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.