The DWmegawad Club plays: Down the Drain

[NiGHTS108]

MAP14: The Perfect Human Cage

Kills: 92%

Items: 33%

Secrets: 16%

Time: 5:35

 

One of the most simply fun Down The Drain maps, The Perfect Human Cage actually doesn't have much to do with The Perfect Gerbil Cage, but for my money they're both pretty damn fun. Again like MAP07, I do enjoy using the Rocket Launcher here, especially against the masses of hitscanners, Arch-Viles and Hell Knights/Barons near the ending. The MIDI makes this one feel more serious than what's come before, as a good chunk of the layout revolves around another long, eerie corridor. There's not much to say here, I guess it just feels like a transition from the last map to the next one.

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: C

 

 

MAP15: Doors Of Opportunities

Kills: 64%

Items: 100%
Secrets: 80%

Time: 9:11

Long road, many turns. Doors Of Opportunities is definitely the point Down The Drain seriously stops fucking around, a delightfully sinister combat puzzle that consistently amazes and puzzles me. There's a certain tension and stress for me in this map that's carried the whole way through, boosted by the MIDI and simple but shockingly clever layout. This entire map feels like a mind game to me, like you're stuck in Benjogami's brain and desperately trying to escape. Doors will open out of nowhere and you'll have the rug pulled under you time and time again, it's a terrifying, incredible and surreal experience. I honestly have trouble writing this review because the loneliness and terror of this map is definitely what carries it for me. I love Doors Of Opportunities, it's a monsterous, horrifying delight of a map I'll never forget.

 

Grade: A+

Difficulty: X-

 

 

MAP31: Down The Drain

Kills: 57%

Items: 46%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 36:01

 

Ho-
Holy fucking shit.
Like, DAMN.
Okay just, listen, to start this review we're gonna try a little thought experiment. Think of your favourite or one of your favourite maps ever made. Think of how mystical/exciting/beautiful/charming it is, whatever. All of that applies to Down The Drain too, but like, in the opposite way... This map is the anti-Misri Halek. This is one of the most anxiety inducing, fucking horrifying experiences I've ever had playing a video game. I wanted to scream at multiple intervals. This map legitimately made me question my sanity over and over and I beat Community Chest in two weeks. I didn't think anything could break me, but this map did. I had trouble processing not only what was real and what was imagination in the map but also whether or not the map itself was a twisted, feverish figment of my imagination. In the second playthrough things calmed down and I was able to watch in silent horror as the simultaneously nonsensical and monotonous gameplay unfolded. However, I love this map. I am obsessed with it. It is such a jarring mess of linedefs that it's truly captivating, and the weirdest thing is that sounds ironic but I think this is also unironically one of my favourite maps of all time. This map is utterly rent free in my brain and it is an utter joy to play, think about, meme and be absolutely baffled by. Above all, I am never bored playing Down The Drain! I am always fully alert and attentive! I adore this map and my obsession with it has only grown with time. We've reached the point of the review I knew was inevitable now where I start contradicting every word I say, I'm not even sure what to write about anymore, uhhhhh the MIDI did nothing but add to this experience, it's extremely fucking annoying listening to this for over an hour, but even half a year after my original playthrough more or less I can still vividly remember the song beat for beat. I guess that describes this map as a whole pretty well. I can't believe I've played this map twice. If I had any sense of reason left in my soul after this experience, I would have just linked my livestream instead of playing it again, but I didn't. Fuck you Doors Of Opportunities, this is the new World Orifice and I couldn't be happier. So at this point you may be wondering about the grade, and yeah, I'm wondering too. As of writing this I still have no clue either. It's boring and thrilling, slotter and strategic, agonising and delightful. A true enigma of an experience. My writing skills simply aren't great enough to convey the pure genius and awfulness of this map, so I'll just say it's everything I could have ever hoped for going into it and more.

 

Grade: C

Difficulty: X

 

 

Edited November 17, 2022 by NiGHTS108

[RHhe82]

MAP17: Passive Social Test Lab. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 161/161 K, 1/1 S, 20/20 I. Completion time 39:14 (yeah, plus reloads).

 

Ugh. Well, I don't know. I guess I have mixed feelings on this one too. The first half of the map was okay, ammo was a bit scarce for my tastes. I don't know if I made it unnecessarily hard on myself, I used berserk a lot, which for me easily becomes a savescummin' affair, and savescummin' affairs equate to dull when it starts to drag on. On the other hand I feel berserking was necessary, because by the end there were only one or two cell packs at the exit left.

 

The second half of the map leaves a sour taste. The individual archies and revs feel like busywork, and the horde of archviles, geez. I used the cheesing method of luring a cyberdemon into the area that took care half of the archviles, the rest I killed myself hiding behind the yelllow key doorbar block. After seven effing cyberdemons. Good thing I found the BFG with the last four left, but even that was a dreary experience, because I'm more ofa five-shotting than two-shotting kind of guy. Which meant I had to take supply runs to the exit, where thank god cell packs were lying around. Without them I would have raqe-quit the level, taken a rage dump, rage-reloaded my save and rage-exited the level with less than 100% kills.

[Azure_Horror]

Everything played with DSDA-doom, pistol start, UV difficulty

 

Map 13 Vet and Process

Other club members had a more positive experience with this one. So I replayed that map a third time. And third time is the charm, as they say!

I too enjoyed the map. I even discovered a way to reduce amount of ghost monsters at the start: rushing to the rocket launcher as fast as possible lures most monsters away from the crusher!

 

Map 14 A Perfect Human Cage

Level 7 was a gerbil cage, now we have a human cage… What awaits us in slot 21, I wonder?

 

Despite some nasty traps and many beefy monsters, I really enjoyed this map! It is unpredictable, non-linear, and it uses Doom1 E1 assets in a cool, novel way. On top of that, the ammo is abundant for once, so the whole ammo conversation thingy does not bother the player here.

 

Wonderful level, one of my favorites in the WAD.

 

Re: Those two secret items on columns. At first, those secrets felt random and cheap, but in hindsight there are hints to them: the door frame to that one room has unusual textures on its sides.

 

Map 15 Doors of Opportunities

All in all, reaching normal exit is not that hard. But... there is always at least one but... The archviles at the start are kinda disgusting! Ugh! Dancing around their triggering linedef is annoying, and free megasphere does not provide enough compensation.

