better than tnt. in fact, i somewhat enjoyed my time with it until the last 10 levels or so. before then, i was pleasantly surprised that the game seemed to keep in mind pistol starting much more than doom II did. it also was much better about health pickups, something that tnt struggled with a lot for whatever reason. however, the last 10 levels or so just seem like these thrown together long levels without the care put into the earlier ones, both gameplay-wise and visually. i also cant say i loved the difficulty of the earlier levels. i dont save mid-level, so having to do 10 mins of stuff ive already done a million times all over again bc of some stupid trap at the very end is annoying. i wish the levels were a little more bite-sized. i did LOVE hunted though.
Definitely the better half of Final Doom but still not my favorite. While I love how cutthroat and quick to the point it can be; it suffers from some annoying enemy placement that can get repetitive. The last few levels too are a slog. While I can see the appeal, it’s just ok in my book.
These are the best official Doom maps. This thing has a reputation for being "brutally hard" and "trollish" but I see these both as good things. The maps look great, the pranks they play on the player are impish and fun, and the fights are fairly challenging. I never felt like this thing was unfair, it was just lightly toying with me. The designers were having fun playing with me and I was having fun playing their levels.
Plutonia is a masterclass in FPS level design. Every encounter is brutally difficult but never feels unfair.
The only flaw it is has is that it's often unclear which pits are inescapable or which floors are damaging. Oh, and MAP30 sucks as all Icon of Sin fights do. Other than that it's a masterpiece.
The only flaw it is has is that it's often unclear which pits are inescapable or which floors are damaging. Oh, and MAP30 sucks as all Icon of Sin fights do. Other than that it's a masterpiece.
UV, pistol start, no saves.
too pussy for uv max atm.
too pussy for uv max atm.
It sucks hard like there's no tomorrow
Fucking miserable. i feel so gas-lit by the doom community.
arenas devolve into just spamming the same few enemies, it uses annoying traps a lot and goes on way too long.
arenas devolve into just spamming the same few enemies, it uses annoying traps a lot and goes on way too long.
A game that uses every one of Doom II's tricks to its fullest. The best official standalone Doom II level pack. Just 30 excellent levels that do their best to fuck you up. These boys use chaingunners and Arch-Viles in ways the original Doom II team could never have imagined in '93. A testament to how perfect those game pieces were in the original Doom II, so full of potential that would only be realized years later.
Also has better realizations of Doom II's exterior city level types than anything in the original game. A testament to how strong the Plutonia team were.
Also has better realizations of Doom II's exterior city level types than anything in the original game. A testament to how strong the Plutonia team were.
Where TNT bores in its overall competency, The Plutonia Experiment surpasses the lesser half of Final Doom through sheer challenge and occasional brutality (regardless of how much one save scums) in more inspired enemy placements and an incredibly difficult super secret level (fuck arch-viles). There's still a distance from what makes the original games' levels usually superior to these, but Plutonia showcases more of what Doom can be for the hardcore base that no other official piece of content can match at the point of Final Doom's release.
There's definitely a consensus within the classic Doom fans, that Plutonia is, by far, the best official wad ever released. And of course, i agree. I mean, seriously, this wad it's just perfect, it created a whole new gameplay standard for wads to come, it even created it's own style. Ever hear someone using the term "Plutonia-like" when describing a certain encounter on a whole different wad? That's because Plutonia spawned a style of it's own, or at least a couple design tropes.
I read somewhere that Plutonia is essentially what Doom 2 would have liked to be, and i couldn't agree more on that statement. It actually borrows a few concepts out of some flawed Doom 2 maps and it makes them so much better. The typical example would be how Odyssey Of Noises (MAP29 from Plutonia) takes it's inspiration on Downtown or Industrial Zone (both from Doom II) and it just ends up being not only the best city based map, but also one of the favourite maps by a large part of the Doom-fans community. And there are other examples too. But don't get me wrong: That's just a little of what Plutonia does, because most of the time is actually introducing many new concepts in level design (The Hunt, for example) instead of just paying a homage to previous maps.
I read somewhere that Plutonia is essentially what Doom 2 would have liked to be, and i couldn't agree more on that statement. It actually borrows a few concepts out of some flawed Doom 2 maps and it makes them so much better. The typical example would be how Odyssey Of Noises (MAP29 from Plutonia) takes it's inspiration on Downtown or Industrial Zone (both from Doom II) and it just ends up being not only the best city based map, but also one of the favourite maps by a large part of the Doom-fans community. And there are other examples too. But don't get me wrong: That's just a little of what Plutonia does, because most of the time is actually introducing many new concepts in level design (The Hunt, for example) instead of just paying a homage to previous maps.
