Not Jabba's Not the Cacowards Review Corner (Mudman)

Bloodspeed by various

 

     

     

     

     

 

I don't know how many of you kids are old enough to remember the heyday of Russian community projects. To my knowledge, the Russian community first came together for Heroes' Tales and Da Will (the latter technically being a team project, but...well, Clan B0S was a very big team), and then became a full-fledged genre with Whitemare and Sacrament and built on that foundation with A.L.T. and Whitemare 2. Their output came to be characterized by adventure-oriented map design and atmosphere, taking inspiration from early forerunner Eternal and story-driven classic megawads like Eternal Doom, and used realism and strong environmental design to create maps with an eerie sadness and sense of desolation. Many of these projects also had kind of an interesting hybrid development process, where the community would host speedmap sessions and then build a megawad by both polishing the speedmaps and adding in showpiece maps created over a longer development time. Although the style has lived on in the work of individual mappers like Lainos and Big Memka, Russian community projects petered out after 2012, and I sometimes wonder what might have been if we'd gotten a few more of them. The 2019 megawad Bloodspeed is probably the closest we're likely to get anytime soon, and it captures some of that classic magic; it was created by a few of the Russian CP veterans along with some newer names and contributions by @Pinchy, @Obsidian, and @StormCatcher.77.

 

I prefer to keep these reviews positive, but I'm going to start off with one thing I consider to be a bit of a flaw. The funny thing about Bloodspeed is that it feels less like a blended soup and more like a bunch of totally separate mapsets that play back to back. The first six maps mix a few gritty techbases by Shadowman and Chaingunner with some basic, perhaps somewhat generic maps from Memfis; following that, you have a set of four much more complex city/base maps with a lot of the same energy as Sacrament or A.L.T.; then a novice map set in a cave; then two excellent mid-length Memfis maps, some of his best work that I've ever played; then seven Plutonia-themed maps, almost all of them surprisingly compact and bite-sized compared to the rest of the megawad; then a final 10-map winter episode that feels like it could have come straight out of an unfinished Whitemare 3, except that it also contains Stormcatcher's epic megamap "Iced Sanctuary" in the map 29 slot before returning to the Whitemare-esque tone in map 30. It's not the usual "box of chocolates" feel that you get from a community megawad, because the maps are divided into a bunch of discrete "chunks" with their own internal design styles and themes, each of which feels like it has little or no connection to any of the other chunks.

 

Most of the individual groupings are pretty enjoyable, though. My favorite Chunk-o'-Megawad is the Sacrament-esque section that runs from m07 to m10, which contains its own microcosm of great lighting, great mood, great exploration, and interesting gameplay. Two of the maps are by @Dragon_Hunter, one of my favorite Russian mappers from the Whitemare days. The better of these, "Point of Accident," was one of two Bloodspeed maps that made my Top 20 Maps of 2019 list; you can read my description of it there, since I don't want to repeat myself. The other Dragon Hunter map, "Nanotechnology Experiments" (map 07), is almost as good—equally dark and sinister, with an unusual layout that nests one really big fight within a knot of creepy, mostly empty rooms with lurking incidental monsters. The other mapper in this section, who goes by the presumably-more-pronounceable-in-Cyrillic handle of @+Ku6EPyXOBEPTKA+, has a looser and less refined style of design, but still one that I found interesting. "Symphony of Darox" (map 08) is like Eternal Doom meets MyHouse.wad in a tangle of hallways, dying gardens, and puzzles that carries a lot of the same post-apocalyptic Sacrament flavor as Dragon Hunter's maps. "Last Hangover" (map 10) is even weirder; it's a sprawling exploration of a lost base using stock Doom textures, but with a grim sort of Doomcute realism and gameplay driven by storytelling and possible latent symbolism that reminds me more of A.L.T. than Sacrament. I'd have gladly taken a whole megawad with the tone of this little cluster, and was sad to see it end (especially when it segues into a My First Map, though the non-award-judging part of me will always applaud that sort of community inclusivity).

 

Still, there's plenty of other fun to be had with Bloodspeed. Memfis's "Village of the Black Sun" and "Moments in Doom" (maps 12 and 13) both have a really strong classic vibe to them, perhaps a little bit of Petersen and a little bit of Requiem at the same time. The mini Plutonia-Hell maps (mostly created by @Chaingunner) are fast and fun, with some pretty nice simple architecture. Shadowman's "Daemons of the Mind" (map 31) is another nice story-driven map with a neat "lost in time" feel, while "Fort Boyard" by @BigMemka (map 32) contrasts with it as a tough little arena map with a lighthearted, melodramatic mood.

 

The winter episode has the same mix of chilly atmosphere, occasional combat intensity, and a lot of just plain goofing around that defined its Whitemare predecessors. This leg of the megawad has the greatest diversity of mappers (including all the non-Russians, as far as I know), and feels the most like a classic community project with a broad mix of voices. Maybe that grab-bag feel combined with the texture set and the presence of a few Whitemare veterans is what makes it feel so much like Whitemare 3. The only thing I feel like it's missing is a Dragon Hunter map, since DH created so many of the standout maps in the Whitemare series, the megamaps with the deeply detailed settings and gorgeous views. In place of that hypothetical DH map, we instead have "Iced Sanctuary," which is also a richly detailed megamap and the best map in Bloodspeed. Again, you can read my description of it in my top 20 list, but...damn, it's good. The snowy town that you wind through at one point is one of the prettiest outdoor areas I've seen in a while. Finishing off the megawad is "A Harsh Message" (map 30), the (alas) lone @BeeWen map, which has a lot of pretty wintery realism and forlorn mood. It's a nice grand finale, albeit one that would make more narrative sense if it were in fact preceded by a more Whitemareish Dragon Hunter map, and "Iced Sanctuary" had been released separately.

 

Even so, the nonsensical mapset progression has a certain charm. Just be prepared to experience the megawad in several distinct stages; it's up to you which ones you like best. Though it's not quite the same thing as a classic Russian community project, it comes pretty close and scratches a lot of those same itches. I think it will particularly appeal to fans of Heroes' Tales and the Whitemares, even if it doesn't have the narrative power and surrealist beauty of A.L.T. and Sacrament.

Edited April 26, 2022 by Not Jabba

The Mapwich by @Bridgeburner56 et al

 

 

 

    

 

Springing from the mad mapper’s sanitarium – otherwise known as the Hellforge Discord server – this wily, rag-tag team of connoisseurs emerged with one of 2019’s more charismatic offerings. Navigating between vanilla resources, the pitfalls of randomly selected mapping pairs, and the unusual subject of it’s presentation, it still managed to make it’s way to the dining room table – so, how does it taste?

