The DWmegawad Club plays: Doom 2 in City Only [vote now]

After a week away from home and then setting up a new PC, I have pretty much the entire Hell episode to catch up on, so here goes - at least, here are a few.

MAP22 "Lifeless Sanctum" by Snaxalotl (100% K/S, 66% I, 26:52, saves)

I can't tell if it was my near-week not Dooming, the absolute frazzled state my head is in right now, or actually the map, but I had no fucking idea where to go at the best of times.

I could never tell whether a cliff I was trying to climb was mandatory progression or accidental out-of-bounds, the map was more inconsistent with damaging floor than bloody Plutonia, and there were some real annoying turrets.

Also, four keys is a very weird number. I went to the exit confused as hell and convinced I was missing about a hundred enemies.

Combat's alright, nothing special but it's serviceable. Visuals are great. Couldn't hear the MIDI at all. Not much more to say.

MAP23 "Idumea" by taviow (non-secret exit: 88% K, 88% I, 100% S, 58:26) (cheating for secret exit time: 1:03:34)

Just a casual 3,222 enemies.

I think the biggest commendation my new PC could ever receive is that this map didn't trigger dsda-doom's slow key framing. That, or my FPS comfortably staying above my monitor's 144Hz refresh rate, either or.

I happen to be quite the fan of spectacle in Doom, and taviow supplies it in spades. Whilst the fights are no easier than its main setpiece slaughter competitor thus far in MAP20 "A Wilted Clover's Lullaby", each feels distinctly more cinematic. The opening supplying you with a BFG, a cyberdemon, two spider masterminds and two archviles is all the introduction you need - and from there, an epic vista paves way to grandiose halls that flood with hellspawn - and the final fight where the massive gate lowers to reveal an indomitable cloud of cacodemons that, if the sun shined here, would blot it out.

With one exception, the fights didn't bug me anywhere near as much as in MAP20, probably because of the aforementioned lack of slow key framing allowing me to rewind.

So... about that exception. I'm throwing in the towel here and asking any Doom players that are appreciably better than me at the game how the fuck the secret exit fight is even possible. I feel like no matter what you do, it's a losing game - if you focus the archviles, you get swarmed by the pinkies. If you focus the pinkies, the archviles will zap you from afar. If you try to get health and ammo at any point, it seems like RNG is the only thing that might stop you from getting zapped - as the mast of the ship is too thin, too far away, and too blocked by pinkies to hide behind. Can't just stay in one place either, as that's damaging floor.

I admittedly didn't do myself any favours taking one of the few megaspheres you get into the normal final fight, but still.

And after the very, very long day I've had today, I decided to leave my dignity for the wolves and invoke good ol' Delta Q Delta because otherwise I'd be at it all night.

MAP35 "The Great Gib in the Sky" by danlex (100% K/S, 77% I, 19:38)

What I am about to say hurts my soul, because The Great Gib in the Sky has literally all the pieces of a map I'd absolutely love - it's a medium-length rocket romp with several hundred mostly-fodder enemies, but... I guess I just wasn't feeling it today. Maybe the secret fight in Idumea had me on tilt, or maybe it was the fact that I probably ate more 80 damage revenant rockets in the first 10 minutes than I did in the entirety of the first three maps of hell combined.

Looks great, though, and I like the atmospheric lead-up to the main map.

P.S. That MIDI isn't made by stewboy???????

More to come. I'm fuckin' tired.

16 hours ago, Horus said:

+++Jason Wainman’s 30 Levels of Doom II

Bit late for that now :P

Map 27: The Consumed Metropolis by abearinthawoods

UltraViolence Kills 102% Items 100% Secrets 100% Time 1:50:27

I met this level late one spring afternoon and we proceeded to spend the rest of the night with each other into the next morn. The hours melted away and each second together seemed to stretch unto infinity. We laughed, we loved, we cried, we hated each other, we made love, I cried again...

This is a beast! There will absolutely be players that hate it and feel its over bloated. I am not one of those players. I would think all told, with false starts, deaths, reloads, exploring and attempts to do fights better, I spent at least 5 hrs playing this level and I hesitate to say its my new favorite in the set but it is easily tied with at least 6 or 7 others. The combat here is not easy but also can be made easier depending on the approaches taken. It doesnt shy away from dense hoards and what could be considered slaughter but there is almost always an out so you can hide or come back from another angle. I often found myself way in over my head but I was never so stuck that I had to restart, I could always find a way, even if it was to leave something for later. Honestly this map feels like an entire game unto itself and if I didnt already peak at the next lvl and anticipate immersing myself in whatever it has to offer or have a string of maps behind me that I look forward to replaying, I would go sit back down and start this one over right now! 😝

MAP24 "Blur Affinity" by Scionox (D.N.F.)

There's nothing wrong with a gimmick map. There's nothing wrong with a map with 800 monsters. There's nothing wrong with a map that requires a little more advanced knowledge than a blind run gives to comfortably beat.

