Best HELLISH atmosphere in a Doom wad?

Out of all the wads that you've played, which had the best "hell" look? I'm always on the lookout for a good hell map, and here's my top four favourites:

4. Knee Deep in Zdoom

3. Inferno Christopher Lutz

2. Deus Vult

1. Deus Vult II

Threshold of Pain's hell levels.

Scythe 2 and Action Doom.

speed of doom map24. fucking creepy hexagons, goddamit!

Vader's "Blackrock" from ZPack (the E3M8 slot, I think...note that's for Doom2, not Doom, despite the episodic structure) is a fantastic, nonlinear hellish/gothic map, though I suppose it leans more towards the "gothic" end of the spectrum than the usual "hell" look. But, of course, interpretations of Hell are subjective. It's a fun adventure either way :)

Sunder - all maps.

No other wad has come close in making me feel so small and lost in strange, hostile worlds, alone against hopeless odds. Definitely hell for me.

Sadhurst Chauffeur Trio.

The last level of LOS (Legacy of Suffering) is a terrefic Hell themed level. Otherwise the last 4-5 levels of Scythe 2.

Scythe 2 and Whispers of Satan have some of the best in my opinion.

Very subjective indeed. For me, that would be the whole "Thy Flesh Consumed" episode, but anything by Dr. Sleep will do, also spooky01.wad

Demons of Problematique is also noteworthy.

Porsche Monty said:

Very subjective indeed. For me, that would be the whole "Thy Flesh Consumed" episode

I didn't like most of the Hell levels in Ultimate Doom or Doom 2. I loved hell in Final Doom though.

Coldfusio said:

Demons of Problematique is also noteworthy.

That! Exl is pretty cool guy

Erm. I'm kinda indecisive. I really love Deus Vult MAP02 because I think nothing says Hell like a huge expansive cave of red rock. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with red rock and so it begins to get less creative. One of my favorite approaches towards a Hell themed environment was Eternal's XXXI Cybersky

To throw up a personal opinion of mine, I really kinda detest KDiZD's depiction of techbases with hell influence. With the exception of visibly damaged and battle scarred buildings, a prominent feature was the usage of skin and snake textures creeping in the underlying frame of the buildings. It's repetitive, doesn't make sense to me, and for an E1 remake, isn't even faithful to Doom's looks.

Whispers of Satan maps 25 onward. Specifically, the sky that looked like some bigass bottomless pit really made me feel like I was in Hell.

Chex Warrior said:

Scythe 2 and Whispers of Satan have some of the best in my opinion.

WOS was the absolute favourite for me. MAP25-28 are almost the best solutions for realising something has to do with HELL. I saw the effort PCorf and Nebula made to compensate that ridiculous "thing" named "Hell" was made into UD's E3.

40oz said:

Erm. I'm kinda indecisive. I really love Deus Vult MAP02 because I think nothing says Hell like a huge expansive cave of red rock. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with red rock and so it begins to get less creative.

That's why I prefer Deus Vult II. It's got a variety, and that Sauron tower thing gave me a nerdgasm.

To throw up a personal opinion of mine, I really kinda detest KDiZD's depiction of techbases with hell influence. With the exception of visibly damaged and battle scarred buildings, a prominent feature was the usage of skin and snake textures creeping in the underlying frame of the buildings. It's repetitive, doesn't make sense to me, and for an E1 remake, isn't even faithful to Doom's looks.

I on the other hand love snake textures on techbase. I think it's a very simple yet effective way to show hell breaking in. One particularly memorable bit for me was when a mass of snake textures literally came bursting through the walls.

Marnetmar said:

Threshold of Pain's hell levels.

I just looked into Threshold Of Pain and WOW! - That's quite a hell! :O

DVII.

Unloved.pk3 is pretty frightening as well.

Insanity's edge by Starscream

40oz said:

Erm. I'm kinda indecisive. I really love Deus Vult MAP02 because I think nothing says Hell like a huge expansive cave of red rock. Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with red rock and so it begins to get less creative. One of my favorite approaches towards a Hell themed environment was Eternal's XXXI Cybersky

To throw up a personal opinion of mine, I really kinda detest KDiZD's depiction of techbases with hell influence. With the exception of visibly damaged and battle scarred buildings, a prominent feature was the usage of skin and snake textures creeping in the underlying frame of the buildings. It's repetitive, doesn't make sense to me, and for an E1 remake, isn't even faithful to Doom's looks.

Interesting, because that theme of flesh textures growing on and consuming techbase buildings like tumors is my favorite architectural style of all the ones possible with the original texture set. I just love that idea of hell as cancer, corrupting and subsuming the material world into itself.

Cell said:

WOS was the absolute favourite for me. MAP25-28 are almost the best solutions for realising something has to do with HELL. I saw the effort PCorf and Nebula made to compensate that ridiculous "thing" named "Hell" was made into UD's E3.

Speaking of Satan, I want to actually kill Satan in a Doom wad sometime. 17 years of Doom and I still haven't killed Satan once.

Woolie Wool said:

Speaking of Satan, I want to actually kill Satan in a Doom wad sometime. 17 years of Doom and I still haven't killed Satan once.

You haven't played map05 of tribute.wad then have you?

Woolie Wool said:

Speaking of Satan, I want to actually kill Satan in a Doom wad sometime. 17 years of Doom and I still haven't killed Satan once.

Well, I sometimes seen an empty throne on some of the hell maps. Empty. I can't help but feel that Satan is avoiding me.

ArmouredBlood said:

You haven't played map05 of tribute.wad then have you?

Looks interesting, but I don't understand why people make single-player wads for Skulltag.

Claust.wad, map03 and 04 are fantastic hell looking maps.

Action Doom 1

Woolie Wool said:

Speaking of Satan, I want to actually kill Satan in a Doom wad sometime. 17 years of Doom and I still haven't killed Satan once.

Even if you did, two things would probably happen:

- your character would die in the ensuing explosion
- satan would soon resurrect like a phoenix to wreak more havoc, on God's command.

Isn't the final boss of Doom 2 technically satan?

printz said:

Isn't the final boss of Doom 2 technically satan?

He was before the unofficial retcon.

The last episode of scythe 2, psx doom- threshold of pain.