 

Blind playthrough felt luck depended – you never know, what you get. Maybe it is resources, maybe it is monsters. But once you are able to gather a respectable stack of weapons – reaching the normal exit is really easy. The secret exit, however, proved to be too complicated to me. I failed to complete the movement puzzle in time.

 

All in all, this level is not bad, but nothing here had caught my eye.

 

Map 31 Down the Drain

Well, that was an experience... The monster crowds are huge, and the ammo supply is relatively tight. Some situations, like stuck cyberdemons, or rev crowds, felt very frustrating at first. But after the dust has settled, I think that I enjoyed the experience quite a bit.

 

I will write down a more detailed review later, but for now I will note a few things, which I especially liked:

- secret exit hint. One of the best uses for the automap ever! And it is not that easy to see, because the map scale is so grand.

- the teleporters create unusual combat environment. When fighting near teleporters, it is possible to break line of sight almost on a whim, and this creates some unique opportunities for engaging with the fights.

- all in all, the player has a lot of opportunities to tackle each section of the map on the player’s own terms. Luring the monsters away, using doors and teleporters, triggering monsters one by one, going for weapons in a preferred order – having all this opportunities feels very good!

 

Map 32 WW1.Wad

Heh, that’s a clever play on a traditional Super Secret Slaughter Map trope!

Instead of Slaughter Gameplay (tm) WW1.wad gives the player a redux of real life slaughter combat. World War One combat, to be precise.

 

Ok, so, what do we have?

- Succumbing to disease in the dirty trenches? Check!

- Bullets flying everywhere in the open field? Check!

- Dying in the mud of no man’s land? Check!

- Being blasted by a random explosive shell? Check!

 

All in all, the map is pretty small, but very unforgiving and uncaring. The riskiest part of the whole experience is leaving the trenches (realistic!) and being blasted by a stray explosive projectile (also realistic!). Pretty basic doom elements manage to invoke a convincing image of world war 1 trench warfare. And they say that videogames do not count as art...

 

The world war one setting and map 32 slot brings to mind first stage of Beyond (map 32 from Uprising). Of the two locations, ww1.wad is a more brutal and ruthless one. But this is pretty expected, given that World War 1 is less than a quarter of Beyond.

 

I did not try to max this map, but I suspect it is not as hard as maxing Anagnorisis (Eviternity map 32) or or Go 4 it (Plutonia 2). While WW1.wad is brutal, it is also pretty small. And you get a good safe spot near the spiderdemon platform, once the spider dies (cyberdemons can help here).

 

Map 16 Vidhead

My main impression: “Is this a work of Modern Art?” I mean, this map is seemingly incomprehensible, but there is definitely something there. Is this “something“ better than the more traditional approaches? Honestly, I have no idea at all.

 

Pros

- Nukage-filled Computer Room looks absolutely stunning. Those textures were not designed for such large surfaces, but they do look beautiful there, if a bit janky in some spots.

- Nukage and chasms are used extremely well to control the pace and choreography of combat. Arachnotrons? Whatever. Arachnotrons which block an only island in a nukage river? This is surprisingly hardcore. A crowd of imps? Not a big deal! A crowd of imps on a narrow ledge above a chasm? That’s pretty scary!

- Angled door structures in baron basement look very cool. I like non-conventional use of textures.

- All-in-all, every single fight on the map seems to be very well calibrated. No encounter feels like a filler, and no encounter feels grindy.

 

Cons

- Archviles are pests here! They are very annoying in every single set up they are present. That’s because the cover is hard to find, and nasty dead demons are almost guaranteed to be present alongside the viles. The risk of ghost monsters does not help, and the movement of Viles is almost non-restricted. Lots of head-aches!

- The map has ungodly ammount of chip damage from both nukage and hitscanners. Thus, despite many defensive items, it is not easy to face high-damage fights with a good health/armor buffer.

- Proper routing is absolutely essential. I really mean it, when I say ‘essential’. With wrong route, you risk outright dying from unmitigated nukage baths. And Rad-Suits can be counted on one hand.

 

All in all, I am happy that I played this map twice, but I am not eager to replay it more times.

 

Map 17 Passive Social Test Lab

That map was… Quite something… Some parts felt super frustrating, while others were pretty enjoyable.

I need to collect my thoughts before I can say, if I like this map, or not.

I did max the map, however! (with saves, obviously, but still)

BTW, unconventional geometry is a big deal! All fights work differently with unusually angled map...

 

Maps in order of preference:

Spoiler

Map 14   The Perfect Human Cage.

Map 03   Private Island.

Map 01   From: Unknown.

Map 31   Down the Drain

Map 02   Someone's Castle.

Map 06   Baloney Town.

Map 11   Cache Raiders

Map 32   ww1.wad

Map 07   The Perfect Gerbil Cage.

Map 05   Rolling Down.

Map 04   Kick the Can.

Map 13   Vet and process

Map 09   Forts and Alleys

Map 16   Vidhead

Map 08   Deep Tech

Map 12   Into the Tomb

Map 15   Doors of Opportunities

 

Undecided so far

Map 17   Passive Social Test Lab

 

Maps I sincerely dislike (in order of preference too)

Map 10   Here n There, Now n Then

Edited November 18, 2022 by Azure_Horror
Formatting

[brick]

MAP16 - “Vidhead”
I don't know if I'm starting to tire of the "intentionally bad" gimmick, I didn't have as much fun with it as I had early ones. Lots of damaging floors, but there are several radsuits to alleviate the pain. The little bit of footwork in the NW part with the "fingers" was fun. I thought I was being clever by pre-emptively getting rid of the archvile through the bars, once I figured out how the progression works, but I was in for a rude surprise after activating all 3 switches. As usual Benjogami very thoughtfully provides lots of health for HNTR, which makes the big setpiece frantically fun but not frustrating. I think I still like the map overall, but I can see why it seems a bit polarizing.

 

MAP17 - “Passive Social Test Lab”
I think names for maps 17 and 18 are inverted in the txt.
This one I really enjoyed in parts and less so in others. Firing the first shot wakes up a lot of enemies (not all though), who then start prowling looking for you. There's a nice sense of scale with the long halls and high ceilings, and it works well with the previous point when you see awake enemies from afar. The red key involves a couple of timed lifts and not much else. The blue key triggers an entertaining small ambush. I'm not sure what's up with the horde of caged archviles, they're pushovers to take out since they can't go after you and there's plenty of cover nearby. The ones by the exit are much more dangerous, and that one was a fun melee. The skull switches were unexciting, I pushed them one at a time, killed the revenant/archvile they uncover one at a time, then was at a complete loss where to go next. I found out later you only need to press one to get the yellow key, but I don't think there's any way to guess short of running back and forth to know this, and that would be extremely tedious and boring. Thanks to the HNTR invulnerabilities I actually killed all the cyberdemons, if not for them I think I would've just made a run for the key and then GTFO. Falling into the exit pit was surprising, I didn't expect it to be this deep.

