The DWmegawad Club plays: Hell Revealed 2

[joe-ilya]

MAP19

The starting room is too small for a proper fistfight, but you can always leave and let the enemies teleport to you into a more appropriate area.

I head into the armor alcove and camp the demons who can't climb up these tiny steps, there's a lot of them, so it takes some time.

I don't go to the cave with the megasphere because you have to kill 4 AVs with berserk, but I didn't know was that there's a secret near the megasphere that has a SSG and a rocket launcher, so I had to spend my time with the pathetic shotgun-chaingun combo that HR usually gives out, there's a ton of hell knights and cacos that you have to kill, by camping from behind corners while getting sniped by dozens of hell knights and an AV in the distance, that whole process takes several minutes without the secret weaponry, and there's absolutely no health at that point onwards, there's a soulsphere, but you're likely to get zapped by the sniper AV if you haven't killed him earlier, there's a ton of unfair trial and error in this map, including the error of not finding the first secret.

If you haven't taken the BFG from the barons and jumped into the sewers, you can't go back and take it, so I decided to literally jump back and get it, once I realized that I have no choice with killing the many revenants, barons, arachnotrons and AVs with just the shotgun.

 

Surprise, when you get BFG, the map gets better, you can kill stuff now, wow! Then a plasma, a ton of cells and health, then the non-secret SSG and rocket launcher, it becomes so much fun when you get to kill revenants and hell knights quickly, I wish the map would start at the BFG room.

 

The bridge tower is the most impressive vanilla architecture I've ever seen, I wish the courtyard would be bigger so you could feel the architecture a lot more.

Not a fan of how the inside of the tower plays, it's incredibly tiny, and forces you to climb lifts with revs, AVs and barons in your face, I guess it's ok with BFG, speaking of BFG, why does the top of the tower tease me with another BFG when I was forced to get one already?

The gray chaingunner room is weird, I thought it would be a setup for an AV, but nothing happened, I was pleasantly surprised however.

A bunch of quick corner fights occur and then I get to fight the cyber duo, and again, like in most HR maps, it just places me in a flat room with nothing, eh, was fun I guess.

The crate area at the end is awesome, good fun with the BFG.

The exit fakeout is the same like in MAP04, I lifts you down into a surround of chaingunners, I still think it's an awful trap, but it's not as bad as with the BFG.

3/5

 

 

Maps in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP08: Ballistics

(4/5)

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP32: Playground

MAP06: Revival

(3/5)

MAP19: Mind Trap

(2/5)

MAP15: The Path II

(1/5)

MAP03: Shackled

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP05: Insatanity

(0/5)

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

My playthrough :

 

[tchkb]

MAP19 “Mind Trap” (Jonas Feragen)
 

Spoiler

 

Unlike the standard HR2 experience, this one has a more notable aesthetic focus. Feels a lot like Alien Vendetta maps. The multiple instant bridges on top of each other in the central structure are especially impressive. Unfortunately, for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on, the overall gameplay in this one feels like a chore.

There are two specific flaws that particularly annoy me here. One is the entire part of the level from the beginning (except the Tyson intro, that one is okay) to the point where you’re able to get BFG. On HNTR where I intentionally skipped all secrets, I was stuck with Shotgun and Chaingun, which wasn’t that big of a deal if you’re dealing with something like hitscanners, Imps or some individual Revenants/PEs/Arachnotrons/etc. But HNTR still had some parts where I had to dispose of multiple HKs, Cacodemons etc, which was a considerable chore, at least until I was able to snatch the non-secret SSG, RL and BFG in later parts of the map. On HMP and UV there is that cave in the beginning where you’re pitted against multiple deaf Arch-Viles. Luring them one by one and slowly hit&running them with base Shotgun is just awfully boring.

Then there’s the area with 3 Cyberdemons and a relatively thin and long tunnel leading to it. Unless you want to camp at the map’s start with Shotgun for ten minutes straight to kill one or two of them, your only option is to wait before going in until their position *seems* favorable and hope they won’t suddenly move in to block you. I’d much prefer if two of these guys were moved to the final Cyberdemon teleport, preferably along with a decently sized monster army because the map lacks a proper big fight climax.

Personal rating: 3/5

 

 

[galileo31dos01]

@Roofi Good map! Why weren't you there during HR2's development? :P Your maps are bangers. Really liked the structure and most of the fights turned out well, even though at the cyb/viles autoaim was more stupid than usual and died a lot thanks to that (not fun, sorry), there's a sweet spot between old and contemporary monster effectiveness. I skipped a lot of cybs though, probably part of the intention. Usually that's the other "face of the coin" of troll-ish cybs, good for hazards while too tedious to kill. Also went straight to the exit when the hitscan storm happened, I guess it was like a bonus fight after all?

