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[Horus]

MAP18 - “Beyond Life” by Aquila Chrysaetos

 

Well if there’s one thing we know after playing this mapset, it is that Aquila sure does love imps! (no wonder it was Aquila who delivered all those imp puns at the last Hellforge Speedmapping Session stream :P). The good thing about imps is that they are versatile and harder to place incorrectly than most of the rest of the bestiary, and they are used well here, many of them in clumps that are satisfying to mow down with the SSG.

 

The MIDI used here is one of my favorite IWAD tracks and it matches the pace and monster-dense structure of the map. Aside from the central rocky outpost, there are two additional subsections that both give the same weapon (rocket launcher) and can be tackled in either order. Both are reasonably challenging at face value (especially the BK one), but can also be cheesed by retreating back to the central area. In any case, the soulsphere secret is certainly a real help.

 

Equipped with both keys, the exit is revealed which contains, as expected, a cyberdemon. The narrow geometry makes it really difficult to deal with in the central area, so it’s best to simply lure it out and engage it in the exit area where there’s more space, making it much easier to deal with, especially if you also found the plasma gun and cell pack secrets.

[golbeeze]

Maps 15-17

I didn't care for 16, so I skipped it. See previous comments.

 

15 felt pretty challenging with some tight combats. I did enjoy it and didn't bother trying to find the secret levels. I usually do, but time is tight at the moment so I carried on without. The revenants really gave me a tough time on this one. They were placed in a nasty spot with some splitting off and going down some stairs.

 

17 was one of the best maps so far, I think. I won't say it was my favorite up to now, but easily top 5. I was surprised when I hit the end because playing was so much fun I didn't expect it to end when it did.

 

[Summer Deep]

MAP16

 

Made several abortive attempts at this before resorting to reading the comments on it here. Was then able to complete it, but don't feel I've done so entirely 'legitimately' by looking up the solution. It's really the use of the 'damaging floor' as the main player in the level that ruins it for me. It's easily the worst element of the game in my view, and ought to be used as a subsidiary feature, if at all. I can only put up with that vile and disturbing retching noise in my headphones for a limited amount of time before feeling physically sick myself. It's really killed my appetite for the rest of the wad right now, see you all later in the year, I hope.

 

:|

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by Summer Deep

[Krenium]

MAP18 - Beyond Life by Aquila Chrysaetos

PrBoom+ / HMP / Continuous

 

Screenshot:

Spoiler

 

This is a fairly small map that packs in a lot of detail. It's nice to look at and the automap of it looks neat because it's at a diagonal. The opening fight could have been more interesting if I had decided to run out of the initial hallway and into the middle, but I played it safe and the monsters all streamed in nice and slowly. Then it was just a matter of mopping up the monsters on perches and the imps through the arrowslits.

 

At this point, I noticed a whole lot of imps bunched up at an invisible block line separating the blue key area from the central area. This was a bit off-putting and trivialized both the blue key and red key ambushes. It would have been much more interesting if they could follow the player into the rest of the map. The final ambush allowed monsters to stream into the central area, but by that point, you have enough rockets to hold down the chokepoint.

 

EDIT: I see there's a cyberdemon on UV. That changes the final fight tremendously and I think it should have been there on HMP too.

 

Map ranking (favorite -> least)

9 10 17 3 15 8 5 13 4 1 32 14 11 2 6 12 18 7 31

Edited August 18, 2020 by Krenium

[Veinen]

Quick lunch break writeups for the super secret maps.

 

Map33: Untitled

 

A somewhat similar map to the previous Aquila one map31, this time with less void and more space station vibes. This is actually very reminiscent of map18 "Gunman" from Epic 2 with the winding outdoor paths, the bridge with a control tower and ending in a indoor space station like building. It's a very easy map due to PG and RL being given right at the start and with this theme I can see why it made into the super secret slots instead of E1 which would be the correct place based on just difficulty. Combat is incidental for a change and it definitely fits here and creates a sort of adventure map feel. Didn't really enjoy getting immediately mauled by two HK's at the BK drop down but that's about the only complaint I can think of. Enjoyable map.