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP16: Vidhead

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 6/6 secrets

 

Back to our techbases now. Computer panel and machinery textures are heavily used here in this confusing slimebase. The main slime areas definitely go for some intentional camp, they're very tall rooms with very repetitive computer panel texturing and bright lighting. Looks quite silly, as I'm sure is intended. The midi is a song I love, Heresy by NIN. It suits the map well.

 

This one is quite a doozy to play. The progression is a little strange, with you having to hit 3 switches in order to open up the starting room and make the exit accessible. All 3 of the switches will have you venture through some slime, and you'll almost surely be taking some damage as the radsuits are few and somewhat awkwardly placed. The way to the blue key, which is required to finally exit, is probably more hidden than any of the level's 6 secrets. Combatwise, this level can be pretty nasty with its archvile usage. The archvile and revenants unleashed in that lift from the starting room can be very awkward to take care of safely, the final archviles released at the end can cause a lot of trouble, and probably the most troublesome archviles are in the blue key area, keeping a chaingun firing squad alive until you go for the switch and reveal them, in which case they are still awkward to take care of. You get a BFG in this map, but you'll want to be careful with your usage as you don't get many cells. I save one blast for the imps and hell knights on the ledge in the giant slimey computer room, and use the rest for the closing archies.

 

Honestly not too sure how I feel about this one. It's pretty mean, and not sure if it's mean in a way I find particularly enjoyable. Progression is a bit strange too.

 

 

[Book Lord]

MAP 18 – Slime Activation Facility

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Slime Activation Facility won the prize for the shortest level of Down the Drain. With only 50 monsters on UV, for the most part Imps and former humans, it was not intended as a challenge. Like MAP12, its duty was to mark a thematic transition to the next level and to pave the way to widespread use of damaging slime, if what we have seen so far were not enough. Unlike MAP16, the passage over hazardous floor was presented clearly, and Radiation Suits were adequate and easy to spot.

Spoiler

I liked the first teleport ambush that unleashed Lost Souls and Imps behind the player; it was frantic and short. The rest of the map was much less exciting, consisting exclusively of shotgun/SSG action against enemies on ledges or swimming in the acid. The damaging floor could be left only for a short time, so taking note of the Radsuits and the health pickups was essential. The linear progression brought me to the northern waste tunnels, shaped as a ring and featuring a boring and symmetric assortment of deaf monsters to kill. The BK was eventually revealed along with two Cyberdemons; Benjogami wanted me to fight them with the SSG in limited space, and with the Radiation Suit as a timer. Since the door was not sealed, I bid farewell to the bosses and ran for the exit room, diving into a sea of acid slime. The info TXT file erroneously swapped names between MAP17 and MAP18 but judging from the first glimpse of MAP19 this was the right slot for Slime Activation Facility. It was ok as a filler and to introduce the next map, it was visually decent even though the automap categorised it under non-standard drawn levels à la Skinny Puppy (Requiem MAP19).

[Roofi]

Map 18 - Slime Activation Facility

 

Spoiler

 

Slime Activation Facility was far from being as controversial than the previous levels , even if mandatory damaging floors still dominate the land and the weak weaponry doesn't help to get rid the toughest monsters with ease.

 

That level didn't left me a great impression overall but I'm happy you can skip most of the fights with ease. I get a kick out of seeing the two cybers get crushed by the giant crusher but I decided to abandon them and run towards the exit. As Book Lord said, this level deserves the prize of the shortest level in the whole set (and I honestly I'm happy it didn't last longer).

 

I like the transition to the next map : an ocean of slime leading to the bottomless darkness, and the metal remix of "the music I heared a lot of time but I absolutely don't know the name" kinda rocks. (And the guy drawn on the automap looks funny !)

 

I think I still have a preference for the previous maps though.

 

Grade : B-

 

 

 

 

[Azure_Horror]

Map 18 Slime Activation Facility

DSDA-doom, pistol start, UV difficulty

 

During my first playrthrough, I noticed the ever-abundant nukage and the cyberdemons, and assumed that the map would combine most terrifying parts of maps 16 and 17. Luckily, it was not the case. In fact, Slime Activation Facility provides a much-needed break after maps 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17.

 

The Facility has only a few fights and only one major one. And, for once, this fight is not super deadly. While the opposition includes archviles and cyberdemons, the encounter is much less brutal than the similar battles from previous maps. All thanks to a helpful crusher! For once, crusher is not a minor gimmick, but the main weapon instead!

 

Aesthetically, this is the most "conventionally beautiful" map so far. The textures are well aligned, and the geometry is not overloaded with sharp corners, or sudden height variations, unlike many previous maps of Down the Drain. In total, the map mostly looks like a normal techbase, with only minor weird elements. Minimap is another story, howeverer :^).

 

In total, this map reminded me about Maps 01 and 02 of WormWood EU. It is a brief level with short, but memorable combat, and interesting aesthetics. Its purpose is to set up the more grandiose things ahead.

 

Oh, and  one last thing: the nukage ocean in the end was a real sight to behold! The huge Nukage-filled abyss looks breathtaking, despite using some of the most basic mapping tricks.

 

Maps in the order of preference

Spoiler

Map 14   The Perfect Human Cage.

Map 03   Private Island.

Map 01   From: Unknown.

Map 31   Down the Drain.

Map 02   Someone's Castle.

Map 06   Baloney Town.

Map 11   Cache Raiders.

Map 32   ww1.wad.

Map 07   The Perfect Gerbil Cage.

Map 18   Slime Activation Facility.

Map 05   Rolling Down.

Map 04   Kick the Can.

Map 13   Vet and process.

Map 09   Forts and Alleys

Map 16   Vidhead.

Map 08   Deep Tech.

Map 12   Into the Tomb.

