Well finished Eviltertnity 2 and the TLDR is that the wad is good. its damn good. Cacoaward winner for 2024 for sure.
I have quite a fair bit to say about this .wad hence its own post. It Starts off simple enough, after your victory over the first demonic angel thing, you make you way from the decaying ruins of the celestial paradise only to enough a new variant of Astral enemy: the Astral Cacodemon. So begins a new hunt to purge its influence and destroy another demonic angel.
The game is broken down into 5 progressively challenging episodes and after every 5 maps (6 if you count the secret ones) your weapons reset. So pickups and the challenge factor ramps up fairly quickly as you have to reequip fast with enemies are thrown at you thick and fast. Sure some maps are there for breathers, but after the first few maps expect tough battles and ambushes ahead. Each episode introduces a new "Astral" and odd nightmare variant of the enemy roster which are typically a step up from your usual fodder and they are no joke:, stand in front of some of these monsters and even at 200 health and armor they will destroy you with ease. i won't spoil the surprises, but lets just say that you'll learn to hate the Astral Cacodemons. A lot.
With the culmination of new tougher astral enemies often favoured over the weaker counterparts and increasingly vicious level design, the game can get extremely punishing. i started feeling things were tough when I got to the midway point (bastion was the maps name) as the maps favor ambushes, traps and the multitude of astral enemies are thrown into the mix. from level 24 onwards the maps are absolutely brutal as there is little to no room to to breathe. Also honorable mentions goes to the final episode which is nothing short of painful; its dark, the environments are hazardous and the nightmare Cacodemon is introduced to round out the enemy roster. Essentially the nightmare Cacodemon is the astral cacodemon but on steroids; Faster, hits harder (has homing projectiles) and can absorb a lot of punishment. Even one of these gits in open pitched battle is a tough challenge, let alone having a smaller circular arena with other baddies.
Level design i can't fault it, its well designed, looks magnificent and some effort has been made to get some narrative implemented into the maps. The first few maps have darkened skies, rain is falling and generally grim visuals in what was originally a heaven like environment. emphasizing that its a world that's dying/decaying as the thing holding it together is gone to hold it together. Another example is the ice port where players make their way to a battleship to fire off its cannon to blow away the horde of cyberdemons and crack open a cave to reach the exit. Hell, in one map they threw in mini puzzle games like a block sliding puzzle, lights out game and a buzz wire game using explosive barrels. For better or for worse. With Tristan clark and jimmy paddock on sound duty on most of the maps ensuring the maps play well and have a soundtrack that complements it. Pretty much all the tracks are original for E2 and i still listen to them when at work or doing something else. i could go on with the various features and things that make me go wow in this game, but most of the best stuff is actually hidden in the secret levels per episode. The price of admission is pretty steep: lose all weapons and pistol start the map. But the price of admission is worth it for 2 reasons:
1. As mentioned previously, the maps are the best designed and they are some of the most fun i had or unique. parallel worlds is a personal fav as you jump between villiage and demonic temples to make progress. Also the scale of the maps are huge.
2. The perforator. A new weapon that is nothing short of brilliant. In Doom, the bullet based weapons are weak and great against zombies and effective against imps. but anything above pinky demon and above they're not great. In fact its one of the last things i would use as most favour the super shotgun as their go to weapon. With the difficulty of the game, bullets are worthless against astral variants of the enemies (void imps maybe ok, but they come in packs and still take a fair bit of punishment). So what did they do? they introduced the Perforator, a powerful and versatile burst fire weapon that uses bullets. Now bullets become very viable (because how common they are) and its accuracy means you can keep your distance and snipe targets with it. hell, even cyber demons drop dead in 2 shots and its a must for boss fights. of course, that depends if you get one... Go into hidden level and don't walk out this gun then you're wasting your time.
So great level design, great sound track and crammed with good ideas is there any negatives?
i suppose difficulty, but i was playing on ultraviolence so i guess its to be expected. I did find one or several maps a bit irksome because of the difficulty or just weren't great. Level 33 is tough as its an obstacle course of death. Touch the lazers and instant death, plus a death timer; spend too long and the explosions catch up and blow you to pieces. But the bit that annoyed me most was those planks, too often i would slip between 2 of them as i tried to cross and results in death.
Those Astral cacodemons and Nightmare Cacodemons are bloody horrid things.
Still, do i recommend it? if you into Doom wads. Absolutely easily the best wad for 2024 (or 2023) so far.
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