 

Map34: Bad Treatment

 

This is an excellent map. Very short, very punchy and quite easy, I think this would have fit E1 perfectly. Feels like an early episode map due to low difficulty but an atypical one since there is still a lot of blood to spill and monsters come in bigger groups. Gameplay is fast-paced though as you can mow through the cannon fodder with SSG and RL with ease and little worry about ammunition. Visually this looks great too, a pretty classic Scythe-esque tech base with interesting details and a concise layout. My biggest issue with the map is the MIDI which gets rather annoying fast.

 

FDA_1kCP_33-34.zip

[loveless]

prboom+, no saves, uv pistol starts  

map 17
deaths 1 

fun map, old school opening, but suffered from pacing.  that intro really set the tone then didn't follow through. 

 

map 18 

deaths 0 

again, i'm screaming late into the night about video games. 

 

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP18 - Beyond Life

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, pistol starts with saves, no complevel specified

 

This music is so iconic I went back and played through E3M3 just to hear it again.

This map I do feel captures the same kind of chaotic energy as that E3 map did, though the middle area does conjure images of the much maligned Slough of Despair. 

The red key arena was really good at giving you just enough space to paint yourself into a corner.

As noted, the imps are plentiful and used well, also getting double and triple kills with the SSG is a treat.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[RottingZombie]

Boiling Blood and Beyond Life were welcome 'breaks' after map16. Blood had a hot start that took a couple tries, but I enjoyed it.

[klaymeb]

All maps: UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

MAP31 - Among the Stars

I was really taken away by the atmosphere in this map. The intermission screen text, and way that it unfolds with the starry void and the music, really builds a fantastic setting. Well done on that part!

Until the hub room, the fights were mostly fine. The Plasma Gun secret didn't cost me too dearly, and it was definitely necessary for me to have for the rest of the map. In the hub, I went for the yellow key, and it was a nice little ambush - Then came the blue and red keys ... the problem with infinite height actors has already been mentioned, and I ran into that as well. The teleporting Mancubi was definitely the worst part of the fight, since I just couldn't get the timing right. But, I made it through both of those encounters. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that the key doors were behind bars!

The final fight is mostly ok, but I must admit that having to use the rocket launcher for almost everything in such tight quarters aren't my cup of tea.

 

Afterwards I read that it was an "easy-to-miss switch in the beginning of the map" that would have lowered the bars... "easy-to-miss" is definitely an understatement! I had to go IDCLIP'ing around the first area to even notice it -_- So, I went back, and got the keys and got to the Cyberdemon... and I never made it past there, because I was so frustrated with it. I never reached MAP32, but I might go back and play it later. 

 

MAP16 - Virulent Well

I wanted to start by saying some choice four-letter words about this map, but in hindsight... it wouldn't be fair. MAP07 had me tearing my hair out at the double Arch-vile fight, and I started feeling the same sort of frustrations with this one too. But, I never got to that maddening point where I just want to quit, because all the time it felt like I almost had it. There is only a few fights towards the end of the map where you can stand still, otherwise you have to be in constant movement to avoid projectiles and find health to keep yourself from mutating in the nukage. Every fight is a puzzle, and getting from fight to fight is yet another puzzle! Solving a puzzle feels great and the intensity was almost constant in, and between, fights.

 

The progression path was well done and I like the way it loops around itself. You could allocate health packs as needed, but there was a constant trade-off, and the resources in the first half of the map were tight. The map sort of just let's go of it's grip towards the last third-ish part, so I ended with a lot more resources than I had anticipated when I was progressing.

 

Nothing big to praise or criticise on the design - it's a toxic pit! and it looks toxic! In the end, I liked this map a lot more than I had expected to in the beginning, and while it's not my favorite so far, it's up there!

