Catching Up - Celestin's review thread (now playing: Icarus: Alien Vanguard)

[Celestin]

MAP08-MAP14

 

MAP08: Corruption Complex by Late Night Person

Spoiler

Corruption Complex is a small, dimly-lit techbase with a tiny monster count and a propensity for claustrophobic combat. I've expected this to be a low-ammo survival horror, but you are equipped well to take out small groups of monsters that inhabit this place. The ending is the clear high point, where several revenants and an archvile teleport into the starting room. 

 

MAP09: Electric Red by myolden

Spoiler

 

I've had a rather limited exposure to myolden's maps, considering his prolific output in the last couple of years. From the handful of examples I've seen, I know he is a versitile mapper who can make a hard map if he wants to.

 

Electric Red is the toughest map yet. It boils down to a series of discreet fights that like to lock the player in with monsters (something that was used heavily in myolden's maps from PUSS IX). You know, I've been mostly playing classic or classic-inspired wads recently (Ichinichi, Realm of Chaos, the IWADs), so I did miss this modern approach to combat. You'll need the blue key that unlocks the blue skull and red key to open the way to the exit. As I've said, most of the fights are teleport ambushes that hit hard due to limited space, with the rocket launcher fight on your way to the red key being the one I like the most - imps on one side, revenants on the other and some cacodemons to harras you. The blue key trap, with a pulsating corridor, row of hell knights and two balconies of imps was also great. The skull is guarded by hell knights in a pit and revenants with a high ground, it's not bad, but can't match the rest. Save some rockets for an archvile and company that appears by the exit and the map is over.

 

I know I'm gushing over a map that, while good, is by no means spectacular, it just feels great to return to modern combat design, CC4-tex and the feel of 2010s blockbuster megawad.

 

 

MAP10: Terminal Decay by LordEntr0py

Spoiler

 

Terminal Decay is a dark and disorienting map. The low lighting does a great job of building an atmosphere of a derelict complex, this I think is the map's strongest side. The layout relies heavily on backtracking and opening new passageways - I personally think LordEntr0py went overboard with this and it's easy to get lost, but if you're getting attacked, that means you're going in the right direction. 

 

Just like Electric Red, Terminal Decay is full of lock-in ambushes in a limited space, where the map fills space with imps and adds a handful of bigger monsters. The ammo balance is tight, I was always running low on ammo, but never to a point I wasn't able to defend myself. I do like how the secrets are handled - look out for blue lights and you should find them all. In the end, it's a solid map, I just wish it wasn't this dark. I think there's a way to balance atmosphere and visibility.

 

 

MAP11: Cold Blood by ViolentBeetle

Spoiler

 

The map starts with a big shoot-out in a frozen courtyard. White snow with blood peeking out, a fiery sky and a BTSX midi are a perfect backdrop. As for the map itself, after sorting out the start, you enter a nearby geothermal power station in search for the yellow key. I don't think this part is bad, though it is clearly a breather between the opening fight and the main event, where you return to the courtyard, press the switch and snow starts to melt, revealing a temple and even more monsters. I really like this one, it's one of those battles where projectiles are flying from every direction, so you have to be really careful dodging and eliminating foes that stand in your way. 

 

Cold Blood is a brisk 10 minutes map that doesn't waste your time and is satisfying to finish. It's one of the highlights of the wad.

 

 

MAP12: Ruins by Juza

Spoiler

The second episode of Skulltiverse leaves techbases behind and opens up in a ruined temple of a long-forgotten civilisation, buried deep underground. I won't go over the individual fights, because it's mostly the same thing repeated. You've got an arena with a slime pool (thankfully of non-toxic variety, though its colour might suggest otherwise), a central rock and a ledge around it. Every time you pick up a key or press a switch, monsters appear here, almost always featuring a crowd of imps with revenants mixed in and mancubi snipers. Sometimes it adds archviles, sometimes pain elementals, but it mostly revolves around clearing the pit and dealing with the rest. Still a fun map, with detailed layout and texture choice.

 

MAP13: Necropolis by myolden

Spoiler

 

Skulltiverse contributors surely do enjoy flooding a map with imps and having you break through their ranks, while fending off bigger demons. 

 

Necropolis feels a lot like Electric Red with its combat design: lock-in fights and limited mobility. Sometimes it's just getting squeezed by two pairs of hell knights, oftentimes a more spacious arena where imps take up space, while snipers or flyers attack you from the sides. I'm trying to think about more stuff to write, but truth be told, the individual encounters feel less memorable than in MAP09. I was still having fun, but aside from the visuals that strongly invoke Sunlust (a wad I mostly know second-hand, as after the first couple of maps I realised it was way above my capabilities at that time - perhaps one day I'll be confident enough), which speaks volume about myolden's talent, but I doubt Necropolis will stick with me.

 

 

MAP14: Sanctuary of Horae by Shawny

Spoiler

 

The map is named after Horae, the goddesses of seasons in Greek mythology, which explains the shift from summer to winter and back that the map experiences. 

 

Sanctuary has a lot in common with Ruins, that is, it features a single, open arena where you have to survive several waves of attacking monsters. There are two big waves of enemies, each one changes the floor colour and gives you a new weapon. Winter gives you a plasma rifle, while summer hands you a rocket launcher. I consider the latter to be the harder one, as at one point archviles appear, and they are a pain to isolate in the crowd. There is a secret invuln sphere in the western caves, it's not that hard to find, but this place gets locked out for the majority of the fight. Even after taking out the viles, I was down to 1% health and ended up camping in the northern part of the map, firing my remaining rockets and cells, trying to thin out the crowd enough to make a run for a berserk pack I've left for emergency.

 

What a map. It has an interesting concept behind it and provides enough thrills to keep you on the edge of your seat.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP15-MAP18

 

MAP15: A Crack in the Skull by El Inferno

Spoiler

 

Now this is art. A crumbling ruin that is furnished with so many pieces of debris that part of a challenge is to figure out what can be used as a makeshift staircase or a passage to another room. While exploring this place and fending off a skeleton crew that inhabits it, you'll stumble upon a FIREBLU portal, transporting you to a past version of the temple - intact and more vicious with combat. The fights, as seen in previous maps, tend to be low on available space, though once you cut through the initial wave, it's much easier to find a circuit to make laps around the room and finish the monsters off with a super shotgun. I have to say, I completely cheesed the fight by the blue key, where you are met with a row of pinkies and several mancubi behind your back - there was a small gap in a wall where I hid and waited for infighting to do its job.

 

I don't fully understand the progression here, I get that you can warp around using FIREBLU gates, but also through passing random lines, like on the way to the yellow skull key (which I think is impossible to obtain, but I might be missing something). Essentially, there are two skullgates: blue one takes you to MAP16, but there is also the red one in the past, which unlocks the secret map. Navigation issues aside, reaching the regular exit isn't that hard, but the secret path is much more involved. I think obtaining the blue skull allows you to trigger several additional fights. One has you killing archviles one by one in a tiny room with no cover, so your only option is to hug those small square blocks that absorb blast damage, while also avoiding other monsters that spawn in. Another fight drops an archvile in a room that you've already cleared of enemies, this one isn't that great. Both of them allows you to obtain a red key, which in turn unlocks the red skull fight. That one was tough - a wall of hell nobles with arachnotrons behind you and unlike other fights, you can't just outrun the monsters and pump rockets into a crowd, as there's some linedef magic that blocks you from entering the back of the room while letting monsters in.

 

I'm impressed by this map, A Crack in the Skull is beautiful, elaborate and provides both a sense of adventure and a test of skill.

 

 

MAP31: Sanity Control by MAN_WITH_GUN

Spoiler

 

I haven't played much of Hellevator, ViolentBeetle's previous community project (I've dropped it after the first few maps), though I can't say I see much similiarity - it looks more like Skulltiverse's early techbase maps, though considerably more challenging. Either way, Sanity Control is a compact map that throws ambush after ambush against you, no matter where you go. It's easy to catch too many revenants missiles and health isn't plenty. That being said, you should reach the blue skull without many issues, at which point, several archviles appear around the map and a cyberdemon decides to camp inside the skullgate. I don't mind the viles, it was a fun task to eliminate them and the monsters they revived, cybie on the other hand felt like a filler, he's harmless if you save enough cells.

 

To reach the super secret map, you have to find four shootable switches that unlock the red key (and another archvile-lead trap). I've spotted three relatively quickly, the one that took me a while hid itself inside a secret with a computer area map. Red key in hand, you can activate an elevator and travel to the top of the building. It's a solid secret map, both the regular progression and the optional stuff were enjoyable, though I'm not sure if it fully realised the potential of a secret level.

 

 

MAP32: The Penthouse by Shawny

Spoiler

 

Where have I heard this midi? A quick search on Doomwiki reveals that Jimmy's "Technownage" was also used in 1994 Tune-up CP, Swift Death and MAYhem 2020, but I don't think I've played any of those. It's just so energetic track, perfect fit for a large, combat-centric map.

 

Unlike the other secret map, The Penthouse does resemble something from Hellevator, with a flat base and the rest of the map built on top. It is also small, but manages to squeeze a surprising amount of content by locking off parts of the map, leaving one or two sections that create distinct arenas. The combat itself share a lot with MAP14, relying on surviving monster-dense fights in locked rooms. It's much longer this time, clocking in just under 30 minutes, but it's action all the way. The best and hardest part is at the end, where a large portion of the map opens up, with like a hundred of monsters (including archviles and two cyberdemons) appear. Too bad I didn't knew about the secret invuln, I wouldn't have died so much.

 

There is a certain cosy atmosphere (despite mass demon murder), which reminds me of Shawny's map from Solar Struggle. It's easily the better of secret levels and one of the wad's highlights.

 

 

MAP16: Hell or High Water by ViolentBeetle

Spoiler

 

I feel a lot of Plutonia DNA here and was genuinely surprised it wasn't made by a PRCP 2 contributor, it would have fit right in. A more low-tech aesthetic, heavy usage of mid-tier demons (especially revenants), archviles raising threat and challenging fights - Plutonia fans will feel at home, I know I did.

 

Early on you reach a flooded courtyard, which throws you into a fight where you are avoiding fireballs flying from every way. That's not all, press a button and the water drains, revealing a canal in the middle and several switches that unlock a secret plasma rifle. I have to say, I was impressed by seeing the this part. Other highlight is the red key fight, where you have to make split second decisions whether to stay in the monster-dense outer part or hide inside the caves, risking getting cornered. Hell or High Water ends with an entertaining battle in the courtyard, where ViolentBeetle deploys revenants, cacodemons, arachnotron snipers and a surprise archvile on your way to the exit. 

 

I generally like the modern takes on Plutonia (hence my praise for PRCP 2), so it's no surprise this is a map I had a lot of fun with.

 

 

MAP17: Marble Madness by Weird Sandwich

Spoiler

 

"Madness" and "weird" are perfect words to describe this map. The level starts with a narrow corridor and the blue skull at the end, but when you pick it up, the floor lowers into an imp pit. Want to get back to the skullgate? Here's a cyberdemon in a bunker that, without proper weapons, pushes you deep into this place. You'll pretty quickly acclimate to the general theme of Marble Madness: traps and pulling the rug from under the player. I wouldn't call it malicious, though. With a possible exception of cyberdemons, few things can insta-kill you: the crushers are of fast variety, all lava pits are escapable and don't punish you that much for falling. I'll go as far as to call the traps "playful" and found them ultimately funny, rather than annoying. The track from Master Levels midi pack certainly fit the less-than-serious vibe.

 

The combat I feel plays a secondary role, acting as a component to traps. This doesn't mean there aren't straight fights here. The red skull sits in a dark maze, but once picked up, the walls lowers and monsters start appearing. I also like the timed fight near the end, where you have to defend against various mid-tiers and occasional archviles. The two cyberdemon fights that follows are probably the weakest parts. The first one takes place in a tiny room where you need to dodge the missiles while spraying him with plasma. The second one gets released into the room with the crushers, but since they don't do much damage and I was out of cells after the previous cyberdemon, I just stood at the opposite end and lead him under a crusher while tapping him with chaingun. This part drags the ending down and it's the first thing I would have cut from the map. Still, Marble Madness is a surprisingly fun map, one where I was mad at first but ended up laughing with the author.

 

 

MAP18: Symmetry Bad by Nimiauredhel

Spoiler

 

This is one of the hardest maps so far, though the small monster count might make you feel otherwise. It's all in the lack of space and very deliberate health placement. I had to repeat the first two rooms a lot, the teleporting shotgunners can melt your health fast, while the red room is cramped as all hell, with cacodemons blocking your path and monsters firing from above. Pressing a switch opens doors on a ledge above and brings more stuff in: an archvile, several lost souls and a rocket launcher. It's a brutal fight, but in a good way - you have to keep track on several things at once - targetting the vile, avoiding his attacks, looking out for stray lost souls and other enemies that might get in your way.

 

Following this, the map eases up for a while and the titlular symmetry takes the centre stage, with two identical wings connected clumsily by silent teleporters. Two revenant ambushes and yellow key later and you can enter the final fight: a small arena with a cyberdemon, columns that can catch his rockets, plasma rifle and some other distraction.

 

I think Nimiauredhel had a solid foundations as a mapper and I wish they made more to iron out the issues and improve their craft. While it does has some quirks of a novice mapper, it managed to provide a healthy challenge without being frustrating.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP19-MAP24

 

MAP19: The Crucible by LordEntr0py

Spoiler

 

First things first, The Crucible is a map of stunning visuals. The map takes place on an elevated platform in the middle of a lava pit, surrounded by massive demonic buildings. The combination of lava and marble, intricate details and red sky clouded by black smoke, it's all fits together into one cohesive aesthetic that I can't praise enough.

 

The map relies heavily on rocket launcher, which is a gameplay style that I've always found interesting for its high risk/high reward nature. Early fights consist of eliminating teleport ambushes of mostly pinkies and barons using provided explosives while avoiding lava. The usage of barons is my biggest issue of the map because, well, they are barons - a monster that is pretty much an imp with 16 times the health. It feel grindy to kill them. 

 

I do have to say, the map takes an unexpected turn when you reach the platform with a megasphere and a plasma rifle - flicking a switch opens the map and throws a ton of monsters at you: more barons, cacodemon clouds, imp filler and both bosses who will likely infight and are the least of your concern. This is once again an exercise in finding an opening, making a lap around the map and attacking anything that blocks you. I have to say, it's a ton of fun once you're in the groove. The Crucible is another high point of Skulltiverse, though I wish UV was a bit more restrained with barons.

 

 

MAP20: Cybertemple of Cyberdoom by ViolentBeetle

Spoiler

 

The second episode concludes with a single arena that feature three waves of monsters. Each one features a cyberdemon on top of a central column, which you need to kill to open up the map and progress to the next round. The first one throws pinkies and mancubi, with most monsters dying by infighting. The second one is where it heats up, as two archviles are let loose and they are a priority target, with the rest of the wave consisting mostly of hell nobles. The final round causes the outer walls of the temple to collapse, revealing lava beneath and around. It's less of an issue with a number of radsuits around, but the arachnotrons and a surprising amount of weaker enemies that do a great job blocking you are the threat here. 

 

It's a solid map, a near constant fight for about 10 minutes.

 

 

MAP21: Fallen Dimension by Shawny

Spoiler

 

The final episode of Skulltiverse opens up with a hub linked to several rooms, all corrupted by fleshy growths. While I won't call it pretty, Shawny made a lot of effort to pervert classic themes, like a techbase, library or city street.

 

After MAP32, it should be no surprise Shawny loves huge fights with masses of foes that limit mobility. You'll experience such encounter twice in the northern part, where you'll need to defend against teleporting crowds of imps while keeping an eye on a cyberdemon. However, there is one place that will make Fallen Dimension stick with me and that's the huge, multi-wave battle for the red key. It's another setpiece that opens up gradually, starting in a tiny room with just some imps and revenants, progressing through hordes of monsters and, at the end, throwing three archviles and a cyberdemon. It's brutal, but I felt rewarded after completing it. I didn't find a secret BFG on my own (you need to shoot two switches and I noticed only one), but eventually managed to survive without it. 

 

 

MAP22: Yuggoth by Rune

Spoiler

I couldn't find any other map made by Rune, so I assume they aren't a veteran. Nevertheless, I find Yuggoth charming in a weird way. It's simple with its overall progression, but at the same time, it uses a lot of lines to add a visual flair to the map. Of course, everyone who played it will remember the room with ribs supporting the roof, it feels like walking through a husk of a long-dead giant. The fight here is fine, it's easy to just find a spot and pump rockets and plasma into crowds. The ending is also solid, with a blue key riding on a conveyor belt while you are defending against a teleport assault in a rather small room. Yuggoth feels like a break after several action-heavy maps that precede it, a choice I very much welcome.

 

MAP23: Scream Bloody Gore by myolden

Spoiler

 

Once you emerge from the starting room, you will be under fire from every direction. The map itself is an open arena with three distinct parts: the central pit, red key route and the blue key fight. The first task (at least what worked for me) was to clear the centre - this include a plasma rifle ambush and a flood of imps by the backpack. I recommend exploring this place thoroughly and finding a secret BFG, which you'll want for the red key, the hardest part of the map. Essentially, your only way out is blocked by a teleporting horde of hell knights and a cyberdemon spawns on a column in front of you. I've died here a lot before I just picked up the key, cut through the nobles with a BFG and went to deal with a pair of archviles that spawned in the pit (the cyberdemon can be telefragged, so don't waste your ammo). The only thing left is a blue key trap, but it's a joke - just some revenants spawning behind you, they shouldn't be a threat if you have any cells or rockets left.

 

Scream Bloody Gore is one of the hardest maps so far, but satisfying to finish.

 

 

MAP24: Pustule by Moustachio

Spoiler

 

Pustule kicks off with a huge fight that gives you a lot of rockets and tasks with surviving against several archviles, various mid-tiers and hitscanners, including one respawning chaingunner that is really annoying. If you manage to stay alive, congratulation, the worst is behind you. You'll find a BFG, but I recommend saving it for the end - the tunnels on your way to the blue key can be cleared with rockets and buckshot. With the skull in hand, you'll just have to fight your way through a teleporting ambush and take out two cyberdemons by the exit.

 

It's a rather short map, but makes up with vicious combat.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP25-MAP30

 

MAP25: Feeder's Digest by LunchLunch

Spoiler

 

Out of all fleshy maps in Skulltiverse, this has to be my favourite. First of all, it looks disgusting, but in a positive sense. Blood on the floor, living flesh for walls, a lot of irregular shapes, it all works together to create unnerving atmosphere of being swallowed by a giant creature and having to make your way back.

 

Combat-wise, I find it easier that some of the previous maps, though not without thrills. Sure, early fights are functional (mostly throwing mid-tier demons in small rooms), but that changes when you open the yellow door and see a cavern with bloody floor carpeted with rocket boxes. What follows is a massive teleport ambush of imps (with barons and mancubi snipers attacking from the sides). It's a great fight that I managed to beat by the skin of my teeth. The red skull sits in this place and it opens the final fight of the map, a dark room with pillars, two archviles and 16 revenants. It was a hard encounter that took me several attempts to beat, but I finally made it through. Then I noticed there's one secret I haven't found yet, quick glance on the map and I've noticed an odd line in the yellow key room. It held an invuln, so I reloaded a save I've made before the final fight, grabbed the god orb and ran straight into the crowd, succeeding in blowing both viles and most of the skeletons before the power-up ran out. Suffice to say, that's the route I recommend to everyone.