But combine all of them, and you have possibly the biggest fuck you to casual players in a WAD with plenty of fuck yous to casual players.

Grab a blur sphere every minute or you get gibbed. Simple enough premise, except the blur spheres are sparse and, considering the aforementioned 800 monsters, almost always really annoying to get to, progression seems even more vague to me than in MAP22, there's some fuckery afoot with the voodoo that handles the main gimmick (if you grab a blur sphere last minute, you STILL die, gee thanks), you're stuck on a chaingun unless you know where the guns are... all told, the gimmick had grown old on me six minutes of in-game time in, and at that point there were 500 monsters still alive.

Also, putting Blood Rush on a map this stressful should be a crime.

Alas, as with the secret fight of MAP23 "Idumea" (which, admittedly, I had a god-awful strategy for), I reasoned it wasn't worth bashing my head against the wall for and moved on.

MAP25 "Eternal Dis" by cannonball (100% K/S, 66% I, 23:25, saves)

Now this is more like it.

It feels wrong to call a map like this a "wind-down", but after the protracted runtimes of maps like MAP20 "A Wilted Clover's Lullaby", MAP21 "Cruels End" and MAP23 "Idumea" and some of the intense difficulty that's crept in as of late, sometimes all you need is a fully loaded BFG and 900 monsters to squish in 20 minutes.

At the beginning of the map, I was feeling a little starved for health, but once I found some opportune supercharges I was blasting like nobody's business. Having a MIDI that kicks this much ass definitely helped, of course, but the map slot promised carnage and cannonball delivers.

MAP26 "Welcome to Nothing" by neilforshaw (100% K/S, 73% I, 16:07)

And immediately, the monster count drops by an order of magnitude.

Not that I'm complaining, mind - an atmospheric opener to the void episode like this is just what the doctor ordered after the carnage of the Hell episode, and I feel like D2ICO as a whole could have done with more maps like this.

I have to shout out the MIDI again - it adds so much to the mystical vibe the map's going for.

P.S.: first map in, like, 2 weeks where I haven't needed saves!

MAP27 "The Consumed Metropolis" by ABearInThaWoods (100% K/S, 97% I, 1:22:37, saves)

And after that short word from our sponsors, we're right back to quadruple digit monsters.

That being said, The Consumed Metropolis is a lot less daunting than its long run time and large monster count might imply - after a pretty rough opening scrap which I'm down to pin on bad pathing, the combat is tough but never really overwhelming like a lot of the slaughter pieces we've had up to this point. I like how there's multiple ways to attack each route, with tons of optional areas and goodies... and the fights rely heavily on the rocket launcher, which is my favourite weapon, so thumbs up.

Most of the secrets were pretty easy to find, though it took me loading up SLADE to find where that shoot-switch for the secret fight was.

Speaking of the secret fight, I guess I did a linedef skip by accident or something because the first time I passed over where the BFG is, the fight didn't trigger.

In a similar vein, I noticed a possible softlock after grabbing the blue key, as a gap in the floor has no way to climb back up. That, and it's possible to skip an optional fight between the red and yellow keys - which I had to IDCLIP into to actually play out, as there was no way back in.

That being said, though, this is a fun one. Might be a bit overly long for some (and, admittedly, I did pause partway through to take a shower), but it's executed well and never drags too much.

MAP25: Eternal Dis by cannonball

A highly gimmicky Blur Affinity is followed by cannonball's second contribution to D2ICO, a no-bullshit slaughter map set by a demonic castle. Red and blue keys are in two separate wings, they unlock the final fight - I appreciate a streamlined progression, it's very clear what you need to do and where you need to go. 

First of all, however, you need to survive the start, which is arguably the hardest part of the map. The density of monsters and projectiles is very high, made worse by cacodemons and lost souls. I've spent a while running in circles, attacking anything that was in my way and hoping the cyberdemons help. Once the place is cleared, the rest is much easier. The BFG will tear through crowds and rockets are in large supplies. Also, I strongly recommend finding a hidden yellow key, it unlocks an invuln if you manage to survive against archviles and cyberdemons in a small room. It's perfect to survive against an ambush of archvile once you press the red and blue buttons.

The ending has you fighting a teleporting mass of hell knights and imps, with two cyberdemons, caged archviles and revenant hordes in a rather cramped arena. Cross your fingers you don't get blocked or bump into a cyberdemon when circling around the perimeter and the fight is done in no time.

Episode 5 was a hard one to get through, not only because of its difficulty, but overall lenght as well, so I think an upfront and concise map (by D2ICO standards, 25 minutes isn't that long) is a perfect way for a player to wind down.

MAP26: Welcome to Nothing by NeilForshaw

The final episode, Void City, begins with a highly atmospheric piece. There's something oddly tranquil here, I think it's a combination of calm midi, low-stakes combat and the overall desing. Welcome to Nothing feels like parts of several places, thrown into the void and reassembled together. You'll be mostly moving along and soaking up the atmosphere, trying to figure out what this place is.