Map 15   Doors of Opportunities

 

Undecided so far

Map 17   Passive Social Test Lab

 

Maps I sincerely dislike (in order of preference too)

Map 10   Here n There, Now n Then

 

Edited November 18, 2022 by Azure_Horror

[General Roasterock]

Map 31: Down the Drain

 

  Pain.

  Unmanageable, unrelenting, unfiltered pain.

  I can’t think of a Doom map that makes me feel worse than Down the Drain. Straight from the first room, it sends a message, past the first door, it starts a trend, and beyond the first teleporter, it drives the first nail in the coffin of your entire next three or four hours. The Down the Drain experience is miserable, from the nearly optimized minimalism used to get the point across, to the MIDI that seems masterfully selected to surprise in its quality on the first loop, and wrench out insanity from the player by the twentieth.

  I’m done making excuses for the visuals, Down the Drain Map 31: Down the Drain (a title I have to use to distinguish between the WAD and the map, thanks a lot) is downright lazy. This entire setup could be made by any individual in an hour, far less if you’re good with the shortcuts. The stellar lighting of the WAD is completely gone, nearly every sector, save the teleport triangles, is one light level, which further drapes monotony over the fact that each room and its adjacents are made up entirely of a singular texture. The ceiling are differently textured, but they’re raised so high up that they might as well not exist. 

  At the risk of stating the obvious, the map relies on blind devotion to the grind, providing you the bare minimum to handle the horde of a singular monster species in a 3x3 grid. It’s possible to receive better guns by briefly popping in to a neighboring grid through a teleporter, but the ammo for that weapon won’t last if you’re not consistently engaging with said next square, requiring you to clear out the anterior one, lest you be overwhelmed on both sides. Playing the map slow is grueling, reducing every single possible encounter into a door fight in the best case scenario. Playing the map fast is impossible, as rushing to any weapon worth a damn for these situations will no doubt ring you out amongst a myriad of trailing monsters that have no issue following you around the expanse. 

  It is irritating how such a comically awful concept has such density here. There are no Pain Elementals, nor Masterminds(no doubt because of issues with the Lost Soul limit and Mastermind’s size respectively), but nearly every Doom II monster is represented here in either the mirrored cubic rooms around a central switch, or, in the case of the Arch-Vile, smack in the center of every individual grid. Without any stronger weaponry, the outer rings’ Arch-Viles clusters will always overwhelm you, either through sheer number of their attacks, or by resurrecting in droves the horde of Revenants or Hell Knights that you spent so much time putting down, and there’s more than enough Viles to where that will happen. What makes this an inexcusable setup is how every square in a grid is separated by a door, so every time a monster dies beneath one of these doors, something that is beyond the control of the player, that is a potential ghost monster, unkillable by anything that isn’t player or Cyberdemon rockets. I’ve had entire graveyards come after me once a group of Viles have driven me from the grid. 

  This leads into the breaking point for me: there are far too many points in Down the Drain Map 31: Down the Drain where you can lose the map. I don’t mean die, although there are many opportunities for that as well, but rather you can permanently lock yourself into a situation where you can’t finish the level. If you make any less than optimal usage of the powerups uniformly sprinkled around, the map is over. If you investigate the grids of monsters in a bad order, the map is over. If the minimal supply of rockets that you are given runs out, the map is over. If the Arch-Viles manage to chase you out of a grid, the map is over. If too many Chaingunners, Barons, Arachnotrons, etc. get crushed underneath the doors, the map is over. If one of the larger monsters happens to walk off to the side, press into the door to the center, and open it to allow sound to propagate to the Arch-Viles, waking them up before you’re in a position to handle them, the map is over. If you don’t know where the BFG is, the map is over. Especially if any combination of these things happen, you will be stuck in a situation that you can not brute force your way through, meaning that you either reload a save before the incident occurred, or restart the map. Nearly all of these things happened to me in my time with Down the Drain to the point where I couldn’t provide an accurate guess as to how long this map should take. It is a skewing of spacetime where progress is a suggestion. Worst case scenario its active torture, and best case scenario its my time utterly wasted. There it is, that’s my eureka moment, this whole map is effectively taking your life and flushing it Down the Drain. 

  Any cuteness from being a reference to another map is completely lost on the deliberate abrasion of the design. The LEET number of enemies in the map doesn’t even work, since there are a quantifiable fuckton of Lost Souls that don’t contribute to the killcount. The secret exit is a dig at players that stick around for the idea, requiring both a full Megasphere and accurate BFG shot to survive the forced wait for the bars to lower into the rectangular room’s damaging floor. You will make it out with barely enough health to survive reaching the exit, only for Map 32 to start you on a damaging floor that takes the last tick of health away, killing you instantly. So yeah, a big hearty thank you from every continuous player for making your WAD physically impossible to complete fully. I can normally take a counterpoint in stride, but frankly you have all lost your minds.

  I think my biggest issue with Down the Drain is how seamlessly it acts as a dividing line for artistic appreciation, like its turning its nose up at my desire for maps that don’t treat me with spite. As I’m watching people here, standing in front of the gallery, dusting off their imported cigarettes, and explaining why the technique demonstrates the strengths of an entirely different brand of media, I can only shrug my shoulders, turn my commoner palms up, and say “I don’t understand any of this”. Down the Drain is effortless at creating its caste, and making me feel like I don’t belong, and that terrifies me. That’s why I hate it. Reference any map, media, history, or sociology you want, it doesn’t change the fact that Down the Drain Map 31: Down the Drain plays abysmally.

 

Power Rankings

Spoiler

1. Into the Tomb
2. Vet and Process
3. Baloney Town
4. Private Island
5. The Perfect Gerbil Cage
6. Passive Social Test Lab
7. Rolling Down
8. The Perfect Human Cage
9. Forts and Alleys
10. Cache Raiders
11. Someone's Castle
12. Here n There, Now n Then
13. Kick the Can
14. WW1.wad
15. From: Unknown
16. Deep Tech
17. Doors of Opportunities
18. Vidhead
19. People that are into feet
20. Down the Drain

 

[erzboesewicht]

MAP18: Slime Activation Facility

 

We get a little breather here. It's a map full of toxic slime, like the title says, and thus rewards fast decisions and execution. Radsuit placement is tight for maxing purposes, there is even a whole corridor whose only purpose seems to be to troll UV-maxers (the one with the pain elementals). But if you simply want to reach the exit you can just run through the map (maybe killing one or both viles) and you'll likely even have a suit left. The goal is to "activate" the slime so it can be used to kill the two biggest enemies present here, which is a not very realistic, but creative use of the crusher mechanism. Fast-paced fun.

