Doom WAD Logbook
Posted on 2025-02-11 by DK1MIThis is not an ordinary blog post and it will not interest most readers. But for me personally it serves to record which Doom WADs I have already played and what my verdict is on them. Having already played a few WADs, I’ve unfortunately lost track of them and would now like to take a more structured approach.
It’s worth mentioning that I’m a casual player with a mediocre skill level. I started playing a few MegaWADs and was very enthusiastic at the beginning, but the game became so difficult towards the end that I lost interest and quit. I play to relax, I have enough challenges in real life. I also like simple oldschool maps. If the flow is right, I have fun with a WAD.
The following table lists all WADs in the order in which I have played them and describes whether I have played through the WAD and if not, why.
# | Name | Doom | Port | Year | Maps | Ended | Verdict | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Doom the Way id Did | 1 | Vanilla | 2011 | 27 | ✔ | as the name says: It’s like the original and therfore great | **** |
2 | Doom 2 the Way id Did | 2 | Vanilla | 2013 | 33 | ✔ | as the name says: It’s like the original and therfore great | **** |
3 | Hell Ground | 2 | Boom | 2009 | 7 | ✔ | needs GZDoom or similar, fun | **** |
4 | Brutal Doom | 2 | GZDoom | 2010 | ?? | no | gameplay mod, it’s a must play but in the end not my cup of tea | **** |
5 | Hellbound | 2 | LR | 2013 | 32 | ✔ | excellent megawad with replay-value | ***** |
6 | SIGIL | 1 | LR | 2019 | 9 | ✔ | Must play, made by Romero | **** |
7 | SIGIL 2 | 1 | LR | 2023 | 9 | ✔ | Must play, made by Romero | **** |
8 | 5till L1 Complex | 2 | LR | 2012 | 1 | ✔ | one huge map with lots of places to explore | **** |
9 | Pirate Doom | 2 | GZDoom | 2012 | 18 | ✔ | Monkey Island meets Doom. Excellent! | ***** |
10 | Ashes 2063 | 2 | GZDoom | 2021 | 16? | ✗ | Need to replay this. I think it is excellent but I wasn’t in the mood for it back then. | ***** |
11 | Revolution! | 2 | Vanilla | 2003 | 32 | ✔ | *** | |
12 | Crumpets | 2 | Boom | 2015 | 9 | ✗ | excessive amount of overpowered monsters | * |
13 | The Ultimate NMD | 1 | Vanilla | 2009 | 27 | ✔ | lots of fun. Easy in the beginning, moderate in the end | **** |
14 | Lunatic | 2 | Boom | 2011 | 5 | ✗ | excessive amount of overpowered monsters | * |
15 | Valiant | 2 | MBF/MBF21 | 2015 | 32 | ✗ | excessive amount of overpowered monsters | * |
16 | One Humanity | 2 | LR | 2022 | 1 | ✔ | Buy it, it’s for a good cause | *** |
17 | Death in the a$$ of the Universe | 1 | Vanilla | 2003 | 27 | ✔ | Starts easy and gets more difficult but nevr unfair. Plenty of ammo. | *** |
18 | RTC-3057 | 2 | ZDoom | 2003 | 7 | ✔ | A brilliant space themed 3D adventure like Doom II partial conversion | ***** |
19 | Suspended in Dusk | 2 | Vanilla | 2005 | 4 | ✔ | Four big, complex and beautiful levels | **** |
20 | UAC DEAD | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 1 | ✔ | very enjoyable | *** |
21 | Serenity | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 8 | ✔ | relaxing and nice gameplay, quite easy | *** |
22 | CROSSING ACHERON | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 1 | ✔ | confusing but fun | *** |
23 | ETERNITY | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 8 | ✔ | Kinda easy, nice flow, lots of fun | **** |
24 | Trinity College | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 1 | ✔ | Nice textures, quite easy, kinda strange | ** |
25 | Return to Phobos | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 8 | ✔ | Sometimes a jump and run but very fun. Low monster load, plenty of ammo/items | **** |