The combat feels basic, with less than 100 monsters and mostly corridor-based combat. I don't mind it here, everyone needs a break once in a while. I was just surprised there's so much space here and most of the fights take place inside confined spaces. Anyway, it's a fine breather and after seeing the next map's killcount and reading some of the write-ups, a much-needed one.

MAP27: The Consumed Metropolis by ABearInThaWoods

Get ready for another giant map. Compared to A Wilted Clover's Lullaby or Idumea, this one isn't backbreakingly difficult and doesn't lag at all, but it is relentless, especially early on. It's like no matter where you go, you are triggerig more and more monsters, the ammo can run out if you don't take a proper route and the enemies (especially revenants) have an ample opportunity to snipe you from across the map. When it does work, The Consumed Metropolis presents a series of entertaining slaughter fights with a particular focus on a rocket launcher. Early on I went to the park (I think) that leads to the red key and wasted all my ammo trying to kill the revenants here. I think the yellow key is the easiest to start with, as this place is loaded with ammo. You can also find an alternative route to the red key, with another big battle in a square arena. It boils down to circle-strafing and firing rockets into a crowd of hell knights that survived the infighting, but 1) it's fun, 2) you can stockpile on rockets here. 

With two keys and full backpack of ammo, I went to the blue key section, which was the hardest. The remnants of a streets are far less spacious than the rest of the map, monsters are everywhere and the turret revenants are a pain to take out. However, here's where I spotted a red button on some floating column, which lead me to a BFG fight. Despite its cramped nature, there's a ton of health and cells here, enough for me to return here a couple of times to resuply. The BFG helped a lot with revenants that appear after you pick up the blue key.

Once you obtain all three keys, you can head for the exit - a marble maze that ends with two waves of enemies in a cluttered arena. A BFG is here if you haven't found one, so tear through crowds, watch out for archviles and cyberdemons and finally end the map. To be honest with you, I didn't have that much fun at first. This is one of those maps where routing can make or break the experience and when playing blind it's always a coin toss if you went the right way. However, when I  was stocked with ammo, the gameplay turned much more enjoyable.

MAP27 - "The Consumed Metropolis" by ABearInThaWoods

This was a slog, not helped by the fact that I only got the BFG at the very end of the map (Final fight), this map is just hard (Not X tier this time), but it is relentless and clearing masses of mid tiers with the rocket launcher and plasma gun isn't quick enough to make any of the fights feel satisfactory. Even the final fight felt like going through the motions to some degree. I know that not finding the earlier BFG fight meant that the punishment was partly my fault, not only that but given how some of the fights panned out, I also missed the blue key and actually took a while to collect the red key, it felt too easy to miss the keys when they often weren't entirely clear on their location and could sometimes be obscured by the mass of corpses that were left. 

In general some fights were too easy (The techbase square with the forcefields was a simple circle strafe), some were a chore to clear (The red key area in general is a bullet hello), the blue key area has arachnotrons that are difficult to clear, the yellow key can get very claustrophobic and again the BFG would have really helped here.

As a result, I ended up feeling very indifferent to this map, it was just long and relentless, it lacked the gravitas of some of the other big maps and I think that is where the map falls down somewhat.

PS - In the blue key fight, once the floors raise upon grabbing the key, there are some sections where you can get stuck and softlocked.

I will throw my +++ to Good Morning Phobos

Ive been wanting to check it out since way back when dean of doom covered it. But we are doing one that I think only I wanted this month so I am down with doing something more people are interested in.

Map 28: Village And Void by ninjadelphox

Downtown meets the Industrial Zone meets Darkdome from Alien Vendetta multiplied by ten. I have yet to finish this one for reasons I will discuss later but I, suprise suprise, really like this map as well. Honestly this is what I came into this mapset expecting every map to resemble, if perhaps not all quite so large. The start has you dropped in the middle of the city with busy streets that are crowded to almost slaughter levels of occupancy. It will be a mad scramble to eventually get armed and start making a dent in the opposition. I can offer no advice on the best routing here because the way I played was so haphazard and random that Im sure there is a better way. But I kinda like that, no attempt is going to play out exactly the same, creating an almost infinately varied experience. Once you start exploring, entering buildings and looking for secrets I think thing become fairly obscure, including progression, and that is going to turn off many a player but not me. I like being lost and having to figure things out on my own, doesnt feel like Im using my brain at all when one thing leads directly into the next which leads into the next. People could argue till they are blue in the face as to what is good/bad game design or what has good flow and bad dynamics but it really all boils down to things having different goals entirely and catering to different subjective preferences. I like it all, sometimes I wanna play checkers sometimes I wanna play chess. Anyways Ive gotten well well into this level and find myself in a postion where I am going to have to restart and play again, Ive made some bad decisions and wasted too much of the plentiful ammo by hand killing all of the cybers and not letting infighting kill nearly enough. Ive been able to take the regular exit but I leave alot of stuff undone and alive, including but not limited to multiple waves of archviles ressurecting things on the streets and the four cybers that I had no ammo to kill in the exit room. My last save that I am playing off of finds me in possession of the red and yellow keys and looking at the blue key, but not having activated its ambush, with EVERYTHING that hasnt been teleported in or opened up yet dead. My stats sit at 1550/1735 kills 8/11 secrets and 23/26 items. My ammo is 13 bullets 11 shells 22 rockets and 130 cells with nothing laying around anywhere to pick up. I can grab the blue key and go straight to the exit where I need to save scum the hell out of that last room because I dont have the ammo to do anything or I can continue exploring but Im kind of at a loss there as well. There is a jump from the red key building to the next building that I cant quite make and a jump from a building in the sothwest corner of the map that I cant make and a few other things I havnt opened or found yet, including the secret exit, but in the end, I really feel like I need to just start wholly over from the begining. My in game timer is at 2:41:12 and even though I WILL play this one again and hunt down all its secrets and kills, I am not going to be doing that today. I may be the only person in the world who loves this map but I will have to save this one for some other day that I can dedicate solely to its completion. 😝

