Alien Vendetta
By Anders Johnsen and Kim André Malde et al. - 32 Maps
Format: Vanilla
[Download]
[Download for the Alien Vendetta MIDI Pack]
Started: September 7th 2026
Finished: September 8th 2026
Status: Completed
Wad #150! For #50 I picked something at random that ended up being a huge undertaking, and for #100 I finished up every remaining official classic Doom wad before playing a community project that melded elements from many of them into a single wad, so for #150 I figured why not play what is generally considered to be "The most influential PWAD of all time"? And now that I've finished it, yeah I can definitely see why. For a megawad from 2001, Alien Vendetta is surprisingly fun and vicious, and the entire first 20 maps are really enjoyable, it really makes you forget that AV is over 25 years old. Like all classic megawads, Alien Vendetta unfortunately fumbles pretty badly during the final stretch. The first two episodes are really great, and even the first half of the hell episode is impressively good for a classic wad, but then maps 27 and 28 are just... abysmal, completely atrociously bad. Both starve you of ammo and health, are fairly ugly looking, and while 27 suffers from overly confusing progression and lasts way too long, 28 is just lazy and spammy with enemy placement all around. The final two maps aren't nearly as bad, but after the 1 2 combo of pure garbage they end up suffering by association. It's a shame Alien Vendetta doesn't stick the landing because it's incredibly good despite its age, and the midi pack helps that along even further. AV only had one original song written for it (Map 20's "Fight the Logic If You Can"), and the midi pack gives some fantastic support to a set of already pretty great levels. Map 10's midi ("Guardian Angel Loses Their Will" by em essex) is one I've heard in two other wads before this point and hearing it in proper context was really fun, and it goes to show how good map 20's original midi was, because instead of replacing it or doing a remix, the team got the original composer to just remaster it a little with minimal changes. The rest of the midi pack full of pretty incredible songs too, and if it weren't for sentimentality over the TNT midi pack I'd say it's probably the best community midi pack we've ever gotten. Despite shooting itself in the foot before the finish line, Alien Vendetta is still a really solid experience overall, and shows the roots of what would eventually become standard in modern custom map design.
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Favorite Map - Map 10: "Toxic Touch"
Least Favorite Map - Map 27: "Stench of Evil"