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by klaymeb

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP18 - "Beyond Life" - Aquila Chrysaetos (100%K/100%I/66%S):

Yet another map from Mr. Chrysaetos, and a really nice one. This one is maybe, less challenging than MAP07 or MAP31, and short. In fact, it feels like a pocket map. Again, some kind of a hellish fortress but in a different take to MAP14.
Something that caughts up my attention is how Aquila often uses rotated grids to build his maps, making some quirky layouts that you will notice mostly, on some flats being rotated. This is something he did on both MAP31 and 33 aswell. It's not bad nor good, just interesting. I often feel scared to do this at least on Vanilla, as I feel I could break visplanes or nodebuilding a little bit, so no rotations.
Well balanced combat here, more of my taste, fun to play. Yes, it may feel a little bit claustrophobic at the inner side of the fortress, but you may get used to it.
You'd expect something punishing coming from said author, but surprisingly, it's not. Both MAP17 and MAP18 are breathtaking, they follow up pretty well.
Also the music choice here is pretty good, gotta love Vanilla music. It's not illegal for your wad not to have new music, so kudos for the music choice.

Deaths: 54 (HMP Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP10
MAP17
MAP11

MAP09
MAP18
MAP15
MAP13
MAP14
MAP04
MAP08

MAP03
MAP06
MAP32
MAP07
MAP05

MAP01
MAP02
MAP12
MAP16
MAP31

 

 

[klaymeb]

All maps: UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

 

MAP17 - Boiling Blood

Like MAP08, this one was a breezy stroll in the park compared to the preceding map ... AD_79 had conditioned me well in "Virulent Well", so I was convinced that the blood would be a pain sector going in. The opening was cool, and it felt like a nice scramble for purchase to get it under control. The rest of the map wasn't hard, and there's plenty of resources to go around. The Arch-viles are mostly telegraphed, and there's ample cover. The final area was somewhat neutered by getting the plasma gun. 

 

The design and visuals are cool, and raising up the lava towards the end is a nice trick for allowing us to explore and get some of the secrets we saw earlier!

 

MAP18 - Beyond Life

After picking up the SSG at the beginning, it never really felt like I stopped shooting at any point; just gunnin' down Imps all day long. The fights themselves aren't terribly surprising or hard, and the few traps that the map wants to show you are obvious. Limiting the arsenal to only the SSG and the Rocket Launcher make the waves of Imps and Cacodemons feel very arcade-y. I did die twice, but both were completely my own fault, because I didn't take care with the rocket launcher...

It's a very small map, and sort of cramped, but since the Rocket Launcher only gets introduced in the two open areas of the map, it's not a problem. 

 

The final reveal was neat, but easy to get around if you're in that sort of mood. And seeing more Imps being gibbed is always appreciated! I liked the design, and it definitely looks like the OG hell from E3!

 

 

Edited August 18, 2020 by klaymeb

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[DFF]

MAP18: Beyond Life by Aquila (100% kills/100% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 8

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|ProjectBrutality3.0

 

Another short and very spicy map. I really like the design and the music choice here was very good. The map definitely made me thing E3 doom vides in a way, with ash rock terrain mixed with hellish wood and brick. People mentioned the overabundance of imps, but I think this made the map very engaging and kept the difficulty up.

 

Overall, combat is a lot tougher and hectic here than previous maps, which I like a good amount. The non-linear double keys felt very good as well. Even the end cycber fight felt like a good end, not the most dangerous of bosses with the many rocks in the middle, but good enough I chose to kill him rather than escape with not full kills.

 

My only gripe with this map is that the 3 secrets in this map are kinda lame. 2 of them are the same type of secret in the same area (invisible walls on pillars), and the third is an odd one but also easy, and not very different from the other two. I felt they were very easy and boring secrets. Considering this map managed to do so much and be at only 966 lines. I feel those last 34 lines could have been put to good use at least making some more interesting secrets, but otherwise a very fun and cool map that does a lot with little line usage. Aquila maps can be hit or miss sometimes, but I do enjoy them when they hit.

 

Note on rankings: Since i've played more than half of the maps so far, I think i'm going to reorder some of my rankings for those who care. Just better to rethink them now that i've played a bunch.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP10: Type A

MAP17: Boiling Blood

MAP18: Beyond Life

MAP32: Rocket for my Valentine

MAP16: Virulent Well

MAP03: Town Square

MAP13: Gotcha Now!