edit- Ive been playing around a little and both jumps I couldnt make are achievable with rocket jumps, I never think of those. That gets me 2 more secrets so I would be at 10/11 with a bunch more kills but I still dont think I will have enough ammo to finish the map proper like. 😝

MAP28: Village and Void by NinjaDelphox

Step into the teleporter and you get transported to a town occupied by demons, with crowds wandering through its streets and numerous stationary monsters attacking from windows and turrets. I somewhat enjoyed the opening minutes, trying to figure out what am I even supposed to do and collecting resources. Then, however, the map turns into a gigantic slog.

The resources seem nigh-infinite at first, but when you consider the map periodically throws archviles into the streets to mostly revive hell knights, it can feel grindy really fast. I strongly recommend getting the BFG earlier than I did, without it the locked-in fights here range from painful to nearly impossible. It's all arenas that are overflowing with monsters, including archviles. I've actually completed the blue key fight with only plasma and rockets and I don't think it's entertaining, especially when I had to kill hell knights with SSG later on. For the red key fight I've came prepared (the BFG isn't that hard to obtain, though you have to defend against a horde of hell knights and several archviles in a cramped corridor), it was still tough as nails. Then you teleport back onto a ledge you came from, where archviles start reviving mancubi, shit blocks you way out and more fucking archviles appear down below. The good news is, this is the end. Just survive a fight with 4 cyberdemons in a shoebox and you can exit.

Reaching the last secret map requires finding all Keens, meaning you need to explore the map thoroughly (some are in secrets). I've missed one before resorting to IDDT x2, I don't think it's that bad of a score. Handing you an invuln to massacre a corridor of imps and viles should feel cathartic, but after 2 hours of in-game time, I just wanted to end. I have to say, out of all giant maps in this wad, Village and Void was the most tedious one and unless you are a fan of siege combat, I doubt you'll find in appealing.
 

MAP28: Village and Void by NinjaDelphox

Did not finish

Honestly the first five to ten minutes were good fun, but then I picked up the yellow key and to be honest things went downhill quickly.

It seems there is another BFG you can get early, I never found it and to put it bluntly the blue and red keys absolutely mandate having that BFG because you will be incinerated by the traps in both and there is squat you can do (Plasma/rockets will run out without removing the archviles and there dozens of mid-tier meat shields. At this point nearly 1200 monsters in with two fights I could not beat, I decided to call it a day.

Worth noting that the blue key is accessed by a switch in a lava pit (With plasma gun) that is miles away from the wall it lowers. It is fair to say that the red key progression is also shall we say rather risky as you will likely have monsters roaming around that can block the player via infinite height. This is the second map in the set that I have had to admit defeat and I am usually pretty stubborn at getting through things (For note I got through Haste for the DWMC and whilst I had my ass kicked, I never felt like this). Again the big issue is that this wad was supposed to be pretty open where the aim was to make city maps, this one would challenge some of the hardest wads going. At the end of the day, the traps that ended me here would have been much easier with the BFG but after over an hour, I had not found one and I don't have all of the time in the world to track it down.

Edit - Both BFGs are in secrets (Just looked in the editor), yeah that is way too mean in my opinion.

MAP36: Anti-Life by muumi

With 500 monsters it might not look as daunting as the rest of huge maps, but it is one of the hardest one yet. A lot of fights are in tight rooms and nearly every encounter involves archviles. Hell, the very first monster is an archvile that you need to punch, setting the tone for the rest of Anti-Life. The starting fights were especially mean, as you don't have bigger guns and have to grind down viles with the SSG, that's not fun in my books. It gets better once you reach any of the two keys, as there's a BFG in each, and while cells aren't that plenty, it makes the rest doable.

