The DWmegawad Club plays: KINDa

[dei_eldren]

KINDa - MAP18 Doomsday Machine (HNTR, blind, continuous w/ saves): K 100% (140/140), I 100% (37/37), S 80% (4/5), T 37:44

 

Spoiler

Another CERN-related facility (my own interpretation) with neoclassical version of TNTesque layout and aesthetics.  This is among the longest maps so far - along with Blackout and Naive, and combat is progressively getting more challenging on every map, at least for me.  This map is full of hitscanners and ambushes, more often than not including Chaingunners, and i spent more than half of the map running with 10-20% health.  My only criticism of the map is directly related to this - i found later two medkits on a ledge below the starting alcove, and for a long time had no idea they were there.  They would have really made a difference in my game, and i honestly didn't appreciate this sneaky placing of non-secret health very much.

 

First task is to gain the BK, by few switches scattered around the dark metallic corridors, using all of which triggers an ambush.  Behind the BK door is what i'd call the setpiece room of the map, holding the RK.  Two Arachnotrons teleported in (could have been worse), and taking care of them with less than 20% took some exacting gameplay, as i died on my first attempt.  The only secret i was unable to obtain was also accessed from this room through bars i couldn't get opened - it would have been a nice goodie-storage room.  i guess the switch from the room next to this one, which offers a view to the final arena, released the YK in the starting area.  The progress in this map was unexpectedly straightforward, only slight anomaly from normal is the accessing of the BK, which is simple enough.

 

 

Through the YK, through a nasty ambush in a tunnel, i arrived at a small room next to the final arena, obviously which will be a scene of slaughter.  Luckily, there was some health to be found, and the secret Invulnerability i think i'll be able to use on my HMP run tomorrow.  After i finally found out how to begin the action, on my first attempt i just looked what happens and basically died.  But what i realized to do on the next was jump down to the corridor which went through the arena (this corridor was behind the YK gate, and leads to the teleport that took me to a small room adjacent to it) to escape the initial onslaught of the Chaingunners near and far.  Thru the teleport into the room, which is a good foothold to start taking care of things.  It was a tricky one for me, i died a few times in the process, as the enemies were so spread out with no significant clusters of them to blast with rockets or the BFG.  At this point i didn't yet know how to get the Invul sphere either.

 

 

After the slaughter, i still had 4/5 secrets to find, and took around ten minutes to find all but the one mentioned above.  Some were hinted in the map, such as the secret Soul Sphere which i was very happy to get at the end of the level - it's likely it'll come more than handy in the next one!  

 

To be honest, the last slaughter-lite-fight wasn't much to my liking, but it didn't bring the map down either - i can take it or leave it, and after it i had more of a feeling i'm glad it's over than that i had achieved anything.  i don't however look forward to that fight on HMP - i imagine myself getting the secrets beforehand, running for the teleport to get the secret Invul sphere, and then running again for the same teleport heading for the exit - hope it works!  But apart from that, and the health situation mentioned above, i really enjoyed going through this atmospheric facility of clandestine intentions.

 

 

 

HMP (the monster count is insane, and the switch-ambush at the southwestern corner room took me many attempts...was able to execute my pre-planned escape on second attempt - i liked going through it again, apart from the arena fight, but thankfully TheMightyWhoosh allows the player to escape - which to be honest, to me feels natural and righteous, especially when the escape isn't without danger in itself, the Cybie got me on my first attempt.  Didn't anymore look for the fifth secret.  Regardless, am now glad am not playing only on HMP.):

Spoiler

 

 

Kind of Top Ten:

Spoiler

MAP10 - Mud and Blood

MAP08 - Deux

MAP12 - Monster Monopoly

MAP09 - Death Delivery

MAP05 - Leak

MAP17 - Naive

MAP15 - Blackout

MAP16 - Patino

MAP06 - Cement

MAP04 - Treehouse

MAP07 - the UAC Project

MAP02 - Hell's Cavity

MAP01 - Go

MAP18 - Doomsday Machine

MAP13 - Blast

MAP14 - Death's Dwelling

MAP11 - Her Keep

MAP03 - Toxic

MAP31 - Hell's Party

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by dei_eldren
HMP

[Book Lord]

MAP 18 – The Doomsday Machine

Doomsday Engine, UV-fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

In case somebody still had doubts, The Doomsday Machine came as clear and unmistakable evidence that the author loves TNT: Evilution, and that he has a soft spot for the Casali contributions. There were countless tributes and quotations in this tech-base level, which started with a baffling teleport out of the rhombus-shaped entrance. Carryover weaponry allowed me a more relaxed approach to the gun fight in the first warehouse area. Pistol starters only have a shotgun, not the ideal weapon to murder faraway hitscanners with a clear line of sight on you. Better leave the ledge with those nice Medikits and enter the tunnels, which eventually led to the south-eastern cargo bay, a place full of valuable armaments and power-ups. Two trapped switches could be found within the corridor loop, each one triggering a nasty teleport ambush with hitscanners as the main threat.

Spoiler

The blue bar appearing behind each switch was a suitable link to the BK puzzle, which consisted of four parts and was presented in a compelling way, with a key icon on the floor. Before reaching the other two switches and the BK itself, I exchanged plasma with an Arachnotron shooting down a mile long tunnel. This reminded me of Crater’s secret area, but the fond memories were soon interrupted by a Cacodemon & Pain Elemental closet mid-way.

Spoiler

I liked the dim lighting coming from demonic engravings and long fissures in the ceiling of the BK zone. It created a foreboding atmosphere, supported by a killer soundtrack like Infinite, but it was not followed by fittingly dangerous encounters. The area with the RK featured a metal web with lights and good brightness gradient; it looked pretty and being sealed inside with Arachnotrons was appropriate to say the least. Sadly, the designer botched the job. Nothing forced me to fight the enemies in the web arena, since there are two possible ways to escape and find a corner to hide behind. The terrace with rockets (and a secret part with the launcher) overlooked the huge area of the final showdown, which I was meant to reach soon.

Spoiler

There was an unnecessary YK pickup and immediate bar raising (a switch would have worked just fine), then a detour with a telegraphed hitscanner ambush to unlock the last portion of the level. This apparently overstretched sightseeing tour helped building suspense and made me notice useful details. Everybody who played Dario Casali’s Mill, sharing the same slot and soundtrack, would foresee the big final battle. The exit itself was part of The Doomsday Machine and was operated by a single switch, which also unleashed the teleport mayhem. I admit the context and the location of said switch was more cohesive here than in TNT MAP18. A Cyberdemon was summoned in a dominant position, along with 118 other enemies. However, this is Kinda and the author preference goes to hitscanners, Imps, and Pinkies, with a few Revenants and Mancubi appearing on the ledges.

Spoiler

I ran for the stairs to the other side of the area, entered the teleporter, and made a dash for the exit. Done. Since I wanted to stay and see the final battle, I reloaded and tried different things, like opening a secret wall that brought me to the Invulnerability. The teleport sequence was too slow for the power-up to last until the end. Staying in the open was impossible with the plethora of -fast hitscanners, therefore I managed the opposition by use of corners. I looked at the bloody pulp that tried to overwhelm me and grinned: they mostly succumbed to infighting and Cyberdemon’s rockets. Mill’s battle had its flaws, but it felt more epic considering the number of hit points involved. This map could have reached the excellence if more attention to non-hitscanner encounters had been given. It was a fair and passionate TNT homage, though.

[onetruepurple]

On 10/16/2021 at 9:13 PM, MtPain27 said:

What's a patino?

A lesser known member of the same family as decino and Fabino.

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP32: Monster Museum

UV, pistol start, rewinds 

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

This map looks great, especially your starting view. You see a large imposing marble structure from a flattering diagonal viewpoint. I don't often see these diagonal views at the starting point in Doom maps, so it was pretty cool to see this one. I also really liked the way the red skull key room looked, with the scrolling face textures around it. No particular thing about it, I just thought it looked cool.

 

So I actually made use of DSDA-doom's rewind feature after looking at some writeups about this one and trying it myself a couple of times, I just didn't want to be overly brutalized by the resource scarcity. To my surprise though once I got past the starting stretch the scarcity tightens up a bit and the map actually had a lot of charm to it in my opinion. Consulting the hints in this threat was a must though, the one switch in the yellow key hunt is irksome to say the least, with there being no real cue that the gargoyle faces are shootable. But for some positives: the cyberdemons are quite well-used, particularly the first one who exerts a nice bit of pressure if you ever go outside, and both are easy to dispatch with the (easily found) secret BFG in hand. At the beginning with scarce ammo, I also found there were a lot of opportunities for creative ways to force infighting which was nice, and once the scarcity lifted the map just had some nice tight gameplay, and felt fun and rewarding to explore.

 

So yeah, I'll have to go against the dissent a bit here. There were definitely some problems of obtuseness to be found, but with the knowledge in hand this map was one of the more enjoyable ones in the set in my opinion.

 

MAP16: Patino

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

A theme of wood and bookshelves in this one, with At Doom's Gate playing. There aren't any keys in this one and a lot of the map is optional, you can do what you need to do to get out and do it quickly, or you can take the optional sidepaths for some extra goodies. I actually didn't find the SSG until I already killed everything outside of that area in my playthrough. This map felt like a big unwind, you've had resource scarcity and more subtle placements to deal with, and this one lets you cut loose with a decent bit of ammo and an explosive final fight.