Played on UV, pistol starting every map. All maps played to completion, including the secret ones. Mid-map saves weren't used anywhere except for the ending of map 09 and the Icon of Sin fight. The former because it's really hard, the latter because the Icon of Sin is lame and I wanted to finish the game already.
Source port used was dsda-doom, primarily because it has proper borderless fullscreen support.
Playtime was around 32 hours in total, roughly an hour per map on average. The longest I spent on a single map was ~4-5 hours for Speed (map 12).
As someone first playing Doom in the 2020s, Plutonia was the game that truly taught me the potential of Doom, what makes it so fascinating to this day.
What I find striking about classic Doom is the wide range of skills it tests. You need to be able to grasp geometry layouts and enemy positions in a (pseudo) 3D space. You need a basic understanding of routing concepts like resource management and threat mitigation. Aiming and movement are demanding on a basic mechanical level. Individual combat encounters demand swift reflexes and a sense of rhythm. Level design is freeform enough that you may need to navigate gargantuan mazes. Sometimes there's even platforming! Doom blends many disparate design elements―that is, sources of difficulty―to create a distinct experience with seemingly limitless depth. Plutonia conveyed this to me better than the original games ever did.
Why? Simply put, Plutonia is both bolder and more refined than the originals. This is not to discredit id's accomplishment with the originals, of course―while the map design is very rough in those games, we wouldn't have Doom period without them, and the Casali brothers needed the foundation they provided to build Plutonia upon.
Either way, the Casali brothers succeeded in pushing the envelope, in taking Doom to greater heights. While not every level in Plutonia is as tight as it could be (it was made by two people in four months, after all), its design is, in a word, purposeful. The Casali brothers weren't figuring things out as they went along; they knew what they wanted to do, and that was challenge the player in novel and exciting ways. This is most apparent with the enemy placement and encounter design. There are no "tiers" of monsters―no fodder, no midbosses, no bosses, just threats to be placed in ways that complicate and enhance the level elements surrounding them. Why are there so many chaingunners? Because they force you to respect them, which in turn forces you to approach the surrounding design with more care. You will be put under pressure and taken out of your comfort zone, be it by chaingunners or revenants or archviles or even cyberdemons, but that's a good thing. Victory tastes so much sweeter when you've worked for it.
I was also generally impressed by the basic level layouts in Plutonia. They're well-paced and suitably intense throughout; even the larger levels never feel sprawling. The de facto finale, Odyssey of Noises, is an obvious standout in the level design department, with its inspired theming and complex, multi-layered pathing. It's so good that I have to question why there's not more discussion of this level in mainstream gaming spaces, especially given that it's featured in a commercial release from id. It'd certainly be more interesting than yet another opinion piece breathlessly proclaiming the inimitable genius of the interlocking world in Dark Souls. I don't see people lavishing the same praise on Super Metroid for leading you back into Crateria via red Brinstar... But I digress.
All in all, Plutonia is proof that sometimes just wanting to make something hard is the right mindset. In their pursuit of new challenges, the Casali brothers redefined what Doom could be and inspired generations of mappers to come.
Plutonia (at least under the conditions I played it with) was significantly harder than any Doom content I had played prior, and I really felt like I was in over my head at first. Around Go 2 It, though, things clicked for me, and I began to develop an appreciation for the torment. It was worth persevering through all the pain; initially, I wasn't sure if I'd move on to fanmade Doom WADs, but the idea is starting to seem very appealing...
Source port used was dsda-doom, primarily because it has proper borderless fullscreen support.
Playtime was around 32 hours in total, roughly an hour per map on average. The longest I spent on a single map was ~4-5 hours for Speed (map 12).
As someone first playing Doom in the 2020s, Plutonia was the game that truly taught me the potential of Doom, what makes it so fascinating to this day.
What I find striking about classic Doom is the wide range of skills it tests. You need to be able to grasp geometry layouts and enemy positions in a (pseudo) 3D space. You need a basic understanding of routing concepts like resource management and threat mitigation. Aiming and movement are demanding on a basic mechanical level. Individual combat encounters demand swift reflexes and a sense of rhythm. Level design is freeform enough that you may need to navigate gargantuan mazes. Sometimes there's even platforming! Doom blends many disparate design elements―that is, sources of difficulty―to create a distinct experience with seemingly limitless depth. Plutonia conveyed this to me better than the original games ever did.
Why? Simply put, Plutonia is both bolder and more refined than the originals. This is not to discredit id's accomplishment with the originals, of course―while the map design is very rough in those games, we wouldn't have Doom period without them, and the Casali brothers needed the foundation they provided to build Plutonia upon.
