I've played a decent number of Doom WADs in my time, and they almost all run into the same problem for me: excess. 32 levels, slaughter maps, maps with 500+ enemies. I personally find this style of WAD to be completely exhausting, and even though I've overall enjoyed some of them (others not so much) I still tend to walk away feeling like I would've preferred things scaled back a notch or two.
So then comes Sigil, designed by John Romero himself and only 8 levels long, which I can honestly say is the most refreshing bit of Doom I've played in quite some time. Instead of massive hordes Sigil relies on clever enemy placement, deliberate resource allocation, and unique level design to challenge the player in ways I personally find to be 10 times more engaging than most of what else I've played. Sigil is hard, don't get me wrong, but I never felt like it was being cheap or repetitive. I was actually a bit hesitant going into this since it's only Doom 1 monsters but Romero really knows how to do a lot with so little, I'd forgotten there was a time when Cacodemons could feel like a legitimate threat.
Of course I couldn't sing the praises of Sigil without mentioning the stunning visuals or rocking midis. I've heard great things about the Buckethead soundtrack and I'll definitely check it out sometime, but it's got some stiff competition. I guess if I had anything to complain about I'd say a couple of the levels were a bit too dark, but given the insane amount of visual options most source ports have today it's almost not worth mentioning.
Sigil was a blast from start to finish, and I think it's awesome to see Romero return to the game he helped create and show everyone he's still got it. Can't recommend it enough.
So then comes Sigil, designed by John Romero himself and only 8 levels long, which I can honestly say is the most refreshing bit of Doom I've played in quite some time. Instead of massive hordes Sigil relies on clever enemy placement, deliberate resource allocation, and unique level design to challenge the player in ways I personally find to be 10 times more engaging than most of what else I've played. Sigil is hard, don't get me wrong, but I never felt like it was being cheap or repetitive. I was actually a bit hesitant going into this since it's only Doom 1 monsters but Romero really knows how to do a lot with so little, I'd forgotten there was a time when Cacodemons could feel like a legitimate threat.
Of course I couldn't sing the praises of Sigil without mentioning the stunning visuals or rocking midis. I've heard great things about the Buckethead soundtrack and I'll definitely check it out sometime, but it's got some stiff competition. I guess if I had anything to complain about I'd say a couple of the levels were a bit too dark, but given the insane amount of visual options most source ports have today it's almost not worth mentioning.
Sigil was a blast from start to finish, and I think it's awesome to see Romero return to the game he helped create and show everyone he's still got it. Can't recommend it enough.