Why did God create a dual universe?
So he might say
'Be not like me. I am alone.'
And it might be heard.
So he might say
'Be not like me. I am alone.'
And it might be heard.
This review contains spoilers
By now, you likely know what My House.wad is. What appears to be a simple recreation of a DOOM modder’s house is actually a slow descent into madness as the house gradually becomes more unsettling and takes you to liminal spaces that seem all but impossible. All you have to guide you is the aid of a haunting journal written by the person who developed the map, someone who was suffering from nightmares that are reflected by the various transformations the house undergoes.
My House.wad does an excellent job unnerving you and making you paranoid. The initial tiny, barely noticeable changes to the House as well as the music from DOOM II’s E1M1 that make you question your surroundings and your memory are extremely effective. It even randomly plays Discord ping sound effects. It’s a great build up for what’s to come and one of the best parts of the experience.
The different versions of the House that you explore, namely the School House, Bath House, Brutalist House, etc, are all beautifully designed. They tap into a sense of ethereal nostalgia in a way reminiscent of vaporwave art and music, one that really appeals to those who grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s. The different Houses have an incredible, unmatched and difficult to describe atmosphere to them. They also manage to tell aspects of a story while never really giving you the complete picture. The story of My House.wad is very much left up to interpretation, one that doesn’t really have any definitive conclusions or answers but gives you enough pieces of the puzzle to form your own.
Figuring out how to progress in My House.wad is very cryptic, too cryptic for its own good. Even with the journal providing you (obtuse) hints, chances are you’re not going to figure out what you need to do without a walkthrough. I don’t think the experience is really hindered for following one either, as long as it's spoiler free.
Despite my love for DOOM, I don’t really have much experience with custom wads, so a lot of My House.wad’s technical achievements with the game’s engine are lost on me. Still, for what it is, I think that it’s a great evolution and interpretation of DOOM’s core design philosophy. You’re still getting into fights with hordes of demons, you’re still hunting down various keys (though in this case, these keys are the different “artifacts” as opposed to DOOM’s traditional keys) and you’re still navigating weird mazes. I think My House.wad a testament to how strong DOOM’s core philosophy is. It can be interpreted in a completely different fashion, yet still be recognizable as DOOM.
My House.wad is complicated in so many different ways. It is, all at once, hair-raising, funny, beautiful, frustrating, and cathartic. It is a true work of art and an experience that definitely sticks with you. It feels like a celebration of the last twenty years of gaming and internet culture with its creepypasta origins in DOOM forums, its use of the character of Shrek (who was once a popular meme) and its own backrooms segment. It accomplishes so much even though it’s a free fangame, and is well deserving of all of its achievements.
My House.wad does an excellent job unnerving you and making you paranoid. The initial tiny, barely noticeable changes to the House as well as the music from DOOM II’s E1M1 that make you question your surroundings and your memory are extremely effective. It even randomly plays Discord ping sound effects. It’s a great build up for what’s to come and one of the best parts of the experience.
The different versions of the House that you explore, namely the School House, Bath House, Brutalist House, etc, are all beautifully designed. They tap into a sense of ethereal nostalgia in a way reminiscent of vaporwave art and music, one that really appeals to those who grew up in the late 90s and early 2000s. The different Houses have an incredible, unmatched and difficult to describe atmosphere to them. They also manage to tell aspects of a story while never really giving you the complete picture. The story of My House.wad is very much left up to interpretation, one that doesn’t really have any definitive conclusions or answers but gives you enough pieces of the puzzle to form your own.
Figuring out how to progress in My House.wad is very cryptic, too cryptic for its own good. Even with the journal providing you (obtuse) hints, chances are you’re not going to figure out what you need to do without a walkthrough. I don’t think the experience is really hindered for following one either, as long as it's spoiler free.
Despite my love for DOOM, I don’t really have much experience with custom wads, so a lot of My House.wad’s technical achievements with the game’s engine are lost on me. Still, for what it is, I think that it’s a great evolution and interpretation of DOOM’s core design philosophy. You’re still getting into fights with hordes of demons, you’re still hunting down various keys (though in this case, these keys are the different “artifacts” as opposed to DOOM’s traditional keys) and you’re still navigating weird mazes. I think My House.wad a testament to how strong DOOM’s core philosophy is. It can be interpreted in a completely different fashion, yet still be recognizable as DOOM.
