Phobos (PHOBOS.WAD)

Roger Ritenour’s Phobos is a four-map minisode for Doom II that reuses the implicit story of the first four maps of the original's "Knee Deep in the Dead". The player arrives at the research facility on Phobos, fighting through the hanger, the nuclear plant, toxin refinery, and then Command and Control, where the demons undoubtedly struck first. However, rather than reinventing the wheel with another Episode One style mapset, Ritenour worked to make each location as realistic as possible. He does a pretty good job. Where Earth had some gorgeous surf and sand, and maybe a glass elevator, Phobos is filled to the brim with specialized textures and ingenious special effects that help to develop the character of each level.

Earth (EARTH.WAD)

Roger Ritenour’s Earth is a vanilla Doom II episode, released in 1998 (though timestamped at the end of September). The protagonist returns to Earth on a rugged coastline only to find it overrun by demons. Over the course of ten maps, he fights off the invasion, capturing key objectives and earning the planet yet another reprieve. Earth is one of those vanilla Doom II mapsets that remains a technical marvel for its creative use of animated textures. One of the first things you’ll see is the shoreline, with waves crashing against the rocks, splashing over the rugged edges. It’s a prominent motif and perhaps the single best feature the WAD has to offer. There are some other cool bits, like trim added to rocky textures to make them seem more natural.