Requiem

Requiem (REQUIEM.WAD) is a 1997 megawad that contains 32 new levels, uploaded to the idgames archive on July 4, 1997. Several of its designers previously worked on Memento Mori and Memento Mori II. It is famous for popularizing architectural tricks that are used even today, including the faked 3D bridges originally introduced by Dystopia 3. It is also one of the few PWADs that are allowed to be used in Compet-n speedruns.

A custom soundtrack is included as a separate music pack file, REQMUS.WAD. It was composed by Mark Klem, David Shaw and Jeremy Doyle. In 2018, this soundtrack was arranged into a studio album with live instruments and high-quality VSTs, called Requiem Reimagined.

Development
The project was moderated by Chris Thornton. According to Adam Windsor, Requiem was first conceived as "the last great megawad for Doom", hence the title's reference to a, as Doom was seen as "dying" in obsolescence after the release of Quake brought true 3D to the genre. During development, there were strict rules in place about which enemies and weapons could be used on which maps, in order to ensure proper difficulty progression and that every map felt different from each other. For texturing, however, the only rule was that the textures created by Anthony Czerwonka for his were exclusive to that level and not allowed for use on any other.

Each level submitted to the project was posted on its mailing list, where, in theory, they could receive playtesting feedback from the rest of the team. In practice, however, only received any real testing feedback, in the form of complaints about its use of Wolfenstein SS and the final boss. This led to a number of glitches creeping into the final product, most notably an elevator on where the player can get stuck and become unable to escape without the noclip cheat. The mailing list overall saw little, if any, conversation.

The alleged slow death of Doom that inspired the project also hindered its development. After submitting, Orin Flaharty did not respond to emails sent by Chris Thornton when Thornton found during compilation that his copy of the level was corrupted, requiring Adam Windsor to create a new ending for the map after nobody could find a functional version. More notably, the project spent such a long period of time with four maps missing that Chris Thornton announced he would either release Requiem incomplete or cancel it (it is unclear what he intended), requiring Windsor to contribute three levels intended for Demonfear and quickly make a small one for MAP32. Even this was not immune to errors: the titles and information for two of these levels, and, were mistakenly swapped during compilation.

When finally released, Requiem's text file described it as "SOMETHING LIKE A PUBLIC BETA" of the WAD. It is followed by a message reading, "IN CASE YOU FIND A BUG - TELL US - IN CASE YOU DON´T ITS [sic] THE FINAL VERSION ;) !"

Infopack
As with Memento Mori and Memento Mori II, Requiem has an "infopack" available separately from the main WAD. As with the other infopacks, it takes the form of a program; in this case, it is a 16-bit application. As a result, it will not run in 64-bit versions of Windows without emulation or the use of a virtual machine. It was created by Chris Thornton and Thomas Möller with the unregistered version of the Formula Graphics Multimedia System; because of this, a splash screen for Formula Graphics will appear before the infopack program starts.

When the infopack is opened, thunder is heard and four clickable buttons will appear one at a time along the bottom of the screen: Requiem Info, Author Info, Credits, and Exit. After this, Mark Klem's "The Everlasting Negative", the music of, will begin playing. This startup sequence, including sound effects, will repeat every time the main menu is accessed. Requiem Info provides information on all 32 levels, including screenshots. The user may select a level number from a grid of buttons to see info on that level, and then page between sections about other levels like the pages of a book. The Author Info displays the names of each member of the team, which can be clicked on to see information for that author, as well as a special "Thank You!" button that displays a message of "deepest thanks" from the Requiem team. "Credits" is a single section that features the level designers; the graphics designers; the musicians; and "Greetings and Thanks" to moderator Chris Thornton, to homepage designer Rhys Hughes, to Doom II creators id Software, and to Harrow Software for "granting us the profit-free use of FORMULA [sic] unregistered."

The infopack may also display other special effects depending on the color depth used when running it. With 24-bit color, the main menu comes in two halves that connect from the top and bottom of the screen, and the "Requiem" logo will be filled in with color from the middle. Accessing the information pages will result in the borders of said pages sliding into the window, with alternating rows of pixels sliding in from the left and right. Opening a level info page will cause its screenshot to gradually appear in sections like a rotating advertisement board. With 16-bit color, these effects will not be used and the graphics involved will appear instantly instead.

Despite the special presentation, the overall information content of the infopack is duplicated from Requiem's text file, including the "deepest thanks" message which appears at the bottom of said file.