My House.wad is complicated in so many different ways. It is, all at once, hair-raising, funny, beautiful, frustrating, and cathartic. It is a true work of art and an experience that definitely sticks with you. It feels like a celebration of the last twenty years of gaming and internet culture with its creepypasta origins in DOOM forums, its use of the character of Shrek (who was once a popular meme) and its own backrooms segment. It accomplishes so much even though it’s a free fangame, and is well deserving of all of its achievements.
A cool little DOOM wad. Go in blind.
Easier to comprehend than the Sky House.
Easier to comprehend than the Sky House.
Very cool, lots of different content to come back to.
This is more like an ARG than a game. The full value comes from knowing its origins and will not make sense stand-alone. It has a good foundation trying to do what it wants to achieve, but it doesn't seem to ever get there. Besides the initial shock value, it becomes pretty unimpressive with references to memes to destroy the atmosphere. To expand on this, I get how some people think that the cultural gags might work to build its story, but I think that is an arguable explanation and the point still remains that the creator could have been more effective to establish a tone with better means than memes. That aside, I guess it didn't work for me. Liminal spaces are overrated and it feels mindless at this point, although it was executed better than most. I think that the thematic points of loss, trauma, and memory are where its strength is at, however, it doesn't do enough to really establish it or make it worthwhile to convey any clear message regarding it. Lastly, I love the atmosphere and how the story is obscure, except I think they relied on this alone too much, and also not enough, because it loses meaning. Nothing can be proven and any explanation feels like a reach. It serves much more as an experience than a tangible thought.
i know im one of many who hasnt even played this and probably wont...bc ive never played doom (heck i had only vaguely heard of house of leaves from old tumblr posts that would cross my path)
but youtube kept suggesting the video power pak made on it like im sure it has for a lot of others (and i had no idea who this was prior)
curiosity got to me and well...ive watched several videos on this over and over...
hey where did my door go?
but youtube kept suggesting the video power pak made on it like im sure it has for a lot of others (and i had no idea who this was prior)
curiosity got to me and well...ive watched several videos on this over and over...
hey where did my door go?
I know it's a meme and I hate the parts where it explicitly does meme stuff like shrek and the backrooms but otherwise, gosh damn this is a monumental project and it makes me want to give in to astonishment.
Played this in a couple sittings during October.
This year i haven’t had as much time for gaming as i would’ve liked. Therefore, my pick this time for the spooky season had to be something short to play, and myhouse.wad seemed like a good choice, specially considering all the commotion it caused on the internet. Surprisingly, one of the most relevant games this year, at least among the indie players, seems to be a Doom mod. In the year of the 30th anniversary of Doom. I hope this little wad has actually put some lights onto the whole Classic Doom community, for all those who weren’t aware of it’s existence.
I have to admit that my exploration of this wad couldn’t have been possible without the guide of Power Pak’s monumental video essay ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wAo54DHDY0 )
This year i haven’t had as much time for gaming as i would’ve liked. Therefore, my pick this time for the spooky season had to be something short to play, and myhouse.wad seemed like a good choice, specially considering all the commotion it caused on the internet. Surprisingly, one of the most relevant games this year, at least among the indie players, seems to be a Doom mod. In the year of the 30th anniversary of Doom. I hope this little wad has actually put some lights onto the whole Classic Doom community, for all those who weren’t aware of it’s existence.
I have to admit that my exploration of this wad couldn’t have been possible without the guide of Power Pak’s monumental video essay ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wAo54DHDY0 )
Me fez voltar a jogar Doom.
9.5/10
9.5/10
backrooms shit is so embarrassing
id really just rather read house of leaves a few more times
id really just rather read house of leaves a few more times
great :)
Visual storytelling here is INSANE. I can not believe this is a Doom mod the tricks and effects it pulls of within the game are unbelievable. Unfortunately it was too cryptic and difficult for me to 100% it on my own, and as such was kind of spoiled on a lot of its strongest parts. Would recommend everyone to go into this blindly if they can.
