Sunlust (SUNLUST.WAD)

Insane_Gazebo had a dream. His goal - to pair slaughter combat with beautiful environments, because it's what he wanted to play, and as far as he could see was pretty much nonexistent. It looks as though he may have left, and while some people may still have their fingers crossed, I guess that Sunder is pretty much done... for now. IG may have fulfilled his dream better than he could have hoped, though. His influence is felt through a new generation of authors who have taken his approach to heart, kicking off a revolution of iteration and experimentation, plumbing previously unexplored depths in gameplay and aesthetics. Ribbiks and dannebubinga count themselves among Sunder's disciples, possessed by a strong LUST for the paradigm brought to life by Insane_Gazebo. Seeing each other as kindred spirits, they combined their talents to bring you this intense loveletter to Sunder - Sunlust.

Danne's E1 (DANNE1.WAD)

Daniel Jakobsson's forte is slaughter maps, if you hadn't already guessed with Combat Shock, Combat Shock 2, or his Slaughterfest entries. It comes as some surprise that he published a limit-removing Episode One replacement for Doom in 2013, though it's a surprise tempered with some bemusement, as he's outspoken about his dislike for the original Doom in general and Doom the Way id Did. Danne's E1 was a learning experience from a player who had moved far beyond the original Doom and, indeed, Doom II with the advent of mapsets like Speed of Doom and Sunder. Here it is, though, his token E1 replacement for those of you who can't get enough of Phobos.

Combat Shock 2 (C-SHOCK2.WAD)

I finished my 2012 Cacowards reviews almost a year ago, with one exception... Combat Shock 2. I've been dreading this, not because I hate slaughtermaps, because I don't. I just knew that I was in for a harrowing journey, if quite memorable. Combat Shock is now a series, I guess. The first, released in 2011, showed Doomworld Forum superstar dannebubinga's mapping talents to the world, a tribute to The Plutonia Experiment that went off the deep end after some liberal influence from the still in-utero Sunder. Its sequel, also for Boom-compatible ports, is more pain in the same vein. This time, Jakobsson has broken the experience into a series of minisodes that count down. Three gorgeous green and earthy maps, two orange metal and magma monstrosities, and one long redout. Oh, and a cute little bonus map.

Combat Shock (C-SHOCK.WAD)

I've played a lot of maps I could call slaughterfests, but few of them are on the scale of contemporary difficulty, i.e. Sunder, Newgothic - Movement 1, or Deus Vult 1 and 2. Sure, there are classic "slaughter" PWADs like Hell Revealed and Alien Vendetta, but the scale of these works is usually smaller compared to the newschool slaughters and the impressive architecture that almost always accompanies them. Combat Shock, by Doomworld forum superstar Daniel "dannebubinga" Jakobsson, is my first proper experience in this genre I have so loosely defined. That is to say, I've played some isolated crazy levels in contemporary stuff, including but not limited to Survive in Hell and Doom 2 Unleashed. Thinking back, most of the megaWADs I've recently played have at least one newschool slaughtermap, so I'm no virgin. I'm also no vet, as I can attest to my difficulty with this mapset.