The DWheretic Club plays: Heretic

[TheOrganGrinder]

I've got some catching up to do, don't I?  ZDoom 2.8.1, continuous play with saves, Thou Art a Smite-Meister unless that stops being fun.

 

E1M1: The Docks

 

This is far from the first time I've played Heretic but I do feel that its first level, modest in footprint and in difficulty as it may be, is a somewhat more involved affair than either Doom or Doom II's initial maps, with more real estate to cover and gameplay that has some suggestion of exploration and puzzle-solving to it.  There are some interesting design choices - tucking the map's only piece of armour away in an early secret area that might be game-changing depending on whether you find it quickly, part-way through the map, or not at all; reserving the first ranged weapon upgrade until quite late in the map's running time, compelling the player to fend of some thirty-odd enemies with nothing but the wand and the secret gauntlets - and the player is rather quickly introduced to some key elements of Heretic's level design and gameplay mechanics, such as the marking of locked doors with things rather than textures, the use of a particular door texture to indicate remote operation, and the Tome of Power, though there's little enough need to break out the last of those.  It's not tough by modern standards but it's very deliberate in the way it sets out to teach player the rules of the experience ahead.

 

E1M2: The Dungeons

 

We're introduced to another couple of the staples of Heretic's gameplay here, name the specific order in which the keys must always be collected and the game's penchant for numerous and extensive secret areas.  I don't know if the presence of the map scroll is a deliberate part of the teaching loop here, pointing out in this early level where the secret areas are in order to draw the player's attention to the particular way in which many of them are hidden throughout this map, or if that's just a happy coincidence; it feels as though it's a choice made with care and understanding, certainly.  The map itself feels like the sort of thing Tom Hall might have cooked up, or else the classic Dungeons & Dragons maps that I can't help but as think of as influential upon Tom Hall's school of level design, with its densely nested areas all coiling around each other to cram as many different rooms and encounters as possible into the space available on the page, printed or virtual, such that blank spaces within the level structure become hints toward the presence of unexplored or secret areas.  Outside of that this is mostly a continuing introduction to the game's bestiary and arsenal, with the cacophonous dragon claw and power-walking golems emerging from gameplay as the stand-out elements of each.

[Omniarch]

E1M3: The Gatehouse - 87% / 50%

 

This map puts me to sleep. @Silhou3tte is dead on, frankly. There is little of interest here in terms of layout, progression or detailing, and what there is has already been well covered by @antares031.

 

Like the previous two maps, though, this one does introduce a couple of new features, such as the Fire Gargoyle (just like the regular one, but more annoying!), the concept of ghost monsters (I hated it when id did it too) and, most notably, the wind effect, which surprised me in that it influences the velocity of projectiles as well as the monsters and the player. Interesting. I wonder how that'll be used, going forward.

 

The resource balance continues its descent into Scrooge-dom, making me ever more glad of my choice to play continuous. I might just switch over to Wayfarer's Tome for the next episode.

 

I hope the coming maps give me more to analyze.

 

Edit: I skimmed ahead a bit, and E1M4-5 seem much more interesting.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Omniarch

[Aaaaaaaahhh!]

The Gatehouse:

Hope you like the wand, because if you're wand starting you're stuck with it for a decent chunk of this map though it is possible that I'm just playing it wrong. I'm gonna go ahead and ditch wand starting after this map. The morph ovum is interesting to play with at first but the novelty wears off pretty quick. As others have said ghost monsters can go straight to hell. I will also echo the sentiment that these initial maps don't really leave one with much to say about them. They're fun to play through, don't even worry about that, but there simply isn't much to talk about.  

[Walter confetti]

Time to play the power metal fantasy enthusiast cousin of Doom, finally!

 

 

E1M1: Fun and good opener with a "realistic" design of the said docks (one of the two approaches of mapping, this, E1M4 and E1M5 are the "semi-realistic" one, while there's the more abstract / generic medieval place that is the most used in this IWAD), shows the game new mechanics and the greatest addition to the game from Doom: the Tome of Power, one magical item that turns up your weapons with better and more powerful versions of them. According to the doomwiki, this level have exactly 777 linedefs as a counterpart of Doom's "Hangar" with it's 666 sidedefs, maybe?

