Simulacrum
By myolden and Muumi - 32 Maps
Format: MBF21
[Download]
Started: August 6th 2026
Finished: August 9th 2026
Status: Completed
[STARCANNON399'S DEAN OF DOOM SEASON 4 WAD REVIEWS: PART 4 - SIMULACRUM]
Oh hell yes, finally. I've had Simulacrum sitting on my backlog for quite some time now, and had plans to squeeze it in between one of these special features, but the Dean caught me by surprise yet again! Simulacrum is a perfect storm of two mappers I already really liked, making a megawad in a format I also really like! Switching up visual themes every single map gives Simulacrum a great sense of wonder at what breathtaking realm you'll find yourself in next, and myolden and Muumi's mapping styles pass the ball back and forth very nicely. myolden specializes in tightly designed and orthogonal slaughterfests, while Muumi thrives in sprawling beautiful environments, which keeps the vibes fresh, even if I overall preferred Muumi's contributions. Simulacrum does away with any kind of exploring or navigation, its fight after fight after fight after fight, but the pace is kept lean and swift all throughout, even in its 1000+ monster behemoths. The quadruple myolden map block near the end (from map 25 to map 28) does admittedly drag just a tad bit, but it's far from the usual third episode faceplant that I've seen in many other wads. There's so many memorable highlights in here that picking a true favorite is pretty damn hard. The secret maps are admittedly very questionable, 31 is more of a good concept than an especially enjoyable map, and 32's complete texture vomit and mildly ear grating midi will irritate quite a few people, but I still managed to find some enjoyment in it. Simulacrum is absolutely one of my new favorite wads ever, and an easy recommendation for any newly minted slaughtermap enjoyers. (Unlike D2ICO, myolden does properly balance ALL his maps this time around, and same goes for Muumi, so I'd urge you to take the plunge even if you're very new to slaughter as a whole.)
This episode felt a little meanspirited at points. The "predictable archviles show up" gag is really overdone and overexaggerated, and I felt like map 32 really got thrown under the bus. Is it especially good? no. But "the worst map of all time"? C'mon now. Map 24's gimmick also got a bit unfairly dunked on, but in the case of that I can at least admit that I think I've just got a naturally higher tolerance to those types of visual shenanigans. I feel like Simulacrum suffered a bit under Dean of Doom rules, UV + 100% kills isn't always the best formula for enjoying a map, and the need to play the entire thing twice probably didn't help things. Simulacrum's hyper linearity isn't the most conducive to replays, and some of these maps probably go down more easily when you're not locking yourself to the hardest difficulty. Disagreeing is part of the fun I suppose, even when the disagreement comes from something other than the maps themselves. I REALLY can't say I agree with the final note the episode ends on. Simulacrum is far from just being a hollow imitation of the slaughter epics that came before it, and I get the feeling the Dean is starting to get a little burnt out after all this time. Still, the oddball picks keep on going with this season! I really figured Eviternity 2 or Legacy of Rust were coming up next, but I'm glad this episode came along and finally forced my hand to give this a full playthrough. Also that's how you pronounce "Simulacrum"? I hate it, I'm gonna keep saying it wrong.
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Favorite Map - Map 17: "Corpora"
Least Favorite Map - Map 27: "Nihility"
Honorable mentions to Map 2: "Life's Journey", Map 15: "Aether Sanctuary", Map 20: "The Base Reality" and Map 22: "Alpine Halls". Muumi's wonderful little worlds were a joy to visit, and I have to at least give my regards to the other most memorable of these little slices of reality.