Well, although I hadn’t planned to write another “Doom II”/”Final Doom” WAD review so soon after my previous one, I happened to stumble across some Youtube footage of a brilliantly creepy-looking horror/dark fantasy WAD by Lokken called “CountryCide” (2022).
I used version 4.7.1 of the GZDoom source port to play this WAD, although it is apparently also compatible with versions 4.4.2 and above as well. Still, this seems to be a “GZDoom only” WAD.
So, let’s take a look at “CountryCide”. This review may contain SPOILERS.
Set in a world called Cretu, you play as a high-ranking Templar of the “Caliphate of the Canonicate Exousian”, a fanatical religious organisation who rules Cretu with an iron fist.
Following a series of ominous dreams and nightmarish visions, you travel to a place called “Slakartvia” and are given a map by a dying old man who meets you at the roadside.
And, yes, there’s actually an intro cinematic to this WAD too…
As you venture through the dark forbidding forests surrounding “Slakartvia”, you see occult charms and gruesome talismans dangling from the trees….
One of the first things that I will say about this WAD is that it is is a brilliantly atmospheric and creepy example of “action-horror” done well 🙂 It’s a dark, grim labyrinthine level that is filled with creepy places, creepy moments and creepy creatures.
Sometimes, you’ll just have a few bullets left as you frantically flee evil cultists or eldritch abominations whilst trying to resist the urge to fire wildly into the all-consuming darkness around you. Seriously, if this WAD was a heavy metal album – it would be one of those ones with tree-branch writing on the cover….
And with a title like “Heretical skull-altar of the…” Hold on, that’s a description of this screenshot…
Taking place in one very large level, split into different segments, this is a ridiculously impressive WAD which features custom monsters, weapons, textures, sound effects etc… It’s the sort of mod that is good enough that you can easily forget that it is a mod for another game because it feels like an actual game in it’s own right. A horror game, to be precise.
And, yes, whilst this WAD certainly features some really cool dark fantasy elements, the horror elements are the real star of the show here. Containing a brilliantly atmospheric and creepy mixture of suspense, gory horror, occult/paranormal horror, jump scares, creepy sound effects, the macabre, cosmic horror, creepy places and monster horror.
And, yes, at least one of the monsters in this game is genuinely horrifying!
Fans of H.P.Lovecraft will be at home here and the game really seems to handle this type of horror well. Yes, there are some genuinely disturbing tentacled creatures – who can pass through walls, are absolute bullet-sponges and look genuinely horrifying – but the game also “gets” at least some of the other aspects of what made Lovecraft’s stories so creepy. There are some brilliantly eerie and mysterious set-pieces, giant underground catacombs that feel like a tiny portion of something even larger and a brilliantly gothic atmosphere too.
Not only that, the game also gets the labyrinthine “lost in somewhere you shouldn’t be” feeling of some of Lovecraft’s stories too. Quite a lot of the game consists of dense disorientating forests and cramped mazes of gloomy corridors. You do have an in-game map, but it is a traditional – and very vague – parchment map with none of the auto-map elements you’d expect from “Doom II”/”Final Doom”.
Oh yes, THIS is the only navigational aid you have in this game. Expect to do a lot of exploring and learning the level layout the old-fashioned way…
Although this could get frustrating sometimes, the areas of the level are just about small enough that you’ll eventually be able to work out where to go next if you keep searching carefully. My only technical criticism is that I noticed one glitch, where you can get stuck on the top of a ladder (and I had to use the “noclip” cheat to get unstuck).
Plus, just to mess with the player, some later segments of the game take the “Serious Sam” approach of not opening up the next area until you’ve defeated all of the monsters in the current area. Given that ammunition can sometimes be a little scarce, given that these areas are forest segments filled with trees that are there to make circle-strafing a bit of a challenge and some are shrouded in dense darkness, this game is brilliantly tense. You’ll find yourself torn between your desire to conserve precious bullets, and your duty to defeat all of the monsters in order to progress.
Not to mention when the game suddenly throws two eldritch abominations at you in an almost pitch-black forest too. And, yes, you have to fight them…
All of this Lovecraftian horror is also paired with some really well-handled gruesome horror and more intense moments of suspense that really lend the game a panicked, grim and bleak atmosphere. The highlight is a creepy house used by the cultists about a third of the way through the level. Not only is it a gruesome house of horrors, but the decrepit look of it and the cramped corridors all make it a memorably creepy location. Imagine the game “Blood” (1997), but a little bit edgier and without the dark comedy, and this might give you some idea….
Another thing that makes this WAD such a brilliantly creepy and suspenseful horror game are the weapons. You only have three of them. There’s a sword that requires you to get dangerously close to monsters. There’s a revolver with a long reload animation. There’s a single-barrelled shotgun. And that is it. Ammunition can be scarce sometimes, and there are lots of foes out to get you. It’s brilliantly suspenseful and atmospheric – not to mention that the animations and sound effects for the weapons are brilliantly dramatic and impactful too.
Seriously, I cannot praise the new weapons in this WAD highly enough. They’re dramatic to use, but limited enough to make the game actually feel suspenseful.
Likewise, the monsters in this game are superb too. As well as a variety of tough cultists, there are a few “eldritch abomination” mini-bosses who, as mentioned earlier, look genuinely fearsome and are challenging to fight as well. All of this is also paired with some genuinely creepy sound design – ranging from everything from screeching jump scares to the thoroughly ominous sound of distorted screaming and occult incantations during some parts of the game. It’s a brilliantly scary-sounding game.
As for length, it took me about an hour and a half to complete this WAD. Even though the in-game timer listed my total time at about fifty-four minutes, this doesn’t include re-loading saves after death or some of the many minutes I spent carefully exploring everywhere in the hope of finding a borderline-hidden passage to the next area of the game.
All in all, this is excellent 🙂 It’s a brilliantly creepy horror/dark fantasy WAD that almost feels like it should be its own stand-alone game. It’s atmospheric, tense and creepy. Yes, some players may find the level design to be frustrating, but if you’re willing to keep exploring carefully, then you’ll eventually find where you’re supposed to go next.
If I had to give it a rating out of five, it might just get a five.
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