What are the most coherent original Doom level names?

[Astro X]

Do you think any original Doom maps match their title name with the level design itself?

 

Which one you think is the closest in resembling the name they were given, and which one is completely off and doesn't look like what it should have looked like based on its title name?

[Claire]

The Factory and Downtown.

They are the most obvious ones, and even then the factory feels like a stretch

[spineapple tea]

Knee Deep in the Dead has a lot of the level names could vaguely describe what's happening considering it's also the most 'normal' of all the episodes. Toxin Refinery has nukage pools that aren't just seeping into the level itself and the computer rooms could imply that it is, in fact, being refined. Computer Station is much more obvious being considering that yeah no shit it's a computer station. Phobos Anomaly kind of applies in a technical sense considering there is an Anomaly on Phobos.

 

The Shores of Hell's opening map, Deimos Anomaly (which I just now realized is literally the same as E1M8's name but for a different moon), follows the same logic as E1M8. Containment Area is pretty dead on considering a large portion of the map is a crate maze, although that doesn't really explain why there's weird shit like crushers and a river of nukage. After that, most levels names don't make much sense, but the Tower of Babel is pretty spot on if we assume that we're at the top of it and that the intermission screen's depiction of the map is to be trusted.

 

Inferno is basically just a bunch of nonsense when it comes to the levels and their respective names, pretty much just being whatever sounded cool. Unholy Cathedral I guess can be seen as a cathedral with its scale and architecture mixed with the 'unholy' imagery. Mt. Erebus deserves a shoutout for possibly being the least accurate level name considering the real Mt. Erebus is in fucking Antarctica. Besides that nothing else matches up and while I would've also done Thy Flesh Consumed, all of its map names are just random biblical phrases so literally none of it applies. In fact, if we're back on Earth after episode three, then Hell Beneath (E4M1) makes less than zero sense.

 

In summary, Doom has mostly gibberish level names and they're just about as important as Doomguy's own name.

[Plerb]

For Doom 1: Spawning Vats (mostly because of those vat looking things in one of the rooms, which based on the intermission map may be linked to the construction of the Tower of Babel) and Containment Area are the ones that seem most strongly tied to their respective maps to me, with Hangar, Phobos Anomaly, Deimos Anomaly and Unholy Cathedral being runners-up. For most of the maps though, you could shift around the map names in an episode and it wouldn't change a thing.

 

Looking at the map list for Doom 2, I notice a larger portion of its maps have descriptive map names compared to Doom 1. The most descriptive ones aren't place names but rather abstract concepts the map is centered around. The Crusher, Tricks and Traps, Barrels O' Fun, Bloodfalls etc. I'd say names like The Factory and Downtown don't exactly mismatch their maps but they could apply to any other city level just as well.

 

TNT: Evilution's map names are about the same as Doom 1 on average, while Plutonia's are easily the most abstract out of the 4 IWADs.

[Blast_Brothers]

"Circle of Death" seems about right.

[yakfak]

hanger

[Stupid Bunny]

Yes: Tricks and Traps pretty much hit it on the nose

 

No: “Mt.” Erebus which is completely flat all the way to the horizon in every direction 

 

EDIT: yes it is a crater on top of a volcanic mountain, see username 

Edited May 23 by Stupid Bunny

[Lucius Wooding]

It's gotta be Wolfenstein. I mean, cmon.

[WASFDDDDD]

The Crusher

 

Exactly what it says on the tin

[DynamiteKaitorn]

Toxin Refinery: It has a toxic pit and PC's so... maybe?

Hell's Keep: I mean, you enter a brick-y building in hell.

Containment Area: More so a bad pun. (get it? Containment area has a crate maze? *facepalm*)

[NuMetalManiak]

Abattoire

1 hour ago, yakfak said:

hanger

So TNT MAP05 and not E1M1?

[Baron T. Mueriach]

Lots of people seem to be looking at this from a more structural point of view. (i.e. if it has "computer" in the name, it must have computers or it is inaccurate.)

 

But I say the biblical or mythological names used in Doom are quite accurate. For example: Dis. The City of Dis stands as the entrance to the lowest levels of Hell. After completing Dis, you enter some of the shittiest levels Doom has to offer, Thy Flesh Consumed. The entrance of the "lowest levels"? Did John Romero mean something by naming E3M8 Dis? Who knows.

