The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia

[Spectre01]

MAP22 - "Impossible Mission" by Dario Casali

 

Visually, this is a rather standard industrial techbase, with minor Hellish elements. I do like those moving spinewalls in the Chaingunner hallways, which later open up to release more Chaingunners. There are 2 lift traps I'm not a huge fan of and both involve taking nearly unavoidable damage from hitscanners waiting below. Likewise, the Archvile + Barons trap at the Red Key gives little choice but to jump off the platform, which forces you to backtrack around and back again to grab the key. You could potentially handle it with a prepped BFG but there is no such weapon from pistol start. Map's fine overall.

[Shepardus]

MAP24 - The Final Frontier

UV Max (-solo-net) from pistol start

 

This map uses height differences and pain elementals against you... mostly pain elementals, if we're being honest. There's also a cyberdemon in the second half that can be pretty nasty unless you do the boring thing and snipe it from afar with the plasma gun. The secret that opens up in the red hallway at the top of the map seems entirely pointless except to force some unwanted backtracking.

 

Co-op adds an obscene amount of pain elementals to this map, bringing the total from 6 to 14 on UV. I normally save the invulnerability sphere for the second half (so I can run along the walkway rocketing everything in the way), but for solo-net I used it to deal with the four pain elementals that are released upon stepping on the staircase of pillars near the beginning. It also adds a cyberdemon on the ground level of the first big room, but this isn't much of a threat, you can just get the environment suit and SSG it to death; just be careful it doesn't shoot you when you're trying to get the invulnerability sphere. There are also several more arch-viles in the map; don't get caught off-guard after collecting the blue key and finding not one, but three, arch-viles waiting for you at the blue switch. Co-op also supplies a lot more rockets and shotgun shells, so ammo is not a problem.

 

MAP25 - The Temple of Darkness

UV Max (-solo-net) from pistol start

 

I never particularly liked this map, and solo-net makes it all the more irritating to play. The beginning with the shotgunners gets even more shotgunners, because losing half your health before picking up a weapon and having to run around the outskirts of the arena picking up individual health bonuses to recover sure is fun. That section and the following section with the hell knights just feel like they're there to waste your time after trudging through them a couple times. They're still dangerous enough to kill you, though, so you need to stay alert even if they're boring. Health is scarce until the blue key section (which has two extra medikits in multiplayer), so unless you plan on immediately using the berserk pack to recover your health, you need to do your best not to get hit, too. Make sure you pick up all the dropped shotguns at the beginning too, because ammo is also surprisingly scarce until the blue key section, thanks to ammo drains like the spider mastermind in the big lava pit and the flood of imps guarding the blue key (co-op adds 45 extra imps there, crowding the walkway in a manner reminiscent of Sunder MAP01). You do get a bunch of extra rockets once you reach the blue key area, which is useful for dealing with enemies like the four barons added around the exit, and the secret accessible afterwards replenishes your bullet and shell counts, but I really would have liked to have those rockets before dealing with the imps rather than right after.

 

Some other additions include three arch-viles behind the red gate (which fortunately isn't as bad as it sounds), over a dozen spectres in the red key lava pit (not hard, but wastes time on the environment suit), and two extra arachnotrons around the red key pit (one of which seems stuck for some reason, it doesn't seem to respond when I attack it or try to squeeze past it). Other annoyances I have with the map, not exclusive to co-op, include the two hitscanners hidden behind solid walls (why are they even there and not on the other side?), the chaingunner ambush at the end which is pretty much a health check (or a luck check), and that stupid staircase descending into the lava pit (I fell off that so many times I don't want to talk about it).

 

Fortunately for me, it only gets easier from here.

[T-Rex]

The end is getting near, so time to tackle on the next couple of maps!

 

Map25: The Temple of Darkness (attributed to Milo Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 100% secrets

Time: 09:11

 

