Speed of Doom is a pretty great wad. It’s challenging from the start with its tricky monster encounters but this early part of the wad allows it to show off its snappy level design. The level use vanilla sets but are evocative. They find the balance between simplicity and detail.

It doesn’t take long for the wad to pick up with higher enemy counts and larger monster closets. The secret levels halfway through the wad, one of those levels sporting 1000+ enemies on the UV difficulty, are an omen for the wad’s final leg. By the last “episode”, the wad has evolved into a slaughterfest, but there are few combat arenas that aren’t bespoke.

The climax of the wad is an ultra-hard sortie into seas of monsters, with Twilight Massacre being a hellish field of unrelenting BFG fire. I have played this wad before but I wasn’t able to finish the final level because my gameplay mod and the 2000+ enemies made the game stall. I played vanilla this time so there was no slowdown even as I dashed through the black abyss of the game’s final level.

I get why this is regarded as a classic megawad although I think the years have dulled its sheen though. Newer, flashier megawads have come in its wake. I prefer the humble chaos of Speed of Doom, though, and by finishing this megawad again, I can see the influence that this wad had over the mapping community years after.

Speed of Doom is a pretty great wad. It’s challenging from the start with its tricky monster encounters but this early part of the wad allows it to show off its snappy level design. The level use vanilla sets but are evocative. They find the balance between simplicity and detail.

It doesn’t take long for the wad to pick up with higher enemy counts and larger monster closets. The secret levels halfway through the wad, one of those levels sporting 1000+ enemies on the UV difficulty, are an omen for the wad’s final leg. By the last “episode”, the wad has evolved into a slaughterfest, but there are few combat arenas that aren’t bespoke.

The climax of the wad is an ultra-hard sortie into seas of monsters, with Twilight Massacre being a hellish field of unrelenting BFG fire. I have played this wad before but I wasn’t able to finish the final level because my gameplay mod and the 2000+ enemies made the game stall. I played vanilla this time so there was no slowdown even as I dashed through the black abyss of the game’s final level.

I get why this is regarded as a classic megawad although I think the years have dulled its sheen though. Newer, flashier megawads have come in its wake. I prefer the humble chaos of Speed of Doom, though, and by finishing this megawad again, I can see the influence that this wad had over the mapping community years after.