 

I can see why the creator is keen on this one. The map plays very smoothly and is one of the faster paced feeling entries so far. The only time I felt the map kind of grind to a slow was taking out the two barons sitting on perches in one of the areas, which I could have done without. Otherwise it feels like you keep moving nicely until the big final fight, where an unexpectedly large amount of hitscanners, imps, and pinkies/spectres (which you can all hear growling through the walls at the start) teleport into the central courtyard. Take out all the big guns you've amassed and let em have it. It's downright therapeutic.

 

Great map, one of the highlights so far for me.

 

MAP17: Naive

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

Box-doors, that's a new one! This map is constructed of a mostly tan colour scheme, and uses many textures of that variety, including UAC crates for the doors, which is definitely an interesting choice. The map also feels very of this wad, the ammo is tight and the progression throws some curveballs at you. It took me way longer than it should have to recall the location of the blue skull key.  

 

You get a berserk pretty early on here, and you are best advised to use it as much as you feel comfortable. Berserk hasn't been as common as you might think with a wad that keeps your ammo as tight as this, so it was a welcome breath of fresh air. Being not-so-good at punching, I did punch my way into death a few times though. Despite embarrassingly spending a good 15 minutes of time hunting down the blue key, I kind of liked the progression in this one, and chalk it up more to me having a bad memory then the map being overly cryptic. There were a few bits of combat I didn't really like though, the barons behind the cage near the yellow key felt a little bit needless and ammo-sinky, and the mastermind at the end pretty much mandates noticing the secret lift that lowers with the backpacks and soulsphere beyond.

 

This one was alright. The layout was pretty cool, and the combat was a mixed bag.

 

[brick]

MAP15 - Blackout (100%)

I have mixed feelings about this one. I enjoyed most of the map and the idea of the secret exit requiring several switches is pretty cool (I've seen this in a Heretic pwad, I think it was Shadowcaster?). The switch that becomes inaccessible is a bit of a nasty move, considering you can start the level going into the opposite direction, not hear it close, then spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the bars open without knowing they already were at the start. I don't know if I missed something but I don't think there's any indication where the red key is until after you press the switch, so I had to backtrack all over the level to find it (and this is yet another case where finding the secret in the red key area was much more straightforward than getting the key itself). I think my biggest gripe is that the level is just too dark. Darkness works for atmosphere when contrasted with well light areas, but when the entire level is evenly dimly lit it just gets irritating after a while. Getting to the end, remembering I'm on MAP15, then going back to find what I'd missed to open the secret exit was a fun moment.

 

MAP31 - Hell’s Party (100%)

I'm not a huge fan of either chained teleport monster traps or of arenas, so it's hard for me to properly critique this map as it relies almost purely on both. One obvious problem is that the lack of shotgun and chaingun means that a pistol-start player will inevitably have their fancy footwork badly disrupted by accidentally picking up drops from sergeants and chaingunners, but playing continuously makes the Mastermind fight pretty underwhelming.

 

MAP32 - Monster Museum (100% kills and secrets, 98% items)

I hate to say this but I despised this map. It just feels like pure trolling too often: chaingunners that you can barely see slowly whittling your health to nothing from across vast distances and in nooks that make targeting them even harder, maximum abuse of ledges and elevation by other hitscanners so that they can hit you when you can't even target them without mouselook, projectiles being fired through midtextures that hide the projectile, obscure progression, unofficial secret rooms with secret switches that are required for progress... and then there's the blue skull key, which is just a gigantic middle finger at the player (not to mention that, as happened in some other maps, the official secrets are MUCH easier to find). It's a shame too because the architecture is pretty good and I liked the aesthetics, and there are other moments where it plays like another good level. It just feels too aggressively anti-player too often to be much fun and I ended up cheating just to get it over with.

 

MAP16 - Patino (100%)

When I got to the big room and saw the chaingunners through the elevated windows I started getting nasty flashbacks to MAP32, but thankfully they're nowhere near as annoying here. I really like the level's structure and that you're going around this central space, and I liked the many optional side areas. The big ambush was relatively easy to deal with as there was a lot of space to hide, but I like that more than being stuck in an arena. Overall I found the map quite enjoyable.

 

MAP17 - Naive (100% kills and items, 50% secrets)

I quite liked this one too. It's not super-memorable but it works well for the most part. I got a bit lost after going through the yellow door and pushing the switch, but that's because I'd forgotten that this part of the progression was well hinted. The Supercharge secret was clever (and I only picked it up because I was backtracking and caught something out of the corner of my eye). I missed the rocket launcher one, and after looking it up I feel it's a tad unfair, as there doesn't seem to be any hint or indication that points to it. I liked the mad dash with the Spider at the end.

[Doritos420]

Map18 - Doomsday Machine

I really loved this one. The beginning was very hard due to the trapped switches and you really had to plan a proper route starting off in order to get into the swing of things, but it was still very fun exploring this techbase. I liked how the switches had dead marines next to them in order to give you a bit of forewarning. Creeping through the tunnels was very spooky, I especially loved the area with the arachnotron positioned at the far end. Speaking of arachnotrons, the red key trap was another highlight of the map. I also really loved the Doomcute blue key sign on the floor. I was able to find 4 out of the 5 secrets (the rocket launcher, BFG and the invulnerability at the end after I had killed everyone). The last fight was very intense, but you can always retreat and cheese the enemies from a distance if you need to. Very fun level.

 

 

[FragsBunny]

MAP18: The Doomsday Machine (100%/75%/60%)

1.       Mancubi are able to fly

2.       After taking 100+ damage, extra monsters will spawn

3.       Cacodemon fires a railgun instead

 

The map open with some kind of trench warfare, where you try to shoot down zombies from the bunker before being suddenly teleported near the drop to the trenches. From there on, you have to find four switches and use them in order to make the blue key accessible. Each switch pressed triggers a teleport ambush. How about two chainginners suddenly surrounding you from both sides? Or a similar ambush marked with few dead bodies? There is also a surprise arch-vile, which might catch you without a cover, depending on when he decides to start his clapping animation.

 

With all said and done, you also have to deal with a red key ambush – I was lucky enough holding my plasma gun to survive against arachnotrons. Overall, those ambushes took a fair chunk of my health (down to 17%), but after red door I managed to stabilize myself with extra health drops and mega-armor. It took me few minutes figuring out how to launch the finale sequence, but with the “doomsday” switch pressed I triggered the hardest teleport assault seen in KINDA so far. I had to deal with spectres firing baron sludge on death, imps with fastballs and numerous shooters. Luckily, I quickly retreated to a comfortable position where I could kill them all before finally moving on the Cybie and the company. I could not find a way to grab that invulnerability sphere, but I’m glad that I did not take too much damage in the end.

 

Let’s see how you can survive those shootouts without any cards impacting you! Oh right, you are playing on -fast setting, which is still harder than mine. Good luck )

[Haruspex]

One day I'll catch up.

 

MAP13: Blast

Spoiler

UV, Pistol-Start, Saveless

 

This isn’t the prettiest level we’ve seen so far, but I just can’t hate a map with 268 barrels—each one packed full of that zombie-gibbing goodness that UAC marines crave.

We spend most of our time running around blowing up rooms full of hitscanners, then mopping up the remains with the chaingun. It’s straightforward and good fun.

There’s some nukeage sections to add variety. They’re actually kind of tricky since we only get one radsuit and it’s hard to wade through the entire area without getting burnt. But I like that. It adds some challenge.

 

I managed to find the yellow key easily enough on my blind run, but for some reason I ducked back out of that tunnel and left through the other one instead. In doing so I ended up missing the linedef that pops open the monster closets and finished the level with 10 monsters unaccounted for. Oops.

 

The end arena feels slightly empty. It’s a big room so I was surprised to find little else there except the arch-vile and a few hitscanners. But I guess that was good luck for me. The archie managed to get a hit off on me and left me with single-digit health. I wouldn’t have survived much more.

 

All in all, it’s a gimmick map but a fun one. I’ll rank it somewhere in the middle. Fun, but not as solid as some of the more traditional maps.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

 

MAP14: Death’s Dwelling

Spoiler

UV, Pistol-Start, Saveless

 

Wow, I know I kept asking for more difficulty, but the ammo starvation here was intense. Right from the start we have a pair of barons nearby to drain our shells, and it doesn’t get any easier from there.

 

I’d go so far as to say that it wasn’t the actual fights which were troublesome, but figuring how to kill everything without wasting ammo. With no idea of where I’d find my next shell, I had to bust out every ammo management trick I could think of to make it through. A few times I ended up taking hits just because I was being careful to line up a shot.

Often I had a choice to make between which enemies I would kill immediately and which I’d leave alive to mop up later. I had to seize every infighting opportunity I could. Once or twice I even had to resort to using the BFG simply because I had no ammo left for anything else. You wouldn’t believe how grateful I felt when I stumbled on the berserk pack.

