Project Einherjar

Project Einherjar is a three-episode total conversion for GZDoom/Doom 2 developed and released by Impie in the summer of 2016; Episode 2 was later released in the winter of 2016, and Episode 3 at the beginning of 2017. It is set during nuclear winter, and features 21 new maps and a totally replaced roster of weapons and enemies in the style of an early-90s 3D shooter. Impie made the mod as a promotional gimmick for a sci-fi novel, The Helios Legacy, set in the same universe. The gameplay involves lots of fast, brutal shootouts with enemies that die relatively easily, but can badly injure the careless player. Each episode features a short story that sets the stage for the action to follow, written in the novel's pulpy style.

Story
The player takes control of the novel's protagonist, Juno, in the postnuclear nation of Midgard, which stores its male population like cattle in "Valhalla" facilities. Under direct orders from the government, Juno has begrudgingly rounded up all known homosexual males in her Valhalla and delivered them personally to Gaulheim, to be experimented on by the homophobic Dr. Gaul. Juno is about to leave when a runaway male explains that Gaul is turning the men into mindless super-soldiers as part of a coup to take over the government. Juno reports this to her superior in the capital city, but Dr. Gaul is too well connected to move against officially. Instead, Juno is given permission to discreetly liquidate Dr. Gaul and her super-soldier program, Project Einherjar, while a blizzard cuts Gaulheim off from the rest of civilization.

In Episode 2, several months after the death of Dr. Gaul, Juno is abducted by Gaulheim's vengeful sheriff, Bloody Althea Rourke, and taken to White Hell prison out in the middle of the wasteland. There she meets the sadistic warden, "Blue Devil" Veidt, who has continued the Einherjar project on her own. Juno escapes before she can be tortured and fights her way through the prison, hoping to bring an end to White Hell and the Einherjar project once and for all.

In Episode 3, after a robotic drone attacks a residential block of a major city in Midgard, Juno discovers that the drone was controlled by a human head with cyber-tech, signifying the resurgence of Project Einherjar. She traces the drone's creator to a region of Jotunheim controlled by Baron Frostgard, who has been building a new Einherjar army as an invasion force.

Weapons
Project Einherjar completely replaces the player's arsenal.
 * Ballistic Knife - Juno's signature weapon, a knife that fires the blade like a small harpoon that pierces all enemies in its path. The blade must be retrieved after each shot (if it isn't lost forever due to poor aim), but she can collect extra blades during the episode.
 * Raven M40 - A fast-firing and highly damaging pistol.
 * Shit Creek Scattergun - A slow shotgun Juno constructed from water pipes and other junk. A last-ditch resort for getting a better gun.
 * Thunderhammer Auto-Shotgun - A fully automatic version of the shotgun.
 * Gungnir M14 - A fast, deadly, and accurate assault rifle. It can usually hit its mark at long distances even on full-auto.
 * Dessler Frag Cannon - Pump-action rocket launcher. It fires more slowly than the Doom 'Launcher, to balance the squishy and mostly human enemy roster.
 * Minigun - An overpowered bonus weapon that is only accessed via cheating.
 * Spring Mine - A landmine that bounces into the air before detonating. Juno is immune to its destructive effects.
 * Missile Pod - Once dropped, it fires off four salvos of mini-missiles that seek the nearest target.
 * Super Stim - Heals Juno like a stimpack and grants her temporary 3/4 damage reduction for a few seconds. It also negates the effects of morphine darts for as long as it's active.

Enemies
One distinguishing feature of the mod is that most of the enemies are female soldiers of Midgard's fascist regime, and each enemy type has a unique personality to distinguish it from the rest of the cast. It can almost be summarized as a gender-swapped Wolfenstein 3D; the boss characters even have large, distorted anatomy much like the bosses of Wolf3D and Spear of Destiny.

Other notes

 * It is one of the few Doom wads that makes heavy use of a snowy environment and a mostly female cast; it is also possibly the only Doom wad where homosexuality is a central plot point.
 * Players are encouraged to use jumping and crouching to reach extra items and take advantage of cover during firefights.
 * The TC comes with a pdf "instruction manual" that details the story, items, and characters. The mod's plot is a spin-off story that is not directly connected to the plot of the novel, with the exception of a reference to how Juno lost her eye, her use of a ballistic knife, and her ability to improvise weapons on the go.
 * Many of the locations, names, and weapons are taken directly from the novel's universe, especially the use of Norse mythology (Fenris, Einherjar, Valhalla, etc).
 * The action-oriented mod is a bit of a genre-shift from the novel, which is more of a character-driven western. However, in both projects Juno is portrayed as an elite soldier capable of taking down large groups of enemies at one time.

Levels
Episode 1: The Gaulheim Hit Episode 2: Deep Into White Hell
 * MAP01: Checkpoint Charlize
 * MAP02: Human Processing
 * MAP03: Administration
 * MAP04: Conversion Center
 * MAP05: Garden of Calm
 * MAP06: Sorority of Pain
 * MAP07: Malpractice
 * MAP08: Bloody Detour
 * MAP09: The Plague Warrens
 * MAP10: Dog House C
 * MAP11: Security Central
 * MAP12: Dormitory Sector
 * MAP13: Blue Devil
 * MAP14: Hell Freezes Over

Episode 3: The Iron Invasion
 * MAP15: Dark Territory
 * MAP16: The Settlements of Nifell
 * MAP17: Contraband
 * MAP18: City of Fjord
 * MAP19: Castle Frostgard
 * MAP20: The Iron Army
 * MAP21: Deep Sixed