Aliens TC (ALITCWAD.WAD)

The Aliens TC, released by Justin Fisher in 1994, is Doom's best-known "TC" and also one of the few high-quality partial conversions using popular commercial assets that remains on the /idgames archive. For awhile, Fisher's name became a pretty hot property, and everyone was watching and waiting to see what his next project would be. In the end, all we have is the remnant of the Nemisis TC, and about an entire world's worth of promise. Fisher left a profound mark on the game industry, from the aspect of user modifications to actual industry professionals some years down the line, and even got to see Terry Pratchett (RIP) play an early beta at a sci-fi con. And, well, that last bit may be the greatest accomplishment of all, depending on your outlook in life.

Galaxia: The Ultimate Czech Level (GALAXIA.WAD)

GALAXIA
THE ULTIMATE CZECH LEVEL
by Pavel Hodek

The story - you're part of a pair of survivors still living after the spaceship Galaxia suffered through a swarm of asteroids. You resign to repair the ship. Unbeknownst to you, the ship is headed toward a black hole, and because this is science fiction, your ship travels through the hole to another place entirely and escapes the usual fate of compression to a singularity as befalls most matter. Smarminess aside, you land on an alien planet, find a post-apocalyptic race of telepathic subterranean humans terrorized by giant spiders, and join the resistance before shit goes crazy and you're forced into action.

Get all that? Okay.

Crossing Acheron (ACHERON666.WAD, ACHERON2.WAD)

CROSSING ACHERON
by John "Dr. Sleep" Anderson

Crossing Acheron is the second level in John "Dr. Sleep" Anderson's Inferno series, loosely inspired by Dante's Inferno. Of the eight available maps (many of which can be found as part of the Master Levels for Doom II), only two are available on the idgames archives: the precursor, Dante's Gate, and this one. Like its progenitor, it comes in several different flavors, but I'll be differentiating between 1.666 (for Doom) and 2.0a (for Doom II).  The story so far - you've passed through Dante's Gate in order to find your beloved Beatrice and wind up on the shores of Acheron (whose features are not included in the map, a fact noted by Anderson in the .TXT). Your guide, Virgil, is missing and you're already under assault by demonic forces. Like any good hero, you must continue to seek out Bea, slaying everything in your way.

The Unholy Trinity (TRINITY.WAD)

THE UNHOLY TRINITY
by Steve McCrea, Simon Wall, and Elias Papavassilopoulos

A lot of folks that mapped for Doom in the golden age made imitations of real places, be they their work places, houses, or schools. Occasionally you'd see a few crude graphics that placed the map apart from Doom's aesthetics, but the textures were unmistakable. Steve McCrea took level design to the next level as early as 1994. He ran around his college campus, Trinity College, snapping shots of all the buildings and whatnot, made some new textures, and got together with his friends to make a map out of it. In the end, we get The Unholy Trinity, a decidedly goofy E1M1 replacement that plays pretty well.

Doomsday of UAC (UAC_DEAD.WAD)

DOOMSDAY OF UAC
by Leo Martin Lim

The plot: Hellspawn just attacked a UAC base. Your bosses send a truck to pick up you along with five other marines. Just outside of the complex, the invaders attack the truck. Luckily, they miss the false wall at the trailer's front, and when you come to, you spill out into the cabin, taking on the invading force all on your lonesome as your buddies are nowhere to be found. Sure, the odds suck, but someone's got to do it.

Return to Phobos (RETURN01.WAD)

If the original Doom has given us anything, it's the basis for a bajillion episode replacements. The perennial favorite, Knee Deep in the Dead, has inspired most of them, rivaled only by Thy Flesh Consumed, likely since that wasn't part of the initial release. Return to Phobos is an Episode One replacement circa '94 from Michael Kelsey. Kelsey was the author of what many consider to be Doom's first "serious" level, STONES. RETURN delivers on the promise of early forays with the editor to produce a nice selection of early but playable Doom levels with a mostly Phobos-like texture scheme.

Eternity (ETERNITY.WAD)

One month later and still in 1994, Bjorn Hermans (tester) and Holger Nathrath (mapper) followed up their Serenity Episode 3 replacement with an Episode 2 replacement titled Eternity. As before, there is no story or thematic consistency to this collection, just a bunch of goofy titles. This mapset is a step up in composition and difficulty from their freshman effort, but I feel that the map detailing is a bit more generic, lacking some of the interesting designs like the large pit room from "R U Lonesome?" or the movie theatre gimmick from "Doom -- The Movie". It's a pretty solid set, though, with a few caveats.

Serenity (SERENITY.WAD)

Published in 1994, Serenity is among the first of many episode replacements for Doom that have cropped up since its release. Tested by Bjorn Hermans and mapped by Holger Nathrath, it's also the first of a trilogy of episode replacements, continued in Eternity (Episode 2) and ending in Infinity (Episode 1). Serenity doesn't attempt to follow the themes of Inferno in spite of being an Episode 3 replacement. Nor does it have anything approaching a common theme. Rather, it just looks like Bjorn and Holger having fun, creating a series of eight maps (no secret) that goes down smooth, all things considered.

The Evil Unleashed (TEUTIC.WAD)

(TITLEPIC based on "Outer Ascension" ©2017-2019 Julian-Faylona)

Hot on the heels of their first episode WAD for Doom, the Teutonic TiC - Thomas and Denis Möller - released The Evil Unleashed as their sophomore WAD building effort, this time replacing Episode 3. It follows most of the same design principles behind Slaughter Until Death, but with tighter gameplay and slightly harder difficulty and even better architecture and design. As with SUDTIC, the aesthetic theme is an abstract union between all of Doom's textures with no real attempt at an overarching plot, but that's fine, because while a plot can enhance the feel of Doom, the real meat is in the gameplay, and TEUTIC delivers.

Slaughter Until Death (SUDTIC.WAD)

Perhaps no team of Doomers is better known in the early days of Doom than The Innocent Crew. Thomas and Dennis Moeller (aka Panza and Grindcrusher / Vorthalak respectively) raised the bar on PWAD level quality from near the beginning and continued to do so until they left to map for id's next big release, Quake. In their wake, they left two Doom episode replacements, a partial conversion (and megawad) for Doom II, and three community megawads, also for Doom II. They never really bothered with stories; they just liked making maps for the Hell of it.