 

Rating: 7,5/10
Difficulty: 5/10

 

MAP19: The Empty Box Abyss

 

And we return to the unique map ideas. This one consists almost entirely of islands of boxes which operate as lifts, in a sea of toxic slime. I first didn't know that they can be lowered and thought it was a cruel radsuit management game, needed three deaths to "get" the mechanism. If in the last map Benjogami trolled maxers, here he gifts them at the end with lots of goodies to eliminate the last foes, although many like me will likely have already killed everything as the way to the exit is a bit obscure. It seems you have to climb a "mountain" of each island, marked by an invisibility, to open the access to it. Really creative and fun, although I hated some of the noble placements because they can often scratch you from above. But who said that maps have always to be kind to the player?

 

Rating: 9,5/10
Difficulty: 5/10

[Roofi]

Map 19 "The Empty Box Abyss"

 

Spoiler

 

And I thought Map 10 was garbage and unfun, haha. 

 

My god but what a disaster this map is. The quality of map 19 is no better than a trollmap created by a bored 12 year old looking for attention. Honestly, I don't have any argument in favor of this map, it's pure trash. I didn't enjoy any part of this map, maybe the theme... a little bit. Anyway, there is nothing special : just crates that act as a lift in a dark abyss filled with slime. I didn't adopt any specific strategy, I tried to rush to the blurspheres as much as I could and leave this crap as fast as possible.

 

No reproach against the mapper, but if this abyss in which no particle of amusement manages to penetrate was made by a total stranger, the latter would have received (and rightly so) no attention. Whether it was Benjogami or anyone else, there is no excuse for releasing such a thing.

 

Now, I will give a very low and unique grade, between D and F, which corresponds more or less a kinder version of "F" because the level is still finishable. I prefer to keep the F for Terry wads and other unfinishable crap.

 

Grade : E

 

 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP18: Slime Activation Facility. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 50/50 K, 0/0 S, 3/3 I. Completion time 5:37.

 

This map gave me its love-- nah, let's dispense with the puns, I just loved the ABBA soundtrack here. More importantly Slime Activation Facility really did feel like a breather after a string of more harrowing experience (and I still haven't played through the secret levels), I kinda had fun here, because Benjo is very lenient with the rad suits and even ammo, although it's made abundantly clear the final area can't be cleared with the resources provided. It took me some time to notice the switch that reveals megasphere and opens the way to blue key, and activates the slime crusher.

 

The texture work seemed more "traditional" here; not too polished as to lose that Down the Drain personality, but polished enough for me not to really get that mid-90s feeling.

[RHhe82]

MAP19: The Empty Box Abyss. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 54/54 K, 0/0 S, 12/13 I. Completion time 13:06.

 

Then we get a map like this. A crate-lift maze in a world of nukage. Somewhere around the level there were triggers that opened the path to the exit. I guess one of them was the archvile crate tower and the other was possible a blur sphere crate tower which I think housed a baron. Although I can't be sure, I guess it could have been cyberdemon too, god knows where he was stationed at the start.

 

Yes, there are crate mazes; E2M2 of Ultimate Doom is one of my favourite levels, MAP19 of Down the Drain isn't. Not my least favourite either, though, but so far if I were to replay parts of DnD, I'd concentrate on the first episode.

[Pseudonaut]

Map18:
Short fun map where a crusher can do most of the work for you. The automap looks like a monkey, but the poor creature appears to have an enormous tumor on one of his arms.

 

 

Map19:
The contrast between previously posted opinions on this map is hilarious. For my part, I think the map has plenty of merit, but I can't stomach it long enough to max it. I appreciate its uniqueness, but it's not for me.

 

 

Demos:

drn18-19.zip

[Book Lord]

MAP 19 – The Empty Box Abyss

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Considering it received quite an elaborate introduction with MAP18, The Empty Box Abyss must be the flagship of Down the Drain. In my humble opinion, it was a failed attempt to capitalize on infamous design ideas from the 90s to create an original level. Benjogami might have compiled a comprehensive list and then squeezed in everything in a single map: start on damaging slime, hazardous floor everywhere, darkness, Spectres in darkness, elevated enemies out of the player’s view (including a Cyberdemon and an Arch-Vile on the highest pinnacle!), crate lifts, cryptic progression. These well-though-out controversies were complemented by unexpected bugs, such as frequent hitscan weapons targeting failures. As in MAP06, LINEDEF #0 was more than 2048 units long, therefore I encountered absurd situations while shooting monsters with SSG or shotgun: e.g., I missed a Pain Elemental at point-blank range.

Spoiler

I was quick to realise that the whole bottom of this box-shaped level was damaging; it took me some more time to guess that the piles of crates emerging from the slime could be lowered like lifts. Crate lifts are considered taboo by Doom editing common sense, but the unconventional spirit of this megaWAD promoted them to the rank of gameplay drivers. Once their function was understood, it was possible to find not only the vital Radiation Suits, but also enough weapons and ammo to comfortably clear the area. Finding the exit took another leap of imagination with the useless Blur Spheres glowing on top of each of the four main piles; picking them up opened the way to the exit in the only possible place, according to the automap, and revealed unnecessary power-ups. The Empty Box Abyss was somehow original in its unorthodox design, although I concluded there are well-grounded reasons why mappers steer clear of certain things.

[KickAss]

GZDooM 4.8.2, PB 3.0, HeXeReTiC HUD PB3 v8.3RC2e, Weapon Neural Upscale, Glory Kills v29b, SilentDoomguy, Flashlight, -iwad doom2.wad (ver 1.666), -skill 4 (UV), continuous play, no saves.

 

MAP17 - “Passive Social Test Lab”, This one was more fun to play but you have to take out a lots of cyberdemons out of this map to continue and the arch-vile overload at the end of the map is imho very confusing and not really necessary.

 

 

[KickAss]

GZDooM 4.8.2, PB 3.0, HeXeReTiC HUD PB3 v8.3RC2e, Weapon Neural Upscale, Glory Kills v29b, SilentDoomguy, Flashlight, -iwad doom2.wad (ver 1.666), -skill 4 (UV), continuous play, no saves.

 

MAP18 - “Slime Activation Facility”, A very simple map. Not much going on there. Only two cyberdemons that you have to take care about.

