Id’s revival of the sequence final yr might need given the traditional Doom mod scene a little bit of a lift (or at the very least somewhat extra press protection), however 2017’s spree of manic exercise from one of many oldest and strongest mod scenes on the market was solely attributable to the group.
The sport could also be 24 years outdated, however Doom mods are cooler than ever, democratically talking. The lots have been heard, and ModDB’s Player’s Choice award for best mod of 2017 goes to Sgt Mark IV’s splatteriffic and bold Brutal Doom, which noticed a significant new beta launch this month.
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One of the commonest complaints leveled at Brutal Doom is that by altering the core sport’s steadiness a lot, it does not pair up nicely with mostly performed stage packs, vanilla Doom 2 & expansions included. The (beta) v21 launch goals to deal with that twice over. Firstly, when you play the unique Doom 2 marketing campaign, you will discover lots of the ranges remixed and enhanced in order to raised match the fashion of the mod. This is a wholly optionally available characteristic, however an fascinating one.
More importantly, this month noticed a beta (many maps are nonetheless in want of sharpening) launch of Exterminaton Day, Brutal Doom’s personal devoted marketing campaign. A full game-length set of ranges that take you all the way in which from the preliminary invasion of Mars, again to Earth, after which to Hell in semi-cinematic fashion, that includes some huge setpiece battles the place you’re employed alongside swarms of pleasant marines, and even drive tanks to cowl their advance in opposition to the armies of hell at one level. It’s filled with intelligent little particulars, too, just like the Mars ranges having barely decrease gravity, making for each simpler jumps and extra spectacular gib-fountains when you get away the explosive weaponry.
The Extermination Day ranges actually have a really feel all of their very own. This is not traditional Doom, neither is it Doom 2016, however slightly a hybrid of each with a touch of Duke Nukem 3D for flavour. Detailed, semi-realistic environments (particularly the cityscapes of the second act) packed to the gills with demons, however with loads of alternatives for extra tactical stop-and-pop fashion capturing. The ranges leverage the brand new weapons launched by the mod, together with a messy however highly effective single-shot grenade launcher, a room-clearing automated shotgun and a lethal railgun that punches bloody holes via linear columns of monsters. Ambitious secret-hunters would possibly simply discover the extremely highly effective Unmaker in Hell, too.
You can pick up Brutal Doom on ModDB, though the Extermination Day marketing campaign and accompanying music pack are at the moment hiding out on the developer’s Patreon page, free for anybody to entry. You’ll want Doom 2 (£1 on Steam, £2.50 with both expansions) and the GZDoom engine to run the mod. And whilst you’re at it, try our picks from the rest of this busy, busy year in Doom modding – there’s lots extra to select from.
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