 

I enjoyed Feeder's Digest a lot, it has this balance of difficulty and heroism that I've always liked.

 

 

MAP26: Beyond Life by DFF

Spoiler

 

Beyond Life is the sole map in Skulltiverse that I seen before going in, since it was featured in one of decino's viewer submissions. I wish I went in blind, as it's a clever work and easily one of the standouts of the wad.

 

True to its name, Beyond Life starts with you dying - through a combo of explosive barrels and E1M8-style death exit, your health gets reduced to 1%. Healing is scarce, some health vials here and there, a couple of stimpaks in secrets, so you'll rarely have double-digit hitpoints. This one change turns rather pedestrian fights that wouldn't be out of place in MAP01 of any other wad into struggles, where you are oftentimes one or two shots from death. Really, I don't think there was a map where I felt this nervous seeing a pair of revenants charging at me. At the same time, the level is fair by omitting hitscanners from enemy roster. What it features instead are lost souls, a lot of them. I don't think I've played a map before that respects them as a proper enemy, rather than crap that pain elemental spawns to fill space. 

 

The map proper is divided into three routes, branching from a hub with respawning revenants. You need to clear the eastern and western wings first, the former starts in a cemetary, but the main feature is a fight at the roof, with a teleporting ambush of lost souls and imps, capped off by an arrival of a hell knight (there's also a plasma rifle fight, where you have to keep stunlocking  respawning arachnotrons and pressing buttons, but I missed it completely). The latter is a network of catacombs that gets swarmed by lost souls. With both parts done, you can enter the final fight, two pain elementals, a cacodemon and a rocket launcher in a small room. Here, you can get a soulsphere (symbolising getting back to life) and the blue skull.

 

One thing I appreciate about Beyond Life is how well it pulls off its concept. Everything works here, with visuals complimenting the gameplay's gimmick, all set to Lee Jackson's creepy "Plasma". This is one map I'm sure I won't forget.

 

 

MAP27: Last Ruin by Muuni

Spoiler

 

A gorgeous map, taking place in a wrecked city, torn to pieces and thrown into the void. It doesn't mess around, with the very first fight throwing a crowd of imps and hitscanners lead by an archvile - all before you even get an SSG. 

 

Last Ruin requires you to obtain two keys to reach the exit, both giving you a plasma rifle and staging a cramped fight. I'd say the yellow key, a tiny room that gets clogged with revenants, is the harder of them. Red key has you fighting four archviles first, than another skeleton ambush, but it's more spacious this time. Also, every time you return to the map's hub, new monsters spawn here, including an archvile in a cage in the centre. The first one is a pain to take out, the subsequent ones can be eliminated with rockets or plasma.

 

Once you return to the hub with both keys, a cyberdemon appears here, just run past him and open the double-locked door. Now, the fight here is an odd one, but entertaining. It's another tiny room, this time with a BFG and a drip feed of monsters. Until someone opens a valve and they appear in large waves, first revenants, followed by hell knights, followed by zombies. Completing this gives you the blue skull and enough ammo to deal with anything that's left. Also, look for a Sigil eye in the distance, it opens an invuln which is useful for the four archviles that teleport in near the exit. Speaking of the exit, there's another cyberdemon here and it feels to me like a filler. I mean, it's a tough map, where I've already conquered numerous archviles and hordes of monsters in tiny rooms, so a single cyberdemon is hardly a threat. A minor issue of an otherwise good map.

 

 

MAP28: Void Hydroproccessing II by Rivi the Warlock

Spoiler

 

Rivi himself calls this one "controversial" and I guess he is referring to the map's difficulty. Void Hydroproccessing II (sic!) is a brutal map, the hardest in the wad and nothing comes even close. It starts hostile, with a flooded courtyard where you have to arm yourself while avoiding revenants. Then you enter the red key fight, the first of three slaughter fights here. Get ready for revenants and hell knights squeezing you from two sides, while a swarm of cacodemons approaches from the third. Sure, you have a ton of rockets and two soulspheres, but this place quickly gets overcrowded with tanky monsters. After several attempts, I survived this by pure chance.

 

It's nothing compared to the yellow key. Holy fuck, this one is pure evil. A mass of imps teleports in, preventing any movement and clawing you to death, while a balcony with several archviles appears alternatively on one of two sides of the room. All you have is a plasma rifle with a huge stash of cells to cut to another end, wait for the viles to switch side, run again and repeat until there are no more imps - at this point, you can more-or-less safely eliminate the archviles. This is also the sole fight of the wad so far where I've saved mid-fight, as after numerous deaths I just wanted to progress.

 

The fight for the blue key... Well this one isn't bad actually. It's your standard BFG spam against a cloud of cacodemons and pain elementals, reinforced by four cyberdemons (2 on the platform with you, 2 in the red key arena). Cells and health are in huge supply, so this one is more entertaining. 

 

Void Hydroproccessing II kicked my ass, but I respect it. The flooded castle aesthetic works great, the midi is atmospheric and the difficulty will satisfy any challenge seeker. 

 

 

MAP29: World's End by 7Soul

Spoiler

 

The visuals took me by a complete surprise. World's End is a floating island, one of many around, where centuries-old ships crashed. Is it the Davy Jones' locker?

 

Anyway, this one is more straightforward and easier than MAP28, offering near-constant action. It escalates slowly but steadily - what starts with taking out weak enemies patrolling the isle, turns into huge fights against hordes of monsters. You are loaded with rockets to deal with revenants and archvile, while the final fight hands you a BFG to eliminate a pair of cyberdemons and their escort. Solid map with an energetic midi that works great as a break after Last Ruin and Void Hydroproccessing II.

 

 

MAP30: An Eye for an Eye by ViolentBeetle

Spoiler

 

Propelled by an energetic track from No Rest for the Living MIDI Pack, this is, for the most part, a great finale to a great megawad. An Eye for an Eye is a series of dynamic fights that take place in a gray castle somewhere in the void. If you're having flashback from MAP28, don't worry, it's not that bad. 

 

The map starts with a series of fights that can be dealt with by infighting and occasionally using rocket launcher to take out elevated monsters. You should reach the blue skull with little issues. Now, the skull doesn't unlock the exit, instead it spawns two archviles near the start, who will promptly revive dead monsters, while a mastermind also makes its appearance. She works surprisingly well as an area denier when you try to hunt for the archviles. Also, check out the IoS replacement, a giant blue skull. Pretty cool.

 

You need the remaining two skulls. The red one is in a room with a grid of pillars raising from the floor and lowering from the bottom, which keep you constantly moving to prevent getting crushed. Through this dance, you have to pump rockets into a balcony of hell nobles, then a crowd of cacodemons once you get to their level. As for the yellow skull, you have to take out four archviles hidden in small alcoves, while a swarm of lost souls harrass you. Now finally you can trigger the final fight of the map, for which ViolentBeetle hands you a BFG: a very cramped building in the centre of the map, stuffed with a ton of monsters, including a cyberdemon. The spawner gets activated here, but it's rather slow, so the threat comes mostly from pre-placed monsters. Anyway, use the BFG to clear the space, press four switches to create stairs to a raised platform and finish the job. An thus, Skulltiverse ends on a high note, which isn't a standard in Icon of Sin clones.

 

 

Conclusions

 

Skulltiverse is a megawad that was on my backburner for a while, so I'm glad I finally got around to play it. I don't think I had this much fun playing Doom for a while, it is a very varied set, both in terms of visual and gameplay style. I mentioned there's a number of maps that rely on "let's lock the player in an arena and flood it with imps" trick, but at the same time, there's also room for grand slaugher, adventure maps and several gimmick levels to break the monotony. Ironic when the bulk of the maps boils down to getting the blue skull and returning to the start. Despite this, the wad displays a consistent quality, which I attribute to both the talent of individual contributors and project leader's vision.

 

I could nit-pick about individual maps (and I did that in my write-ups), but as for the wad as a whole, I don't see any obvious flaws with the project. It has a good difficulty curve, steadily escalating until you reach MAP28, which will test your skill (I don't know how it plays on lower difficulties, but on UV it's brutal). This is something I greatly appreciate, since I took a break from modern wads and wanted to acclimate back to their challenge level. Also, most maps are on the shorter end, with only a handful exceeding 20 minutes of in-game time. This, combined with diversity of map, pushes you forward, always curious what the next map is going to be. In the end, this is a great megawad and I strongly recommend it to any fan of community works. 

 

Top 5 maps (haven't brought it up for a while, but there are so many great levels in Skulltiverse that deserve recognition):

 

MAP15: A Crack in the Skull by El Inferno
MAP26: Beyond Life by DFF
MAP28: Void Hydroproccessing II by Rivi the Warlock
MAP14: Sanctuary of Horae by Shawny
MAP25: Feeder's Digest by LunchLunch

[Celestin]

Guess I'm not done with Christmas wads, here's Doomer Boards Project 19: A Doomer Boards Christmas Carol. This one seems larger and more ambitious than DBP7 and I'm especially curious how it compares to previous year's holiday special.

 

MAP01-MAP14

 

MAP01: Christmas Eve Pt. I by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

Odd-numbered maps in DBP19 are playable cutscenes of sort. The goal in each is to search a house for the next Christmas card that DBP members sent to Doomguy.

 

MAP02: Hornaments by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

 

A tiny arena which consists of a single fight - a horde of cacodemons and pain elementals, both turned into Christmas tree ornaments. I'm already disturber. Also, gnomes from DBP7 return. Dispatching this wasn't hard, but then I got stuck. Turns out, the bells flanking the exit are in fact Keens. It confused me, as normally things that don't move are "dead", here a bell that doesn't ring needs to be activated. Hitting them releases an archvile, but if you have any rockets left, he shouldn't pose a threat.

 

Compared to the previous Christmas-themed DBP, A Doomer Boards Christmas Carol lacks this blue tinge, which in itself improves the visual side.

 

 

MAP03: Christmas Eve Pt. II by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

Same story as MAP01, no gameplay here.

 

MAP04: Festive Neighbours by Phobus

Spoiler

 

The playable area here fits neatly inside 512x512 square and consists of a narror walkway around the central room. It does feel like Claustrophobia's smaller cousin. There's more of them here than in the previous map, so it seems zombified Santas, red hat shotgunners and green chaingunners return from last year. 

 

The combat is what you might expect for a space-limited map, a lot of monsters are outside your box, imps and hitscanners at first, then cacodemons and an annoying arachnotron. It's another breezy map that shouldn't be a challenge.

 

 

MAP05: Christmas Eve Pt. III by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

I was surprised there are monsters in the house - four imps, a chaingunner and a shotgunner. Initially I wanted to don't write about Christmas Eve maps, as they seem to lack gameplay, but I might reconsider that.

 

MAP06: The Pilgrim and the Hermit by gaspe

Spoiler

 

I'd call this the first substantial map of DBP19 - upon exiting the cave you start in, you are greeted by a crowd of pinkies and a mancubus, perfect for infighting. I got stucked here again, as I didn't notice a switch that opens the door to a nearby stronghold. The fights inside are on a smaller scale, still, it feels more inolved that the previous maps. I strongly recommend looking for secrets, since the SSG, plasma rifle and a rocket launcher are all hidden and without them, fighting archviles, revenants and other bigger demons is just not fun. 

 

It's a good map, but what I like is the visual side. The Pilgrim and the Hermit looks much better than anything from DBP7, I'll say it reminds me of Eviternity's winter episode.

 

 

MAP07: Christmas Eve Pt. IV by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

Why is there a cyberdemon in a hat outside?

 

MAP08: Surprise! by glenzinho

Spoiler

 

Glen seem to really like "Driving Home for Christmas", since his previous map also used this track. I always enjoy when mappers whose work I dislike manage to improve. Glen's contribution to DBP7 was a square and ugly corridor crawl. A year later he made a city map which, while still made almost exclusively of right angles, is much more pleasent to look at. 

 

You start in box, I assume you were sent as a present for the demons. Anyway, Surprise! is, heavy on action starting with pinky punching followed by releasing a ton of hitscanners, cacodemons and several archviles. One thing I have to criticise is map's reliance of switch hunting to progress. First you have to find all bells around the map,  then press four switches that gets unlocked and only then you can exit.  Still, everything you do activates more monsters, so it's not like I was bored. There's also one cool secret, where several Santas drop out of a fireplace - this one did make me giggle. Solid map and a massive improvement compared to previous year.

 

 

MAP09: Christmas Eve Pt. V by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

A red key nearby lets you visit a previously locked part of the house. There are more monsters this time, including a number of lost souls. 

 

MAP10: Winter Wonderland by Phobus

Spoiler

 

A long and involved adventure with some large-scale combat. I once again like how the map looks, if you remove the Christmas decoration, it wouldn't feel out of place in a more serious work. The whole winter castle theme works well here, and again I'm having Eviternity vibes.

 

As for how the map plays, it's divided into three distinct routes, where you need to find a belltower and ring a bell to progress. First comes a a crawl through wooden corridors with basic monsters, culminating with a big fight against zombies and pinkies. Next route starts in icy tunnels, before emerging into a frozen river. This part gives you a rocket launcher to take out a massive horde of pinkies, revenants mixed in and some additional snipers. It's surprisingly challenging to lose missiles that are tracking you and I find this part to be highly entertaining. This is followed by entering a room with a plasma rifle, an archvile and another vile in the wine cellar. I strongly advise to investigate an odd shelf, it opens a closet with a BFG. You'll want that for the ending, where another archvile teleport behind your back, reinforced by several hell nobles. The final obstacle is a cyberdemon guarding the last bell, hope you have cells.

 

If you look for secrets, you might notice a locked corridor. It requires you to find three hidden areas, this will give you an access to the blue key in the middle of the frozen river. This one opens a room near the start with a megasphere. A bit underwhelming reward for all this trouble, since Winter Wonderland isn't that hard of a map. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun here and it's probably my favourite map of the wad so far.

 

 

MAP11: Christmas Eve Pt. VI by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

I don't like killing an archvile with a regular shotgun.

 

MAP12: The Nut After November by SuperCupcakeTactics and glenzinho

Spoiler

 

The Christmas card and the text screen mention 90's nostalgia, but I struggle to see old-school inspirations. The Nut After November is a hectic map with a non-stop action. I have no idea how they do it, but each fight propels you to another, from a rocket dump against a crowd, to avoiding mastermind's fire, to telefragging a cyberdemon to crushing a wave of cacodemons... Don't forget to breathe. You are always doing something with very little dead time. 

 

Probably the only part I didn't like is the ending with four masterminds. Coax them all into infighting or take out one by one with a plasma rifle - either way, it slows the map down.

 

 

MAP13: Christmas Eve Pt. VII by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

I almost died here, there's a lot of gnomes in a small space.

 

MAP14: Two Sizes Too Small by DooM_RO

Spoiler

 

Contrary to its name, Two Sizes Too Small is a large adventure map that doesn't hit the player too hard. The combat here is solid, combining corridors with more open arenas. Probably my favourite fight is the one where you are traversing a series of stairs while being attacked from above. Other than that, it's functional, with a heavy use of gnomes.

 

One thing to look for are the secrets, they might feel random at times, but are rewarding to find, I especially like the blue key that unlocks an otherwise shut cabin. 

 

It's a solid map, but also one where I don't really know what to write about. Everything works fine, the map looks good, but leaves little lasting memories.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP15-MAP25

 

MAP15: Christmas Eve Pt. VIII by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

Finally you can leave your house. There's a fight against imps and arachnotrons with a help of a rocket launcher, I'd say it's the most action I've seen with the hub maps.

 

MAP16: Christmas Tree Mountain by Scrangus McBrickdad and glenzinho

Spoiler

 

Just as the title says, the map is set on the side of a snowy mountain. The start is hectic, with fire from every possible angle. It takes a while to sort this out, following this, the map turns into a search of two keys. There's actually a lot of ground to cover and a lot of monsters to dispatch, though some might get annoying - I'm talking specifically about that one revenants sniper that's a pain to take down, the archvile on a hedge was also awkward to eliminate with nothing stronger than SSG. Other than that, the route to the keys is fine, but otherwise unremarkable.

 

Anyway, the map is heavy on exploration with numerous secrets to discover. I'd say the two most important are the BFG, which can be found with a bit of rock climbing, and an invuln near the exit. Combined, they let you decimate the final fight: three cyberdemons and a mastermind in a rather restricted space. It's a high point to end a map on.

 

 

MAP17: Christmas Eve pt. IX by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

I got killed by a mass of homing revenant missiles, because I didn't notice I had a rocket launcher.

 

MAP18: Xmasphobia by thundercunt

Spoiler

 

A cramped mansion with gameplay style that reminds me of Plutonia a lot - ambushes, revenants and archviles. Many will take you by surprise, but gets easier if you know they are coming. What I really find odd is how you have to go out of your way to reach the best fights of the map. The square arena with mancubi, cacodemons and later archviles is (I think) only accessible after you've completed the map and the BFG room, which you have to rip from a crowd of Santas and two archviles, is more obscure than any of the map's secret.

 

I know I'm complaining, but this is actually a solid map, I'm always biased for Plutonia's combat. I just think it could be made more varied by making some of the optional content mandatory.

 

 

MAP19: Christmas Eve pt. X by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

The map leads you to a hedge maze, filled with imps, shotgunners and two archviles. It's a surprisingly hectic fight for what essentially is a cutscene.

 

MAP20: Krampus Anomaly by dmdr

Spoiler

 

I really like the pacing here, Krampus Anomaly puts you through several big fights that are connected by more low-key combat, this all pushes you towards the next setpiece. 

 

Take the red key fight, which locks you up and teleport in a whole mass of monsters - hold your plasma rifle and fire away. The part that follows on a frozen pond is also good, with a mass of projectiles to avoid (and also an invuln, if you manage to spot it). What takes the top spot is the yellow key, a multi-part ambush, where walls lower to reveal the next round. It's a hectic fight already, but then you notice an invulnerability sphere and a huge horde that include several archviles. Running straight into the crowd with a god mode, firing rockets up close and trying to hunt the viles - don't tell me it's not fun.

 

Krampus Anomaly is one of the best maps of the set. I'll be looking out for dmdr's map in the future.

 

 

MAP21: Christmas Eve pt. XI by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

Some chaingunners and revenants to kill before entering the church.

 

MAP22: Where Cyberneezer Hid Christmas by joe-ilya

Spoiler

 

Loading a joe-ilya's map make me excited, because they are always unique and always weird. This time, he created a gigantic house, apparently built to cyberdemon's scale. There's a ton of adorable details (like opening the map right next to a molten snowman), the house itself combines a cosy atmosphere with this touch of uneasyness, which I attribute to the interior's scale. You indeed feel like an intruder in this place.

 

The combat isn't hard, especially for a late map. The place is full or resources (especially if you look for secrets) and the encounters aren't particularly deadly. Probably the biggest challenge was supposed to be the cyberdemon owner in the basement, but I accidentally telefragged him.