 

Outside of the rather serious, and often darker tones found throughout the levels, we’re immediately greeted with a farcical sense of self-awareness when we boot up – the hilariously impatient GIF of a hungry Doom Slayer, a tasty MIDI riff to get the saliva flowing, (some sort of floppy disk sandwich), and each of the Skill Levels delightfully renamed to match the mood. I think “Feed Me Plenty” is my favorite, but they’re all gold.

 

Bridgeburner takes full advantage of first impressions to make the message loud and clear. This is not just another Doom WAD – this is a culinary mission; a piquant dish for the truly discerning Doom palate, and an artistic expression of, well... sheer insanity, I suppose. Grab a shotgun, and dig in.

 

    

 

Right off the bat, one of the best decisions made is to feature a HUB map that cleans the slate, and allows each level to command it’s own pace from a pistol-start. The hub is a gorgeous amphitheater of gateways, demonstrating the impressive creativity waiting to be discovered by Mapwich’s mastery of the stock resources, and reinforcing the project’s leitmotif. A booming, devilish voice welcomes us to the great feast in a priceless parody of DOOM 2016’s Slayer Testaments, and as we step into each portal, we get a glimpse of the map names, creators, and difficulty ratings: Lightly Toasted, Thick and Creamy, Refreshingly Sharp, Extravagantly Savory, Flavor Explosion... While these aren’t always the most helpful descriptions, they’re fun as hell. And, let us not forget the stunning sector-art sandwich at our feet as we load into the room – the titular Mapwich, as it were.

 

Particularly praiseworthy is the fact that, without any control over who they would ultimately be tasked to build a map with – names were quite literally pulled from a hat – each pair of mappers managed to deliver something cohesive through a variety of creative approaches. There’s little sign of disharmony across the set, and what ended up on the plate is nothing short of a polished experience. Like any community effort, it’s impossible to characterize the project as any single genre, but it’s fair to say that the majority of these teams set out to draw blood. Having played through this set twice now, once on Ultra-Violence and again on Hurt Me Plenty, I’ll admit that I found the latter experience more rewarding. On HMP, there’s an overall greater sense of consistency, likely owing to some of the project’s sharpest edges being ground down just enough to keep them from feeling like thorns. (I’m also not that good at Doom).

 

So without further ado, let’s dig into the meat.

 

    

 

Taking a page straight from D2TWiD’s philosophical rubric is @Jimmy’s and The Individualist’s “Terminus Point”, a non-linear circuit with all the familiarity of a classic map, and one of the more conservative approaches found in Mapwich – it’s these discreet ventures that remind us why we keep coming back after 25 years. In similar vein is “They Heard You Growling”, a violent, and intimately familiar outing by @galileo31dos01 and @Pegleg with a tense, unraveling introduction making great use of the Chainsaw.

 

Fleshing out some of the more recognizable themes, we find maps like “Subtle Calameaty”, a three-man effort built by @Terminus, @MegaBlast, and @TollyCastle, that finds us traversing a crumbling fortress replete with lethal ambushes, blood-soaked intestinal tunnels and an exciting throne room siege. “Backdraft”, where @AD_79 and @leekster take it upon themselves to put John Romero and Sandy Peterson to shame by showing them what a Doom II city map should be, from the carefully plotted incidental combat, to the absolutely flawless looping progression. In “Foundered”, @Major Arlene and @Sparks take us through the sweltering heart of a massive, industrial forge overrun by hellspawn; an expansive factory setting, clad in obsidian steel that culminates in a thunderous end run.

 

And then, there’s the delightful charm of “A Nation Tainted”, by @Breezeep and @Yonttebloke, a map that opens with an elegantly crafted temple excursion, before shifting into a Viggle’s-esque labyrinthine library. Despite the unabashedly brown exterior, the core of this map is a fun, and lighthearted retreat into more comfortable territory, perfectly underscored by an irresistibly feelgood MIDI.

 

In the techbase department, we’re in great company with efforts like “Back Again”, @Liberation’s and @xvertigox’s incredibly eerie ode to Doom 64 that sets the player through a sprawling facility, where flickering lights and flooded corridors lead you from one deadly trap to the next, and keen observers may spy clever nods to a number of classic maps along the way. There’s also @CyanoBlugron’s and @Alfredo’s ambitious techbase adventure, “Concrete Vivarium”, an escalating journey that slowly builds intensity across a slew of exciting encounters beneath a striking green skyline, before finally steering headfirst into two massive, wave-based arena fights – like twin juggernauts guarding the exit.

 

Or, take @SiMpLeToNiUm’s and @Lorenz0’s immersive “Technical Difficulties”, an unsung gem for fans of this time-honored theme. Despite relying on convention to guide the fundamental design, this team manages to transform what could have been a rather banal entry, into an inspired re-imagining of the classic techbase crawl. With dynamic lighting and surface reflections hemmed into the environment seamlessly, layered on top of the absolute attention to detail, this is the kind of “modern classic” style that UDMF was built for. Thankfully, there is a nearly perfect "run-and-gun" pace that never seeks to slow you down before the epic conclusion, leaving the player with plenty of energy to explore the finer elements of this extraordinary tour de force.

 

As the set begins to slowly wade into unorthodox territory, we find levels like “Erosion”, by @Clay and @MarketAnarchy, that despite falling into the trap of Doom II’s chromatic monotony, manages to take it’s simple hub design and produce some of the more inventive setpieces that Mapwich has to offer. @Remmirath’s and @Nirvana’s “Seasoning the Obese” takes us through a tight, thrilling gauntlet, where health and ammunition are scrupulously rationed like clockwork, and a UV Max feels almost necessary. Then, there’s @JustCallMeKaito’s and Plecthron’s “Bastardized Ossuary of Misery” – perhaps the most fascinating, and appropriately named map on the menu – an intricate Gothic madhouse, rife with claustrophobic combat, distressing ambushes, and even fiercer arenas.

 

Of course, the meal would be incomplete without a few entries high enough on the Scoville scale to send you sprinting for the water. For anyone who prefers their food spicy, and heavy, Mapwich has you covered.