Wild game. Play ASAP, Know as Little As Possible.
The fact you have to look up a walkthrough to even progress apart from running around aimlessly is horrible. Couldn't even get out of the first house
Somehow wound up in the backrooms, which while fun when it initially happens was rather annoying after realizing there was no escape.
One star because the bit I saw was impressive mapping. The other star is because they got this to work in Doom.
Somehow wound up in the backrooms, which while fun when it initially happens was rather annoying after realizing there was no escape.
One star because the bit I saw was impressive mapping. The other star is because they got this to work in Doom.
MyHouse.wad is impressive in no other way than from
a technical point of view
a technical point of view
one of my favorite doom wads of all time. this whole map is heavily inspired by the book "house of leaves", which i haven't read so i can't give my piece on that. myhouse is a creepy and liminal subversion of the "myhouse" wad concept, where you descend deeper and deeper through twisted versions of the titular house. the music is amazing, starting off with the track "running from evil" from the first level of doom II, and slowly distorting it with key changes and missed notes as you progress through the first couple parts of this map. eventually, when you start on one of several paths, the music abruptly turns into a beautiful ambient track that fits perfectly with the unfolding world inside of this house. the textures and doomcute looks very nice, not the best i've seen in a wad but still it's obvious there was effort put into even the normal parts of this map. there's not much here in terms of gameplay, other than the big final fight which is a relatively manageable slaughtermap style confrontation, which can mostly be taken care of by forcing enemies to infight. still, the point of this map is clearly not to set new standards in terms of gameplay. this map is incredible and absolutely deserved the cacoward. go play it for yourself.
Unironically one of my favorite games from 2023
Kept having dreams I was lost in those dark corridors for hours on end, gave me insomnia and made me shit myself 10/10
I did not play My House ..... well not really. I played it, got an ending that lead to me playing Underhalls from Doom 2, then watched the Youtube video by Power Pak, which has almost 10M views at this point? Honestly, I thought that first ending was neat and pretty trippy, but I still wondered why people cared so much? And wow, after watching the YT video I get it. This Doom mod is WILD. But there was just no way in hell I was going to find find all those secrets on my own.
On one hand, it sucks having to wander around smacking the E key on everything you see in hopes of finding a secret. On the other hand, just dropping this massive mod filled to the brim with secrets without of any of it is objectively awesome. It's like those old creepy pastas about video games, but this is real and actually good. Serious props to the dude who this; this is seriously some impressive stuff.
On one hand, it sucks having to wander around smacking the E key on everything you see in hopes of finding a secret. On the other hand, just dropping this massive mod filled to the brim with secrets without of any of it is objectively awesome. It's like those old creepy pastas about video games, but this is real and actually good. Serious props to the dude who this; this is seriously some impressive stuff.
way more than a meme - a statement on the fallibility of memory. and it does it way better than most commercial narrative games do.
This was fantastic to play, the experience was just…unmatched really, I loved it
And that goes for watching other people play it, especially DOOM players who can spot the differences easily
And that goes for watching other people play it, especially DOOM players who can spot the differences easily
ok eu admito
esse é peak demais...
esse é peak demais...
J'pense ca mérite 5 étoiles juste pour le mec qui c'est fait chier à le faire pour le poster juste sur un forum mod de doom
Level design
My kneejerk reaction is that l feel super weird about loving what is essentially an architectural achievement. I can't help but have, a sense of unease at a lot of the surroundings of this experience. The basic copypasta-like clearly House of Leaves-rip that doesn't really have much of a personal soul to it, and more the boxings of one, just rides on me (especially if the trauma part of that is actually real, which makes things even more complicated). Especially when it pulls memes and such of the internet to congeal here, and especially when I'm literally in an in-progress read of the book that leaves me too numb to feel the lovings of a homage without kind of scoffing at the quality attempt.