The blue key fight hands you a BFG and throws into an arena with the mastermind in the middle. Stuff keeps spawning in, while walls switch between blocking one half of the room from mancubi launching barrage from the outer rim. Survive long enough killing whatever appears in the centre and the turrets will be crushed eventually. As for the red key, you have a square room that gets filled with archviles and barons, revenants fire from the central pillar and at one point a cyberdemon joins in. You can exit now, provided you can survive an insane series of fights with archviles, pain elementals, a cyberdemon and other shit. There's a way to make this one easier, though. You can reach an optional area with an invulnerability that helps with phase one of the final fight, but to get there, you need to get through one of the most creative encounters in the wad: rows of archviles on two sides of a small box and the only cover is a pit with damaging floor. Less so the platforming, there are spots where you have to jump from one ribbon to another that form an island and I died here a lot.

This is another one of maps where I'm not good enough to enjoy, but I can appreciate the visuals, an eerie city carved out of marble, with a lifeless modern apartment you pass early on.

Howdy folks, just wanted to chime in and let you all know that RC7 is now available, and it fixes some stuff in map 30. So I would recommend updating to the newest version before the end of the month. 

On that note, it's been fun reading these writeups and seeing everyone's thoughts/experiences with the maps. This was my first time running a public community project like this, so obviously I've learned a lot about the process and seeing people's responses to the WAD have given me very valuable insight. Thank you!

On 4/27/2024 at 3:34 PM, Novaseer said:

I have to shout out the MIDI again - it adds so much to the mystical vibe the map's going for.

Thank you very much :)

On 4/26/2024 at 2:26 PM, Insaneprophet said:

I have to point out that the softlock in the green building near the begining at x:-923 y:-1430 z:112 kinda irks me.

THanks for playing my map. I have now fixed this soft lock and should appear in a future RC if not already in RC7.

MAP29: Void Masquerading as Matter by myolden

This one is all muscle - no exploration, little incidental combat, only a series of brutal arenas inspired by the wad's six episodes. Early on you can choose if you want to visit Modern, Future or Ancient city first, each holds one of three keys that unlock the later parts of the map. I followed the D2ICO progression and started with contemporary section. Generally, the first three parts are focused on rocket launcher-based slaughter, throwing hordes of monsters and mixing in archviles with the crowd. A lot depends on how the viles react, if they are distracted by corpses or attack something after being hit by a stray projectile you should really take your chance. The Egypt part is definitely the hardest one, as the enemy density is the largest here, there's little cover and monster-only teleporters can easily scatter the viles around. I fully admit, I save-scummed through this one. Future city wasn't that bad, as the revenant ambush isn't that big or I was just lucky with archviles. As for the modern streets, I managed to camp in a corner with a rocket launcher, bottle-necking the revenants in a single available entry point.

With three keys, you can enter the next part, this time in a linear fashion. The caves were rather forgettable, the scale here is much smaller, but at least you get a plasma rifle. I think this is a breather before the next two sections that go all in on spectalce. The Hell city is a full-on BFG slaughter that finally lets you go wild against crowds of imps, revenants, hell nobles and archviles. Round two adds a mastermind and pain elementals, there's a ton of cells and after the first half and a couple of earlier levels, such brisk massacre is all I wanted. This is however nothing compared to the finale, set in a marble castle somewhere in the Void. Not only you have to battle the welcoming committee, there's also a storm cloud of cacodemons converging on your location and more monsters appear as the fight goes on. It's another fight where you pull out a BFG, keep pressing fire and watch stuff die, but damn, it's so exciting. Like channeling all the struggle I've experienced in the last maps into BFG blasts aimed at a horde of monsters. Fuck yeah.

I have to say, out of all huge maps here, Void Masquerading as Matter is the one that ends on the highest note. It's lenghty and the early parts felt rather hostile, but it's a great summary of D2ICO's visual themes and once you get your hands on a BFG, the action is something I craved after the preceding challenge maps.

MAP36 - "Anti-Life" by muumi

Yeah I am a bit hot and cold about this one. Some fights I really liked, some I had to brute force but appreciate the creativity and some that I absolutely hated.

I really liked the start, the cold, sterile environment invites this sort of little combat puzzle, the plasma gun is good fun too. However later on, the red key path presents a rocket launcher and a fight that killed me dozens of times. I just kept getting horrible luck with monster movement, poor RNG etc, this felt too luck based. The following fight is great, the mechanics and a mastermind fight that feels fresh and engaging. 

The blue key path is less creative, the rocket launcher is much easier to obtain and keep hold of, there are a couple of fights to the main event that feel like you can only brute force by grabbing a BFG on a different path, that said the main fight is again good fun. The BFG is necessary to pick of the archviles and save two shots for the cyber. Now there is an optional area that rewards you with a megasphere and invulnerability, but obtaining it involves another unique little murder box, I must confess to brute forcing this too, but I can see how that can be beaten, I will say that again you can get unlucky.

The final fight isn't too bad, sure it looks like an unbeatable mosh pit, but you have the BFG, infighting basically starts itself and you can get space quite quickly. This wasn't too bad to beat and of course you can de-fang a large proportion of the fight with the optional area.

