Doom Infinite - DifficultOldStuff

Doom 2, GZDoom

Over the past few years, there's been a gradual move to incorporate roguelike (or roguelite, if you never get invited to any parties) elements into Doom mods. From the much-loved gameplay mod inspired by the text-mode fangame through to other mods introducing randomizer elements (whether all-in or gradual) and persistent unlocks, gameplay mods and TCs have taken a shift with advancements in source ports (and a greater interest in Ironman-style gameplay!) to be Nettier and Hackier than they could ever be before. And of these oft-awkward shotgun-weddings between demonic-power-fantasy and text-mode-beatdown-simulator, Doom Infinite is by far the most comfortable in its own chimeric skin.

On the surface, Doom Infinite's gameplay loop is simple. Play through randomly chosen levels, scoring enough points from killing enemies to open the exit. Additional enemies and items spawn randomly, and things get harder as you play. Anyone who's danced through the corridors of games like Binding of Isaac and Rogue Legacy, however, will quickly recognize many of the hurdles thrown in the way. Familiar IWAD levels are randomly altered in unexpected ways, ranging from acid rain, to walls opened up and moved around, to fresh pits of liquids, all the way through to entirely new areas as familiar walls and ceilings make way for the unknown. Character upgrades and weapon modifications increase or curtail your chances of survival. New secret areas can be found with their own surprises. And the Curse Meter, ticking ever upward and hurling yet more pressure upon you to meet increasingly intense quotas as you sprint through familiar-ish corridors, attempting to outrun gruesome inevitability.

And even between levels, you aren't safe. Limbo, the hub area, is unlike anything I've previously seen in a mod. Gateways, portals and ever-shifting corridors constantly, gently goad you into ignoring your free between-level upgrade and the ominous portal to the next proper map, silently taunting you into risking your entire run in strange extracurricular arenas and twisted minigames, all for just one... more... powerup. The constantly-changing layout, lack of automap, and morosely imposing ambient synths combine to really sell the feeling of pushing deeper into something unknown and unknowable. And just when you think you've got your footing, the game will silently, confidently break your routine without any fanfare or explanation, keeping you off-balance.

Some would argue that Doom Infinite isn't a """real""" gameplay mod, due to relying on its own modified levels to fill out its bag of tricks, and they might have a point, but it definitely feels closer in spirit to that category, hauling new gear through unfamiliar challenges in semi-familiar corridors, than the TCs it's probably closer to in weight. It's all quibbling and semantics to sidestep the fact that this is, ultimately, one of my favorite Doom mods of all time. A nigh-perfect blend of elements from games I love, stirred together with a confidence and execution that makes even the most experienced modders utter "How'd they do that?" Dive in as quickly and as deeply as you can, before some wiki springs up and spoils everything in pornographic detail. The less you know of the details going in, the greater the experience of succumbing to its tidal waves of monsters and traps, over and over again, getting a little bit deeper every time.

- @Kinsie

Volatile Material - LossForWords

Doom 2, GZDoom

LossForWords and their occasional collaborator MACE have been an absolute Gameplay Mod-making machine over the last year, with at least four unique projects making their way under our respective noses, each with some unique thematic spin. From the Tank-Girl-ian punk-wasteland aesthetic of Outback Anarchy through to the Scarface-with-the-serial-numbers-filed-off 80s vibe of Raging Bull, there's always something good to take away from each one, and really, any one of them could have been in this spot. Volatile Material, on the other hand, is the one that grabbed my personal attention the most for its unique spin on Doom gameplay… not so much in what it adds, as in what it takes away. Confused? Let me explain.

Simply put, Volatile Material restricts you to a realistic weapon count – one weapon, one throwable (like a grenade or molotov), a single regenerating throwing knife in your boot, and your own two fists (which are actually pretty useful now, capable of stun-locking some enemies!) Each gun contains but a single magazine. Reload, schmeload – if a gun's inconsiderate enough to run out of ammo on you, throw it at the enemy and grab the next gun! To facilitate this, all ammo spawns are replaced with additional weapons, ensuring a steady stream of equipment to love and leave, feeding your ongoing descent into whatever mapset you're playing.

This might sound like a relatively cosmetic change to proceedings, but the constant restriction of a single magazine and an ever-changing arsenal forces you to stay on your toes, using your fists more than usual and sprinting from gun to gun, your chance of survival changing constantly as you use whatever it is that fate has bestowed upon you to either clear a room or simply try to cut a path to something more powerful. It's a wonderful psychological trick that leaves the player paying more attention to even the most familiar corridors, double-checking every corner for a spare rifle to double back to if things go south.

This'd all be much of a muchness if the arsenal that you'll be picking-and-flicking throughout wasn't up to scratch, but it fulfills its role with panache. Mostly consisting of the sorts of bulky handguns, massive assault rifles and rotating-drum grenade launchers you'd see in grimy straight-to-video action flicks (with a few slightly more exotic choices in higher-tier spawn points), they look the part and feel great to use, with well-chosen sound effects booming forth and the sparks and smoke flying from every bullet providing excellent feedback to every shot.

Volatile Material may not be the biggest or most dramatic gameplay overhaul to ever fill these pages – or for that matter, the biggest or most dramatic gameplay overhaul LossForWords has put out this year! - but its One Simple Trick works an absolute treat in re-contextualizing the player's relationship with each combat space. Pair it with some city wastelands or the most neon-lit labyrinths the community's conjured up and you've got a damn good time ahead of you, chewing your way through an entire arsenal in a VHS-tinged high-stakes blast of a mod. Just remember to rewind when you're done, so other people can enjoy it.