26 | Slaughter Until Death | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 9 | ✔ | Lots of moving floors, hurt floors, plenty of ammo/items | *** |
27 | The Evil Unleashed | 1 | Vanilla | 1994 | 9 | ✔ | Good enemy/ammo balance, nice level design | **** |
28 | Fava Beans | 1 | Vanilla | 1995 | 9 | ✔ | Good enemy/ammo balance, lots of fun to play | **** |
29 | Infinity | 1 | Vanilla | 1995 | 9 | ✔ | Good enemy/ammo balance, annoying moving floors, strange ending but nice gameplay otherwise | *** |
30 | Fistful | 2 | Vanilla | 1995 | 2 | ✗ | I respect all the work and love that went into this WAD but the Western theme is just not my thing | ** |
31 | H2H-Xmas | 2 | Vanilla | 1995 | 32 | ✗ | The Christmas theme is not very appealing, not much ammo but powerful enemies from the beginning. Sounds become annoying after a few minutes. | * |
32 | The Final Gathering | 2 | Vanilla | 1995 | 5 | ✔ | Disliked it at first, then had loads of fun. Lots of action, lots of ammo/items, interesting levels | *** |
33 | The Artifact for DOOM II | 2 | Vanilla | 1995 | 3 | ✗ | Unfair, pain floors, unavoidable hits, fake walls, annoying level design. Made it to map2 and regretted it | * |
34 | Nostromo’s Run | 2 | Vanilla | 1995 | 1 | ✔ | Loads of enemies, loads of ammos/items, loads of fun! | **** |
35 | The Enigma Episode v2.0 | 2 | Vanilla | 1995 | 9 | ✗ | I tried to like it but I failed. It’s a violent puzzle platformer with no game flow. Gave up in map04 | ** |
36 | Memento Mori | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 32 | ✗ | Everyone loves Memento Mori like I did in the beginning. Quit playing in map18. Levels are great but it’s full of traps, overloaded with strong enemies. It just sucked. | ** |
37 | Memento Mori 2 | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 32 | ✗ | Didn’t bother playing it after MM1 already sucked. | ** |
38 | Dystopia 3 | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 11 | ✔ | Love the level design and the game flow. Challenging but never unfair. Huge replay value | **** |
39 | All Hell is Breaking Loose!!! | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 5 | ✗ | It’s cheesy and I don’t like custom weapons/enemies. Wasn’t fun at all. | * |
40 | Icarus: Alien Vanguard | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 32 | ✔ | Lots of puzzles, map24 is horrible (ghost Imps and Shotgun Guys, uses fake walls but in overall an excellent Megawad. Was more fun the second time playing it. | **** |
41 | Polygon Base | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 1 | ✔ | Very nice WAD, larger map, not linear, you can search for keys in any order. Enough ammo, good enemy placement. | **** |
42 | 99 Ways to Die | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 3 | ✔ | nothing extraordninary but entertaining fun. Not too difficult, not too easy. | *** |
43 | THE TROOPERS’ PLAYGROUND | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 8 | ✔ | also here: nothing extraordninary but lots of fun. Lots of item, hard to fail. | **** |
44 | A Hidden Mountain Factory | 2 | Vanilla | 1996 | 1 | ✔ | A solid and fun map | *** |
45 | Requiem | 2 | Vanilla | 1997 | 32 | ✔ | Liked it in the beginning, started to hate it from map14 on. Realized that I played it before and never finished it. So much hate for map23 with unkillable blue uniform solders, unfair traps, stupidly overpowered monsters. IDDQD the last 2 map to make it stop. | ** |