Either way, the Casali brothers succeeded in pushing the envelope, in taking Doom to greater heights. While not every level in Plutonia is as tight as it could be (it was made by two people in four months, after all), its design is, in a word, purposeful. The Casali brothers weren't figuring things out as they went along; they knew what they wanted to do, and that was challenge the player in novel and exciting ways. This is most apparent with the enemy placement and encounter design. There are no "tiers" of monsters―no fodder, no midbosses, no bosses, just threats to be placed in ways that complicate and enhance the level elements surrounding them. Why are there so many chaingunners? Because they force you to respect them, which in turn forces you to approach the surrounding design with more care. You will be put under pressure and taken out of your comfort zone, be it by chaingunners or revenants or archviles or even cyberdemons, but that's a good thing. Victory tastes so much sweeter when you've worked for it.
I was also generally impressed by the basic level layouts in Plutonia. They're well-paced and suitably intense throughout; even the larger levels never feel sprawling. The de facto finale, Odyssey of Noises, is an obvious standout in the level design department, with its inspired theming and complex, multi-layered pathing. It's so good that I have to question why there's not more discussion of this level in mainstream gaming spaces, especially given that it's featured in a commercial release from id. It'd certainly be more interesting than yet another opinion piece breathlessly proclaiming the inimitable genius of the interlocking world in Dark Souls. I don't see people lavishing the same praise on Super Metroid for leading you back into Crateria via red Brinstar... But I digress.
All in all, Plutonia is proof that sometimes just wanting to make something hard is the right mindset. In their pursuit of new challenges, the Casali brothers redefined what Doom could be and inspired generations of mappers to come.
Plutonia (at least under the conditions I played it with) was significantly harder than any Doom content I had played prior, and I really felt like I was in over my head at first. Around Go 2 It, though, things clicked for me, and I began to develop an appreciation for the torment. It was worth persevering through all the pain; initially, I wasn't sure if I'd move on to fanmade Doom WADs, but the idea is starting to seem very appealing...
Ah Classic Doom, despite playing majority of Doom1 , Doom 2 and TNT Evilution I couldn't really finish any of them, at one point I was bored, frustrated by the obtuse level progression or the game just felt too long, I wont say that Plutonia has none of those problems, a few of the levels are bland and some of the traps can feel unnecessarily mean.
But I did it, beat all of Plutonia pistol start on Ultra violence and had a great fucking time, I hate the mean starts in some of the levels but when I had weapons and ammo and saw a trap I got a wicked grin on my face equivalent to Doom Guy picking up a new weapon. The combat design is mostly excellent showing the strength of Doom 2 monsters in a way the base game never did. Especially Revenants and Archviles. Countless times dying to the Revenants homing missile and Archvile's fiery sightlines, I was forced to learn how to deal with them, maybe even git gud. The Archvile usage as both a regular enemy and something that stays out of sight and acts as a hazard resurrecting fallen enemies is especially noteworthy. I love the way Plutonia mixes up monsters there's rarely a time where it's 1 boring enemy you have to deal there's always a variety of projectiles coming your way to kill you especially in any open and larger fights.
I also like how it mostly ditches weaker weapons like the pistol and pump action shotgun, giving you heavy ammunition with shotgun shells and rockets, the Rocket Launcher is basically your main weapon for half the maps.
I appreciate the length and pacing of the levels as well shorter and on the intense side very often, there's not much boring downtime.
After Plutonia I feel like I understand classic Doom better, I have certainly gotten better at the game and I can see the intricacies in weapon balance and monster design that makes Doom 2 an enduring legend to this day.
But I did it, beat all of Plutonia pistol start on Ultra violence and had a great fucking time, I hate the mean starts in some of the levels but when I had weapons and ammo and saw a trap I got a wicked grin on my face equivalent to Doom Guy picking up a new weapon. The combat design is mostly excellent showing the strength of Doom 2 monsters in a way the base game never did. Especially Revenants and Archviles. Countless times dying to the Revenants homing missile and Archvile's fiery sightlines, I was forced to learn how to deal with them, maybe even git gud. The Archvile usage as both a regular enemy and something that stays out of sight and acts as a hazard resurrecting fallen enemies is especially noteworthy. I love the way Plutonia mixes up monsters there's rarely a time where it's 1 boring enemy you have to deal there's always a variety of projectiles coming your way to kill you especially in any open and larger fights.
I also like how it mostly ditches weaker weapons like the pistol and pump action shotgun, giving you heavy ammunition with shotgun shells and rockets, the Rocket Launcher is basically your main weapon for half the maps.
I appreciate the length and pacing of the levels as well shorter and on the intense side very often, there's not much boring downtime.