So here is the last map attributed to Milo Casali, but doesn't look like it since it's got the more abstract shapes that really makes it more of a Dario map. It is yet another level with a hot start as you are surrounded by shotgunners and they can chip a lot of your health if you don't take them all out quickly. The level consists of three separate areas, the starting one being in some kind of hellish landscape of red flesh-like rock and blood which thankfully doesn't harm you. Find the switch to open the structure beyond that takes you to a sky teleporter guarded by nobles, but once you killed everyone, collect al the goodies you can find and need as this is a one-way teleporter, so you can't return. The second section is a much more dangerous area as you'll be facing a baron and when you step out, a bunch of hell knights will rise from the ground and come for you. Luckily, on continuous play, they can all be dispatched with the BFG. Kill all the nobles, and then check out the alcoves holding zombies, each guarding switches that are revealed when you step into the alcoves. Again collect all the stuff since you can't come back when you take the next teleporter out. Hitting the switches open the doors to a door behind the teleporter you appeared in, and when you go right in, you are teleported into the third and final area which has some of the toughest challenges you'll be facing yet. Immediately kill the zombiemen behind you and then the shotgunners behind the cages so they won't be constantly taking pot shots at you. First, you need to go to the west part of this area where you see a large lake of lava with a boat manned by shotgunners. Watch out as you'll be tangling with cacodemons and pain elementals that can really wreak havoc on you. You need to clear out the path to the boat where you'll find a switch that raises a path to an opened area where there are so many imps including revenants and caged chaingunners guarding the blue key. Getting the key allows you to open the blue key door to the south where you'll hit a switch which opens bars to the red key, but grabbing the red key triggers a trap that lowers the ground revealing mancubi and also a wall opens revealing chaingunners. Immediately go to the alcove where there's a megasphere, revenant and radiation suit which you'll need to avoid taking damage from the lava, then get rid of all the monsters, including some shotgunners hidden behind window textures (ala Pharaoh, further proving this map is Dario's work), and hit the two skull switches which lowers the doors behind the red key bars. Watch out when you take the teleporter as a wall open revealing chaingunners, and it's inevitable you wlll take damage from them. Take them out, open the bars, hit the switch and you'll raise stairs to the exit. Overall, it's a rather bizarre map, and the traps are very nasty. Then again, Plutonia likes to throw in these kaizo-esque traps which has you desperately scrambling for survival. Fortunately, this is one of the few Plutonia maps to not have arch-viles, except on multiplayer.

 

Difficulty: 8/10

 

Map26: Bunker (Dario Casali)

100% kills, 100% items, 75% secrets

Time: 15:34

 

Every megawad has to have one of those meh maps that are pretty forgettable, and while I despised Hunted, its novelty does have some charm, albeit a rather primitive one. The Final Frontier is yet another dud I could do without, but as for Bunker, it's most definitely the weakest map in Plutonia. For starters, the level feels rather dull and uninteresting, and it has a rather convoluted layout that makes navigating the map a chore and not fun. As the title suggests, most of the action is underground and you see before you an outpost, and apparently the exterior is coated in green moss. The only way in is to dive into the water trench and make your way to the north region of the bunker where there are two entrances, one of which is through a door, and the other is an opening which is further beyond until you reach a chamber with wooden pillars. The interior of the bunker is mostly techbase, though using brown textures and some grey stone walls in the western half. Be careful where you go, because some parts of the map has traps where you enter a room or certain sector, and walls lower revealing enemies. The traps involving chaingunners will surely be the most dangerous, so terminate them as quickly as you see them. You have to locate a switch that will lower some bars at the top of the stairs, allowing you to grab the blue key, but when you reach that platform, monsters will flood the trench, many of which consist of imps, chaingunners, shotgunners, cacodemons and revenants. There's a sewer in the bunker filled with mancubi and revenants guarding a rocket launcher and some ammo, which has textures found in the sewer area of The Crypt, confirming my suspicion that the map was indeed by Dario and not Milo. After grabbing the blue key, you to bypass an electrified floor marked by red bars and rush past a couple of crushers to obtain the red key, but on the way back, a wall is opened revealing chaingunners, so watch out. Although the map holds two keys, you only need one to activate one of the switches opening one side to the exit teleporter, that is unless you're going for all the kills, secrets and items. In regards to the secrets, it's impossible to register the secret to the floating megasphere because the sector is a door (one of the wooden pillars) surrounding the teleporter, and it is so narrow that you'll go over it as you step on the teleporter. On the way to exit, get ready for a lethal ambush, where a bunch of shotgunners, lost souls, hell knights and revenants will spawn from the teleporter pads at the end of the bunker, and on top of that, you have to be mindful of the arachnotrons and arch-vile at the other side of the trench where the exit lies, so the safest strategy is to lure all the spawning monsters into the bunker and wipe them out with the rocket launcher. So that's Bunker, quite a disappointing map and an unenjoyable, boring, tedious, forgettable one with a layout purposely designed to waste your time. I gotta give credit for the difficulty as it is yet another surly, mean-spirited level that will really mop the floor with you if you're not careful, but that's about it.

 

Difficulty: 7/10

 

Getting to the final stretch of the episode, and then we're done with Plutonia. Since every tail-end of the month we do our usual voting on what megawad to play next, I'm going to vote for Dimensions of Time by Matt Tropiano. Hope it will be considered. Until then, take care and see you in the brighter later!