 

I wonder whether maybe this map wasn’t balanced with pistol starts in mind. Or perhaps I just took a bad route. Either way I can’t complain too much. I did want more difficulty, and, in its own way, this level delivered.

 

There were some other hiccups. I ran into the same progression problem others did. That switch on the balcony is quite misleading. There’s nothing to really ‘tie’ it to the alcove on the floor.

 

This map is very flawed in some ways, I suspect, but I had a lot of fun with it, so I won’t rank it down too much.

I just hope the remaining levels won’t demand such careful ammo management.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

MAP15: Blackout

Spoiler

UV, Pistol-Start, Saveless (eventually)

 

That timed switch is cruel. I’d hate to be the player who scoured the entire map for secret switches, only to have one locked off in the first minute of play. Luckily for me, I bumped into it right from the start.

 

Unluckily for me, I’m not a huge fan of all the darkness. In Crispy, especially, it makes it genuinely difficult to see anything that’s not right in front of your face. And I will admit I got frustrated after so many of my attempts at this level were cut short by a chaingunner I could barely see.

 

But I knew what I was getting into when I decided to play saveless, and putting these issues to one side, I actually think this map has some interesting challenges in it. I like the room with the pain elemental and the two powerups, I like the big ambush that appears when we open the way to the red key, I like the hot start. I would really like this map if only it wasn’t so dark.

 

The other thing I’ll complain about is the glut of cells. To a pistol-starter they feel like a taunt. Especially because we’re only going to find the BFG at the end once everything is already dead.

 

This is a genuinely hard map for me to rank. I don’t want to be too harsh on it, but I don’t think I could possibly put it above Death Delivery, which, I recall, was a very solid map.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Ranking:

Spoiler

MAP08: Deux

MAP12: Monster Monopoly

MAP03: Toxic

MAP05: Leak

MAP14: Death’s Dwelling

MAP09: Death Delivery

MAP15: Blackout

MAP13: Blast

MAP11: Her Keep

MAP10: Blood and Mud

MAP01: Go

MAP02: Hell’s Cavity

MAP07: The UAC Project

MAP06: Cement

MAP04: Treehouse

 

I'll leave the secret maps for another post.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Haruspex

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP18 - The Doomsday Machine - dsda-doom - skill 4 pistol start - rewinds used

 

Another good looking one, with good mix of indoor/outdoor spaces. Of note: the raised island main area, the area with the little circle holes in the ceiling, the arachnotron arena.

The health situation is definitely dire, and I spent a lot of time at low health as @dei_eldren also noted

The green outdoor area is the best looking part but I missed the switch to raise the stairs entirely after looking directly at it multiple times. I finally IDCLIP'd out, then later found I only missed a tiny bit of the level.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by DuckReconMajor

[Biodegradable]

MAP18 - The Doomsday Machine

UV | Continuous | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

All right, this was a spicy one. The lower ceiling tunnels continue to be a calling card for this episode as this map is no exception. Lots more teleporting ambushes going and there's an atmosphere to this one. It's almost kind of spooky because each time you hit a switch, you have no idea who's going to teleport where to make your day unpleasant. I found this one to have a lot more personality, which is great, and I had fun for the most part. The only thing that bugged me was the stupid button that triggers the final fight/end of progression. I spent an ridiculous amount of time running around in circles trying to figure out what on Earth was wrong. I thought maybe I broke the map somehow because there's this large room with no enemies and the exit just out of reach. I thought maybe I needed to find another switch that need the yellow keycard. Finally, I gave up and consulted @dei_eldren's video and found the stupid switch that's hidden away so I could trigger the fight and leave. MightyWhoosh once again bamboozles me with his wacky, sneaky progression. Ooooh, you wiseguy. ;^)

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP18 - The Doomsday Machine (47%K/78%I/80%S):

Well, I had to do a (save-spammed) Reality! run for 5 minutes trying to find out how to progress and how to do it without dying. Layout is TNT-like, but in a bad way, long ass boring corridors, hitscanner hell, big rooms with fights that can be avoidable and narrow rooms with the complete opossite of the previous point. I did not have fun here, and again, the last fight can be (should be) skipped.

(UV Playthrough - PrBoom+)

Order of preference:

Spoiler

 

MAP09
MAP12
MAP10
MAP08

MAP05
MAP11

MAP01
MAP16
MAP17
MAP13
MAP04
MAP06
MAP14
MAP02
MAP15
MAP07
MAP18
MAP03
MAP31

MAP32 (Unrated)

 

 

[MtPain27]

MAP 17: Naive

Another groaner, the best quality of which is its visuals, Naive is another stringent test of ammo management that cripples the non-clairvoyant. If I'd missed the plasma rifle hidden in plain sight behind the big building with the window snipers, I would have had a much worse time here, but even with that and berserk to work with, there simply isn't enough ammo to take out everything in this map without the rocket launcher, which was so hidden I had to consult Ultimate Doom Builder to find it...complete BS, as bad as the most cryptic iwad secret you can think of.

 

I liked the blue key arch-vile ambush, it's nice to feel like I'm playing Doom for once instead of Return to Castle Wolfenstein, pinching rifle rounds, getting swiss-cheesed for sticking my head around the wrong corner at the wrong time, and constantly hovering around 30 health and no armor. The pair of barons, arch-vile, and Mastermind behind cages are all unthreatening to non-100%-ers. I will not be recommending this wad to 100%-ers.

 

 

MAP 18: The Doomsday Machine

Yet another parsimonious, mean-spirited grind, this is probably the worst or second worst non-secret map in the set, immensely unforgiving, cheap, and glum. Sort of like Mill from Evilution, The Doomsday Machine is overlong, revolves around a key hunt, uses 'Infinite' by Tom Mustaine and a lot of metal textures, and caps off on a cyberdemon fight. The four medikits at the start are hard to get back to, but they're your only source of health resupply until the end, unless you find the soul sphere behind the dumb fake wall near the SSG...that's one of two secrets I found, out of five. You will need all the health you can get to weather the teleport traps that assail you on your switch-happy journey to the blue key...arachnos, pain elementals, and hitscanners abound. To reiterate a point I made in my Hell Revealed 2 DoD video, if a map forces the player to find obscure secrets just to have a chance at surviving the map, then that map is garbage. I think the supercharge secret qualifies.

 

The rocket launcher is easier to find here than in MAP 17, but equally critical to getting 100% kills, and I definitely would have bit the dust without that accidental soul sphere find. As for the latter half and final fight, I question the logic of not merely allowing but encouraging the player to skip your level's final showdown. I stuck around, of course, and it turns out this fight is anticlimactic whether or not you choose to engage with it. I just ran out of the room, let the chaff cluster, and rocketed/SSG-ed them all to death. Cyb will deal with most of the peripheral monsters and he's offensively easy to take out by himself. 

 

It's worth noting that I'm breaking my own rule by playing a lot of these maps only once before reviewing, so this month has mostly been first impressions, but in all honesty, almost none of these maps have been enjoyable or interest-piquing enough to merit revisitation. I can see the argument being made that the BS secret placements and confusing layouts wouldn't be as bad the second time around, but first impressions are very important, and KINDa doesn't excel at first impressions.

[Veinen]

Falling behind so I'll do secret maps later/sometime else.

 

Map16: Patino video

 

I really liked this one, especially on repeated playthroughs and for the max run. A bunch of people have mentioned that you can do a bit of a jump from the Soulsphere to the exit switch to skip half the map but actually you don't even need to wait for that long as you can jump onto the PG secret from the opening lift, which then in turn lowers the lift to the sidewalk and said switch. This completely changes the map from a maxing perspective; you get the PG early and unleash the delicious carnage in the courtyard right away so that when you're done with the side quests it's nothing but a clean up operation at that point. The only slight problem is that you'll get infinitely tall'd when grabbing Soulsphere, but just pushing long enough will get you down eventually and this maneuver is pretty much perfect in terms of getting shit to infight. Depending on how much hurt you take when pushing through the fodder the rest of the map is either easy or very easy, in my case here it was very easy since I got out of there practically unopposed by some miracle. Cleaning up the courtyard is quickly done with the leftover rockets too so the ammo balance here is just about perfect for a really good time. So yeah, one of my favorites thus far for sure, up there with map08 in terms of pace and action.

[cannonball]

MAP18 - “Doomsday Machine”

 

There were a few points yet again where I had less than 20% health and no ammo. This makes theblue key hunt very tiring in terms of defeating the traps, I will say th archvile was a surprise and reasonably placed, The barons less so yet again. The red key can really do one though, a deliberate attempt to tease ammo starved travelers into a position where they are essentially check-mated. This doubled by the rocket launcher secret just sitting right there....

Ironically when you go through the red key door the map essentially ends as a challenge due to the fact that the remaining fights are either easy to rush past or easy to cheese. My goodness I am glad that I spotted the switch for the BFG though.

The map looks okay and I have no issues with the blue key puzzle in a sense that the map is small enough to not get too lost, however again the gameplay really isn't there and ranges from pretty brutal to fairly easy given some flawed design philosophy where ammo/health starvation is in one hand and arena fights with readily available escape routes on the other. Another miss for me, though at least I managed to just about kill everything here, the spiders in the red key can live forever more with just the sound of their metallic limbs for company....