 

 

Map 18

 

Speaking of troll cyberdemons, those two at the end were the bane of my saveless runs. But I'll get into that there later. 

 

Yes, now you get to be the sardine in the can, like the title of the map suggests. In multiple times he tries to squash every living creatures together, leaving almost no compassion on the player that wants and/or needs to move. How awkward, engaging, challenging or monotonous that is depends on each individual, but myself I believe a bit of forced proximity is key to know your enemies better. The thing is how well he understood what species fit more than others in certain spaces, and I think this map meets the good and the bad sides.

 

I'm sure the mappers not only took inspiration on Requiem to build their 3d bridges, but were also interested in the combat ideas from the Memento Mori wads as well. From my blurred memories (been a while since I played both MMs), some of the claustrophobic setups look like x² versions of them: the classic "sudden floor trap > pincer ambush" with berserk and spectres, or the quartet cyberdemons under the sky, to name the only cases that brought me to two specific maps (super secret 02 in MM2 and map 28 of MM, respectively). The concrete section with barons perhaps to MM's map 22, solely for the "booby trap" concept, though I vaguely recall some concrete textures in that map, whatever.

 

Many people mentioned inescapable pits, I think the only case is in the same concrete room that has two pairs of imps for added mockery. I mean it because once the bridge is up you can't kill them anymore, and it's so easy to overlook their existence. Unless I'm missing another one somewhere else, in material of "inescapable" that should be the least of your worries (I know some people can't tolerate them, but still), when most encounters demand immediate attention, planning ahead of time, and sometimes a death or two to fully understand what's going on. For example, you might be better dealing with two barons at a time in the concrete room, or shooting a preemptive BFG shot before teleporting to the first area so those imps aren't in the way of the archvile versus your full exposure. The cybs in the yard could go to hell one by one if that's how you want to, personally I prefer no interference on my side but I'd be fine with the four awake. 

 

In other places execution is more straightforward, not much room to pick a strategy. Punch spectres to death, rocket these mancubi out of the way, hug some HKs to grab those rockets underneath their paws, grind those cacodemons obstructing a switch, etc. Or else, not much room to even work your way out, such as the two cybs to end the level, which in numerous attempts one of the two would keep walking towards me until I had no more room to dodge, then simply kill me. That's bullshit, hoping for luck every time I got to the end, meh.

 

Leaving that shit out, the map's alright at best. What I like is the subsections concept to separate each part of progression and give a more "set piece" feel to the combat, though the teleports could have used visual signs to differ from each other, avoiding the confusion of taking the wrong pad in the obligatory backtrack part. I also agree that the whole invul setup isn't as satisfying as others in previous maps, though it's still a good feeling to carve through meat via face-rockets with total impunity. 

 

Fun fact, there is a tiny map in Survive in Hell that's quite similar to the little opening of this map, only imagine fighting cacodemons, revenants, and baron-type enemies in it. Sounds intriguing right?!

 

Mmm, 3 stars. I'll update my list another time :p

 

 

[Snikle]

MAP19 - Mind Trap

Mixed feelings on this one. The layout was wonderful, the overlapping bridges in that central section were cool as fuck, visuals were good, and a lot of the combat was fun. On the other hand, pistol starting the level is absolute hell if you don’t find the secret with the SSG and RL, like I didn’t. These weapons don’t show up for a little bit, and there is a lot of meat to get through before then. Also that two-sided face switch tripped me out for a bit. I had figured that each side of the face did the same thing, so I was left wondering for a good few minutes how to open the other set of bars to proceed. Another thing, not really good or bad, just strange: There was a secret lite-amp in an already bright, outdoor area. What are we supposed to do, save it for the very end, see if we can get it to carry over to the next map where it might actually be useful? And that room with all the chaingunners after you get the BFG: The teleporter to get there isn’t really shown off too easily, it was pure luck that I happened upon it. Having to re-climb the central structure a bunch of times got old fast. A lot of the fights here were fun enough, but the layout and visuals are what made this one stand out to me, while the hellish pistol-start experience also added to the memorability, just not in the way that you’d want.

 

Looking back on it now, having finished the whole WAD, this was probably my favorite level here, even with the horrible pistol start. Probably reflects more about the WAD than it does on this level though...

 

Also, @galileo31dos01, have I been seeing a few hints about you hating the upcoming MAP24, or is that just me projecting?

Edited April 19, 2020 by Snikle

[Roofi]

Thank you @galileo31dos01 for playing and commenting my maps !

 

Map 19 : Mind Trap

 

 

 

Oh yeah, like map 12 and 18, map 19 is one of my favorite levels of HR2 and any vanilla map in general.

