I wasn’t a fan of the reboots either. Still bought them but lost interest kind of quickly.
I do like a straightforward level because backtracking is the bane of my existence. I think Prodeus does level design very well. Quake was perfect. Duke nukem had pretty large levels but pretty straightforward for the most part. But yeah, Romero had some really nice levels so I’m excited about his new doom was coming out and his eventual quake map pack!
Just depends on the person saying it. Could just be what their GPS says or the person could have included stops. Best to ask them as there is no definitive answer to this.