Favorite 'Hell Revealed' Map?

[princetontiger]

Okay guys, let's hear it. I really enjoy revisiting Hell Revealed every few years. Lots of great maps, particularly with the "old school" feel.

 

My favorite of the set is map23.

Edited June 22, 2023 by princetontiger

[RHhe82]

16 hours and no replies :P

 

I have no favourites, because I haven’t played it. Not Decino’s playthrough, not Dean of Doom’s review and not recent Vytaan’s stream have encouraged me to tackle with it. Not because I wouldn’t survive it (I’d struggle, I suspect) but because it looks like a chore.

 

So, whenever opinions start pouring in, you all have chance to convince me as well to try it out :P

[princetontiger]

Well I really hope the community hasn't moved on from the greatness of late 90s megawads.

 

I just watched Dean of Doom's review of HR and he slams it. lol

[Pseudonaut]

HR is a chore at times, but some of the maps are really fun. I've always liked map32, I guess that one is my favorite. 14 is pretty slow and awkward, but well worth playing. It's been a while since I played 22, 24, or 26, but those are probably great too. The first episode is chill.

[Roofi]

I love Hell Revealed but I have a soft spot for the easier maps in this wad. I wouldn't mind if Hell Revaled was as or a tad more difficult than "The Jail", "Garden Terminal" or "Chamber of Wars". Just a megawad of cozy maps with ROTT midis.

 

Now, my absolute favourite map in this megawad, I think it would be map 22 with its hordes to defeat. I love map 24 too. Map 26 is extremly overrated on combats. Map 23 has my favourite visuals but besides that it's the temple of unfairness.

Edited June 23, 2023 by Roofi

[Yugiboy85]

none.

[Andrea Rovenski]

map14 is my absolute favorite. sadly a lot of modern doomers have bad opinions, but hr is definitely a like or hate it vibe ;p

[Al-Faris M]

Sometimes it feels quite boring, like MAP07: Arachnophobia when I played it on Ultra-Violence, but other times it's fun and challenging. I haven't finished it though so I'm going to say my favorite map currently is MAP09: Knockout for the time being, I love the use of the berserk power-up and large amounts of enemies in small rooms, I find it satisfying to punch them with the berserk 😎

Edited June 23, 2023 by Al-Faris M

[plums]

MAP01 because you can get it over with the fastest :p

 

Nah I'm joking, there are some good ones in there. MAP14 like @Andrea Rovenski said is good. I like 25 and 28 for the visual design too.

[bioshockfan90]

Forget what map it is, but from memory the Garden Terminal map (as @Roofi mentioned) is pretty fun. I dunno, I never beat Hell Revealed as I recall one of the earlier maps has you regular shotgunning a Baron and for some reason in Doom 1 I don't take issue with it but in Doom 2 it just never sat right with me. At least give me a berserk! But yeah, I like the texturing in that map and it's a whole ass vibe. For its time, HR was probably pretty good but it just aged poorly as better challenging mapsets have come out in its time that have engaging gameplay. I'd like to revisit it someday, but at the moment I'm playing a few other WADs. 

 

Hell Revealed II might have some more interesting opinions on 'best maps' as from what I remember that set is more well-received. 

 

[Shepardus]

It's been a long time since I've played Hell Revealed and I've only played through the whole thing once, on Hurt Me Plenty, but I remember enjoying MAP22.

[Skronkidonk]

Map 22 or Map 24.
Hell Revealed is a hit or miss for people.
I personally enjoy it. So far I like HR1's combat more than HR2's but I like HR'2s visual style more.

I try not to compare it to other wads of its era because its easy to say HR is bad compared to wads like Requiem, MM, the IWADs and later on AV and Scythe.
But Hell Revealed was a huge milestone in the Doom mapping community. Truly the introduction to the insane slaughter maps we know and love today.

Yes. The HR series is grindy, has questionable map designs, and can look bland at times. But I personally believe it deserves more respect for what it has done. (Unless you hate slaughter maps).

[BedrockCastle]

Either MAP22: Resistance is Futile or MAP25: Dead Progressive.

[princetontiger]

Great replies!