 

E1M2: Here we are on the more generic / abstract style of maps that shows a big amount of monsters (181 on skill 3), give the most powerful wapons of episode 1 (the dragon claw as a "secret gun" guarded by a crusher and a bunch of time bombs of the ancient, a time based explosive meelee weapon that makes explode a bunch of monsters) and the second best new addition, the Wings of Wrath (kinda unused here) that let you fly around the map, contains traps similar to Doom E1M3 when you take the key or any other item (mostly it's inside a light box), the light gets darker and monsters appears out of monster closets. Overall, another good map like the previous one. A remake for Doom 2 of this map has been used in Heroes 2 MAP21.

 

E1M3: Do you like the monster closets traps in E1M2? What about a map that have them almost everywhere? This is map for you! Over this, there's nothing else to say about this map, not one of the best maps so far... Over the new monster variations of the Fire Gargoyle and the ghost monsters at the end of the map, there's nothing else. A punitive map since when i was kid, but not a fun one. Only good section is the secret area where the Undead Warriors horde closet is.

Edited April 3, 2021 by Walter confetti

[omx32x]

im a bit busy today can i upload both e1m3 and e1m4 tomorrow? or is just one level per day?

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

6 minutes ago, omalefico32x said:

im a bit busy today can i upload both e1m3 and e1m4 tomorrow? or is just one level per day?

Yes, no hurries

[Walter confetti]

E1M4: Best map of the episode togheter with E1M5 if not one of the best level of the wad, really great layout with lots of interconnectivity and monster placement, it includes 2 new monsters, the golem variation called nitrogolem, is a golem that shoots a homing skull at you, what a beautiful thing. Also, it includes the Disciple of D'sparil, a floating mage that will beat you to pieces.

[WarbossGegguz]

So, uhm... this is my first public post here in nearly a decade of lurking on DW and playing along this the DWMegawad Club all the way back since the first post. I recently started streaming on Twitch and playing along with DWMC has kind of become a recurring segment of mine (mixed in with other games) so... https://www.twitch.tv/warboss_gegguz Just wrapped up a Vod of the first 5 1/2 levels. Don't expect good gameplay tho. This is my first time ever playing Heretic past the first, like, 2 levels...

Edited April 4, 2021 by WarbossGegguz

[Capellan]

Warning: spoilers for the start of E1M4.

 

 

 

[ReaperAA]

E1M3: The Gatehouse

Kills = 117/117

Secrets = 2/2

Deaths = 0

 

I think @northivanastan put it best. This map is a very forgettable map. Apart from the introduction of fire gargoyles (they look like regular gargoyles but have ranged attack and more hp) and the ghost undead warriors, this map plays kind of similar to E1M2, only with less exploration and secret areas. The only really interesting fight is the one against a group of undead warriors in outside water area with the wind effect. Unlike the secret wind effect area in E1M1, the wind is much stronger which makes it harder for both the player and the monsters to land hits.

 

E1M4: The Guard Tower

Kills = 109/109

Secrets = 1/1

Deaths = 0

 

Arguably one of the 2 best maps (other being E1M5) of Episode 1. Instead of the grey dungeon-like areas of E1M2 and E1M3, we are back to dock-like areas as seen in E1M1, only bigger and better.

 

At the very start of the map, turn back and open the wall to get a non-secret tome of power. This will come in handy because if you don't remember the location of crossbow and dragon claw, you will have to do a bit of running around with your wand and avoiding enemies in order to find them. Once you manage to get them, things get much easier and you focus on getting the yellow key. Be quick to move when grabbing the yellow key as the sector is a crusher.

 

After opening the yellow key door, you are greeted by the titular guard tower, which you need to ascend by first getting the green key. The green key can be obtained by exploring the backside of the guard tower.

 

Once the key is obtained, you can start climbing the tower and at the top of the tower, you are greeted by the Disciples of D'Sparil. These are floating wizards that fire 3 purple projectiles in spread-fire manner. On skill 5, these guys are really annoying. Once you deal with them, you can exit the map.