In all seriousness, definitely Toxin Refinery.

[Pure Hellspawn]

The Courtyard and The Citadel seem pretty coherent. The majority of the Courtyard is in a courtyard. And the big building in the Citadel is essentially you guessed it, a citadel.

[Uni]

I think every level made by Sandy for Doom 2 is true to its name, the only exception might be Nirvana.

[Noiser]

I need to give a shout out to E3M4 The House of Pain, the map have its own torture chambers (the crushers on the outside area and the inacessible room with hanging guys behind the window). Good stuff!

[vanilla_d00m]

Halls Of The Damned in DOOM 1.  Damned if you get lost.  I remember this map took me ages to remember. The name of the map and level fit together perfect.

 

And.. Offcourse LIMBO (Gate To Limbo)  I like that map… the first area of the map looks so original.  I definitely got stuck on Limbo the first time, going everywhere and not progressing.

Edited May 23 by vanilla_d00m

[Gifty]

Nirvana, obviously

[ALilGrayBoi]

Underhalls, because those halls sure are under 

[Logamuffin]

6 hours ago, Blast_Brothers said:

"Circle of Death" seems about right.

You mean ‘O’ of Destruction?

[Sonikkumania]

Icon of Sin, there's the Icon right?

Bloodfalls, there are some bloodfalls sure.

 

Actually many level names seem coherent.

[Gez]

8 hours ago, yakfak said:

hanger

I disagree, as I can't put my coat on it.

[Devalaous]

1 hour ago, Logamuffin said:

You mean ‘O’ of Destruction?

 

Its pretty much officially Circle of Death at this point. Basically every release and port since has Circle of Death exclusively, including the current Unity port. O of Destruction was likely an older name kept in the text strings by mistake. Both names do work in this thread's context though

 

8 hours ago, Stupid Bunny said:

Yes: Tricks and Traps pretty much hit it on the nose

 

No: “Mt.” Erebus which is completely flat all the way to the horizon in every direction 

 

I always see the level as being in a crater on the summit, and its one of those many red mountains you see in the sky for the episode

[The_MártonJános]

3 hours ago, Noiser said:

I need to give a shout out to E3M4 The House of Pain, the map have its own torture chambers (the crushers on the outside area and the inacessible room with hanging guys behind the window). Good stuff!

The first half is depicting physical pain. The second part is giving you mental pain with all the puzzle thingamajig around.

[Professor Hastig]

12 hours ago, Stupid Bunny said:

Yes: Tricks and Traps pretty much hit it on the nose

 

No: “Mt.” Erebus which is completely flat all the way to the horizon in every direction 

 

It's supposed to be the lava filled crater of a volcano.

 

[Stupid Bunny]

@Devalaous @Professor Hastig Fair point—actually come to think of it I have a pet theory that Mt. Erebus and the Unholy Cathedral on the intermission map were originally swapped, that Mt Erebus was the towering lava crater and the Unholy Cathedral was the little vaguely church

like building on the sandy barren hillside. In any case I always figured the same thing about the Tower of Babel so no reason in either case Mt Erebus wouldn’t be the same way (though everyone knows the mountain should’ve been a far off flaming thing with teleporting lost souls flying off of it ;3 )

[Pechudin]

12 hours ago, Stupid Bunny said:

Yes: Tricks and Traps pretty much hit it on the nose

 

No: “Mt.” Erebus which is completely flat all the way to the horizon in every direction 

 

It's actually an island in a lake of lava atop a volcano. Checkmate.

 

EDIT: Goddamnit I got beat to it.

[xdarkmasterx]

Nirvana as only the enlightened ones will realise its perfection

[Gez]

Nirvana should just be a player start and nothing else. Not even a sector. In there, or rather in the not-there, Doomguy would be freed from his drive to kill demons, pickup items, and find the exit.

[VICE]

Doom2 Map10 ''Refueling Base'' is, indeed, based.

[LadyMistDragon]

Tricky question. I'll just go with Inmost Dens but maybe that's more a function of concise intrigue. But really, who wants to see something like Factory for the billionth time? :P