About damn time!

What are everyone's opinions on it? I haven't played it, myself, yet, but I saw some Youtubers saying it's way too difficult, dark, an stingy with ammo and cheap with traps to be much fun (apparently one of the big flaws is that there's way too many inescapable lava pits).

I'm about three-quarters through it so far. Indeed, it's rather dimly-lit, and there are a ton of environmental hazards you have to tiptoe around or dash through. That can get annoying. But at least on Hurt Me Plenty, the difficulty seems fine. You might have to switch weapons when a gun runs dry, but I've never been totally empty. And though they're not always conveniently-placed, there's usually a way out of the lava pits, whether it's a teleporter or an elevator you need to call.

I think it's all right. It's not incredible, and some levels feel a little unpolished (like E5M5 in particular), but it's certainly more fun than the horrible Episode 4. This is certainly more visually-pleasing, and unlike E4, it doesn't feel like a constant uphill struggle where an awkwardly-placed baron is seemingly around every corner. I also appreciate that it doesn't entirely eschew the minor puzzle-solving elements that used to be a big part of Doom mapping design -- it's good to see that again.

Of course, maybe it's much worse on Ultra-Violence. Couldn't say just yet.

This mapset vacillates between neat bits of design and cheap shots. There is a bit too much forced damage, and many instances where the player has way too little room to maneuver.

Ultra Violence has barely any health drops at all. Though secrets tend to be generous.

My favorite map was E5M3. The cages and firing angles were well done.

My least favorite was E5M5. Navigating it was a mess. You'll see why.

B-

E5M5 seems broken. There are teleporters that just beam you into the lava. That seems like a mistake. Hopefully he'll give it another pass in a version 1.2, or maybe the community can clean it up a tad.

It's a shame because I liked the look of M5 initially. It felt like an homage to Mt. Erebus from E3, which I always enjoyed. This one's just a bit half-baked.

Vicky those teleporters beam you into the lava for a very, VERY good reason... on UV.

Ah. But it's still awkward design, having a feature that only works in one of the three main difficulty modes. XD

My biggest issue with E5M5 was the first switch you're supposed to find and press. I hated that. It took me a long time to find due to the enemies on the map and low hp.

Beat UV. All the added cyberdemons really change the tone of the levels and amps up the stress quite a bit. It's kinda worth playing on both HMP and UV to see how the atmosphere differs.

I feel this is going to be a very divisive WAD, but I'm still a fan of it.

Speaking of UV mode, my boyfriend's been wondering why every speedrun of the Doom games has it set on UV instead of a lower difficulty. I told him that it's likely due to it being too easy for the speedrunners at lower settings, and would invalidate the run. Do you know the real reason?

That's somewhat true. UV-Max -- which is Ultra-Violence with 100% kills & secrets -- tends to be the standard. There are occasionally runs on other difficulties, but UV-Max is the most common. I'm not sure why this is, but I assume it's because this tends to be the most "complete" difficulty mode, featuring the maximum amount of monsters. Nightmare mode is basically the exact same thing as Ultra-Violence, just featuring a few enemy behavior modifiers to make it more...well, infuriating. XD

Doesn't Nightmare mode make it so that the monsters revive after a certain time? I can see why people don't usually play that mode in speedruns or let's plays.

Right, monsters respawn infinitely in Nightmare. It's a huge hassle and I don't think I've beaten Nightmare in any Doom game.

It's hard on UV and I gave up on E5M4 because I had low health and kept dying on my recording run. Like others said, very stingy on health and ammo. Advisable to play on HMP or HNTR.