In the end this was a little too hard for me, though in reality it was a couple of spots that felt too close to being BS, that said this is an imposing and atmospheric map that will stick in your head. The platforming wasn't too bad (I say that as a keyboarder). I preferred Muumi's other map but I suspect other who lik their maps spicy will get a kick out of this one.

MAP30: Sin City by NecrumWarrior

Doom 2 In City Only ends with a solid Icon of Sin. Strafe-jump from one rooftop into another, using torches and candles as guide, kill a mastermind and you should reach the sniping spot in no time. No aiming needed, just fire a salvo and you're done. The platforming can take a couple of tries, but I think it's actually the easiest map of the set. An awful IoS was the last thing D2ICO needed, NecrumWarrior has my sincere gratitude for making the final map painless.

Conclusions

I don't think Doom 2 In City Only is a wad for me. I had a lot of troubles getting to the end, not only because of the lenght of many maps here, but also the difficulty that from MAP20 onward reaches extreme levels (and in one case - greatly exceeds it). I might be a bit overly dramatic, after all I dropped D2ICO and sworn to play it at a much later day, only to pick it back up after a week and still caught up. I think it's partly because I didn't want to have a megawad left unfinished and partly because the diversity of the set kept me in. Six chapters, each with a different theme, plus six more secret levels that goes into completely unexpected directions, it's a lot to see. That being said, a break spent playing something smaller and more low-key helped a lot.

Regarding specific episodes, I think Future and Egyptian are my favourites. When I made a list of my favourite maps here, those from episode 2 and 3 were the most-represented ones. I guess it's a combination of reasonable size and difficulty. I'm not a fan of Modern, this has more to do with my general dislike towards city map tropes in general (flat, large and sparsely-populated), though MAP02 is the most appealing one when it comes to the visual. As for the second half, this is where the size and challenge gets out of hand, but maps like Eternal Dis or Void Masquerading as Matter managed to present a spectacular, though more accessible combat. The secret maps were a mixed bag, The Great Gib in the Sky is definitely the highlight, especially since it's a breather between two of the hardest maps of the wad. Bricked Up was fine, this was definitely an aesthetic choice I haven't seen before and Anti-Life, while too difficult for my taste, was clearly a work of an author who knows what they were doing. The rest ranges from forgettable to obnoxious, though I won't deny they try to explore completely different ideas than the already varied mainline progression.

Here's what I think about D2ICO in general: if I were to rate the maps and the megawad, the whole set would get a lower score than the average of individual maps. I stand by what I've said on the 24th. There are good maps here, but it's difficult to digest and I fault nobody for not wanting to go through one thousand monster-strong marathon after another. If you want to check it out, don't rush it and maybe consider playing on a lower skill setting, especially in the later maps. It's an acquired taste, I hope you'll enjoy it and leave satisfied rather than exhausted.

TOP 5 maps:

MAP13: City of the Dying Sun by Death Bear
MAP10: Upon the Brink of Trancendence by muumi
MAP29: Void Masquerading As Matter by myolden
MAP35: The Great Gib in the Sky by Danlex
MAP08: Crypto Crash by LVENdead

MAP29 - "Void Masquerading As Matter" by myolden

A solid penultimate map, you visit each theme with its own distinct set of fights. The Modern and Futuristic city segments were fine, but the Egyptian theme area felt very sluggish to clear thanks to the revenants that can teleport to the outside, this is more annoying than anything else. Once all three keycards are obtained you can proceed onwards. 

The underground section takes a little bit of time to get used to, but aside from the flood of archviles when you open up the blue skull, this isn't too bad. The Hell city segment isn't too bad, none of the fights here felt too harsh, even the cramped double cyber/hell knight section. The final void section is the hardest part, mostly because of the phased notion of the set piece and you can easily screw yourself over, the flood of archviles when the yellow skull was revealed felt like too much, but I managed to get an exit from here quite quickly.

This isn't perfect, some parts had some sluggish cleanup, the progression and health distribution allows for a sizeable chance of screwing yourself over, maybe placing a couple of medkits by the teleporters from the underground/hell sections to allow players to heal a little but might be a good idea.

All said and done, Myolden did a solid job for utilising the Map29 slot to present a compelling adventure that revisits all of the themes of this megawad.

MAP30 - "Sin City" by NecrumWarrior

It isn't the worst ICON of Sin I have seen, however I would be lying if I said it was painless. For a start, if RNG rolls an archvile, you are pretty much restarting because many of the rooftops are small enough to result in you being thrown off the roof to your death. Secondly there is one section near the end where the players eyes will be drawn to a walkway, that if you take it you will almost certainly die because it is a dead end and you will get shelled by everything that has teleported in. Finally of course once you get to the shooting spot, aiming can be a little tricky and again you pray that not too many flyers have teleported in to disrupt your shooting.

In the end this isn't fail worthy, but I didn't particularly enjoy this map.

