MAYhem 2018 - Orange Edition!

A pretty cool orange-themed megawad of medium difficulty with nice architecture and new types of monsters. I like it.

for shame, I never got the chance to finish my map for the orange version of MAYhem 2018 due to having to move to a new area at the time (was planning a mini-boss map). like the rest of the MAYhem series, expect to experience...well...what the fuck else, mayhem. Orange Edition shows that in many of these maps, while some are fairly compact, others can take quite a bit of time like Pinchy's map with its nonlinearity, Obsidian's room-over-room magic, as well as Roofi's TOD-esque outing. and yes, the latter maps in the set are gonna be mostly slaughtermaps, but at least here they are a load of fun. to further compound this, well, there's not much in the way of new weapons apart from a much more nastier rocket launcher, but this one has quite a bit on the enemies. look out for those cybruiser, hades spheres and their elementals, very deadly and explosive. and also those fucking shadows are extremely annoying to fight.

only map I didn't like was MAP04, which annoyed me with its secrets, but this is a wonderful set to play and keeps the MAYhem trend going strong.

A pretty cool orange-themed megawad with nice textures choices. However , the monsters are really too powerful imo and considerably unbalance the gameplay. It could have been better if they were a bit nerfed. It's a really challenging wad on UV , especially for the last maps. The rapid rocket launcher was a really neat and fun idea on the other hand.

Here is my personnal Top 5 maps :

0. Map 20 : Floréal by me

Well , it's my map. It doesn't count. :)

1.  Map 21 : Volcaropod by @WH-Wilou84

A very memorable , long , hard and epic last map using the music "Death's Bells" from Tnt evilution. I enjoyed the journey in the very detailed volcano. The level alternates exploration with a moderate number of enemies and huge memorable fights. The fight in the arena surrounded by tons of cybers was not really my cup of tea but the sunder-like last combat with the new rocket launcher was by far my most favourite part in the map. The end is not as difficult as we can think but shows how powerful our new weapon is.

2. Map 16 : Bovril Bastille by @Pinchy

I enjoyed speedrunning this map (my demo will be available when the demo pack will be released) mainly because of how chaotic the gameplay can be when you decide to activate all traps without killing monsters in order to make them infight after. Bovril Bastille is a non-linear , big and very open map which gives consequently a lot of choices to the player. The level contains various passages which sometimes require a bit platforming skills. Also , I really love the music used . It figures among my favourite midis. (made by jmickle)

It's egally one of the rare maps where I liked the use of cybruisers.

3. Map 18 : Orange Stream by @Paul977

I would call this map "Death-Destiny for Dummies" mainly because the aesthetics and some traps remind of D-D maps which is one of my favourite mappers. Why for Dummies? Because the map is surprisingly fair even if it has many monsters and some traps involving cyberdemons. Wide spaces allow the player to easily dodge projectiles. Ammo and health are quite abundant so that you don't have to know the level very well to beat it on UV.

In brief , a fun and easy slaughtermap and also a nice introduction to Death-destiny's style.

4. Map 15 : Heatmonger by @Benjogami

An short and intense slaughtermap.  I remember I had a lot fun finding a way to beat his level. This map has some memorable gimmicks like the gathered megaspheres near the custom rocket launcher and also the skull-shaped secret room. As the Pinchy's map , the music used is really awesome.

5. Map 07 : The Game Never Ends by @Eris Falling

It's refreshing to play a map 07 which is not a boring arena fight with fatso and spiders. This map could have fit very well for the first slot imo. I specifically liked that map for its face-paced gameplay and for its complex and impressive Boom effects. I laughed the first time I saw a berserk pack coming from nowhere and sliding right to me. The very beginning and the huge raising bridge near the end were the most memorable parts.

Honorable mentions :

Map 13 : Argent Orange by @Breezeep and @Marcaek

It's the tech-base with the most beautiful architecture in the wad.

Map 31 : Wowee @dobu gabu maru

2slo.

Map 11 : The Infinite Gyre by @Obsidian

I found the map quite frustrating the first times I played it , mainly because of ammo and health restrictions and above all the hidden path in the water. However , weird maps are cool and this map abound of interesting boom tricks. I should try Maskim Xul someday.