MAP07: Ground Beneath

MAP11: Arch-Enemy

MAP15: The Nest

MAP04: Stormdrain

MAP09: Steep Drain

MAP33: Bad Treatement

MAP08: Gateway

MAP01: Ebb

MAP14: Fortress of Catamarca

MAP12: Ambrosia

MAP33: Untitled

MAP31: Among the Stars

MAP06: On the Block

MAP05: Demolition Zone
MAP02: Flow

 

[Pirx]

On 8/16/2020 at 5:26 AM, Aquila Chrysaetos said:

MAP16
Eternity Engine

I'm going to start by saying that I neither like nor dislike this map, but I do respect what it is.

[snip]
So while the map isn't my favorite, it is the most interesting to me, and I praise AD for it.

 

 

MAP16 - “Virulent Well” by AD_79

 

ah, the polarizing map. 

 

quoting this  because that's in essence what i thought of it: on one hand, great looking map with good fights. on the other, i'm much better at maps i know already than at first attempts. means, i ran a lot into dead ends, suffering deaths of attrition. so, it's not the map's fault that my kung-fu is weak. still, that acid damage all the time kept me from really enjoying it.

 

 

 

MAP17 - “Boiling Blood” by Worm

 

nice hot start and good to see that lava is consistently damaging but blood isn't (i never got the idea of damaging blood anyway). the imps aren't much of a problem with a bit of quick strafing. then you navigate the map over those narrow walkways, which later lower a bit allowing you to access the backpack (which counts as a secret, despite being in plain view, while the plasma gun doesn't). the berserk fight is cliche, but whatever, didn't feel forced, and thanks to the pillars, one can also berserk the archvile for the lulz. the last vile in his bunker didn't do much, stayed inside his box and got shot through the window, and there is cover from the arachnotrons if you stick to the wall. 

 

 

 

MAP18 - “Beyond Life” by Aquila Chrysaetos

 

people wrote that map17 felt like plutonia, and this one does too, so that might be a reason why i liked them both. also has a music track from plutonia. plenty of imp fodder for the ssg at the start. then there's the rocket launcher fight where one can run past the monsters that warp in, and kill them with rockets safely from the door. in the end, there's a siege cow in the cramped, rocky central area. can be taken down with the ssg, but i was running out of shells, so i discovered that i can just skip said cow (which wasn't my intention, just finding some ammo). good stuff.

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP17: Boiling Blood

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

 

The opening seems like it would be another RNG-heavy luckfest, but it's actually not too difficult to tackle - I guess there's just enough columns and other monsters to make the hitscanners not as much of an issue, and the imps sniping from above aren't very effective. After the opener, things definitely quiet down a bit, almost maybe too much. Took me longer to find the blue key than I'd like to admit, tucked away in the little alcove there that you might not even see the entrance too behind a bronze pillar. One thing I really did like were the secrets - the blue armor is in easy view but requires some thinking about how to get to it, the backpack requires some memory and the soulsphere requires some extra thinking ahead. Map looks pretty decent too, in that chunky IWAD sort of way, and doesn't immediately scream "linedef limitation!" partially because of that style, I think.

 

MAP18: Beyond Life

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

 

A straight-forward map involving grabbing a key from each wing then opening the exit door, sort of a bite-sized hub map. Lots of imps, hell nobles and one cyberdemon, who is actually fun to fight in a bit of cat and mouse in the interior rocky area... but he's also extremely easy to skip if one so chooses. The blue key wing can also be basically ignored if one is fleet of foot thanks to some block monster lines, so really the red key win is the only one that actually requires any shooting. It's a decent enough map, especially if you just wanna gun some imps down.

[Endless]

MAP18: Beyond Life

LZDoom + UV (I just realized that LZDoom in spanish is El Zedoom.)

