Doom WADs’ Roulette (2012): Beyond Reality part 1
After the disaster that was Odessa 7, I believe I require another type of insanity; the one that I’ll find more… acceptable.
At least that’s what I would think if I saw what Beyond Reality was before actually playing it.
Release date: October 26th, 2012 (itch.io)
Required port compatibility: GZDoom
Levels: 22 (15 main ones (separate into 5 episodes), one secret one, and six bonus ones (one after finishing the MegaWAD))
To put simply what Beyond Reality is, it is a WAD made out of 22 maps, five of which were added after its initial release. It’s made up of five episodes, each with a rather insane theme.
Since the main part of the WAD and its bonus maps are separated with an episode selections, I believe it will the best idea to split the review into two parts (that and probably describing the new enemies in the separate post as well), where this part will focus on the original 17 maps, while the second will focus on the bonus maps released after the initial release.
So, without any further ado, welcome to the nutty world of Beyond Insanity.
I really like how the WAD looks. I feel like each map has something interesting to look at, aside from MAP10 and 11, but I’ll get to them in a few minutes. I’ll also add here that I like how some of the locations are gigantic in scope.
The WAD is split thematically into five episodes: the green-dominated first episode,
nostalgia trip to the original games,
and the land washed of the colors.
Most of the maps also have gigantic portraits, representing some of the pop-culture icons (usually from games, from what I can remember), including TF2 Heavy, AVGN, The Mask, Ash Williams, and, of course, the GOAT himself:
Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s actually two GOATs:
New sound effects were mostly fine to listen to. I like how the guy we are playing as sounds, but stuff like the new shotgun shooting might be too obnoxious for my taste (I feel like I’ve heard it in some of the early 2000s ZDoom WADs). Also, the Quake boom sound effect is here, but it didn’t feel as loud as in some of the ZDoom WADs from the past, thank fuck.
I feel the same thing about the soundtrack. All of the tracks (at least from the main part of the WAD) were made by Andrew Sega, and half of it was from a game called In Pursuit of Greed. The tacks from that game were okay. The other ones were better in my opinion.
Despite the sheer size of most of the maps, Beyond Reality wasn’t that complicated to play. There were some confusing moments here and there, but nothing going too far. Odessa 7 or Eternal Dud, it was not.
Anyway, some of the maps have something more interesting to do gameplay-wise, so let me give you a bunch of examples:
Plasma Factory has a switch sequence, where you have to press four of these surrounding the exit to access it.
Since the second episode is the world made out of boxes and crates, you bet your ass you will see the dreaded E2M2 mazes. The worst one is in Crate Island, due to the fact that it doesn’t show up on the minimap.
Box Factory lets you get three keys in any order, and while looking for the red one, you will encounter a crusher; you can find a save spot where the imps stand.
Elpmet Retaw has a secret exit; you have to find two hidden switches and enter the new location in the starting area. Do it immediately as you come back to the start; otherwise, you will block yourself from entering the secret level.
Speaking of which, What is probably the most insane map of all; you have to find all six keys to exit it while dealing with some bizarre scenarios and locations. While there are a couple of other maps that require more than three keys, this is probably the only one that requires six to finish.
As you kill the final boss of episode 3, you are forced to pistol-start the fourth one.
Knee-Deep in the Shores of Inferno is one of the more confusing maps, since you try to remember which door is where, and if you have the needed key. This is a Map is similar, but on a smaller scale.
The only interesting map in the fourth episode is Tower of Dis, since it combines all finales from all of the Doom I episodes (minus the fourth one). Other than this map, the only interesting thing that episode has to offer is the background: a black void with colored tech pillars, surrounding the vintage areas that were snapped together like LEGO bricks.
Episode 5’s gimmick, on the other hand, is much more interesting than the previous one: everything is gray, there is no sound, and the enemies stand in place, like all of it were frozen in time. So you try to find switches to bring it all back to normal.
Despite being one of the smaller maps of the WAD, Tower Top felt just as annoying to play as MAP10/11. Same gimmick as the other maps from Episode 5 (return color to the world), and yet there is so much stuff to memorize that it gets confusing which switch you already pressed or if you already killed the required monster.
I’ve already mentioned the silent areas in E5, but there is also one of these behind the yellow door in MAP08. But these areas don’t get silent sometimes, and I’ll tell you why in the bugs section.
Changing the subject, there are also flying platforms from Rise of the Triad. I can’t remember how these were named, either GAT or GAD. I might be wrong.
Oh, I almost forgot, grabbing berserk no longer forces you to whip out your fist. Great QoL improvement.
Now, enough of talking about the maps. How hard is this WAD?
I would say it’s kind of challenging, but it doesn’t go too far most of the time. It’s rather manageable, but it has some bullshit moments here and there, mostly due to some of the new enemies.
Speaking of new enemies, there are a bunch of them. I’ll make a separate post about the ones I’ve encountered in the main part of the WAD, but I’ll mention some of them here:
There are gigantic heads on pike that spread tiny heads, and also resurrect the enemies,
a shapeshifting demon that constantly swaps between many of the classic monsters,
red mancubus with a caco for a head (both normal and the boss variants),
green revenant that goes through walls,
Most of them felt kind of annoying to fight, since they had next to no attack wind-up.
Oh, and there are a couple of stealth shitlings in Knee-Deep in the Shores of Inferno. There is another one in the next map, but only on UV.
Yet another reason why the fourth episode is my least favorite.
There are also some traps ripped straight from RotT, including rotating blades, fire traps from the floor, and spears that appear only in Box Factory. There is also a blue fire trap that slows you down for a couple of seconds.
Most of the time, you can get around them smoothly, and then there is bullshit like the yellow key area in Cratepolis, where I feel like you have no choice but to take a hit from the blades.
Also, your fist and peashooter are now faster.
I’ve noticed a couple of bugs while playing the WAD: once, there was no texture right next to the exit in Plasma Factory, another time I fell through the invisible 3D bridge in Skyward Club; also, I feel like one of the invisible walls in Elpmet Retaw was glitching.
The biggest case was with the silent areas. Remember how I said that sometimes, these areas weren’t silent? Turns out that if you load the save, the areas will no longer be silent.
Anyway, that’s all I have to say about Beyond Reality, at least when it comes to its main part. Despite some of its problems, I had fun playing it. I think it would be even better if some of the new enemies had a longer wind-up (or had a wind-up at all).
In the following days, I’ll upload the list of enemies that I’ve encountered, plus some changes in hitscanners. I’ll see you then.
