Any recommended WADS that are NOT slaughterwads?

Most WADS I see online look great and have plenty of demons to kill. All fine for those who enjoy that sort of thing!

But what are some good WADS that dont rely on just slaughter and pure mayhem in every room you enter? Because that is what most of the WADS (including the WADS in cacowards) feel like. I prefer my maps to be more like Ultimate Doom Episode 1/2/3. Action packed with plenty of key searching and room to breathe.

Thank you!

what have you played already

if you're looking for some ultimate doom you should try perdition's gate and hell to pay

if you've already played those, then i would say you should probably just play them again

15 minutes ago, bonnie said:

what have you played already

 

if you're looking for some ultimate doom you should try perdition's gate and hell to pay

if you've already played those, then i would say you should probably just play them again

Haha no I haven't. Ill download those and give them a spin! thanks

Full list of stuff. There are a lot wads to choose and I believe that you'll find what you need here, just be critical.

@DoomeDxTry Moonblood for an Ultimate Doom/Plutonia feel (you won't find more than 200 monsters in a map)

Switcheroom does the job well done with classic take on DooM.

Nihility as well, though no music there. Ambient sound effects are present, which makes it really sweet.

Wonderful DooM is another classic take on DooM, though E4M3 likes to crash on my Chocolate DooM, so play it with Boom or GZDoom.

All these PWADs are for Ultimate Doom.

Also, playing the PSX Doom total conversion (which don't have archies) might be a good solution.

2 hours ago, Myst.Haruko said:

Full list of stuff. There are a lot wads to choose and I believe that you'll find what you need here, just be critical.

 

 

Cross-reference that list with these and remove the WADs you find in the two threads listed below. That should get you the "best" non-"slaughter" WADs.

@Pegleg, the OP is using "slaughter" in a very lax sense that could encompass three-quarters or more of wads. For example, there's the reference to the Cacowards, in which slaughterwads (as conventionally defined) are a minority but the OP suggests that they are a majority. So setting the threshold for "slaughteriness" at that fairly low value, I think out of the top 50 in that list, one could recommend: 

12. Memento Mori

19. Requiem 

21. Icarus

22. Suspended In Dusk

25. Doom the Way id Did

26. Pirate Doom

27. A.L.T.

28. Memento Mori 2

29. Eternal Doom

30. The Adventures of Square

32. ZDoom Community Map Project II (not familiar with this at all but Graf Zahl gave it 10 points, which is telling)

36. Unloved

46. Arcadia Demade

46. Equinox

I also got rid of some lower-density stuff that might be challenging.

^^ what rdwpa said, also I'd like to add Demonfear, Revolution! and Fava Beans which are a bit lower on the list but are still very fun.

Fair enough @rdwpa and @NaZa. In that case, since the OP is looking for more original iwad flavor, add:

Doom 2 the Way id Did

Doom 2 in Name Only

Whispers of Satan   (yes, it's on the list in the thread, but further down)

Violence  

Experiencing Nirvana  

Counter Attack (some bigger fights but LOTS of exploration and secrets to find, progression may get cryptic at times)  

Tangerine Nightmare

Also DTWID Lost Episodes

Revolution! and Khorus' Speedy Shit are some quite good low monster count wads.

6 hours ago, loveless said:

Experiencing Nirvana  

Doesn't this qualify as slaughter, for the most part?

4 minutes ago, 42PercentHealth said:

Doesn't this qualify as slaughter, for the most part?

It's a jokewad for the most part :^)

Is "joke" a gameplay style? :thinking:

No End In Sight

Zone 300 for small maps with low monster counts.

39 minutes ago, Marnetstapler said:

No End In Sight

Good one, though it gets heavily populated in episode 4, so I'd suggest the other 3 episodes, or only the first two.

And these ones: 

Somewhere in Time

Back to Saturn X ep1

Reverie

STRAIN

Eviltech's episodes 1 and 3

No Rest for the Living

You could play them on lower difficulties if you want less monsters. 

estranged

Swift Death only has like 3 maps with three digit monster counts. ;)

But that might be too hard, so I recommend Dark Covenant and Marswar for some old school charm.

The first episodes of Scythe 2 aren't slaughter-ish (the last ones tho) I also recommend alien vendetta

Many thanks for all the suggestions. Got them all downloaded. Seems like i've got some WADS to play!

45 minutes ago, SOSU said:

I also recommend alien vendetta

While that's a good wad, it has quite a few slaughter-ish maps after 13, as well as the 25-27 block that's largely BFG spam slaughter. Might not be what the OP is looking for, otherwise you could recommend Speed of Doom or Resurgence in the same vein.

You might enjoy Eternally Yours

4 hours ago, rdwpa said:

36. Unloved

The finale of this one is pure slaughter, as are a handful of encounters throughout.

It seems like you are setting the threshold for "slaughterwad" rather lower than most, so I suggest this thread might be worth looking at.

10 hours ago, bonnie said:

what have you played already

 

if you're looking for some ultimate doom you should try perdition's gate and hell to pay

 

Both of these wads are for Doom 2, not Ultimate Doom.

8 hours ago, Master O said:

 

Both of these wads are for Doom 2, not Ultimate Doom.

uh... correct? they have an ultimate doom feeling to them friend, which is what he asked for