 

+++ Dimensions of Time

Edited May 13, 2021 by T-Rex

[Pseudonaut]

Map26: UV-Max in 9:35
There's a trick that allows you to tag the broken secret in this map, but I couldn't be bothered to learn it, and 3/4 secrets for this map is still accepted for UV-Max speedruns if I recall correctly. It's a pretty fun map, and not as confusing to navigate as I thought it was going to be. There are several points of progression (I'm not exactly sure where they are, but I think two are associated with the keys) where a variety of monsters will start spawning in, perhaps nearby or perhaps not, and wandering around. Their positions can be unpredictable, leading to some potential to catch you off-guard and contributing to this map's replayability. I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
 

 

pl26stuff.zip

[Shepardus]

MAP26 - Bunker

UV Max (-solo-net) from pistol start

 

Plutonia makes a return to the jungle theme, though what it's doing in the depths of hell is beyond me. Anyway, I do like the underground shelter theme, and I think this map pulls it off pretty decently. It takes a bit of learning to find a solid footing with sufficient weapons (i.e. rocket launcher or plasma gun) and ammo, but once you're at that point you're mostly in the clear. Co-op adds one extra arachnotron and two extra arch-viles, but they're no big deal (the single-player arch-vile is the most troublesome due to its location in a mostly open area supported by arachnotrons).

 

The hardest part of this map is trying to get a pain elemental to cooperate so you can trigger that one secret, but after a bunch of attempts I managed to get it:

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP25 - "The Temple of Darkness" - Milo Casali (?) (93%K/98%I/100%S) - 21 deaths:

Another TNT rejection here, and a pretty obious one, low quality, bullshit moments that are bullshit because of the map design and not because they are the Plutonia-type of bullshit, and overall uninteresting layout. Can't tell if this is Milo or Dario yet again, the map is so weird compared to other ones that it feels off. I did not remember the red canyon area, which is one of the worst, as you have to take a faith jump down a staircase that is pretty small to get into it, so proceed with care not to fall into the lava pit, not to mention there are two pain elementals and many cacodemons making your way down harder. The starting area is fine I guess, I can't believe it's not chaingunners, but it's just a training area for what comes up next. You get inside the "temple" and take the one-way teleporter. Yes, you can't go back. The temple itself if a nasty bruiser trap in which you will lose most of your ammo/health because of the narrow nature of it and because of having to kill them with rockets in a narrow space. The progression here gets weird, possibly at MAP21: Nirvana levels, random areas connected through teleports. There is a weird teleporter that brings you to the same place you TP from the starting area, but there is another weird thing, to proceed, you have to take the unusable teleporter from behind, where there is a wall that you can lower. I don't know what kind of crack Milo (Or Dario) smoked here.
The actual "main" area welcomes you with bullshit revenants. From here on, the map shits itself entirely. The aforementioned red canyon, low ammo, the blue key area, the red key grab, having to get two keys to press a switch that is behind another switch for some reason, a little passageway that gives you a radsuit, but with 4 revenants, so it's not worth getting it, and then the final fight. If you have resources take it, if not, rush into the exit, and save ammo for when you get teleported into the "main" area and you have to quickly deal with a chaingunner trap from behind you.
Remembers me of Heck from TNT: Evilution, both are similar in style and fuckery. 


Deaths: 200 (UV Playthrough - Chocolate Doom)
 

Order of preference:

 

Spoiler

 

MAP23
MAP22

MAP18
MAP12
MAP14
MAP17
MAP11
MAP04
MAP01

MAP19

MAP10
MAP03
MAP09
MAP07
MAP05
MAP02
MAP13
MAP06
MAP24
MAP08
MAP21
MAP20
MAP16
MAP25

 

Fuck this map.

[Andromeda]

MAP26: Bunker

 

This is the second exploration centric level in Plutonia, after MAP23. While it's not as grandiose and sleek as "Tombstone", it's nevertheless great. "Bunker" is somewhat slow paced at first compared to its size, due to having the rocket launcher and the plasma gun hidden deep inside the structure. Combat does pick up in a few key moments, such as the big teleport trap triggered by approaching the exit area (more spectacle than actual threat, considering you can retreat and hold a chokepoint rather easily), and picking up any of the keys fills the surrounding moat with enemies, where you have to be careful to not get surrounded.

 

Picking up the red key also triggers a crusher nearby, which can catch distracted players off guard (speaking from experience :P). About the unreachable secret, it can actually be tagged in a similar manner as "Industrial Zone"'s infamous secret, that is with the aid of a pain elemental. Another thing I like about this level is the fact that you only need one of the keys to exit, an unusual freebie in Plutonia.

[Horus]

MAP23 - "Tombstone" by Milo Casali

 

I remember this as being one of my favourites back in the day, and unlike Impossible Mission it remains so today.

 

Certainly different from the rest of Plutonia in terms of its length, but though one could argue homages I see this map really as its own thing. The MIDI for this level sounds decent enough, but for a map of this size it’s far too short and its repetitiveness started to grate on me after a while. To be fair, it’s still miles better than D_AMPIE.