 

Here's the stats:

MAP09: 1

MAP14: 2

MAP22: 3.5

MAP23: 1
MAP24: 0.5
MAP25: 0.5

MAP32: 1

[Classic SSG Enjoyer]

Maps 13, 14, 32, 17, 19, 22, 24, 25, 26 and 28 are my favourite maps from HR.

Edited June 24, 2023 by Classic SSG Enjoyer

[Devalaous]

  On 6/23/2023 at 8:20 PM, plums said:

MAP01 because you can get it over with the fastest :p

Expand  

 

Map 1 actually sticks out like a sore thumb because it used to be a far more basic map with the same barebones detail as Map 2 on onwards. It pretty much takes till Knockout, another map that replaced an old one (A map called Slime Disposal was cannibalised and absorbed into Knockout, hence the ugly unfitting area) to look good again.

 

Map 14 was definitely a highlight, and I kind of liked The Path. Post Mortem is great fun once the initial dread and 'wtf do I do?' wears off.

[NaZa]

Map13 is fun. Music definitely brings it up as a whole package, but there's something fun about the progression in this one. Cage fight aside, that is :p... Big fan of the architecture in this one as well.

 

Map17 is my personal favourite because it has a good midi coupled with one of the more memorable openings in the set. Later on the map might be brought down, but it's still quite decent. EDIT: Forgot to mention the obvious, that it lets you leave with only two keys. Great twist that can definitely affect your strategy if you already know the map and look at efficient ways to beat it, or in speedrunning.

 

Map23, as Roofi said, has really nice visuals, but gameplay at some points is pretty questionable.

 

Map28 I find relatively underrated at times, as it's a solid map. Nothing spectacular, but there's a lot of high tier enemies used differently than in the maps preceding it. Iirc there's not a lot of horde and setpiece situations, rather incidental combat, making it feel more daunting by its lack of organization in defense lore wise or smth... I think I'm reading too much into it ;)

 

If I had to choose one, it'd probably be Map17. Not the best by any means but a good, fun map which puts most of the experience into one.

Edited June 25, 2023 by NaZa

[lunchlunch]

Probably something from HR3 🙃

[DeafPixel]

map13, map 15, map22, map24, map26 are all good maps imo
if i had to choose a favourite itd probably be map26 first, map22 second, map24 third

[LadyMistDragon]

Last Look at Eden, but that might be because PUSS IX's best map copped its layout and many of the encounters to a lesser degree. Otherwise, it would probably be Ascent to the Stars or Afterlife. 

[RHhe82]

By the way, every time I watch someone play HR, I'm struck by pop culture references. Picard and Data at the end screen is an obvious one, the map title "Resistance is futile" is also an obvious Star Trek: TNG reference.

 

But how many get the X-Files refereneces anymore? Or I'm assuming they are one, like "Ascending to the Stars", which is not an episode name, but the phrase uttered in one of the earlier episodes, where Duane Barry recollects his abduction experience, telling Mulder that they were "ascending to the stars" (and later on Mulder finds out "Ascending to the stars" was taken from a mountain resort (or something) ad, where you could ride a cable car onto a mountain?

 

Also, I think the map title "Everything dies" might also be an X-Files reference - I think it was a phrase uttered by the alien bounty hunter at some point (although this is more ambiguous, I wouldn't think of it as a reference if not the for the other references).

 

Anyway, wanted to mention these since watching the streams and videos always makes me want to revisit one of my favourite series of my formative years :P Sorry for not sticking to the topic subject.

[princetontiger]

Dude, that is super interesting,... thanks for sharing!

[Ravendesk]

That one where you need to ssg a bunch of barons. Forgot the map number but you probably understand which one I mean.

[Andromeda]

That would be MAP18, Hard Attack.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Andromeda

[volleyvalley]

My favorites by far are MAP03, MAP05, MAP06, MAP07, MAP08, MAP09, MAP11, MAP12, MAP13, MAP14, MAP15, MAP16, MAP17, MAP18, MAP19, MAP20, MAP21, MAP22, MAP23, MAP24, MAP26, MAP28, MAP29 and MAP30.

 

 

Edit: I forgot about MAP31 and MAP32, which I regret, because MAP32 is my favorite of the set!

Edited July 1, 2023 by volleyvalley

[Red Recluse]

Penultimate and last maps but 28 better.