 

I love stumbling upon maps like this, something odd and unexpected. While it doesn't feature the most entertaining combat or the best visuals, it's still a map I enjoyed.

 

 

MAP23: Christmas Eve pt. XII by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

No combat here, just go to the clock tower, where you'll find a pair of pants and a giant top hat. Guess I'll have to fight their owner.

 

MAP24: Realm of Christmas Time by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

 

Boss fight time, MAP24 takes us to an arena in the void, surrounded by clocks. I didn't pay much attention to the story, but apparently that cyberdemon which I've been seeing has frozen time and I was gathering Christmas spirit to fight him. It's a cool place, much different than the rest of the wad.

 

Anyway, after eliminating the initial enemies, you have to shoot three clusters of explosive barrels that appear behind walls marked by cyberdemon's face. Destroying each will teleport monsters to your area (archvile included) and with all three out, a cyberdemon will appear for the final showdown.

 

While it's not the hardest one, I appreciate the wad ends on a high note.

 

 

MAP25: Christmas Morning by Big Ol' Billy

Spoiler

 

Billy has created a wonderful hub map, so it would be a shame if it went unused.

 

Christmas Morning is a bonus map of sort, acting both as credits and a massive slaughter for anyone who found DBP19 not challenging enough. Too bad there's no exit, later DBP wads loop back to MAP01 after completing the credits map. Essentially, it's a giant clusterfuck with numerous archviles that more than doubled the initial monster count. My "strategy" revolved around running around, finding any vile I could lay my BFG tracers on and avoiding the house at all cost. I mean, a more competent player might find this entertaining, there's a ton of ammo and invulns, but to me, Christmas Morning is just too much.

 

 

Conclusions

Not that long ago, I played DBP's first holiday special. It was a brisk, 5-map wad with uneven quality and one map that was broken and impossible to complete. A year later, Doomer Boards Project 19: A Doomer Boards Christmas Carol was released, a much improved iteration of the concept. The number of contributors was greatly increased, bringing more varied takes on mapping. There's more stuff to play, but the quality remains consistant. There are some underwhelming maps early on, sure, but the overall experience was positive. I also think the texture pack is much better this time, more detailed and lacking this blueish tinge.

 

Initially I discounted odd-numbered hub maps as filler, but I think it's an effective framing device, where Doomer Boards members motivate you, the player, to go on and fight. It's this little quirks that I've always enjoyed in DBP wads, this tongue-in-cheek nature that works well as a break between more serious stuff. In any case, I recommend this to anyone who still wants for more holiday vibe.

 

TOP 3 maps:

MAP20: Krampus Anomaly by dmdr
MAP10: Winter Wonderland by Phobus
MAP12: The Nut After November by SuperCupcakeTactics and glenzinho

[Celestin]

Once again I was looking for something shorter, so I've picked up Double Impact, a Doom 1 episode of maps jointly created by Ralphis and RottKing. I'm also using a community-made midi pack. 

 

E1M1: Maintenance Area

Spoiler

 

The player starts in a repair shop, I'm sure about this. I like when mappers create places you can recognise without resorting to doomcute. 

 

Starry sky aside, Maintenance Area feels like a later E1 map. Not just because it's a techbase, but there are those tiny details that immediately brings Romero's maps to my mind. The yellow key is a reference overdose, there's an E1M3 raising stairway, a podium that invokes armor from E1M1, or a switch on the side of a column from the same room. There's a secret here that reminds me of chaingun from E1M2, where you go outside and turn a corner around a wall for a reward. I knew playing the IWADs back to back will provide me with useful knowledge.

 

As for the combat, it's mostly your standard Knee-deep in the Dead stuff - lots of hitscanners to mow down, especially with a secret chaingun. One thing I dislike is the yellow key - you can get there early on, but it's too high to grab. You need to find the red key first, than flip a switch by the exit and only then you can get the yellow key and return to the exit. It's not a long map, but I find this backtracking to be pointless.

 

Despite this, I think it's a good opener to an episode, setting a tone and providing entertaining fights.

 

 

E1M2: Central Computing

Spoiler

 

Man, this one took me by surprise. It's like E1 map but turned up to 11. It feels much larger and stuffed with more enemies - this means more chip damage from hitscanners and health here is rather scarce. I always associate E1's aesthetics with high-octane action, where you are running from room to room, killing while crowds of basic monsters, but here, you have to be careful to survive.

 

Probably the hardest part is the dark basement that opens the yellow key. There's not a lot room to move, monsters like to appear behind you and there's a ton of spectres that you can barely see. The shotgunners in the red key room also brought me close to death, but I was lucky to find a secret supercharge. Speaking of secrets, there's 12 of them, including a rocket launcher and a plasma rifle. I've found both rather useless, as they are only accessible at the very end. You can have fun melting a monster closet that opens when you pick a plasma, but that's about it. Other secrets are much more helpful, providing you with health this map otherwise lacks.

 

 

E1M3: Research Complex

Spoiler

 

I've found the secret exit before I figured out how to open the regular one and had to no-clip out of its room - this is the best way to describe Research Complex. It's a huge, convoluted map that definitely went overboard with its complexity (pun intended). I'm unable to describe what is a part of a regular progression and what opens the way to E1M9. 

 

There are some cool fights, with the red key being a major wake-up call - a mass of monsters appear in a room, including cacodemons and lost souls. The route to the blue key is also full of enemies, with the rocket launcher fight being a high point. I also enjoyed a cramped secret exit fight, which is like E1M6 ending but even more vicious. I just wish you could leave this place without resorting to cheats. 

 

I haven't talked about the midi pack yet, truth be told, I suck when it comes to talking about music. It's one field where I have zero knowledge and my views are limited to whether I like this particular thack or not. That being said, "Fight Harder... To Obtain a Better Victory!", with its mix of synths and violin, is something I haven't expected. It's a memorable track that kept me going through a map that's too long and too confusing for my liking.

 

 

E1M9: Operations

Spoiler

 

If you thought E1M3 was excessively big, wait till you play the secret map. It's another giant maze loaded with imps and hitscanners. I'm not saying it's a bad level. The progression is more reasonable than in Research Complex - the starting room acts as a hub and you usually know what you're doing. The combat effectively combines a lot of incidental combat with big ambushes in key moments that lock you in a room and forces to survive. I also enjoy a change in scenery, with a design evoking the coruption of The Shores of Hell.

 

The problem I have is Operations placement. Playing two complex maps back to back is just tiring.

 

 

E1M4: Hydroponic Facility

Spoiler

 

Aside from one overgrown courtyard, there's hardly anything that would fit the map's name.

 

I've completed this one in less than 15 minutes and greatly appreciate its shorter runtime. I feel like this one steps down in difficulty and once you survive the start, it's a smooth run to the end. I like the big fight in the courtyard I've mentioned earlier and the ending, where I finally could let loose with a rocket launcher. It feels closer to E1's gameplay style. The yellow key is an interesting idea, you reach it through a catwalk over a pool of nukage. Once you pick it up, several pinkies teleport in to block your path, while other enemies fire at you from your right. It's a tense moment, where you try yo push through ASAP.

 

I like the pacing of this map, I think E1M4 manages to find a proper balance between combat and exploration.

 

 

E1M5: Engineering Station

Spoiler

 

Double Impact is a wad of consistant identity. I've always had trouble describing projects like this, because after a couple of maps you feel like you've cracked the code, figure out what the authors are going for and feel like nothing will surprise you (unless we're talking about the crusher over the yellow key, that was a low blow).

 

Engineering Station is a solid map, but because it follows the same principles as the 4 previous maps, it kinda blends in. The most noteworthy part is the red key fight, where spectres and cacodemons ambush you in a dark room. I also like the outside area, with a slime canal in the middle and enemies on the ledges, but that's mostly because it's something that departs from Knee-deep in the Dead aesthetics (E1 generally lacked open spaces outside secrets).

 

 

E1M6: Command Center

Spoiler

Half an hour of corridor clearing. I mean, I wasn't bored, but because of similiar visual and gameplay style, the maps of Double Impact run together. I also didn't find it as hard as earlier maps, but perhaps that's because I got used to the wad's difficulty and secret placement. Once again, the combat is mostly incidental, with two setpiece fights worth mentioning. The yellow key drops you into a bloody pit with monsters, including cacodemons and two barons. This was a a surprising one, but effective as hell. Then there's the one shortly before the blue key, where you have to survive against spectres and imps in a strobing maze. I'm not a fan of this one.

 

E1M7: Waste Treatment

Spoiler

 

The magnum opus of the project with nearly 563 enemies. Sigh.

 

Look, I don't want to be all negative. I think there's a lot to like here, the combat flows together nicely, you are pretty much under constant attack from crowds of monsters and there are some interesting ideas, like how at one point you drain a pool of slime to lower its level elsewhere or the outside sections under the starry sky. However, it's also an hour of shotgunning zombies and imps. I don't think Waste Treatment adds anything I haven't seen in previous maps. Well, maybe except from the ending, where a horde of imps and a number of barons teleports into a courtyard. This is a massive departure from E1-on-steroids mindset but at least it's different. I don't mind having to finish them off with a shotgun after spending all the rockets and cells I've saved.

 

While Waste Treatment is not a bad map itself, it is a victim of Double Impact's consistant design.

 

 

E1M8: Launch Bay

Spoiler

 

Played with GZDoom.

 

I understand the reasoning behind Double Impact's finale. It's supposed to be like the Icon of Sin, where your task isn't to kill, but rather to avoid enemies and reach the exit ASAP. I still didn't like it for a number of reasons, chiefly its RNG reliance.

 

Launch Bay is a maze with four skull switches that you need to press to open the way forward. The enemies are here to stall you and make it easier for four wandering cyberdemons to kill you. Even the start, where you teleport to the maze and get instantly surrounded by a crowd of imps, is something I feel like I have little control over and oftentimes I lost a ton of health or simply died. As I've said, the monster placement does a great job of taking your time, allowing the cyberdemons to get closer and murder you. Attacking the cybers is pointless, though I've seen people who managed to get them killed with infighting, my hunch is it wasn't an intended course of action. Even though there's a solid logic here, I didn't enjoy the result and I just save-scummed through the map.

 

But, what happens when you press all switches? Fucking nothing. You are supposed to crush four barons and open the rest of the map (you know, E1M8 stuff), but due to Doom's jank, this doesn't always work. So I had to repeat this in another source port, GZDoom seems to be more consistent here. Even when the map functions as intended, it's more of the same stuff - press switches, avoid rockets and press that exit button.

 

I know I wished for some departure from E1's gameplay, but that's not what I meant. 

 

 

Conclusions

 

To describe Double Impact succinctly, I'd call it "Knee-deep in the Dead+". The gameplay is a natural evolution of E1 style, focusing on large groups of basic enemies. Crowds of zombies, imps and pinkies are the main threats, with cacodemons, lost souls and barons appearing sporadically. Same goes for the weapons choice, you'll be relying on shotgun and chaingun, with rockets being rare and plasma rifle relegated to secrets. The maps also evoke Doom's shareware episode, being large, complex techbases. The end result is a wad of very consistent identity and high quality of individual maps, but also one where they don't feel that memorable. I also think the midi pack does a good job mixing old-school action game vibe with more moody atmosphere later on.

 

I have been thinking about this a lot and realised those criticisms could apply to Knee-deep in the Dead as well - limited variety and lack of memorable elements. However, there are two things E1 does different compared to Double Impact. The maps are much shorter, but more importantly, they have this element of power trip, where you kick the door open and blast anything in your way. Those things absolve the issues I have with E1, because when you remove them, intercommected maps become confusing mazes, zombie crowds turn into a source of chip damage you might not be able to recover from and the once brisk experience gets repetitive around the mid-point.

 

I don't deny the talent of RottKing and Ralphis, I think they understand the core of Knee-deep in the Dead well and in smaller doses (which is also why I prefered its shorter levels, with E1M4 being my favourite), Double Impact can be an entertaining wad, just that the shortcomings of the original episode become apparent when expanded.

[Celestin]

For the new year, I want to have a certain theme running through some write-ups. See, there's a number of wads I've started playing but dropped afterwards, either because I got distracted with something else, or I wasn't good enough to complete it. So, the first of those unfinished wads I want to beat is Scythe by Erik Alm (with a guest map by Kim "Torn" Bach). I initially dropped it at MAP13, as I thought it was too easy of a wad. I only later learnt about the final couple of maps, where the difficulty hikes considerably. It should be fun once I get there. Also, the write-ups are going to be rather short, as most of the maps take less than 5 minutes to complete.

 

MAP01-MAP16

 

MAP01: Get Going

Spoiler

Considering where Scythe is heading, it's weird to see an opening map easier than Entryway - only a handful of imps and zombies, plus a chainsaw to provide any enjoyment. I've already spent more time thinking and writing about Get Going than playing it twice, so I'll just say the lighting here (and Scythe in general) is an aspect that a lot of care was put into and I like the cosy nature of the two buildings the map consists of.

 

MAP02: Punchline

Spoiler

Marginally larger, but also way more engaging than MAP01. Punchline hands you a berserk pack early on and adds pinkies to the mix. It's still easy, but punching stuff is always fun. The slime processing plant is somewhat of a forgettable locale.

 

MAP03: Up and Around

Spoiler

 

I get it, you go around the map to reach the exit up there, at the highest point.

 

Up and Around reminds me of Redemption from TNT, with its green grass and walls. It's also the first map of Scythe that is not trivial. Firstly, shotgunners make a debut and in a map this cramped, they can take a good chunk of your health. The shells are also scarce, but there's an obvious berserk secret which is an adequate replacement. I enjoyed the yellow key fight, which turns off the lights and throws several imps in a small room.

 

 

MAP04: Lost Warehouse

Spoiler

Mostly dark map with a cool hub of square strobing lights. There's little interesting in terms of combat, with a possible exception of that one spot where the walls lowers to reveal a small outside section.

 

MAP05: Slimy Tunnels

Spoiler

 

This one abuses spectres too much for my taste - there's a narrow canal filled with them (and a damaging slime, but with two radsuits, it's hardly a threat) that you'll have to grind with a shotgun. I did enjoy that trap where you try to open a door and a monster closet opens around you, that caught me off guard.

 

Also, what's up with secret placement? The chaingun is in the open, but it's tagged for some reason. It was also a thing in earlier maps (chainsaw in MAP01, some random items in MAP04).

 

 

MAP06: Pressure Point

Spoiler

 

I have mixed feelings here. For once, Pressure Point feels more involved compared to the previous maps. It finally brings bigger monsters (hell knights and cacodemons), the visuals feel more memorable (an elevated walkway that leads to the exit) and who can forget the ending - a tight cavern where you have to be confident with using rocket launcher in limited space to survive against beefier demons. It's the first proper setpiece fight of the wad.

 

That being said, killing hell knights with a shotgun is slow and tedious (you want to save rockets for the final). While the map is still a rather short one, this does drag the pacing.

 

 

MAP07: Deadly

Spoiler

Kill 4 mancubi in a small, square and ugly room, do the same with 8 arachnotrons and the map is over. I'm hardly a fan of the OG Dead Simple, but this is even worse.

 

MAP08: Garden Base

Spoiler

 

I am aware Scythe's first episode is focused on small maps, but I feel like there's a difference between being compact and feeling like two rooms from a larger level. That being said, Garden Base does feel more like a proper map.

 

The first objective is to cut through patrolling zombies, away from mancubi fire. Then you can grab a rocket launcher and start killing bigger enemies. The second part of the map is more focused on springing up traps in dark and narrow corridors, with the teleporting chaingunners being a high point.

 

 

MAP09: Computer Storage

Spoiler

 

Again, what's with tagging items in the open as secrets? I know vanilla Doom displayed 0% secrets on the intermission screen if there were none on the map, so maybe that's the answer?

 

Anyway, Computer Storage is a clear E1 throwback, complete with Knee-deep in the Dead cast (though reinforced by a couple of revenants and a mancubi). There's a lot of key hunting for a map this small, but it's redeemed by a murder of imps and zombies. I especially like when you enter the base with the red key and monster closets open up, perfect targets to blow them up with rockets.

 

 

MAP10: The Lords

Spoiler

This one is a misfire. I feel like Erik wanted to remake the ending of MAP06, where you need to use rockets up-close and manoeuvre around monsters on narrow ledges in search of more ammo. Not a bad concept for a fight, but that's the entire map - a single encounter with 6 monsters. It's an anticlimactic conclusion to the first episode of Scythe.

 

MAP11: Sneak Peak

Spoiler

You are supposed to visit the lava cave with the blue key first, then open the blue door to obtain the red key and exit. What I did was jumping to the red key building through the upper floor window, finding the red key and getting out through the a tunnel that appeared (good think Erik thought about sequence-breakers). I did go through the blue key fight, because this is the best combat setpiece of the wad up to this point: a cavern of lava that gets stuffed with monsters, including Scythe's first archvile. You have a ton of rockets at your disposal and a secret megasphere just before this, so it isn't that hard, but exciting nevertheless.

 

MAP12: Walk in the Park

Spoiler

Slightly tougher than the first chapter, as the place is dark, there's little cover in the open and the revenants are especially annoying. It's still very short, being a single courtyard that you need to search for two keys. Once you get the rocket launcher and a supercharge, the map is basically won.

 

MAP13: Subverted Base

Spoiler

 

A wad where you find a plasma rifle before super shotgun - that's something new. 

 

I enjoyed Subverted Base more than any map that preceded it. It puts you constantly on edge with its ambushes, starting right when you load the map - take a few steps into the canal and shotgunners appear behind your back. I strongly recommend searching the corridor that leads to the red key, it leads to a plasma rifle I've mentioned earlier, together with a rocket launcher that sits near the blue key, you should be armed to deal with monster closets of shotgunners, revenants and some hell nobles.

 

This is another quick map, but one that provides a ton of bite-size fun.

 

 

MAP14: Power Outage

Spoiler

 

The start with several shotgunners on top of crates is the hardest part of this derelict techbase. The high number of hitscanners here brought me down to single-digit health, but managed to recover with medikits.

 

Power Outage is a pretty map, with a clear theme and detailed lighting. You need to run back and forth between places to collect keys and restore power to the base, I would complain about the backtracking, but come on, the map took me 3 minutes. It ends with a Refueling Base homage, where you can spray plasma on zombies, just make sure to have something for the baron.

 

 

MAP15: Blood Bath

Spoiler

 

Okay, so this is the first map of Scythe I wasn't able to sleepwalk through. I mean, I'm not complaining. This The Inmost Dens homage (which automatically gives bonus points for its visuals) uses revenants a lot, especially near the red key. Without a secret plasma rifle or super shotgun (oh, there you are), you have to deal with them using a rocket launcher and the space is rather limited. If you survive this, the hardest part is over, just make sure to have enought cells or rockets to take out two archviles that guard the exit. 

 

The secret exit is not hard to find, just jump from the raising wall near the regular one. Probably the best map yet.

 

 

MAP31: I Dunno Torn by Torn

Spoiler

 

It's clearly not Alm's map and to be honest, I'm torn about this one. It's a radical departure from the rest of Scythe in almost every regard. MAP31 is larger, longer but also uglier and less focused. 

