#644: Wayward Puritans
Alone in the Doom?
Initial release: October 30, 2024
Platform: PC (Single+ Doom map for limit-removing source ports)
Developer: Big Ol’ Billy
Mods used: Flashlight++ 9.1
While obviously the world of survival horror has grown exponentially in the thirty-plus years since its founding titles, Alone in the Dark looms tall in the great distance as the title that most definitively established the tone and structure. And it did this with a tried-and-true theme: that of the creepy old manor playing host to unnatural secrets. Doom, meanwhile, took things in a different direction, moving from an initially horror-focused offering to the outright dark sci-fantasy action that most defines the series today. Well, last Halloween, Doomer Boards Project veteran and all-round community pillar Big Ol’ Billy brought these two disparate games together: Wayward Puritans, a single-map (sort of) total conversion for limit-removing ports.
The usual disclaimer: I did in fact use the Flashlight++ 9.1 mod with this, though the map is well lit enough that it was rarely necessary.
The plot behind Wayward Puritans is simple: occult sociologist Professor Sylvester (that’s you) is visiting the mansion of one Reverend Josiah Compton, hoping to gain some insight into new religious movements. But it’s the 1920s, and cults tend to defend their territory zealously… but that’s why you’re packing a revolver.
Throughout your time at the Compton house, you’ll explore the grounds around the manor, from the gardens to the south to the pool area to the east; decorative follies to the north house sinister threats, and the storehouse to the northeast has the switch you need to drain the pool. The key you find there allows you entrance to the house itself, and you have any number of paths to go from here, from the dining hall to the east with its sumptuous plates of monster fish, the billiard room to the west, the art gallery and bedrooms upstairs, and so on.
Of course, the place is well populated by the good Reverend’s flock, as well as the creepy-crawlies they’ve summoned. Cultists appear in suited and robed varieties, the former taking aim at you with rifles, the latter throwing magic at you. Monster plants throw lightly-homing fireballs at you, rabid bats are shockingly nasty for their size, giant skeletons refuse to stay down, snakefolk throw globs of flaming spit. And of course that fish dinner had to come from somewhere, with a whole school of monster fishmen lurking in a cave down in the cellar. And then there’s the big bad at the center of it all — but that’s for you to find out about.
The big thing that separates Wayward Puritans from more straightforward Doom fare is the fact that ammo is extremely limited. You have a max of 15 revolver rounds; on the upside, most enemies only take two or three shots, and there’s plenty more bullets laying around, you just have to use them wisely. The shotgun replacement is an old musket — it functions much the same as the super shotgun (thus your ten shots are really five) but has a bit of a windup which can make combat scenarios a bit tricky. You’ll also get an “evil bible” that throws damaging magic missiles, some kind of skull staff that serves as an ultimate weapon, and… that’s kind of it, the BFG and chaingun do not appear. Oh, you also have your fist, which can handily lay out cultists in a swing or two. What’s interesting is that the HUD has been changed as such to not just hide the weapon counter — that is, the little numbers 2–7 that tell you what weapons you have — but also your ammo totals. You’ll have to bring up each weapon individually to see how much you have left.
Wayward Puritans doesn’t really rely on scripting trickery or the like. No elaborate GZDoom experience, this. Lore is depicted as text rising out of the ground when you “use” books and other readables, which does have the added advantage of hanging around so you can just look at it again if you need to. What lore there is, is sparse and cryptic; it doesn’t need to be a thousand-word submission to Weird Tales for us to know what we’re getting ourselves into.
Wayward Puritans has some other cool ideas as well. The first thing you might notice upon booting it up is the obvious use of a very limited palette, relying heavily on greys, yellows and greens. I’m not sure what the logic was behind this palette, but it really gives Wayward Puritans a very unique look that I don’t think would work in a more typical project. Aside from the usual ending stopper map (don’t look behind you!) it also makes use of a demo (in the ports that support them, so not GZDoom) running on MAP31 to create a sort of intro to tell the story, a very neat way to emulate GZDoom’s TITLEMAP feature in a more vanilla fashion.
I really liked Wayward Puritans. It made me nostalgic for Alone in the Dark, and I didn’t even really like that game all that much. (Guess I’ll have to finally sit down and play through the remake!) I appreciate the way it created a wholly different experience just through DEHACKED. But most of all, I appreciate that it was a fresh, new idea in a robust community that pumps out a ton of fantastic work every year.
-june❤
Wayward Puritans can be downloaded from Doomworld.