I almost forgot to continue with the reviews today! A busy day, but nothing like a bloody Doom map to get your spirits up and your willingness to live this wretched existence. Moving on. Beyond Life is a map that sounds quite reminiscent of the Daft Punk song, but it confronts us with a very, very different reality. A more challenging map that concentrates us in a small area full of enemies, especially those glorious Imps, ready to destroy our faces with their fireballs, fortunately, we have steel balls. The map follows a simple but efficient design, one that turns out to be quite attractive to admire and gives me a certain vanilla feeling. I don't know what it has, but I liked the rocks in the middle quite a bit, as a kind of contemporary stone garden. Maybe it's because they gave me some idea of monoliths. Of course, we don't have to concentrate only on the look, but what about the gameplay? Well, it's pretty intense. Entertaining, dynamic and without a single pause. This map takes us beyond our lives to confront the powerful demons. A fun and challenging map that entertains every second.

 

P.S. Please don't forget your Cyberdemon at the front doors, thank you.

[Krenium]

MAP19 - Caconic Leftovers by General Rainbow Bacon

PrBoom+ / HMP / Continuous

 

Screenshot:

Spoiler

 

With a name like Caconic Leftovers, I was bracing for the mother of all cacoswarms, and I was not disappointed. This map ramps up the difficulty considerably, and just as well, since we're already at the penultimate map of the hell episode. The first encounter will lull you into a sense of routine before springing a hitscan ambush with no cover. A bit rough with the chaingun out (as I was wielding my first time through) but I find rocketing the chaingunners ASAP to be the best strategy.

 

The next room springs a bit of a trap on you with monsters and barrels boxing you in. I died here, and I was able to thin some of them out from the main room before going through again, making it much easier. Behind the blue door is where this map starts to get really good. You are immediately greeted with a gorgeous view (pictured in the accompanying screenshot). And a chainsaw! Finally! It's a shame it took this late in the episode to be given one — presumably there's a death exit coming after the next map. All the same, I enjoyed some ripping and tearing of pinkies.

 

The stairwell here features some great gameplay, both coming and going — chaingunners kept streaming up the stairs while I was dealing with the hell knight snipers, and this sequence honestly got me pretty good. This area of the map feels big and interesting to explore. I like how it happens in two sections, first exploring down below, then back to the main hub and up above. Careful about the secret here — you'll want some HP before you attempt it. But it's worth it — cells for the BFG. This map is the answer to why I have been hording cells for MAP15's BFG all this time. The next few ambushes will make you want it, including the map's namesake ambush.

 

The yellow key area was rough. I basically spammed the BFG while spinning around like a maniac to clear out all these pain elementals. Eventually one of my attempts worked and I was greeted by some fun platforming to get back to the blue key area. I remember thinking it was odd the TP sent me back here, but it sets up a fantastic vile-rezzing-hitscanners scenario at the top of the stairs. Another well-constructed encounter.

 

Despite the high difficulty, I really enjoyed this map, particularly after the blue door.

 

Map ranking (favorite -> least)

9 10 17 3 19 15 8 5 13 4 1 32 14 11 2 6 12 18 7 31

Edited August 19, 2020 by Krenium

[DFF]

MAP19: Caconic Leftovers by General Rainbow Bacon (100% kills/95% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 17

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|ProjectBrutality3.0

 

Ah yes, I've had the pleasure of sampling General Rainbow Bacon's mapping style with his maps in Interception 2. This is about what I expected of a GRB map. An odd texture mis-maching style that reminds me of older doom WADS from the 90s, filled to the brim with some very intense combat. Personally I find the difficulty in GRB's maps to be a little bit on the more brutal side, and I was affirmed of this by the mighty caco-swarm the map was named after. It was tough, there were some bad saves, there were many saves after killing a single caco, but it was done. The zombie room was also very nifty and odd, with some good traps in there as well.

Overall, architecture is more of esoteric doom-hell than anything resembling realistic; with fire, jail cells, rocky outcroppings, and marble hallways all conjoined together. The textures clash a lot, but in this case this looks fine. The death pits towards the end are never a favorite of mine, but not the worst. A fair map, and one with a major bite at that.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP10: Type A

MAP17: Boiling Blood

MAP18: Beyond Life

MAP32: Rocket for my Valentine

MAP16: Virulent Well

MAP03: Town Square

MAP13: Gotcha Now!

