Knee-Deep in Knee-Deep in ZDoom

Knee-Deep in Knee-Deep in ZDoom is a vanilla-compatible episode-length community project led and released by Sarah Mancuso (esselfortium) in November 2022. Originally conceptualised in 2008, the project was stuck in until around 2020, when it was picked up again.

As with the original Knee-Deep in ZDoom, the WAD consists of reinterpretations of the original Knee-Deep in the Dead with new textures and music, with the WAD also reusing the same custom monsters from Knee-Deep in ZDoom.

Story
A tongue-in-cheek story of sorts is provided in the in-game help menu (F1) and accompanying textfile:

''Your name is Doom Guy, an actor. You've been cast in a cable TV reenactment of 2007's "Knee-Deep in ZDoom". You were never much of a history buff, but it'll put food on the table and help cover Daisy's vet bills. Maybe it'll even revive your acting career. You adjust the prop helmet to breathe a little easier, try out a few cheesy poses with your character's handgun, and ready yourself for the first day of filming.''

Levels
Unlinked maps are narrative in nature.
 * MAP01: KDiKDiZD Start by Sarah Mancuso (esselfortium)
 * by esselfortium, Daniel Gimmer (Tormentor667) and Michael Niggel (Risen)
 * by esselfortium, Tormentor667, Risen and Nick Baker (NiGHTMARE)
 * by esselfortium, Pawel Zarczynski (NMN), Björn Ostmann (Vader), and Jacob Zuchowski (ellmo)
 * by esselfortium, Ryan Turner (BioHazard), NMN, Vader, and Tormentor667
 * by esselfortium, NMN, Risen and NiGHTMARE
 * by esselfortium, Tormentor667, NiGHTMARE, Risen and Burke Hill (Kirby)
 * by esselfortium, Vader and NMN
 * by esselfortium, Risen, Tormentor667 and Christoph Oelckers (Graf Zahl)
 * by esselfortium, Tormentor667 and Vader
 * MAP21: Where Am I? by esselfortium
 * MAP22: The Party by esselfortium
 * MAP23: The Rest Of Your Life by esselfortium

Maps ported to vanilla by esselfortium, Nuxius, Tun, Tango, Cody Stirm (Butts) & Mike Brincka (brinks).

Custom monsters
Just like Knee-Deep in ZDoom, KDIKDIZD features an extended roaster of enemies. About half of the original list of custom monsters are included, albeit most of them in slightly revised form. Besides that, there also a few new additions to the cast.


 * Rapid Fire Trooper
 * Same as in the KDIZD, a zombieman with a rapid-fire gun. They have 30 hit points and replace the Wolfenstein SS.


 * Chaingunner
 * Just like in KDIZD, this is simply a redress of the chaingunner with no additional changes.


 * Hell Knight
 * Same as in KDIZD, hell knights feature a sepia-filtered look. They also make use of different sounds for their screams and roars though otherwise behave identically to regular hell knights. Curiously, hell knights in this wad do not utilize a separate set of sprites like they do normally, but instead share the same sprite set with the baron of hell. This was done to free up further DeHackEd states for other custom actors.


 * Suicide Bomber
 * A new addition to KDIKDIZD over the original, this black-clad zombie seeks out the player and will explode when either shot or making contact with them. They have 60 hit points and replace the Dead Lost Soul (thing number 116).


 * Mauler
 * A red variant of the demon with large, black horns that will charge into the player just like to a lost soul during its attack. It has 200 hit points rather than 150 but is otherwise identical to its KDIZD counterpart. It replaces the Pool of Brain (thing number 137).


 * Nightmare Demon
 * A new addition to KDIKDIZD over the original, this grey-scale variant of the demon has 200 hit points, moves faster than regular demons, and has a green tongue rather the usual red one. It can be seen as a revision of the Blood Demon from KDIZD and replaces the Hanging Torso, Looking Down (thing number 131).


 * Shadow
 * An imp-like creature that quickly moves about with a slouched posture, grey skin, and large red eyes. Before attacking, it will halt in its track for a moment, before continuously hurling small, dark red projectiles at its target. It is mostly identical to its KDIZD counterpart but possesses a slightly faster firing cycle during its attack. It replaces Commander Keen.


