A mod for Doom II: Hell on Earth
Eviternity II is a 37-level megawad for Doom II using MBF21-compatible source ports, created by a team lead by Joshua O'Sullivan (Dragonfly). It was released on December 10, 2023, the 30th anniversary of Doom's release and the 5th anniversary of the original Eviternity. Making extensive use of a newly updated build of the OTEX texture pack (to be released as a standalone texture pack in the future), Eviternity II’s six chapters explore a series of unique and varied themes, continuing on from where you left off after the Archangelus’ defeat! The 37 maps are split in six episodes that each have five regular maps and one secret map, plus one credit map.
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A wonderful sequel that not only gives us even more breathtaking sights, but also overall improved gameplay from its predecessor. If you can believe it, annihilators are balanced now.
Gracing us with themed chapters is this wad's biggest strength once more. Every level is crafted with such meticulousness that it makes me wonder how the creators didn't lose their minds making a single one of them. Doom has been around for 30 years, of course, so with that time spent, come its most dedicated fans, ready to rip you a new one. A primitive engine that dates from the 90s, and yet they crafted some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in a while. The art direction is, simply put, spot on.
Music this time around is sublime as well! I'm happy to state that I've got some new memorable songs that can be stuck in my head whenever I want to. A team of 4 people (from what I can see in the credits) worked to make 36 original tracks and they all fucking slap.
Map design is also a big improvement! I can still name a couple of maps that soured the experience, but they've only soured it a bit. Most notably, however, and I'm gonna make this one personal: Map28 could definitely have done without those white cacos flying way too high up in the air. Not cool. However, I can give props for making properly difficult maps, like the jaw dropping map36. Holy hell, that one's just one of the best maps ever made.
This was overall a much better experience than the first Eviternity, and the first one was already really good. Highly recommend this wad for any DOOM fan, as well as for the people who are dipping their toes into more difficult experiences. Considering this was a stealth drop, of all things, I've gotta give it to the team for not leaking a single thing, they must have been bursting a vein or two, wanting to share their work to the world as soon as possible.
Played on Ultra-Violence. Timer says 14 hours, but you could probably add 1 or 2 hours in there with my save reloading. I tried to not save scum too much, with a decent degree of success.
DOOM forever.
Gracing us with themed chapters is this wad's biggest strength once more. Every level is crafted with such meticulousness that it makes me wonder how the creators didn't lose their minds making a single one of them. Doom has been around for 30 years, of course, so with that time spent, come its most dedicated fans, ready to rip you a new one. A primitive engine that dates from the 90s, and yet they crafted some of the most beautiful scenery I've seen in a while. The art direction is, simply put, spot on.
Music this time around is sublime as well! I'm happy to state that I've got some new memorable songs that can be stuck in my head whenever I want to. A team of 4 people (from what I can see in the credits) worked to make 36 original tracks and they all fucking slap.
Map design is also a big improvement! I can still name a couple of maps that soured the experience, but they've only soured it a bit. Most notably, however, and I'm gonna make this one personal: Map28 could definitely have done without those white cacos flying way too high up in the air. Not cool. However, I can give props for making properly difficult maps, like the jaw dropping map36. Holy hell, that one's just one of the best maps ever made.
This was overall a much better experience than the first Eviternity, and the first one was already really good. Highly recommend this wad for any DOOM fan, as well as for the people who are dipping their toes into more difficult experiences. Considering this was a stealth drop, of all things, I've gotta give it to the team for not leaking a single thing, they must have been bursting a vein or two, wanting to share their work to the world as soon as possible.
Played on Ultra-Violence. Timer says 14 hours, but you could probably add 1 or 2 hours in there with my save reloading. I tried to not save scum too much, with a decent degree of success.
DOOM forever.
As expected, this megawad is really, really good, is not only good as expected, but surpasses expectations on how it manages dehextra and mbf21, making for technical feats that even in 2024, can make a doomer's jaw drop to the underground. Definitely this level of technical superiority carries around the whole megawad, and it's the true showcase of the wide potential of mbf21 as a whole.