[dei_eldren]

KINDa - MAP19 Calculator (HNTR, blind, continuous w/ saves): K 102% (129/126), I 97% (39/40), S 60% (3/5), T 54:57

 

Spoiler

Super-complex techbase, and apart from the numbers on the floor, the title (once after playing i discovered it) really made me imagine the map in its final form resembling the complex circuitry board of one.  The combat was predominantly hitscanner-heavy, but not entirely dependent on it, as apart from them, four wonderful Arch-Viles were in the building, but at least Cacodemons were also present in small numbers, i can't really remember others.

 

Section 1 had extremely devious progression with quasi-hidden passageways, the one leading finally to the area whence the BK could be made accessible taking me a while to find by looking around and analyzing the map.  Since then, progression was straightforward, going through the numbered sections in order (after first run i am not entirely sure what each of them effected - section 2 at least yielded the computer area map, a much-needed device here), but the semi-darkness and the hitscanners were often an extreme threat, and the interesting choice of the main wall-texture being black tiles certainly did its part.  Section 4 on the other hand was connected to the western wing of Section 1.  In the connecting room there was a shootable switch, whose function i could not decipher.

 

Behind the BK door, which i took last, i think, there was a switch marked exit, which launched a vicious ambush of about 382 enemies, with an Arch-Vile leading the group.  i got through it with the BFG, just like one of the earlier darlings also (the total AV count on HNTR is probably five).  The last of them was the lone guardian of the exit-area.

 

 

After the fact, there was still a few enemies i hadn't encountered, and as i went looking for the secrets, found them in unopened monster closets in Section 3.  As for the secrets, i wasn't able to save the Soul Sphere as is my want for the end of the level, being too much in need of health while engaged with this one.  Also, i couldn't find two of them - i was intrigued throughout the map by two things.  The central structure in the starting room obviously had a secret connected to it, but i could not find out out how to access it - shooting and staring at it, even trying a desperate SR40  jump for it from Section 1.  The other is in Section 1, the tower which had the switch for the BK - i'm almost convinced the other secret i did not find is connected to it.  And of course the shootable switch mentioned above has something to do with one of them - no, apparently i had shot it accidentally and it had opened up the teleport to yield the Soul Sphere.  Anyway, i even went back to try again after recording the video, but to no avail, except collecting little ammo and getting my health to 100% for next map. 

 

One of the best maps for me, no question about it - i thoroughly enjoyed the sometimes confounding journey of exploration through this level.  As small criticism i must say that darkness/semi-darkness is starting to be overused and while i have nothing against it, used too frequently at least for me it gets straining.  The difficulty is steadily ramping up, map by map, and also the challenge of the secrets seems to be increasing - the two i missed here still haunt me. 

 

Oh, plenty of hidden health in the hub-room :D  i wish i hadn't taken the hidden Soul Sphere 'til the end.  Damn it!

 

 

 

HNTR pt2 - from BK onwards:

Spoiler

 

 

Kind of Top Ten:

Spoiler

MAP10 - Mud and Blood

MAP08 - Deux

MAP12 - Monster Monopoly

MAP09 - Death Delivery

MAP05 - Leak

MAP19 - Calculator

MAP17 - Naive

MAP15 - Blackout

MAP16 - Patino

MAP06 - Cement

MAP04 - Treehouse

MAP07 - the UAC Project

MAP02 - Hell's Cavity

MAP01 - Go

MAP18 - Doomsday Machine

MAP13 - Blast

MAP14 - Death's Dwelling

MAP11 - Her Keep

MAP03 - Toxic

MAP31 - Hell's Party

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by dei_eldren
stats corrected

[Book Lord]

MAP 19 – Calculator

Doomsday Engine, UV-fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Looking at Calculator in Doom Builder was more interesting than roaming and fighting in its reticular layout. The new location to explore was a sleek, black computer central built on a 64x64 grid, respecting the predominant texture module BLAKWAL1. Height variation was the only difference with a Wolfenstein3D level, and I must say that it brought both pleasure and pain. The presence of hitscanners was taken for granted at this stage of Kinda, but some truly unnerving placement occurred here.

 

Pistol starters need to check the wall behind them before jumping down, or they will lose the SSG for the rest of the level, which is bad since the first enemy will likely be an Arch-Vile. The progression was not puzzling as in previous maps; only the BSK was needed for the exit, and reaching it required only a single switch to be pressed. However, the author did his best to confuse the player and make the level last longer, by placing the numbers 1-2-3-4 at the entrance of each section branching out from the central hub.

Spoiler

A blind player would naturally follow the numerical order, but this was not advisable since sector no.1 was quite hard and nothing came of it, except the awareness of the unreachable BSK in a room stuffed with awkwardly placed monsters, where camping the entrance was not an option. I tried to storm inside with less than plasma weapons and I was massacred by a ring of hitscanners, under the sadistic gaze of an Arch-Vile. This was the first occasion where I had to pull out the BFG in Kinda. A deadly trapped ammo room was the reward for pressing on in that direction, whilst the opposite stretch ended on a green armour, after exposing me to many bullets from invisible snipers. This section was truly bothersome.

Spoiler

Sector 2 contained a crowded room with an army of hitscanners behind a few heavyweights, but the threatening closet ambush ended with only a backpack and another blue door, protecting an optional non-secret storage. Sector 3 offered a useful ammo stash and a plasma gun. The area tied to the advancement, and that should be tackled before sector 1, was sector no.4. A player should not just walk inside that computer room, as there were so many hitscanners to recommend extreme caution. A TNT-esque office chair and computer terminal concealed a not-so-secret teleporter to a Soul Sphere, but the switch crucial for the BSK was not far away. An Arch-Vile appeared to revive some hitscanners I killed before, then the path continued above Sector 1 and led to the difficult room I described before, offering a much easier way to approach it. Everyone was already dead in my run, so I just took the BSK and headed for its door.

Spoiler

I liked the crescendo of intensity in the final section. Still too many former humans for my taste, but there was a remarkable effort to set up the theatre of the last big battle. After a narrow bridge over a ditch, which was not so easy to cross because of the elevated chaingunners and Baron of Hell to the other side, I found a suspicious exit door with a switch. Kinda exits are not made that way, so that was a trap opening the real exit but at the same time releasing a huge number of zombies and an Arch-Vile between scattered corpses. I hid inside the fake exit and killed the AV from there, using the door as a shield, then I eliminated the infighting survivors. Another Arch-Vile, the seventh on this map, wanted to play near the exit, but you can blow him a raspberry and leave, if so inclined. Calculator could have been a nice computer station map, if its graphic theme were a little more varied and the use of hitscanners in annoying positions were a bit more judicious and restrained.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/Blind/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 17 - NAIVE 

100% kills and 50% secrets

Time: 18:01

 

I'm thinking I had a better time with this one than most of the others. As a continuous player, I wasn't worried at all about ammo management in this one. The maps are getting bigger, which I like. There's more to do and to explore! Map layout isn't too bad, and I didn't get confused while navigating it. I'm actually happy I couldn't figure out how to get the rocket secret, cause that shows TMW is willing to make the secrets actually hard to figure out, not just normal progression! Visuals are kinda bland. Difficulty isn't too bad, though the blue key ambush is actually threatening and pretty fun. So, it's a decent level, but I just don't have mush to day about it.

 

Map 18 - THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE

100% kills and 80% secrets

Time: 18:24

 

This is another one that I feel I enjoyed more than others. This one actually felt like a challenge, though I didn't really have any health scares throughout, thanks to the hidden soul sphere I found. This does remind me a bit of TNT in texture use and design a bit, but it still feels different enough. I happened to take the right path while doing the blue key switch hunt and hit the final one right in front of the key's location. I liked how each switch pulled an ambush on the player, which definitely kept me on my toes. The red key room's ceiling was really cool, but the fight is just 4 arachnotrons so it's not a big deal since there's a lot of cover. There's a switch up the stairs nearby that I don't know what it did, but it led me on a search that lasted a few minutes thinking I had missed something before I remembered I had the red key, so I just went through that door. I don't know how I managed to find the switch for the BFG and backpack, but that was nice. The switch starting the final battle was a little too hidden, and I even went over to that area and looked before watching a vid above. This final fight is where the rest of my soul sphere depleted finally, so to avoid getting ripped apart by hitscan and/or rocketed in the back by the cyb, I just retreated to the opening of this arena and took everything out from there. Fun fight though! Overall, I actually liked this one quite a bit. Fun fights abound, though the progression can be a little confusing again. I did notice a lack of health, but the hidden soul sphere and cautious play should allow you some leeway. 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP18: Doomsday Machine

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 4/5 secrets

 

A crate-filled and grey techbase, which I have to imagine is one of the more spacious maps in the wad, feeling quite large and spread out. It really kicked the crap out of me too, for similar reasons to why other maps in this wad may do so. I do pistol start everything I play more because I like having that sort of "standard" method of enjoying a level in a vacuum than for any challenge-related reason, but this wad does make it feel like more of an extra challenge than anything. I did really need to figure out a route to beat this one, which I won't spew out too many details on, but the most important step was to just run straight to the room with the plasma, backpack, SSG, and soulsphere secret without firing at anything, and then start my progress from there.

