Your favorite gimmick maps?

[Mayomancer]

Was curious about what was everyone's favorite maps that are built around a particular gimmick or non-conventional gameplay/visual aspects, such as the arch-vile maze from Plutonia. Feel free to mention more than one!

The ones i like the most are Scythe 2's Map 16, "Mr. X" and the  JP Community project map 11, "My fav". I had no idea what i was getting into when i reached Mr. X, and it was just a great horror take with classic Doom i really appreciated. As for my fav, it just has no right being that cute.

Spoiler

 

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Mayomancer
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[JadingTsunami]

I always thought Hell to Pay MAP32's gimmick around a self-destruct timer along with finding and destroying fuses was neat, particularly for a vanilla map.

 

My favorite of all time though is MAP08 from the JPCP, where the...

 

Spoiler

automap is a comic laying out the map story and progression.

 

Impressive and very clever, I really liked it.

[floatRand]

Some that come to mind in particular. 

Going Down map26

Plutonia 7 map11

 

There is also one that hasn't been released yet. 

[Jacek Bourne]

Magnolia Map01

[yakfak]

Doxylamine Moon's hard to unseat as my favourite map
but Dobu's puzzle maps are right up there too

also Zones of Fear maps 10 and 12 are also faves of mine

and there's No End in Sight E3M1, Sunlust MAP7 and 17, Batman Doom's boss fights... most of the maps I hold closest are gimmicky maps in some way!

 

edit: also Epic 2 and Eternal's "remember where these switches are and come back n press 'em when the level's flooded with monsters" maps rule. Epic 2 in general has so many charming maps with their own gimmicks.

 

edit 2: also everything in FCFF and Nefertiti, and Sunder MAP05!!

Edited May 5, 2021 by yakfak

[SilverMiner]

Doom Odyssey E3M5 (Nice backtracking map, Virgil had painted Inferno in dark colours with use of OGROTEX and ERRATEX, and that was successful imo)

PRCP Map19 (Huge non-linear map, interconnecting via blood sewers filled up with invisible demons, the music fits the suspence very well)

Bloodstain Map20 (Cold ice and snow theme turns into dark metal and lava)

 

 

 

[Azure_Horror]

Plutonia Map 11 ("Hunted").

This map has an unique blend of atmosphere and gameplay. The dull-looking walls, the music choice, the archviles, the tripwire-operated doors - all those things combine together to make a map that feels very "wrong" and sinister in a good way.

 

180 Minutes Pour Vivre Map 32 ("Rêve Brisé").

This one plays like a blend of an old Adventure Game with a difficult doom level. Some doom maps have out of combat puzzles. Some doom maps have puzzle-like fights. But Rêve Brisé has a puzzle which shoots mancubus fireballs and cyberdemon rockets at you! This map also has a pretty cool aesthetics and an interesting layout. The only downside is that this map can be pretty frustrating, espessialy on the first playthrough.

 

Going Down map 11 ("Vivisection")  (not sure, if this one counts as a gimmick map)

The trick here is the number of monsters, which inhabit this small map. There is even a cyberdemon here. The map is constructed in such a way, that the monsters can always reach the player, so hiding in some corner is a very bad idea. 

 

21 hours ago, Mayomancer said:

JP Community project map 11, "My fav".

  Hide contents

 

 

Antaresian Reliquary map06 ("Kerberos Complex") asks a similar question, but with Revenants

Spoiler

The best part about "Kerberos Complex" is that this particular room has two different fights. Your answer will determine which of the two fights will happen.

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by Azure_Horror
spelling, formatting

[El Inferno]

Wormwood Expanded Universe for sure. Bouncy walls. What else do you need?

 

 

 

Also Magnolia 2 (turrets, pacifist, math(!)), totg 1 (a very unique type of combat and cool platforming), sunder 5 (you know), esp 30 (wallrunning and stuff), sunlust 32 (best map ever) and some more which I forgot about

 

Also *a gimmicky map I want to build for over a month already but can't quite get to it because of I of some behemoth standing in the way*.

[SilverIce]

Valiant MAP07 (The Mancubian Candidate,) where you we're forced to keep the lone mancubus alive until a certain point in the map, or else you got swarmed by a crapton of archviles.

[pcorf]

 

Yes, I like Cacohachi or Kakodaimōn (カコダイモーン). It is fun to shoot Caco with Yumis (a type of crossbow). Takes 30 tries to get them slobbering everywhere.

 

The author of this map is a damn good artist too.

Edited May 6, 2021 by pcorf

[yakfak]

oh hey there's also several gimmick levels in d2reload; map 32 where you have to find the secrets or you get stuck exiting the map prematurely; an early map where you have to initialize a crusher ahead of a huge invasion and a map in the second episode where you can't fire until you've turned off the security circuits. really clever stuff!

[ICID]

Can I just say all of Going Down? :)

 

In the interest of picking one, I think Evilution Map04 (Wormhole) is underrated. Sure - the same concept has been done better since, but it's still one of the most clever and fun maps in the IWADs as far as I'm concerned.

[galileo31dos01]

Absolutely Killed in its entirety.

[TheMagicMushroomMan]

On 5/5/2021 at 11:07 AM, yakfak said:

also Epic 2 and Eternal's "remember where these switches are and come back n press 'em when the level's flooded with monsters" maps are highly irritating and made me beat my dog with my keyboard while having an aneurism. 

Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels that way!

Edited May 6, 2021 by TheMagicMushroomMan

[out_of_service]

Map 04 from TNT Evilution, Wormhole.

[Kyka]

all of cyberdreams

[garudave]

Playing through TNT Evilution currently.  Aside from Wormhole, there are a few other gimmicky maps that I've been digging.  Stronghold's emphasis on hitscanner hordes is some of the best designed gameplay in the megawad imo.  Steel Works is a fun map that starts you next to the exit, blocked with a red key.  When you get the red key, monster closets open up throughout the level, making your run back to the beginning entertaining.  Shipping/Respawning is a really endearing map, basically a warehouse filled with demons and Doomcute.

[cannonball]

Doom 2 Reloaded Map18 is a very good example of a gimmick done well. 
 

Spoiler

Essentially it is a warehouse with modest opposition you must traverse, except you cannot shoot anything as this will unleash a mass of opposition that will make you progression impossible. So you have to stealthily play through to the end of the map and activate a crusher to kill most of the monsters and finish the map.

It’s so good that I might have borrowed the idea for my E4 map in UDINO.

Edited May 10, 2021 by cannonball