After Plutonia I feel like I understand classic Doom better, I have certainly gotten better at the game and I can see the intricacies in weapon balance and monster design that makes Doom 2 an enduring legend to this day.
A gauntlet of spammy enemy encounters is all The Plutonia Experiment is, and it gets old REALLY quick. I turned the difficulty all the way down as I did in TNT Evilution, and while that helped me get through the game, it did not improve many of the problems with enemy placements and traps. Like Doom 2s worst levels, Plutonia is filled with a barrage of traps and doors that close behind you and rooms that suddenly spawn 40 archviles and 6000 chaingunners when you take the key.
Apparently the guys who made Plutonia designed the levels with the idea that previous Doom entries were not hard enough, and so they just tweaked it until the levels were tough for them to get through. Well I hope they had fun because they made easily the worst 32 levels out of either Doom game or expansion. So congrats on that.
Apparently the guys who made Plutonia designed the levels with the idea that previous Doom entries were not hard enough, and so they just tweaked it until the levels were tough for them to get through. Well I hope they had fun because they made easily the worst 32 levels out of either Doom game or expansion. So congrats on that.
Probably the best of the original classic DOOM episodes. A lot of the levels really understand where and what exactly the player and monsters can be and do and it creates a lot of very interesting vignette combats. What Plutonia lacks in aesthetic cohesion, it makes up for in ingenious usage of DOOM and its limits to spin what is familiar into something that tests the player's genuine understanding of how the game presents itself.
Didn't seem all that hard though. Maybe I'll try UV No-Saves and see if that breaks me in half.
Didn't seem all that hard though. Maybe I'll try UV No-Saves and see if that breaks me in half.
What can I say: it's Doom, it's super fun, but... I didn't enjoy the Plutonia Experiment so much as I did with the original Doom. The levels seems too complicated and difficult because the sake of being difficult, and the level design sometimes wasn't so great. But playing Doom is always a pleasure.
Si DOOM 2 fuera buen juego :
Comprising of half of what would be known as "Final Doom," "The Plutonia Experiment" was created in 1996 by Dario and Milo Casali (the former being most known for his contributions to Half-Life). Their goal was to make the most challenging Doom wad ever created for Doom veterans who were bored with the base games of Doom and Doom II, and while I do think they succeeded on that front, I still think some of the maps go overboard making it feel impossible at some points. There are some specific maps I would like to talk about.
Most Iconic Map
MAP11: Hunted
The iconic Arch-vile maze accompanied by the endoom "Bunny" music is just quintessential Plutionia. I remember having nightmares of this map after finishing it the first time on just I'm Too Young To Die. Playing it on a higher difficulty this time around, and surprisingly it wasn't that hard. Not as punishing as some other maps that's for sure.
Worst Map
MAP16: The Omen
I was contemplating either putting this or Map 15: The Twilight as the worst map, but the more I think about this one the more it pisses me off. You have to beat it a specific way, or it becomes impossible, making it a really restrictive experience. I'm sorry, I enjoy maps that provide multiple paths for you to choose to beat it and this wasn't cutting it.
Best Map
MAP26: Bunker
One of the more brutal maps of the megawad, but one I grew to appreciate the map design after completing the game. The way the map loops around itself to make it feel more layered is a real nice touch.
While it does seem to fall into the rut that most megawads do of losing steam around the third act, and some of the levels get really frustrating at times, I would really call this a bad wad at all. Some of the levels are really fun and challenging. While I was actively frustrated during playing through the wad, afterwards I could really appreciate what they were going for gameplay and mapwise.
Most Iconic Map
MAP11: Hunted
The iconic Arch-vile maze accompanied by the endoom "Bunny" music is just quintessential Plutionia. I remember having nightmares of this map after finishing it the first time on just I'm Too Young To Die. Playing it on a higher difficulty this time around, and surprisingly it wasn't that hard. Not as punishing as some other maps that's for sure.
Worst Map
MAP16: The Omen
I was contemplating either putting this or Map 15: The Twilight as the worst map, but the more I think about this one the more it pisses me off. You have to beat it a specific way, or it becomes impossible, making it a really restrictive experience. I'm sorry, I enjoy maps that provide multiple paths for you to choose to beat it and this wasn't cutting it.
Best Map
MAP26: Bunker
One of the more brutal maps of the megawad, but one I grew to appreciate the map design after completing the game. The way the map loops around itself to make it feel more layered is a real nice touch.
While it does seem to fall into the rut that most megawads do of losing steam around the third act, and some of the levels get really frustrating at times, I would really call this a bad wad at all. Some of the levels are really fun and challenging. While I was actively frustrated during playing through the wad, afterwards I could really appreciate what they were going for gameplay and mapwise.
