The Darkening

The Darkening Episode 1: The Nameless Project is a Doom II megawad containing twenty-two maps, split equally between single player/coop and deathmatch. Initially released on January 19, 1998,[1] a v1.1 bug fix followed on January 21 to add a missing flat and texture animation. The ZIP file uploaded to the idgames archive is dated January 7, 1999 however it contains the v1.1 files from January 21, 1998. It was named as one of the Top 100 WADs of All Time under the year 1999.

The project was conceived by Jan Van der Veken and Travers Dunne as a 32-level megawad with team contributions similar to Memento Mori and Requiem, but with more consistent theming.[2] To make new levels publicly available more quickly, the plan was to iteratively release the megawad as three episodes containing 10 or 11 maps each.

Its sequel The Darkening Episode 2 was released in March 2000 to a positive reception. A third episode was never worked on as team members moved onto other projects.

Contents

PeopleEdit

Levels for the WAD were made by:

Textures for the WAD were created by:

ContentEdit

Single player levels (darken.wad)Edit

Deathmatch levels (darkdm.wad)Edit

  • MAP01: The Spine of Evil by Jan Van der Veken
  • MAP02: Devil's Dungeon by Jan Van der Veken
  • MAP03: Quake DM (a.k.a. Fragmentation) by Travers Dunne
  • MAP04: Relentless Until Death by Travers Dunne
  • MAP05: Sulphur by Jan Van der Veken
  • MAP06: Return to the Realms by Nick Baker
  • MAP07: Valley of the Lost by Travers Dunne and Nick Baker
  • MAP08: Vertigo by Jan Van der Veken
  • MAP09: Interrogation Central by Jan Van der Veken
  • MAP10: Death Awaits 6ft. Under Earth by Travers Dunne
  • MAP11: Stone Tyrant by Adam Windsor

SoundtrackEdit

  • MAP01: "Inner Turmoil" by David Shaw1
  • MAP02: "Mizshunn Impassable" by David Shaw2
  • MAP03: "The Imp's Song" by Robert Prince3
  • MAP04: "Anger's Reprise" by David Shaw2
  • MAP05: "GloomKeep" by David Shaw2
  • MAP06: Untitled by David Shaw4
  • MAP07: "Into The Fray" by David Shaw2
  • MAP08: "Lamneth's Ground" by David Shaw5
  • MAP09: "Hiding the Secrets" by Robert Prince3
  • MAP10: "Breath of Sin" by David Shaw5
  • MAP11: "Sign of Evil" by Robert Prince3

1. ^  Originally appeared in STRAIN.
2. ^  Originally appeared in Memento Mori II.
3. ^  Originally appeared in Doom.
4. ^  Originally appeared in The Talosian Incident.
5. ^  Originally appeared in Requiem.
6. ^  Arrangement of Icarus: Alien Vanguard theme; originally appeared on the official Icarus website.

SpeedrunningEdit

Current recordsEdit

The DSDA episode records for The Darkening are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV speed run 12:39 Elmle 2018-01-20 dkall-1239.zip
UV max run 33:39 Andrea Rovenski (Cyberdemon531) 2023-03-16 dkall-3339.zip
NoMo run 04:59 kvothesixstring 2023-10-20 dkallo459.zip

The data was last verified in its entirety on November 2, 2023.

See alsoEdit

External linksEdit

ReferencesEdit

  1. Lahaut, Gaston (19 January 1998). "The Mordeth TC Site - Back in the Days." Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  2. Jan Van der Veken. "The Darkening - About This Project." (archived 🗺). Retrieved 6 October 2020.