 

As a STEPTOP bridge enthusiast, it's impossible to forget the passage with the 4 bridges superposed on top of each other. The only drawback is that it's quite easy to fall through but it's still impressive.

 

Like map 18 and map 15, the level is long and very adventurous. On the other hand, contrary to many HR2 levels, the verticality is much more pronounced and a vertical level is much more interesting in my opinion than a flat map.

 

Contrary to many people, I really like the contrast between the large outdoor areas and the very narrow interior spaces.

 

As said before, the beginning of the map can be unbearable if you don't know the obscure secret with SSG and RL.

 

[gaspe]

MAP19: A severe case of "where are my weapons?", and this is a map that I remember well but I totally forgot that in the south-west cave there's an early secret that gives you the SSG and the RL but the avs made me give up to go there and I came back there when I got the BFG. The layout is cool, it feels like a citadel you have to conquer and it's tastefully detailed. I agree with Roofi about the verticality, it's something that really make this map to stand out in the wad since HR2 for the most operates with flat areas. The tower with the multiple 3D brigdes is impressive, even surpassing Requiem MAP13 :D Once you get the weapons and pass the slow grinding at the beginning it's a very fun level. One of my favourites things is the pain elementals squad that with a simple impassable line they are trapped inside their teleport destination and come directly at you without spreading in the area. I think tchkb said well that the map lack a proper climax, the last area is a plain and generic crate storage and the exit trap if anything is a cheap little thing, did Feragen ran out of ideas here? Despite that it's one of my favourite levels of HR2.

Edited April 19, 2020 by gaspe

[rehelekretep]

catching up!

map15 fda

progression was somewhat interesting, trying to find out whats going on, and i like this midi a lot. however, ssg meat-reduction is now rocket meat-reduction. slightly better but still dull. caged mancubi the biggest offender. just give me a bfg and some ammo!

 

map31 fda

this was a fun level, enjoyed this a lot up until... that 4-cyber/caco setpiece: utter tedium. in fact the level gets pretty awful from that point onwards.

 

map32 fda

spam-city, very dull.

 

map16 fda

this is atrocious. i strongly believe if this got submitted for a community project it would be rejected as a troll map. the biggest offender is the godawful 3-spider/archvile room. what the fuck are you meant to do here? the viles are just outside autoaim range so you have to run in, spam a rocket or two and run back into the little alcove in time. utterly dull. you cant rush the masterminds as theyll blind-side you or painchance through the plasma. utter waste of time. awful.

 

map17 fda

this wasnt bad but the mapper has some weird obsession with monster blocking lines that doesnt really make sense. for example the barons and hell knights basically cant infight with the cyber in the cage because? so either you just ignore the cyber or as galileo did, just boringly spam it to death (not criticising you galileo, you have to if you want a max run!).

 

map18 fda

holy-moly an actually good map. lots of opportunities for infighting, interesting encounters (for the most part). some slightly dubious traps that would be annoying if i wasnt using saves but generally this was entertaining. not sure about the blue-key platforming though. it thoroughly confused me as there'd been no need for any platforming for keys up to that point and it didnt look obvious to idiot me so i thought the map had broken or something.

 

[DuckReconMajor]

Map 19 : Mind Trap

glBoom + 2.5.1.7um , skill 1 pistol start, no saves

 

A lot of shoot-duck-repeat in places, but overall the fights are good on Skill 1.

The beginning was a struggle, and the only place I died, after a while the ammo and health became plentiful.

The map looks great and the 3D bridge section worked well and was really neat, my favorite crazy bridge section so far.

I did get lost enough to yet again break out Looper's nomo demo pack, but that was just one part (getting to the red key) and the rest was straightforward.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Andromeda]

MAP19: Mind Trap (Hell Revealed II)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

For some reason I remembered the title of this level from watching decino's playthrough but had it mixed up with a cramped indoors level with metal textures, which is probably found later. This is fairly large and reminds me of the city like Memento Mori II locations but with some incredible faux 3D bridge trickery, besting even Requiem's technically impressive levels (for vanilla standards at least). Shame it doesn't look as good in terms of texturing, but there's still some neat architecture to be found.

 

In terms of gameplay, not too enthused about the virtually weaponless start (further agonizing if you don't find the SSG + RL secret) and the anticlimatic ending with a rendition of MAP04's fake exit traps. The hefty monster count of 263 is misleading as the level is very forgiving with supplies, making pretty much all the encounters trivial once you have acquired more powerful weapons. The only moments that can be a bit challenging are the start where it can be hard to figure out what to tackle first, as well as the hilarious heavy weapon dude trap later on that is almost a death sentence if you have the wrong weapon equipped and are below 200/200.