MAP07: Ground Beneath

MAP11: Arch-Enemy

MAP19: Caconic Leftovers

MAP15: The Nest

MAP04: Stormdrain

MAP09: Steep Drain

MAP33: Bad Treatement

MAP08: Gateway

MAP01: Ebb

MAP14: Fortress of Catamarca

MAP12: Ambrosia

MAP33: Untitled

MAP31: Among the Stars

MAP06: On the Block

MAP05: Demolition Zone
MAP02: Flow

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by DFF

[klaymeb]

MAP19 - Caconic Leftovers

UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

 

Maybe these are the Cacodemons left over from the last maps? In that case the previous maps obviously didn't use enough! There's plenty of resources in the opening, and that definitely lulled me into a false sense of security - resources after this were tight!

 

The first rooms until the blue key door present at nice challenge and a limited arsenal. After the blue key, I felt the difficulty really ramped up. I had to snipe the Hell Knights on the top of the platform, so I could get some of the pressure off going around the edge. The Plasma Gun secret almost killed me, because of the unexpected lava, so I had to be ultra careful until the berserk pack! I was very low on ammunition after the final horde of Cacodemons, and the Pain Elementals in the yellow key room. Because of that, I had to retreat to the first room away from the double Arch-vile fight at the yellow key door; I couldn't take out the parade of hitscanners and the revived monsters at once. I might have cheesed it, really ...

 

The map has a central hub, and I think it's a little too restrictive later on, especially for the fight before the yellow key door. The bigger areas were cool though. Visually, it's not an impressive map; it just does what it's supposed to. 

[tmorrow]

Map19 is a marvelous map, a fortress in brown and red. Extremely interesting and fun rooms with traps that aren't too fierce. Don't make my mistake and fall into the hot lava in the yellow key area, it's a complete wipe.

Edited August 19, 2020 by tmorrow
It helps to get the right map number.

[Biodegradable]

MAP19 - Caconic Leftovers

HMP | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

This was a pretty interesting one in terms of layout and design, but also in terms of expectations. From the very beginning with how you're given a butt-load of supplies, I assumed this was going to be a tough one with an outlandish amount of enemies flooding every corner. While there are one or two ambush moments, I never really felt that huge onslaught that I was anticipating. Regardless, the map still provided a solid challenge and very much took my spine home to show its parents and hang it on the fridge. I did find things a little confusing at first, I blame the very first area with the oddly-shapped rising platform, but I got the hang of it in the end. Didn't leave a lasting impression on me, so I'm a bit lost on what else I can really say about it, but it's another solid romp nonetheless that'll pummel you silly if you underestimate it.

 

Gameplay:

Spoiler

 

 

[loveless]

prboom+, no saves, uv pistol starts  
map 19
deaths 6

 

had ourselves a spicy meatball with this map.  typically, i'll find myself dying to a few specific things but this one was all over the place.  died to the rev/imp room, died to the shotgun/chaingun pile outside of bsk door, died to an inescapable pit, and a few others i'm forgetting.  had a lot of fun and i really enjoyed what the second room did with regards to sector movement. 

 

1kcp-19-loveless.7z

Edited August 19, 2020 by loveless
accidentally a word, a whole word

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP19 - "Caconic Leftovers" - Sebastian "General Rainbow Bacon" Graham  (100%K/94%I/100%S):

Here is a map on the longer side, finally. It took me a while to finish, specially because of the big fights you can have here, and the somewhat confusing layout. Not gonna lie, I've got lost at this map for a while. It looks like a classic 96 map, straight from Memento Mori. Nothing too complex in terms of layout or details. Still, I feel surprised by its length, and some quirky shapes that may use many linedefs. At the end for example, the author had some extra lines to make quirky shapes like the cracks on the floor or the AV/Pain Elemental room itself.
Getting the Plasma Gun and getting hurt by the lava floor at the secret room was worth it, as there is a nasty AV fight with tons of hitscanners and little things to do. It was also worthy to get the blue armor at the YK room, but I have to say, it was quite annoying, as it was a timed platform that lowers. There are some few parkour bits at this map.
Again, plays and feels like a Memento Mori leftover. Looks boring, but plays a little bit better, I enjoyed its length and gameplay quite a bit, but nothing too amusing for me.