 

The visuals are my biggest gripe here, as I Dunno Torn simply doesn't look good. Compared to Alm's works, I'll go as far as calling it "primitive". It's just a series of rooms, all plastered with gray rock texture, with considerably less detailed lighting. The combat is a super shotgun workout, which, while being something Scythe hasn't used yet, also felt dated. 

 

It's not all bad though. There's a secret in the first room that lets you skip the bulk of the map and teleport directly to the red key room. A fight here against a horde of imps is a tense moment, as I was running low on shells. The secret exit is located early on, it's not hard to find (just run through some platforms), but once again, lets you pretty much skip the map. Overall, I'm not a fan of this.

 

 

MAP32: Enoz Soahc

Spoiler

 

Inspired by Requiem's MAP25 and Capellan's maps in general, Enoz Soahc consists of two small, but enemy-dense rooms. The first one sends several waves of monsters on the ground, while more (including an archvile) appear on a ledge above. This is followed by a cramped corridor with hell knights that I find to be too RNG-reliant. Good luck punching them and it's a coin flip whether they move to a side, allowing you to run pass them. The final obstacle is a mass of imps, shotgunners, pinkies and hell knights that quickly fill up a tiny room. It's not that bad, make laps around the perimeter while systematically taking down anything that gets in your way. You have a plasma to cut through the weaker monsters quickly, don't be afraid to use it. 

 

I find it the better of secret maps, chaotic (as the reversed name implies) and without any dead time.

 

 

MAP16: Burial Grounds

Spoiler

Back to the regular rotation, Burial Grounds in a short level with a sense of place that matches Power Outage. This time, it's a hillside cemetery with a small chapel, both occupied by monsters. I notice Scythe is begining to be more willing to use archviles, there's one that appears on the graveyard, another one in the chapel and the third one blocking the exit. The fights in the chapel and its catacombs can get hectic, but the plasma rifle helps in tight places.

 

[MoiraHeart]

I've been wondering about the regular items tagged as secrets as well. My weird theory is that it is actually intended as a side challenge: Screenshot 0% secrets on the results to show off that you've ignored the items.

[RHhe82]

Can't wait to see how much you love some of the maps in the latter half.

 

I like Scythe, I've played it twice, but I'm convinced I never want to play it again, because first 20 maps are a bit on the easy side. Maps after that I do enjoy and might want to do single-level runs every now and then, especially from MAP21 up until...

 

Spoiler

MAP28, which I never, ever, will play again. Not if someone bgged me to do it. And MAP29, which is not that offensive, but somehow I find it tedious despite nice Symphony X midi.

 

Except

 

Spoiler

MAP30 I could well replay, 

 

... it's such a special case amidst preceding special cases. Hated it first, but somehow grew to like it.

[Celestin]

MAP17-MAP23

 

MAP17: Book Lords

Spoiler

 

A series of deadly fights set in a library. Once again, the limited space will be your main enemy, as Alm likes to throw a number of imps at you or block a path with hell nobles. The one encounter that cause the most trouble was the group of revenants that appear after you return to the hub with the yellow key. It seems RNG wasn't in my favour, as most of their missiles were the homing ones. 

 

The final fight would be an interesting one, except you can just camp in the blue key room until the immediate threats are eliminated. Not a bad map in the end.

 

 

MAP18: M/S Futura

Spoiler

It's a cosy harbour, too bad the map ends so quickly. Take out monsters around you, clear the nearby warehouse and you should be ready to take on a mastermind with a plasma rifle that is tucked in a corner. The giant portal that ends the map does look welcoming.

 

MAP19: 3000 AD

Spoiler

 

Welcome to the future.

 

I see this as a welcomed change, both with map's overall concept (a longer, more conventional level) and it's unique visual style (being a silver techbase). 3000 AD blends incidental combat with several interesting fights, like that one where you are given a rocket launcher and a huge group of imps, or the red key arena.

 

It's good to see Erik can make more fleshed-out maps.

 

 

MAP20: The Starport

Spoiler

Another compact map and a direct continuation of 3000 AD. The early enemies warm you up for the main course: a cyberdemon duel followed by a flood of imps with an archvile in the back - hope you have rockets left. The gaping fiery hole with the exit does look omnious.

 

MAP21: Solitude

Spoiler

The final, most notorious chapter of Scythe takes place in hell. Solitude is a short cave network with a tiny monster count. It wouldn't be much harder than previous maps if it wasn't for one detail: limited resources. There's little health to recover and ammo is best spent on two archviles and other stuff that's hard to punch with a berserk. 

 

MAP22: Despair

Spoiler

 

The map took me quite a while to beat (considering its 3 minutes runtime). At first I had no idea how much ammo do I need to save, so I relied on infighting and berserk pack to handle the courtyard you come across early on. MAP21 was rather tight with resources, but Despair seems more generous. There's a BFG in a pit, which I've saved for later. 

 

Now, the reason why I kept dying here is the cyberdemon that appears in the courtyard. I thought I'd finally learn how to two-shot them and after numerous attempts I succeeded. I think I'm starting to get a hold on this. It's good to save at least one BFG shot for the archvile and revenants at the end and the map is done.

 

Overall, a challenging but entertaining map.

 

 

MAP23: Anger

Spoiler

 

I like the opening fight, a chaotic scramble for guns that triggers more and more monsters as you try to arm yourself. The rest, not so much. The caves are a thing and I struggle to say anything more about them. The finale lets you unleash two cyberdemons to eliminate a trickle of teleporting enemies, but I find it annoying to lead them out of their cubby and press a switch inside to lower the red key - got a rocket in a back a number of times. Once I did managed to trigger infighting and eliminate the cybers (no trying to two-shot them this time), there's just two more, relatively harmless archviles and the map is over.

 

I think I prefer Despair over Anger (which I admit sounds strange out of context), but I still regard it as a solid map.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP24-MAP30

 

MAP24: Hatred

Spoiler

I find this one to be weaker than the last three maps. Hatred feels grindy, especially the mancubi around the red key - they can barely hit you unless you go out of your way to kill them. There's also an inconveniently placed cyberdemon that barely infights and is a chore to take down, plus a mastermind at the end. I did enjoy the two groups of revenants that you can go wild on with rockets.

 

MAP25: Envy

Spoiler

Envy doesn't feature that much enemies, but too many of them are arachnotrons. First you kill them in dark hallways, then you enter a bloody courtyard, which holds several of them plus two masterminds (hope they infight), followed by a small room of more spiders and a cyberdemon. After this, the map is over, just save 40 cells for yet another exit-blocking archvile (which seems to become a tradition here). This one is pretty underwhelming.

 

MAP26: Fear

Spoiler

Holy shit, now that's a spectacle. Fear is a compact slaughter map with 666 monsters, tons of cells, megaspheres and two invulnerability spheres to eliminate a horde of monsters that gather in the trench below and 14 cyberdemons. Spam BFG until you gather all three keys and exit. It's a huge departure from small-scale combat of Scythe's previous levels, but the exciting, high-octane action makes it my favourite of Alm's maps.

 

MAP27: Terror

Spoiler

 

Alm labels this one as "hard", but I don't find it that difficult. It's mostly incidental combat against enemies that come out of monster closets. Sure, there's a lot of archviles, but their placement isn't that challenging (mostly hiding in the closets or in places you can easily avoid their attacks). The sole thing that is difficult is the ending, but not in an enjoyable way - you are teleported on top of a blursphere and tasked with killing three cyberdemons. 

 

I do enjoy the aesthetic, being a combination of hell maps with Book Lords. I feel like this was supposed to be a wind-down after Fear, with easier, less impactful combat and calming "Waiting for Romero to Play" as a soundtrack.

 

 

MAP28: Run From It

Spoiler

 

Doomworld's 31st most memorable map. For all the wrong reasons.

 

It's a shame this is the map from Scythe that people remember. From what I've seen, Run From It is universally held in contempt and it's hard to not agree. On UV, it's a brutal time trial, where, as the title implies, you have to strafe-run through an obstacle course to reach an exit in roughly 30 seconds. If you fail, a voodoo doll gets crushed and you die. The time limit is very tight, with even a loss of a second being a potential run-killer. It's slightly better on lower difficulties, since you can skip a parts of a map through normally blocked shortcuts (I've tried the map on HNTR after completing it on UV and finished it first time; it was more forgiving with time limit). I've also discovered you can eliminate the lost souls and an imp without triggering the timer, this helped a bit, as they have a bad habit of blocking you early on. After I figured this out, it was doable, but still not fun.

 

Run From It is a bad idea executed poorly and I think it's the reason why there hasn't been that many time trial maps since.

 

 

MAP29: Hell on Earth

Spoiler

 

Now, about the music. I know Scythe's final act uses Symphony X tracks, but I haven't recognised them. I've only listened to Twilight in Olympus, after stumbling into Church of the Machine years ago (not knowing about its association with Scythe's sequel). "Lady of the Snow" was on that album as well, so it's good to hear something familiar.

 

Hell on Earth went in a different direction compared to the rest of the wad, being large city map covered in snow. It's pretty, but not that fun to play. It just feel so grindy, with several cyberdemons, archviles appearing in every bigger fights and numerous tanky monsters (arachnotrons, nobles and mancubi). I didn't find it that hard, the only exception is a cyberdemon that appears near the yellow key. It's another bastard that you have to outrun in a limited space so you can safely kill him with two BFG blasts (I think I'm slowly getting a handle on this). The rest is more time-consuming.

 

 

MAP30: Fire and Ice

Spoiler

 

Two hours of real time. Numerous saves. Blatant cheesing. I did it. I fucking did it. 

 

Fire and Ice is one of the hardest maps I've ever completed. No, scratch that. The hardest map I've completed. I don't see myself as a particularly experienced player, with Hell Revealed being the only other challenge wad I've played. Still, this is an absolutely brutal map. 

 

Where do I even begin? The start, modeled after Perfect Hatred isn't bad, I ran for the rocket launcher, BFG and started eliminating the nearby monsters. This took a while, but this place acts as a hub, connecting two different wings of the map, the titular Fire and Ice. Fire is a network of red caves, stuffed with revenants, archviles, more revenants and cyberdemons. The red key is at the end, picking it up floods a narrow walkway with a ton of skeletons and several archviles. I managed to locate a secret, where you can attack them from a bunker of sorts, the place was full of rockets and I managed to eliminate this threat.

 

Ice refers to a snowy courtyard, divided into two parts. I find the eastern one more managable, the cyberdemon isn't that tough to kill, cacodemon cloud can be blown away with rockets, but the building with two cyberdemons is insane - very small and if you try to escape, there's a monster closet full of revenants. That's where the cheesing starts. I managed to get the revenants and cyberdemons to infight, thinning the horde enough I could finish them off with ease. The rest wasn't as bad, the second building is a rocket dump and then you return to the hub, with the blue key unlocked and some mid-tiers to remove.

 

There's one thing left and that's the yellow key. This bloody part. The arena here is pre-loaded with three cyberdemons and mancubi, if you try to lower the key, three closes containing revenant hordes open and if you pick the key, another box reveals four cyberdemons and archviles. In the hindsight, I should have left the revenants alive, unleash the cyberdemons and hide in a corner like a sissy, waiting for infighting to do the job. Instead, I fought them piece-meal, running out of cells and resorting to hiding on an elevated platform and firing at the crowd below. Then repeating this with cyberdemons. But I did it. Everything was dead, I had all keys and could jump into a hole, face to face with Romero's head. I punched him to death, ending Scythe once and for all.

 

I don't plan to return to this map. Fire and Ice is way to hard for me to be entertaining, with "You Suck" adding to its dreary atmosphere. I'm just glad I survived it.

 

 

 

Conclusions

 

I don't like to start with criticism, but what talking about Scythe, at one point you have to touch on its difficulty curve. I understand what Alm was going for - to gradually escalate, from simple maps to the ultimate challenge at the end. I don't think he succeeded. The end result is disjointed, feeling like three separate wads aimed at three different crowds of players. The first 20 maps are very easy and shouldn't be difficult to anyone who completed Doom 2. Maps 21-29 provided a healthy challenge to me, I enjoyed their compact nature and the ability to create vicious scenarios with minimal monster numbers, Fear's slaughter and even Hell on Earth, which I think I've softened up a bit after MAP30. Then there is Fire and Ice, a gigantic difficulty hike that comes out of nowhere and you really need to be an experience player to overcome this.

 

Speaking as someone who feels no nostalgic attachment to Scythe, I find it hard to enjoy in its full form. I like some of the later maps, but the first half was boring with short maps that ended before they started to heat up, while the finale left me tired. I appreciate the visual aspect, quality lighting and some nice places, yet in the end, Scythe is not a wad I want to return to. I've heard a lot about its sequel and how Alm improved as a mapper, but I know Scythe 2 is much harder, so I'll be leaving it for a far later time.

 

TOP 3 maps:

MAP26: Fear
MAP15: Blood Bath
MAP19: 3000 AD

 

I think I'll play something easier and more relaxing now.

[Celestin]

Something older this time - Obituary, made by Thomas and Denis Möller, also known as The Innocent Crew, also known as "that other 90's brothers". It brings some DeHackEd alterations to the wad - which is the main reason I want to check it out, considering I find it difficult to appreciate early works.

 

MAP01-MAP07

 

MAP01: Entrance by Denis Möller

Spoiler

 

Time to familiarise yourself with the new elements. You now dual-wield pistols, meaning twice the power, but also it screws up with audio. Since pistol firing sound is also used for chaingun and menu, you hear more shots than you should. Imps now throw hell knight projectiles and there's a new kind of zombie: "the bazooka man", who launches a single cyberdemon rocket. The Möllers love to test your reflexes, placing them behind corners to guarantee a death if you don't kill them on sight. Also, you kick now instead of punching, but the difference seem purely visual.

 

Entrance is a short map, mostly consisting of narrow corridors. It feels a bit heavy on backtracking, like it tries to pad out its lenght. I like how the red key area looks, a small island in a basin, with chaingunners and rocket zombie in cages. Overall, an okay introduction.

 

 

MAP02: The Cataract by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

The Cataract is a compact, mazy map that just can't decide on what it wants to be. There's slime, blood, stone and metal, all this feels disjointed to me. The combat consists of eliminating small groups of imps and zombies in tight hallways.

 

I think the only parts I do enjoy were the crate room, which does a great job at hiding monsters behind corners. The teleporting mass that appears once you jump to the highest point was also entertaining to take out, the rocket zombies are the highest priority here.

 

 

MAP03: Chambers of Confusion by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

The exit is right in front of you, however it gets blocked once you get close. This kicks off a rather linear and backtracking-heavy map with the same playful feel Tricks and Traps had. Well, aside from the blue key that sits on a slow crusher. Had it been a fast one, I'd call it stupid and moved on, but as is, it's this exact kind of beginner's trap that I despise.

 

Chambers of Confusion is a very efficient map when it comes to its use of space, just take a look at the automap. Most of the combat consists of fighting weaker monsters in narrow corridors, once you get a super shotgun, there's little threat. Mowing down whole rooms of monsters is as fun as it has always been. The remaining two keys are also guarded, yellow one locks you inside a cage and reveals two barons (after the blue key crusher, I picked it up as fast as I could and got out before the bars lowered). The red key is placed in a cool room where square computer panels rise from the floor, while you battle enemies that appear.

It wasn't a bad map, just had one infuriating section that will kill you the first time.

 

 

MAP04: The Church by Denis Möller

Spoiler

 

Not much of a church if you ask me. There's one room with a cross on the ceiling, but that's about it. Pistol-starting this map was hard - you start in a tiny closet with lost souls, followed by a courtyard where pinkies are running around and several zombies (including a chaingunner and rocket trooper) are standing on a ring above. This part is very tight on ammo, try to save as much as you can for the next areas, a cramped tunnel with even more pinkies and a dark room with spectres.

The map eases up afterwards, the red key teleport ambush was fun, but the four barons blocking the teleporter to the exit - just why?

 

 

MAP05: The Hidden Below by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

Compared to previous, mostly cramped, maps, The Hidden Below takes place in the largest rooms of the wad so far. However, they are flat and plastered with a single texture, so they just look very dated. Most of the combat revolves around sniping hitscanners or punching pinkies, but there are parts that I enjoyed. The introduction of a flamethrower is one such encounter. It replaces a plasma rifle, offering devastating damage at the cost of range. Once you pick it up, monsters begin to appear on a rather narrow path, so you are encouraged to spray fire and push through. Unless you catch a rocket from a zombie below, I think that one bastard is completely unnecessary.

 

However, what completely kills this map for me is a confusing progression. The exit isn't far from the start, but it's locked behind the yellow door. I managed to find the blue key without issues, the red one took me a bit, since I'm still not sure what opens a path to it. The yellow key left me stumped, until I've noticed an odd panel on a balcony above the red key. It's marked as a secret, by the way. This leads to a room above which I was burning demons with a flamethrower. Let's just say some design decisions have fallen out of style since 1995.

 

 

MAP06: Reactor by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

I like the part where you see three doors on a wall, each leading to the same room, but depending on the route, the walls raise and lead you to different places. It's a creative trick, the rest of the map, though...

 

It opens with a grid of lowering and rising pillars, then tasks you with searching the techbase for all three keys. Probably the worst part is a blinking room with 20% hurtfloor, where you will lose a ton of health (even with medikits laying around) unless you know about nearby radsuit secrets. The rest isn't that bad and I enjoyed the mass of hitscanners that appear at the end. 

 

 

MAP07: Slaughter Until Death by Denis Möller

Spoiler

 

I didn't try to get all kills here for two reason. One, when played by yourself, Slaughter Until Death is repetitive as fuck. You have four cross-shaped rooms, each has you press four switches to release more monsters and finally open the way to the exit. Hope you like killing pinkies with a super shotgun, 'cause that's what you will be doing for the majority of the map. Two, the map can glitch and not let you out. So one section is all I need to see.

 

One noteworthy thing is another new enemy, dubbed "hitech guy". He's a fast, partially transparent Nazi replacement that I recognise from Epic 2. This aside, Slaughter Until Death is just not a good map.

 

 

[Ralgor]

On 1/4/2024 at 3:00 PM, Celestin said:

Conclusions

 

I don't like to start with criticism, but what talking about Scythe, at one point you have to touch on its difficulty curve.

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one that felt this way after beating it. Your conclusions matched my own when I played it a while back.

[Celestin]

MAP08-MAP12

MAP08: Observation Station by Denis Möller

Spoiler

 

Damn, what a difficulty hike. The start is brutal - chaingunners, cacodemons and no guns or ammo. This building where you get the red key is the hardest part of the map, somehow you need to reach the key with very limited supply of bullets and a handful of rockets. With this done, it gets more managable. The flamethrower has a heafty supply of ammo and it can carry you through the bulk of the map. You can also enter a tiny room where you are surrounded by hitscanners. It's a bullshit trap, but if you survive it somehow, you can leave with a shotgun. 

