1 Monster (1MONSTER.WAD)

We are more awash in limitation-based projects than ever, with 10 Sectors capturing the imagination of the community. When 1 Monster was conceived, Dr. Zin had 2 Sectors and Congestion 1024 in mind, though we've since seen 100 Lines and a whole host of resource-economy projects. What you don't see a lot of, though, are restrictions on enemy variety. Enter 1 Monster, a megaWAD where only one monster type is placed on each map. Every member of Doom II's bestiary is represented here, from the lowly zombiman to John Romero himself with his luscious locks of love. The project kicked off at the tail end of 2005 and then changed leads several times before seeing a final release in 2007. In its more or less final form, 1 Monster is a 25 map replacement for Doom II, to be played in Boom-compatible ports.

The Abandoned Mines II (AMINESII.WAD)

THE ABANDONED MINES II

by Kim Bach aka "Torn"

Kim Bach is another one of those ancillary Doom community figures who made a lot of contributions to group projects without ever really enjoying a substantial single release. His submissions include multiple iterations of the 32in24 series as well as 1 Monster and Mock 2. Torn's most high-profile contributions are probably Scythe's MAP31 ("I Dunno Torn") and, most recently, Back to Saturn X Episode One's MAP02 ("Postal Blowfish", alongside Sarah Mancuso / Esselfortium). His passion project appeared to be the prospective Flashback megaWAD, which had him rubbing elbows with Erik Alm, Esa Repo, and - again - Esselfortium. His 2002 /idgames debut, however, is The Abandoned Mines II, a MAP26 replacement for Doom II that was a submission to the then burgeoning Freedoom project. This level was still present all the way up until Freedoom's v0.12.0 release in 2019 (!!!).

Scythe (SCYTHE.WAD)

Some people like their Doom maps to be huge adventures or action-packed epics. Others prefer something short and sweet. Erik Alm's Scythe is the premiere Popcorn Doom mapset, a megaWAD that's composed of small levels that take a minute or two to finish. Released in 2003, it appears to take some of its cues from classic author Adam Windsor, known for his ability to crop up in classic mapsets. Windsor's Demonfear was a mapset composed of short levels that were fun to just gun through, and some levels originally meant for that project ended up in Requiem, among them a level titled "Chaos Zone", which bears a striking resemblance to Scythe's MAP32, "Enoz Soahc". Coincidence? You be the judge.

Back to Saturn X E1: Get Out of My Stations (BTSX_E1.WAD)

I hear whispers every month, people bemoaning a lack of output in the Doom community. It's like all the mappers have had their output drastically cut off, leaving only eager newbies to make the megaWADs of the future. Or, you know, some dastardly villain had many of the authors we know and love working in secret. But no longer! Now, we get Back to Saturn X. I thought it was going to be a slammin' Doom II megaWAD of stuff to blast through, but there's more. There's so much more. Back to Saturn X went from megaWAD to triple megaWAD, seeing release in three "episodes" filled by eager authors. This review concerns the first episode, Get Out of My Stations.