 

Other than that it's a casual stroll around, finding switches and figuring out what they unlock. The Cyberdemon fight is a joke, you have so much space that I felt like punching it to death and was ultimately successful. That particular encounter on UV which has a trio of bosses instead still looks very manageable and could've been kept for the lower skill levels in my opinion, to make things more exciting. Earlier in the level I almost forgot the plasma gun since it lowers sneakily behind you, not that I needed it. Not much more to say about this, a decent level that's again a little bit too easy for the slot it's in.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP15: The Path II

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP19: Mind Trap

MAP32: Playground

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP08: Ballistics

Edited April 19, 2020 by Andromeda

[AFallingObject]

MAP18: Excess Meat (UV Continuous)

Good level overall.  I liked the invuln rush and the reasonable backtracking.  Teleporting into the room with the key doors for the first time was my favorite part.  One BFG shot + running around for a while to stir up infighting = fun.

102% Kills

100% Secrets

 

MAP19: Mind Trap (UV Continuous)

Another good level, maybe even great except for a problem or two.  The bars leading to the YK are usually not something that can be opened in Doom.  I had to check youtube to figure that out.  Also, the fake exits are hilarious here.  I haven't even killed everything and you expect me to believe I'm done?  I don't know whether I should be laughing with Feragen or at him.

98% Kills

33% Secrets

[Arbys550]

Map19

This one's gonna be in a spoiler because it's gonna be harsh:

 

Spoiler

Mind Trap? The only trap I fell into was deciding to play this. Without a doubt this is one of the worst, no, scratch that, THE worst, most god awful map I have ever played in doom. Words cannot express how much I hated this map. I hope you like single-shotgunning LITERALLY DOZENS of mid-tier monsters including 4 or 5 archviles and berserking hordes of imps. Also chaingunners above your line of sight that shoot you without being able to see them. The worst part I think was when I had to peek-a-boo shoot 4 hell knights with the single shotgun because of annoyingly placed sniper hell knights and an archvile. Oh yeah, and also a part with like 10 or so pain elementals where the only conceivable strategy is to hop down and kill them, forcing you to have to climb the tower all over again.

 

And let us not forget one of my biggest pet peeves of all time: A SSG and a RL in a secret early on that I missed? What the hell, dude. And what is the cherry on top? Terrible progression! This map is littered with those switches where you press it and nothing happens, forcing you to scour the rest of the level to see what happened. And the final sin, the last straw, was I couldn't find the damn yellow key anywhere. I don't care though, as I'm sure the rest of the map was terrible. And the map looks absolutlely atrocious as always, but what's new?

 

This map is grindy, confusing, unfun, and ugly. This is something I would expect from a "my first wad" release, seriously. I think I've shat out better maps into my toilet than this one. I said in my map04 review that it was my least favorite map of all time. Well, not anymore. I wouldn't play this map again to save my life, or even to save the entire human race from extinction. I hope that paints the picture well enough.

 

I think I need a disclaimer: It seems there are quite a few people who like this map, and that's okay. I hope those people don't take this review seriously and remember it's just my opinion. I don't mean to offend anybody.

 

Ranking (I'm introducing a new ranking system for me):

Spoiler

Maps I loved:

Maps I liked:

     Map18: Excess Meat

     Map13: Hardcore

     Map11: Raw Hatred

Maps I thought were okay:

     Map07: Not That Simple II

     Map02: High Voltage

     Map14: Metal Meltdown

     Map03: Shackled

Maps I didn't like:

     Map01: Ignition

     Map06: Revival

     Map10: Base Blaze

     Map08: Ballistics

     Map16: The Chapel of Black Granite
     Map15: The Path II

     Map09: The Siege II

     Map32: Playground

     Map31: The Descent II

     Map17: An Eye for an Eye

     Map12: Anti-Static

     Map05: Insatanity

Maps I thought were awful:

     Map04: Reluctant Pain

     Map19: Mind Trap

 

And I just read in Andromeda's review there's apparently a plasma gun at the beginning. Dear lord.

Edited April 19, 2020 by Arbys550

[Andromeda]

1 hour ago, Arbys550 said:

And I just read in Andromeda's review there's apparently a plasma gun at the beginning. Dear lord.