Edited April 4, 2021 by ReaperAA
Some grammar errors

[Capellan]

 

[Zedonk]

E1M4 The Guard Tower

Secrets: 1/1

A very open layout that introduces the Disciple of D'sparil.  I like the crusher with the yellow key and they give you lots of ammo if you find the secret near the beginning.  However, it can get a bit grindy if you're wand-starting and don't find the secret immediately.

 

7/10

 

 

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by Zedonk

[TheOrganGrinder]

E1M3: The Gatehouse

 

This one mostly doesn't do it for me, with a few flashes of inspiration - such as the initial combat arena and the windows that pierce the map's structure in various places demonstrating just how differently the filler-monster gargoyles play to Doom's zombies and Hexen's ettins simply due to the fact that they can fly - overwhelmed by the map's tendency toward repetitive grey corridors and monster closets.  It's not a bad level, just one that sits at the far end of the spectrum from the super-saturated parts of the colour palette and lurid, exaggerated album-cover art direction and environment design where Heretic feels most at home.

 

E1M4: The Guard Tower

 

This is a rather more substantial map with a more interesting and better-realised environment, though I feel it would have been improved with some degree of line-of-sight from the early city part of the map to the titular tower that makes up the back end of its running time - this is likely an issue of engine limitations, but I feel the level's sense of place and the player's ability to identify and pursue goals would have been improved had the guard tower been visible looming over the scene rather than entirely tucked away behind a locked door, guarding nothing.  That's a fairly minor quibble about a level that otherwise is a lot of fun, opening quickly into a somewhat chaotic area through which gargoyles can swoop and across which other enemies can lob fireballs and axes as best they can, maze-like enough to spontaneously give rise to interesting combat encounters and turn a fast-moving player around (especially if the secret area is discovered and opened early in the map's running time) without being confounding or restrictive.  The tower itself is engagingly vertical and multi-layered and about as impressive a sight as the limited angles from which it can be viewed will allow.

[Gez]

27 minutes ago, TheOrganGrinder said:

This is a rather more substantial map with a more interesting and better-realised environment, though I feel it would have been improved with some degree of line-of-sight from the early city part of the map to the titular tower that makes up the back end of its running time - this is likely an issue of engine limitations,

Exactly, cf. the interview with MRJ that I excerpted on the first page of this thread:

Quote

The worst thing I ever had to do was take one map (not mine) and put a big honking wall right in the middle of it so you could actually run it. I think it was e1m4 (the big city "square" with lots of buildings and castle walls outside). Nice map. Too complex.

Though to be honest, I think he meant E1M5, tomorrow's level.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Gez

[continuum.mid]

E1M4: The Guard Tower

Crispy Heretic 5.10.0, Thou Art a Smite-Meister, continuous, saves allowed, Raven MIDI Pack

The best level in the WAD so far and the first to pose a serious threat - I'm not entirely sure, but this might have been where my last playthrough of Heretic ended. The setting is well-constructed - this level and the next are better city maps than Doom II's, and the titular guard tower is another great set-piece. Once again there isn't much ammo - I ran out towards the end of the level and was forced to look around for more. The Disciple is introduced at the end - there are three, I think, and here it's not terribly hard to dodge their attacks but I'm sure they'll get much more annoying later on.

 

Items are starting to come in handy, so I think I'd better rebind the appropriate keys for that.

[Alper002]

E1M4:The Watchtower
Oh hey, new visual theme!
The way the green key is hidden is kinda similar to the yellow key 2 maps ago, as both are placed behind a bunch of barrels you have to walk around.
The spiral stairs said key leads to look pretty cool, but I like them most for the way they limit your movement against the attacks of D'Sparil's disciples.
Golems also get a look-a-like introduced. These ones, like the look-a-likes for the gargoyles, shoot projectiles. Difference is these are living(?) projectiles that scream for you, and really want to hit you. Or at least, that's how I'd like to interpret them :P
Also noticed that almost every map so far has had a secret that includes wind. The one exception has been E1M2.

Oh right, there's only 2 keys on this map too. Guess I'll try keeping track of how many there are on each map, just to see how many maps actually contain 3 keys... Pretty darn sure those are the majority though.

