Jenes15: The Legacyquel

Jenesis is receiving a straight remake, utilising an episodic format, MBF21 features in the maps, DSDHACKED for added in-game entities, and further ID24-standard features (as soon as they become widely available).

“Jenesis: The Legacyquel” is a Doom 2 mapset which will mainly consist of remakes (or “speedclones”) of the existing Jenesis maps.

Maps will be totally redone from the ground up where necessary – other maps may be renamed or rearranged in the map roster, but otherwise I plan to remain as faithful to the spirit of the original maps as possible.

This will be a longer-term project. The final due date I have in mind is the 15th anniversary of the original megawad’s release – 28th November 2026 – or sooner if I am somehow able to get everything done before then. This year will also mark me having been part of this online community for 20 years.

My planned remakes of almost all of the maps have been at least started as of this post, so this looks to be another 32-map-strong release. Currently, though, the project’s end-goals are still kinda fluid – while I have ideas planned out fairly meticulously in a Google Doc and a progress tracker spreadsheet to keep things organised, I will be finishing and releasing this project on the due date, without fail, regardless of how many maps I have completed by that point.

• Brand new maps, all with the spirit of the original 32 found in Jenesis! Concise layout and flow will be of particular importance to me as I redesign certain levels.
• All-new monsters to fit in with the Doom 2 bestiary.
• Rebalanced monsters and weapons for quality-of-life and smooth, no-nonsense gameplay.
• Unique monster skins, just to give some planned monsters a special, never-before-seen look.
• Community-sourced music selections to replace the old tracks in the OST where it will be appropriate.
• A shuffled map order, and an ordering of all the maps into five distinct episodes. There will be more consistent theming and interconnection between maps so the player’s journey is through less disparate locales.
• A supplementary WAD that will be provided restoring the original MIDI selection and level progression.
• Multiple secret/optional maps, with some maps being redesignated as secret maps, to give them a new lease of life and enhance the main campaign by shortening mainline progression.
• Optional content and ultra secrets tucked away for particularly wily players to find.
• Secret exits that will not be in the usual spots! Be prepared to go looking for them.
• A proper narrative to untangle which will be told through environmental storytelling.