This one is tough, but worth it. I'm sure a ton of WADs got their inspiration from the level of difficulty this one provided. Instead of big sprawling levels with a ton of low-level garbage on them (like its Final DOOM companion, TNT), Plutonia opted for tight, compact levels with interesting enemy placement and variety. A lot closer to the rhythm we got out of the modern games, wherein combat almost felt like more of a puzzle at times, but also wasn't afraid to turn it into a matter of reflex and punishment for sloppy playing. There were some absolutely bonkers levels, like... I think Twilight was the name of one? I have an extra save of it because it was insane, just no breathing room at all. And "Hunted" was great, nothing but Archviles teleported across a labyrinth. Clever and cool concepts, big fan and looking forward to others like it... as long as I actually have the skill and ability needed to play through them!
I liked the map with the archviles
A step up from the Master Levels for Doom II (which I understand were designed by completely different people, so I only mean to imply my relative opinion of quality, not some kind of iteration between the two entries). Not every map seems inclined to use all three keys, which is a shocking amount of restraint. Few levels run into the "where the hell do I go next" problem, but it does come up in the back half a few times.
Did wad-makers ever learn consistency in conveyance? At times, interacting with a colored gate does nothing, because you're meant to interact with a color-coded switch somewhere else in the level. But at least a few times I was stumbling around looking for such a switch, only to find that the colored gate WAS interactable this time. It seems like within a single wad, there should be consistency about that. Also, consistency about which floor textures damage you or not, because that's a total crapshoot depending on the level.
Did wad-makers ever learn consistency in conveyance? At times, interacting with a colored gate does nothing, because you're meant to interact with a color-coded switch somewhere else in the level. But at least a few times I was stumbling around looking for such a switch, only to find that the colored gate WAS interactable this time. It seems like within a single wad, there should be consistency about that. Also, consistency about which floor textures damage you or not, because that's a total crapshoot depending on the level.
A definite step up in challenge compared to earlier WADs, with an almost perfect length for each map. Just the first level alone will give you a great idea of what to expect from the rest of the map set. I'm honestly about to just replay it again since I had a great time. The only thing that annoyed me was how inconsistent damaging floors were, but I guess that's a Doom issue in general.
A great collection of levels, though there are a few annoying ones mixed in, every Doom fan should give these a go.
Plutonia is fucking bullshit, and every second spent playing it was misery. 10/10 I hope I never have to play it again
i have had chaingunner nightmares for the past 4 days.
*played with Final Doomer+ and Plutonia Midi Pack
My feelings on this are so mixed, there's obviously a ton of skill and effort behind the project, but I personally hate how much of this WAD is devoted to just being an asshole to the player. Spawning chaingunners behind you every two seconds isn't challenging, it's just annoying. But there's also moments of intense action that are, admittedly, very well made and engaging. I played on Ultra Violence and, admittedly, I think I could have some fun with this on a lower difficulty to alleviate some of the bullshit. But personally, it's just not really my type of WAD.
I also didn't give nearly enough credit to the visuals, there's no original textures like in TNT but they still manage to create some really nice scenery.
The Final Doomer weaponset was awesome, really love the scoped shotgun, although I personally had some trouble aiming the grenade launcher. The fanmade midi's are all amazing and do a lot to enhance the atmosphere. Highly recommend both of these mods.
My feelings on this are so mixed, there's obviously a ton of skill and effort behind the project, but I personally hate how much of this WAD is devoted to just being an asshole to the player. Spawning chaingunners behind you every two seconds isn't challenging, it's just annoying. But there's also moments of intense action that are, admittedly, very well made and engaging. I played on Ultra Violence and, admittedly, I think I could have some fun with this on a lower difficulty to alleviate some of the bullshit. But personally, it's just not really my type of WAD.
I also didn't give nearly enough credit to the visuals, there's no original textures like in TNT but they still manage to create some really nice scenery.
The Final Doomer weaponset was awesome, really love the scoped shotgun, although I personally had some trouble aiming the grenade launcher. The fanmade midi's are all amazing and do a lot to enhance the atmosphere. Highly recommend both of these mods.
Love Is... conceiving your son Milo Casali by artificial insemination, to the chagrin of the Vatican, and announcing this proudly in your comic strip. Love Is... the Casali sons making their own staple of pop media in a similarly simple but unexpected way.
