Gossip
From DoomWiki.org
| Gossip | |
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| Author | Bartek Karoliński |
| Port | Boom-compatible |
| IWAD | Doom II |
| Year | 2025 |
| Link | Doomworld forums thread |
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This mod received one of the 2025 Cacowards on Doomworld! |
Gossip is a nine-level PWAD for Doom II, designed for Boom-compatible source ports. It was created by Bartek Karoliński (Touchdown) and first released on the Doomworld forums on April 1, 2025, with the current version, v1.4, uploaded on November 11, 2025. (A hotfix was released on December 26 of the same year, v1.4b, fixing a music track that did not loop as intended.)
Development for Gossip started in 2014, but proceeded in quiet until an announcement for the project was posted on Doomworld on January 27, 2022, followed by regular updates in the form of devlogs, which, after an extended break in 2023, resumed the following year.
The mapset consists of eight very large, highly detailed levels, plus a short outro map, made using only stock Doom II assets (except for one all-black texture and flat), with a strong focus on exploration and environmental storytelling.
Touchdown described the mapset in the release thread as requiring "a lot of patience" and the levels as "a mix of linear and non-linear maps" set in "massive and confusing locations", featuring "some annoying mazes" and "precarious platforming", while singling out MAP03 and MAP05 as "ridiculously long and open-ended".
A separate text file that comes with the download contains lore snippets posted during development, which set up the story and help the player make sense of the implied narrative and world design. The WAD also includes a custom soundtrack of original recordings made by Touchdown.
Gossip won a Cacoward in 2025, and Touchdown was named "Creator of the Year" for it, while its soundtrack was distinguished as an Odyssey of Noises.
Premise[edit]
A catastrophic event has swept across the city knocking out all the communication and plunging the metropolis into chaos. As an ex-security officer you are ready to head out and help people outside but a mysterious benefactor asks you to stay put. You've been informed that the source of the disaster is most likely a secret UAC research facility hidden in a nearby forest. You've never seen any kind of installation in the wilderness but the informer sounds pretty certain. After hours of gut-wrenching screams, gunfire and the beast-like roaring you've never heard before the city falls into a deafening silence. The army backed by the UAC security forces did their best but couldn't hold off the invading forces. They served their purpose though – the enemy numbers have been severely cut down. Armed with all the uncertainty in the world you grab the handgun you've found in the briefcase provided by your benefactors and head outside.
Content[edit]
Levels[edit]
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Soundtrack[edit]All tracks are included in Ogg Vorbis format.
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Trivia[edit]
- The automap in Gossip never reveals the entire layout, since no computer area map can be found in any of the levels and only a few specific lines are made visible, which are all shown on the automap from the start. The displayed geometry offers a general sense of direction, as well as some hints for level progression, but purposely leaves most of the map layout obscured.