Actually, does the amount of keys really matter that much? It probably doesn't, but I'll keep track regardless. I could use the info for silly statistics like a key-to-map ratio :)

[Doritos420]

E1M4 - The Guard Tower

Right away I think this is a more interesting level than the previous. The map is basically broken up into two areas, a wide open section and the tower section. At the start you can look over the first section and admire the scenery, that is until you aggro the gargoyles lying in wait. The very open section encourages exploration in order to find the weapons you’ll have to run around and deal with the enemies. Also there’s a very cheeky crusher guarding the yellow key. The tower section is also very impressive for the time with its winding staircase centerpiece. I especially had fun with the ambush in the center where the green key is. The single secret on this map was pretty hard to find for me, but ended up getting it, getting a scroll also revealed another hidden area that wasn’t marked as a secret. So far probably my favorite level.

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Heretic

Vanilla looking Lzdoom (320x200), bringest them oneth, saves.

 

E1M4: The guard Tower

 

Oh boy, more baddies to fight. The iron golems will say hello with their homing projectile, and the Disciples of D'sparil will also appear guarding the exit. This map is very good. I like the gameplay and the visuals of the map. If you noticed, this map and e1m3 only required two keys to exit, unlike e1m2. Another thing about the map is that we have a lot to explore, and some areas have goodies. BE CAREFUL WITH THE DISCIPLES OF D'SPARIL, they do a lot of damage and when they attack the flicker between a ghost and non ghost attack, so the melee weapons (especially the staff) aren't recommended. Anyways, good map, somewhat straightforward with some areas to explore. No deaths so far. 

[Silhouette 03]

E1M4: The Guard Tower

Seeing Heretic's version of a guard tower makes me wander if the level designer knew what a guard tower is.

 

A much better map than E1M3, mostly due to the more open layout, not being corridor after corridor. The map, even on Black plague, has a serious amount of space that I feel is wasted, considering the total number of enemies present. I have no idea whether it was engine limitations, or they drastically underestimated the space used versus number of enemies.

 

Speaking of enemies, two new enemies are revealed. One is the nitro golem, who fire screaming skulls that home in on you and make loud screeching noises. When they're in groups, the sound is excruciating. The other is the disciple of D'sparil, who hovers around and soaks up damage. In other words, a general menace.

 

The map has a more natural feel to it than E1M3, in that it's use of architecture can be somewhat linked to what kind of place the mapper intended it to be, in this case, a guard tower. You can somewhat tell what the place is, just by looking at it. Abstract environments are at their best when they have some visual aspects linking them to real places, in my opinion.

 

I remember the next one being more difficult, though Episode 2 is when things get... interesting.

 

Silhouette's stats:

Kills: 109/109

Secrets: 1/1

Deaths: 0

(Perfect)Hatred: Limitless

Number of shrieks: migraine inducing

 

[antares031]

E1M4 - “The Guard Tower”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

Welcome to the first actual non-linear level of Heretic. Here we have a small abandoned town above the water, occupied by gargoyles and golems. Thanks to the stone wall & wooden frame textures, this level does look like a town with some medieval buildings. Look around and explore the town, and try to find some weapons you need, if you're playing the level with wand start. Once you find the crossbow, you'll encounter the alternative version of golem, Nitrogolem. While it still punches you at close quarters, its main weapon is the screaming skull flame, chasing the player like the revenant's homing rocket in Doom. Spoiler alert, nitrogolem also has a ghost variant, and you'll see some of them in later levels.

 

Once you finish cleaning the entire town, grab the yellow key and proceed to the guard tower. The layout of the tower area is not that complicated, but keep your eyes on the green key somewhere around. After you collect the key, and climb up the fancy spiral staircases of the tower, say hello to the new monster, Disciples of D'Sparil. This flying monster is capable of shooting a spread of three purple projectiles, kinda reminding the third attack pattern of Doom's mancubus, but with one extra fireball at the center. Also notice that it "flickers" like a ghost monster, before it sprays magical fireballs. This is not just a decorative effect, and any physical attack will go through the disciple, if the timing is right. The plus side of this annoying monster is that it rarely drops an useful tome of power, when it's dead.

 

E1M4 is the point that the game gets more interesting with non-linear layout and yet more new monsters. I can definitely see why lots of people mentioned this level as the favorite level of the game so far. Finding a map scroll, which is the computer automap of this game, from the secret area will make it easier to navigate around the town. And yeah, there is basically no forgettable music in the game for me.

