Verdant Citadel

 Verdant Citadel | VERCIT.PK3

Dennis "Exl" Meuwissen

The GZDoom engine is a versatile beast, a fully-featured game engine that, little by little, is starting to resemble the Quake engine (especially when you look at its fork VKDoom.) There have been many, many projects, both free and commercial, that demonstrate the capabilities of GZDoom, but sometimes you just want something simple. Community superstar Dennis “exl” Meuwissen has you covered with Verdant Citadel, a brilliantly-realized, medieval-themed single map set in a demon-infested island fortress.

The usual disclaimer: I played it with the GMOTA mod (version 1.5.2) using Lord Blaz. I also used the Equippable Torch mod and one of my favorite shaders, Retro FX Dither. I also manually set the sector light mode to “Dark.”

Meuwissen has a solid reputation in the community. Aside from participating in big projects like Community Chest 2 and working on his own classic Demons of Problematique duology, he’s also the creator of WhackEd, the modern-day DEHACKED tool that has helped power so many recent wads and mods.

Conceived as an experiment in nonlinear progression, Verdant Citadel certainly achieves that goal. The story is perfunctory, though it assumes you're playing as a Doomed Space Marine — not that it matters. The narrative doesn't really prepare you for the sprawling island fortress complex that the map actually is. The opening is a little linear as you first land on the docks and work your way up into the first building. Once you walk past the big four-key (!) locked door that leads to the northernmost part of the complex, the level starts to open up a bit as you have a couple of different ways to progress, from jumping down into the water and assaulting the central-eastern building, or finding your way to the bridge that gives you more immediate access to the central building.

Of course, exl took advantage of GZDoom’s mapping capabilities and the result feels like Quake; it’s not just in terms of texture usage but also the multi-tiered map design, with multiple levels to explore, ranging from a stinking sewer to the upper eaves of some of the taller buildings. You’ll also wind up on different parts of the shoreline as well, with a key moment being a big fight on the beach that features a cyberdemon coming at you from around the corner. The beach is narrow and doesn’t have a lot of cover, so between the cybie and the lesser trash hiding amongst the sea-battered ruins it can get a bit hectic. The most impressive moment, to me, was the finale; the northernmost building is a large round structure with a circular lift that sinks down into the floor. Reminiscent of “The Dismal Oubliette” from Quake, you’ll need to ride this lift down, with each new stop triggering another fight before the button to continue reveals itself.

I really liked Verdant Citadel. Doomworld did too, giving it one of the top spots in the 2019 Cacowards. It’s got an appropriately grimy, medieval design, with the moody sunset sky drenching the whole thing in atmosphere. It makes excellent use of shaders for a unique visual style, and its open-ended nature allows for a variety of playstyles. I’m not sure I cared for the music, the heavy metal djent didn’t really seem to gel well with the haunted seaside vibe and calm ocean noise. If the map were more akin to slaughter, I could maybe see it working, but so much of the map is built on incidental encounters, which consequently makes the place feel more like an occupied space and not just a puzzle. Nevertheless, it’s a fun ride.

 

 

 

 

get it on /idgames

 

-june❤

 

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