 

Gameplay-wise it’s intense and engaging from the start, and doesn’t let up a whole lot throughout, with many revenants peppered around the map, and chaingunners in tricky positions add to the challenge. Plus the odd sneaky archvile. I found myself returning to the hub every now and then to restock ammo.

 

Level rankings:

Spoiler

MAP15 - "The Twilight" by Milo Casali
MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali
MAP23 - "Tombstone" by Milo Casali
MAP05 - "Ghost Town" by Milo Casali
MAP08 - "Realm" by Milo Casali
MAP07 - "Caughtyard" by Dario Casali
MAP04 - "Caged" by Dario Casali
MAP01 - "Congo" by Milo Casali
MAP22 - "Impossible Mission" by Dario Casali
MAP19 - "NME" by Milo Casali
MAP12 - "Speed" by Milo Casali
MAP13 - "The Crypt" by Milo Casali
MAP02 - "Well of Souls" by Dario Casali
MAP17 - "Compound" by Dario Casali
MAP18 - "Neurosphere" by Milo Casali
MAP10 - "Onslaught" by Dario Casali
MAP06 - "Baron's Lair" by Dario Casali
MAP03 - "Aztec" by Milo Casali
MAP11 - "Hunted" by Dario Casali
MAP16 - "The Omen" by Milo Casali
MAP14 - "Genesis" by Dario Casali
MAP31 - "Cyberden" by Dario Casali
MAP20 - "The Death Domain" by Dario Casali

 

[kalaeth]

ok. let's go for a couple more maps.

MAP 25 : shutgunners all around me, non damaging lava floor, a healthy dosage of health potions. There's a switch and then a tunnel, that circles back to the same place, so back into the fake lava and from there I advance, at then end of the path there's a chaingunner, revenants, specters and a building. First I circle it, then I enter it. A baron inside and a pair of HKs outside, some stairs and a jump into.. an HK and some imps. Kill, kill, kill, side rooms, ambushing zombiemen and a pair of hidden switches on one side, same on the other. The teleport at the end of the room just throws me back to the same place, so I go for one side tunnel. Always left, although both tunnels go to the same place, kinda like in politics, another switch opens a wall into the teleport, and I jump into the middle of 4 zombiemen. Kill them and then the shotgunners in cages, the exit mocks me, a tunnel on the right goes to a lower area filled with imps and shotgunners and who knows what else, straight ahead I can enter the shotgunners cage for a blue armor, fall into lava, grab a soulsphere and a rad suit, and then I'll go to the ther area. Having the suit means I can roam the lava and kill most of the opposition before going back up and then following the correct path, grabbing the yellow key and opening a wall filled with imps. I shoot a few rockets, press the switch and go back, following the newly risen path, kill the revs, the caged chaingunners, grab the key, grab a cell pack and press a switch that opened a secret and then, go press the blue switch. It was a door! to another switch, that raised the yellow bars thus allowing be to reach the red key, which lowers the floor and now there's a path through the lava that I must take after removing the mancs, and it's a teleport into a chaingunner death.

 Second go, from before grabbing the red key.. This time I knew the chaingunners were there so I  side stepped out of their fire, killed them all and now.. I'm stuck. The doors behind the red bars don't open.. Ah, switches on the lava, of course. And now, the end!

1 death (fucking chaingunners!), 14m59s, 100% K/S/I.

 

ok, MAP 26 : Stairs into the carnage, imps, cacos, shotgunners, chaingunners, pinkies... A bit of it all, but all of them fall to my shots and I move, jumping down into the water, a bunch of cacos in the way, eventually a PE, watery steps, a door that I don't yet open, more cacos and I'm back to the start. A lone imp walks around as well, killing him I do another lap around the trench and this time I take the stairs in the hall of pillars, where once a PE stood, a couple of shotgunners wait me, a rev and a caco eat the last of my bullets so I switch to the SSG,far away a pair of spiders, RL into their faces and my health is really low, single digits low, with extreme caution I navigate the maze but revenants, damned revenants, too many of them for me to dodge all of their rockets. 

 Second go, from the top. Different approach : a BFG shot to clear the room and then SSG the remaining ones. Way better. Same approach : clear the trench of cacos, go up the stairs, but this time I go through a side tunnel, eventually it leads me to the same place, and yet, despite knowing about the spiders, I still get killed by them.