 

 

[NiGHTS108]

10 hours ago, General Roasterock said:

There it is, that’s my eureka moment, this whole map is effectively taking your life and flushing it Down the Drain. 

Unironically one of the rawest lines I’ve read in a Doom map review 

[brick]

MAP18 - “Slime Activation Facility”
As an ABBA fan I'm legally obliged to like this map. The automap shaping is reasonably good, having the mouth be the crusher is a nice touch, I got both cyberdemons stuck in it and imagined the person is just eating them. There were just too many damaging floors though, and the map is not entirely generous with radsuits. That said it's probably the shortest one so far.

 

MAP19 - “The Empty Box Abyss”
A very strange map. Almost everything in it is optional, if you know where the exit is I think you can just go there immediately without doing anything else. I wrote this before reading others' comments so hadn't realized how obscure the progression really was, I got lucky and only explored the side with the exit when it was already open. I think I would've had a very different opinion if I had done things in a different order. I did enjoy exploring everything, this time the map is very generous with radsuits, the only annoyance is the darkness but there are goggles to help with this, and plenty of health and ammo to deal with the relatively small number of enemies. That final tunnel to the exit is a bit of a troll though, so many good items, most of them useless at this point (though I guess they could serve as an incentive to go back and have fun with maxing the map). I quite liked it overall.

[PeceMan]

Day 3 of catching up.

 

Level 11, "Cache Raiders"

 

Spoiler

This is... something. I really wouldn't recommend pistol starting this level. It is possible, it's just hard.

 

But the level really doesn't overstay it's welcome. And the toxic floor section is appreciably short.

 

I guess I found the level ok. I've played worse, but I've also had more fun.

 

Level 12, "Into the Tomb"

 

Spoiler

In this level ammo was scarce, but not as scarce as on the previou level.

 

The ending area is probably the most detailed area in the wad so far. To be fair, that isn't saying much. But still. I appreciate the detail.

 

I liked this level, mainly because of the ending.

 

Level 13, "Vet and Process"

 

Spoiler

First impression: "Wtf is this"

 

This level is like Goldilocks and the three bears.

 

- The first part was too hard, and annoying. I actually had to let go of my degree to beat it.

- The second part was a bit too easy. Not really trivial, just not threatening.

- The third battle, against the Archviles and the  Mastermind, was just right for me.

 

But then there were two surprise Cyberdemons, but that's neither here nor there.

 

Once again, the platforming section was annoying. Once again, this is due to the fact that the platforms move too slowly.

 

This level gets an ok from me. Some parts of it were fun, but a lot of them weren't.

 

Level 14, "The Perfect Human Cage"

 

Spoiler

I think I get it. Theres an army of barons and knights at the start. But if you push a button, they all get teleported to a different section of the level, where you'll deal with them in the future.

 

This level is very different from the previous levels. For one, this one is actually a base, rather than a amorphus set of diagonal outdoors terrain.

 

I liked this level. It is probably my favourite level so far. Aesthetically pleasing, and the gameplay wasn't annoying at any point.

 

Level 15, "Doors of Opportunities"

 

Spoiler

Hang on. I recognize this tune.

 

Pardon my french, but I think this level is trash. Annoying, every step of the way.

 

This probably made sense to the guy who made it, so he thought it was ok. But I don't think it's ok.

 

This was my least favourite level so far.

 

 

 

My ratings so far:

Spoiler

Levels I liked:

Level 1, "From Unknown", Level 2, "Someone's Castle", Level 3, "Private Island", Level 6, "Baloney Town", Level 9, "Forts and Alleys", 

Level 12, "Into the Tomb", Level 14, "The Perfect Human Cage"

 

Levels I found ok:

Level 7, "The Perfect Gerbil Cage", Level 8, "Deep Tech", Level 11, "Cache Raiders", Level 13, "Vet and Process"

 

Levels I didn't like:

Level 4, "Kick the Can", Level 5, "Rolling Down", Level 10, "Here n There, Now n Then"

 

Levels I REALLY didn't like:

Level 15, "Doors of Opportunities"

 

[Azure_Horror]

18 hours ago, General Roasterock said:

Map 31: Down the Drain

  Pain.

  Unmanageable, unrelenting, unfiltered pain.

  ...

  [Awesome write up]

  ...

That was a great read! I love to read detailed and creative reviews of maps! I agree in many finer details with your impression, and I dissagree in some other minor parts. But, funnily emough, my final impression is completely opposite of yours. (And that's fine, of course. Tastes differ, after all!)

 

My final opinion: I think that Down the Drain map plays very well, especially for a map built around such crude concept as "Square rooms! Filled with monsters!". As far as grind goes, Down the Drain map is indeed grindy, but its grindiness is comparable to other expansive >1000 monsters maps, like, say, Eviternity Dehydration.

And I didn't find the map overly antagonistic to the player. The whole "monsters open doors and call more monsters" thing can be completely avoided. You can enter a room, punch the air one time, and retreat through the teleporter to the previous part of the 3x3 grid. The mosters will chase you through the teleporter, but the sounds will not propogate. This way, you can easily clear each 3x3 section one room at a time. With such startegy the map feels much, much more predicatble and fair!

 

Also, I personaly do not see this map as something super artistic. Many maps from DtDr MegaWAD do feel considerably artistic, like map 32, map 18, map 12, or map 06. But map 31 didn't feel artistic to me. I love it for its gameplay, and only its gameplay.

 

You and @NiGHTS108 inspire my to write my own detailed review of map 31. I hope I'll manage to find some time next week for this endeavour.

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP17: Passive Social Test Lab

UV, pistol start, saves

100% kills, 1/1 secrets

 

This techbase is mostly build around two "rooms", one made with basic computer panel hallways and a scrolling GREYTALL exterior (only know that texture name thanks to the recent MtPain27 review), and another room with green slimefall columns that turn into brown mud at the bottom for some reason. The midi is a Chemical Brothers track, and while I haven't explored their work too much I love the choice. Repetitive, but catchy and oppressive. Inspires me to maybe look at them sometime soon.

