Total Chaos and The Crimson Deed do unholy things with Doom
Plus a new 3D Realms Quake project
We're just shy of Halloween here and the stars are aligning, allowing unholy powers to warp Doom into strange, near-unrecognisable forms through the powerfully dark act of modding. Out tonight is Total Chaos, a survival horror mod so grand in its ambition that it leaves almost nothing recognisable as 'Doom', with detailed 3D environments and modern horror style. More traditional but still impressive is an early demo of The Crimson Deed, a vampire-themed dungeon crawl. Check out trailers for both below, plus some Quake-related surprises from 3D Realms.
Total Chaos is a stunning piece of work just from the little but I've played so far. If it weren't for the occasional bit of chunky map geometry, I'd have no clue that this had anything to do with Doom - it's a real testament to what's capable with the modern GZDoom engine, and (so far, at least) runs silky smooth. I do recommend turning on GL Precaching, as the mod's Readme file recommends. So far, it feels very Silent Hill, especially in its 'fade to black' room transitions. An intentional and unsettling break in the contiguous 3D space, mirroring old system limits - clever.
Right now, The Crimson Deed (from the regularly featured Andrea Gori) is a short two level demo. It requires Doom 2 to run now, but when finished it'll be a standalone free game. Players control Vesper, a lady vampire who has risen from her crypt after doing something so bad that she decided to lay low for a few hundred years. Now she's emerging into a strange new world full of guns, spell-slinging cultists and giant rats trying to eat her face. In between shooting/stabbing/zapping stuff, you piece together what happened through notes found and the whispers of vampire ghosts.
And just in case you're still hungry for old-school FPS news, 3D Realms are working on a new game using the original Quake engine, similar to how the (so far excellent) Ion Maiden is using Duke Nukem 3D's Build foundation. There's no name for the game yet, but 3D Realms VP Frederik Schreiber went and posted the GIF below into their official Discord channel. I've also heard (unconfirmed) rumours that some of the team responsible for Quake mega-mod Arcane Dimensions are involved. In my opinion, they're the best team for the job.
They also had a little extra bit to share on Ion Maiden - the game will now have voxel support, allowing weapon and item pickups, plus a few detail and environment objects to retain that gloriously 90s retro pixellated look without disturbing the game's deliciously retro aesthetic. Ion Maiden won't be out until a few months into 2019 at least, but the current early access 'demo' version is excellent - it feels like Duke Nukem 3D, but better, and with some downright brilliant grenades. Plus, it'll have multiplayer when it finally launches - worth the wait, hopefully.
All that, and I've heard rumblings that there's some Dusk announcements to be made tomorrow. The 90s FPS renaissance is a wonderful thing indeed, and we're just a few weeks off from Doom's 25th anniversary. Buckle up - the spookin' doesn't end with Skeleton Appreciation Month.
You can get Total Chaos here and The Crimson Deed's beta here. You'll need the very latest GZDoom engine to run either, plus Doom 2 itself.