[Omniarch]

E1M4: The Guard Tower - 90% / 0%

 

Ah, now this is more like it.

 

The more open style of layout suits Heretic's texture palette way better than drab labyrinthine hallways. The geometry here is actually really good for its age, the diagonal structure in the west of the map particularly so. Reminds me a bit of one of the neo-classicist mappers, though I can't remember which.

 

For some reason, it took me this long to notice the little water splashing effect. I'm oblivious like that. It is a nice little touch, makes me wish such small environmental details were easier to implement in Doom.

 

Due to the fact that I somehow managed to miss the Claw in the previous map, this is my first experience with the weapon. I quite like it, especially it's firing animation. Very satisfying, more so than Doom's Chaingun, actually. It does look a little... phallic, though, don't you think? Surely I can't be the only one that sees it...

 

Two new monsters were also introduced here, one of which is just a rejiggamied Golem with a useless fire attack, and the other I recognize from Struggle (must... resist... urge... to derail and... ramble about Struggle's greatness...) and 180 Minutes Pour Vivre. I'm not sure what to think of these Disciples as of yet, though I really do like their spriteset.

 

Needless to say, the resource balance was pretty tight, but thanks to my stinginess I spent most of the level at 90+ arrows and 300+ orbs. I still intend to switch over to Wayfarer's Tome for the next episode, and am considering bumping up the difficulty to make the combat less trivial.

 

Overall, I like this map. It at least somewhat resembles a stereotypical fantasy town, with a far stronger sense of place than previous maps, though still lacking compared with Doom's first two episodes.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that the midi for this map is great, as always.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Omniarch

[LadyMistDragon]

The Guard Tower (wand-start, Black Plague, Wayfarer's Tome)

 

As the organ starts to swell, the medieval ambience is that much more intense. Not unlike E1M2, the track combines mystery and danger in a wholly intriguing and undoubtedly even more hummable way, and like that track, changes to something more intensely dangerous halfway through. I can completely understand why this track was re-used because I never get tired of hearing it and is easily the best in Heretic, save for E1M6, but that one's sounds too harsh to listen to constantly.

 

Anyways, I guess I should be talking about the level. In some ways, it's not all that different, apart for two reasons. One is that there are more open, watery, areas than in the three previous levels. The second is the introduction of what I've come to think of as the "house" wall texture or grey stone with yellow lines running throughout, but it feels somehow less substantial than the next map I dunno.

 

What is very much different is the combat. Something about the layout where basically all of the level prior to the  yellow key door connects incredibly well made fights so much more fun. On Black Plague with the Wayfarer's Tome, it's also quite challenging. You should probably turn around and grab the Tome of Power behind you if you're wand-starting unless you want to feel underpowered for the next few minutes. There's a secret just outside to the left which basically accesses an area with goodies in the water you wouldn't be able to reach otherwise, among which is a morph ovum, quartz flasks and large amounts of crossbow and dragon claw ammo. I can't begin to tell you how many close calls I had, but I somehow had enough health through the crystal vials and the quartz flasks  til I got the yellow key. The Dragon's Claw vastly improved things but I was out of the Tome of Power at this point and I don't really remember where I picked up the second one. At the bottom of the titular tower, I was killed after getting surrounded by gargoyles and the Crossbow I'd managed to acquire probably 30 seconds before I acquired the yellow key  only helped so much. After grabbing the green key, I attempted to use the Morph Ovum on the Undead Warrior monster closet which opened up, with limited success.

 

Speaking of the Morph Ovum, you run into the first Disciples of the game near the end of the level. These enemies have a tri-pronged magic attack consisting of purple spheres that can be seriously damaging if you take the attack head-on. Their tendency to scatter when struck only makes handling them that much more difficult (and I still don't know if Wayfarer's Tome causes them to deal more damage..ugh). Later, their tendency to scatter becomes a serious problem, but for now, you can just blast them to bits with the Dragon's Claw if you apply consistent pressure to them. All the same, I was glad that the end of this map was relatively quiet. The next one is unfortunately, much more open, but more places to hide at the same time.

