Sunder
is a custom mapset for Doom II, created by Insane_Gazebo. It was first released in 2009 and, apart from a break in 2010-2019, has been regularly receiving updates and new maps.
It is renowned for two things: its huge maps with elaborate, lovingly crafted visuals, and its extreme difficulty, with each map mostly made up of a sequence of highly brutal mass fights.
This game mod features the following tropes:
- Great Big Library of Everything: The level "Archives of the Technomancer", set in and around a colossal library with bookshelves the size of apartment blocks. The bottom of the library is filled with lava, which for some reason doesn't seem to affect the books adversely.
- Hedge Maze: An extensive hedge maze is located in MAP30, "The Harlot's Garden". It is home to one of the most difficult fights in the level, complete with several Cyberdemons roaming the maze at one point. Thankfully the center of the maze has a small open area with a cache of health items and ammo.
- Marathon Level: Pretty much all of the later levels are very large and very long. UV Max runs of MAP15 and later take over an hour or two (by comparison, an average custom Doom level typically takes no more than ten minutes for a UV Max run).
- One-Word Title: The title of the mapset itself, Sunder, as well as some of the levels: Python, Precarious, Grinder.
- The X of Y: The titles of some of the maps: Whispers Of The Gnarled King, Archives Of The Technomancer, House Of Corrosion.
