Dear Reader:
BTSX: Episode 1 fan-made WAD, in development since 2009, has been added to DOOM and DOOM II
There's another new fan-made Episode available to play in DOOM for free. BTSX: Episode 1 is now up for grabs, and can be access in either DOOM or DOOM II. Check out full details below.
With Add-Ons, you can enjoy curated episodes and megawads for our re-releases of DOOM (1993) and DOOM II! Add-Ons can be downloaded free from the Main Menu, hooking you up with even more pulse-pounding action to enjoy from over 25 years of community-created excellence! For more information on Add-Ons, check out our official FAQAnother notable Add-On joins the roster as BTSX, Episode 1 comes to our re-releases of DOOM (1993) and DOOM II. Download the WAD direct from the Main Menu today and get ready to hit the ground running.
BTSX, Episode 1
Don’t let the “Episode 1” bit fool you – this WAD is the full package. Power your way through 27 maps with custom palettes and unique music to give each level its own feel.
Adding to the jam-packed nature of BTSX is its impressive credits list. Among the list of authors that collaborated on this project are familiar Nods to Mods names such as No End in Sight’s Xaser, Double Impact’s RottKing and Deathless’ own Jimmy!
Bethesda also spoke to Sarah “esselfortium” Mancuso, BTSX’s project lead, about her work on the project. In the snippet below, Sarah talks about how long the Episode has been in development.
Episode 1 started back in 2009 with far less ambitious plans. The project was effectively shelved for a while due to other projects taking focus, and was picked back up in 2011, which is when most of the team was invited. 2011 and 2012 were the busiest years for BTSX development, when momentum snowballed due to all the newly-invited mappers inspiring each other, and most of E1 and E2’s levels were made in that time. A few levels date back to 2009, including “Vesta Station” and “The Annex” and some others, but they changed a lot between then and their finished release.
Amusingly, at one point I was actually planning to release all three episodes a month apart from each other! I had vastly underestimated the workload and the level of burnout we’d be feeling after each release.
The terrifying answer: I recently found a YouTube comment on an E1 playthrough where someone said “I played this map in co-op with my dad long ago, this is going to be nostalgic”.
If you want even more insight into the creation of this WAD, you can check out the full interview here.