Deaths: 60 (HMP Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)

Order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP10
MAP17
MAP11

MAP09
MAP18
MAP15
MAP13
MAP14
MAP04
MAP08

MAP03
MAP19
MAP06
MAP32
MAP07
MAP05

MAP01
MAP02
MAP12
MAP16
MAP31

 

 

[Horus]

MAP19 - “Caconic Leftovers” by General Rainbow Bacon

 

This level really oozes 90s, with the feel, aesthetic and some of the design decisions. An oddity presents itself right from the starting area with its hollow floating rectangular structure. Next we have a lift that constantly lowers/raises thanks to enemies blocking its path, which makes for some frustrating stop-start gameplay. The marble room located after the teleporter has an SSG placed so close to the stair that its very easy to skip over and miss the first time round.

 

As the level wears on though, the map gets much better and it starts to find its charm (basically everything after the BK door is pretty sweet). The ammo balance in this map is interesting, after clearing the initial top area after the BK door I had a huge surplus of ammo that I wondered what I was ever going to do with, by the end of the map I was pretty far drained in everything except bullets, and that was with getting the plasma gun secret. Lulls you into a false sense of security, for sure.

 

This time the berserk pack triggers a couple of hell knights, which I decided to use for some much-needed practice punching hell nobles. The baron & caco swarm is something you are highly likely going to want to retreat from if you don’t have the plasma gun. If you do, it’s fine to attack from where you are. The second half of the map also contains a fair amount of platforming, something I enjoy as long as it isn't too difficult (and it's fairly simple in this case). Thanks to having depleted all of my plasma and rockets, I found the dual archvile battle on the return to the exit pretty challenging, resorting to trying to snipe the viles, and survived by the skin of my teeth. 

 

The plasma gun secret was pretty interesting, thanks to its multiple methods of access. It can be accessed straight up by going through the lava and accepting some damage. But there is also a gunfire-activated redrock trigger that raises the lava floor and changes the sector's texture and makes it non-damaging. You can activate it with any weapon via one of the two ledges that bound the stairs. However, I instead used the spread of the SSG to trigger it from ground level, which avoids backtracking (of course, if you use freelook you can access it from wherever).

Edited August 19, 2020 by Horus

[Veinen]

Map16: Virulent Well

 

Great map. I can definitely see why this is so polarizing as it is a very mean map with an uncommon gimmick that'll really frustrate blind players, hell I was pretty frustrated myself and split the recording into three different sessions (short ones though). It's essentially trial and error at first since choosing the wrong path, wandering around for too long or making too many mistakes will kill you without mercy. The damaging slime forces the player to seek progress, otherwise you can't finish since you'll eventually run out spare health. There is definitely plenty of stimpacks and medkits laying around but they should be considered as substitute for radsuits first and foremost. But even though there is plenty of extra health to recover from the damaging floors effects, it's still a whole different type of pressure to see your health dwindle every moment you spend on the slime than a radsuit + less recovery items combination would be. I also like how the -20 damaging lavarock is used here to hint progress; I went there straight away in one of my first attempts and realized that it is not the correct way until you finally get a radsuit.

 

Combat portion of the gameplay is really enjoyable and punishing too, especially in this context. Initially it's all about gathering supplies and taking out the roaming enemies and since you have to keep moving there's always another group of roaming monsters in the next area. The set piece battle in the library is pretty memorable although surprisingly easy to deal with in the end. I died a couple of times in the triangular room before deciding that it's not a good idea to let the Manc shoot at your back. It's a pretty mean room overall though since there's really only one spot where you can hide from the Chaingunners properly. The walkway ambush with the AVs and Revs was also quite a cool one. Visually it's a bit all over the place really, I mean there's regular rock, redrock, marble, wood, library, metal etc. but it works and the result is a nice looking map with a lot of colour. This review is all praise but I really learned to enjoy this a lot despite being a little frustrated at first. A very interesting gameplay theme and a good challenge.

 

FDA_1kCP_16.zip

[VanaheimRanger]

 

This map was hard but fun.  Definitely enjoyed. 

