode released in 2011 by Paul DeBruyne, aka "Skillsaw". In Paul's words, "Vanguard was planned to be a 32 level megawad inspired by Speed of Doom's development time and Scythe 2's episodic structure. However, I simply don't have the time/patience/focus to complete 32 levels at the moment, so I've decided the release the wad as-is." Would it have been nice if we'd gotten a full 32 level megawad? Yeah, and it'd be nice to have a solid gold cacodemon. You have to be happy with what you have to be happy, though, and there's plenty here to be happy with.