Love Is... the Plutonia Experiment, if I might be so bold. There's nothing but love throughout this entire mapset, a perennial standout among the classic Doom games for reasons debated to this day. For 1996, the mapping designs and concepts employed in PLUTONIA.WAD were avant-garde, yet seem very obvious and simple to modern Doom players. The Casali brothers were done playing by the rules and conventions fellow fan creators were bound to, from overt attempts at realism ("DoomCute" in today's parlage) to prizing adventuring and cheap thrills over exacting endurance tests of skill. For Dario & Milo, it was now or never to challenge, even brutalize their community. A kind of tough love, perhaps.
As a fanmade map pack turned second half of Final Doom, Plutonia serves as a necessary foil to TNT: Evilution's excesses and concessions. The Casalis bros. knew their community maps well, and had already been pushing the possibilities of the pre-source port Doom engine with solo releases like PUNISHER.WAD and BUTCHER.WAD. After id software witnessed their contributions to TNT.WAD—two of the most polished maps in that whole set, Dario's "Pharaoh" and Milo's "Heck"—they met and discussed making a whole new expansion pack to feature in Final Doom. The early maps they showed American McGee quickly became the start for Plutonia, which Dario & Milo had much less time to work on than TeamTNT had for their own mapset.
I could go further into The Plutonia Experiment's history, but Doomworld and Dario's own contributions paint more of the picture already. What you should know on a first playthrough is that one cannot just like this WAD. Nearly everyone I know in the Doom fandom either loves or hates this monument to mid-'90s FPS experimentation. It's more than reasonable to run through Plutonia on a lower difficulty since the maps are well-designed to retain their intensity and skill demands on Hurt Me Plenty at least. But the Casalis built this game as the kind of Japanese game show obstacle course any Doom player in '96 would approach with caution, if not trepidation. There's no remorse, little reprieve, and relatively few dull moments anywhere throughout Plutonia's alienating, jungle-laden mess of arenas, gauntlets, and set-pieces. Tough love indeed.
Not every level hits these marks. I can list some of my own pet-hate experiences, from the very poorly telegraphed "Indiana Jones" invisible bridge in MAP02: Well of Souls, to the cramped teleporting Archvile trap wrecking first-time players in MAP12: Speed. A couple of maps utterly put me off even now, mainly MAP20: The Death Domain (too many gotchas, not enough chances to take cover) or MAP30: Gateway to Hell (another needless tradition, the Icon of Sin finale). Otherwise, that leaves us with thirty difficult but rewarding maps combining Doom II's masterful combat design with more streamlined, less noodly levels to navigate. I think it's a winning combination, even if some 1996 contemporaries like the Memento Mori II mapset showcase prettier or more conceptually ambitious works.
One thing that absolutely works in Plutonia's favor is its difficult but fair approach to most combat scenarios. This is not anything like a Mario kaizo hack or masocore gaming in general. But you'll have every reason to approach fights strategically, using the right weapons and movement at the right time to survive. Both of the brothers prefer small but uniquely lethal combinations of monsters to the giant hordes you see in many popular maps today. Economy of design defines this set in contrast to not just Evilution, but other community-made packs from the time like Memento Mori. A single archvile, a couple revenants, and some cannon fodder imps...put them in a non-trivial space to travel around and you'll have one hell of a battle!
To this end, most maps shower you in higher-tier ammo for those upper-level weapons. Expect to learn the ins and outs of rocket launcher splash damage, or how to efficiently wield the BFG's invisible tracer spread fire. Practice hard enough and you'll get a feel for how to conserve super shotgun ammo as you mow down pinkies, or the basics of redirecting skeleton fireballs into other foes to get them infighting. The Casalis weren't making hard-ass shit for the sake of being hardasses. At a time when speedrunning demos were gaining popularity and the Doom community's skills and metagame were evolving, these two just wanted to gift everyone a bloody chocolate box for Valentine's. True love waits.
Funny thing is, these maps aren't as bizarre or off-putting as one might think, at least when you realize they're clever remixes of id's own levels! It makes sense how, with only several weeks to build and test their vanilla-compatible maps largely by themselves, the Casalis would chop up useful bits from Doom I & II for their own purposes. Milo's MAP21: Slayer is an obvious riff on 'O' of Destruction and other Romero levels, for instance, while Dario's works like MAP08: Realm liberally borrow ideas from Sandy Petersen's oft-maligned creations. This does mean the set can't be as revelatory or unique as it could have, despite some memorable new ideas like the iconic archvile maze in MAP11. Still, there's plenty of clever trope reuse all throughout Plutonia that had few if any contenders in the community back then. We're a decade-and-a-half off from projects like Doom the Way id Did, after all, and these time-saving homages to the original games came in clutch for the project.