 

The first half of this map is simple enough. Mostly slow-going and with lots of nice infighting opportunities to save some ammo. The back of the room has a wall of archviles which you'll have to get creative with by luring them to one end of the room, then taking the opposite way around the room to stock up on rockets before they can make it back to you and blow you sky high. It takes a decent amount of time to take care of everything in the first half, but I enjoy it quite a bit and it's not too difficult. The second half is a huge chokepoint though, and if you make the mistake of venturing to the back of the room right away like I did, 20 archviles will be there to say hello and end your run. You have a few switches to hit in this room, each one reveals either one revenant or one archvile. Back in the previous room, the black and grey pillars are opening up, with each one holding an energy cell pack and one each holding the BFG and the yellow key to the exit. Also, many of them hold cyberdemons, so that's fun. After figuring out which held the BFG I simply did 4 switches at a time and then went back to the cybies so it didn't get too crazy in there. After everything is done, the 20 archviles are your final threat, and it's best to get up close and personal with a couple BFG blasts before retreating and taking the rest from safety. It's not too hard, but after what is a relatively lengthy map the cybies and archies can be a major chokepoint. 

 

Probably the most difficult of the mainline maps so far, and one of my favourites as well. Really enjoyed my time with this one.

 

MAP18: Slime Activation Lab

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 0/0 secrets 

 

Only 50 monsters and nukage everywhere. Looks like your typical slimy techbase, although I like the indications of slime overtaking everything like the partially submerged computer panels and poison sign textures. Makes it look like some sort of accident occurred here. Love the ABBA midi, this is one of those songs I've heard a million times but never actually knew the name of, and hearing it in midi form gave me quite a laugh.

 

The level is mostly made up of simple but awkward fights, the awkwardness coming from either avoiding the slime or being in a radsuit timecrunch against it. By far the most threatening moment is the last encounter, you probably won't have enough ammo to deal with the enemies in the leadup hallway, let alone those two cybies at the end. Go right for the switch to open up the cybie area and grab the blue key to let the crusher do the tough work for you. Like I mentioned though, the timecrunch with the radsuits can be real. I actually death-exited the map, succumbing to the nukage just as I crossed that exit.

 

Kind of breather-ish I guess, but the fights are far from mindless. Solid map.

[Book Lord]

MAP 20 – The Top of the Bottom

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The second episode closed on a high note with The Top of the Bottom, a map presenting good storytelling elements and a couple of nice combat setups, all achieved with a surprisingly limited complexity. The compact, underground cityscape was drawn with a number of LINEDEFs suitable for Zone 400; while the “towers built toward the ceiling of humanity’s coffin” might not look as majestic as described in the final intermission, they were still believable, and fully recognisable behind their primitive abstraction. This was not the first time Down the Drain felt close to Doom II, but MAP20 nailed the atmosphere of Hell on Earth almost perfectly.

Spoiler

The action took place on a small island surrounded by total blackness, where it was not recommended to fall since it was an inescapable damaging pit. A small brick building granted some cover and the chaingun to pistol starters, who must attack the stationary Arachnotrons to put their hands on better equipment. The exit was on top of the absurd BRNPOIS tower, but finding it required a visit to almost every place in the map. The BK was found on the Arch-Vile pillar seen at the start, with a lot of entertaining surprise pop-ups taking place on that hill. A pair of switches must then be pressed in the twin MODWALL3 skyscrapers stuffed with Demons and Former Humans. Missing the optional RK was unlikely, as well as one of the secrets (a normally accessible pad with cells). Most of the elevators were unconventionally textured, but I always identified them without racking my brains.

Spoiler

My only question mark over the design was the final room with the Cyberdemon. I escaped immediately from the disadvantaged position, hoping that he will follow me on the ground, but he could not get past the second lift. Targeting the boss from below was tricky, so I decided to climb on top of the BROWN1 amphitheatre and shoot from there, as I did with the four Barons. Besides the waste of time with those irritating elevators, the strategy paid off. I could not imagine how a “real pro” would get past him in the small exit room, open the red door, make a precise strafe jump, pick up the secret BFG, and effortlessly straferun down the pillars to the safety of the main island. Maybe am I overthinking the intended setup? Nevertheless, I enjoyed my stay at The Top of the Bottom, where brisk gameplay and strong atmosphere were obtained by means of simple, though well implemented ideas.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Book Lord

[RHhe82]

MAP20: The Top of the Bottom. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 125/125 K, 3/3 S, 2/2 I. Completion time 14:12.

 

I actually rather liked this one, a city amidst the void, surrounded by hurting liquid you don't need to traverse on. The progression wasn't too obtuse, although there were a couple of lifts I found by accident.

 

There's one encounter I did not like, and that's the final cyberdemon - running past it meant taking on a rocket. Fortunately you get a megasphere just prior to this. You land on the second secret and grab the BFG, and then try to descend the pillars of light. I already started thinking you need to either do some SR50 magic here, or should have left the archvile alive to help you with its magics. Fortunately that's not the case; after five minutes of trying, I was finally able to land the platform several times (which I had to perform because I also had to learn to cease running at the right spot...). Then it's cramped quarters Cyber left, and I lucked out there, too, because the bastard had landed on the megasphere balcony, and after dodging a couple of its rockets, it got stuck between the balcony and the lift leading to ground floor, and I could empty my cells on it without fear of retaliation for long enough.

[Pseudonaut]

Map20:

Getting the weapons at the start is very annoying, but I liked the map otherwise. Got lucky with the cyberdemon. My plan was to lead him down the first lift, then dodge rockets until I can go up it safely, leaving him behind. Instead, he went down the second lift all by himself, which is very convenient, and even makes it easier to 2-shot him later. Platforming to the last secret seemed nigh-impossible when I tried the platforms one at a time, but it turned out to be no problem when you do it all in one smooth motion, keeping momentum.

 

 

Demo:

https://www.doomworld.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=208833

[KickAss]

GZDooM 4.8.2, PB 3.0, HeXeReTiC HUD PB3 v8.3RC2e, Weapon Neural Upscale, Glory Kills v29b, SilentDoomguy, Flashlight, -iwad doom2.wad (ver 1.666), -skill 4 (UV), continuous play, no saves.

 

MAP19 - “The Empty Box Abyss”, My first impression was right. This map is total crap and sucks like hell too. This is imho absolutly no fun at all to play. I still haven't found a way through this map to the exit. Watching replays and videos didn't helped too. The level mechanics are working in a mind way far from this earth and is definitely not from human mankind. I have tried to replay some strategies and tactics seen in the videos but that didn't worked too. The exit is not showing up. No success.

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 20 "The Top of the Bottom"

 

Spoiler

 

And now we are in a kind of subterrean city , maybe a vague interpretation of Atlantide. The level is a bit more lit than the previous one and you're not forced to walk on harmful liquid anymore. What a relief !