 Third try, from the trench : f5ck you spiders, f5ck you revs, f5ck you other spiders, f5ck you all with rockets! AH! Oh, a baron. Plasma and more health, good rewards for a dead baron, secret teleport! with a almost free blue armor, good. Into a side tunnel, kill shotguners, open a door, kill chaingunner, a trio of HKs show up, kill them as well,  blow the barrels, press the switch, kill the imps, grab health, press switch, leave room, follow corridor, open the door next to the blue key and surprise! Barons. pew pew, enter the room for a lot of ammo, leave room, climb stairs and run to the blue key, grab it, be surprised that nothing surprised me, go down into the watery hall of pillars, discover one of them has a different face, open it: 'port : megasphere! Now, there's a blue switch somewhere.. Oh, a side path inside the trench, I hadn't seen it before, so.. Let us go.. A red key locked switch, useless. Let's move. Back to the start, press the switch, back to the trench, I climb the stairs to the door I haven't yet tried, and a bunch of chaingunners pop behind me. Enter a room opening a wall, a switch guarded by chaingunners, and the door with the red bars is open now, it leads to the red key and crunchers. Now, towards the red switch. Some imps and a rev on the trench, chaingunners and shotgunners. Kill them, press the switch and now.. Oh, a room I had not yet seen, with a pair of mancs and a pair of revs and a RL. Now, all enemies are dead but I'm still a pair of secrets short. And I'm not sure where the exit is.. Found the exit, now.. The secrets. I know were they are, I think, but how to open them up? Ah, from below. I thought I had already tried it before.. I see, only one of them is a switch! Still one secret short then.. Ah, cells and the exit!

 2 deaths, 25m23 seconds, 100% everything.

 

*reading the posts above, I only found 3 secrets, plus the not/secret megasphere, but my automap only lists 3, so I have no idea what y-all talking about.

Edited January 26, 2021 by kalaeth

[Silhouette 03]

Map 26: Bunker UV, continuous

Bunker is the calm before the storm....

 

I really enjoy this map, even though every time I play it I get lost. The visuals still look good and the combat is also fast paced. The traps are kind of boring, though. The one trap triggers a door with chaingunners facing the other way, for some reason. I also noted a lack of archviles in the map, only one on UV. Strange....

Did anybody else notice that the door that leads to the red skull key has a pain sector, presumably by accident? I also spent around five minutes trying to find the red key switch.... I was just about to look up a walkthrough( "LOL, you suck at doom, go die, scrub") then I came to the realization that you don't need the red skull key to access the exit accelerator. What is the point of having two keys to access the same room, if you only need one?

 

Please don't make me play map 27.... 

 

Silhou3tte's stats:

Kills:96%
Secrets: 66%

deaths: 0

Wondering If I can retire in shame: YES

Wondering what kind of illegal drugs the Casali's were on: YES

  

 

[Horus]

MAP24 - "The Final Frontier" by Dario Casali

 

Aside from the opening area of Congo, there is only one other area in the whole of Plutonia I recalled from the mid-90s, and that was the cyber area in this map. It’s quite an imposing area to be fair, even if you can easily slay the cow with plasma from a distance.

 

Other than that, not so much to say (which suits me as I’m behind), it’s an obvious Living End homage, and a short one at that, but not a bad one I don’t think, most of the combat was enjoyable and the MIDI was pretty good too.

 

Level rankings:

Spoiler

MAP15 - "The Twilight" by Milo Casali
MAP09 - "Abattoire" by Milo Casali
MAP23 - "Tombstone" by Milo Casali
MAP05 - "Ghost Town" by Milo Casali
MAP08 - "Realm" by Milo Casali
MAP07 - "Caughtyard" by Dario Casali
MAP04 - "Caged" by Dario Casali
MAP01 - "Congo" by Milo Casali
MAP22 - "Impossible Mission" by Dario Casali
MAP19 - "NME" by Milo Casali
MAP24 - "The Final Frontier" by Dario Casali
MAP12 - "Speed" by Milo Casali
MAP13 - "The Crypt" by Milo Casali
MAP02 - "Well of Souls" by Dario Casali
MAP17 - "Compound" by Dario Casali
MAP18 - "Neurosphere" by Milo Casali
MAP10 - "Onslaught" by Dario Casali
MAP06 - "Baron's Lair" by Dario Casali
MAP03 - "Aztec" by Milo Casali
MAP11 - "Hunted" by Dario Casali
MAP16 - "The Omen" by Milo Casali
MAP14 - "Genesis" by Dario Casali
MAP31 - "Cyberden" by Dario Casali
MAP20 - "The Death Domain" by Dario Casali

 

[galileo31dos01]

+++ Garrulismo

 

EDIT:

+++ Rowdy Rudy's Revenge, Rowdy Rudy II: Powertrip

Edited January 31, 2021 by galileo31dos01

[Walter confetti]

MAP26: A really good underground map with this "bunker" been overgrowth by vegetation, reminds me of MAP12 only more longer and kinda harder, the layout have that good interconnectivity in the layout like in MAP23, the only "bad" thing is the continuous backtracking around the map. But over this, great map in both layout and gameplay department, i really enjoyed this one. The new music in the midi pack is awesome.