 

In true KINDa fashion, the first key is hidden behind a switch hunt, but I found this one more straightforward than most of the switch hunts in this wad and from there it was pretty smooth sailing, so progression was clean for me. The ammo and health squeeze is very much felt in the earlier stages of this map, but once you get the rocket launcher secret a lot of pressure is relieved. When I stumbled into the final fight's arena, I was pretty excited about the large expanse of land that the arena covered, ready for a hell of a slaughter. Indeed there are quite a lot of monsters, but with the ability to go back into the previous area for cover it's not too much of a challenge. The rocket launcher makes mincemeat out of the monsters once they group together, and if you get the secret BFG (which I had to go back for), the cyberdemon falls easily as well. I just distracted him with the revenant behind him and blasted him while his back was turned.

 

Quite a tough one that demanded that I establish a proper route to complete it. It was a decent map overall, but I'm quite curious as to how different the experience would be playing continuously.

Edited October 19, 2021 by DisgruntledPorcupine

[Salt-Man Z]

Took some time off for my birthday and ended up getting sucked into a couple of other WADs, so I'll have to play some catchup the next couple of days...

 

MAP13: Blast (HMP/continuous/saves)

23:38 | 100% Everything

I saw everyone's consternation regarding the yellow key, but didn't understand it. I mean, I found the exit first, then had to go back and hunt for the yellow key, and wonder what was the point? So then I decided to replay the level, and... oh. I too apparently bumped the blue key through the wall. (At the time, I bet I thought I picked it up from the rocket launcher lift.) Given that gaffe, it's... not a terrible level. Can't say I enjoyed all those hitscanners, or lack of radsuits, or obscure key hiding too much. The barrels were fun, though...

 

MAP14: Death's Dwelling

23:14 | 100% Everything

And I enjoyed this one quite a bit, too, until (again) the "where's the key?" shenanigans. In fact, I got (almost) all the way to the end and was dumbfounded to be confronted with a red switch. I mean, surely I'd cleared out the map? Like others, I too more readily noticed the secret that opened at the same time as the teleporter to the red key. I will give some props for the design of that alcove, however: on my initial pass I noticed it was partially open (and GZDoom's map showed a teleporter inside. However, when backtracking I noticed that the wall had closed up entirely; that was my clue that there was a more obvious way in.

Edited October 19, 2021 by Salt-Man Z

[kawadec]

Decided to get in on this, and as a big fan of modern Doom, I wanted to see what happens when the Eternal mod I've been trying was applied.

 

Mods:

  Embers of Armageddon Eternal (a WIP mod as far as I can tell, so jank is expected and accepted)

  EoA DE Monsters

  Autoautosave

  DemonSteele's Nowthatswhaticallmidi music

 

Conditions (subject to change, still trying to get a feel for how things work, given that this mod is still WIP):

  - UV, Continuous, GZDoom;

  - Jumping/climbing is allowed, but will try not to sequence break, unless a challenge is unrealistic given the situation, or something breaks in the map;

  - Saves will be used throughout; ideally only when not in combat, but may be employed further to get through tight situations to see what happens next;

  - Music will be changed whenever I feel like it.
 

Regarding editing, I cut out the various times I had to pause to tweak settings/keybinds and fast-forwarded through the various times I got lost. Left in the numerous times I died as-is.

 

 

Map 1

Ended up with both the CS and HAR out of the gate, which is very much appreciated. For the most part dealt with a lot of zombie and imp-tier foes here, which made for some comfortable practice of the dash movement (which is less DE's dash and more, uh, like if 2D Mario had jets get him to full running speed right away? I may figure out a better way to explain it eventually). But yeah, made for a good start given what weapons were available.

 

Also, one must never forget one detail about the zombies in this mod: they speak for poop.

 

Map 2

Some tight quarters that required more use of the flame belch and grenades. I was concerned that the Makyr Drones would be a pain to take down given my current arsenal, but it seems they retain their headshot weakness, even when I lack the Ballista or HAR's scope for that one-shot satisfaction.

 

Had a moment at 22:50 where I hit a switch and immediately backed up in caution, and saw the platform I backed off from rise up and never come back down. The fact it lifted that slowly and never went back down made me think I soft-locked myself from progression; thankfully that wasn't the case, but why does that specific lift act like that? Oh well, not like it mattered much.

 

Map 3

Lots of bunny hopping through nukage to deal with the lack of radiation suits on hand, which as someone who never really played Quake and only played Dusk a little made for an extra bit of chaos on top of what I normally have to deal with regarding these monsters. The number of times I needed to re-do an encounter started to ramp up here and hit that entertaining spot between "you lost because you didn't use your tools right and/or moved wrongly" and "you lost because three or more Marauders swarmed you at once (no I'm not talking from experience why would you say I am howdareyou-ahem)." I can only hope that since no D64 is going on here we'll be able to avoid the latter's jank, or at least have enough upgrades by then.

 

Map 4

Oh hey, a rocket launcher; very much appreciated. The slappin' upgrades on that will have to wait, but in the meantime the upgrades on the SSG with faster reload and armor-piercing rounds that turn pinkies and drones into mush will certainly act as the turning point on power. Still waiting on that Ballista and Chaingun of course to round out the arsenal, whenever they choose to show up.

 

Regarding the level layout, my impression can be summarized as "Wolf3D/Blake Stone, in my Doom?" It's not something I expected, but certainly appreciate. Even down to the fact I had to take cover around a corner in order to not die in a second.

 

Map 5

That open area as of 1:06:30 was my bane, but in a good way. Was fun to deal with the drones and everything on the outer rims. The "irradiated" rooms with invisible damage floors were a neat bit of design.
 

Also, being able to grab both a quad damage and berserk at the same time is without a doubt overkill, but what other kill does Doomguy have, I suppose?

Edited October 19, 2021 by kawadec

[Biodegradable]

MAP19 - Calculator

UV | Continuous | GZDoom and Vanilla+

 

The way this map handled doors and its repetitive use of black square textures gave it an interesting and ominous feel to it. I felt like I was in that movie Cube with all its trecherous square-shaped traps and whatnot. It's rather hitscanner-heavy at times with Chaingunners showing up at the worst possible moments EVERY GODDAMN TIME! lmao. This is a quirky one and its teeth are a lot sharper. Feels a lot more like the earliest maps, bringing back some of that intensity I've mentioned before. It was also a bit frustrating in some regard, but nothing too terrible. I feel like this is one of those maps that'll be especially polarizing, but I could be wrong. I can safely say that I like what Whoosh was going for here and I respect it.

 

 

[MtPain27]

MAP 19: Calculator

Well, Calculator at least started off on a good foot with its selection of Tom Mustaine's 'Horizon' for a MIDI. Pistol starters will not want to miss the SSG secret behind them right after they teleport into the map: half of the numbered avenues have arch-viles tucked behind them and the rest are clogged with hitscanners. Chaingunners outnumber medikits 30 to 1 in this map (I'm not exaggerating) so once again, use cover whenever possible and don't shoot till you see the yellows of their zombie eyes. I have to thank Whoosh for his lenient distribution of cells, without which this level would have been a nightmare; go for door #3 first to get the plasma rifle and a chaingun. 

 

Probably the most memorable moment for me was the extremely punishing 'exit' that drops an atomic elbow of arch-viles and hitscanners on you. Don't try to flee or you'll run right into more chaingunners and an arachnotron, and the arch-vile will probably zing you on your way out anyway. What I did was hide in the cubby, using the door to block Archie's line of sight and giving him salvos of blue diamonds in between, then I waited for the rest to present themselves single file. I think half the stimpacks in the map live in this room, and I still left with 5% health. The strangest part about this fight was, I didn't even die once. 

 

I should have taken the teleporter in the computer room where the arch-vile was dancing on the control panel: that takes you to the secret soul sphere. Found that one after I already killed everything. *Sigh.*

 

Doomguy dies in darkness.

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP19 - Calculator - dsda-doom - skill 4 pistol start failure then i get mad and switch to skill 1 - rewinds used

 

This was it, my final straw, I finally gave up and switched to skill 1 (for the next few maps at least)

This started well enough. I honestly loved using the rewind feature to tyson an archvile to death.

After that, though, the pain starts. Next to no health, tons of hitscanners often in positions I can't punch.

Even after switching to skill 1 I spent a lot of frustrating time at low health.

Anyway, the map again has an interesting visual theme which I enjoyed despite the considerable anger I was feeling.

 

Spoiler

 

forgot to start recording until later in oops (this is why you see me checking if i'm recording sometimes lol)

 

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by DuckReconMajor

[TheMightyWhoosh]

Watching the videos for ‘Calculator’ has been quite fun and I felt for your frustrations… honest! It’s one of my favourites in the pack so I’m glad it has generally been well received. 

[Doritos420]

4 hours ago, Biodegradable said:

I felt like I was in that movie Cube with all its trecherous square-shaped traps and whatnot.

 

Very underrated movie. 