 

Among the project’s more overtly slaughter-oriented servings, @Insane_Gazebo’s and @Danlex’s “Baphomet’s Bagel” stands very tall, indeed – figuratively, and literally. The colossal structure immediately dominates the space, inviting you into it’s madness with all of the requisite indications. Even maneuvering between the central ring and it’s outlying towers, this team demands your attention as they have you skipping across fractured pillars high above a molten bed. While the combat never seems eager to break new ground, the arenas are engaging in that meticulous and visceral sort of way – they’re very deliberate in their aim, but the aim is high and the result is extremely rewarding.

 

There’s Bridgeburner’s and @General Roasterock’s “Collateral Damage”, where the Grand Poobah of the Linedef Cult leaves his unmistakable mark on the table, in a Stygian hellscape brimming with trademark detail and tyrannical architecture. Together, this mapping duo generated some of the meatier, and nastier fights found in Mapwich. Boasting the highest monster count, this is likely the longest outing you’ll face – but for that reason among many, it’s also one of the most memorable. 

 

Finally... how @Scotty and @NoReason managed to get paired up will forever remain a mystery, but these masochistic fiends didn’t stray far from their affinity for pain. This set has something for everyone, and “Eat This!” is certainly built for a particular crowd – but, that doesn’t mean you should shy away from it. Beneath an intimidating start lies a carefully curated experience that relies heavily on knowing which weapon to use, and which target to prioritize, rather than any kind of unreasonable degree of skill. However, there is a caveat. The closing arena is a steep jump in difficulty, and is likely the most challenging fight that Mapwich has to offer – certainly, on Ultra-Violence.

 

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I’m a big fan of “restrictions breed creativity”, and limiting themselves to the IWAD textures meant that these mappers had to find creative solutions to the problem at hand – namely, Doom II doesn’t offer a lot in the way of variety, or theme. And, while the themes across Mapwich are generally predictable, this project proved to be an outstanding demonstration of what these assets are still capable of. There is palpable anticipation every time you leave the hub map, and no matter where you’re headed, you’re never headed for disappointment.

 

I’m really not sure what the ingredients are in Mapwich’s secret sauce, that seem to have brought out the best from everyone who participated, but I can only hope that this marks the beginning to a long-running series of sequel projects.

It's the right time of year for my "You Have to See This One Really Cool Thing" Edition, a roundup of smaller releases that have one particularly neat design feature or fill an unusual niche. For those keeping track, it also marks the end of my 2019 coverage, at least for the forseeable future. I haven't even come close to covering everything—I never got around to Adonis, Sinergy, Ultimate Doom the Way id Did, Czechbox, Mayhem 19, franckFRAG's release dump, or a number of other projects I played last year that are good enough to write about. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or energy to cover everything, and I'll just have to leave them for other people as I focus on the things that excited me the most personally and that I have the most to say about. Fortunately, there's quite a bit of review coverage these days! I may try to sweep through a couple more 2017-2018 reviews before the next season starts, and for next year I'm planning to go back further and start writing about unawarded projects from the full history of Doom, which means I probably won't be covering as many new releases. Whatever the year brings, I hope you enjoy the reviews!

 

 

 

Moonlight by @dobu gabu maru

 

   

 

Moonlight is a pure puzzle map with no monsters, so it's not surprising that it comes from the creator of The Given, the greatest Doom puzzle map of all. Moonlight goes a bit more alien than that, though, in that it basically has no Doom mechanics at all except for occasional switch pressing to select answers to the questions the environment leaves for you to solve. Whereas most puzzles in The Given are heavily designed around Doom's interactive actions—raising and lowering floors, height variations, teleportation, etc.—the ones in Moonlight are based around cryptology, interpreting images and learning coded languages that are scattered around the space. In other words, you can't really use Doom-related skills to solve anything, and instead you'll need a pen and paper handy and skills that you probably need to have learned from outside the game. You might say that Moonlight is a game designed and theoretically played on paper and merely transplanted into the Doom engine (and I have heard this argument made), but I don't think that's quite right. There's a beauty and a feeling of simulation to it that you couldn't have outside of a video game, even though it does feel far more abstract than The Given. The sense of perspective that you gain by traversing a large playable space, of having the clues presented to you at life size and having to look around corners to find them in the first place, the sense that the environment and its images are lore that forms part of a world you're exploring, the gentle but faintly intrepid lull of the music—these are unique to the medium, unless of course you have the means to create a giant sculpture garden in your real-life five-hundred-acre yard. At the same time, the deceptive flatness of the black-and-white environment does recall the abstraction of paper, as though you've been sucked into a world that exists in two dimensions but takes on the appearance of three every time you move. It's a beautiful and ethereal map, and it makes me wish I had better puzzle chops; to this day, I haven't completed it.

 

Most people don't know the full extent and the intrigue of dobu's collection of unfinished projects, but if you did, you'd probably be camped outside his house, holding up signs of encouragement and desperate for news. I've been there—I mean, not to his actual house, but still. It's wonderful that Moonlight was released, and we can only hope the rest will follow.

 

 

 

Drought by @Tango

 

   

 

Playing maps with gameplay mods that they weren't designed for is often a bit of a gamble, no matter how good the mod is, though of course not knowing exactly what to expect is part of the fun with mods. Mapsets designed specifically for existing mods are still a rare and pretty exciting thing, though they are becoming more popular; they showcase the best of what the mod has to offer and provide a sure bet for players who want to try out the mod in a balanced context. 

 

Drought was designed for last year's incredibly popular Doom 4 Vanilla, which it includes built-in. The whole point of this mod is the speed and ferocity of its gameplay, which combines the deadly abilities and individual power of New Doom's monsters with the highway-legal player speed and higher monster counts of classic Doom. The result is almost overwhelming but wildly fun, especially in Tango's hands. Drought feels similar to the way Tango handles his own Supercharge mod in Paradise—intensely lethal, capable of going from zero to sixty in an instant, and so fast-flowing that the onslaughts often hit you before you really know to expect them—but with the distinct flavor of the D4V mod, where monsters can suddenly leap across the room and rip off your face or OH MY GOD JETPACK REVENANTS. Map 03 is also particularly gorgeous, thanks to all the bright autumnal vines densely draped around its pale architecture.