 

Also, we're starting taking votes for the next month? So...

+++ 1monster

[DJVCardMaster]

+++ Community Chest

[T-Rex]

6 hours ago, DJVCardMaster said:

MAP25 - "The Temple of Darkness" - Milo Casali (?) (93%K/98%I/100%S) - 21 deaths:

Can't tell if this is Milo or Dario yet again, the map is so weird compared to other ones that it feels off.

 

The Doom wiki states that it is apparently designed by Milo, but it lacks his design style as some parts of map make me think of Dario's Requiem Map23: Hatred, including the hidden shotgunners behind the window textures much like in TNT Map31: Pharaoh, and even though I can see how the final area is a bit similar to Heck, they're pretty minimal since in Heck, the revenants are stationary and the starting area is a hub connecting to four different sections, while on The Temple of Darkness, the revenants come running for you and will beat you to a bloody pulp. Not too sure if it's a TNT rejection map, though it could be since it's fairly big and has a lot of tough spots, but doing the math, both Milo and Dario designed 4 levels each for TNT, and given what we know from the TNT level design credits, it would seem that Dario only had 1 map rejected while Milo had 3, so while this could be a possible candidate, I think Impossible Mission is more likely his rejected map as it's lengthier, much more difficult, especially in co-op mode as it houses 1 spider mastermind and 2 cyberdemons, including a cluster of arch-viles hidden by the slime falls in the room with the chaingunners and explosives, and the techbase theme looks like something that could fit in TNT, if it weren't for the size and difficulty.

[purist]

19. NME (Milo Casali)

 

Were the Casali boys British? I used to read the NME magazine religiously in the late 90s and early 00s. Not a huge fan of this map though. I am wondering if I am hurting my enjoyment by not pistol starting because since Twilight the maps have felt very pedestrian. This one felt pretty generous on the supplies so it might not have been a big factor but after this map I will use pistol starts but will allow myself saves whilst I am still catching up. There were a couple of fights with a bunch of monsters but most were cheesable, particularly the yellow key one which sent a steady supply of rockets down. The cyb fight would have been pretty boring without a BFG, likewise the pain elementals without plasma since both were sitting ducks in their little cubby holes. Plutonia's use of cyberdemons does tend to restrict them as turrets, at least in the main maps.

 

The use of teleports as the main way to get around was a nice deviation from the norm but not enough to earn a purist point. Dario keeps the lead 7-6.

 

20. Death Domain (Dario Casali)

 

Well my pistol start adventure was nearly over before it began, what a crazy start. That PR is probably not worth trying to grab from under the nose of the chaingunner, I died several times trying to survive the first room. In the end I made a dash to the lift and found life much more comfortable down there with the SSG and a few imps. I left the start area until I had found a RL and could return with a vengeance. Outside of the start there was not a lot of interesting combat and I was really confused about how to get the blue key thinking those mid textures would all be player blocking and so instead went searching for a teleporter into the mud.

 

This level is one of the more uglier from Plutonia as well, a bit Doom 2 Sandy with a similar mesh of thrown together textures but without the striking clashes of colour. We go three maps straight with no purist points awarded in what have been a rather uninspiring stretch.

 

21. Slayer (Milo Casali)

 

I had a lot of fun with this map. The inspiration of Circle of Death is apparent but this seemed like a smaller loop with more of the action focused on or around it. From pistol start it took a few attempts before I could get the SSG and the PR as running to the PR would skip the SSG but edging down to the SSG was not giving me enough momentum so that was unnecessarily awkward but I got there in the end. After that it was a riot, no ammo concerns here, just blast around that ring and camp out in those outer annexes for dear life. It wasn't big or clever but it got the job done.

 

An interesting bit of trivia from the Wiki is that there are no difficulty flags on items on this map. It was maybe a small step up in difficulty for HMP but not drastic so it will be interesting to see where it ranks for UV players. Anyway, I will gladly hand over a purist point to Milo and even up the series 7-7 going into the last third.

[Walter confetti]

MAP27: or The living end remake 2. The layout is a little bit more maze-y (a teleport maze of sorts, something like the progression in Deimos Anomaly) from the previous similar map, MAP24. It also changes drastically in terms of verticality, the use of 3D space is better used here. But it also been slightly easier from the previous maps and the progression is more linear (excluding the secrets route, sure), there's a lot of inescapable pits that leads to a dead end, just like in MAP16. Great.

Anyway, even with these things gone wrong, the map itself is not bad at all. Nothing extraordinary, but it has charm and fun.

[RottingZombie]

Made it up to and through antichrist. Made it through under par for probably the first time ever! Frustrated me in the past, but had fun with it tonight.