46 | Eternal Doom | 2 | Vanilla | 1997 | 32 | ✗ | Beautiful textures, great levels but becomes very diffult. Also lots of puzzles, had to watch YT videos a lot to be able to continue. Stopped playing at map014 but will come back to it later as it is a pistol start map. | **** |
47 | STRAIN 1.0 | 2 | Vanilla | 1997 | 32 | ✗ | Started nice but got annoyingly hard later on. | ** |
48 | Mordeth - FEB'97 version | 2 | Vanilla | 1997 | 6 | ✗ | stopped playing in map03. Powerful enemies and crappy weapon situation. | * |
49 | The Talosian Incident | 2 | Vanilla | 1997 | 20 | ✗ | stopped playing in map06 or so. Confusing, annoying. | ** |
50 | Dawn of the dead | 1 | Vanilla | 1997 | 9 | ✔ | Fast paced fun, balanced enemies, nice levels | *** |
51 | Hell Revealed | 2 | Vanilla | 1997 | 32 | ✗ | It was great fun until map14. Why would you enjoy slaughter maps? Could have been 4 stars. | ** |
52 | Hell’s Eventide | 2 | Vanilla | 1997 | 1 | ✔ | Lots of fun with this single map. | **** |
53 | Cyberdreams | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 32 | ✗ | 32 small maps fighting against Cyberdemons. I hate it but I get that others might love it. | * |
54 | Phobos | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 4 | ✔ | This one is a lot of fun. Enough ammo, fair amount of enemies, nice levels, especially the nuclear plant | **** |
55 | Earth | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 10 | ✗ | First 2 maps were nice, the rest is just horrible: dark mazes with disabled automap with the goal to annoy the player. Stopped playing in map08. | * |
56 | Venom | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 1 | ✔ | This one was lots of fun! (map01) | **** |
57 | Tantrum 2 | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 1 | ✔ | Very challenging but fun (map01) | *** |
58 | Dickie10 | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 1 | ✔ | Short, fun, stressful (map10) | *** |
59 | Run Buddy | 2 | Boom | 1998 | 1 | ✔ | Three Cyberdemons and over 400 enemies. Normally not my cup of tea but this was very fun (map03) | *** |
60 | Odessa Level 14 | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 1 | ✗ | It could have been great if the radioactive slime pool wasn’t there. Interesting puzzles but unsolvable when you have to cross hurt floors. (map14) | ** |
61 | Crestfallen | 2 | Vanilla | 1998 | 1 | ✗ | Nope | * |
62 | Batman DOOM | 2 | Vanilla | 1999 | 32? | ✗ | I don’t like the style, feels like a fever dream. (TC) | * |
63 | The Darkening | 2 | Vanilla | 1999 | 11 | ✔ | Fun wad | *** |
64 | Crusades | 1 | Vanilla | 1999 | 9 | ✗ | Some level were nice, others not. | ** |
65 | CHORDG | 2 | Vanilla | 1999 | 1 | ✗ | One of those maps where they try to be hardcore. (map29) | * |
66 | Jägermörder | 2 | Boom | 1999 | 1 | ✔ | Fun map (map01) | *** |
67 | Twilight Warrior | 2 | ZDoom | 1999 | 10 | ✗ | Most TCs with their weapon replacements etc. are crappy - like this one (map01 - map10) | * |
68 | Demonfear | 2 | Vanilla | 1999 | 32 | ✔ | A Megawad with quite small levels, very balanced difficulty and fast paced action. Really enjoyed it. | **** |
69 | The Darkening Episode 2 | 2 | Vanilla | 2000 | 12 | ✔ | Awesome WAD! Love the textures, the atmosphere, the crates as additional level design. Not plenty of ammo but also not too rare. The last map was brutal. | ***** |
70 | 10 Sectors | 2 | Boom | 2000 | 32 | ✗ | Stopped playing in map07. Not much ammo and every level is full of overpowered enemies. No joy. | * |
71 | Chord 3 | 2 | LR | 2000 | 1 | ✔ | Stressful but manageable. I don’t really liked it but I’m proud that I made it through (map27) | *** |