Content

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Levels

 * MAP01: The Gateway by Orin Flaharty
 * MAP02: Sacrificium by Anthony Czerwonka and Florian Helmberger
 * MAP03: Poison Processing by Iikka Keränen
 * MAP04: Fireworks by Matthias Worch
 * MAP05: The Canyon by Bill McClendon
 * MAP06: nataS ot etubirT by Thomas Möller
 * MAP07: Hell's Gift by Jens Nielsen and Matthias Worch
 * MAP08: The Reactor by Iikka Keränen
 * MAP09: Deep Down Below by Matthias Worch
 * MAP10: The Black Gate by Orin Flaharty
 * MAP11: Rats in the Walls by Adam Windsor


 * MAP12: Militant Reprisal by Ian Quick
 * MAP13: Town of the Dead by Iikka Keränen
 * MAP14: The Portal by Eric Sambach
 * MAP15: Last Resort by Matthias Worch
 * MAP16: Escape from Chaos by Iikka Keränen
 * MAP17: Dens of Iniquity by Michael Rapp
 * MAP18: Base of Thorn by Eric Sambach
 * MAP19: Skinny Puppy by Anthony Czerwonka
 * MAP20: The Forsaken Hall by Adam Windsor


 * MAP21: Den of the Skull by Anthony Galica
 * MAP22: Arachnophobia by Iikka Keränen
 * MAP23: Hatred by Dario Casali
 * MAP24: Procrustes Chambers by Anthony Czerwonka
 * MAP25: Chaos Zone by Adam Windsor
 * MAP26: Excoriation by Adam Windsor
 * MAP27: Cursed Kingdom by Iikka Keränen
 * MAP28: Fetals' Remains by Anthony Czerwonka
 * MAP29: Downer by Adam Williamson
 * MAP30: Nevermore by Adam Windsor


 * MAP31: Doorway to Quake by Iikka Keränen
 * MAP32: Bitter Herb by Adam Windsor

Soundtrack

 * MAP01: "The Rhythm of Carnage" by David Shaw (Tolwyn)
 * MAP02: "Rage" by Mark Klem
 * MAP03: "Breath of Sin" by David Shaw
 * MAP04: "Somewhere Over the Horizon" by Mark Klem
 * MAP05: "Mystic's Glance" by David Shaw
 * MAP06: "Path of Destruction" by Mark Klem
 * MAP07: "Jacob's Staircase" by David Shaw
 * MAP08: "Under Death" by Mark Klem
 * MAP09: "The Helix" by David Shaw
 * MAP10: "Lordly Might" by Mark Klem
 * MAP11: "Hunter's Lair" by David Shaw


 * MAP12: "Breach of Madness" by Mark Klem
 * MAP13: "Lamneth's Ground" by David Shaw
 * MAP14: "Devil's Grounds" by Mark Klem
 * MAP15: "Last Resort" by Jeremy Doyle
 * MAP16: "Reason for Nothing" by Mark Klem
 * MAP17: "Tides of War" by Jeremy Doyle
 * MAP18: "Dry Rot" by Mark Klem
 * MAP19: "Skinny Puppy" by Jeremy Doyle
 * MAP20: "Take All (I Have More)" by Mark Klem


 * MAP21: "The Everlasting Negative" by Mark Klem
 * MAP22: "Reason for Nothing" by Mark Klem
 * MAP23: "Dry Rot" by Mark Klem
 * MAP24: "Slider" by Mark Klem
 * MAP25: "Take All (I Have More)" by Mark Klem
 * MAP26: "The Rhythm of Carnage" by David Shaw
 * MAP27: "Rage" by Mark Klem
 * MAP28: "Breath of Sin" by David Shaw
 * MAP29: "The Helix" by David Shaw
 * MAP30: "Under Death" by Mark Klem


 * MAP31: "Breach of Madness" by Mark Klem
 * MAP32: "Tides of War" by Jeremy Doyle


 * Title screen: "Baracus Returns" by David Shaw
 * Intermission: "Baracus Returns" by David Shaw
 * Text screen: "Breach of Madness" by Mark Klem



Built-in demos
This WAD features a full set of built-in demos. All three are complete playthroughs that achieve 100% Kills and Secrets. The credits do not list who recorded the demos, but given he is the author of each level, it was probably Matthias Worch. All demos require Doom II v1.9 for viewing. The demo levels and the demos' completion times are:

Current Compet-n records
The Compet-n episode records for Requiem are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on June 21, 2020.

Miscellaneous demos
The first demo only goes up to MAP03, as Xit Vono believed attempting MAP04 after the first three maps would be very difficult. In the second demo he finishes MAP04 as yet with 50% secrets.

Demos

 * , recorded by Yonatan Donner, Jason Henry, Kai-Uwe Humpert, Istvan Pataki and Peo Sjöblom
 * , recorded by Rudy Jurjako (Hellcat), Adam Hegyi, Jonas Feragen (Chrozoron), Mike "Prower" Reid and Adam Williamson

Reviews

 * Requiem level reviews at Visions of Doom

Miscellaneous

 * by Steve Terry &mdash; This file fixes errors present in MAP05, MAP08, MAP11, and MAP23 when playing in multiplayer.