Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth Starter Pack

Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth Starter Pack is a full-fledged standalone campaign created by Sergeant Mark IV specifically for the Brutal Doom gameplay mod, which brings more powerful and impactful shooting, enemy dismemberment, and fatality mechanics to the game. The pack includes GZDoom and Freedoom, so original Doom II files aren't required to play.

The campaign consists of 32 main levels and several secret ones, split across three episodes:

• Hell on Mars — a classic techno episode set on a Martian base: bunkers, a nuclear reactor, office spaces. Combat takes place mostly in tight corridors with occasional arenas.

• The Battle of Los Angeles — a ruined megacity with recognizable locations: residential blocks, shops, streets. The levels are noticeably bigger and more cinematic, with striking lighting and an interactive environment (breakable glass, light switches, destructible decorative corpses that drop medkits and armor).

• Behind Hellish Lines — hellish locations done in a more abstract style classic to Doom: gothic halls of demonic nobility, blood swamps, dungeons.

Among the levels, the trilogy of city maps (14-16) stands out, conveying the atmosphere of a demonic war in a megacity, particularly Dead Streets — a reimagining of the notoriously confusing Downtown map from Doom II, this time without floor markers but with thoughtful design that allows for intuitive navigation.

Because of the player's high firepower in Brutal Doom, the original monster balance was completely reworked: Revenants, Barons of Hell, and Cyberdemons were added to the regular enemy rotation. The episode-ending bosses are beefed-up versions of classic enemies — for example, at the end of the first episode you'll face a more dangerous version of the Baron of Hell, while the classic Cyberdemon has been replaced by a giant monster with two rocket launchers, capable of breathing fire and moving faster than the player.

Beyond the main campaign, two secret levels are hidden in the second episode — a recreation of the first level of Duke Nukem 3D and a level in the style of Wolfenstein.

Features:

• A fully standalone project — doesn't require Doom II or Final Doom

• New textures (some borrowed from Duke Nukem 3D and Blood)

• A reworked soundtrack featuring metal and dark-ambient arrangements of classic themes

• Character voice acting and storytelling elements conveyed through the game environment

• Adjustable gore level — from "Realistic" to the parody "Japanese Cartoon"

The difficulty is fairly high even on medium settings, and some sections require exploration and may feel unintuitive without hints. Nevertheless, Brutal Doom: Hell on Earth Starter Pack is one of the most ambitious and well-crafted mods for Doom, capable of delivering more enjoyment than many modern AAA games.