72 | The Classic Episode | 1 | Vanilla | 2000 | 9 | ✔ | This is a perfect example of a 5 star full episode WAD. It’s not fancy, it’s just Doom. Well balanced difficulty, enough ammo mot my shotty, Cyberdaemon at the end and not 3 of them in the start room. Doom as it should be. | ***** |
73 | Bring Back The 90s! | 1 | Vanilla | 2024 | 9 | ✔ | Short but very fun and relaxing. I love the theme, the speed, enemy choice and difficulty. I didn’t like the sound effects so I removed them from the WAD. | **** |
74 | Painful Evil | 2 | LR | 2000 | 1 | ✗ | Too extreme for me. (map01) | * |
75 | Atomic Tomb | 1 | Boom | 2000 | 1 | ✔ | I would categorize this map as a slaughter map which i normally don’t like but this one is fair and quite fun. (map01) | *** |
76 | The Hell Factory Hub One | 2 | ZDoom | 2000 | 4 | ✗ | I have mixed feelings here. I love how innovative it is, adds lasers, CCTV, etc. and it feels like an action adventure. What I didn’t like are those ghost style enemies silently spawning in front of you in narrow areas and that you have to press buttons all the time which then trigger actions but you don’t know where. In the end I was backtracking all the time back and forth looking for changes in the environment or I needed to load my save because of stupid traps (map01-04) | *** |
77 | Containment Area v1.1 | 2 | Boom | 2000 | 1 | ✗ | 500 something enemies in one map. I don’t play to suffer. (map12) | ** |
78 | Sin City | 2 | ZDoom | 2001 | 1 | ✔ | This was fun. Good difficulty, nice level layout. Still not sure if I like these ZDoom gimmicks | *** |
79 | DooM Resurrection Episode I | 2 | ZDoom | 2001 | 5 | ✔ | Still not so fond of the ZDoom extras but this one was a great WAD with interesting puzzles and fair difficulty. (map01-05) | **** |
80 | The Darkest Hour | 2 | ZDoom | 2001 | 7 | ✗ | I won’t rate this because it would be unfair. I think it’s technically excellent but I don’t want to play Star Wars and I won’t go anywhere whout my shotty. | - |
81 | Vrack 2 | 2 | Boom | 2001 | 1 | ✔ | Over 400 enemies in one map. I normally don’t like these kind of maps but I loved this one so much that I really tried. Had to IDDQD somewhere in the middle and enjoyed the rest of the map until the end. | **** |
82 | Assault on Tei Tenga | 2 | ZDoom | 1999 | 6 | ✔ | Really neat idea, nice textures but quite short and cut scene heavy. | *** |
83 | KZDoom 1 | 2 | ZDoom | 1999 | 1 | ✔ | Absolutely love this one! The sounds, the tech atmosphere, difficult but with enough ammo and well placed health kits. A reason to finally get used to ZDoom. | ***** |
84 | KZDoom 2 | 2 | ZDoom | 1999 | 1 | ✔ | Same as KZDoom 1: The atmosphere and balance between everything is on spot. Enough ammo and health, lots of fun, dense gaming experience. | ***** |
85 | KZDoom 3 | 2 | ZDoom | 2000 | 1 | ✔ | see above | ***** |
86 | KZDoom 4 | 2 | ZDoom | 2000 | 1 | ✔ | Didn’t like this one as much as the other ones. Complete different setting und sometimes quite unfair. | *** |
87 | KZDoom 5 | 2 | ZDoom | 2000 | 1 | ✔ | This one was just stressful | ** |
88 | KZDoom 6 | 2 | ZDoom | 2000 | 1 | ✔ | Challenging but not unfair. Solid map | *** |
89 | KZDoom 7 | 2 | ZDoom | 2001 | 1 | ✔ | Enjoyed this a lot. The finale was a bit too much with two Cyberdemons, a mastermind, many Mancubus, some Revenants and a horde Imps. | **** |
90 | 2002 A DOOM ODYSSEY (V2) | 2 | ZDoom | 2002 | 32 | ? | I’ve already played this WAD in the past. I can’t remember if I liked it but I don’t feel like replaying it right now. | - |