 

However, The Top of the Bottom is still quite difficult. The use of the barons is really ingenious, Benjogami succeded at making them pretty dangerous whereas how spacious the layout is. I think the barons in front of the red key at the edge of the ravine are the best use I've seen of these enemies. If you try to run towards the key, they will block you and force you to fall. If you wake them up, they become mobile and can attack at less predictable times. If you kill them, you'll waste your ammo. Nice equation.

 

Despite the remarkable use of the barons, this level unfortunately didn't left me a great impression. Most of the combats were frustrating especially the annoying arch-vile perched on its tower. As pseudonaut, getting the weapons is needlessly annoying if you don't want to pistol some shotgunners.

 

I've nothing special about the cyberdemon. He doesn't represent a big threat but he posed more trouble than it should in my video. There is a BFG in this map but I didn't need it.

 

"The Top of the Bottom" was a passable entry in the whole megawad and a masterpiece compared to the disaster that was map 19.

 

Grade : C+

 

 

 

[General Roasterock]

22 hours ago, Azure_Horror said:

You and @NiGHTS108 inspire my to write my own detailed review of map 31. I hope I'll manage to find some time next week for this endeavour.

  I've never enjoyed Dehydration either, so I think your perspective makes a lot more sense here. Map 31 goes so far into the singular bullet point of "monsters in square rooms" that it is really can't earn any other points for those that are looking for more out of the map. I see a lot of people happy with that qualification, despite not really understanding why, but there's clearly success on smaller scales for those people. 

  Sure, on technicality you can simply open a door, alert everything inside, and then run away to another grid and wait for the monsters to come through. I would imagine this strategy would nearly double the time you would have to play the map, and it's definitely not foolproof. Escaping out of the corners of the grid would require the most amount of time in this case, waiting for any monsters that get stuck in the corners of a square, or decide to navigate all the way to wherever you teleport to. Using this strategy on the Arch-Viles is all but out of the question, more than four will instantly overwhelm anyone on the other side of a teleport pad, if they aren't already going to work reviving an entire square, or whatever has been killed with said teleport strategy. I did have to use that methodology to handle the Cyberdemons because they're simply too large, fast, and deadly to take on in such a comparatively small space, even with a BFG and a lot more cells than I had first appraised.

  I fall very far outside of the target for this map, I neither have the time to sit down and tear away at demons for hours on end, nor the patience to redo a significant portion of my progress if a pair of Arch-Viles get too happy and decide to ruin the entire map. I went back and listened to the Evening with Nirvana episode with Benjo to make sure that my interpretation of Map 31 wasn't within madness, only to realize that not only is it not even an original idea (see 1squares.wad), but also that it borders on inoffensive compared to something like Long Road, No Turns (a map I got about 1K kills deep in before I was claimed by utter boredom at the possibility of 20K more). It makes this map seem like yet another ingot to the smelter, one more step into the threshold of how much people can simply observe demons dying without many of the other elements that make custom maps as legendary as they are. 

  I'm glad you liked the writeup. Never stop enjoying what you love, a phrase that goes both ways.

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP19: The Empty Box Abyss

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 0/0 secrets

 

The map that dares to question, is there anything more 90s than the box lift? Exactly what it says on the tin, this map is a black void (which we caught a glimpse of last map) where the only non-damaging ground is boxes. Almost every stack of boxes in this map acts as a lift, giving it a feel quite unlike anything I remember playing. The midi is American Life by Primus, a great song that I remember playing on bass a lot a long long time ago.

 

So, the goal to this one is quite obscure. Basically, the exit is tucked away among some random boxes (go figure) and the only way to access it is to collect each partial invisibility sphere in the map, also of course being at the top of different stacks of boxes. There are rad suits scattered about as well, which you'll want to keep a good eye on as you'll likely spend a lot of time in the damaging liquid. Honestly it felt like I barely had a strategy for this one apart from to remain aware of the radsuits and otherwise just go collect stuff and kill everything. I killed everything once without knowing how to access the exit, and had to die a gradual death in the nukage because of it. Next time I came back with some knowledge from Ultimate Doom Builder and eventually squeezed out a successful run.

 

Not sure I find this one all too fun to play, but I respect its uniqueness and character.

 

MAP20: The Top of the Bottom

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

This one has you leaping off a box lift into some kind of power plant in the void. Lots of tall industrial looking buildings, with machinery covered in electrical and poison warnings. Digging this void aesthetic quite a lot (although judging from me seeing the beginning of the next map, these may be the only ones?). The midi this time is Money Money Money by ABBA, jazzed up with some snazzy organ. This midi gives it a nice nighttime vibe, which does well with the power plant lights and the black void backdrop.

 

This one felt a bit easier than lots of the maps that have come before. It won't give you any guns without some trouble at the start though, my method of choice is to get shotgunners to infight the arachnotron guarding the plasma, then use the shotguns and nearby shell box to take the rest of the weapon guarding arachnos down (and maybe have them infight some spectres as well). Once you're armed the rest isn't too tough, although there are quite a few barons hiding around. You can rocket/SSG these guys, or save some of them for the cyberdemon later. I like that you can get him to come down all the way to the ground by opening up the blue door and luring him down the lifts. He can be a bit uncooperative but doing that helps a great deal as he's easier to kill, can infight some stuff for you, and he's out of your way so you can get that BFG to finish him off with.

 

Fun little city-esque map, I enjoyed.

[RHhe82]

MAP21: Niven's Ravine. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 150/150 K, 7/7 S, 26/26 I. Completion time 14:18.

 

What do you know, another level in a row I actually really liked. It still has the DnD feel to it with the weird angles, but other than that, this is fairly traditional Doom level. It's also a bit easy, most reloads were due to me getting stupidly hit by enemies starting with the first mancubus near the starting area secret with the RSK. It'd just miraculously hit me, every time, and without armor: almost to the death. Another one was the narrow ledge cyber, I think I should have saved my invuln sphere there, but actually dodging wasn't that bad. In the end I fell down to lava just as the cyberboy exploded, but Benjo had been very merciful and provided us with a lift by the weird spine/fireblu pillars.

 

I also liked how the level is a direct continuation of the last map; curiously though the cyberdemon has revived (maybe we weren't supposed to max out kills? That, or the tower was a portal) and the void has dissipated and we find ourselves in a anagrammatic lava ravine.