,,,on that same token though, it is a homage. A very carefully crafted one that manages to utilize its medium in ways that lift the ech-beginnings into something that emotionally feels haunting and winding. It's a very terrible reduction, but sometimes being a meticulous, loving director can help transcend a pretty shitty script. I really was terrified constantly. I found each exploration vast and visceral. Cheating (because this derg, is scared) doesn't even help when more often than not you get lost in ways that unnerve. Walking down the first long corridor and hitting ~The Labyrinth~ I immediately closed the WAD reflexively knowing there was a beast around the corner. I don't want to even talk about the dogs.
There's a big inner giddiness of "gosh I want to see more like this", a nerd-like love from experience looking at the ins-and-outs of WAD-making, feeling the rush when it's all demystified and going "gosh how did they do this??? Amazing!!" Sicker than suburbs have any real right to be. Manages to defy my usual personal distaste for the 'innovative' meta without a concrete narrative heart (e.g. Inscryption (sorry), Pony Island (not sorry), etc.).
,,,on that same token though, it is a homage. A very carefully crafted one that manages to utilize its medium in ways that lift the ech-beginnings into something that emotionally feels haunting and winding. It's a very terrible reduction, but sometimes being a meticulous, loving director can help transcend a pretty shitty script. I really was terrified constantly. I found each exploration vast and visceral. Cheating (because this derg, is scared) doesn't even help when more often than not you get lost in ways that unnerve. Walking down the first long corridor and hitting ~The Labyrinth~ I immediately closed the WAD reflexively knowing there was a beast around the corner. I don't want to even talk about the dogs.
There's a big inner giddiness of "gosh I want to see more like this", a nerd-like love from experience looking at the ins-and-outs of WAD-making, feeling the rush when it's all demystified and going "gosh how did they do this??? Amazing!!" Sicker than suburbs have any real right to be. Manages to defy my usual personal distaste for the 'innovative' meta without a concrete narrative heart (e.g. Inscryption (sorry), Pony Island (not sorry), etc.).
HIGHLY recommend playing this without any prior information and only looking things up as an absolute last resort (there's one item that i think is very dumb and unintuitive to find). Figuring out what to do on your own definitely requires some patience, but it's immensely rewarding.
no, i have not played this game, but i have watched like 20 videos about it and am a massive fan of everything it does
His house
This review contains spoilers
Straight up an insane level of commitment to create something this good and affecting inside of DOOM II in 2023. My biggest issue with it is my main problem with most horror games: multiple endings. Once I experienced my blind playthrough I realized I only saw half of what the mod had to offer. I went back to experience everything else through a guide. At that point I was just watching a behind the scenes supplemental featurette. This was no longer the personal, affecting experience I had at first, it was just a fun guide through a haunted house with all the lights on. Restricting multiple really cool areas through cryptic hints is kind of a let down, but on the flip side I really appreciate how everyone can get their own personal experience from this. I almost wish the file deleted itself right after I finished my first playthrough.
We booted up the .wad instead of the .pk3 or whatever because we don't know anything about doom. We got all the keys in the house and finished the level. After playing like 7 more levels of regular doom 2 we figured something was up and realized we were doing it wrong.
As someone with no real experience with doom or doom mods I thought it was pretty cool. I was mostly just found the atmosphere, architecture, stange geometry stuff very engaging. Very fun to explore. We did use a guide, I don't think we would have seen much at all if we were trying to figure it out on our own. It was fun though. I didn't really try to follow the narrative at all, and im not interested in the meta fictional stuff surrounding the game. This was cool though. Got me to play some doom, which is actually fun, and I'd be interested seeing what other weird mod stuff exists.
As someone with no real experience with doom or doom mods I thought it was pretty cool. I was mostly just found the atmosphere, architecture, stange geometry stuff very engaging. Very fun to explore. We did use a guide, I don't think we would have seen much at all if we were trying to figure it out on our own. It was fun though. I didn't really try to follow the narrative at all, and im not interested in the meta fictional stuff surrounding the game. This was cool though. Got me to play some doom, which is actually fun, and I'd be interested seeing what other weird mod stuff exists.