 

 

 

Toxin Refinery Remake by @Guardsoul

 

   

 

The fact that this map doesn't really even have a name may say a lot about what players will like or dislike about it. Its identity is strongly and fully grounded in the map it's based on, and it plays a little more as a straight remake rather than a reimagining that echoes the original, like Z1M3 was. Though the latter approach will ultimately be seen as more memorable and unique, that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with the former, and this particular remake is impressively good at what it sets out to do. Every location from the original map has been scaled up and given a makeover so that it looks much more attractive and modern, but the gameplay is still pretty streamlined (and you might say form still follows function, if you're into that sort of thing). The map makes good use of special effects as well, particularly the subtle steam clouds drifting in certain areas along with good old-fashioned sparks from broken machinery, translucent forcefields, and some very nice advanced lighting. Everything is done really tastefully, and the design feels clean almost to a fault—which is the exact right choice if you're going to adhere to the source material fairly closely, at least when the source material is Romero. There are some layout and progression changes to keep it fresh as well; interestingly, I think at least some of the new additions may be based on areas from Z1M3, giving them the same style of remake as the areas from the IWAD. The monster count is high and the hitscanners can sting a bit, but they are all stock E1 monsters, so it's not much harder than the original map and is pretty fun to blast through. As a single map in isolation, it's head-turning enough, but it feels like it's only a smaller piece of a project; it would be pretty neat to see an entire episode of this sort of treatment—or, better still, a completely original mapset in a similar style.

 

 

 

Saltwater by @meapineapple

 

   

 

Saltwater is mostly about ambiance, but it's about other things too. The setting alone is pretty interesting: you start out at your little cabin by a lighthouse, there's some heavy dusky repaletting in the sky and water to make it look like sunset, and the light levels are dim to match. Flocks of gulls hang in suspended animation overhead, and the "music" is purely ambient, just the calls of the gulls and the gentle sound of waves crashing on the shore. Across the water from where you start is a mysterious brick mansion; a convenient teleporter by the lighthouse takes you over there after you deal with a lone Pinky, and you spend either most or all of the remainder of the map parsing out the secrets of the mansion and clearing out its inhabitants, depending which exit you take. It seems simple enough at first, though the heavy teleport ambushes give you a fair amount to deal with, with combat that mostly revolves around Imps and Hell Nobles flooding your space, punctuated with a handful of pretty tricky Arch-Viles. But after you're seemingly done, you realize you've got about 80 more monsters and six secrets to go, and you can spend the rest of your time (or not, if you take the easy exit) hunting for the hidden passages and layered secrets that make up the rest of the map and ultimately return you home—and the twilit ambiance that was such a natural choice for the map's quiet start helps to carry you through to the ending and the odd feeling of peace that it brings. An unusual and interesting map all around.

 

 

 

Concrete Rage by @Dutch Doomer

 

   

 

"Casual" is a bit of a lost art. Sure, you have people who like their gameplay really hard and people who like it less hard, but modern mapping is almost universally characterized by constant pressure through moderate/heavy incidental combat that never lets up, regardless of how difficult a map ultimately is. People don't seem to want a break to stop and smell the roses. True casual was more of a 2000s thing, and though I've heard some challenge-lovers declare otherwise, it's not the same as being mindlessly easy. It's more like mindfully easy—very deliberate and even sort of zen-like in nature.

 

Dutch Devil was one of the master mappers of that era, and although he's a versatile mapper who's produced tougher maps as well, Concrete Rage captures a lot of that zen. This map has a decent number of monsters, but you're not constantly engaged and are rarely in serious danger. Like many maps of the 2000s, though, it's pleasant and satisfying to play. You start with the weakest monsters and slowly climb the bestiary as you work your way through the 240-ish enemies on the map until you end up with a few Barons, a few Revenants, an Arachnotron laying down cover fire, and the obligatory Lone Ending Arch-Vile. Being able to gun down everything quickly with your shotguns and chaingun makes it easy to appreciate the small things, like how carefully each monster is placed in the environment or how the rarer mid-tiers feel like they have more weight—or, most of all, the very fine craft of the architecture, which is probably the nicest thing about the map. It's actually very difficult to pull this sort of design off convincingly—to make every decision feel intentional when the player is moving slowly enough to notice everything, and to maintain the zen of the player experience without becoming dull—in some ways, more difficult than making a map that feels intense or challenging, because of the amount of discipline required. In any case, Concrete Rage is a very nice way to spend fifteen minutes. Give yourself a break and try it out.

 

 

 

Pumpkin Hell by @Jimmy

 

   

 

Speaking of old-school casual, of all the mappers active now, Jimmy is probably the one who understands it the best, though his implementation is a fair bit more Scythey compared to Dutch Devil's. Pumpkin Hell is a Boom-compat map, but it's spiritually pretty similar to the GZ-based Mercury Rain, in that it exists to explore a distinct visual theme and offers up mostly chill gameplay to accompany it. This particular theme is quite cute—basically just a faux-spooky pumpkin-orange version of classic Hell, complete with bright orangeade liquids and a cool jack-o-lantern landscape sky. Gravestones and glowing jack-o-lantern decorations add the finishing touch to most of the map's more interesting vistas, and the theme is driven home with a few little extra touches like pumpkin keys and, unsurprisingly for a Jimmy map, a custom MIDI that fits the mood perfectly. This sort of world-building and detail is exactly what's needed to bring out the best in casual maps, in my opinion; having an interesting world to engage your attention and gameplay that gives you room to fully appreciate the nuances of it is like peanut butter and jelly. Or pumpkin and spice, maybe? If you missed Pumpkin Hell when it came out, the timing is perfect, since Halloween is right around the corner.

Edited April 27, 2022 by Not Jabba

My Top 20 Maps of the 2020 Cacoward Season

 

Hey all, here I am with my top maps of the year countdown again. Sorry about the timing with the site being so slow. This was a neat year, and there are a lot of maps I wanted to recognize from a ton of projects across the board—there were quite a few excellent maps in larger projects that didn't get award recognition themselves, some of which are very high on this list. In addition to the main 20 and a zillion runners-up, I've added a few special extra "bests" at the end, just for fun. Enjoy!