It's actually found after the BFG9000 and after the yellow key, so a bit far from the beginning :P

[Spie812]

Map19: Mind Trap, PrBoom+, UV Pistol Start, Saves

Hell yeah, this is one of the maps I think of when Hell Revealed 2 comes to mind (the other being Map27). I enjoy the berserk beginning, punching archviles is a pretty rare but satisfying challenge. The progression is a bit slow from there, doubly so if you don't get the SSG/RL secret, which is probably my biggest complaint about this map. What a stupid design choice. Apart from that, this level is a bunch of cool fights with enough ammo to play basically however you want. Complementing this is a great layout with some great architecture, though the progression is admittedly a little bit off. All things considered though, this is easily one of my favorite maps in the set.

[tchkb]

The debate of whether or not secrets that are mandatory for finishing and/or maxing the map are an acceptable game design is probably about as old as Doom itself - a bunch of id Software's originals (mostly Sandy Petersen's maps) are a routing puzzle from pistol start even when you know the secrets and are likely borderline impossible to max without knowing them. I'm personally okay with it, as long as at least HNTR (which is what I always start with, because I'm not comfortable with tackling completely unfamiliar stuff at its peak intended difficulty) is possible to near-100% without them. There will be one HR2 map later on that I will thoroughly roast for breaking this rule, but that's beside the point.

Edited April 19, 2020 by tchkb

[Snikle]

1 hour ago, tchkb said:

There will be one HR2 map later on that I will thoroughly roast for breaking this rule, but that's beside the point.

So many possibilities... I wonder if it's the map I'm thinking of (my least favorite in the whole WAD), or one of the other offenders.

[galileo31dos01]

17 hours ago, Snikle said:

have I been seeing a few hints about you hating the upcoming MAP24, or is that just me projecting?

 

1 hour ago, Snikle said:

I wonder if it's the map I'm thinking of (my least favorite in the whole WAD), or one of the other offenders.

 

Not sure which is your least favourite, but deducing by tchkb's post we may agree on the same map in particular (;

[Snikle]

MAP20 - Fear of the Dark

After one of the most open levels in the game comes another largely closed one, this time in the dark too. I found the secret BFG/blue armor, so this was not too hard for me to beat. The cyber went down fast, but I did take a rocket to the face in the process. Fuck that baron in the exit room too, BFG’d his ammo-sucking ass. This level wasn’t too long, at least not compared to the last one, but it will probably prove pretty memorable to me in the end, if for nothing else other than “the dark one.”

[galileo31dos01]

@Roofi So I made a little lengthy demo for your second map, if you're interested ↓↓

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Map 19

 

I'm a little tired to write another DOTW-inspired essay (minus the vocabulary), so I'll put pros and cons like rehelekretep used to do, adding neutral/impartial thoughts, although probably I'll end up expanding too much like usual.

 

+ Verticality like Roofi and Gaspe said, walking on stairs, room above room simulation, such things that contrast heavily with many of the previous Feragen maps, giving a more pronounced exploratory vibe in a semi-realistic location, and the 3d bridges on top of each other crossing the middle points, this shit still impresses me no matter how bound to break they are (important to keep the "steptop" midtextures minimal).

+ Action fluctuates a lot between slaughter-like and filler grind, but it stays satisfying for the most part thanks to ample resources of the powerful kind. All considering your arsenal is complete, which that assumes you found the early secrets early. If not then things take double the time and effort, which isn't really a great plan for a map loaded of demon flesh. 

 

. Speaking of a particular kind of "mandatory" secrets, this brings back to a debate I read in the Requiem's thread of  whether a hidden spot in the map could or should never guard something crucial to the pace. I have played more than enough "could"s to know my stance: I don't mind the concept in itself, I can actually enjoy some oddities in a megawad with mostly similar styles, but it largely depends on where does the idea impact on my own pace. This is more usual in older wads, like armor deprivation for example in Memento Mori 2, Insertion, or Armadosia, which for me can deteriorate gameplay on a blind playthrough if opposition is conformed mainly by hitscanners and/or heavy hitters in general. Good thing this HR2 map still gifts green and blue armors frequently, even though I wouldn't feel engaged grinding squads of hell knights, cacos, arachnotrons and whatnot without the early treasures in my hands. Then if we bring different play styles on the table, it's clear that the most affected in many of these maps are the pistol starts for the less invested players in exploration (though sure, HR2 typically doesn't hint its secrets), whereas continuous players just won't tell a difference unless they keep a pistol-start-ish mindset.

 

- There's maybe the little "stealth" archvile (on top of the PR) that can get annoying if he keeps resurrecting arachnotrons in front of you, which always happens. 

- Not too fond of the cyber trio constantly blocking the only access to their corral.
- Normally I don't talk about the midis, but this one rubs me the wrong way for some reason. Maybe because it's just noisy in Crispy's default sound font. 

- Oh, yeah, yet another fake exit, can we please move on from those... I can hear the NOes from the mappers

 

# Unexpected two-rocket hell knight at 23:10

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by galileo31dos01

[Roofi]

Very cool video @galileo31dos01 !

