Falaz
By Matt Eldrydge - 1 Map
Format: MBF21
[Download]
Started: October 23rd 2025
Finished: October 25th 2025
Status: Completed
Yet another Matt Eldrydge banger. I really enjoyed playing Eraser earlier this year, one of the first few things I played that kickstarted my whole classic doom obsession, so seeing another very similar wad by the same creator made me immediately really excited. Falaz does a fantastic job of setting up a horror-y vibe right from the start, with custom non-midi music and a great set of sound and enemy replacements. The bunker's oppressive concrete rooms and metal hallways look fantastic, reminding me a lot of We Have Doom At Home's map 3 (which was also made by the same creator), to the point I'm pretty sure the two share the same texture set. Playing this for the first time pretty late at night was extremely creepy, every corner you turn with nothing around it fills you with anxiety, and the loud and freaky alert noises for the new enemies instantly kicks you into fight or flight mode even when it's just a single imp. The enemies have been upgraded a decent bit too, most of them are a lot faster and more powerful, with the hitscanners especially being very deadly. The custom revenant replacement is a little too overpowered I feel like, but there's also only like 3-4 of them in the whole wad so it's not completely horrible. On that note though, despite the fantastic atmosphere and first impressions, Falaz has one major issue: it's really short. Just a single map that, while very confusing at first, becomes a lot more linear once you've found the blue key. After you've done that, it's basically a straight shot to the exit and that's it. My first playthrough ended with me being pretty disappointed overall, like I only had played a 1 map demo for a much longer wad, and I desperately wanted more. But I did do a second playthrough, and while Falaz is still pretty short, there's much more here if you look for it. I missed basically all the secrets on my first playthrough (also WOW using that one signalis sound as the secret found indicator is a GENIUS idea), but going back with the intent to look for stuff opens up the map quite a bit more. There's a LOT of hidden areas with a decently substantial amount of extra things to find in them, with two weapons I completely missed the first time (one secret, one that I just completely missed), which also introduced me to another thing this wad does. Through some kind of hidden line triggers, the map silently adds in extra enemies to various points, with a bunch of the secrets hiding not just themselves but also entire extra encounters once you make it back to the main area. The final fight which on my first run was a very measly handful of imps now ended up being way bigger, with a set of extra hitscanners left to surprise me right at the exit gate. I didn't find everything on that second playthrough (I'm a little too stupid when it comes to doom secret hunting), but going back for a second time ended up being really rewarding. If you do end up checking out Falaz, I highly suggest going in with the intent to look for secrets, and if you max the whole level and still want more, Eraser is right there for you to check out if you want something more substantial, though a decent bit less scary.
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