 

 

Runners-up (alphabetically by wad/pk3):

 

*Seething Shadows by Scotty (Abandon map 07)
*Solaris by Scotty (Abandon map 09)
*Thrice-Razed Capitol by Benjogami and Bemused (Abandon map 16)
*Hellstation by @Cheesewheel (CPD map 19)
*Vulture's Point by @Jimmy (Faithless Trilogy E2M6)
*Cloister of Ichor by Jimmy (Faithless Trilogy E3M7)
*Lift Service by @Wraith777 (Gods & Guardians map 03)
*Floodworld by Wraith777 (Gods & Guardians map 05)
*What Could Go Wrong? by Big Ol Billy (Interception 2 map 06)
*Habitat Ring by @Moustachio, @stewboy, @Pegleg, and DFF (Interception 2 map 13)
*20,000 Monsters Under the Sea by @Insane_Gazebo and @dac (Mapwich 2 map 20)
*Knowledge Is Power by Bridgeburner and @Dragonfly (Mapwich 2 map 22)
*Urban War by RonnieJamesDiner (Mayhem 2020 map 15)
*Blood Eagle by Scotty (Nova 3 map 05)
*Tomb of Solitude by @dt_ (Nova 3 map 13)
*Alpha Scorpii Supercluster by antares031 (Nova 3 map 25/Antaresian Reliquary map 05)
*Solar Powered by Big Ol Billy (Nova 3 map 31)
*Aeternus by @killerkouhai and @Decay (Refracted Reality map 04)
*Void Bastion by @cannonball (Return to Hadron E3M7)
*Ambush! by @TravyB (Rowdy Rudy 2 map 11)
*Jungle Hijinx by Aurelius (Rowdy Rudy 2 map 15)
*Rooftop Rampage by A2Rob (Running Late 2 map 05)
*Terminal by @Marn
*Nowhere Fast by Scypek2 (Three Is a Crowd map 18)
*Extinction Burst by Scypek2 (Three Is a Crowd map 30)

 

 

20. Cargo Cult by @DFF (Interception 2 map 27)
Played on UV

 

 

Last year, even before boats were cool, the sector-art-heavy Interception 2 hosted one of the great boat maps of all time. After joining the team, DFF became one of the driving forces behind the project, the voice behind many of the maps that unify the whole megawad through an overarching narrative. "Cargo Cult" is the best of these, a loving tribute to all things Doomcute set in a sprawling, detailed city that would have been perfectly at home in Hellbound. Trashing a whole harborside block is just the lead-in to a riotous and bloody main course on and below the decks of the ship, complete with a kitchen, dormitory, engine room, towering crane, and more crates than you can shake a dead Imp at. 

 

Obviously I was just kidding about that first sentence. Boats were always cool.

 

19. Purgatorial Technologies by @antares031 (Dyingcamel’s Demons 3 map 09/Antaresian Reliquary map 04)
Played on HMP

 

 

This richly detailed and exquisitely beautiful map is worth playing no matter which of the two versions you try or which difficulty setting you play it on, though the stronger guns in Antaresian Reliquary certainly make your job a bit easier. One of the two crown jewels in the Reliquary (the other being "The Kerberos Complex," which I'm counting as a 2018 map), it mostly plays as a deeply atmospheric lull between more fast-paced maps, a dark and creepy stage that gives you enough breathing room to be almost contemplative...at least until it kicks into a higher gear at the end. Thanks to antares's knack for scene-setting, it's one of the better takes on the Hell-corrupted base that I've encountered, a locale where the tech is intricate enough to provide a strong sense of place even as the fleshy Hell elements have totally and horrifically consumed it.

 

18. Rigel Kentaurus by @nicolas monti (Alpha Centauri map 09)
Played on UV

 

 

Monti at his best is like Sandy Petersen on steroids...or hallucinogens, maybe. The demons haven't just brought their own reality with them; the world of Alpha Centauri is one where reality itself is rotting like a six-month-old pumpkin, where the surrealism of broken planes and melted texturing is still punctuated occasionally by concrete, utilitarian signs of the civilization that once inhabited the planet. Nowhere is this more clear than in "Rigel Kentaurus," with its outer ring of trolley tracks and galleries of passenger benches waiting for something long gone. Within the ring lies deathtrap after deathtrap, a set of challenges with little regard for the feelings of any player, skilled or unskilled, where sheer treachery becomes the great equalizer. The final fight is a perfect finishing blow for this style of gameplay; I hope you're good with a BFG.

 

17. The Cauldron by Scotty (Abandon map 02)
Played on UV

 

 

This appropriately named stress-test is the second (and last) Abandon map I've attempted to beat fairly, and it's extremely well positioned and planned as the true gateway to the rest of the mapset. It's not "baby slaughter" or whatever you might call a teach-as-you-go hardcore primer; Abandon skips that entirely. It is, however, an excellent introduction to the types of skills needed throughout the set and the high-level gameplay concepts you'll face, basically showing you what you need to progress and letting you learn one piece at a time whether you've got what it takes. Even aesthetically, it's a nicely self-contained (and very beautiful) look at the sort of universe that Abandon exists in. But gameplay-wise, each combat or platforming segment is its own particular lesson or "checkbox" that you need to tick off to pass onward: the opener a lesson in maneuvering through a crowded space, the red key fight a lesson in routing and projectile-handling, the northern fight a lesson in staying within a tight space while using rockets, the final hub visit a lesson in letting the enemy do the work for you, and so on—and yet each is also a well-designed and enjoyable warm-up piece for the set's real audience, or for someone like me who's just good enough to attempt the map. As for the end fight...well, as far as I can tell, that's a lesson in knowing when you're beat.

 

16. The Crate Escape by @Big Ol Billy (Umbral Platinum map 07)
Played on UV

 

 

BOB is a versatile mapper, and though he's probably best known for shorter concept maps, "The Crate Escape" feels more like one of the centerpieces of an action-driven 2010s megawad, a longer monster-packed epic with a layout built around a memorable central scene. In my opinion, it's the sleekest and best-looking map he's made, as well as the one with the strongest sense of adventure—and besides, you will never convince me that crates aren't a universally positive mapping trope. They just make everything better. The main shipping yard divides the map like a canyon, but your choice of paths will loop you all around the huge storage facility before taking you down to the water for a couple of energetic climactic fights.

 

15. Freaky Panties 2: Boxers or Briefs by @Remilia Scarlet
Played on UV

 

 

I've already written about FP2, and a few other individual maps on this list, but I'll do my best to blurb about them again without falling into a rut. One of the coolest things about FP2 that I haven't already mentioned is the penultimate setpiece, which revolves around a "cursed Berserk"—once you pick it up, you're stuck with the zerked fist until a certain amount of time has passed. A couple of flying Manc-type minibosses keep you on your toes while you plow through an army of popcorn Imps Tyson-style, all while managing radsuits and an Invuln in an arena that's mostly nukage. This paves the way for the true boss fight that's soon to follow, and it exemplifies what I like about FP2 in a nutshell: the deep sense of choreography, the way it flows from one moment to the next, but without imposing the high level of difficulty or combat-puzzliness that gameplay choreography is typically associated with—which is perhaps what makes the map feel so much like dancing.