 * Dark Imp
 * An imp with dark skin and orange eyes, an open, wide mouth, and even more spikes covering its body than a regular imp. They closely resemble the third variant of dark imps in the original KDIZD in terms of visuals, but haave 160 hit points, more than any of the three variants present in the original, and fire a quick burst of three Cacodemon projectiles as its ranged attack. It replaces Romero's Head.


 * Soul Harvester
 * A grey-skinned, emaciated imp-like creature with 100 hit points, same as in KDIZD. It shoots yellow skull projectiles that have a 75% chance of homing in on the player. It has no melee attack and replaces the Revenant.


 * Soul Reaper
 * A new addition to KDIKDIZD over the original, this baron-like grey-skinned, emaciated monster has 400 hit points and resembles a fully grown Soul Harvester and attacks with the same kind of yellow skull projectiles with 75% chance of homing in on its target. However, unlike the Soul Harvester, it also has a melee attack and fires a burst of two projectiles, instead of just one, as its ranged attack. It replaces the arch vile flame (thing number 5).


 * Dark Caco
 * A new addition to KDIKDIZD over the original, this grey-scale cacodemon has 400 hit points but no melee attack, moves faster than a regular cacodemon, and spits out a continuous string of the same kind of small, dark red projectiles as the Shadow does, though with a much higher rate of fire. It replaces the arachnotron.


 * Wargrin
 * A new addition to KDIKDIZD over the original, this humanoid mutant crawls along the floor on both hands and legs, and has a flamethrower equipped on its back. It has 250 hit points and fires a burst of three volleys, each consisting of a pair of small fire projectiles, mirroring the firing pattern of the mancubus, which it also replaces.


 * Hell Warrior
 * A orange-skinned, hell noble with a lion's mane, 600 hit points, and a shield. They fling baron projectiles but at with shorter intervals between shots, and upon triggering their pain state, will raise their shield to defend themselves, temporarily becoming invulnerable. While the shield is raised, if the target is still in their line of sight, they will fire a burst of two volleys from their shield, each consisting of three projectiles, with the outer two projectiles being a wargrin volley and the center one a single Dark Caco projectile. While they look and behave similarly to their KDIZD counterpart, there are many subtle differences between the two in terms of their attack pattern and projectiles. They replace the arch vile.


 * Bruiser
 * A triplet of orange-skinned, fiery hell nobles, with 3000 hit points each, serve as the final boss of the wad, as opposed to their implementation in KDIZD, where they represented the penultimate boss encounter (only two instead of three) before the fight against the giant mantis-like Deimos Guardian. Just like in KDIZD, they have three different ranged attacks, however the exact nature and behavior of these attacks differ from their KDIZD counterpart. The first attack is a burst of six volleys of wargrin projectiles. The second is a ground attack that spawns fireballs (modified lost souls) along the floor that home in on and impact with the player. The final attack is triggered through its melee state, wherein it will spawn three yellow skull projectiles in quick succession, each with a 75% chance of being homing in on the player. It replaces the Swaying Body (thing number 102).

Weapons

 * Flare Rifle

Soundtrack

 * MAP01: "The End of DOOM" by Robert Prince
 * Z1M1: "Hanger Danger" by esselfortium
 * Z1M2: "Nuclear Plant-Based Diet" by James Paddock (Jimmy)
 * Z1M3: "Underground Overload" by Jimmy
 * Z1M4: "Control Alt Delete" by esselfortium
 * Z1M5: "Phoebe's Labrador" by esselfortium
 * Z1M6: "Hunter Gatherer" by Jimmy
 * Z1M7: "Computer Core Workout" by Jimmy
 * Z1M8: "Faux Bows-N-Harmony" by esselfortium
 * Z1M9: "Rainy Moods To Study Demons To" by esselfortium
 * MAP21: no music
 * MAP22: "Red Lobster Music" by esselfortium
 * MAP23: "The End of DOOM" by Robert Prince


 * Title screen: Title music of Doom by Robert Prince
 * Intermission screen: "Intermission from DOOM" by Robert Prince
 * Text screen: "The End of DOOM" by Robert Prince