91 | CONGESTION CONTROL | 2 | Vanilla | 2002 | 1 | ✔ | No idea how to beat the Spider Mastermind after the Cyberdemon in such a cramped space without enough medikits or ammo. Had to cheat to kill the Mastermind. | *** |
92 | Dark7 | 2 | ZDoom | 2002 | 7 | ✗ | Stopped playing in map5. I like the setting and everything but I don’t want to fight igroupds of arch-viles, revenants and pain elementals in every new room | ** |
93 | Dark7: Mission Pack (The Special Edition) | 2 | ZDoom | 2012 | 7 | ✗ | Not even started playing as I had my problems with the base WAD | - |
94 | Equinox | 2 | LR | 2001 | 13 | ✔ | I first liked it and found it positively challenging. Then it got stupid but I started cheating (unlimited ammo) and had fun again. Map12 and 13 were so horribly stupid that I forgot that I enhoyed the WAD before. | ** |
95 | CH Retro Episode | 1 | Vanilla | 2002 | 9 | ✔ | Not spectacular but solid and fun. | *** |
96 | Slayer | 2 | Vanilla | 2001 | 11 | ✗ | It looks great, love the levels but it’s just too extreme. | *** |
97 | Null Space | 2 | Vanilla | 2001 | 1 | ✔ | I had to cheat but then it was fun. | *** |
98 | Alien Vendetta | 2 | Vanilla | 2002 | 32 | ✗ | Fun in the beginning, started to get stupid in map06 with Cyberdemons and hordes of strong enemies. | ** |
99 | Ruma | 2 | LR | 2002 | 1 | ✔ | Fast paced action, never unfair, fun! | *** |
100 | Rip it, Tear it, Smash it! | 1 | Vanilla | 2002 | 2 | ✔ | Two classic maps, fast paced action, lots of fun. | *** |
101 | PHOBOS: ANOMALY REBORN | 1 | MBF | 2003 | 9 | ✔ | The maps are beautifully made with lots of detial. It’s mostly a switch hunt with some backtracking but it was implemented very well. | **** |
102 | Doom Raider:Crypt of the Vile | 2 | ZDoom | 2003 | 1 | ✗ | Brilliant idea, very well done with the traps etc. but too difficult and not fun to play. | ** |
103 | The Brotherhood of Ruin | 2 | Boom | 2003 | 11 | ✔ | Maya/Aztec/Inca themed map pack with great textures/visuals. Lots of theme related traps, good ammo enemy balance, challenging but never unfair. This one was lots of fun! | **** |
104 | Helpyourselfish | 2 | LR | 2003 | 1 | ✔ | Epic map, really cool level design but overloaded with enemies. Finished with IDDQD. | *** |
105 | Scythe | 2 | Vanilla | 2003 | 32 | ✔ | I really liked this one apart from the last maps. The difficulty has slowly built up from very easy to extremely difficult, the level design is great. I could only finish it with cheats. | **** |
106 | MassMouth 2 | 2 | ZDoom | 2003 | 17 | ✗ | Stopped playing during the tutorial, not my cup of tea | ** |
107 | Action Doom | 2 | ZDoom | 2004 | 4 | ✗ | I just don’t like most of the total convertions. | ** |
108 | Decade | 2 | ZDoom | 2004 | 1 | ✔ | Very challenging, extreme amount of enemies, fire from all angles but surprisingly fun. | **** |
109 | Grove | 2 | ZDoom | 2004 | 1 | ✗ | Fancy, technically very advanced, not my thing. | ** |
110 | Tremor | 2 | ZDoom | 2004 | 1 | ✔ | Huge level, lots of monsters, lots of ammo, great level design, incredible fun. | ***** |
111 | Phobos Revisited | 1 | Vanilla | 2004 | 8 | ✔ | Fun and action packed Doom 1 episode replacement. | **** |
WADs to play
Here are the next Doom WADs I plan to play:
# | Name | Doom | Port | Year | Maps | Ended | Verdict | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
? | 007: Licence to Spell DooM | 1 | ZDoom | 2002 | 9 | ✔✗ | - | ***** |
? | The Gateway Experiments | 2 | ZDoom | 2003 | 1 | ✔✗ | - | ***** |
? | Void | 2 | ZDoom | 2003 | 1 | ✔✗ | - | ***** |
Template for new Entries
# | Name | Doom | Port | Year | Maps | Ended | Verdict | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
? | 2 | - | 2000 | 32 | ✔✗ | - | ***** |