 

14. Feeling Run Down by @an_mutt (Isolation map 23)
Played on UV

 

 

A creepy soundtrack adds to the gloomy, dungeon-like feel of this map—and I say "dungeon" knowing full well that it's a techbase, strictly speaking. It's not just the Ocarina of Time track that makes this map feel like a Legend of Zelda dungeon. The first portion of the map revolves around an elevator that goes a lot farther than you think, moving you between floors as you work out the proper sequence of events, until you gain access to the supply of radsuits that serve as your puzzle item to help get you through the rest of the map. Each little piece of the progression is a small combat puzzle or spatial puzzle or a puzzle to figure out how to always be wearing a radsuit in the slime that coats the entire second half—even when you're in the middle of a tough fight—and it's all that puzzling that really makes it feel like TLoZ. Add to that the dreary mood of the Isolation palette and all-enclosed restriction of the project, and you've got yourself the perfect claustrophobic dungeon. I have a lot to say about how great Isolation is as a concept, and "Feeling Run Down" plays to that concept better than any other map in the set.

 

13. Lost in Translation by @DMPhobos and @Misty (Mapwich 2 map 10)
Played on HMP

 

 

Here's a map that's really easy to chill with, and just a pure pleasure to play. Rocky gardens full of autumnal foliage and gently blowing leaves stretch across floating islands in a classic black void, surrounding bastions of slipgate tech and rusty metal. Bright duck-ponds of purple oozejuice add to the ambience, and the music is seriously groovy, settling you right into the map's gameplay loop with its space-agey feel. Even the bounce pads are just the right sort of kinetic. The pacing feels very finely tuned, and the map a perfectly trimmed medium length, despite being a collaboration between two mappers, the sum of its parts achieving a synergy that would be impressive even in a map created by one person, let alone two. Not too easy and not to hard, with nice small challenge spikes for its setpieces, it's a great study in how to make a level that's both comfortable and consistently engaging at the same time.

 

12. Technicolor Antichrist Box by @Major Arlene
Played on HMP

 

 

What's the word I'm looking for? Colorful? Fancy? Vivid, maybe (it's colorful and fancy too, though). It's the vividness that intrigues me—the willingness to take what could potentially have been a fairly conventional indoor-outdoor fortress map and make it feel so cosmically elevated while still keeping the strange groundedness of rocky gardens and gothic architecture; or the wherewithal to build it as such a striking visual setting and then mold combat around features that feel at home there, the swoop of staircases and the confusion of foliage and the vertigo of scrambling upward to reach enemies raining hurt down on you from overhead all making fights more memorable than the clinical fairness of level, flat ground. Though it's constructed mostly as setpieces, there's a certain fluidity to it, often allowing you to slip from one room to the next and loop back through later without disrupting the works. Good thing any given area is worth looking at twice!

 

11. Mutabor by @tourniquet
Played on UV (UV is medium; skill 2 ("Onslaught") is the hard setting)

 

 

Like its predecessors, Mutabor is a labyrinth in the best sense. It's a huge puzzle with multiple ways in, multiple ways out, multiple ways to overcome each challenge or approach the level as a whole; there's always another path drawing you in with the possibilities of what could lie beyond, always another secret to unravel or another door to unlock. With its surprising complexity and overwhelming optionality, it improves on what tourniquet already did well with Miasma and Altitude. The main difference is that it's more and better. The labyrinth is built around hard-edged skyscrapers and smoothly operating tech, but it doesn't feel like a place made by human hands, and its mysteries are inviting. Just watch out for minotaurs.

 

10. Ar Luminae by @Aurelius and @JustCallMeKaito
Played on HNTR

 

 

My advice for how to make a 3+-hour map is still "don't make a 3+-hour map," but Ar Luminae is some extremely cool Dooming nonetheless. One of my favorite things about it is the way it sets the stage; starting out in the safety of the space station, you're given the chance to look around, take in the enormity of your task in the Room of Many Portals, and wonder at the mysteries of the artifact pedestal, the monster miniature collection, the missing floppy disk, and the vending machine, all of which provide goals for you to pursue later. Ar Luminae sprawls out over a huge array of scenarios and settings, including some very creative setpiece battles, but it maintains the sensation of traveling through a single connected megacomplex; as extensive as it is, it really does feel like you've beamed down to an entire planet, trekking over a significant portion of its surface and facing a significant portion of its total opposition—and although I think this scale and depth of setting would have lent itself well to a more adventurey and less aggressive tone, that's a very rare and memorable feeling nonetheless.

 

9. Sheer Poison by @Scypek2 (Three Is a Crowd map 29)
Played on UV

 

 

It won't take anyone long to figure out the gimmick of this map; every single floor surface is set as damaging, so you unavoidably take constant damage and have to rely on health and armor pickups to survive. Rather than being lenient, it plays like an old "Nintendo Hard" platformer or shmup; you have to learn the map little by little before you can survive a whole run of it, but once you learn it, it becomes a blood-pumping, white-knuckle joyride, an Olympic triathlon with death at your heels. Like Erik Alm's "Run From It," many people will despise this map, but for me, the constant feedback and smoother learning curve makes "Sheer Poison" a much better realization of the same concept. What really does it for me is the narrative, though—the way the map fits into the dramatic arc of the whole megawad, and its message of selflessness and self-sacrifice. If you can take off your Gamer goggles long enough to beat it, it tells a story that matches its gameplay perfectly: a story of human strength in the face of suffering, of picking yourself back up to try again, and having the courage to do what you have to do for the greater good.

 

8. Overtime by @A2Rob (Running Late 2 map 10)
Played on UV

 

 

"Overtime" is so on point; there's no excess or fluff, and the timing and angling and setup of every event feels just right. Like a sharp and ambitious assistant office manager, it's driven and it's punctual and it knows exactly what you need even before you do. From the incidental enemies popping from around corners, the eminently rocketable Imp trains, and the Cyberdemon turret foreman that commands the first third of the map, to the bigger, deeper fights along the dam walls, down in desert basins and reservoirs, to the happy little ferocity of the final pincer maneuver and boss fight...it's not just that the fighting is pleasantly bite-sized, dramatic enough to make you jump and run but then wrapped up before you have a split second to get tired of it. What makes it even better is that every piece of its gameplay is brilliantly connected to the setting, the terrain and architecture defining the flow and the sense of place all at once.

 

7. Tartarus by @RonnieJamesDiner
Played on UV

 

 

A single-map runner-up ranked above two single-map Cacoward winners? Salty! Not really though—it was an extremely close race, and the Cacowards aren't a one-person show, so individual variance is to be expected. 

