5AM on New Years so Im feeling a bit retrospective.
Feels odd to say considering how integral Doom has been to my life, but for the first time since 2008/2009 Ive basically ignored the scene all year. Well, other than watching GZ (finally) die in real time.
Normally I'd try to rush through as many notable releases from the year or delve through months worth of forum posts to find stuff thats gone under the radar. I thought it would be more fitting to revisit an old favorite.

Not my first, nor second, nor is it even the PWAD that made me fall in love with the scene. Scythe 2 has just always been the one I inevitably come back to these past ~18 years. Alm's mapping style was transformative, to the extent it had a deathgrip over what constituted a good wad for a solid 10 years. While it may not be the most influential wad ever released, Scythe 2 (and 1) laid the foundation for what a "modern" megawad would look like. Ditching any elements of exploration, popularizing the episodic format, the concept of 1-2 breather levels to improve pacing, a dozen+ architectural & texture trends, and arguably the most (in)famous dehacked mob of all time.
Even knowing its influence, it still shocks me how well Scythe 2 holds up. Not one dull or bland moment in any of the 6 episodes, each difficulty curve feeling natural to boot.
Really the only thing truly setting Scythe 2 apart from whats actually modern is the lack of visual flair, and for the most part bland midi choices.
Great reminder of why I've loved Doom for all these years.

Fav Maps: 7, 13, 17, 19, 24, 27
Least Fav: 14, 26, 29, and still 31

Scythe II was always one of my absolute favorite Doom WADs, and is one I still like to boot up and play even now. This still rings true... up to a pretty specific point. Scythe II implements a faux-episodic structure that makes this a much more cohesive whole than the original, which feels like "just a bunch of maps" by comparison. Most of the maps are great and still hold up 20 years later.

Where it really loses me is with the introduction of "Mr. X", a custom enemy cobbled together with DeHackEd that runs ridiculously fast and blasts you in the face with a plasma gun the instant it sees you. They aren't used terribly often, and I do like the thematic setpiece level they're introduced on, but in almost every other case where they appear it's almost always guaranteed to kill me at least once.

The slaughter maps towards the end are also way beyond what I'm capable of getting through without save-scumming, but I'm just going to chalk that up to me being bad at Doom I guess.

Erik Alm heard me talkin' shit 17 years in the future and decided to beat my ass about it.

I stopped playing Scythe II originally because I couldn't hit the super secret exit, which might have been an issue with GZDOOM. I'm stopping now because I'm kinda sick of it.

There are not a lot of bullets in Scythe II and it is very long. That's not my preference, really. I don't feel comfortable critiquing Scythe II since I didn't finish it and also it came out before I knew what exponential arithmetic was, but it's not like you need me to tell you it's good.

I'll come back to it... maybe... idk.

Pros:
- For the most part, this was an excelent Wad.
- I really dig the epísodic structure. That was actually one of the reasons why i liked the first Scythe so much. Scythe II goes further on the idea, dividing the wad into more episodes but with fewer levels. It works great in my opinion, and as far as i’m concerned, this has proven to be influential in some other modern wads. This is probably the most positive influence that Scythe and Scythe II had left in the Doom community.
- The later maps, aesthetically, are probably some of the coolest depictions of hell in any Doom wad.

Cons:
- From map 22 onwards, the wad is almost exclusively composed of slaughter maps. I dislike slaughter maps intensely, therefore, the wad is completely useless from this point onwards for me. Anyway, i felt like IDDQD-ing my way through these levels, just to confirm that i cannot understand why on earth this kind of maps exist. Even less, why are they so popular within the Classic Doom community. Of course, i was aware that this wad was going to feature some of these maps, but still, i hate the trend that this WAD (alongside Alien Vendetta) imposed for the following years of filling the last third with pure slaughter maps.
- Nazis are a pretty bad inclusion, honestly. Excesively overpowered. I have to recognize, anyway, that the concept of map 15 is still well executed, and could probably be cited as an early precursor of Survival Horror-inspired Wads. Those flying Barons are probably terribly hard to kill too.
- Map 14 is a complete abomination. Excluding the Slaughter maps, this is not just the worst map here, but also one of the worst Doom maps i’ve played in recent times.
- I kinda dislike this wad’s obsession with mancubi at times.
 
It's a bit sad how the last third kinda watered down my whole consideration for this wad. Even more: Everytime i go through a couple of slaughter maps i end up feeling so exhausted and overwhelmed, to the point of not playing another Doom wad for months.