One thing doom really lacks is a good doom horror mod. A mod that plays with any level and introduces horror gameplay into the game. While some people classify the original doom as horror, I don't. The game has horror elements sure, but actual horror gameplay is not found in the original doom at all. What doom needed bad was a horror mod that introduces horror elements into the gameplay.
Well recently a doom mod entitled Doom - the hellstorm (which you can find by googling "doom hellstorm mod") was released on moddb. This mod introduces horror elements into classic doom and does a pretty damn good job with it. After playing 2 levels that were obaddon generated with the mod, I definitely felt terror from the mod.
The first thing you will notice when playing the mod is how dark it is. This thing is practically pitch black. There is a flashlight, but it is not recommended to use it with obaddon maps due to the slowdown it creates. To use the flashlight, you must unequip a gun like in doom 3 so it actually doesn't help that much. This goes really well with the doom 3 texture replacer I found and released on the last review, the review of ultimate super doom 3.
The creepiness is brought out by the soundtrack, which is similar to the udv ambient soundtrack feature. That feature replaces the music with a quiet creepy droning in the background. It makes the game way scarier.
Healing is handled a lot differently than in normal doom mods. Picking up a healthkit does not automatically heal you in this mod. You have to select the healthkit by hitting the 8 key on your keyboard and that will select it and allow you to heal, but when you heal you are totally defenseless, so choose wisely when you will try to heal yourself. It takes about 15 seconds to heal yourself from 50 health so be careful. This adds to the horror elements.
Creepy apparitions will stalk you in this mod, not limited to an alma-like one and one from the movie scream. Every once and awhile they show up. They don't make a noise when you see them, which would have made them scarier. Strangely missing is youtube styled screamers in the mod, but that is a bit too scary maybe.
Adding to the horror elements are respawning monsters, throughout the levels, zombies will resurrect and demons will teleport in periodically, even in maps where they should not. It gives you a lot of tension while playing, which is great. It is also quite scary, as the chanting from doom 3 that happens when monsters teleport also is played in this mod when the same thing happens.
The mod has many guns, and all of them are original guns not found in other mods, which is a plus. They include 2 or 3 new pistols, a magnum with a glowstick selected in the other hand to light things up, several shotguns, including the doom 3 one, the doom eternal supertshotgun with a built in grapple hook, and an automatic one, a very good assault rifle, the plasma rifle, a chaingun, the rocket launcher and more.
The mod uses mostly beastiary enemies, and that is good and all, but the lack of doom eternal enemies kind of set it back a little bit. It isn't a huge issue but it could have made it way better if dread knights, doom hunters, marauders and carcasses were in this mod. It actually lacks a lot of enemies from doom games besides doom 3 and 64 and custom doom ones. There are doom 3 alpha zombies, complete with their "you will not escape", "hell awaits you" screamed lines recorded by Trent Reznor, and doom 3, and doom 64 imps, but a few more from doom 2016 and eternal would have helped.
Another issue is the menu, it is TERRIBLE! You cannot see what menu item is selected at all, and have to use mouse driven menu controls, when keyboard ones are far easier to use but won't work in the mod. It kind of sucks. At first it made me annoyed. Besides that and the lack of doom eternal enemies, this thing is actually pretty good though. If you want a good doom horror mod, you really cannot go wrong with hellstorm.
Screenshots:
(textures from the screenshot come from a doom 3 texture replacer I found on youtube, they do not come with the mod)