- @Kinsie

Bring Your Own Class - Various

Doom 2, Zandronum

There is no point in burying the lede with this one: Bring Your Own Class (BYOC) is unapologetic chaos in PK3 form. Coming to us hot off the pizza stone from a private community hidden away within the confines of the World Wide Web™, BYOC presents us with a gargantuan serving size of over 40 playable classes. At first glance, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with the number of characters offered, but experimentation and discovery are part of the fun when it comes to BYOC. You could get bogged down reading the massive manual (have you ever read a 200-page manual for a Doom mod?) and trying to figure out who fits your playstyle best, but the ideal way to get the prime BYOC experience is to pick a mapset and jump right into the fray (ideally with a couple of friends and/or enemies!).

There's no easy way of giving every single one of the classes in the project an overview. Our carnival of misfits contains the likes of the roaring Revenant (you know him well), Serious Sam (in both original and Serious Sam 4 flavors), and even a Smash Bros-inspired Dr. Doomguy, who finally put down the shotgun long enough to get his degree. For those familiar with Pizza Tower, a frantic 2D platformer that came out of the oven earlier this year, we've got several characters originating from the titular greasy tower. A considerable percentage of the cast has energetic, highly animated artwork reminiscent of that game's style, which deviates from the standard affair you'd expect in a Doom mod. Each character also has a unique HUD, player sprites, and their own set of weaponry they bring into the fight, so scampering through a map or two with a character at least once is highly recommended.

Although BYOC is fully playable in single-player, as mentioned above, the definitive experience is co-op. The project shines brilliantly online as synergy between different classes quickly becomes apparent. For example, playing as Morshu enables rupees to drop from damaged or fallen enemies, allowing other players to buy items from him. Players entering the arena as the kitsune Kyuteru can place two-way teleporters that let her companions traverse the map quickly. Several classes (such as Basinga) can summon a cavalcade of friendly assists to aid in heated battles. These classes give players who feel more inclined to play a support role a lot more to do, rather than the usual "you are the medic that heals people" so many class-based affairs typically lean into.

We don't often get collaborative gameplay mod projects, and Bring Your Own Class is a brilliant example of why they should be more common. Featuring an over-the-top assortment of characters that otherwise would've been out of place in a "traditional" gameplay mod, combined with a truly unique, out-of-the-box approach to both presentation and mechanics, BYOC is an incredible experience for seasoned and new players alike. It could easily be considered 40 different gameplay mods in one package. However, the uniqueness of all these oddballs being playable simultaneously creates a "Super Smash Bros of loveable weirdos" that's fun to experience and watch. It's hard not to be excited for the promise of even more classes in the future, as the playable classes currently on display showcase a fantastic sense of wonder and creativity that few other mods can boast.

- @Cardboard Marty

Rampancy - Yholl

Doom 2, GZDoom

Since 2012, we've been lucky enough to avoid several possible armageddons. As the years have passed, there haven't been any sightings of a horseman of the apocalypse or other harbingers of the dark abyss arriving to bring about a human extinction-level event. Despite this, one scenario in particular has been looming over the horizon: the artificial intelligence takeover (as predicted by the 1984 documentary The Terminator). We've spent the last 30 years battling Doom's iconic hellspawn throughout various locations across the universe and on their own turf in Hell itself. Yholl, no stranger to creating engaging monster replacements (see DoomRL Arsenal's monster pack), brings the pain with a whole squadron of robotic badniks, replacing the entire roster of Doom's bestiary (and then some!).

From a presentation standpoint, Rampancy instantly delivers. A cranky boardroom executive (illustrated in a very Akira Toriyama-adjacent style by fellow modder Skelegant) greets us and delivers the bad news: A military AI has gone rogue, and it's up to us to stomp them out. Rampancy's new gang of cybernetic evil-doers is mainly comprised of crisp, clean model rips by @Cherno, which help give the new enemies a sleek look. Scattered throughout are a couple of edited sprites from In Pursuit of Greed and Strife, but as a whole, the new roster feels like they came straight out of a mid-90s FPS, specifically during the heyday of using charming pre-rendered models for graphics. Accompanying the visuals is an excellent selection of sound cues, electronic beeps, buzzes, and zaps that add to each automaton's identity.

Some of the core design philosophies behind the mod also change the way many encounters play out. No more hitscan attacks or infighting, along with the addition of some sneaky changes under the hood, make playing through maps you may be otherwise intimately familiar with a brand new experience. Maps with generous monster placement can quickly become bullet hells, for example. Each enemy has their own identity and is easily readable in a crowd, but their unique tactics and movement force the player to forego the usual circle-strafing and infighting affairs when fighting the machine menace. Also, how did I get this far without mentioning that all of the robots in Rampancy explode when they die? Seriously, everything explodes in a beautiful display of fire and metal scraps, which makes shredding your way through crowded arenas so visceral.

Par the course for a Yholl-crafted affair, Rampancy offers an expansive option menu that allows you to tweak health values, enemy spawns, and a variety of other settings. One of the coolest features is the AI mainframe replacement enemy for the much-maligned Icon of Sin, taunting you with a foreboding message upon entering the map and attacking with a new series of moves that can immediately make a routine Map30 experience turn fatal.

Rampancy also plays well when paired with other mods, boasting out-of-the-box compatibility with Yholl's own DoomRL Arsenal, Cacoward winners Final Doomer, Doom Delta, and almost every other weapon mod out there. Chances are that you'll find a combination that suits your fancy, but the fact that the robots are fun to fight against, even when paired with the vanilla weaponry, is a testament to the sheer fun that Rampancy provides. It's hard to match the familiar ranks of the underworld that we're so used to combating, but Rampancy does so much to diversify its roster in presentation alone that it's astonishing. All hail our new robot overlords!

- @Cardboard Marty