As for maps, they're like I said in some post, consistent, and polished. Some may feel a bit out of place in the megawad like map 15 and even the masterwork that is map24, other may have some small aspects that I don't enjoy, but that's mostly because they are the maps that you would recognize the author styles the most, and in a megawad constructed as cohesively as this, is not a bad thing, at least shows this has some soul.
Best maps in the set are definitely map 14, 23, 24, 11, 12 and 17, at least from my perspective, since these are the kind of maps, I actually like the most, especially map23.
The thing is, if this surpasses other top tier megawads like ancient aliens or the btsx episodes, is debatable. It surely surpasses some of the first eviternity in some aspects, although I prefer some maps there because they still compare well to this megawad, and personally I like this better than the btsx episodes, but still skillsaw's work I consider it peak dooming from the perspective of managing the best polish, on top of very substantiative gameplay.
For more detailed revews of each map, look at some of my post in the doomworld megawad club: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2754167
As for maps, they're like I said in some post, consistent, and polished. Some may feel a bit out of place in the megawad like map 15 and even the masterwork that is map24, other may have some small aspects that I don't enjoy, but that's mostly because they are the maps that you would recognize the author styles the most, and in a megawad constructed as cohesively as this, is not a bad thing, at least shows this has some soul.
Best maps in the set are definitely map 14, 23, 24, 11, 12 and 17, at least from my perspective, since these are the kind of maps, I actually like the most, especially map23.
The thing is, if this surpasses other top tier megawads like ancient aliens or the btsx episodes, is debatable. It surely surpasses some of the first eviternity in some aspects, although I prefer some maps there because they still compare well to this megawad, and personally I like this better than the btsx episodes, but still skillsaw's work I consider it peak dooming from the perspective of managing the best polish, on top of very substantiative gameplay.
For more detailed revews of each map, look at some of my post in the doomworld megawad club: https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/2754167
Played on Ultra-Violence with continous play on GZDoom with freelook enabled.
Eviternity 1 was a landmark in doom mapping, in my eyes it's the closest we've gotten to a true spiritual successor to Scythe 2, a WAD that may be my favorite of all time, so the news of a sequel blew me away and made me giddy to see what Dragonfly and crew have cooked up this time but after finishing my feelings are incredibly conflicted.
Eviternity 2 feels bigger and badder as a sequel should with a new weapon and new enemies but their implementation is messy. The new weapon is incredibly powerful and a worthy reward for completing secret maps but if playing pistol start there aren't many instances where you'll be able to fully utlize it's strengths due to it being a secret map reward. Meanwhile the new enemies are a mixed bag with the new soldier and baron being scary foes while the necromancer and nightmare cacodemons being more annoying than fun to fight, especially in closed enviroments.
Themeing has also taken a small hit, areas still look gorgeous as ever with clever usage of OTEX textures but the concrete sites of episode 3 and partial repeat of Evi1's first episode in episode 4 have blurred together in my mind after completion. That said the revisit of the angelic theme as a opener instead of a closer was lovely to see and there are other highlights in the episode 2, 5 and the secret maps. What also doesn't help the themeing is the sense of progression with some episode finales feeling more like a middle chapter than a true end to it's episode, this is especially felt in episodes with a secret map prior to it's finale (E2/E6) or had a more grander map just before (E3/5).
I may sound incredibly harsh in this brief, messy write up but there is still lots to enjoy. The soundtrack is once again incredible and there are some truly great maps and encounters. I mainly wanted to highlight my issues as previously stated, Eviternity 2 left me conflicted in terms of how I felt in regards to the whole experience. That said I still recommend the WAD, there's a strong likelihood you'll enjoy it's experimental maps more than I did and hell, maybe on a replay I will enjoy it more as well but when compared to the original, Eviternity 2 is just good and not incredible.