Edited April 5, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[Capellan]

 

[Endless]

• E1M2: The Dungeons | LZDoom | Thou art a smite-meister

A medium sized map that increases the size a bit but adds an extra layer of complexity to the design and layout. Evoking distant feelings of lost nostalgia, this map pays homage to such a charismatic and entertaining fantasy trope: dungeons. On the other hand, perhaps due to technological limitations, the map itself is not as cavernous in quality as we might expect and instead presents more of a sort of hidden structure or even fortress with multiple rooms, corridors and battle rooms tucked into the stone, as well as a plethora of varied secrets where we can find everything from useful items to new enemies to fight. Overall, it's a fun map but the layout can be a bit complex when playing for the first time, but it satisfies thanks to its good sense of adventure and modest combat. 3/5

 

 

• E1M3: The Gatehouse | LZDoom | Thou art a smite-meister

Welcome to the house of stone and pain, well, a little pain. This is a medium sized map with tighter encounters that launches us on a small but interesting key quest along a slightly linear path, with no major difficulty and a clearer path than you might expect at first. Of course, the map offers a variety of paths and tries to give the player enough room to breathe, while the combat feels balanced, fast-paced and entertaining. The visuals of this map have no particular point per se, but here we begin to see the use of semi-realistic architecture to give an idea of dark medieval fantasy. 3/5

 

 

• E1M4: The Guard Tower | LZDoom | Thou art a smite-meister

Things open up a bit more and reveal some pretty interesting maps in this play. To be honest, I think open maps are where Heretic excels and surpasses Doom, creating vanilla environments that exude beautiful charisma while creating excellent fantasy settings with a dark touch where we fight to the edge. This map allows us to try a bit of that in a quick and understandable layout that flows with the gameplay in a very attractive, responsive and well cared for way. 4/5

 

 

• E1M5: The Citadel | LZDoom | Thou art a smite-meister

More square than the previous ones and a sense of exploration. For some reason, it reminds me a bit of Diablo. This is a small map but with a variety of rooms and divided into two main areas. Both are almost exact visually, but the first one works as a strong introduction to this semi-open map, introducing medieval houses surrounded by a kind of fortress guarded by a lot of enemies. After opening the gates and getting the keys, we go to the second part of the map where the explosive action starts and the combat doubles up in a cool fantasy battle scenario. A fast map, with a great flow in its progress and a juicy challenge. 4/5

 

 

Crispy Heretical pic:

[TheOrganGrinder]

E1M5: The Citadel

 

The player proceeds here to the fortified inner quarter of the city, with E1M4's somewhat chaotic jumble of different shapes and levels giving way to a more ordered structure built along the lines of a rectangular castle plan.  I like the way the four main buildings are differentiated here, with a symmetrical overall plan that's made more interesting by the fact that the pieces slotted into that outline all have different layouts, and the monsters (and their variations) are all playing their own specific roles here, with the golems power-walking around the bailey to herd you from place to place, the undead warriors lobbing axes at you from the shadows, and the gargoyles swooping down from unexpected angles due to the very open layout, while the Disciplies of D'Sparil lord over the whole affair from on high.  This creates an interesting ebb and flow in the pacing of the level, with an initially overwhelming swarm of enemies that can be steadily whittled down over the first half of the map's running time, only for the bestiary to surge again once the player enters the northern half of the city.  I agree with what @Gez has excerpted and observed that "castle level with a big wall right through the middle of it" could describe either E1M4 or E1M5, although to my mind the wall that divides this level actually contributes to the pacing of the gameplay rather than simply interrupting its spectacle; I feel that you'd lose that nice ebb and flow if the whole exterior area was accessible right from the get-go, and there isn't as spectacular a sight in the northern half of this map as the guard tower that dominates the preceding level would have been, had it been visible from a greater distance and more flattering set of angles.

[Zedonk]

E1M5 The Citadel

Secrets: 4/4

The map looks pretty picturesque and I do really like the dividing wall that separates one half of the map from the other making very memorable.

However, the beginning is extremely slow due to how slowly the maps hands weapons that aren't the gauntlets. The meat of the map is predominantly corridor fighting, circle strafing and shooting monsters with the elven wand through corners which I'm personally not a huge fan of.  (I know it doesn't like it but I am a huge fan of heretic, it's just episode 1 is my least favourite episode.)  

