Doom Musings: The best old-school slaughtermaps

So overall, the genre of "slaughtermap" has become a major staple in just about every modern wad. The need to throw hordes of enemies at the player has prevailed through the years due to everyone's lust to fight more and more. Because of how it's become more popular, many often forget about the most old-school of slaughtermaps. This post will talk about the best of those.

SQUARES.wad

Costa Lappas is credited with probably creating the most basic of all slaughtermaps. As its WAD title shows, this is a WAD with squares. There are square rooms around everywhere, and each room will have monsters and weapons. The monsters tend to have multiples in every room, with the central room being the biggest challenge. This wad is notable for being a huge inspiration on the famous Deus Vult, which in itself was a "first map". Insane, isn't it?

Showdown (Memento Mori MAP23)

I would say this is the first slaughtermap I can easily remember. In this coop-heavy megawad, Showdown was constructed around open fields and enemy armies, and while a bit rough on the edges, Showdown shows that there's going to be blood spilled at every turn. The author is one of the Casali twins, for the record, which actually becomes a nod once they throw the big challenge of Plutonia (remember that Final Doom came out after Memento Mori). Memento Mori unfortunately doesn't have a lot of really memorable maps at all, but this comes the closest. And since the set is largely coop-based, the slaughter gets turned up to eleven with more meat and more friends to help out.

Resistance is Futile (Hell Revealed MAP22)

Some will probably be surprised that Post Mortem (MAP24) or perhaps Mostly Harmful (MAP32) doesn't make this post. Well, they have a few problems. Mostly Harmful is a super secret map and is largely symmetrical, so even despite the insanity within there's still ample strategy that can be reused. Post Mortem is a powerful Living End-style level, but stuff like repeatedly teleporting mancubi as well as potentially cramped combat (assuming you don't go wading in damaging blood all the time) slows the pace considerably. Maybe this is why Resistance is Futile is the best. It has none of those things, instead opting for the Showdown approach, open fields, areas with armies behind them, well the two center buildings are also highlights in their own ways. In any case, this format will end up being reused as much as the Post Mortem format, and in many ways, they are done quite well each time.

Demonic Hordes (Alien Vendetta MAP25)

Of course Alien Vendetta makes the list, and what better way to do that than by putting in a map that says exactly what to expect? I think of Demonic Hordes as the first adventure-slaughter hybrid map. The map is still mostly slaughtering hordes, but goes further than the simple Showdown/Hell Revealed mantra and makes it into a substantial adventure. You'll be creaming enemies in many different areas and it feels like a fun odyssey no matter what. Other levels before and after this level tend to do the same thing a lot, but this is the one that really sells you as to what it's all about.

Fear (Scythe MAP26)

Eh, why not? We might as well end this one with the level that took many by surprise in Scythe. Everything at you at once! Scythe's Fear is a surprisingly simple slaughtermap, fight your way through the hordes to get the keys and then unlock the exit. The sheer magnitude of what you're facing is what makes it difficult though. Think about it, those cyberdemons guarding the keys themselves are one thing, the teleporting hordes at the bottom are another. And the way the revenant teleport closet is constructed is novel enough to make it seem endless in some way. People will remember this level and there's no denying it.