Against the Spirits (Redux) - remaster of an old magnum opus [-cl9]

[KeaganDunn]

What awaits you in such organized manner behind those walls?

 

This is a remaster of my largest and most nonlinear map to date, originally from Bloodbath: Hell's Deepest, one of my earliest mapsets. (Soon to be beaten by Dwelling.)

The map is primarily composed of OTEX, contains a new monster to help degrind and/or spice up the combat, and is extremely nonlinear. It was originally somewhat a tribute to and inspired by God Machine, being split into two parts comprised of difficult cramped/slaughter setpieces.

 

You will need to set aside at least 45 minutes to complete this. Difficulties have been implemented and tested, but will likely need more opinions and feedback!

UV - Extremely difficult on all fronts. Requires smart dodging, monster manipulation abilities, adaptation to cramped environments and targeting/avoiding certain enemies in battle.

HMP - Similar to UV in terms of resources, but smooths out the nastier elements of fights. (Archvile boundary control, Cyberdemon/revenant crossfire, etc)
HNTR - Significantly easier than HMP. Resources are plentiful but still balanced so you don't have a million free megaspheres. Many monsters are removed or replaced with fodder. This is aimed for more casual playthroughs or players who are getting started into the difficult/niche genre, while still retaining some form of challenge.

 

PORTS TESTED IN:
DSDA-Doom v0.19+
GZDoom v4.7

 

TECHNICAL INFO:

GAME: DOOM2.WAD
MAPS: 01
SINGLE PLAYER: Designed for
COOPERATIVE 2-4: Yes, but untested.
DEATHMATCH: No
DIFFICULTIES: Yes. HNTR is hopefully balanced for more casual play while still retaining a challenge. UV is difficult on all fronts.

BASE: New from scratch
BUILD TIME: On-and-off streaks in two months

 

Big thanks to the pre-release playtesters: Shiv3r (HNTR) ; @Jimmy (HMP) ; @ginc (UV) ; A Goose (UV) ; Jinxie (UV)

Music may be changed later on. Use IDMUS30 for the MIDI version of the map music!

 

DOWNLOAD: 

MEGA: https://mega.nz/file/Sr4H0J7A#qV-R7SAA6xTgbQyplmOPWQWbdzNRPWR7MtIdvtc6D_E

Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O6JOZsbx24JwSwDVi3Hxn1DSEHp6pngA/view?usp=share_link

 

RELEASE PLAYERS (updated 12/9/22):

- TheLokk

- stxvile

- vrhrlv

- Electro Rage

- Arwel

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by KeaganDunn
Long-overdue update

[Thelokk]

 

Played on HNTR, as I had a little taste of the map before and I knew what was coming :) 

First of all, congratulations of the release! The map is a behemoth. The visuals are top notch: they have all a modern slaughtermap requires, from fleshy bits to monumental stone architecture and neon trims - and crates! No complaints at all in this department. Maybe it's not the most experimental ever, but it hardly needs to be. It knows where it sits, and it does so proudly.

 

Gameplay wise, I signed up for a pleasant but slightly challenging experience, and this is exactly what I got. I went Y/R/B by the way, failed to find even a single secret (lol). I do have a few nitpicks here and there, nothing major really:

- After the red keys, progression to the blue key pair got really confusing, mostly because the elevator that gives access to the first key of the pair (the switch activated one) is a bit too well hidden: it's tiny, tucked on the opposite wall and very easy to miss. Searching for it inflated the completion time a bit, which is still well below the suggested 45 mins (on HNTR ofc).

- Probably playing on HNTR had a part in it, but most fights (including, sadly, the final big arena one) could be circlestrafed to victory with little to no issue. I personally don't have a problem with that but, unless the fights play a bit different on HMP and UV, you're sure to hear complaints from the usual suspects.

- The smaller post-keys fight, the one in the BFG-housing building, can be cheesed oh so easily: peek in, say hi, have everything kill each other, walk in. I even had some help from the faraway cybie, who happily sniped anything that dared leave the house. Friends in high places!

-The big numbers in the final arena fight: I guess they're some kind of wave indicator, but I'm not sold on them. I barely looked at them, they are disruptive and don't mesh at all with the rest of the map's aesthetics. 

- Pre yellow key fight (the one with the animated walls and a lot of yellow everywhere) there is a little square pit, it has an elevator to get out of but, aside from that, I could discern no purpose to it. It's driving me crazy.

- I was left with six very awkward AVs in the final arena's bottomless pit, they just kinda chilled there, they couldn't prevent me from platforming to the exit, and they were just a bother to kill. Don't really see the point to be honest.

- I am a fair bit confused to the God Machine part - no element of the map really reminded me of it. I'd say this one sits more in the Bastion of Chaos /Mapwich lineage.

 

Little issues that maybe took a little bite out of the challenge, but certainly not the fun. Looking foward to Dwelling!

Edited June 28, 2022 by Thelokk

[KeaganDunn]

Hotfix released. Shit ton of textures missing. Thanks SLADE, very cool

[Dusty_Rhodes]

This looks incredible. Great work!

[Jinxie]

Congrats on the release! Was a blast to playtest, hope everyone has fun with it :D

[Arwel]

Amazing map, a lot of fun, top-notch visuals and very well designed fights! If you're also interested in some criticism (played on UV): Sometimes there was an opportunity to leave the area, which made some fights too easy. I also had a feeling that some hard fights start without any health / powerups, so if you're super low hp after previous encounter, you'll have to play overly defensive. That was the case for me with central room for example, maybe berserk / few medkits at the entrance to at least get hp to 100% could motivate me to play more aggressive! Overall, this is exceptionally good map as it is, but some minor adjustments could make it even better! PS: big numbers in the big fight --- I considered them as some kind of wave/phase indicator and it helped me to feel less savescummy when I only allowed myself to save after the number change!

[Electro Rage]

What a map man. For one, this was not as hard as I expected. The last few fights were just about the only hard fights besides the red key, but that could've been easily avoided. All of the fights are really well crafted and enjoyable, and was a blast to play. Like @Vrhrlv said though, you can leave many fights such as the yellow key fight, which makes the early fights way too easy. Past that, I love this map. When this gets released on IDGames, I might max it. I loved fighting Against The Spirits.

[KeaganDunn]

Thanks to decino's new viewer submissions round reminding me, I finally came back and collected the effort and motivation to make a long-overdue update of this.

 

Here's what's new:

- Some bugfixes.

- UV is harder.

 

That is all. :)

 

For now, at least. There might be a few other things to sort out, provided I don't let this beast fade into forgotten oblivion again