 

Map19 - Calculator

Really enjoyed this one. Again very deadly, especially pistol starting. I had to figure out a good route by trial and error. Seems like the least difficult was actually attacking module #3 to start with and then expanding out from there. I imagine if I didn’t find the early super shotgun secret the beginning would have been much more difficult to conquer. Some parts felt a bit like a watered down Doomsday machine with the dark tunnels but I enjoyed it all the same. Lots of archviles in this one to keep me on my toes. The addition of the automap in this level made finding secrets relatively easy.

[FragsBunny]

MAP19: Calculator (100%/10%/80%)

1.       Revenant may teleport away if in danger

2.       Respawned enemies receive a random card enchantment

3.       Hell knight have a regenerating shield

 

I am not too fond of maps focused primarily on a single texture, but for this map I’ll make an exception, I guess. Calculator proves to be another increase of difficulty, especially for me, cause in addition to multitude of hitscanners waiting in ambushes, there were several arch-viles lurking around. Two of those bastards were hiding on top of elevators, making it very difficult for me to dodge their blasts.

 

I once got my health down to 5%, but I was lucky enough to find a secret soul sphere shortly after, followed by mega-armor. The few stimpacks were hidden by map author in six cubicles located at the center of the map and I only found them later.  The usual maze-like layout persists in this map, but this time you need to think in three dimensions if you want to find your way out, especially when it comes down to finding a way to that blue key. I’m not even sure which switch caused the ramp leading to key to be raised! Although I found 4 out of 5 secrets, upon picking up the computer map I quickly deduced how the final secret was missing - I was supposed to grab it at the beginning.

 

Like I mentioned before, I keep running into shotgun and chaingun zombies on every corner. I guess Whoosh was indeed a fan of valkiriforce’s Doom Core... The final ambush at the exit switch made me to suddenly switch to BFG again. When you press the switch, you are immediately cornered by multiple chaingunners and an arch-vile! The only thing that saved me from another blast was the cubicle’s door which luckily closed off by itself at the critical moment. I guess Whoosh wanted us to hide in that switch cubicle? Yet another arch-vile attempted to blindside me near the exit teleporter. I killed him with one leg near the teleporter. Arch-viles and chaingunners… probably the worst combination I have ever seen in this mapset, but I'm glad that I survived this time, at 48% health with 102% megarmor.

Edited October 19, 2021 by FragsBunny

[Veinen]

Map31 was pretty quick work after all so here's that.

 

Map31: Hell's Party video

 

An extremely simple map; two arenas, of which the first one is very much timed and the second one initially timed but there is some variance in how long the cleanup takes at least. The trivial solution to the first arena, and the map really, is to not make any noise, in which case your only task is to stay away from the single Sarge for about three minutes since nothing else teleports in. This way you'll be leaving the first "battle" with full health which makes the second battle very easy as well. You can even wake everything up on your way through the blue door for max kills; they're typically too slow to get to the door so it closes which creates a huge traffic jam to mow down with the RL later. This wouldn't be very exciting to watch though and fortunately it's also slower to do, so if you're going for speed then doing the first arena as intended is the way to go. The AV at the end is obviously a bit of a dick move since there's virtually no cover but if you just manage the last wave in such a way that one Arach is left alive it's extremely easy to distract the AV and get a relatively easy kill. The second arena is just as simple, just get the SM and the Cacos to infight and you're good to go. Sometimes the Mastermind is reluctant to fire which can be problematic for speed and the length of cleanup depends on how effectively the infights happen. In the demo she killed quite a few Cacos but took little damage herself it seemed, so it was down to the last few rockets (and scraps of health...) when she finally went down. Initially I though the map would suck to do but I didn't mind this in the end, perhaps not great but a serviceable secret map. The first arena looks pretty neat too and the ominous looking skybox fits great.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP19 - Calculator (100%K/92%I/40%S):

This map feels like made by the same guy that made Habitat, for some reason, not because of the uglyness, but because of how weird the map is and how it plays. It feels surreal, the "calculator theme", is something I don't get, there are 4 numbers, but where are the rest? I don't know. This map should get a price for how convoluted or random it is in terms of progression. I'm just wandering around, doing things, killing monsters. Arch-viles are abundant here, and talking about them, the last one is something you can totally skip, as it is at the exit pad, and he randomly teleports to your back. Why would this guy matter? You can just exit the map and ignore him.

(UV Playthrough - PrBoom+)

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP09
MAP12
MAP10
MAP08

MAP05
MAP11

MAP01
MAP16
MAP17
MAP13
MAP04
MAP06
MAP14
MAP19
MAP02
MAP15
MAP07
MAP18
MAP03
MAP31

MAP32 (Unrated)

 

 

[FistMarine]

Hey everyone! I'm back! I know I'm late as usual and can't seem to keep up with everyone else. I guess from now on I will just continue participating on the second half of the month or something.
I did actually play the first 3 maps at beginning of the month but then got bored and lost interest in the megawad and recently continued from where I was and hope to finish it before the end of the month.
I will be playing around 5-7 maps daily and until the next week, I should catch up with both playing and reading people's posts. Let's hope things won't be as crazy difficult this time around!

 

Crispy Doom 5.10.3 - UV continuous (100% everything) with saves

KINDa.wad dated 28/07/2021

 

MAP01: Go
An interesting opener that seems a bit different than usual Doom 2 megawads. For one thing, you are given a blue armor towards end of the level (without any green armor present). And another thing is that the ammo is a bit scarce and there have been one or more revenants and knights being used. The fact they got used in first level, made me a bit concerned about the megawad's difficulty but thankfully it was no problem dealing with them. I just had to be careful with my ammo because I ran out of ammo once and had to grab some ammo dropped by zombies, just to finish the revenant/knight off.
Also since health was a bit scarce and armor wasn't given until end of level, I had to do my usual slower approach. I also like the fact that each level ends with a similar looking teleporter, it's a bit similar to the previous month's chosen megawad, Skulltiverse, except this time it's not the exact SAME teleporter that is used in the whole wad, it's a different one, but still the concept is similar and had to point that out.
There is a single secret to be found, which gives you 4 shells and 3 armor bonuses. Kinda (heh) a weak secret and I would have preferred if instead, the blue armor was located inside this secret place (while a green armor was given earlier in the level normally).
Overall, not a bad level. And I appreciate the fact that the blue armor (as well as soulsphere and megasphere) appears commonly throughout the megawad. It can be a lifesaver at times.

 

MAP02: Hell's Cavity
Another interesting level and thankfully not too difficult. The two arachnotrons at start can be killed with shotgun early (on a continuous run at least), just stand on edge and the shotgun autoaim should do the job for you. I didn't try dropping down to risk it.
I don't have much to say about this one, it was fine.
There's two secrets to find. One is a backpack (shoot the Baphomet texture where the arrow points towards and the secret is revealed behind you) and after you go through yellow door, press on the wall to reveal a BLUE ARMOR! Towards the end of level, you are also given a soulsphere and I sincerely advice you (if playing continuous), to grab BOTH the SoulSphere and BlueArmor at end of level, so you start the next one with 200% health and armor as you will NEED them!
Oh and there's also two chaingunners easy to miss in the water area at beginning, I only found them when I finished the level, after I looked for those two missing enemies and found you can press those switches that temporary reveal two hidden rooms. The rooms contain a few goodies too.

 

MAP03: Toxic
Well, that was a toxic map (pun intended). A map where you have to traverse acid 99% of time. And you are given barely enough radiation suits and very little ammo to work with. It didn't help that I keep getting hit by shotgunners in back or other monsters in some later areas (on a map with scarce supplies, getting unlucky with RNG is the last thing I want to happen) and I even came close to dying at some points (not very close but still, around 20-30% was definitely a dangerous zone), like when the mancubi and arachnotrons showed up, though I managed to make them infight and take out the winner.
And if that wasn't enough, well there is a baron at the very end (that is revealed with the red skull key at same time) that I couldn't kill (since I only had like 10 bullets and 4 shells left) and I didn't want to risk punching him, so I ran to the exit, then quit and wonder about those two secrets. So instead of searching in Crispy and risking multiple deaths until finding the secrets myself, I went ahead and loaded KINDA wad in ZDoom separately to cheat (since I prefer this cheating method with ZDoom's useful features rather than noclipping around in vanilla ports, this is also the only time in the megawad so far where I "cheated", as I found all rest secrets myself) and looked for those two secrets I missed (the blue armor and the rocket launcher). Once I found them, went back to Crispy Doom, load the save, get the secrets and then I was able to kill the baron with rockets and end up with almost full blue armor and something more than just few ammo clips/shells, so that I have something to start the next level with, aside from only having 32% health left (yes I grabbed all medkits in the level).
If I didn't have 200% health and armor from MAP02, I wouldn't have survived in this level. Also glad I killed those two imps at beginning because apparently there is no way to go back to beginning and I wouldn't have wanted to end up missing them.
I almost forgot to tell how to get the two secrets: First, drop down (preferably when you are done with the level and still wear the radiation suit) and shoot the switch through those bars (you should see a far away switch, shoot with pistol), go back and the bridge is raised that leads to the blue armor. Then you will see two green walls. Press on the LEFT wall to reveal a hidden teleporter that will send you to ROCKET LAUNCHER secret. It will greatly help against the baron, which can simply be skipped if you just rush to exit but why would you do that when getting 100% everything is much more fun?
No, I didn't like the map and if there is an update planned, I strongly advice to put at least one more radiation suit AND a few more ammo and health pickups, if the ammo boxes aren't considered, then putting maybe 16 more shells and 40 more bullets scattered throughout the map wouldn't hurt at all. This is coming from someone who plays continuously, gets 100% in every level and is very resourceful, yet I still managed to run low on supplies towards the end. That means there is something wrong with the map, not with the player. Next map please!

