This project was born of out of two unreleased projects: the tastefully named
Hell School Shooting from Hell, which would have hyper-detailed tech-base maps using Chasm The Rift and Quake textures; and a project idea that I had when I was making maps for Ultimate Doom in Name Only and I noticed that Episode 2 levels would probably look cooler if they would follow a pure tech-base style with less hell-themed textures. And so, this project was born: an Episode 2 remake featuring hyper-detailed maps using Chasm The Rift and Quake textures and with minimal "corrupted base" visuals associated with The Shores of Hell.
During June or July of this year, I decided that I wanted to release something to celebrate Doom's 30th anniversary. I kind of lost interest in Doom-related activities for a couple of years, so I had no idea which wads were popular lately. I looked for cacoward winners from recent years and wads recommended by the community - Ancient Aliens, Eviternity, Auger;Zenith, Struggle: Antaresian Legacy, Elementalism etc. Even though those wads were excellent, and I had a lot of fun with them, I thought they didn't feel, well, "threatening". The visuals were bright and flashy, the colors were too strong, the music was upbeat, the gameplay felt safe and choreographed, the maps felt slightly artificial and not immersive. This project was partially designed with the objective of offering the opposite of these design ideas I disliked: the visuals are dark, filthy and chaotic; the music, atonal garbage that will make your ears bleed; the maps should feel like they could have been some real-life location and not like arenas for choreographed fighting; the layouts are confusing and maze-like, forcing you to use the automap - these locations want you dead as much as the demons in them.
This wad should be kind of challenging, but not overwhelming. I don't see much point in releasing easy maps - anyone that is hardcore enough to actually bother to download Doom wads is probably a veteran player that wants at least some semblance of challenge. But I also dislike wads on which difficulty seems to be the entire point - particularly, slaughter maps. The maps are very detailed, with tons of copy-pasted stuff and prefabs; and they have a slight survival horror vibe. Gameplay is heavy with Painkiller and Doom 2016 styled arena fights. Probably not for everyone, but I think they are fun. The levels are very non-linear and reward exploration: you can always try to find the exit as fast as possible if you don't give a shit, but you will miss a lot of loot to be found in optional areas and secrets.
Overall, I'm very pleased with how this project turned out (and that I somehow managed to finish it before Doom's 30th anniversary). I hope you have fun playing it.