Overall thoughts;

Doom 2 In City Only is a rather exhausting experience. I will get one thing off my chest now, the difficulty ceiling of this wad is too high. Now I know there is the "DOn't play on UV" argument, however I will say that given the wad's objectives, seeing stuff that could fit into the later levels of something like Hardfest or equivalent is going to alienate people. Add to this the caveat that a large number of these maps are long and require up to or even exceeding 1 hour of playtime for casual play is quite a grueling ride. Now there are a couple of maps that you can't really do much about (Map20/23 and 36 come to mind), these will kick your backside and you will have to simply take it. However there are other maps in the second half where frankly the experience would have been far better if the BFG was available earlier, I get that the superweapon can make combat much easier than desired, however not many people want to grind through hundreds of mid-tiers with rockets and plasma. Yes you lose a couple of difficulty points but some maps would have been far higher up in my view if they simply allowed the player to cut loose a bit.

This wad despite my grievances, does have some significant high points and players will be rewards at times for their hard efforts, but I would not recommended playing this in a short timeframe. 

In terms of the episodes

E1 - This episode suffered the most from the common city map negative tropes (Often little details took priority over the bigger picture), however in the end I found some enjoyment from most of the maps in this episode and I get the feeling that a second playthrough would make some of these look quite comfy.

E2 - This was a better and more varied episode, A couple of maps here stood out in particular and even though I disliked map09, I will say it offers a decent break between Map08 and Map10.

E3 - Probably my favourite episode, one plus point is that the maps on the whole were quite short, with one exception that happened to be the highest point of this megawad. Despite the grandeur of Map13, the final map justified its endgame status and capped off probably the best stretch of the megawad.

E4 - This one was okay, You get two longer maps, though Map17 is more exploratory and the first real example of a map that could have yielded a bit to the whims of the causal doomer. Map20 is a real hike in difficulty, though I would say that it just about justifies sitting in the map20 slot.

E5 - Probably the most tragic episode in my view, purely because it feels the most uneven in terms of feel and progression. You have the biggest and possibly baddest map in the set and a map that feels perfect to open the episode is also stuck in the middle. I regret not pushing harder to potentially swap my map and Taviow's maps, a few tweaks of my map in the map23 slot would have made for a smoother ride, the same could be said for swapping Maps21/22.As it is, this is the episode that will likely end people's playthroughs of this wad.

E6 - The issue with this episode is that a couple of maps feel too grindy for their own good, not a positive coming from the hell city episode - Map27/28 both share the issue that I stated above where an easier acquisition of a BFG would have resulted in a far more positive experience.

Overall, this is worth a go and some will absolutely love this megawad, however for me I felt more relieved than anything else after beating the Icon of Sin.

Score - 3.5/5 (The quality embedded in this wad short not go unnoticed  but this isn't a wad to binge through)

Favourite maps - Map10, 13, 22 and 35

Honourable mentions - Map01, 08, 11, 16, 20, 23, 29 and 36 

I have been leaving some notes on the relevant thread in the PUSS server, and I hope that the feedback in there has helped at least a few to make some adjustments for the better. I am not sure whether I will join in next month, I think I need a break to focus on mapping related objectives.

Just putting this out there. I have been working 12 hr days for the last 3. I am still going to get to the last 3 levels (and the last one I couldnt finish) but Im waiting to have a day or two to dedicate to them, Im sure they'll need it.

Hey all, we've finally hit a record low for next month's votes (5 people voted, max votes are 2 for Good Morning Phobos, 2 for Autophagy) and as such I'm (currently) not going to make a topic for May. I might bump this thread at the end of the month to see if people wanna participate in June, otherwise I don't think it's all too terrible to go on a small hiatus until more support organically pops-up. I weighed the idea of making a thread if like 8 people signed up to participate next month, but I don't like the insinuation that folks are contractually obligated to write stuff or the club dies. Sound good?

29 minutes ago, dobu gabu maru said:

Hey all, we've finally hit a record low for next month's votes (5 people voted, max votes are 2 for Good Morning Phobos, 2 for Autophagy) and as such I'm (currently) not going to make a topic for May. I might bump this thread at the end of the month to see if people wanna participate in June, otherwise I don't think it's all too terrible to go on a small hiatus until more support organically pops-up. I weighed the idea of making a thread if like 8 people signed up to participate next month, but I don't like the insinuation that folks are contractually obligated to write stuff or the club dies. Sound good?

I definitely want to get back to participating in the DWMC sometime, but I've been busy with other things, and also recently have very much not felt like actually writing about things I've played. Hopefully the latter will change sometime; for now, take some time off!

My "for whenever the club resumes" votes are for Pirate Doom 2 and UDINO. I personally feel like I'd have an easier time talking about things if it's on maps I've played before already.

A bit disappointing, but understandable choice. I hope people need a bit of a break to return later.

Understandable.