 

MAP04: Treehouse
The good news is that the level's opposition isn't too tough and that health is distributed in a fair amount, so I managed to recover my health eventually. The bad news is that there is an archvile present in the level and it must be taken carefully. With the secret rocket launcher from the previous level (oh and the one at start of this level, right behind you, don't forget about that one too!), the only thing you have to worry about is to not shoot too close to a wall or something. I had to think for a bit how I can take out the archie (while I slowly approached the corner and saw waiting for me), due to the space being cramped and the rockets would most likely autoaim into wall or something.
I first switch to SSG, approach, fire a blast, quickly switch to RL while retreating, shoot a rocket and the archie dodges, then wait to come back and fire 3 more rockets until dies. I took a bit of damage from shooting a bit close but thankfully wasn't too close to wall, so damage was minimal. Especially since I was at around 60% health at that time, so I had to be very careful.
Earlier in the level there was also a baron but other than being a walking tank, it's nowhere near as deadly as the archie, so you know what to do in that case.
There is a nice secret megasphere that can be reached from pressing one of the switches (that is repeatable) and it will temporary reveal a secret teleporter nearby. I suggest to save that megasphere for the end of level. The blue armor from the previous level and the health you've got at the moment (hopefully 75% or higher) should be enough to handle the next rooms.
Once you are done with the map, grab the red skull key, activate the red switch and eventually the exit will be revealed. There's a few monsters waiting for you (including two revenants), so carefully take them out and you're pretty much done. Just make sure to get the megasphere before leaving the map if playing continuous (I need to stress this so that people learn how useful is to end a map in best way possible, to have an easier time in the next level).
I think some areas could have been a bit less cramped but otherwise it was a fine map. Much better than the previous map, that's for sure!

 

MAP05: Leak
Damaging floors/rooms are returning! On the bright side, it's only a few radioactive rooms you have to go through and the radiation suits are distributed evenly, I actually ended up with one unused (that I went to grab at end of level anyway, sacrificing a few armor points), so the damage taken should be minimal, considering the rest of the level isn't bad at all, it's mostly zombies and imps that make up for most of enemies, then at end when grabbing the yellow key, there will be a bunch of demons teleporting that can be easily killed with the SSG. And yes I preferred to use the SSG rather than the berserk provided, the melee attacks in vanilla ports aren't very reliable, so I preferred the faster and safer method.
The rest of the map is rather simple. There aren't many threats and those arachnotrons at long range in the open ended room, can be sniped with shotgun/chaingun, I would recommend saving the rockets for the mancubus when he shows up (and especially at later part of map where you fight 3-4 of them). Oh, I missed the opportunity to make the mancubus infight with the arachnotrons, too bad about that. At least I still had plentiful ammo after all, since the author has gotten VERY generous with supplies.
There's four secrets to find: backpack guarded by hell knight (who was also the last enemy in the level for me, as I found this secret at end), a soulsphere revealed near beginning (don't remember what exactly opened it, I guess one of those hidden switches in those radioactive rooms), a teleporter also located near beginning, that leads towards an edge where some monsters were standing earlier (includes a backpack and other goodies) and an automap secret located near the second green armor pickup (after getting through radioactive rooms and hoping over gaps, before leading to lift that leads to 3-4 mancubi fight)
The level also slightly reminded me of one of early levels of Doom Zero, interestingly enough. BTW in one of screenshots I took, I noticed one of those corpse decorations remained stuck in the ground, I guess it was supposed to show up when the Mancubus got revealed or something.

 

MAP06: Cement
While playing the map, I didn't even realize there was a softlock until I read the posts on the thread (after I got stuck on MAP07 instead because I missed a switch) and then made me glad I collected the red key before I realized I could get softlocked. Maybe I got very lucky? I certainly wouldn't have wanted to get softlocked, though usually I have about 3 saves on same level that I often rotate, so even if I got softlocked in one save, surely I would have a backup save, right?
The rest of the map isn't too difficult, there aren't many encounters that were dangerous, I only remember an archvile (along with the cacodemon) that appeared when grabbing two keys and the nearby plasma secret should be great help to take them out. There IS however, a Cyberdemon right at end (possibly hinted by the presence of invulnerability sphere earlier and those bunch of boxes before pressing the switch). I managed to save the invulnerability for the end (because I KNEW at least one of the 5 remaining enemies were something), although I admit I saved before grabbing it and reloaded twice when the effect wore off before I found any enemy (like happened to Book Lord), since I ran into two different empty places and saw no enemy in sight. Since I refuse to waste an invulnerability like that, I just reloaded until the third time when I ran into the cyber while invulnerable, then rush and try to plasma him to death in my 20 or so remaining invulnerable seconds and then quickly run on ground level when invulnerability expires. I used most of my plasma ammo and switched to rockets to finish him off while standing on the ground level safely, that way I never got hit by any rockets thankfully. And then it was all about finding the last 4 imps hidden inside one of secret places which guarded a blue armor (an armor that I didn't even need, since the health/armor bonuses in the map were enough to repair the few damage I took overall).
5 secrets to find: In the courtyard with red key and archvile trap, look for a small switch covered behind brick wall, press it to unlock nearby Plasma rifle and yellow key (not sure if they each count as different secrets or the second secret is the yellow door room containing goodies), invulnerability (jump from where the baron was present, to reach the platform), a small sector in the brown cave that unlocks the next secret secret with 4 imps and blue armor and some health bonuses!

 

MAP07: The UAC Project
As mentioned above, it took me a while to find the last switch (behind one of elevators) that lowered the yellow skull key to progress into the map's final battle!
Before we get to this part, let's talk about the rest level. There were only 53 enemies present...on UV skill! I'm fairly sure I chose UV skill because I got surprised that the maps have such a low count, even the original Doom 2 maps had far more monsters included on the UV skill, so I asked myself while playing whether I'm actually playing on UV skill or did the skill change during game or what?
With that said, the map was still easy and aside from running into a non-homing rev rocket (that did 70 damage) relatively early, I didn't take much damage in the level. I got the blue armor before I entered the final area (since I thought there is no way to backtrack once I get to that teleporter, there might have been a teleporter revealed at very end) and the only damage I took was a bit from my own rockets when killing one of arachnotrons.
Oh yeah speaking of which, the last part is a remake of MAP07: Dead Simple from original Doom 2, though much easier. I think the enemy count (4 mancubi and 4 arachnotrons) is comparable to Doom 2 MAP07 on HMP skill I believe, while on UV skill there were far more present (like 6-8 each or so). So while I may have found a bit disappointing (I always expect some tricky battles happening), the fights still went well and I'm fine with that. I guess I just got very lucky, so I ended up with nearly 200% health and armor for the next level.
The only secret available is a chaingun and box of bullets at the start of the map, look at a different/misaligned textured wall.

 

MAP08: Deux
Funnily enough, I also thought the map's title represents the fact that the action takes place on two different places. You also get the chainsaw here for the first time, as already pointed out by other people. I wonder why wasn't the chainsaw given earlier, not that I would have used much but still. At least I'm glad to have almost the whole arsenal.
The rest of fights aren't anything difficult, the only annoying thing was some cacodemons got far away (after shooting them with SSG) that I had to wait or finish them off with chaingun sniping. Not really a problem with map, just pointed it out for fun.
I liked the imp ambush at end, they can be easily taken out with rockets and/or SSG. I expected once again something bigger to show up and instead we got just imps. Not complaining, it was fine but I guess after all these years, I got used to many nasty traps, so it's quite a surprise that the megawad feels so easy at times, on a continuous run at least.
Secret to find (at the second part of map): A SoulSphere.

