Equinox is one of the most celebrated wads of the early era of DOOM mapping. Its environments are detailed and while I was playing I came across a large valley with lava pooled at the bottom and a wall in the tech facility blown open and I realized there was a story to this place and that’s not a feeling I get often with DOOM wads.
Furthermore, the wad makes use of recurring environments including a teleportation station that serves as an intermission level between the main episodes. There’s a connective essence between levels that makes this wad feel like a campaign instead of a collection of maps.
I liked the early parts of the wad where you are making due with a pistol and shotgun and mowing down dozens of infantry and imps. Even with using a gameplay mod, it was challenging but snappy. This is the rare wad that doesn’t shower the player with ammo. Even with the mod, I had to break out the chainsaw a few times to keep some shells in my satchel for when I needed them. Rooms are stuffed with enemies which is pretty inelegant but it provides ample opportunities for infighting. In fact, that seems to be the point. On Map 9, I let 100 enemies tear each other apart while I ran off to other parts of the level.
The last map is very notable for it’s overwhelming number of enemies. It got to a point where I assumed you were supposed to strategize around not killing a lot of them and that’s when I realized that the map was made by BPRD, creator of the Mucus Flow and by god did that make a lot of sense!
As for the levels visually, I don’t like that silvery moonbase aesthetic and found the corpses peppered everywhere to be a bad design choice. I didn’t like the look of this wad. It’s special, though. I don’t know if it’s a mega-recommend but it’s a slight recommend for it’s unique design choices and overall cohesiveness.
Furthermore, the wad makes use of recurring environments including a teleportation station that serves as an intermission level between the main episodes. There’s a connective essence between levels that makes this wad feel like a campaign instead of a collection of maps.
I liked the early parts of the wad where you are making due with a pistol and shotgun and mowing down dozens of infantry and imps. Even with using a gameplay mod, it was challenging but snappy. This is the rare wad that doesn’t shower the player with ammo. Even with the mod, I had to break out the chainsaw a few times to keep some shells in my satchel for when I needed them. Rooms are stuffed with enemies which is pretty inelegant but it provides ample opportunities for infighting. In fact, that seems to be the point. On Map 9, I let 100 enemies tear each other apart while I ran off to other parts of the level.
The last map is very notable for it’s overwhelming number of enemies. It got to a point where I assumed you were supposed to strategize around not killing a lot of them and that’s when I realized that the map was made by BPRD, creator of the Mucus Flow and by god did that make a lot of sense!
As for the levels visually, I don’t like that silvery moonbase aesthetic and found the corpses peppered everywhere to be a bad design choice. I didn’t like the look of this wad. It’s special, though. I don’t know if it’s a mega-recommend but it’s a slight recommend for it’s unique design choices and overall cohesiveness.