 

Tartarus itself is full of surprises, though. With its blood-hazy abyssal setting, towering central summit, and enormous hanging chains, it's certainly one of the coolest-looking settings presented last year. Like many great Quake community maps, it gives the impression that the grandeur and awe of the setting and architectural construction will carry the experience of the map—and indeed, these elements are too awesome to ignore, forming a conspicuous and looming parallax backdrop that makes every fight feel theatrically staged. Also like a great Quake map, it knows how to use its height as a factor that drives exploration and secret-hunting, and how to work the danger of falling miles to your death into a natural part of the pathfinding and combat. But as aesthetic-driven and new-wavey as it looks, the handful of setpieces that make up the bulk of its combat are both adventurous and very Doomy. Though it has some similarities to Bastion of Chaos, it makes a great counterpoint to it as well—proof that this sort of epic power-map will work perfectly well in a compact format with a shorter duration.

 

6. A Partner of the 49th Day by @Kurashiki (Nova 3 map 10)
Played on UV

 

 

One of my favorite JPCP authors returns with "A Partner of the 49th Day," the final map of Nova 3's Hell episode and the best map in the megawad. The rocket launcher is the first weapon you get, and rockets and plasma are the most common ammo, so the map is non-stop fun as you blast your way from the first handfuls of Imps to the big horde fights near the end. With its fiery red wastelands and giant temple, it reminds me very strongly of the last episode of Scythe 2—and the battles remind me of Erik Alm's too, but there is always plenty of variety. After you enter the temple, the action builds up through its twisted dungeons and sewers until you reach the large cathedral chamber where the biggest fight happens—but even after that, there is still more to do. The ending scene is beautiful and leaves me wanting even more. Nanka Kurashiki, please come back and make more Doom maps! We love you!

 

5. Acheron’s Needle by @Xaser and @Marcaek (Syringe map 06)
Played on UV

 

 

It's hard to talk about this map without spoilers, but hard to tell you how awesome it is without talking about it. Suffice to say that it's a very story-driven experience, which is why I like it so much. Nor will screenshots do it much justice; like BTSX or Suspended in Dusk, it's fairly sparse on sectors but accomplishes its feats through impressively polished presentation and smart texturing that conveys all the narrative details needed to describe the setting. The opposition isn't too scary in real terms, but it's dramatic; the map's story is about plunging into the heart of evil to restore a broken reality, navigating a world whose apocalyptic disintegration is represented by skewed height variations and islands crumbling into void, defying time itself and facing the worst your enemies can throw at you to activate the final cinematic solution, and then defending your goal one last time. It's a master class in environmental storytelling—magnificent stuff.

 

4. Per Nox ad Astra by @CyanoBlugron (Refracted Reality map 09)
Played on UV

 

 

"Per Nox" feels so peaceful. Partly it's the hymn-like music (probably the best "compiled" soundtrack choice of 2020) that settles around you and feels like it becomes part of the very air you breathe, but it's not just that. The map divides its time between an inky netherworld that houses some sort of divine astrolabe and a starry abyss where curving bridges connect the crypt-like silhouettes of a deep blue temple complex, weaving between the two worlds through seamless and flawlessly framed portal usage. Throughout the temple, you encounter the ghostly, motionless apparitions of monsters, and although it's immediately clear that they will wake up and come for you, you never really know when it will happen: some get the drop on you right away, others wake up in waves, and some remain dormant for multiple pass-throughs of the main complex, waiting for just the right moment. In any case, the thrumming, sustained tranquility of the map is precisely what allows its bursts of violence to feel so intense—and the final fight, though it equips you well enough to avoid feeling overbearing, is certainly one to remember.

 

3. Bastion of Chaos by @Bridgeburner56
Played on HNTR

 

 

One of the great things about this map is how open the view is in contrast to the harrowing closeness of the playable space; no matter where you are, you can look out a window or out over a ledge and see other parts of the citadel around you. It's no small feat to design a map this way and still cram gorgeous detailing and stacked 3D designs everywhere, and although it doesn't play smoothly for everyone, the optimization is itself impressive. The sum total of all of that architectural grandeur and planning is that you feel overwhelmingly dwarfed and surrounded, as though the Bastion is not only alive and godlike, but holds you in the palm of its hand and peers down at you from every angle, inescapable and threatening. In this regard, Bastion of Chaos is unmatched, even by comparable releases like Ar Luminae and Abandon. So it's fitting that the gameplay arc of the map has such a Mt. Everest feel to it, too energizing to be exhausting and spiraling steadily upward until its climax crashes over you like a storm—and when you're finally the last one standing, you feel like you're straddling the top of the mountain, waving your BFG at the sky and laughing at the gods.

 

2. Felstoy Abbey by @Razumen (Realms of Cronos map 11)
Played as Mage on skill 4

 

 

I know I just said "don't make a 3+-hour map," but I'll make an exception for "Felstoy Abbey" with no regrets. Part of the reason is that the action isn't extremely challenging or draining; it's mostly a comfortable, lightly threatening classic Hexen pace throughout aside from a few of the biggest fights. But as with Ar Luminae, a lot of the reason it works is because it has an identity that's all its own. "Felstoy Abbey" is a world unto itself, a seemingly endless network of citadel-like monastery with swampy canyons draped all around it. Your path wends its way through these interiors and exteriors, culminating with three fantastic "trials" designed to bring out the best of each player class and push the limitations of each one as a concept. The amazing thing about this map is that it is so purely Hexen—each test and each unique idea fits the game like a glove and harmonizes with its distinctive tone, exploring the far reaches of its mechanics and concepts in a way that no one has before. This behemoth came out of nowhere, a contribution to a community project by a mapper I've never heard of that takes up half the runtime of the entire mapset, but it should be seen as essential canon for Hexen fans, as it's almost certainly the best map ever made for that game.

 

1. Gehenna by @bemused (Abandon map 13)
   Switchblade by @Scotty (Abandon map 15)
   New Life From Old by @Benjogami (Abandon map 17)
Played on UV with godmode
   

 

 

2020 was an incredible year for slaughter. Hell, I ran most of Abandon with godmode, and it was still probably the coolest thing I played all year. I found it impossible to rank these three exceptional maps, let alone pick just one of them, so rather than allow them to take the three top spots and push other deserving things off the list, I've chosen a compromise that will hopefully make everyone happy.

