Doom is written more into my DNA than any other videogame. My relationship with the harbinger of the FPS genre began in 1994 and it’s still going strong today, thanks entirely to the sheer volume of custom content there is out there. Doom is among the most-modded games of all time, and for 30 years those mods have been shared on the internet via easy-to-use files called WADs — “where’s all the data?”
This column was my attempt to explore the vast and intimidating sea of Doom WADs, and to compile a sort of cheat sheet for decent places to start. Below you’ll find 60-odd of my personal answers to the question “what’s awesome, Doom?”
Episode 666: My Six All-Time Favorite WADs
Episode 65: No End In Sight
Episode 64 (Doom 64 Mod): Beta 64
Episode 63: Eviternity
Episode 62: Sharp Things
Episode 61: Going Down
Episode 60 (Heretic Mod): Faithless
Episode 59: Mass Extinction
Episode 58: Vanguard, Valiant, Ancient Aliens, Heartland
Episode 57: Nihility: Infinite Teeth
Episode 56: The City of Damned Children
Episode 55: 100 Line Massacre
Episode 54: Witness of Time, 60 Secrets, Ater Fieri, Alpha Centauri, Cyberpunx
Episode 53: Unwelcome
Episode 52: Auger;Zenith
Episode 51: rf1024
Episode 50: 5 Mapping Lessons from Knee-Deep in the Dead
Episode 49: Doomsday of UAC
Episode 48: The Revenant Problem
Episode 47: Mutiny
Episode 46: Hell on Earth: Super Tiny Edition
Episode 45: The Episode of Episodes
Episode 44: Scythe X
Episode 43: Mapgame
Episode 42: Avactor
Episode 41: Tower of WAR
Episode 40 (Quake Mod): Arcane Dimensions
Episode 39: Dimension of the Boomed
Episode 38: Griefless
Episode 37: Icon, Citywars, and Evilcore
Episode 36: Doom II The Way id Did
Episode 35: The One-Map WADstravaganza!
Episode 34: OCD-Doom
Episode 33: Counterattack
Episode 32: Scythe II
Episode 31: l͜i̸lith.͞p̶k3̛
Episode 30 (Wolf3D Mod): Operation Eisenfaust: Legacy
Episode 29: Mano Laikas: A road to Gamzatti
Episode 28: Breach
Episode 27: Doom the Way id Did — The Lost Episodes
Episode 26: Tech Gone Bad
Episode 25: 13 Most Memorable Maps
Episode 24: Doom the Way id Did
Episode 23: Scythe
Episode 22: Monument
Episode 21: 50 Shades of Graytall
Episode 20, In Memory of Ty Halderman: Sacrifice
Episode 19: Oblivion
Episode 18: Favillesco Alpha Episode 2: Desecration on Thebe
Episode 17: Thy Flesh — Turned into a draft-excluder
Episode 16: Memento Mori II
Episode 15: Deneb Colony
Episode 14: Bedlam
Episode 13: Loathsome Cleft
Episode 12: Favillesco Alpha Episode: Apostasy on Amalthea
Episode 11: Flashback to Hell
Episode 10: High/Low 5
Episode 9: Deus Vult
Episode 8: 900 Deep in the Dead
Episode 7: Reverie
Episode 6: High/Low 2, 3, 4
Episode 5: High/Low 1
Episode 4: Back to Saturn X Episode 1: Get Out of My Stations
Episode 3: Wire Brush
Episode 2: The Eye
Episode 1: Suspended in Dusk