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by RottingZombie

[Spectre01]

MAP23 - "Tombstone" by Milo Casali

 

Pretty lengthy and interconnected map by Plutonia standards. 3 keys, 3 coloured doors, and 3 coloured switches to press. I initially made it to the exit only to find the red bars blocking it. Turns out I missed flipping the red skull switch. No idea why the map's called Tombstone - it looks more like some Hellish blood processing plant. Also, sometimes the blood is damaging and other times, like around the start, it's perfectly safe. Despite the somewhat prickly start, the map casually hands out Blue Armour in several places, which I didn't end up needed due to grabbing the secret Megasphere. The majority of combat in incidental and mid-tier enemies are used quite casually, especially Pain Elementals and Revenants. Which is fine because this map is full of rockets. There is a trap that's particularly nasty, and it's the one where approaching a switch lower 2 groups of Revenants, each supported by a Vile, behind you. Pretty good chance of getting zapped or dying if you don't bail out quickly. The visuals are generally nice, with plenty of curves and cool details like the exit hallway. Not sure about that blue carpet, however. 

[Spectre01]

MAP24 - "The Final Frontier" by Dario Casali

 

Now that's a powerful secret right behind the spawn! This map is very much inspired by The Living End, though it doesn't feel nearly as sprawling and epic. It is quite a bit more difficult than Doom 2's map29, especially the section pictured above with a Cyber on the opposite side and hitscanners out of autoaim range to the left. There is a ton of plasma and rockets if you grab some secrets, so I ended up clearing everything else before dealing with the hitscanners on the upper walkway.

 

Platforming and ledgewalking is common, as the blood below is damaging (and in the case of the bridge before the RL, inescapable). Amusingly enough, the blood in front of the fire texture is harmless, likely due to the Caco+PE closet there being a secret. Speaking of secrets, a bunch of them are easy to miss if you don't look down or intentionally jump into the damaging blood to look for 'em. This is especially true for the strange switch guarded by a Sergeant with a nukage arrow pointing towards it. That one takes you to a rather annoying secret that's full of 4 Revenants with no room to dodge and a high chance of teleporting back out. Spam plasma and pray for that stunlock! Visually, this map is quite blocky and alternates between brown and gray rock textures. There still are some cool bits to it, like the "floating" cages.

[Shepardus]

MAP27 - Anti-Christ

UV Max (-solo-net) from pistol start (minus that one chaingunner and arch-vile)

 

Following Dario's MAP24, this is Milo's take on The Living End's cavern setting and dramatic heights, though I'm more directly reminded of Post Mortem from the later wad Hell Revealed. Similar to MAP24, there's a very important secret right by the start; the blue armor, the invulnerability sphere, and especially the BFG are critical for dealing with what the map throws at you, from the first ambush by hell knights and pain elementals to the last fight with the spider mastermind. This would be a much harder map without that BFG, but with knowledge of that BFG and the other supplies around the map, this map is actually pretty easy. Co-op/solo-net adds a cyberdemon into the mix, which would be awkward and potentially dangerous to deal with if it weren't so close to the untagged "secret" containing the second invulnerability sphere of the map. As it is, it's easy BFG fodder, as is most of the map. Maybe the map could use an extra arch-vile or two; the only arch-vile in this map is one that can't attack you at all and only serves to endlessly resurrect a single chaingunner, which is a minor annoyance but less of a threat than, say, MAP15's use of the same gimmick. Perhaps more annoying than the actual chaingunner is the fact that there isn't a way to "disarm" the setup like in MAP10, where the arch-viles are teleported out into the main arena, or in MAP15, where crushers kill the arch-viles. It's technically possible to fire rockets at the chaingunner nest and have splash damage leak into the arch-vile's chamber, but I wasn't about to waste dozens of rockets in the hopes that maybe they'll kill the arch-vile, so I skipped killing that arch-vile (this is one of the traditional exceptions to the UV Max rules). Sure, I still tagged the broken secret in the previous map, but at least that one's somewhat interesting to pull off, even if it is also frustratingly finicky.

 

Going to plug the recent release Hellevator for my vote for next month's wad.

 

+++ Hellevator

Edited January 27, 2021 by Shepardus
Added vote

[Biodegradable]

Nearly forgot to vote again. Oh please guys, can we please do +++Oops All Greyboxes please? That's what I'd love to do next with you all.

[Silhouette 03]

6 minutes ago, Biodegradable said:

Nearly forgot to vote again. Oh please guys, can we please do +++Oops All Greyboxes please? That's what I'd love to do next with you all.

Anything not too difficult is fine by me....