Some make this more obvious than others, like the utterly chaotic, classic slaughtermap remix of MAP01: Entryway from Doom II. This new creation, Go 2 It, even seems at odds with the spare monster placement and emphasis on precision attrition Plutonia's advocated for up until now. Hundreds of baddies swarm the bones of an opening stage best known then as the main multiplayer 1v1 map. Yet applying your newfound reflexes and reactions to enemy attacks makes the original slaughter experience not just viable, but fucking brilliant to play. All these funny lil' guys on screen are just going to kill each other anyway if you can juke them into hitting one another. Simple strategies lead to satisfying successes. It's more than just "git gud", as some will profess—more so getting flexible and adapting to scary but beatable challenges as you go.
Without Plutonia, I'm not sure I'd have ever gotten into Doom mapping, let alone a ton of newer fan creations both easier and harder than Final Doom. This feels like a necessary leap in complexity and player demands, one that's often a bit too harsh and formulaic yet well-meaning with how it challenges you. If Doom II proved that id's template was no fluke, and community efforts like Evilution and Memento Mori II showcased the story-/adventure-driven possibilities of new maps, then Plutonia's a necessary course correction for its time. The Casalis loved not just how they could push the engine to its theorized limits, but how they could maximize Romero & Petersen's game design for all its worth. What others see as unfair (which I occasionally agree with), I see as ascetic and utterly focused on avoiding downtime. There's just enough negative space in these maps between encounters to give you a breather, but never too much to bore.
Love Is... a compelling mixture, a chemical reaction that keeps you invested. It might get ugly and wear you down at times, yet it keeps you coming back. Sure it can be painful, as much as life ought not to. But if it helps you grow stronger, more understanding and empathetic, is that such a bad trade? I've had a healthy relationship with The Plutonia Experiment for years now, one which taught me make simple but effective moves in combat, or fun maps for my friends to play. This kind of appreciation takes time and effort; I won't fault anyone if they can't commit to it, and I recognize the privileges one might need to get this far. In the end, I like to think it's all been worth the patience. True love waits.
Love Is... the Plutonia Experiment, if I might be so bold. There's nothing but love throughout this entire mapset, a perennial standout among the classic Doom games for reasons debated to this day. For 1996, the mapping designs and concepts employed in PLUTONIA.WAD were avant-garde, yet seem very obvious and simple to modern Doom players. The Casali brothers were done playing by the rules and conventions fellow fan creators were bound to, from overt attempts at realism ("DoomCute" in today's parlage) to prizing adventuring and cheap thrills over exacting endurance tests of skill. For Dario & Milo, it was now or never to challenge, even brutalize their community. A kind of tough love, perhaps.
As a fanmade map pack turned second half of Final Doom, Plutonia serves as a necessary foil to TNT: Evilution's excesses and concessions. The Casalis bros. knew their community maps well, and had already been pushing the possibilities of the pre-source port Doom engine with solo releases like PUNISHER.WAD and BUTCHER.WAD. After id software witnessed their contributions to TNT.WAD—two of the most polished maps in that whole set, Dario's "Pharaoh" and Milo's "Heck"—they met and discussed making a whole new expansion pack to feature in Final Doom. The early maps they showed American McGee quickly became the start for Plutonia, which Dario & Milo had much less time to work on than TeamTNT had for their own mapset.
I could go further into The Plutonia Experiment's history, but Doomworld and Dario's own contributions paint more of the picture already. What you should know on a first playthrough is that one cannot just like this WAD. Nearly everyone I know in the Doom fandom either loves or hates this monument to mid-'90s FPS experimentation. It's more than reasonable to run through Plutonia on a lower difficulty since the maps are well-designed to retain their intensity and skill demands on Hurt Me Plenty at least. But the Casalis built this game as the kind of Japanese game show obstacle course any Doom player in '96 would approach with caution, if not trepidation. There's no remorse, little reprieve, and relatively few dull moments anywhere throughout Plutonia's alienating, jungle-laden mess of arenas, gauntlets, and set-pieces. Tough love indeed.
Not every level hits these marks. I can list some of my own pet-hate experiences, from the very poorly telegraphed "Indiana Jones" invisible bridge in MAP02: Well of Souls, to the cramped teleporting Archvile trap wrecking first-time players in MAP12: Speed. A couple of maps utterly put me off even now, mainly MAP20: The Death Domain (too many gotchas, not enough chances to take cover) or MAP30: Gateway to Hell (another needless tradition, the Icon of Sin finale). Otherwise, that leaves us with thirty difficult but rewarding maps combining Doom II's masterful combat design with more streamlined, less noodly levels to navigate. I think it's a winning combination, even if some 1996 contemporaries like the Memento Mori II mapset showcase prettier or more conceptually ambitious works.