 

I won't call the rest "easy", it's cramped, heavy on traps and loves to surprise you with rocket zombies. I don't mind it as the map gives you all the tools to handle them. As I've said, there's a steady supply of cells and flamethrower excels in close-quarter combat. The part where you try to solve the yellow key puzzle and instead get ambushed by a group of monsters was nice, as was the ending, with pinkies and archvile blocking the ending. This is where the flamethrower is shamelessly fun. Overall, it's a solid map, I just wish the start was better balanced (though it's very possible it was intended to be played continous).

 

 

MAP09: Nuclear Research Base by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

I enjoyed this one more than other maps in Obituary. I think it's because of distinct visuals (mostly a green techbase with a ton of blue textures), the cramped gameplay doesn't bother me and generally the map flows well. As usual in this wad, it's mostly a fight against zombies and pinkies, stuffed in tight corridors and placed close to explosive barrels. I find this surprisingly entertaining.

 

Nuclear Research Base is generous with secrets, with a high number of hitscanners this means you shouldn't run out of ammo. As a rule of thumb, check behind every skull on a wall, most of them contains something. One such cubby leads you down to the slime pit, where a BFG replacement awaits - a sonic cannon that fires invisible projectiles.

 

 

MAP10: The Stand by Denis Möller

Spoiler

 

Another map that is low on ammo early on and takes a while to gives you a shotgun. The map starts in a 4-way hub, where three routes are locked and require keys that has to be collected in a linear fashion. The first part is my least favourite, like in the previous map Denis made, you lack guns at the start, there's even this elevated platform with a cyberdemon that I recommend ignoring for now (or at all if you don't bother with all the kills). 

 

The rest is much easier (like MAP08, to be honest), as you collect proper guns and can comfortably deal with any and all threats. The standout moment is a flooded town (more like 2 buildings, but whatever) that you visit at the end. At this point you should be loaded to take out revenants, mancubi and all manners of zombies. Here, I also discovered the flamethrower might not be as effective against elevated targets (even ones that aren't that far), but can toast an archvile in a second. I have the same opinion about The Stand as I had with MAP08 - it isn't bad, I just wish for a smoother start.

 

 

MAP11: Incubator of Chaos by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

This one is pretty unremarkable. It's yet another cramped techbase with a tough start - open a cubby you start in and get shot by a shotgunner sitting straight on a blockmap grid. There are more zombies around and two imps behind you. Survive this and the map turns into a crawl through a network of tunnels, eliminating a cast of zombies and pinkies. The only noteworthy thing about it is the name.

 

MAP12: Biochemical Factory by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

It's a shame Thomas Möller hasn't been active since the 90's, no joke, I would love to see him tackle one of those 1024x1024 unit projects. Biochemical Factory feels like a square where every possible space is filled with a corridor or a secret passageway, the map loops on itself and so on, and so forth. 

 

The combat is pretty much what you've seen in Obituary before. One thing that got me by surprise were the two fake exits. First drops you into a small room with cacodemons and shotgunners, the other opens a monster closet with pinkies behind your back. In the end, it's a solid map, one of the better in the wad.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP13-MAP16

 

MAP13: Pandemonium II by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

If you find the first couple of room hard, there's a BFG behind a secret wall on your right. Other than that, it's a Thomas Möller map in Obituary - cramped and filling every possible space. I do like a giant tower with a pentagram where you fight a cyberdemon, because it's such a cute 90's idea of a challenge.

 

MAP14: Halls of the Requiem by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

The start was an awful experience. Very little ammo, corridors you can barely run through and most of the time will be spent cutting demons with a chainsaw. Truly riveting gameplay. It gets better later, with the crate storage being a high point. I like those wooden boxes, they add this hint of industrial grime to the map. The fight at the end, with monsters teleporting out of a fountain would have been a cool setpiece, if it didn't take this long to deplete.

 

MAP15: Castle of Damnation by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

More distinct sights here, I think. There's a well you need to jump into to get a key and a castle behind a pool of lava. On the other hand, you need to find a way through a maze, which was boring and the final fight, taking place in a courtyard with a central tower would have been nice with more tightly-designed teleporter closets (RIP speedrunners, they take so long to deplete and I had to run into the maze several times just to coax the monsters to leave).

 

The secret exit was found by a complete accident, after wall-humping stone walls around the exit switch.

 

 

MAP31: Divine Inferno by Thomas Möller

Spoiler

 

Essentially, three challenge rooms that need to be complete before the map is over. First is a teleporting ambush that contain half of the map's monsters, the remaining two feature an archvile in an open field, surrounded by zombies (shotgunners and rocket men in one, chaingunners in the other). Pistol-starters are only given a super shotgun and scavanged guns, raising the difficulty a notch, but it's still more managable than some starts in previous maps.

 

While hardly groundbreaking, I enjoyed its brisk nature, as least it doesn't sprawl like some previous maps.

 

 

MAP16: Conclusion by Denis Möller

Spoiler

An Icon of Sin I find rather janky. After grabbing guns and dispatching a handful of pinkies and rocket zombies, you are tasked with destroying the Romero's head inside a pillar. Two issues. One, for some reason I find it hard to fit a rocket through a hole, even more so than usual. Two, because the column is triangular and has a hole on every wall, it's very likely your rockets won't collide with with the pillar's interior and instead exit through another hole. The end result was somewhat annoying, but I cleared it on like third or fourth attempt.

 

Conclusions

 

Obituary was released in 1995 and for its time, it was an ambitious project. Compared to the stuff that was released back then, 17 new maps, altered weapons and monsters, new textures - that's a lot. I especially enjoyed the added elements. Flamethrower is a unique take on a plasma rifle and I had so much fun running into crowds and spraying napalm. The bazooka man is an interesting way to test your reflexes and target prioritisation, but oftentimes he acts as a comic relief of sorts - when placed in a crowd and blowing it all up to pieces.

 

That being said, you might have a feeling my later write-ups felt phoned-in. In truth, a lot of maps in Obituary plays similiarly, with zombies and pinkies acting as the main opposition. Maps tend to get cramped and many of them has a rather tough starts, only to ease after the first fight. I also have an issue with the level's order, the latter half is made almost entirely of maps designed by Thomas and mixing them up with his brother's work could make the overall progression more interesting.

 

In the end, it was a trip through Doom's early history, rather than a challenge or seeking new and exciting stuff. Everything had humble beginings and mapping isn't different.

[Celestin]

Eviternity II turned out to be much more involved than I initially thought, so the next round of write-ups took me a while. Especially since I started playing Community Chest 4. This is a blind playthrough, though I've heard that the maps here tend to be on the larger side. 

 

MAP01-MAP07

 

MAP01: Renewed Faith by William Huber (WH-Wilou86)

Spoiler

A short techbase with an energetic midi and a ton of basic monsters to kill with a shotgun - besides a single cacodemon at the end, you'll be fighting imps, zombies and shotgunners exclusively. Wilou throws large groups at you, but it's hardly challenging. It's a decent introduction, made more interesting with its new texture set.

MAP02: Slugfest by Skillsaw

Spoiler

 

The 2011's Mapper of the Year brings a small and monster-dense concrete structure that brings his later works to mind, especially Valiant's first episode. Slugfest consists of three paths that branch off of the opening room, with red and blue key that can be grabbed in any order you want. The blue key route is a tiny courtyard where you have to dance with some basic monsters, the red key takes you through sewers and include one fight where you get surrounded by pinkies. I strongly recommend getting a secret plasma rifle in the blue key room, it's accessible after jumping on top of a crate.

 

The map concludes with a fight against a combination of zombies, imps, hell knights and revenants. Overall, an exciting map from a future titan of mapping.

 

 

MAP03: There is a Charm by Phobus

Spoiler

 

I initially found little charming here, as MAP03 starts in a cramped gray techbase. You have a lot of zombies, imps and pinkies to kill with a shotgun and a chaingun, so the map drags somewhat. I got the blue key without issues, and made my way to a network of dark caves. It's where the map gets much better, as the natural landscape looks way better than metal slabs and monsters hiding in the darkness made this a tense part. It ends with another techbase, this one is clearly abandonned and corroded. The exit was found after a short search, but when I've reached it, I realised more than half of enemies were still alive, so there was clearly more to it.

 

Well, I completely missed a huge door at the start, it leads to a circular room with the yellow key. It's the best looking part of the starting complex, with two elevated concentric rings and monsters firing from the high ground. When I picked up the key, teleporting monsters blocked my escape, but I managed to cut through them and avoid getting cornered. Now you can enter a rocky outdoor section, it looks good, but the fights here consist mostly of sniping the snipers. Either way, you will reach the same rusty base as through the blue key path.

 

I'm conflicted about this map, it took me a while to find everything and the combat isn't that engaging. At the same time, I appreciate the visual aspect and the two ways you can reach the end.

 

 

MAP04: Polluted Paths by Forty-Two (stewboy)

Spoiler

This one is pretty, but also pretty boring. The concrete base has a distinct aesthetic and the caves has some nice natural formations. However, the combat consists almost entirely of holding fire button, walking from room to room and eliminating crowds of imps, zombies and pinkies. Occasionally revenants and other bigger monsters are added in, they feel grindy to take out until you get your hands on a super shotgun. With a 15 minutes that it took me to complete, Polluted Paths feels too monotonous.

 

MAP05: Installation Decrepit by Alice Jameson

Spoiler

 

I haven't found any mention of Alice Jameson on Doomwiki beside this one map, which always makes me curious. Assuming it's a work of a novice mapper, Installation Decrepit offers a decent challenge in a surprisingly detailed environment. The map takes place in an abandoned base, with rust, missing tiles and those odd vertical lamps that feel curved (?). I know it's just upper and lowe textures, but the effect is off putting. The map starts with mowing a lot of imps, zombies and pinkies, until you reach the caves underneath the complex. I was surprised to see a mastermind here, but a secret BFG took her out in no time. Then comes a part with barrels riding on a conveyor belt around the room, which wasn't that tough until archviles began to show up. Alice isn't afraid to use them and the three that resides inside another BFG secret are just absurd.

 

The map ends with a big fight - a cyberdemon turret launches rockets at you, while you are chased revenants and cacodemons, with imps adding to the clutter. Overall, a solid map and I wish I could see more from the author.

 

 

MAP06: Survival Instincts by Adam Windsor (Capellan)

Spoiler

 

I was surprised to learn Capellan made this one, as I mostly associate him with small, hard-hitting maps (like Demonfear, Doom 404 and the bulk of his Requiem submissions). Survival Instinct is a very classic base infiltration, spruced up by the new textures. The map, once again, throws a lot of chaff to take out (imps and shotgunners combined represent 3/4 of all monsters), with a big fight at the end by the red door. Sniping revenants, imps and chaingunners on the ground floor, flying cacodemons - they are all here. I found most of the secrets instinctively, though I wonder why is there a hidden shotgun by the start when 10 meters further, the very first monster you encounter is a shotgunner.

 

Survival Instincts is the first map Capellan released after years-long break from mapping and it's a return in a style.

 

 

MAP07: Hoedown by Phobus

Spoiler

 

The start is a bit of a difficulty spike, as the place is dark, cramped and seriously lacks health. Exporing the early parts of this slime facility should grant you a yellow key and a rocket launcher. You should promptly use it to dispatch a mass of zombies that appear near the start, a setpiece that very clearly closes the first part of the map.

 

Part two picks right after, you emerge into a rocky square between two techbases. Aside from enemies that populate the ground floor, you have numerous snipers, stuff flying in the air and even a cyberdemon at the opposite end. There's no point in fighting here, so I hid inside the second complex and started sorting things out. I'd say the second half is much more to my liking, it gives the player a lot of routing freedom to pick their own angle of attack and is more generous with resources. Secrets are also helpful, I recommend tracking down the BFG and getting rid of the cyberdemon quickly. Aside from that, you'll be mostly dealing with incidental stuff, but the open nature of this place makes up for this.

 

Overall, a solid map, with stock midi being my only complaint.

 

 

Edited January 28 by Celestin

[Andromeda]

3 hours ago, Celestin said:

I haven't found any mention of Alice Jameson on Doomwiki beside this one map, which always makes me curious.

It's been theorised that the author is Grain of Salt, but I find that unlikely.

[Celestin]

Eviternity II ended up being a very involved megawad to play, so I had to put CC4 on hold for a bit. With that wad completed, I think I'll have more time to finish this one.

 

MAP08-MAP14

 

MAP08: Cold Reception by Mithran Denizen

Spoiler

 

I this snow-covered base hits hard with numerous enemies and limited resources. If you aren't looking for secret, get ready to be low on ammo and limited to a shotgun. It was painful. Once I started to search around, I found an out of way tunnel in an icy cave that eventually granted me a super shotgun. The single best fight of the map is the one that gives you a plasma rifle and opens an arena with arachnotrons, barons and imp snipers. Come to think about it, it's a single large fight in a map that is otherwise dedicated to moving along and clearing corridors. However, it's locked behind several secret switches and an optional hidden key, so I doubt many will see it.

 

I do have to praise the visual, Cold Reception organically combines rock and concrete, as if the whole place was a cave complex that was later converted into a research station. It's not a fun map to play blind, but I guess it would be more entertaining to replay it, knowing where the big guns are.

 

 

MAP09: Ochregerde by William Huber (WH-Wilou-86)

Spoiler

 

I have a weakness for Plutonia-style maps, so Ochregerde (whatever the hell it means) was a huge hit for me. The starting area, some sort of mud-filled pit surrounded by rocks, is already hot, but a super shotgun hidden in a corner helped here a lot. 

 

To reach the exit, you must first find the red and yellow keys, they unlock a way to the blue key, which in turn unlocks the exit. On your way, you'll be dealing with the classic Casali obstacles: chaingunners, up-close revenants, surprising archviles and a lot of traps and ambushes. I find the red key to be the harder of the two, as it pinches you between revenants, spectres and an archvile. The yellow key is harder to reach, as you have to deal with another pit of ground troops, cacodemons and snipers. It would have been easier if I went for a rocket launcher earlier, but that speeds things up, rather than being required. 

 

My favourite encounter comes right before the blue key, where a gang of revenants plus an archvile suddenly appear. As for the blue key, I had a secret invuln saved for a place like this, so I jumped down and started firing rockets until everything was dead. Speaking of secrets, I have no idea what opens it, but there's a room with CC4 made out of health vials and armour pickups. Very cute.

 

So far, this has been the best map of CC4. The visuals are distinct and the trap-heavy gameplay just clicks with me.

 

 

MAP10: Inner Fear by Dutch Devil

Spoiler

A kill count over 500 can seem daunting so early, but Inner Fear is a fun romp through a detailed brick and marble fort. Yes, it can take a while (half an hour in my case), but throwing hordes of monsters at you or teleporting monsters in front and behind you in a corridor is entertaining in its excess. Inner Fear really loves teleport traps and repopulating already-cleared rooms. One complain I do have is the backtracking and somewhat convoluted progression. Like, there are two courtyards, one holds the blue key and the exit, the other has red and yellow skulls. Because the keys need to be obtained in a specific order, you'll have to run back and forth between those two places. I do think it stretches the map a bit too much, but it was still a fun level to play, especially with Jimmy's midi in the background.

 

MAP11: The Grotto by Christoph and Joshy

Spoiler

 

"Grand" is the best way to describe the map. The scale of this place leaves me in awe, same with seamlessly connecting caves and concrete. The way to the top is a long one, it took me almost an hour to complete, but I can't say it was not entertaining. 

 

The Grotto is divided into two parts. You start in the southern part of the map, it's fairly open and packed with enemies. It's mostly your incidental stuff, but there are encounter I can recall. The blue skull is a rather small room that gets flooded with imps and pinkies, reinforced by some barons. A cramped nature of this one makes it probably the hardest fight of the map. There's also the red skull fight against spectres in a massive dark cavern, but this one isn't good.

 

At some point (after you grab either the blue skull or key), a way to the top opens, releasing two cyberdemons in the starting area. While there is a secret BFG, it seems it requires an archvile jump, so you have to deal with them in other way. I found two secret plasma rifles, one was especially cool, as it involved a water slide through some dark tunnels. The rest of the map is somewhat easier, there's one fight that gives you an invulnerability sphere, but it only spawns some imps, pinkies and like four hell knights, so it doesn't feel necessary (the second plasma rifle is also here if you haven't found the previous one). As for the yellow skull that locks you with hitscanners - just spray plasma and you should come victorious. Once you searched the place for six keys, you can unlock the big door, deal with one final fight of archvile, spectres and mancubi and power up the exit elevator. 

 

I think this is the most impressive map so far. However, while I had fun playing it, most of the combat felt forgettable. Also, a map this big this early?

 

 

MAP12: Nectar of the Gods by The Green Herring

Spoiler

 

The start is an utter chore if you don't know about the secret rocket launcher, so look behind this big stone block for a shootable switch. Nectar is rather generous with rockets right from the start, but the official rocket launcher appears in the second part of the map. If you don't know about this secret, well, have fun taking out tanky demons with a super shotgun.

 

The combat consists mostly of teleport traps, oftentimes with monsters appearing in front of you and others cutting your escape. The best part was easily that one arena where a lot of revenants and chaingunners appear around you, it's a hectic fight where you need to target the hitscanners while dancing around to avoid missiles. Overall, not a bad map by any means, I just wish the early rocket launcher was not buried in a secret.

 

 

MAP13: Viral Implant by Phobus

Spoiler

 

CC4 contributors seem to prefer bigger maps, so a short and punchy map like Viral Implant is greatly appreciated. I don't know where did the name come from. I expected a polluted factory with a ton of imps, instead it's a medieval fort with a cast of rather beefy monsters. At the same time, the map hands you a rocket launcher and a plasma rifle, showers you with cells and rockets, plus there are enough soulspheres to fall back to if you get hurt.

 

The very start puts you in the sights of arachnotrons and revenants, while cacodemons close in. If you survive this, you have to defeat a mastermind in a rather open space, but I managed to make her fight with arachnotrons. The caves that follow, with revenants and archviles, were probably the hardest part of the map, unless you lure them out to the open. The rest, well, rockets and plasma should do the job. A pair of cyberdemons that guard the exit feels a bit grindy to kill, but you can turn on a secret crusher to eliminate them quicker. Not a bad map, it works fine as a bit of a break after more involved levels.

 

 

MAP14: Downriver by ProcessingControl

Spoiler

 

Downriver is a rather quirky map - you are given a rocket launcher in the very first room, which ends up being your main weapon here. Right after this, you see a squad of revenants dropping from the ceiling, which got me the first time I saw it. You are kinda accustomed to monsters rising from the floor, but the opposite was something new. 

 

This map really loves two things: revenants and secrets. Downriver is a linear and backtracking-heavy search for the keys, skeleton ambushes are used a lot along the way and without plasma, they can be dangerous to tackle up-close. Once you get your hands on the SSG, it gets more managable. As for secrets, there are 18 of those and hunting for them was a challenge bigger than the combat. I've found half on my own, the rest were rather cryptic and sometimes involved shooting or pressing a random wall (like that one where you press a wall that turns out to be an elevator, raising you through a ceiling into a lava-covered cubby; just WTF).

