Pitfalls (PITFALLS.WAD)

PITFALLS
by "C30N9"

The Plutonia Revisited Community Project was fortunate enough to have enough submitted maps to be able to reject a few. Well, lucky for PRCP; not so for the misfits' authors. Pitfalls, by C30N9, was one of the levels that didn't make the cut. Released on its own, it's a medium-size level replacing MAP01 to be played with the Plutonia IWAD. It's pretty abstract for a Plutonia level, which is probably one of the reasons it didn't make the cut. C30N9 plays around with a handful of interesting set pieces, but the whole package feels kind of scatterbrained as it moves from theme to theme.

Coffee Break Episode 1 (CAFEBRK1.WAD)

Matt Tropiano has been making Doom levels since 1998 and as late as 2012 he decided to grace us with a megaWAD in progress which he'd called quits on, subtitled Episode 1 so that he could pick it up again if he got up the gumption. Coffee Break's first episode consists of eleven Doom II levels, to be played in Boom / MBF compatible ports. It's got some extra care when played in ZDoom-derived stuff but nothing important, just ending the game at MAP11 to cap things off. There's no real story, just intermission texts that hint at the usual demon-blasting goodness.

Lost Way (LOSTWAY.WAD)

LOST WAY
by "Lainos"

If Russian author Lainos is known for anything, it's his crop of expressive, exploratory city levels. Works like 5till L1 Complex are known for their sheer size and non-linearity, so his Lost Way - also release in 2012 - comes as quite the departure. LOSTWAY is a single map for Doom II to be played in limit-removing source ports with .OGG support, preferably PrBoom+. It's a city level, of course, the textures drawing from the same fountainhead as Overdose, but there's a little something extra poured into the pot, an Egyptian flavoring  that suggests something beyond his usual oeuvre.

Survive in Hell (SIHR2FIX.WAD)

French author JC Dorne started work on Survive in Hell as early as 2008, looking at the sector stamps. He eventually finished and released it in 2012, a Boom-compatible megaWAD for Doom II. Not only is it BooMBF, but it's got bonus cosmetic features for those playing in ZDoom-derived ports, a nice touch you don't see often. There's no given story, and what comes across in the intermission texts is your essential marine-conquers-all scenario where you battle into the very heart of Hell to do what you do best - kill all of the demons. You'll see a lot of Hell and you'll also see a lot of less specific locales...

Titania (TITANIA.WAD)

TITANIA
by JC Dorne

Apart from Survive in Hell, JCD's token one man megaWAD, his only other solo release as of this writing is Titania, published in 2012 for Doom II. It hasn't graced the archives, but it's interred on the Doomed Speed Demo Archive if you want to take a look. (EDIT 12/22/13: JCD uploaded it to the archives on 12/17/13!) He describes it as a small map inspired by Ultimate Doom, but if that means upwards of 250 monsters with a layout to match, he has a very different sensibility about level size. Titania has no given story. It's clearly a UAC techbase complete with a front desk, but that's it.

3 Heures d'agonie (3HAFINAL.WAD)

Necromantic Thirst may be on hiatus but French Doomers JC and Oxyde managed to wring some maps out of their burgeoning community. Speedmaps, that is. 3 Heures d'Agonie was constructed under one general guideline; authors were to map for no longer than three hours. Of course, it's just a guideline, with some taking slightly more time in their editor of choice. 3HA is a collection, offering no major themes and no given story. It does fill all thirty-two map slots, though, to be played with Doom II in limit-removing sourceports. While there's no defined theme there are a fair bit of custom textures added so that you have something new to look at and a pretty good soundtrack to enjoy them with. 

Jägermörder - 01 : Chemical Lab (DMDJM01.WAD)

JÄGERMÖRDER 01
CHEMICAL LAB
by Derek "Afterglow" Mac Donald

Derek Mac Donald, otherwise known as Afterglow, is more known for his deathmatch works than anything, so it's interesting to see such a dedicated author take a run at the single player side of Doom. Mac Donald wouldn't release the second Jägermörder level until 2005, but in 1999 he published this single level - Chemical Lab - for Doom II, to be run in Boom-compatible ports. It's a short MAP01 replacement in a techbase style. The supplied story describes a Hellish invasion in the Colorado Rocky Mountains where UAC computer anomalies were ascribed to ever-infamous Microsoft malfunctions. The oversight allowed the demons to slip in, so it's up to you to fight to the teleporter technology they used to enter and slay the source on the other side.

Batman Doom (BATMAN.WAD)

You never forget your first superhero. Some twenty years ago, my big two faves were the X-Men cartoon and Batman: The Animated Series. I only have one of those on DVD today; you can probably guess which one. It's TAS, by the way, because B:TAS is awesome, and even though I am a much bigger Spider-Man fan, when I go DC, it's Batman all the way. Batman Doom, released in 1999, is a fun throwback to that 90s Batman fever. It pulls a lot more from the comics than either TAS or the movies, but you can see where they intrude. It's also designed for DOS (not vanilla!) Doom II, doing an unprecedented amount of mod work with DeHackEd. Batman Doom comes from the ACE Team - Andres, Carlos, and Edmundo Bordeau. I think this is where they started their work; nowadays, they're releasing actual games for money, most recently Steam favorite Rock of Ages.