23rd of July 2025

Duke Nukem - Horror Castle by William Gee

William Gee's Horror Castle episode/minimod is built on the foundations of two of his previously released works: WGFang and WGFang 2, which now constitute maps 2 and 4 in Horror Castle. In addition to these there are two new normal-size maps and four smaller intermezzo-type maps (2-4 minutes each). Let's go over these small maps at first. The first map, Road Works, is a linear, straightforward introductory path with lots of easy-to-kill enemies and not much to see. You'll also learn to save any babes and Gandalfs you come across (or reactively shoot them on sight). The second small map, The Lair, is a cave section with lots of annoying critter-type enemies. For some reason the pistol doesn't seem to hit the rats, and here I also came across some weird blacksmiths that seemed to zip across the map as if on ice skates and that are only killable with explosives; until I realized several maps later this oddity was caused by having unrelated Tilesxxx.art files in the main directory, and that the smiths were in fact spiders... Anyway, at least there were some nice-looking coffins in the map. The third small map, Thunderdome, is a mini-boss area with several impressive layers of TROR (true-room-over-room), but the minibosses don't really pose much of a threat; the bats are a bigger annoyance here. The last intermezzo map in the pack is I See You, a weird obstacle course where the rules of taking damage don't really seem all that clear, resulting in an experience of jank coupled with plenty trial and error.

As for the four normal-size maps, WGFangs 1 (Castle Fang) and 2 (Lost Castle) have already been reviewed, so check them out. The sixth map, Zagor's Castle, is more linear than WGFang 2 but equally visually stunning overall. However, the map's first outdoor section is visually among the best I've ever seen in this game, boasting ambitious TROR effects with its medieval guard towers and spires, enhanced by dare-I-say fantastic use of colors and custom tiles. Gameplay here is spiced up with some crushers and lava pits you need to get past, but I didn't much care for the ending, as it's a repeat of WGFang 2 in that you press a button to cause a large number of enemies to spawn in, get shot from every which direction, then need to look for an exit door that opened somewhere.
Gee's medieval adventure is wrapped up by Castle Araknia. This place consists of large gloomy hallways and lovely blood-soaked walls and pillars, and you're treated to some more epic sights outside as you climb your way to the very top of the map in one epic sequence. Gameplay-wise the map is very linear which gets a bit dull early on (think of the infamous library map in Halo with similar large hallways that never seem to end) and there are several annoyances along the way, including Barons of Hell type of enemies with homing projectiles that track you even behind corners; it took me a while to realize you need to shoot them. Then once you get out of the castle there are several spots where you need to jump over lava that hurts even midair unless you're wearing protective boots (which you may or may not have).

So far all the new stuff from textures to enemies has served the mod well. A lot of the new enemies are satisfyingly easy to kill; others are more dangerous but never too spongy (with one terrible exception...). There's a small learning curve here but nothing too cumbersome. The mod makes good use of new ambient sounds, and while the soundtrack isn't really up to my alley (epic metal or whatever), one cannot dispute it fits the mod's theme perfectly. New art is great too, and it's often used so that every large map has its own distinct color theme.
Unfortunately the mod wraps up with an awful boss fight. Stay on the ground and you'll be dead in a split second if you don't move in a perfect circle, as there'll be a billion homing spiders and projectiles hugging you all the time. Use a jetpack (there are several scattered across the arena) and you'll eventually run out of fuel with the enemy still standing. I had to dnkroz and dnstuff several times to get enough ammunition to kill the spongy fucker (protected by an awful hitbox that often seemed transparent to rockets).

Conclusion: Along with MRCK, William Gee has been one of the most prolific mappers in recent years. Horror Castle was developed with astounding speed, an impressive task considering it's not just seven new maps (even if four of these are small) but a lot of other stuff as well. There are several annoyances along the way, some of the more linear bits didn't feel all that engaging and the final boss is just bad, but overall this is a good and mostly enjoyable mod with a lot of thematic consistency, a fun set of new enemies, and some of the most impressive medieval-type design you'll ever come across in this engine.

Score: 8½
Download: Mirror
Version: 1.4, 1.5
Author: William Gee