Wormwood: Expanded Universe
By Ribbiks and Grain of Salt - 7 Maps
Format: Boom
[Download]
Started: October 21st 2025
Finished: October 21st 2025
Status: Completed
Welcome to Starcannon399's Doom Halloween special! Part 2, Wormwood: Expanded Universe! Wormwood: Expanded Universe sacrifices the brisk pace and short runtime of the original in exchange for a much more inventive and difficult set of maps. There's a lot more to sink your teeth into here, with 3 opening maps before the main event, plus another 3 bonus maps accessible via cheats. Ribbiks' 2 opening maps use a really creative gimmick with purple walls of fire that reflect projectiles, with map 1 introducing the gimmick in a unique situation, and map 3 being a full expo of what exactly it can do. Grain of Salt's map 2 is a neat little snack with 2 mini platforming challenges and one cramped micro-encounter inbetween that unfortunately doesn't really fit in with the rest of the set. Like with the original, Ribbiks' big showstopper finale is the absolute highlight. Stabbed, With A Sword is much longer and far more challenging than Wormwood's main act level, with some very cool fights and a well executed nonlinear structure. It's tight with ammo balancing but never too strict, you always have what you need when you need it but you spend a long time between anxiously hoping you'll get a refill on supplies before you need to deal with the next big fight. But what really ties it together is the atmosphere. subterra_remix.mid is a dreamy, haunting and glitchy sounding musical accompaniment to your long trek through map 4, and it gives the entire level a fantastic mood, just energetic enough to keep you going during hard fights but giving those tense inbetween moments a bleak yet strangely comforting vibe that I absolutely adore. Unfortunately the bonus maps kinda ruin Expanded Universe's flow a bit. They're fairly short, much like Wormwood's map 1, but they're far more difficult and kinda frustrating. Journal Entry 1 is a frustrating dumb stupid platforming nightmare that I never wanna play again, JE 2 is mini slaughtermap that's a little cool but nothing special, and JE 3 is a very out of place mostly fist only level that much like map 2 doesn't really feel like it fits in here. The immense quality of Expanded Universe's centerpiece map does mostly counterbalance the dip in quality from the bonus maps, though I ultimately still don't find them very worth playing.
Rating - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Favorite Map - Map 4: "Stabbed, With A Sword"
Least Favorite Map - Map 31: "Journal Entry 1: Killing Time"