 

Map 20 : Fear of the Dark

 

 

 

It's really not the best map in the wad, but it is memorable on two points:

 

- Generalized darkness, which explains the title.
- Cyberdemons teleporting into the main room can really scare novice players and can be quite dangerous.

 

Architecturally, the level reminds me of a very low-cost version of Toxic Touch. Some passages and the layout are a bit like a sewer.The Gemini level at slot 22 is in my opinion a much better level in the same theme, without surpassing the legendary Kim Andre Malde's map.

However, I really like the use of the stucco texture in the area with the hitscanners trap.

 

[Arbys550]

Map20

This one was incredibly easy in my opinion. I didn't even find the bfg secret and still managed to beat it without dying. Nothing really stood out for me except for maybe the cybers in the middle. Not bad, but not particularily exciting.

 

Ranking:

Spoiler

Maps I loved:

Maps I liked:

     Map18: Excess Meat

     Map13: Hardcore

     Map11: Raw Hatred

Maps I thought were okay:

     Map07: Not That Simple II

     Map02: High Voltage

     Map14: Metal Meltdown

     Map20: Fear of the Dark

     Map03: Shackled

Maps I didn't like:

     Map01: Ignition

     Map06: Revival

     Map10: Base Blaze

     Map08: Ballistics

     Map16: The Chapel of Black Granite
     Map15: The Path II

     Map09: The Siege II

     Map32: Playground

     Map31: The Descent II

     Map17: An Eye for an Eye

     Map12: Anti-Static

     Map05: Insatanity

Maps I thought were awful:

     Map04: Reluctant Pain

     Map19: Mind Trap

 

[joe-ilya]

MAP20

This map made me appreciate simplicity so much, after the weirdly complex and unfair MAP19 we get a basic premise of dark hallways and an entirely satisfying combat of quickly mowing down meat before it gets to you, there's pressure because of the darkness that I enjoyed too, but with a side of confidence due to the wholesome weaponry that's given, it's a nice contrast.

The first two doors added some cool maneuvering for the enemies, even though some of them get stuck, I appreciate the gesture. 

The cybers were awesome, 'nuff said about them.

I love how the blue door spawns enemies behind you while having hell knights and barons behind the door.

That E2M3 homage with the dark pillar maze was awesome too, I like how you have to scout for the AV that's surrounded by zombies, Doom 2 enemies do that concept a favor.

The exit room with the barons was a decent strategic placement to avoid cheesing the AV, but I feel it could've benefited if another AV was to come and roam the maze once again, because I loved scouting for him the first time as it didn't take a lot of time.

5/5

 

Maps in order of preference:

Spoiler

(5/5)

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP08: Ballistics

(4/5)

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP32: Playground

MAP06: Revival

(3/5)

MAP19: Mind Trap

(2/5)

MAP15: The Path II

(1/5)

MAP03: Shackled

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP05: Insatanity

(0/5)

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

 

My playthrough :

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by joe-ilya

[gaspe]

MAP20: The title doesn't disappoint, the place is indeed very dark and also cramped, we get back to the austere corridor fights. It's neat how the starting area keeps to change, and even the lighting in the RK/BK room will change after you come back. Visually is also good and the lighting contrasts give some nice detailing, the stair with STUCCO and SHAWN was really cool. Maybe it isn't the most impressive level with the combats but the cyberdemons and the "waves" that refill the starting areas were nice and the cool music gives and additional edge to the map. Again the ending is a bit disappointing, I guess that chessboard with the monsters stuck is designed to be annoying on a uv-max. Even the separathe deathmatch area looks interesting, it would fit well among the weird planet levels from Icarus.

[riderr3]

MAP18
Passing a zigzag downhill descent, we find ourselves in a kind of “hub” which will further teleport us to different locations. Here you need to quickly get rid of the congestion while you have the effect of invul sphere. The interesting thing is that archvile can throw us with its fire back to the starting location.

The blue key will require from us something completely different from what it was in the previous levels - we need to balance on these boxes to get the key. It’s best to look at the automap here to get to the very edge and accelerate.

Speaking about the elements of gameplay, here there are less intense battles, and more balanced, except that in my opinion the last 2 cyberdemons are located quite close.

MAP19
At the moment, my favorite map in HR2. I would even give it a rating superior to the first 10 maps combined.

Everything here is right with the design, architecture and mostly gameplay(I played continuously). We have to cross caves, towers, ledges, windows, many interconnected rooms that are just interesting to explore.
Especially memorable 4-story pseudo-3D bridges - to be honest, back in time I also wanted to build 3 or 4-story similar structures, but I was too lazy and limited myself to 2 floors.