 

I like the visuals, the theme of a power plant by a dam is nicely realised and I generally have a soft spot for cc4-tex techbases. Downriver can get unconventional, but I think its experimental nature adds to an experience.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP15-MAP18

 

MAP15: Decomposition by Lord Z

Spoiler

 

Another techbase, this time focused more on slime processing. It does look good, with a lot of care put into the detailing. How does Decomposition play, though? Well, it's mostly corridor-based. There's a handful of exceptions, one being a slime-filled room where you can use switches to create bridges and move from platform to platform. It was okay the first time, but gets old fast (especially since you need to return here to reach the secret exit). There's also an outdoor section, but it also feel cramped. Still, the map provides a constant stream of monsters to eliminate, so it's not like I wasn't having fun, especially when I've found a secret plasma rifle.

 

While the route to the exit is neither difficult nor complex, reaching MAP31 is more involved. So there's this secret corridor near the exit with a handful of health bonuses. If you press one of the walls here, it opens a closet with the red key. You have to return to that room with slime I've mentioned earlier and use the red door here. This kicks off a chain of secrets that will give you a BFG (though I don't think it's needed in this map) and culminate in the secret exit.

 

A bit uneventful map for my liking, but still a solid one. 

 

 

MAP31: Mortar Combat by Forty-Two (stewboy)

Spoiler

 

Out of two maps stewboy submitted for CC4, this is easily the better one. It's a non-stop war against revenants, archviles and hell nobles, set in a tan complex drenched in blood. I bet Plutonia was the main inspiration and this all translates into a somewhat challenging map. At the same time, it's very generous with rockets and cells, so you should be well-equiped to take on whatever the map throws at you. The toughest fight was the part where you first pass by the blue door, it's a horde of revenants and two archviles on a rather narrow ledge. I tried to tackle this head-on, but eventually resorted to camping. The final setpiece was somewhat of a disappointed. You have a centrally located cyberdemon that is both harmless and useless against a horde of revenants that appear here, I ended up running around the arena and firing rockets into crowds. I get what stewboy was going for, I just think it needed a bit of tweaking.

 

To reach the secret exit, you need to press all skull switches that are placed around the map. Some are in the open, others require finding secrets. It was a fun scavenge hunt, but why each of them was holding an archvile behind? Once you find a plasma rifle (which is not that deep into the map), you can just hug the vile and spray until it dies, making them hardly a threat. Also, while the progression is somewhat linear, the map opens shortcuts as it goes on, so backtracking is very quick - it's a kind idea when you search for the remaining switches. Mortar Combat is a good blend of challenge and exploration, fitting for a secret slot.

 

 

MAP32: Mutare by Jeffrey Nordin

Spoiler

 

Well, there's a lot to talk about this one. First of all, Mutare adopts a hyper-maximalist aesthetic and I'm on the fence here. There is a lot of care being put into detailing, but at the same time, the map is cramped, so putting a lot of lines here can make the whole thing look cluttered. This is probably my sole complaint, as Mutare is a solid map otherwise.

 

If Mortar Combat opened secret passages to allow for easier movement throughout the map, Mutare prefers to transform the level to make way for new encounters. A lot of times I've entered a new arena, only to realise I've been here before, just some walls lowered to remade the place and repopulate it with new foes. Combat is hard to describe, you can leave a lot of monsters for later and secrets lets you preemptively take out future ambushes. There's a lot of routing possibilities, boosting the map's replay value. It's a tough level, throwing big monsters from the get-go, assaulting you with monster crowds and surpising archviles and releasing enemies behind your back just for a good measure. The final fight hands you a BFG and opens a courtyard full of monsters, including several cyberdemons. It also lets loose pair of archviles in other parts of the map, so I went to kill them and afer my return I realised the cybers took out everything. 

 

This was a surprisingly good map for someone I've never heard (and can't find any other mention) of. With a bit restraint, it would have been CC4's highlight.

 

 

MAP35: Midnight Tek Frenzy by Snakes

Spoiler

 

In case you wonder why is there a MAP35, Midnight Tek Frenzy was originally being developed for CC4, however Snakes missed a deadline and released the map standalone. It was added as a hidden bonus in the release version of CC4.

 

In some aspects, MAP35 greatly reminds me of Valiant's first episode. Same concrete blocks, similiar night sky and combat packed with monsters. The opening fight minutes are a constant assault of enemies, reinforced by cacodemons and several pain elementals. This part is just relentless, but the map is only starting. The flood of imps that guard the blue key was a shocking moment (especially as I was low on ammo), but it's mixed in with several mancubi who did the bulk of killing. 

You can now enter the base, I think the map takes a break for a while. There's a big fight in an open arena, a collapsing bridge that locks you in a tunnel with imps and pinkies teleporting from both sides and a BFG-powered fight against a cyberdemon, but all this is rather manageable. The exit fight is a different story. There's another crowd of imps, followed by two cyberdemons getting released one by one and finally, four archviles. In my case, it was an excercise in quickly killing cyberdemons so I could preserve cells for the viles. Once they are done, the map is over.

 

Midnight Tek Frenzy would have made a great addition to the regular roster of CC4, it's a hard-hitting and exciting map, propelled forward by a midi from Rise of the Triad. But, deadlines are deadlines, so I'm glad it was at least salvaged in this form.

 

 

MAP16: The Forgotten Base by Keeper of Jericho

Spoiler

 

You start in an open courtyard that will mostly clear itself by running around and provoking infighting. After this is done, you can start exploring this odd map. There are four numbered buildings on each side of the map, three keys on top of columns and an odd structure with teleporters. The Forgotten Base works a bit like The Mucus Flow - the bulk of map's ammo is in one place (building I), guns stronger than SSG require keys to unlock. I first cleared the building II, there were some arachnotrons inside, but flipping two switches here released hell knights outside and four archviles on the walls that surround the map. I died here, reloaded a save and left this place for now, but now without finding a secret invulnerability. I saved this one for later and went to building III. I cleared this place, ignored the cyberdemon and unlocked the yellow key. This triggered a small ambush outside, however it also allowed me to get my hands on a plasma rifle. At this point, I more or less had a plan.

 

So I cleared building IV - it's a rather cramped place with archviles that can be telefragged and several chaingunners, but what happens outside is the real challenge of the map. Four archviles are released into the courtyard, a place with almost no cover. I made a dash for the invuln that I stashed for an occasion like this and killed all the viles before the time ran out. I still had to trigger the trap in building II, but with plasma, it wasn't that big of a deal.

 

After this I collected the remaining keys, just in time for the final fight: two cyberdemons and pain elementals. It's a bit of a mess, but you can unlock a BFG now and there are enough cells to just spam around. It's an odd map for sure, with a rather unorthodox progression, but a fun one once you get the proper guns. The Plutonia-like visuals (you even start on the quantum accelerator) help for sure.

 

 

MAP17: Metastasize by Andy Leaver

Spoiler

 

I have mixed feelings here. For once, I like the midi - "Grinder" aside, you don't hear Command & Conquer tracks that much and "Target" is one of my favourite. The map goes heavy with red and blue textures, setting it apart from your average techbase. Sadly, it's also bloated with unnecessary backtracking and and certain parts of the map does feel similiar to one another. 

 

I do think however that the combat is strong enough to make me overlook this. Metastasize is dense with monsters, but also provides a steady supply of health and ammo to take them out. The best part is when you pick up the blue key in a large room that already hosted two waves of monsters and a pair of archviles appear among the hell nobles. The final fight is also a brutal teleport trap, but I found a BFG right before it started, so I could just vaporise anything, archviles included.

 

It's a good map, but could be better with some trimming and less repetitions.

 

 

MAP18: Suburbia by Jimmy and Mechadon

Spoiler

 

Ever since I've played Downtown for the first time, I knew combining an open city map with linear progression is not a good idea. Suburbia is a sprawling urban block with an unclear progression. The start is especially confusing, it felt like I was hitting a dead end wherever I went. Also, it's impossible to tell the doors apart - some can be opened when used, other require pressing a remote button and yet another is a decoration. The exploration required for a map of this kind was made much harder due to a lack of resources (you are limited to chaingun and a basic shotgun) and monsters that wander aroun the streets or hide inside the buildings. Including a cyberdemon who killed me numerous times. Finally I've noticed the red key, locked behind a counter in what looked like a restaurant. To open it, you have to spot a small shootable switch inside. There are secrets here that open the same way, so I feel like a puzzle like this is a bit too much.

 

The rest wasn't as confusing, I think having to search for the way let me get a hold on this place, figuring out what each of the six keys does. The combat is mostly forgettable, usually ambushes or small-scale incidental fights. The main draw is definitely the visual aspect, Suburbia is a beautiful map with a great attention to details and a mix of visual themes that make each part you visit unique and memorable. I just wish the red key was placed in a more visible spot, it would have improved the flow a lot.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP19-MAP24

 

MAP19: Technoprison by Joshy

Spoiler

 

Okay, so when I was playing Skulltiverse, I've said MAP32's midi sounded familiar. I think I've confused it with this one, "Technoprisoners", which was reused in a number of wads since. I'm not sure which one came first, as both CC4 and 1994 Tune-up CP (where "Technownage" first appeared) spent a while in development hell, but one seem to be a remix of another. Mystery solved, I guess.

 

As you might have guessed from the title, Technoprison is yet another prison break - like 99% of other maps using this concept, you start by shooting at a conveniently-placed switch with a pistol you've managed to smuggle somehow. The opening fight is rough, pushing you deep into the nearby caves. Here, you will find the standout moment of the map: a cell block holding the most dangerous monsters. This includes two cyberdemons, an archvile, gangs of revenants, hell nobles and additional pinkies that teleport in, taking up the space. The cybers should thin them down, leaving you with enough cells to take them down.

 

The map loses its momentum afterwards, the part where a collapsing floor drops you into a small room with a cyberdemon is plain stupid and the map could do without all those switches. The fight against two archviles while walking on the skybox was cool, though. In the end, I appreciate a shorter map, I got a bit demotivated after Suburbia and focused on DMWC instead. A brisk map like this helped me regaining interest.

 

 

MAP20: Interstellar Sickness by lupinx-Kassman

Spoiler

 

Doomworld's 18th most memorable map (together with Shaman's Device)

 

Part one of Kassman's duology starts in a silver corridor, with a text on a nearby wall explaining how a rogue AI named "Shaman" is creating an army of demons and you have to stop it. Short walk later and it's revealed the whole place is a network of open-air platforms, suspended in space. The visual aspect is the main draw, with holographic lines floating in the air and very detailed geometry. I can't think of earlier maps that adopted similiar aesthetic, but I know of several that has been released since - namely Ancient Aliens' middle episode and Manbou's maps from JPCP.

 

I feel like the gameplay plays a secondary role. I mean, it works, delivering a steady stream of monsters to kill with a handful of bigger fights. The one where you are given a plasma rifle to deal with a teleporting ambush of imps and chaingunners was probably the toughest part of the map, but it's also a few places I felt threatened. There's a pair of masterminds at the end, but they can be coaxed into fighting a crowd of revenants and themselves. Then there are two encounters that gives you the keys to unlock the exit, one is a floating arena with a cyberdemon, other takes place in a park (I think - it's still a space platform), where three archviles appear together with corpses to ressurrect. 

 

Interstellar Sickness is a great looking level and it clearly made an impression on people, though I find its gameplay a bit lacking. 

 

 

MAP21: Shaman's Device by lupinx-Kassman

Spoiler

 

Doomworld's 18th most memorable map (together with Interstellar Sickness)

 

Picking up from where MAP20 ended, Shaman's Device continues the quest to stop the titular AI. Speaking purely about the visual side, this is a masterwork, even more impressive than Interstellar Sickness, and one of the best looking map I've seen in a while. The grand scale of the place is jaw-dropping, but what truly sells the map for me is the amount of details. The invisible platforms made of red wireframe are a thing that I will always remember when thinking about this wad, same with an absurd amount of midtex work, with things like holograms, grates and pipes added to the map. I struggle to describe this with words, you just have to see it yourself.

 

Sadly, the gameplay is merely serviceable. It's mostly using rockets against mid-tier demons or sniping distant imps and hitscanners. The fights for the red and yellow key try something different - the former pits you against a pair of cyberdemons whose rockets you have to dodge while running through light bridges, the other forces you to pick up a blursphere and avoid a teleporting cyberdemon, only to telefrag him at the end. Then you have a boss rush of several masterminds and a cyberdemon that you need to fight one by one, this part felt like a filler. 

 

At least the ending does not disappoint. While the player character fails in their mission to stop Shaman from sending the demons to Earth, they manage to shut it down for good after dispatching 6 archviles while invulnerable. Same with Kassman's other level, this is a visual treat, but feels lacking when it comes to combat. Still, the duology is a high point of CC4 and worthy of recognition.

 

 

MAP22: Hell's Limits by C30N9

Spoiler

After Kassman's pair of epics, it's nice to play something more low-key. Like, for instance, a map that feels like it was taken straight out of Plutonia. Hell's Limits is a blocky maze with one ambush after another. It's an average map on its own, with a lot of backtracking and fights that don't feel particularly memorable, but it's a fine breather.

 

MAP23: Melting Universe II by Walter Confalonieri 

Spoiler

This one feels a bit out of place in episode 3 - it's a rather quick and easy map, mostly a linear corridor that combines hellish rocks, gore and hints of Plutonia-style stronghold. The layout feels a bit simplistic, but the map makes up for it with a surprising number of smaller details in its design. Combat-wise, it's fine. The projectiles flying towards you from a cliff is the most memorable part of the level - the rest is mostly incidental with a single large fight by the exit that can be spammed with rockets (which the map gives you a lot of). Overall, nothing special and it should be placed much earlier in the wad, but the short lenght is a positive in a megawad full of larger levels.

 

MAP24: Detachment by Shadow Dweller

Spoiler

 

CC4 features maps inspired by Plutonia, so it's fair for the second half of the Final Doom to have some representation. "Death's Bells" fits this map like a glove - it's a techbase torn to shreds, dark and full of dread. I know I'm hard on TNT, but its atmosphere can't be denied and Detachment does a great job taking it to the next level. 

 

The combat consists mostly of going from room to room and eliminating groups of imps and zombies. It does the job building up the tension before something big happens. Like a room where the floor suddenly collapses and monsters start appearing. This is the toughest encounter of the map, as the hell nobles tank damage, pain elemental fill the room with lost souls if not killed promptly and there's an archvile in the back to watch out for. Another great setpiece is a climactic fight on top of a ruined roof against revenants, cacodemons and a cyberdemon. Sadly, this is where the map peaks as the rest can't reach similiar level of excitement. Detachment ends with a short visit in hell, where after dispatching a handful of monsters, the map end abruptly. Even with a disappointing conclusion, it's a strong map with a great atmosphere.

 

 

[Li'l devil]

On 1/20/2024 at 11:14 PM, Andromeda said:

It's been theorised that the author is Grain of Salt, but I find that unlikely.

Heh, I got randomly curious and decided to check this, and yeah no, it's not Grain of Salt, it's some other person who was active on DW for only 1 year. ( @Alice Jameson )

Spoiler

That is, unless they made an alt account later and are currently reading all of this!

 

[RHhe82]

Maps by lupinx-Kassman? The person who made the very special map in Ancient Aliens? I've sometimes wondered (though never checked on it) why I haven't seen any other maps by that particular mapper, seeing Culture Shock was not an amateur effort in the slightest. I guess I gotta play CC4 someday...

 

(And actually, I have tried it, once... One of the very first wads I tried when I installed source ports and tried PC Dooming after decades. The first few maps kicked my ass so hard that I let it be. I guess I should be much better prepared now :P)

[Celestin]

1 hour ago, RHhe82 said:

Maps by lupinx-Kassman? The person who made the very special map in Ancient Aliens? I've sometimes wondered (though never checked on it) why I haven't seen any other maps by that particular mapper, seeing Culture Shock was not an amateur effort in the slightest. I guess I gotta play CC4 someday...

Checking his Doomwiki page, it seems he mostly made multiplayer maps. Out of singleplayer releases, CC3, CC4 and Ancient Aliens are the only wads I recognise.

[brick]

40 minutes ago, Celestin said:

Checking his Doomwiki page, it seems he mostly made multiplayer maps. Out of singleplayer releases, CC3, CC4 and Ancient Aliens are the only wads I recognise.

I played some of the Nebula wads long ago but don't remember them in details, though I recall they were conceptually interesting (I don't remember how successful or fun though). I don't think it's mentioned on the wiki I'm pretty sure he also made MAP30 of TNT2: Devilution, which is an absolute marvel, doubly so for being vanilla-compatible. It's one of the most unique maps I've seen in Doom, and one of my favourites.

[Celestin]

MAP25-MAP30

 

MAP25: Nightmare Complex by Torn

Spoiler

 

The premise is very similiar to that of Detachment: infiltrate a compound, find a teleporter and leave through caves. The similiarities ends here, as Nightmare Complex adopts tan bricks and wood as its main building materials, with a hints of marble, metal and flesh to break up the monotony. This all reminds me of E2 or late Plutonia, rather utilitarian in design though Torn does add some neat details.

 

Nightmare Complex does a good job mixing corridor clearing with some bigger fights. The courtyard with the yellow key that spawns a crowd of revenants and a number of cacodemons was surprisingly challenging, it quickly gets congested and makes it impossible to move around. Then there is the marble courtyard with archviles, both bosses and some other enemies. It was the toughest fight of the map, even with a secret BFG. There is however another secret in this place, giving you an invulnerability sphere. It would have remove all the challenge if I found it earlier.

 

The finale is a small arena with two cyberdemons and a revenant horde. I let them infight until all skeletons were dead and spammed BFG to get rid of cyberdemons. While I see Nightmare Complex as not as good as Detachment, at least it offers a more satisfying ending.

 

 

MAP26: Reaper's Digest by Kristian Aro

Spoiler

 

Dark marble and lava is an aesthetically-pleasing combination, very fitting for a late-megawad map. This demonic stronghold is full of ambushes, many lock you up in a limited space - either with bars, or by throwing monsters that block you. Also, watch out for chaingunners hidden in small cubbies. The only exception is a lava pit, where you walk around its perimeter, taking out cacodemons and lost souls. This felt tedious, especially the lost souls that zip around this fairly large place. The ending was also a let-down, you emerge from a basement with the final key only to see a group of enemies in front of you, begging to send them a salvo of rockets. I get what was the intention - appear on an elevated route to the exit, but I think they are released too early. In the end, I prefer the traps here to straight combat, but Reaper's Digest is a solid map regardless.

 

MAP27: Vulcana II by Paul Corfiatis (pcorf)

Spoiler

 

Another hellish stronghold, this one uses far more red texture. Generally, I see this one as a lesser version of Reaper's Digest. The traps don't hit as hard and the combat, aside from increased number of archviles, leaves little impression. The map feels very by the numbers, there are however things I've enjoyed. The fight by the exit door was fine, it's always entertaining to see a cyberdemon taking out monsters for you. I also think the massive cavern filled with lava that you visit by the end is a climactic moment, though it feels underutilised - there's little to do aside from shooting some lost souls and cacodemons or jumping from one pillar to another. 

 

I might be complaining, but if a map keeps me occupied for 30 minutes without feeling boring, it is still an effective one.