 

One of the things I like about Abandon is that instead of being coldly abstract all the time, it often gives glimpses of what could be an underlying Lovecraftian narrative. "Gehenna"—which is vaguely reminiscent of "Hag's Finger" (Sunder map 10), but spread across an entire city-like structure rather than a single tower—is probably the most narrative of all. The map features a huge, nearly monsterless opening sequence that sends you most of the way around the outer edges of the city, giving you plenty of time and angles to dwell in the atmosphere and gaze at the dread wonders of it, crawling like an ant in the tunnels beneath the walls of a place that bears the symbology of a Christian cathedral but is clearly something far more warped. It doesn't have the highest monster count in the set, but fittingly for all that real estate, it does have many of the grandest fights...not to mention the most dizzying detailing and overwhelming scale.

 

Though "Switchblade" has the lowest monster count of the big late-game maps, it hosts some of the coolest battles in Abandon and maintains a steady, pervasive sense of danger, its sparser population going hand in hand with the player's feeling that the shoe is ready to drop at any moment. Sure enough, it drops quite a few times, thanks to deadly placement and arenas shaped just right to build each fight around movement demands and enemies as a spatial threat. It's not just about bite, though; like all of Scotty's Abandon maps, it's bewilderingly beautiful, with the absolute best architectural craft and some of the best scene-setting of any map in the set.

 

It's a little bit harder to put a finger on what I love about "New Life From Old"; it's a little bit storytelling, a little bit aesthetics, a little bit gameplay, a little bit of never knowing what comes next, all working together to make the map feel like the deepest depths of the truly terrifying experience that is the whole mapset. The battles aren't necessarily harder than everything else you've faced thus far, but there's something about it that feels like a conclusion to the journey (or alternatively, the end of the road)—as brutal as a forgotten god's vengeance and as sinister as skeletons in the closet of an unknown cosmic entity. After the vivid, crushing trials of the rest of Abandon, this map feels like a closely guarded secret at the heart of the universe, where something terrible is slowly growing that can't be unseen, let alone stopped. Or maybe it's the final trial you overcome in order to heal the darkness, a la "Acheron's Needle," and that's what they mean by "New Life From Old." Who can say?

 

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Best Boss Fight
Arachnorb Queens from Freaky Panties 2: Boxers or Briefs, by Remilia Scarlet

 

 

This version of the Arachnorb Queen is itself a pretty good boss, and it's the kind that I think works best in the Doom engine: a moderately powered monster that relies on multiple randomized attacks that the player can react to individually, and that can be used in conjunction with other monsters, rather than a total area spammer designed to be fought alone in an open circular arena. In this case, the minion monsters command a bit more attention, and the Queen's various attacks—a deadly explosive projectile, a couple variants on a rapid-fire energy wave, and a circular burst attack that's sometimes activated by the pain stage—don't necessarily require a ton of strategic variation, which makes sense given how you have to continually divide your focus. What I like best here is the stages, though; you fight four separate Arachnorb Queens back to back, all in the same arena but each accompanied by different helpers, beginning with some hitscanners and minibosses that force you to get moving right away, and ending with a dual Arachnorb Queen/Cyberdemon battle. The multiple stages make it feel like a marathon, but the plentiful high-powered ammo ensures that it doesn't overstay its welcome.

 

(Runner-up: D'Sparil/D'Sparil/Korax from Faithless Trilogy, by Jimmy)

 

Weird But Cool Award
Path of Hei'an by MTY (Realms of Cronos map 06)

 

 

I brainstormed a few different names for this mini-award, and for a while, I half-jokingly considered declaring "Path of Hei'an" to be the "Most Path of Hei'an" map of the year. There really isn't much else like it—at least in the Doom modding scene. It's a bit Quake, a bit Unreal, a bit Hexen 2, and more than a little bit weird (but cool!). The surface level of the map is a tour through a Chinese-inspired village with a tall pagoda to climb and plenty of moving 3D props (including, yes, a panda), but it turns out to be a lot bigger than it looks, as there's a whole network of caves to explore underneath it all. The terrain and gameplay alike reflect some of the limitations of the Doom engine and Hexen's weapon mechanics (especially the Arc of Death), but it's also really neat and beautiful...and it has a few great surprises toward the end that I won't spoil.

 

Magnificent Bastard Award
The Gripping Hand by Benjogami (Abandon map 10)

 

 

I named the 2020 Cacowards Google Doc "Six Thousand Lost Souls" in honor of this map, but that turned out to be an underestimate; the actual count is 7,300, out of a little over 9,000 total monsters on the map. And I promise you've never seen anything like it before; there are reasons you've never seen anything like it, of course, but some things are worth trying once, and with all sincerity, I can tell you that there's a great beauty, perhaps even a sublime awe, to how horrifying and dickish the full experience of "The Gripping Hand" really is. At first it seems like it's just a "traditional" Sunderesque slaughtermap. Then the first waves of Lost Souls start trickling in at the edge of your awareness as you deal with armies of deadlier monsters, until it gradually dawns on you what is really happening...and by then, it's already washing over you like a tidal wave. Much later, when most of them are finally cleared out, the stragglers and their Cyberdemon ally harass you as you traverse one of the lengthiest and most understatedly evil platforming sequences I've ever seen. "Welp, now you're doing this thing," the mapper's voice seems to say with a shrug from the dark edges of eternity. And then—because Abandon is the mapset that it is—then comes the final exam as the last few thousand Lost Souls, previously kept in reserve, spill at you through the windows at the start of a second difficult platforming sequence. Benjo, you magnificent bastard...and good luck to anyone who tries to max this.

 

Best End Map
Druidia Borealis by antares031 (Antaresian Reliquary map 07)

 

 

"Druidia Borealis" is the perfect coda after the high-intensity battles of Antaresian Reliquary. It's a tranquil, beautifully crafted scene with a tranquil, beautifully crafted Eris MIDI, and the feeling of peace it brings helps your brain wind down as it reaches the conclusion of a strenuous, adrenaline-spiked mapset. The scene is more expansive than you'd expect, a complete portrait of a worldscape rather than just a simple room to keep you out of "Dead Simple," and its attention to detail is remarkable—I'm sure you noticed that those tree sprites all grow lighter or darker as they face toward or away from the sun, right? The beauty of the islands and the glimpses of distant Soulspheres give you the hint you need to explore further, and a winding, subtly broadcast hiking route eventually brings you to the true prize, the player's final reward for learning to stop worrying and love the Revenant. 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by Not Jabba