Eviternity may not be the best doom megawad (32 map replacement for doom 1 or 2) but it's undoubtedly in the top 5. And probably the closest a megawad has come to feeling like a proper doom 3. Now what I mean by that is that there have been hundreds of great megawad's since doom 1 released in December 1993. However, most of those map packs end up falling into one of two camps. Ether they go down the route that the two megawad's included in final doom went (TNT and Plutonia) Where their a tighter more challenging variant of what came before. Or the they go for something unique and challenging that while great is deliberately trying not to be traditional doom. It's worth noting that both of these paths have led to fantastic experiences, but they don't escape feeling like map packs. Map packs that might be better than the commercial classic doom levels but still map packs. (Didn't realize it at the time but this is kinda wrong other examples of wads in eviternity's style are valiant and scythe 2)
Eviternity on the other hand goes for something distinct that still feels like it could appear in a doom game. In fact considering that the megawad first released on December 13th 2018 (25th anniversary of doom) and got the final release in February 2019 it's shocking how much this map pack shares with doom eternal. Both share a dark angelic force as the main villain. There's a lot of overlap in level theme's as Doom Eternal and Eviternity share levels/episodes based on lush medieval castles, frosty snow areas, and an angelic home world mixed in with the standard tech base and hell levels doom is known for.
And that level variety is a huge part of what makes eternity so fantastic with each of the 6 episodes being divided up into 5 levels (with two secret levels on top of that) it means that Eviternity avoids falling into the repetition that often hits doom games around 2/3's of the way in. If I had to pick a favorite episode it would probably be Chapter III: Crystalline. Due to not only making great use of variety. Considering that it's not just cold themed, you have icey caverns. Snow fields. Levels based around hunting lodges and snowed in abandon castles. While it doesn't have my favorite maps in the wad (my top 3 are map 9, map 19 and map 27). It's got the tightest and most consistent map set of any of the episodes with map 12 and 15 being particularly excellent.
Another thing that sets this map set apart is it's fantastic soundtrack. Done mostly by Jimmy Paddock (a legend in the doom music community), but also several other composers. The wad's music does an excellent job giving each map it's tone. From exciting and tense, to calming and peaceful. This soundtrack is something you should check out even if you don't like doom.
If I had to have a gripe with anything in Eviternity it's that the final boss is a bit of a let-down. It's far better and more challenging than any boss in doom 1 and 2 but that's not saying much. While the idea of fighting a giant angel that can use all of the demon's most deadly attacks sounds cool the fight kinda just comes down to BFG spam and knowing when to use the invulnerability spheres. It's a let-down especially when you consider how well used Eviternity's 4 other regular enemies are used. The nightmare demon, the annihilator, the former captain, and the astral cacodemon are all introduced and used to great effect throughout the wad.
So,I think it's worth letting my cards on the table. I only beat Eviternity on "hey not so rough" which is the second lowest difficulty in doom (though for context I always play doom 1 and 2 on ultra violence which is what hurt me plenty is about the same as playing on doom 1 or 2's ultra violence for most wads) And I also played it single segment with plenty of saves. So, I didn't play Eviternity in the same way that most people who are good at doom play it. However, I think it's testament to the quality of a mod like this that I can play it on a lower difficulty a difficulty that wasn't the intended way to play and still have a great time.
Eviternity is a doom masterpiece. It's creative, varied, challenging, atmospheric. But most of all it's just plain fun and easily on of the best doom wads of all time. Easily one of the best experiences you can have in doom and not even the occasional weaker level or medicore final boss can take that away from it. Plus, since it's a mod it's free if you own doom 1 or 2. So go ahead and try it.
Eviternity on the other hand goes for something distinct that still feels like it could appear in a doom game. In fact considering that the megawad first released on December 13th 2018 (25th anniversary of doom) and got the final release in February 2019 it's shocking how much this map pack shares with doom eternal. Both share a dark angelic force as the main villain. There's a lot of overlap in level theme's as Doom Eternal and Eviternity share levels/episodes based on lush medieval castles, frosty snow areas, and an angelic home world mixed in with the standard tech base and hell levels doom is known for.
And that level variety is a huge part of what makes eternity so fantastic with each of the 6 episodes being divided up into 5 levels (with two secret levels on top of that) it means that Eviternity avoids falling into the repetition that often hits doom games around 2/3's of the way in. If I had to pick a favorite episode it would probably be Chapter III: Crystalline. Due to not only making great use of variety. Considering that it's not just cold themed, you have icey caverns. Snow fields. Levels based around hunting lodges and snowed in abandon castles. While it doesn't have my favorite maps in the wad (my top 3 are map 9, map 19 and map 27). It's got the tightest and most consistent map set of any of the episodes with map 12 and 15 being particularly excellent.
Another thing that sets this map set apart is it's fantastic soundtrack. Done mostly by Jimmy Paddock (a legend in the doom music community), but also several other composers. The wad's music does an excellent job giving each map it's tone. From exciting and tense, to calming and peaceful. This soundtrack is something you should check out even if you don't like doom.
If I had to have a gripe with anything in Eviternity it's that the final boss is a bit of a let-down. It's far better and more challenging than any boss in doom 1 and 2 but that's not saying much. While the idea of fighting a giant angel that can use all of the demon's most deadly attacks sounds cool the fight kinda just comes down to BFG spam and knowing when to use the invulnerability spheres. It's a let-down especially when you consider how well used Eviternity's 4 other regular enemies are used. The nightmare demon, the annihilator, the former captain, and the astral cacodemon are all introduced and used to great effect throughout the wad.
So,I think it's worth letting my cards on the table. I only beat Eviternity on "hey not so rough" which is the second lowest difficulty in doom (though for context I always play doom 1 and 2 on ultra violence which is what hurt me plenty is about the same as playing on doom 1 or 2's ultra violence for most wads) And I also played it single segment with plenty of saves. So, I didn't play Eviternity in the same way that most people who are good at doom play it. However, I think it's testament to the quality of a mod like this that I can play it on a lower difficulty a difficulty that wasn't the intended way to play and still have a great time.
Eviternity is a doom masterpiece. It's creative, varied, challenging, atmospheric. But most of all it's just plain fun and easily on of the best doom wads of all time. Easily one of the best experiences you can have in doom and not even the occasional weaker level or medicore final boss can take that away from it. Plus, since it's a mod it's free if you own doom 1 or 2. So go ahead and try it.