 

 

MAP28: Crucifix Held Close by William Huber (WH-Wilou86)

Spoiler

 

Another impressive level, Crucifix Held Close opens with a view of a fortress surrounded by molten rock. Which, surprisingly, isn't the main focus of the map. That honour goes to another demonic stronghold, hidden in a nearby cave complex. The map is full of details, it's definitely the best looking hellish fort of the wad. Also, I really like the music, a gothic rock fits the place well.

 

The gameplay feels slow though, as the map is loaded with tanky demons (including numerous archviles), lacks plasma rifle (there's a secret BFG with little ammo, but I didn't find it) and rockets aren't as plenty as I wish it were. Add a number of hitscanners hiding behind corners and you have a map where, especially in its latter half, you slow down a lot and the combat consists of holding down fire on the SSG and waiting for the enemies to die. One encounter I thought was great was the final fight, where you are locked in a tiny space while imps, zombies and shotgunners trickle in. Then they start to teleport in faster, then bigger monsters show up. Because there is no room to use rockets, I was holding down fire on the SSG and hoping the monsters die before I got overwhelmed. If you survive long enough, the walls lower and a cyberdemon appears. At this point, the fight is won - the cybie kills whatever is left and dies after absorbing enough buckshot to the face.

 

In the original 2012 DWMC post, Wilou mentioned it was intended for an earlier slot and wasn't properly balanced, which might explain why the gameplay feels somewhat sluggish. It's a shame, as there is a very good map underneath that just can't decide which episode it wants to belong to.

 

 

MAP29: Spiritual Holocaust by darkreaver

Spoiler

 

The start is tough, pretty much from the moment you leave the starting room, you are assaulted by two archviles reinforced by other monsters, while you are trying to figure out where the guns are. The SSG is in the next corridor, which leads to the hub of the map. After clearing this up (from hitscanners, revenants and an archvile or two), you are tasked with finding three keys, each unlocking the next part of the map. The good news is, the you can get the big guns early and unlike MAP28, Spiritual Holocaust doesn't withhold ammo. There's a lot of big fights here, mostly releasing big groups at once. The best one was the red key fight, a large cavern that pinches you between two hordes of various foes. I also enjoyed the earlier yellow key area, which first brings a huge pop-up crowd, then teleport in monsters after you pick up the key. The finale in the hub was also fine, as the BFG and a central cyberdemon can dismantle this place with little issues. I think the only part I dislike was the whole blue key section, it's slow and the only true obstacle is an awkward cyberdemon.

 

Spiritual Holocaust looks fantastic, blending a massive stone keep and volcanic caves. The detailing work is impressive, though sometimes it can be hard to figure out where to go next (it took me a while before I relised I could walk to the yellow key area through a pile of rubble). I like this map a lot, it features the most entertaining combat in the whole megawad, despite the highest killcount, Spiritual Holocaust is a surprisingly energetic map, one that kept me on edge throughout its entire run. It's one of CC4's best and a worthy penultimate level.

 

 

MAP30: Ragnarok by Josh Sealy (Joshy)

Spoiler

 

Community Chest 4 ends on a high note. To reach the Icon of Sin, you have to first obtain the red and blue skulls, both are protected by armies of monsters, while you have to worry about making the best use of radsuits. I recommend starting with the red key, as it hands you a BFG without asking. You'll need it for a massive battle on a lake of lava against revenants, cacodemons and cyberdemon snipers. Round two involves a horde of pinkies and 8 archviles. I was low on cells and had to rely on rockets, it was a tricky fight, where I had to find an opening to shoot at viles, hiding to dodge their attacks and avoiding demons that act as meat shields. The blue key route is simpler, but ends with a fight against a huge crowd of imps, cacodemons, cyberdemon and an archvile, again on a damaging floor. 

 

With both keys, you can proceed forward, eliminating a horde of revenants with a cyberdemon support. A pair of masterminds guard the remaining keys, but they feel somewhat fillerish - hide behind a cover, fire a BFG, repeat until they die. As for the Icon itself, it's decent, there are two cyberdemons guarding the switch that activates the lift, they need to die as you will have to return there before every attempt. It took me a while to fit a rocket in a hole, as the lift is rather fast, but at least the map isn't crazy with the spawning monsters. After several attempts, I managed to blow the brain and CC4 was over.

 

I like this one, which isn't something I often say about IoS maps. I guess being a small part of an otherwise strong level is a reason here.

 

 

Conclusions

 

Compared to the second installment, Community Chest 4 is a much more mature project. The two main issues I've had with CC2 - very inconsistent quality that ranged from The Mucus Flow to amateurish filler and bugs - are gone thanks to greater quality control and extensive testing. While I didn't enjoy every level, I don't think there's a single map that I see as bad. Even weaker maps has something going for them, be it the visual aspect or their nature as a breather.

 

One opinion I've heard a lot about CC4 is how it suffers from the dreaded "magnum opus syndrome". Frankly, I don't see it. True, the majority of maps reach 30 minutes of play time, some exceeding it considerably (which is why it took me this long to complete it). However, the only map where I was just hoping to get it over with quickly was Suburbia, but it's because I've spent too much time being lost due to its unclear progression. As for the rest, I've never felt bored, the variety of the set pushed me forward to see what the next map would be.

 

I have to mention the visual aspect, a lot of maps looks great and feature a ton of detailed geometry. The two maps by lupinx-Kassman, however, are a league of their own and worthy of recognition. Also, I am grateful of the texture set that was compiled for the project. I hold 2010's mapping in high regard and cc4-tex was used a lot back then. It's not a hyperbole to say it defined how that decade looked.

 

In the end, Community Chest 4 took me a while to complete, but it was worth it. It's a set of varied maps with great visuals, but also not as demanding with regard to difficulty as some wads I've played in recent months. I give it my recommendation with a caveat that its maps can get rather lenghty.

 

TOP 5 maps:
MAP20: Interstellar Sickness by lupinx-Kassman
MAP21: Shaman's Device by lupinx-Kassman
MAP29: Spiritual Holocaust by darkreaver
MAP24: Detachment by Shadow Dweller
MAP09: Ochregerde by WH-Wilou-84

[Celestin]

Continuing the theme of playing wads I've dropped, the next one is Super MAYhem 17, 6th installment of MAYhem community projects. This time, the mappers were using a texture set inspired by Mario series, with additional restrictions regarding size and things number. I've tried this one a couple of years back, but I gave up after reaching one winter maps with slippery floors (I don't remember which one it was exactly). I hope I'll get past it this time.

 

MAP01-MAP10

 

MAP01: Shroom Stronghold by Dragonfly

Spoiler

 

It's the first map and I'm already in love with the aesthetics of the wad. It's colorful and bright, with blocky design fitting the source material like a glove. It just looks so different than the normal Doom. Aside from replaced sounds and sprites (mostly with pick-ups, but also rockets, plasma and imp fireball), this plays like the regular Doom, though.

 

Shroom Stronghold is a gentle introduction, with two keys to find and some basic monsters to dispatch. The only exception are two archviles at the end and revenants that guard the exit - nothing to worry with a rocket launcher and SSG backup. Overall, a good opening map, setting the tone for the project. 

 

 

MAP02: All Along the Bowser Tower by Fletcher` (as rf`)

Spoiler

 

This one is fine, I guess, but not terribly memorable. The oposition has been beefed up by a number of revenants, mancubi and cacodemons, but aside from a grassy courtyard upstairs, they are rather sparsely placed. I did enjoy a fight where you press a button, a wall behind you raises and one in front of you lowers, revealing a room of imps and pinkies. Also, green pipes replace teleport pads, I think it's a nice touch. 

 

As I've said, it's a fun level to play through and makes a great use of its texture pack to create this recognisible Mario look, but I doubt it will stick in my mind.

 

 

MAP03: Sillydust Sanctuary by Jaxxoon R

Spoiler

 

This small map is a healthy uptake in difficulty compared to the previous levels, with a small monster cast made more dangerous thanks to limited room to move. The secret fight with several revenants is the best example of this, you are pretty much limited to an SSG and get ambushed in a narrow path, with enemies appearing everywhere. And let's just said, I don't like the replacement sound for the arachnotron's attack. It's silly and because it also replaces plasma rifle (which is not present here), I know I'll have a hard time getting used to it.

 

I like the looping nature of the map, each key leads back to the central building that brings new monsters for you to fight. The last one surprised me with a sound of ressurrected corpse, but I saved enough rockets to quickly dispatch the vile. I had a lot of fun with Sillydust Sanctuary, it's a quick map with a surprising amount of bite. The visuals, a desert setting under a dark sky, adds a lot to the atmosphere.

 

 

MAP04: Marina Moonlight by Pinchy

Spoiler

 

Marina Moonlight is an open lake that assaults you with a ton of weaker monsters right from the start. It's easy to pick up unwanted chip damage from numerous hitscanners, with a chaingunner crew that mans one of the boats being particularly dangerous. After making a few laps, I managed to eliminate most of the monsters, find a rocket launcher in the central island and archvile-guarded SSG, making me more than prepared to attack the ship hidden in a cave. This place looks great and the combination of revenants on the ground and snipers above makes for a challenging fight. You can jump into the ship, as it holds the plasma rifle - its new projectile sprite is fine, but, as I've said earlier, I just don't like the new sound.

 

The main goal of this place is not the ship, but rather the yellow key - it unleashes another wave of monsters into the map, but this is the final true obstacle. There's also a fight with an archvile and two hell knight by the BFG and a mastermind that protects the exit, but they pose no threat if you have cells left. Out of the first four maps, I like this one the most, it looks and feels cosy (the blocky whales that appear at one point is a nice touch), while the high-octane gameplay is one I particularly enjoy.

 

 

MAP05: Painfully and Elitely Rustled by NuMetalManiak

Spoiler

 

A brisk, 5-minutes map that starts hot - not only thanks to all that lava, but also the monsters that surround you. Running forward naturally leads you to the red key, where you need to survive the ambush of teleporting pinkies (I really dig how they warp from one pillar to another before appearing in the arena, that's a cool effect) and two mancubi. Since you have a rocket launcher now, you can eliminate the enemies in the starting room, this isn't that long of a process, yet it feels tedious as you have to dodge revenants missiles.

 

The yellow key room is made of this gray cubes that has this abstract aesthetic I've always enjoyed in the modern wad and I wish it was used for something besides spooking you with teleporting archviles. Speaking of which, they move to the blue key area - a ring-shaped rocky canyon that distracts you with a cyberdemon, before teleporting him out and bringing in four viles. I enjoyed this part a lot, as you race around the place, trying to catch an archvile, spray him with plasma before he attacks or another one gets to close. The ending is okay, the cyberdemon is back, so wait until his platform is lowered, fire plasma and leave the place. I like quick maps like this, providing interesting challenges in small doses.

 

 

MAP06: Airship of Doom by Gothic

Spoiler

 

The setting is the most memorable yet - a floating ship, complete with rotating propellers (I think they are made with instantly-raising sectors, it looks so great in action). There are some similiarity with MAP04, as the deck where you start is crawling with foes and the open nature of the place makes it hard to avoid damage, both from hitscanners and revenants. As with Marina Moonlight, the best strategy is to run around and fire, praying for the best. When they are dead, you can platform through crates, pick up the blue key and enter the lower levels of the ship. 

 

The map slows down here, essentially turning into linear corridor crawls while eliminating whatever is here. There are two such sections, the blue pipe deck ends with a red key, the red pipe lets you unlock the final fight, which is tough to survive with only a super shotgun. It's a tiny room that has two mancubi in front of you, two pairs of revenants on the sides and an archvile plus two barons in the back. I cheesed this one, teleporting between this and the top deck until the mancubi were dead, then I dealt with the rest. It was a tough fight, it's just very cramped when you have to avoid projectiles and archvile's gaze. A secret rocket launcher would have helped a lot, but sadly I didn't find it. Nevertheless, Airship of Doom is a creative map with exciting opening fight.

 

 

MAP07: Groovy Hills by Walter Confalonieri

Spoiler

 

Damn, that's an edgy text screen. It's an odd contrast with a cheerful opening shot - green grass, blue sky, crystal-clear water. Vines that act like ladders are a nice touch, though they feel a bit janky in execution. 

 

After dispatching the initial opposition (made up of a number of hitscanners), Groovy Hills spends the rest of the map in a cave complex, linked together with teleporters placed by the red doors. It can be confusing to navigate, as the all doors look the same, but the map is rather small, so even if you get lost, you should quickly figure out where to go next. The biggest threat here is a trio of pain elementals, the cavern they appear in is quite large and you have no guns aside from the shotguns. Following this, it's mostly incidental combat with the ending that hands you a BFG to kill an elevated cyberdemon. Solid map overall.

 

 

MAP08: The Oasis by Tristan Clark (as Eris Falling)

Spoiler

 

Another quick affair, The Oasis throws a lot of hitscanners at you, so turn around at the start and open a secret door and press a button to launch an armour (Tristan repeats this trick later with a berserk pack, riding to you on a conveyor belt). The map has a brisk pace, where you mow down a lot of basic monsters with a shotgun and chaingun. The sole big fight takes place after you grab the blue key, it unleashes the map's single archvile and pain elemental, together with some other enemies. My only real complaint are the platforms that you have to run through twice (to get the optional SSG and mandatory blue key). It slows down the map a bit but than again, it takes like 6 minutes to complete regardless, so I shouldn't be too critical. 

 

The low-key combat of The Oasis makes it a cosy map to play, especially when combined with nighttime desert visuals and stewboy's "Desk Lamp" as midi.

 

 

MAP09: Curse of the Mummy's Sister's Something-Or-Other by Impie

Spoiler

How the map works is you have a number of coloured doors that open with shootable switches on one of the walls. I think there can only be one active in any moment, additionally, there are other buttons that create stairs throughout the map and lower keys in the starting room. You have a lot of routing freedom with how you tackle the map. MAP09 is mostly incidental, the traps doesn't hit you hard, since you can oftentimes just escape the rooms they take place in. The hardest part is the start, with imps and hitscanners in open courtyards. The one thing I do like is the cartoony Egyptian aesthetic, with sandstone blocks and doomcute sarcophagi.

 

MAP10: Shifting Sands by Crunchynut44

Spoiler

 

Underneath the colourful textures, there's a map that wouldn't feel out of place in Plutonia. There's a lot of revenants and chaingunners here, the opening fight pushes you forward into the caves, where more monsters await. This is a gameplay style that can be rewarding if done correctly - not giving the player enough ammo to fight everything that is present, so they need to go deeper into the map, eliminating only the monsters that block their path, until they are strong enough to turn the battle around. In case of Shifting Sands, this is when you pick up the super shotgun. 

 

The map gets manageable at that point, neither an archvile or a crowd of revenants by the exit are a huge threat, though the latter are entertaining when you try to outrun them an fire rockets in a rather tight room. When gameplay is concerned, Shifting Sands is the strongest map of the wad so far.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP11-MAP18

 

MAP11: Aztec Ruins by Killer5

Spoiler

Since this is a work of a mapper behind Dimensions, you should brace for the impact. The mandatory part of the map is a series of small, deliberate encounters that won't give you enough ammo, health and space to feel comfortable. A flooded basement where you have to punch two archvile was the most entertaining of them, it's the type of gripping encounter I've always loved. The yellow key platform that locks you with revenants and cacodemons was also fine, but the ending was no fun at all. It's another small room that locks the door behind you, while you have to fight against an archvile and a cyberdemon with nothing but a super shotgun. It's just two monsters, but juggling them both around a central column was annoying, while you are at risk of splash damage.

 

I've mentioned a mandatory part of the map. You can exit the map here, leaving 2/3 of the monsters alive and nobody will judge you. See, the map so far was tough, but approachable by a casual player. The secret exit is for experts only and I ain't one. Getting there isn't hard - you have to find three blue coins (health vials) hidden around the map. Two of them are easy to spot, the third is accessible through a teleporter in the final room, unlocked with a red key. The key in question is in the yellow key cave, hidden between the waterfall and rocky wall. Protip: there's a secret with a megaarmor and supercharge in the room that the teleporter leads to, use it if you are low on health, because the next parts are brutal.

 

Early on you might have noticed a fountain with three coins on top, it should be accessible now, dropping you down into a massive chamber with a small, L-shaped platform in the middle. There aren't that many monsters here, only 6 revenants, two immobile hell knight and an archvile overseeing this place, but damn, it was hard. True, I spent way to much time trying to beat it with 13% health, before checking if I missed any secrets and learning about the health+armor combo I've mentioned earlier. Even then it was tough as nails, there's little room to dodge the missiles, while ducking behind pillars to avoid the archvile. I saved after eliminating all the skeletons, took out the vile and one hell knigh, before punching out the remaining one, as I was out of shells. It's still more manageable than the final battle, a BFG-exclusive slaughter against numerous revenants, archvile turrets and 10 cyberdemons (4 of which block the exit). I save-scummed through this one, the density of rockets and projectiles is truly insane, the viles tend to hide behind columns when you want to attack them and target you three at once when you are dealing with enemies blocking you. I think it took me less attempts to finish this than the preceeding fight, but I also saved way more often so I wouldn't run out of cells. Finally, all the cyberdemons were dead and I could exit.

 

When I first played the map, I couldn't beat the first secret fight and just went to the regular exit, so I'm satisfied I've beaten it this time. It was a kind idea to make the hardest parts optional, while still providing a challenge for players who just want to finish the map (though I wouldn't be surprised if this was originally intended to be MAP15 or 31). Aztec Ruins crushed me, but in the end, I can't deny its quality and more competent players will find it a worthy test of their skills.

 

 

MAP12: Cool Cool Shotgun by A.Gamma

Spoiler

Cool Cool Shotgun is the map that made me drop the wad when I played it for the first time. The reason? Ice and wind physics. Every surface that looks like it was made of ice cubes makes you slowly slide forward with little chance for strafing and if the midi is replaced by howling wind, that means you'll be pushed to a side towards an insta-killing hole. The blue key cave combines both and it was just too much for me in 2020 or 2021 (I don't remember when exactly I first played this). It went much better this time, I died two or three times because I wasn't able to dodge projectiles, but when I tried to grab the key, I made it first time.

 

If the ice don't get you, the monsters will. Right at the start, there's a ton of sitting on ledges above and archviles appear frequently. Get the plasma rifle earlier than I did, it will help you with tanky monsters and the fight at the blue gate. This one locks you with a cyberdemon, archvile, chaingunner snipers and teleporting revenants and hell nobles. If the vile dies quickly and you avoid ice, you should be fine. There's one more notable fight, that is yet another windy corridor (this time with crushers) and a slippery lift you need to use to jump to the warp pipe that takes you to the exit.

 

I have no complaints regarding the map's looks, the winter theme feels distinct and A.Gamma created some cosy places here. It's just the ice gimmick feels so aggravating in execution, making the map harder for the wrong reasons. Still, it's always a great feeling to overcome an obstacle that stopped me in the past. From here forward, it's a completely unknown territory.

 

 

MAP13: Koopa Anomaly by Fletcher` (as rf`)

Spoiler

Koopa Anomaly starts with a courtyard of sniping imps and revenants, before moving to an icy castle. The contrast between cold walls and occasional patches of lava is a good aesthetic choice. Also, while the map has some slippery floors, Fletcher` uses them sparingly, making them far less frustrating than in MAP12.

