Shrine combines two great tastes that taste great together: Doom 2 and eldritch abominations. It wraps these in a foggy atmosphere whose pastel palette manages to evoke a good amount of creep factor thanks to a unique artistic style and gross monster designs.
The mod was created by someone who calls themselves scumhead, which I think sells them a bit short considering how great this mod looks. While it’s recognizably running in the Doom engine, the whole look of the thing has gotten a true overhaul. There’s almost an Edward Gorey style to the linework in the pixel art here, and the muted colors convey a sense of otherworldliness that works with the Lovecraftian theme very well.
There’s also a suggestion of Silent Hill 2 in here, with vaguely evocative creatures that pull at something just beyond the tip of your brain. The weapon designs are great, too – there’s a double-barreled shotgun that seems wired up to your arm, what looks like a canned alien brain, and other things that look like they’ve been fashioned out of the beaks and claws of various abominations.
You can see it in action here:
Scumhead provides only a basic rundown of Shrine: “Battle new demons with new weapons, while exploring ancient cathedrals and eldritch worlds from the dark beyond.”
By the numbers, you’re getting eight new weapons, 13 new enemies, 16 levels (“Challenging but fair,” scumhead says), and all new art and sounds.
You can find Shrine over at ModDB or DoomWorld. You’ll need Doom II and should be running GZDoom with jump enabled.