The Lost Episodes Of Doom / Remnants Of Earth (1995 / 2013)

August 25, 2021

Lost Episodes was my first unofficial yet commercially released WAD. It starts off really strong, and whilst I don’t own the actual book that came with it, I was able to navigate and enjoy most of the earlier levels.

The problems begin however, when towards the end of episode 2, a second designer takes over. The maps all of a sudden become sprawling, enormous and mostly empty. This is proper amateur hour here, with the map quality ranging from downright atrocious to the not-so-bad “empty and eery” feel.

Starts really strong, ends badly. But its super cool to play some custom WADs from Doom’s infancy, with these being created in 1994. Remnants Of Earth, an episode 4 replacement but based in Doom II, on the other hand….

I had this WAD on the list but it was tacked on to my version of The Lost Episodes Of Doom. I accidentally ran it in Ultimate Doom rather than Doom II (for which it is intended), but I guess some sort of GZDoom or ZDoom (or even Brutal Doom) fuckery allowed all the monsters and guns to load without issue, but there were a few missing textures.

I’d argue that these maps do not compliment the original Lost Episodes. In fact, they are absolutely nothing like those maps. Because these are infinitely better – and much harder to boot. Even on a lower difficulty setting (I have to play it lower on Brutal Doom, don’t crucify me, UVnerds!). Some of the maps are a bit obtuse in finding the exit or a missing key, but all in all, this was a great – and challenging – addition to Doom.