Edited January 27, 2021 by Silhou3tte

[Pseudonaut]

Map27: UV-Max in 3:36
There's a hidden archvile who is technically possible to kill if you shoot something like 50 rockets at the right spot, but I like to have fun when I play Doom. Again, not required for UV-Max. From a pistol start, the weapon progression here is bizarre; you'll get the BFG first if you know the secret, followed shortly by the non-secret rocket launcher and plasma gun, then a chaingun, and the SSG is probably the last weapon you'll pick up. As a result, hardly any SSG was used in this run. The somewhat hidden mancubus is annoying for max runs if you want a decent time, and ammo is tight for the big guns if you avoid using weaker weapons like the chaingun. I was pretty annoyed by how often I ran out of ammo while trying to get a decent time, but I still think this is one of Plutonia's better maps.

 

 

pl27stuff.zip

[Andromeda]

MAP27: Anti-Christ

 

Now this is how a "The Living End" homage is done (take notes Dario)! Very fun and potentially very dangerous, but if you're able to find a few secrets you'll be sufficiently equipped to kill everything the level throws at you. The two invulnerabilities (yet another uncommon freebie in Plutonia) incentivize aggressive play, but a cautious approach also works well considering you can retreat to safety as often as you'd like. Have to dock a few points because of the technically unkillable arch-vile and chaingunner, but a very solid effort otherwise.

[Silhouette 03]

Map 27: Anti-Christ UV, continuous

Ugh...…..That's it. That's my opinion of this map.

 

Okay..... fine. This map is Bloody difficult. You have to watch your footing as well as the amount of holes in your body, courtesy of the surplus of hitscanners in the level. The Arch-vile trick is used again( making you UV MAX folk's lives needlessly difficult) and death is almost literally everywhere. The traps are kept to a minimum, though the first area with the supercharge is a worthy contender( I hate Pain Elementals so much). The final area with the Spider demon is really, really effective at killing me, since I was low on BFG cells.

 

I'm going to start using the word "Plutonia" as an adjective for" I'm having a terrible day, leave me alone"

 

Silhou3tte's Stats:

Kills:98%

Secrets:66%

Deaths:9(*throws chair out of window*)

Total Deaths: Look at the stars in the sky then multiply that by five

Number of coins in Swear jar: TOO MANY!

 

 

 

[Horus]

Let's do this!

 

+++Jason Wainman's 30 Levels of Doom II

[RottingZombie]

+++Rowdy Rudy's Revenge! & Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP! & (possibly as bonus/optional maps) Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday!

 

Something a little lighter after Plutonia.

 

Edit: Horus, good point (below). It is enough maps. Maybe it could be optional. Just figured It would complement the other two :).

Edited January 27, 2021 by RottingZombie

[Horus]

Not that it necessarily disqualifies it from the DWMegawad Club I suppose, but Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday was already covered in the DWMiniwad Club. I would have thought the two Rowdy Rudys would be enough anyway (31 maps in 28 days).

 

 

[kalaeth]

another day, another map! 

MAP27 : a swarm of pain elementals? They could have just said they didn't like me, jeesh. I entered a niche to kill them and now I can finally look around.. Grab the soulsphere, run towards the other entry on the wall, down some stairs, kill a chaingunner, enter the 'port and another chaingunner. Kill the snipping spider, press the switch, 'port away. Back to start, a new path open, grab a back pack, teleport next to a megasphere, kill a pair of chainguners, a manc, grab a blue armor, find a secret soulsphere and die in an inescapable pit of damaging blood...

 Go 2 : Went better : ran from the start, grabbed soulsphers, plasmaed the PEs, the spider, the chaingunners, back to where I was before grabbing the backpack. And dead to a chaingunner that I couldn't hit because he was in a lower level, but that didn't stop him from killing me.

 Go 3 : different approach : instead of grabbing the backpack and the two secrets, I'll just move forward, grab the yellow skull, oh good, and invis here! now, for that backpack + blue armor + soulsphere combo of secrets.. Ah, done! Now.. Back to the platform, I'l leave the megasphere for later, go forward, fall twice in the lava, reach the yellow door, open it, kill the HKs and suffer enough damage that returning to grab the megasphere is a good idea. Back at full health I go for the next teleport, where a SMM is taking potshots at me. I ignore her, jump into another platform, press a switch, teleport, another 'port into the blue key platform where HKs and a rev do some crowd control while chaingunners try their best to make swiss cheese out of me. I survived, only to find a couple of barons far shooting plasma balls at me. They too die, and I finally grab the blue key and go back to the 'port, not dead but not that well. Another PE at the destiny, plasma is my friend. I go around grabbing medikits before facing the SMM, BFG in hand.. Done. Now a switch, and the exit is mine to take. However, I'm missing one single secret.. Ah, found!

So, 2 deaths, 15m58 seconds, 100% everything.