 

I like the fight in a pit that locks you in, while spawning an archvile-lead group of monsters. Less so the finale, with two cyberdemons, two archviles, other monsters and not enough cells. Save your ammo for this one, I had to finish off the cybers with a chaingun and left with 5 rounds. It's a decent map overall.

 

 

MAP14: Absolute Zero by Obsidian

Spoiler

A map with tiny monster count, but a lot of gimmicks and clever traps to make the most of them. The very start, where you have to run away from an archvile in tight corridors is a sign that the up front combat won't be the main focus. You get health and ammo only when Obsidian wants you to use them, teleports monsters away once they serve their goals and greatly restrict your movement. This all feel like a tightly designed obstacle course that expects the best of you.

 

The trap-heavy nature of Absolute Zero keeps you on edge, you'll be trying to find a way between floating boxes while avoiding archviles, climbing up a waterfall (probably the sole part of the map I dislike, the fast-moving conveyor belts make it tough to get to the top) and punching pain elementals that appear throughtout the map at the end. The two feature fights take place in the same place, a rather small pit that first contains two archviles with other monsters. Then, when you try to exit, it fills with a deadly combination of barons and pain elementals, where the best strategy is to hide in the corner and wait, occassionally punching whatever gets close - I was out of ammo by that point, but Obsidian gives you a berserk before this.

 

It was a tough map to go in blind, but at no point I felt I was against an impossible scenario. Patience, resource management and quick thinking helps here a lot. As I've said, it's a very tightly designed map, but a fair one.

 

 

MAP15: Ziegenhaus by Xaser

Spoiler

You know, with a name like this I expected a lot of barons, but there are in fact no hell nobles here (at least on UV). Instead, it's a highly conceptual map, where Xaser restricts the monster and weapon variety. The rocket launcher and plasma rifle are given to you early on and those are the only weapons you'll find here. As for monsters, you'll mostly be fighting against revenants and archviles, occassionally supported by arachnotrons or mancubi. I'm actually surprised how much variety was achieved with those limitations in mind. Ziegenhaus is an relatively open city map, with fights taking place on the streets and inside several buildings. It's all interconnected, with multiple routes to move around. You don't feel lost however, as the map is rather compact (as per project's requirements), with a ton of effort put into textures and geometry. 

 

Every place here feels distinct. The map starts in a graveyard, before moving to the town's streets, where you have to deal with one of the most creative fights of the wad. It's the plaza that acts like an elevator, moving up and down, while you are fending off attacking monsters. Let me remind you, both of your guns are projecile-based, so it can be tricky for the autoaim to cooperate when the floor moves. I also enjoyed the exit building, with checkered floor and black ceiling that feels like you've entered the void. The voidscape theme is also present in the blue key fight, which is probably the only part I didn't like. Now, it looks awesome, with collapsing floor, blue and red lines covering the pitch-black walls, floor and ceiling and the general scale of the place. However, the combat here is just bad. You have to deal with two cyberdemons that teleport around, making it hard to hit them with plasma. And you have to kill them, because the switch that lets you leave is inside a hole that's locks you in place for a while. I left this fight with 7 cells left and that's only because one of the cybers left the teleporter cycle somehow.

 

If you want to see the secret maps, you need 8 red coins scattered throughout the map. I found 6 on my own before giving up and going to the wiki. Considering how well they are hidden, I'd say it's a good score. They open a door by the exit, leading through some very steep stairs to MAP31. Ziegenhaus is a clear highlight of the wad, a unique map with a clear concept behind and one of the best city maps I've played in a while.

 

 

MAP31: Sinkysand Switchland by dobu gabu maru

Spoiler

This one took me an hour to complete, because Sinkysand Switchland is a puzzle map and I'm not the best at those. The main mechanic is using switches that control red and blue walls, raising one and lowering another. The goal is to explore the map, getting past obstacles and reaching the next sections. The aforementioned switches and platforming are your main tools, with a small cast of imps being a distraction, rather than a threat. There are 3 additional stars, they alter the function of the exit and take you to MAP32 instead. It's an interesting concept, something I don't think I've seen before. I've found two myself, one that required some simple platforming, the other in one of those rooms with invisible walkway that has to be followed with a help of markings at the ceiling. As for the one in the pyramid, I had to use a guide there, it's an unmarked wall in a room of sinking floor.

 

I won't spoil the progression, but I'm going to give two hints that can save time, because it took me too long to figure out what can I interact with. First, the pink columns (or vases - I'm not sure) act as teleporters when used. Two, the jade blocks near the pyramid can be raised. As for the rest, good luck and I hope you find this map as entertaining as I did. If not, well, at least be impressed with how the map is engineered.

 

 

MAP32: Return to the Birabuto Kingdom by Death Egg

Spoiler

The very first thing you'll notice is the visual aspect, greatly inspired by Super Mario Land on the original Gameboy. This translates to simplistic textures and colours that are limited to black and shades of dark green. It's a stark departure from the rest of the megawad, but it fits, especially for a secret stage. 

 

Combat-wise, it's a fairly conventional map. The opening room is the hardest, it's cramped, features mancubi with high ground and the only weapon here is a rocket launcher. The rest of the map gives you more room to move and once you get the plasma rifle, the challenge is all but gone (maybe aside from accidentally getting blown up by a cyberdemon). It's somewhat of a breather map, elevated by its unique look.

 

 

MAP16: Skyward Vivarium by Pinchy

Spoiler

There's a lot in common here with Pinchy's MAP04. Skyward Vivarium is also an open map - aside from triple-locked exit, you can freely explore the place in search of the keys. Hitscanners are your main source of concern, including the hordes of zombies and shotgunners that wander outside. Unlike Marina Moonlight, this one felt slower, with more time spent hiding behind corners, eliminating enemies from the distance and running to their corpses to pick up the ammo. Just remember to save rockets and cells for monsters that are out of SSG's reach and archviles (including the pair that waits behind the exit door).

 

I think it's an alright map, but gets a bit slow after the start and only picks up the pace when you want to exit. While I prefer MAP04, Skyward Vivarium is still an entertaining level.

 

 

MAP17: All the Monster's Teeth are Perfect by Angry Saint

Spoiler

The only map by Angry Saint I recognise was a rather weak submission to THT: Threnody, so I had little expectations. Man, this one took me by surprise. The map starts with a flood of monsters (mostly imps and revenants) that come in for longer than I expected. It's a hectic fight, doubly so because the room it takes place was somewhat tight. The maze of pop-up ambushes is next, I'd call this one inoffensive. Nothing spectacular, but moves the map forward. The best part of the map is the fight against a cyberdemon, several pain elementals and other monsters, while you are given an invuln to clear as much of them as possible before it runs out. The second cyberdemon fight (triggering after you pick up the red key) is fine, as you have a plasma rifle this time. I generally like the combat in this map, there's a lot of close-quarters fights and big groups of weak monsters to take out with well-placed rockets.

 

I have to compliment how the map looks, it's very colourful with various textures that reminds me of LEGO bricks. It's a very distinct aesthetic, something that hasn't been explored by this wad yet. 

 

 

MAP18: C'mon Peach, You've Got What You Want, Now Give This Plumber Cake! by Walter Confalonieri

Spoiler

First of all, great use of black textures. This, combined with an emphasis on moving from one platform to another, sells the idea of a cross between 2D Mario games and first-person shooters.

 

The start is chaotic in a good way, once you fire a shot, a ton of monsters get alerted. It's a mess, but can be turned in your favour - the question mark blocks gives you weapons and power-ups when walked under. The map flows well, with ambushes and large crowds thrown in your direction. Aside from the teleporter puzzle (which I think has to be solved with brute force), you are constantly fighting something. The map ends with a cyberdemon duel, set on a narrow walkway over lava - yet another aspect borrowed from Mario. 

 

Overall, it's a brisk map with exciting combat, one of Walter's best.

 

 

Edited March 13 by Celestin

[Mr Masker]

I've always wished to make a thread like this, seems like a fun way to try all these Doom Wads. I'd probably lose motivation and stop 2 posts in though, shame.

 

Always enjoy seeing other people make them though, good stuff. I've wanted to play through Mayhem 17 for a while, it's a cool idea for a community project.

[Celestin]

MAP19-MAP27

 

MAP19: Your Princess is in Another Fort, Asshole by TheMionicDonut

Spoiler

 

This one is decent, I guess. The map feels compact and heavy on backtracking, since you are making a loops around the map, always returning to the room you've started in. Meanwhile, you'll be mostly dealing with mid-health monsters.

 

I recommend ignoring the early monsters, as the shotguns are placed a couple of rooms further (you'll have several chances to clear out this place). The ending teleports a cyberdemon, turns the floor into lava and brings a pair of archviles, along with other monsters. That cyberdemon is surprisingly useless, but annoying to kill. I accidentally pushed it down from his elevated platform and was awkward to take out. Personally I'd have him crushed or at least use some monster-blocking lines to keep him in place, as killing a cyber in a map with no plasma rifle feels like a chore.

 

Bonus point for a looping stairs at the end, which I think are a reference to Super Mario 64.

 

 

MAP20: Transformation Palace by Argentum (as Argent Agent)

Spoiler

 

The best word to describe Transformation Palace would be "imposing". It's a giant place, sometimes to its detriment (I'll always consider placing enemies above your sightlines as something you shouldn't do). The texture choice, gray stone, checkerboard patterns and dull blues, helps making this place feeling cold and hostile. 

 

The start is rather slow, moving through spiral stairs and fighting revenants, mancubi and arachnotrons. However, once you press a switch behind the red door, Transformation Palace kicks into higher gear. The map suddenly assaults you with revenants, cacodemon and several pain elementals, the route forward is blocked by a cyberdemon and there's a horde of hell nobles that act one single barrier, sinking most of your ammo. Also, if you get closer to the cyberdemon, archviles appear. It's a great setpiece by itself, however I spent the majority of ammo I had here, including all the rockets. This made the next part an utter and complete slog. 

I'll admit it, it looks awesome to enter a flat room and see the floor rising, creating a complex system of curved stairs. However, this place is once again inhabited by bigger demons and I was low on ammo, saving cells for archviles I've spotted. As a result, traversing this slowed the pacing, I had to constantly run back after firing an SSG shot and couldn't just push through. Fortunately, the ending makes up for this with a messy battle against cyberdemons, archviles and other foes. If you're lucky, the cybers will do most of the heavy work, leaving you to circle around them with a plasma rifle. 

 

I'm conflicted about this one. The combat isn't perfect and the map is longer than it should, but at the same time, Argentum nails the visual side and when done well, Transformation Palace can be entertaining to play.

 

 

MAP21: Rainbow Road by Scotty

Spoiler

 

Sometimes all you need is an opening shot and you know you're in for something special. Rainbow Road is simply captivating, a series of platforms made of lightbridges and colourful bricks, linked together by conveyor belts that envokes the namesake race track, all suspended in a starry void. I love everything about the visuals, it's just so unique even in a wad as creative as this.

 

After the first such trip (which gives you a rocket launcher and a BFG with a full stash of ammo), you end up in on a cross-shaped platform that leads to the keys and the exit. I started with the blue key, located on a small platform with several archviles. The BFG will eliminate them all, but it's tough to avoid getting attacked. The red key was next, there's a mastermind in the centre that has to fight something to give you a breathing room and a revenant-guarded key, accessible through a series of lifts. I find this to be the hardest part of the map, owing to a pair of cyberdemons that can be only killed by the end. By contrast, the yellow key is a simple combination of infighting and using BFG to quickly take down archviles. 

 

Keys in hand, you can finally get rid of the cyberdemons and use your remaining cells to kill the last batch of monsters that guard the exit. And that's it. The in-game time showed 4 minutes, of course it took me longer, but I was mostly reloading a save when I was hit by a cyberdemon. I see them as a cheap addition to an otherwise great series of short and varied encounters.

 

 

MAP22: Chocolate Starfish Islands by Benjogami

Spoiler

 

I know I should expect a tough map from Benjogami (just like I can expect some low-brow humour), but this is a cruel mess and easily the weakest map of the wad. The ice physics make their comeback, the map starts with slowly climbing through slippery steps while under fire, then you enter a platform with pinkies on the ground and two groups of imps throwing fireballs from the sides. I wouldn't mind this one if it wasn't for one single issue: a revenant that sits on the other end of the map where you can't hit him, while he fires missiles constantly. There's nowhere to hide from the attacks, so your only chance is more platfroming through slippery pillars.

 

But the worst offender is the river fight. So you have this conveyor belt that brings monsters to a small arena you're in. The problem is, this is completely random. There are monster-only teleport lines that can transport the enemies back where they appeared or move them to the tops of two columns here. Also, a revenant sniper returns, adding one more thing to worry about when you try to fight the incoming stream of foes. 

 

Perhaps I'm just not the main target for this map. However, unlike MAP11, I didn't feel like I was slowly understanding how the fight works, refining my strategy and finally overcoming an obstacle. Instead, I was lucky with the monster teleportation, where hitscanners appeared early, archviles were separated and the revenant didn't land too many hits on me. I won't complain about the looks, but Chocolate Starfish Islands is just not a map I had fun playing.

 

 

MAP23: Down the Wrong Pipe by TheMionicDonut

Spoiler

 

If you ever wondered how a Kaizo map would look in Doom, well, you have an answer: tight, deliberate and filled with insane obstacles. Down the Wrong Pipe is a map where you can't just dig yourself in and eliminate everything until it's safe, you need to actively push forward, run past monsters and snatch key from a watchful eye of a teleporting archvile. That's just the start, the rest of the map, in true Mario fashion, adds platforming over death pits (you can escape them, but you'll lose a ton of health in the process, so I would just reload a save at this point) and ambushes. The most evil part was when you have to jump from a platform to platform, grabbing a rocket launcher spawns shotgunners up close. Or when you telefrag a mastermind and an archvile appears on a platform in front of you, if he hits you, you'll be thrown into a pit and die. I love how this part looks though, with solid black and colourful blocks translating the original platformer's aesthetic well.

 

My biggest problem was a lack of ammo (less so health, with megasphere and supercharge secrets). By the time I was about to exit, I was completely dry and simply ran away from the final archvile. In the end, Down the Wrong Pipe is a map I didn't enjoy, but I respect its design and I know challenge seekers will be satisfied.

 

 

MAP24: Bowser's Daddy Dungeon by Rottking

Spoiler

 

I found this map to be a bit confusing at first, as Bowser's Daddy Dungeon uses teleporters a lot, moving you between different parts of the map (sometimes completely disconnected). Essentially, you have 3 distinct parts of the map: outer walls where you start, inner castle and the lava chamber (plus and exit).

 

The difficulty is front-loaded, as the start has you exposed to long-distance fire, while the path is blocked by imps and arachnotrons. The only weapon you have here is a super shotgun, but one, the shells aren't infinite, two, it's useless against distant threats. I'd go south first, as this way you can get a rocket launcher and it greatly simplifies the red key fight in the northern part, against an archvile and a crowd of imps.

 

The rest is far easier, with more close-range fights. As for the ending, that part feels just repetitive - four switches, each guarded by a hell knight and spawning two revenants when pressed, plus an archvile that teleports from one corner to another. A bit of an underwhelming ending to an otherwise solid level.

 

 

MAP25: Bastille Bowser by Breezeep

Spoiler

 

The last couple of maps were on the harder side, so here's a breather of sort. Set in a pretty castle on the side of a mountain, Bastille Bowser features a mostly conventional gameplay - no evil traps or combat puzzles, just pure Doom action in a completly non-Doom setting. Breezeep links together early scramble for guns, incidental fights and arena setpieces in a satisfying way. Aside from a secret BFG with a single shot, there are no cell weapons, but you'll unlikely to run out of shells and rockets. The map conculdes with a battle against two armies - arachnotrons and a mastermind on one side, revenants and a cyberdemon on the other and a single archvile mixed in for good measure. They'll mostly sort themselves out, but it's always fun making a group like this infight.

 

Super MAYhem '17 is a wad full of unique and creative maps, but I think it has a place for more ordinaty maps like this. It's a fine break in a pleasent environment, one that lets the player prepare for the finale.

 

 

MAP26: Bowser in the Black Abyss by Marceak and rd (as rdwpa)

Spoiler

 

I'm pretty sure if you change the textures, Bowser in the Black Abyss would fit into one of those modern challenge wads. It's this feeling I can't put my finger to, but I'm pretty sure designing your map exclusively around setpiece fights and high monster density are part of the reason. It's far from the hardest maps in the set (that honour would go to MAP11, MAP22 or MAP23), but it has this grand undertone that makes it the worthy ending.

 

Right from the start, turn left and touch a fence with a bloody spot on the floor. It teleports you into a secret arena with a BFG, but beware, nothing is free here. A stationary cyberdemon appears here together with a group of archviles. The goal is to distract the viles until the exit opens, giving you cells and letting you leave the place (also, the cyberdemon teleports away, never to be seen again). I guess BFG isn't mandatory, but it helps a lot when dealing with archviles and crowded places. Such as the arena with lowering pillars, bringing in more and more monsters, but also providing you with rockets to take them out.

 

Now, the ending fight with a custom boss, a surprisingly well-animated Bowser. He spams mancubus fireballs and has a ton of health, but I'd say he's the least of you concerns here. The arena gets flooded with monsters - many are on the weaker side, but aside from being an additional source of damage (especially when talking about hitscanners), they take up the space in a room where the most of the floor hurts you. This is where BFG shines, it clears space while you can focus on attacking the boss. Once he's dead, you can approach the princess and Super MAYhem 17 is over. A great conclusion to a great adventure.

 

 

MAP27: Congratulations! by leodoom85

Spoiler

A small map with no exit. Since the map starts on a throne I guess I am the king now?

 

Conclusions

When I first played Super MAYhem 17, I was amazed by the visual acpect of the wad. My experiences with Mario series are somewhat limited, but the maps have this unique look that you don't find in other mapsets. Shortly after I dropped the playthrough, as underneath the cheerful textures hide challenges made by some of the best authors of its era and I just wasn't up to the task. Which shouldn't be this surprising, I mean, Mario is also a series known for its community making more and more difficult maps, but let me warn you MAYhem 17 isn't the best for a casual playthrough.

 

I feel satisfied raising up to the challenge, as this is one of the best community project I've played in a while and it deserves more recognition. The aesthetics is one thing (remember when I said the MAYhem series got better with more distinct visual themes? This is one example I was thinking about), but the varied and creative gameplay sells the wad to me. All maps feel distinct, merging certain aspects from the source material with the mappers' styles. As with many great community projects, the joy comes from loading a new level, going in blind and see what's next. This is helped with a compact nature of the majority of maps, though some can create vicious scenarios with small enemy numbers and limited space.

 

In the end, this is one wad I strongly recommend, especially if, like me, you love the more creative side of the community. Just be warned, Super MAYhem 17 can get tough in places, so don't be afraid to turn the difficulty down.

 

TOP 5 maps:

MAP15: Ziegenhaus by Xaser
MAP26: Bowser in the Black Abyss by Marceak and rd (as rdwpa)
MAP31: Sinkysand Switchland by dobu gabu maru
MAP21: Rainbow Road by Scotty
MAP10: Shifting Sands by Crunchynut44

Edited March 13 by Celestin