Favorite Maps: 05, 08, 32, 14, 24
Least Favorite Maps: 33, 25, 30
Eviternity 1 was a landmark in doom mapping, in my eyes it's the closest we've gotten to a true spiritual successor to Scythe 2, a WAD that may be my favorite of all time, so the news of a sequel blew me away and made me giddy to see what Dragonfly and crew have cooked up this time but after finishing my feelings are incredibly conflicted.
Eviternity 2 feels bigger and badder as a sequel should with a new weapon and new enemies but their implementation is messy. The new weapon is incredibly powerful and a worthy reward for completing secret maps but if playing pistol start there aren't many instances where you'll be able to fully utlize it's strengths due to it being a secret map reward. Meanwhile the new enemies are a mixed bag with the new soldier and baron being scary foes while the necromancer and nightmare cacodemons being more annoying than fun to fight, especially in closed enviroments.
Themeing has also taken a small hit, areas still look gorgeous as ever with clever usage of OTEX textures but the concrete sites of episode 3 and partial repeat of Evi1's first episode in episode 4 have blurred together in my mind after completion. That said the revisit of the angelic theme as a opener instead of a closer was lovely to see and there are other highlights in the episode 2, 5 and the secret maps. What also doesn't help the themeing is the sense of progression with some episode finales feeling more like a middle chapter than a true end to it's episode, this is especially felt in episodes with a secret map prior to it's finale (E2/E6) or had a more grander map just before (E3/5).
I may sound incredibly harsh in this brief, messy write up but there is still lots to enjoy. The soundtrack is once again incredible and there are some truly great maps and encounters. I mainly wanted to highlight my issues as previously stated, Eviternity 2 left me conflicted in terms of how I felt in regards to the whole experience. That said I still recommend the WAD, there's a strong likelihood you'll enjoy it's experimental maps more than I did and hell, maybe on a replay I will enjoy it more as well but when compared to the original, Eviternity 2 is just good and not incredible.
Favorite Maps: 05, 08, 32, 14, 24
Least Favorite Maps: 33, 25, 30
Best WAD I ever played
What an unbeliavable surprise to top off the year.
Were just a few months shy of Eviternity's 5th anniversary (holy shit how has it been this long), what many, including myself proclaimed to be the greatest megawad of all time. I've got nothing but praise to give it's sequel.
Maps are gorgeous, layouts simultaneously feel unique and straight forward, both combat encounters & puzzles are well thought out, dehacked monsters feel completely fair, and the midis are excellent.
Highlights are Maps 1,3,4,8,9,10,14,18, and especially 32. 32 might be my favorite level released in any wad, ever. 36 is also noteworthy for effectively being a sunlust map in terms of cruelty towards the player.
That being said, barring maybe Map33 (you'll know why when you get to it) you could release any 3-4 maps as it's own seperate entity and it would end up being a noteworthy wad of the year.
Nevermind greatest megawad anymore, Eviternity 2 is an easy contender for greatest pwad of all time. An absolute MUST play for anyone interested and/or invested in Doom's modding scene.
Were just a few months shy of Eviternity's 5th anniversary (holy shit how has it been this long), what many, including myself proclaimed to be the greatest megawad of all time. I've got nothing but praise to give it's sequel.
Maps are gorgeous, layouts simultaneously feel unique and straight forward, both combat encounters & puzzles are well thought out, dehacked monsters feel completely fair, and the midis are excellent.
Highlights are Maps 1,3,4,8,9,10,14,18, and especially 32. 32 might be my favorite level released in any wad, ever. 36 is also noteworthy for effectively being a sunlust map in terms of cruelty towards the player.
That being said, barring maybe Map33 (you'll know why when you get to it) you could release any 3-4 maps as it's own seperate entity and it would end up being a noteworthy wad of the year.
Nevermind greatest megawad anymore, Eviternity 2 is an easy contender for greatest pwad of all time. An absolute MUST play for anyone interested and/or invested in Doom's modding scene.