5/10

 

 

Edited April 5, 2021 by Zedonk

[Walter confetti]

E1M5: Another pretty big map (at least, the impression is that) like the previous one, with good layout working of a "realistic" medieval city crossed by a river, heavily interconnected around the various building and the fortified external walls of said "citadel" sets, both via small jumps between buildings and teleport pads, monsters fight is pretty thought like the previous level, with a gameplay mix of E1M3 and E1M4, taking the best from both maps.

 

A interesting feature that you probably don't know, one day I've opened this level out of curiosity on Doom Builder and i saw that this level uses only 2-sided walls, try to see it you too!

[Alper002]

E1M5:The Citadel
Key count: 3

This map is very challenging for me, on the difficulty I chose for myself. The map doesn't introduce anything (aside from the first non-secret wings of wrath at the exit), but it uses the enemies present in the roster to create something that requires a lot out of me. It's at least enough to get me somewhat exhausted, and happy about the fact that I'm not trying to play the episode all in one go. That's not to say I wasn't enjoying it to some degree, though!

 

Getting on top of the big wall dividing the map in two is a pretty cool part, but it's also entirely optional. If you're both playing on black plague, and are as skilled as I am (I.E. Not that skilled at all) you're probably better off skipping it if you don't have a ring of invincibility for it. I'm not afraid to admit that the disciples there are too much for me to beat without it. Especially if I'm at low health, which is almost always on this map :P

[ReaperAA]

E1M5: The Citadel

Kills = 121/121

Secrets = 4/4

Deaths = 0

 

After playing it again, I can now confidently say that this is my favorite map in Episode 1. E1M4 is a good level, but this map is better now that both maps are fresh in my memory again.

 

This map has a very nice sense of place to it as it puts us in the middle of a walled medieval town, inhabited by D'Sparil's minions. The town in turn is divided into two parts, separated by a wall.

 

The starting gameplay is kind of similar to E1M4. You have to run around the area hunting for resources until you can get better weapons. Only it's a bit harder now, as you have to obtain the yellow key and then go through the yellow key doors before you get the crossbow. Also you won't get the dragon claw until late in the map. Once you get the green key, you are able to enter the breach the walls and then get to the 2nd part of the town.

 

Upon entering the 2nd part of the town, you will start getting ambushed by disciples from the high grounds, while you are dealing with the hordes of undead warriors and gargoyles below. Though thankfully, there are plenty of goodies waiting to be discovered, including the ring of invincibility (which when activated will make you invulnerable for 30 seconds)

 

One you get to the blue key door, you will get the wings of wraith, which you can use to get the goodies in the final room and also any goodies that you skipped in your journey before exiting the map.

Edited April 5, 2021 by ReaperAA

[antares031]

E1M5 - “The Citadel”
BP-WS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

This level might be a little bit tough, if you're playing wand start. This looks like an another abandoned town, with less water, and more orthogonal and complex buildings. And every useful weapons are being guarded behind the locked door, meaning that you can only use your basic wand, until you get the yellow key. Unless you're playing on lower difficulties, you better avoid any unnecessary combats, and stockpile some supplies, scattered around the area. Entering the locked yellow key door will reward you with a crossbow that you really need, a tome of power, and a green key.

 

If you look on the automap, you'll notice the overall design of this level's layout. While those buildings that you need to explore are all asymmetrical, the level is surrounded by highly symmetric fortifications, staircases and narrow corridors. The level is also divided by a small canal in the center, meaning that you need a green key to get access to the other half of the level, by passing narrow corridors on the each side of the level. Here you can find some more useful goodies, and even a ring of invulnerability, which is basically a godsphere of this game. At this point, the level gets much easier, compare to the beginning.

 

This level gives you two wings of wrath, so feel free use them to reach some secret areas more easily. Don't forget to use the other inventory items wisely as well. Torches will help you look around the dark areas under the buildings, a tome of power will assist your onslaught against a horde of demons with your wand and crossbow, and even if you're out of ammo, remember that the empowered gauntlet can absorb the target's health. In overall, this level is good, but could be better, if I could get weapons more earlier; a crossbow at the beginning, and a claw behind the yellow key door.