[Endless]

MAP19: Caconic Leftovers

LZDoom + UV

An interesting map, but I must admit I didn't enjoy it that much. It is mainly due to the strange and divergent style of textures and abstract architecture that reminds me quite a bit of the maps of the 94s. A design reminiscent of vanilla but adjusted to a higher, more moderate difficulty. Starting with a Hub which we must unlock, the map has several routes to take in order to obtain the necessary keys, each path having different rooms to give it diversity and start the fights. As for the style of the map, well that's it, quite simple, almost rough, but not bad at least, I think. After that, leaving behind appearances, let's concentrate on the inside, the gameplay. By increasing the difficulty a bit more and concentrating a bit on sending us huge amounts of enemies, this map becomes a bit complicated, a bit annoying too. Part of my criticism comes from the fact that the level design, which I find a bit boring in part but not truly to be bad, just didn't seem to stand out at all and becomes a bit annoying with the end areas when we're thrown huge groups of enemies and we don't have enough room to maneuver or strategize other than running for our lives. Anyway, it's not a bad map, but I don't consider it a good one either, it's in between.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP19: Caconic Leftovers

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

I agree this one definitely has an old-school design mentality, with a lot of non-conventional flourishes. Some of it is fun - I like the design of the right side of the map, for example - but the gameplay was pretty frustrating. There's no armor until the last chunk of the map, and monsters tend to either be spaced out where they're not very effective, or placed in large chunks in relatively close quarters without much room to maneuver. The pain elementals after the teleport to the yellow key area are particularly annoying, especially if you haven't found the secret plasma gun yet. Too close for RL, not enough bullets for the chaingun, and the SSG is too slow to really take them out, making for an arduous battle. Too many cacodemons in the fight immediately preceding that as well, IMO. Lots of... interesting texture choices (like breaking up marble with pipe textures, or tiling textures with bloodstains at the bottom) but overall it works.

[Krenium]

MAP20 - Last Journey Through Pain by Breezeep, AD_79, and Simpletonium

PrBoom+ / HMP / Continuous

 

Screenshot:

Spoiler

 

Ah, with a name like that I was expecting a little more pain. This map is several degrees of difficulty down from the previous one and I was waiting the entire time for some standout moment that would strike fear into my heart. That time never came. Still, the journey part of the name is apt. We haven't seen anything quite like this map so far. Almost halfway through I was thinking "this map is *still* going?" but in a good way. I like the sense of momentum this map has. It keeps moving forward and only rarely retreads its footsteps.

 

Despite being a collaboration between three mappers, I couldn't tell you who worked on what. It feels more consistent in style and demeanor than a lot of single-author maps. It's a nice map, but I think maybe it could have been swapped with the previous one, as that one had more of an episode-ending vibe to me. I was hoping to see a transition to the next episode near the end, sort of like what MAP06 and MAP11 did. Instead it was a nondescript teleporter placed in an area that looked the same as the rest of the map.

 

Map ranking (favorite -> least) 

9 10 17 3 19 15 8 5 13 4 1 20 32 14 11 2 6 12 18 7 31

[klaymeb]

MAP20 - Last Journey Through Pain

UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

 

This map is one of those that look much bigger than I'd expect the 1k lines to be able to allow for. Running around in pools of blood, occasionally getting out of the swamp onto dry land is a really cool design and atmosphere. The elevator part in the beginning, where you go around and raise it further, is really cool.

 

I liked the design, although I felt that there were a few niggles. There are pits that you don't want to fall into in the later parts of the game, because then you have to backtrack through the whole level. I love fights that limit player movement, but in this if you're not careful, you're suddenly out of the fight completely! That broke up the tension a lot for me when it happened. Another annoying detail is the final room: If you get (very) low on health and can't withstand a tick or three of the pain sector, just start over... It's probably my own fault, but it does feel a bit cheap, especially that late in the map. 

 

Resources are pretty tight in the beginning, so I was almost out of ammo for some early parts of the map. Later on there's plenty to go around. The fights aren't difficult due to the monsters involved, low- and mid-tier, but the surroundings as mentioned above. There's always something that can attack you, so the pressure is on. It's not too hard of a map, and it's very neatly done.

Edited August 20, 2020 by klaymeb