There are also a lot of soul/megaspheres with body armor, the amount of which is proportional to the ratio of monsters, so you get things just in time.

Edited April 20, 2020 by riderr3

[Andromeda]

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark (Hell Revealed II)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

Sort of a breather, I think it's a good decision to place these shorter levels between the longer ones so that the player doesn't get bored. Like the title implies, the most memorable aspect of this level is the lightning work, not groundbreaking by any means but it's used much better than in most, if not all of the previous. You're given every weapon and a decent ammo supply for each of them so you can kill the monsters however you want.

 

The secret is very obvious and important since it contains the only armor of the level (a megaarmor), which is a godsend to deal with the large amount of hitscanners present. The yellow key area reminds me of a section in Alien Vendetta MAP04 but much more forgiving. Like in the previous level there's a large fight against heavy weapon dudes (and a revenant) though this one is much easier since you can just corner camp.

 

There's a neat foreshadowing for the trickiest trap in the level, with lots of dead marines near a switch that once pressed unleashes a substantial amount of hitscanners around the stairway - a good way to deal with this section is to run up the stairs and kill the pain elemental so that you can clear out the zombies in peace. Not too fond of the arch-vile usage here, there's only two of them and they're toothless. Before the end there's an interesting beefed up E2M3 homage that could be troublesome if the arch-vile was allowed to roam freely, which didn't happen. In the end, it's a good level with fast paced combat that wouldn't look out of place somewhere in the second episode of TNT, I reckon!

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

MAP15: The Path II

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP03: Shackled

MAP05: Insatanity

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP19: Mind Trap

MAP32: Playground

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP06: Revival

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP08: Ballistics

Edited April 20, 2020 by Andromeda

[AFallingObject]

MAP20: Fear of the Dark (UV Continuous)

Pretty easy.  I didn't die here.  Getting the secret played a part in that, since it refreshed my armor.  Fighting the cyberdemons with so little room to maneuver made me a little nervous, since I wanted to conserve cells and thus only used 3 BFG shots on each of them.  That didn't kill either since I was trying for a deathless run and didn't charge them at point blank, meaning I had to finish both off with the SSG.  The hitscanner trap was underwhelming.  From the dead marines, I knew it was a good time to ready the BFG.  I fired it once to kill all the guys in front of me and corner camped the rest with a mix of chaingun and SSG work. 

 

101% Kills

100% Secrets

No deaths!

[Spie812]

Map20: Fear of the Dark, PrBoom+, UV Pistol Start, Saves

Not a huge fan of this level. Almost all of the combat consists of long hallways filled with monsters, which ultimately renders every battle completely nonthreatening. The cyberdemons that warp into the main loop are also worthless given that they appear on their own. A lone cyberdemon in a (comparatively) open area is just a time sink. The hitscanner swarm is the bit that stands out to me as it is the one part that felt like it could kill me, and that is not something that should be happening 2/3 of the way into this WAD. The level is ultimately not awful but there is a lot here that could have been done better.

Edited April 20, 2020 by Spie812

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

glBoom + 2.5.1.7um , skill 1 pistol start, no saves

 

Nice short level I found enjoyable. The hub format is a welcome familiar format.

edit: I did load this up in software and it is indeed much darker

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by DuckReconMajor

[tchkb]

MAP20 “Fear Of The Dark” (Martin Friberg)

Spoiler

 

Once again we’re back to compact map layouts. Kinda like MAP17, except with more dynamic gameplay, largely thanks to earlier heavy weapons and ammo pickups. Most fights aren’t particularly impressive and there are a couple more obvious flaws (like that Pain Elemental behind monster blockling line), but at least the map gives you options to plow through them relatively quickly. The two memoriable highlights are Cyberdemon duels in the dark intro hub and the massive hitscanner+Imp army.

Personal rating: -4/5

 

 

 

MAP21 “Conflux” (Jonas Feragen)

Spoiler

 

More small-scale slaughter action. The map has no cell weapons at all, instead forcing you to rely on SSG in the first half and RL spam in the second half. Early on you also have to run past some enemies, namely the Pinky horde at the beginning (I personally don’t like them, they’re a pain in the ass to finish off later) and the Revenant horde after taking Yellow Key. The ending has an interesting setpiece with Cyberdemon infighting an overwhelming hell noble army + two Arch-Viles occasionally trying to hit you from the distance – you’ll have to assist the Cyberdemon and kill the army before the vanilla engine’s autoaim lets you even take shots at the AVs.

Two obvious flaws: the gutted pre-YK fight on HNTR that forces you to wait a long time for the pillar to drop and a lone glitched Baron stuck in the elevator right before the map’s ending.