One thing that absolutely works in Plutonia's favor is its difficult but fair approach to most combat scenarios. This is not anything like a Mario kaizo hack or masocore gaming in general. But you'll have every reason to approach fights strategically, using the right weapons and movement at the right time to survive. Both of the brothers prefer small but uniquely lethal combinations of monsters to the giant hordes you see in many popular maps today. Economy of design defines this set in contrast to not just Evilution, but other community-made packs from the time like Memento Mori. A single archvile, a couple revenants, and some cannon fodder imps...put them in a non-trivial space to travel around and you'll have one hell of a battle!
To this end, most maps shower you in higher-tier ammo for those upper-level weapons. Expect to learn the ins and outs of rocket launcher splash damage, or how to efficiently wield the BFG's invisible tracer spread fire. Practice hard enough and you'll get a feel for how to conserve super shotgun ammo as you mow down pinkies, or the basics of redirecting skeleton fireballs into other foes to get them infighting. The Casalis weren't making hard-ass shit for the sake of being hardasses. At a time when speedrunning demos were gaining popularity and the Doom community's skills and metagame were evolving, these two just wanted to gift everyone a bloody chocolate box for Valentine's. True love waits.
Funny thing is, these maps aren't as bizarre or off-putting as one might think, at least when you realize they're clever remixes of id's own levels! It makes sense how, with only several weeks to build and test their vanilla-compatible maps largely by themselves, the Casalis would chop up useful bits from Doom I & II for their own purposes. Milo's MAP21: Slayer is an obvious riff on 'O' of Destruction and other Romero levels, for instance, while Dario's works like MAP08: Realm liberally borrow ideas from Sandy Petersen's oft-maligned creations. This does mean the set can't be as revelatory or unique as it could have, despite some memorable new ideas like the iconic archvile maze in MAP11. Still, there's plenty of clever trope reuse all throughout Plutonia that had few if any contenders in the community back then. We're a decade-and-a-half off from projects like Doom the Way id Did, after all, and these time-saving homages to the original games came in clutch for the project.
Some make this more obvious than others, like the utterly chaotic, classic slaughtermap remix of MAP01: Entryway from Doom II. This new creation, Go 2 It, even seems at odds with the spare monster placement and emphasis on precision attrition Plutonia's advocated for up until now. Hundreds of baddies swarm the bones of an opening stage best known then as the main multiplayer 1v1 map. Yet applying your newfound reflexes and reactions to enemy attacks makes the original slaughter experience not just viable, but fucking brilliant to play. All these funny lil' guys on screen are just going to kill each other anyway if you can juke them into hitting one another. Simple strategies lead to satisfying successes. It's more than just "git gud", as some will profess—more so getting flexible and adapting to scary but beatable challenges as you go.
Without Plutonia, I'm not sure I'd have ever gotten into Doom mapping, let alone a ton of newer fan creations both easier and harder than Final Doom. This feels like a necessary leap in complexity and player demands, one that's often a bit too harsh and formulaic yet well-meaning with how it challenges you. If Doom II proved that id's template was no fluke, and community efforts like Evilution and Memento Mori II showcased the story-/adventure-driven possibilities of new maps, then Plutonia's a necessary course correction for its time. The Casalis loved not just how they could push the engine to its theorized limits, but how they could maximize Romero & Petersen's game design for all its worth. What others see as unfair (which I occasionally agree with), I see as ascetic and utterly focused on avoiding downtime. There's just enough negative space in these maps between encounters to give you a breather, but never too much to bore.
Love Is... a compelling mixture, a chemical reaction that keeps you invested. It might get ugly and wear you down at times, yet it keeps you coming back. Sure it can be painful, as much as life ought not to. But if it helps you grow stronger, more understanding and empathetic, is that such a bad trade? I've had a healthy relationship with The Plutonia Experiment for years now, one which taught me make simple but effective moves in combat, or fun maps for my friends to play. This kind of appreciation takes time and effort; I won't fault anyone if they can't commit to it, and I recognize the privileges one might need to get this far. In the end, I like to think it's all been worth the patience. True love waits.
This is the official DooM game equivalent to a kid spamming Bowsers in Mario Maker.
This isn't "Doom hard" this is just bad design, I did "get good" but it's still not good at all. Being pelted by chaingunners (let alone unreachable ones) isn't fun, tediously dealing with revenants over and over isn't fun, teleporting enemies easily closing in on you isn't fun, the archive maze isn't fun. I could go on at this point, but you get the idea. And it kills me, these are reasons people shit on TNT, yet Plutonia has them way worse. There were like what a few actually good levels? But yeah they definitely don't save this game from being ass.
Utter bullshit part 2