I hope the club comes back; definitely want to return at some point; I guess I got burned out some months ago, which is when writing becomes obligation, and you’re hard pressed to find something to say.

I will probably be back for June. Taking a month off was going to be the plan for me anyway.

This is both sad and something I cant help feeling is my fault. First my own personel psycosis must insist that this is all my fault (for metaphysical spiritual reasons) and secondly, when I put my vote in for Good Morning Phobos (because I want to play it) I wanted to but chose not to throw a vote for Aurophagy. I wanted to just so we would have 3 votes for something but didnt because Ive never heard of it and wanted to leave room encase others started voting... So yeah, my fault, I killed DWmegawad Club, I am truely sorry.

I never participated in the club, but I've been reading some club threads recently from various years, and it really looks like the club used to be way more active in the past. What happened? Where are all the long timers? Have people got tired of it? It's weird considering that the Doom community isn't dying at the moment.

Maybe the new people are alienated by the fact that many of the popular wads have already been played here before? As for me personally, I play only what I want to play, and everything I want to play has already been played here. I guess the only megawad exception is 1 Monster, which I'm very familiar with and it hasn't been played here.

@Li'l devil There's a number of relatively well-known wads that weren't played yet - Doom 2 In Name Only, Community Chest 3, Nova, Auger;Zenith, Perdition's Gate and Hell to Pay, to name a few. On the other hand, the more recent releases brought in a number of people last year (like PUSS IX, Solar Struggle or PRCP 2). Hell, Eviternity II was chosen the next month it got released and it was a very active thread. 

I do wonder if the quantity of new wads is a culprit here. So much stuff gets released every month it might be hard to gather people to play one thing.

I would be lying if this club meant nothing to me, after all it convinced me to revive an 8-year dormant Doomworld account, and who knows if the subsequent friends and maps I made in the community would ever have happened if it weren’t for this club.

That being said, it’s a big time commitment to both play through and write about a megawad, especially if you’re trying to effortpost. Even if it’s a short wad like claustrophobia 1024 or whatever. I don’t have the freetime (or luck with illness, tbh) I used to back when I joined in late 2019 (which was probably an equally sparse period as now in terms of contributors) and can’t join in as much, even when I want to. 
 

Honestly I’m surprised this is the first time it’s happened in the club’s 12 year history (or maybe it isn’t) and it’s a good thing to take a month’s break and see if anyone is interested next month. And if not, it’s the right time to take a hiatus.

with regards to other replies:

There are plenty of quality megawads not yet played in the DWMC, even old 90s/00s megawads. Back in the club’s beginning, there was a list posted of possible megawads to play (I think by Jimmy?) and there’s loads that still haven’t been played by the club

@Insaneprophet don’t be silly, you aren’t even 1% to blame. It only makes sense to vote for the wads you actually want to play after all

2 hours ago, Insaneprophet said:

I killed DWmegawad Club, I am truely sorry.

lol tell your personal psychosis "nice try"—the winning vote is supposed to have four votes, and the past few months I've been bending the rules by letting the winner skate by on three. The club was slowly trending in this direction and I probably would've brought this up if the winner kept getting only 3 votes (as my reasoning is I don't want to maintain the club for only 3 people). Plus I'd discourage casting pity votes unless it's for someone that's been trying to vote for something for like 3 years.

1 hour ago, Li'l devil said:

What happened? Where are all the long timers? Have people got tired of it?

The club has rotated major (mainstay) personnel about... 3? 4? times in my estimation. Maybe more since I stopped participating. Longstanding commitments are impossible to maintain over huge periods of time unless this stuff comes kinda naturally to you (like it seems to for cannonball, the dude is a map-making, map-commenting machine). Part of it is exhaustion, part of it is that folks have played what they wanted to play, and another part can be that sometimes you want to run through a mapset in full without having to dredge up something to say for the 10th speedmap in the set. It could be that we'd see a surge in activity if we covered ye olde classics again (AV, MM, HR), but I'm still unsure how I'd want to go about doing that. Like Horus & Celestin said, there's still a LOT more out there, and I'd feel bummed if people wanted to always go back to the community's most popular wells.

21 minutes ago, Horus said:

Honestly I’m surprised this is the first time it’s happened in the club’s 12 year history (or maybe it isn’t)

It isn't! Three months into our first year during our review of JENESIS it was just me, mouldy, and Crusader No Regret posting about the megawad, which is what prompted me to realize that we need more than 3 people participating to make these threads worth it (imo). We took November off and then things continued trucking along ever since. Participation has always waned and waxed of course, but voting has been a much stronger indicator of where folks are at for next month. The less votes, the less likely people are to swing by and stay.

On 5/1/2024 at 1:41 AM, cannonball said:

a large number of these maps are long and require up to or even exceeding 1 hour of playtime for casual play

sold

I've been reading the comments over the course of this month and this is EXACTLY what I wanted from this wad. Longass city maps that eventually venture into slaughterfest territory and try to decimate you to the very core. Can't wait to sink my teeth into this stuff!