Personal rating: -4/5

 

 

[joe-ilya]

MAP21

Did they run out of original midis? lol

 

The start of the map is crappy (the light spreading slowly through the stairs was groovy), there's shotgunners with no cover and a horde of demons guarding a door, if you don't go quick, you'll have to grind the many of them with the chaingun-shotgun combo, but I've had enough of it in MAP19, so I headed quickly and took the SSG to grind a bunch of mid-tiers who were stuck in their little areas, including a big batch of revs after the yellow key.

The yellow key trap was well made, it stresses you to kill for space, not sure if it really needed the two pillars, but it didn't block my movement by much.

I like how opening up the blue key spawns in a cyber you can run past, if you do and get the blue key then hell knights and barons spawn in the same area and get to infight, it made me feel like I crafted the scenario myself, the infight felt more satisfying that way.

The fight to the red door was well made too, it made good use of the AVs and how autoaim works against you, so you're forced to kill the hell knights and barons below, while having a couple of small pillars to hide behind, a fun challenge, and an effective baron was again placed in a crucial lift to softlock you out, like in MAP18.

The fight to the exit was stupid filler AV encounter where you're now switched places, a nice concept, but execution is nonexistent.

 

I love how modern the map looks. But the gameplay is still mostly feels like early 2000's, it's somewhat of a vice versa of MAP18 in terms of visuals and gameplay.

4/5

 

Maps in order of preference:

Spoiler

(5/5)

MAP20: Fear Of The Dark

MAP07: Not That Simple II

MAP14: Metal Meltdown

MAP08: Ballistics

(4/5)

MAP01: IGNITION!

MAP18: Excess Meat

MAP21: Conflux

MAP02: High Voltage

MAP32: Playground

MAP06: Revival

(3/5)

MAP19: Mind Trap

(2/5)

MAP15: The Path II

(1/5)

MAP03: Shackled

MAP31: The Descent II

MAP13: Hardcore

MAP10: Base Blaze

MAP11: Raw Hatred

MAP04: Reluctant Pain

MAP05: Insatanity

(0/5)

MAP16: The Chapel Of Black Granite

MAP09: The Siege II

MAP12: Anti Static

MAP17: An Eye For An Eye

 

My playthroughs (one failed, one successful):

Spoiler

 

 

[galileo31dos01]

Map 20

 

Interesting to think darkness wasn't explored before like this map did. Exploiting the wide range of brightness levels available is one of my favourite possibilities in playing or mapping as well (I can finally say that), so in a mapset where the focus has been primarily on nonstop hellspawn usually at a light level similar to daylight (limitations of the engine aside), or occasionally trapped inside confined rooms with too much meat to look at anything else, it's refreshing to feel some spookiness while it stays silent in those dark corridors. I did feel the midi track didn't quite work for me, and maybe swapping it with map 06's would do the trick.

 

On the other side, I felt that was the strongest side of the map. Turn the gamma correction to the maximum and it'd suddenly become an uneventful shooting gallery. Many of the encounters are frontal in corridors, usually in big mass, and sometimes trivialized by either block lines or narrow door frames, like the pillar maze or the goats behind the BK door. The incidental teleport ambushes help a little to break the monotony, so does the first "ghost" cyberdemon (a second identical setup loses the effect), or the popcorn horde in the arachnotrons hallway that's actually the touch of silliness I like. But there's a ton of strange "parodic" monster usage too: two archviles employed to guard a shotgun? I will admit that got me once I saw it more clearly, or the army of lost souls around a corner followed by omg those chaingunners LOL. I gotta believe the mapper wasn't quite sure on what to make up for the corridor-heavy nature specially around the two cyb showdowns, if maybe he planned to use just one and dumped the other to fill an empty gap he felt there was. Seems to me he was just having fun with some of the nonsense, which I find important to note.

 

Barring the block lines or the lack of variety, this still packs superior combat flow than for example map 16 imo. The BFG might appear once again in a secret, but it's pretty evident how you can access to it, and there's no excuse not to explore the details around. Those silly moments are worth for catharsis perhaps, it's always good to turn a mass of weaklings into goop, even if it's limited to the ammo you have saved for that part. Oh, the beginning is great, a pain elemental to chainsaw I mean, that gets a bonus point.

 

 

 

Maps in order of preference, 0-5 stars:

 

Spoiler

5. 01, 13, 15, Corrupted Industry, Woodcraft

4. 07, 09, 19, 32

3. 02, 04, 05, 10, 11, 18, 20

2. 03, 06, 12, 14, 17

1. 16, 31

0. still reserved :v

 

Edited April 21, 2020 by galileo31dos01