Samsara Classic is a gameplay modification for ZDoom, GZDoom, and Zandronum that brings the protagonists of retro first-person shooters into the Doom engine. Samsara Classic is a continuation of Kinsie's fork of Samsara released in 2016, with the original version of the mod being released in 2012 by TerminusEst13.
Samsara Classic is similar to Samsara Reincarnation, another fork based off of the original version of Samsara that adds additional characters, features, and enemy sets. Although both mods are made by the same team, Classic takes a far more conservative and strict approach to updating the mod since its last update in 2016. There are no additional characters, but there are bugfixes, quality-of-life improvements, and a few gameplay settings from Reincarnation added in. This fork is targeted for players who prefer the older versions of Samsara compared to Reincarnation or those who are unable to run Reincarnation but wish to experience an updated version of Samsara on legacy systems or smartphones using Delta Touch.
- No additional characters; only the original 8 heroes are represented here
- Most clientside and serverside options that came from Reincarnation aren't available
- Game balance is 99% untouched from the original mod; only the most extreme balance issues are fixed
- Re-added Gentleman Mode and the Instagib-exclusive weapons
- Re-added the Strife and Hexen allies
- Less compatibility with IWADs and TCs; only Doom, Heretic, Hexen, Strife, and Chex Quest are supported
- Animations for some characters and weapons behaved more like they did in older versions of Samsara
- No ReMixer support
In short, Samsara Classic wishes to maintain what made the original mod fun without deviating from its contents. It keeps the characters as-is and doesn't do anything to disrupt the weaker balance and larger emphasis on hero roles that the original mod had compared to Reincarnation, effectively putting substance over style in terms of presentation. If you wish to make contributions to the mod, please keep the context of the original mod in mind and make sure that they would've been made during its initial development back in 2012-2014. In other words, if they aren't suited for Samsara Classic, then they should be moved to Samsara Reincarnation instead.