 

MAP09: Death Delivery
This map reminded me a bit of TNT MAP09 (since there were a fair amount of hitscanners, though note I haven't played TNT in like 8 years), except it was MUCH easier. 10 times easier. Only 99 monsters in total and half of the level population were simply killed by carefully sniping them off with the chaingun, such as the ones that showed at the windows. Because the bullet still managed to hit them in the head, thanks to autoaim! This allowed me to easily deal with them, especially those hiding around the corners or just waiting for me to step into the room (I always check the corners when I enter into a new room). Not that the map was difficult but still, it's appreciated as it made things easier later. Still I don't recall anything dangerous, maybe some pain elementals that can try ambushing you at some points, although they can be taken in 2-3 SSG blasts and taking cover so they don't see you (thus preventing unwanted additional lost souls). Funnily enough, one of them got crushed by the yellow door while it closed during the elemental's death animation (which is a very rare thing to happen), good thing there was no archvile in this map, I can't imagine what would have happened if we got a ghost elemental...
Once you reach the end of map, you get to fight two barons and a hell knight! Use your rocket launcher to quickly finish them off and then you can exit the map!
5 secrets again (found everything except the light amp which took me a bit to find when I was done with the map):
-at start, there is a SSG on crate. Press the switch, go to where backpack was, then when crate/lift raises, strafe into SSG crate.
-also at start, press on misaligned wall, detonate the barrels and you will get to a BLUE ARMOR
-after you get red key, strafe into the crate that has two boxes of bullets
-when going towards blue key room, eventually you will hear a lift lowering/raising. go back and you will find something lowered, then you will get into a secret teleporter that sends you to where 3 zombies were earlier and a light amp
-near end of map, when pressing the switch that unlocks exit, look for a misaligned wall, press it then you will find a teleporter that sends you to a SOULSPHERE

 

MAP10: Blood and Mud
Time for a hot start! You are surrounded by a couple of imps and two demons coming towards you. What you do? Use your super shotgun of course! That's if you play on continuous, as otherwise you have to make a run for either of the two shotguns (though the SSG is guarded by a few imps and a baron), so be careful what you do.
The rest of the map isn't too difficult and while it features damaging sections where you have to use radiation suits wisely, it is nowhere near as bad as MAP03. I mean seriously, this map is nowhere near as bad. And the lava doesn't do much damage either if you are caught with the radsuit expired. What you have to take into account are those crushers, which I admit I got caught once but thankfully I survived, it's just the mistake was kinda (heh) costly. The health was repaired by the soulsphere that was sitting in the lava in the next few rooms but the blue armor at end of level was eventually replaced by the green one. Why? Because I ended up with 93% armor at end of level and unfortunately this means I had to replace the armor which is one of my rules when I play Doom. RIP Blue Armor. Note that I don't often replace blue armor with green (especially not when I still have a decent amount of blue armor left) but since I was finishing the map, I made an exception, just to have a fresh new armor for the next level.
As for secrets, there is a single berserk secret that can be easily gotten by checking the nearby room, press on one of those two green walls that reveals a switch, press it and that sector that holds the berserk will lower.
Overall, this level wasn't as hellish as I thought it will be. I also thought we arrived into the next episode but then the next level went back to the previous levels' themes? I was hoping that the next couple of maps will also be hellish themed. Maybe I'm wrong and the hellish theme returns later, I don't know.

 

Deaths so far: 0

 

I will say that the maps so far (with exception of MAP03) were pretty good and definitely exceeded my expectations of this megawad so far. The levels were also fairly easy and enjoyable, the kind of relaxing combat that I enjoy once in a while. And I like the new status bar as well. So the megawad seems pretty promising and let's hope the next maps will continue to deliver and not end up like MAP03 did, hehe. :)

The only odd thing is there is no new main menu logo, I guess it was done so the titlepic doesn't overlap when the main menu is open or something. Maybe there's plans to make a new logo for the megawad in a future update or something. There's also no new demos recorded but I won't complain about this one, again maybe they can be added at a later update.

 

EDIT: A possible typo at MAP06 intermission text. It says "YOU'VE MADE THE KINDA ANGRY", isn't supposed to say THEM? Or is KINDA a person? Either way I expect a longer text, even though I don't really care about stories in games, I expected a bit more than that.

 

Screenshots:

Spoiler

 

Edited October 19, 2021 by FistMarine

[dei_eldren]

KINDa - MAP20 Monster HQ (HNTR, blind, continuous w/ saves): K 100% (159/159), I 90% (33/37), S 80% (4/5), T 45:16

 

Spoiler

The map begins in an empty large pillared hall, with a view to the Spiderdemon and the Cyberdemon facing each other on the courtyard, who for now are both asleep.  After collecting some ammo scattered around, i went first through the door to the north, and cleared the available hallways, but without being able to access the central part as the two doors leading there were not key-coded and would not open.  After some running around and searching, i discovered a sneakily placed keyless switch by two doors near the start, which it'd be easy to assume is related to the doors near by, but instead opened the two doors inside the northern wing.  The combat is hitscanner heavy, of course, but there was also at least Revenants around in this part.  The number of enemies makes sure that health never, at least without the available Megasphere, rises too high, but that death is always a very real possibility.

 

Spoiler

 

After the RK has been obtained from here, it's back to those two doors near the beginning, as there's also a RK switch, which opens up them.  There is also one available radsuit, and behind the doors is a two-sectioned area with a pool of lava.  Both contain a switch, and a surprise Baron to kill, and as long as one doesn't dilly dally the one radsuit is enough.  These switches open up the other building, beyond the courtyard where the bosses, now awakened, are. So it's time to instigate their infighting... on first attempt, i manage to die.  Second goes better, and after waiting a while, the Cyberdemon as usual kills the Mastermind.  i blast the Cybie with several BFG shots, but he's obviously taken much less damage than expected, so not to waste too much plasma, i finished him off the the SSG.

 

The next building is accessed via an elevator, and there's a miniature hitscanner hell waiting, and my at this point miniscule health is not sufficient to carry me through as some hits are unavoidable.  i backtrack to see if i would've left any health behind, and luckily find a room i neglected to visit, harboring the SSG for pistol starters, guarded by a Baron and some Imps.  From 17% my health has now risen to luxurious 43%, and i feel now qualified to tackle any amount of Chaingunners in the other building.

 

Spoiler

It's an interesting one, with some optional YK rooms which can only be accessed when one can already leave the level.  But, most important is the room with the BK, whose floor is filled with lava, which must be crossed to access a switch which raises a ledge leading to the key.  The radsuit trap i obviously didn't see coming, and got crushed twice!  This place also has a small cave system with some occupied underground cells.  There's yet one more outside area, which i think is optional, but which offers goodies and health at the expense of killing a few enemies and finding the easy secret.  Not finding it would leave the hopeful without any yield, however.

 

Spoiler

 

Coming back, there's Pinkies, Imps and a Revenant unleashed on the courtyard.  The BK doors are by now very familiar.  The northeastern one turns out to be optional, apart for gaining 100% kills, as the teleport behind it takes to the same place as a teleport behind the other BK door.  But that one leads to the final YK, and a Megasphere for the way back.  Grabbing the YK doesn't seem to initiate anything at first, but the hallway back is now filled with enemies as many monster closets have opened.  i was by now in good enough shape to save the Megasphere for end of level, and cleared the hallway before grabbing it.  After this, there are left only a few enemies at the exit, the YK rooms in the other building to gather goodies from, and some more secrets to find. 

 

Spoiler

 

Unfortunately by now my HD had ran out of space and the video recording had stopped, but at any rate, the exit room i took care of with the BFG, as there was a nasty combination including a Pain Elemental and a Chaingunner.  The YK rooms are really not to be missed for continuous players, or perhaps on UV before going for the exit?, with quite a bit of goodies and health, especially if one wasn't able to save the Megasphere (from what i've read and seen of previous levels, seems that on UV everything available might be truly necessary.)  The last secret i found was the Mega Armor, but was still missing one.  Going through the map, i did notice a small anomaly but didn't really think it was it, so i did the iddt, and there it was.  Nevermind, as i couldn't pick up a medkit anyway, just like i couldn't pick up the Blue Armor - but that one was really nice to find anyway, and the area had some useful ammo.  And no, the secrets in fact aren't getting harder like i postulated in last review - 

 

Again one of those levels where the progression is easier than average (apart from one's own blindness), as the only trouble i had was at the beginning, and as has been true for many levels now the challenge of the combat continues to increase.  The facility also looks very nice, and as importantly, as it should.  As usual, no frills, but decorated where meaningful and appropriate.  The layout is to my liking - it's not one of the most complex interconnected types on this WAD, but one where non-linearity comes from need to visit places more than once.  Also i appreciate optional areas that reward those who care to go through them.  Oh, and it was nice to play a level for a change that at no point was dark!

 

Seems the next level takes place in hell.  Will have to do my utmost not to provoke the already angry and irritated KINDa.

 

Sadly, t's time for me to drop my HMP run.  For one the levels are getting longer (which isn't a bad thing at all), but also, the challenge of HNTR is starting to be enough and the increase of enemy numbers would not make the experience any better for me - perhaps only more frustrating.

 

PS: In the Cube Calculator, obtaining the blusphere turned out to be easy once i unfixated my mind, but i really have to learn to pay attention when playing - & obviously there was a point to lowering the floor after teleportation :D  Thanks to Fragsbunny.  And come MAP21 i'll do just that!  Pay attention.

 

(The video is missing about ten minutes.)

 

Kind of Top Ten:

Spoiler

MAP10 - Mud and Blood

MAP08 - Deux

MAP12 - Monster Monopoly

MAP09 - Death Delivery

MAP05 - Leak

MAP19 - Calculator

MAP20 - Monster HQ

MAP17 - Naive

MAP15 - Blackout

MAP16 - Patino

MAP06 - Cement

MAP04 - Treehouse

MAP07 - the UAC Project

MAP02 - Hell's Cavity

MAP01 - Go

MAP18 - Doomsday Machine

MAP13 - Blast

MAP14 - Death's Dwelling

MAP11 - Her Keep

MAP03 - Toxic

MAP31 - Hell's Party

 

Edited October 20, 2021 by dei_eldren