The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2

[Endless]

MAP08: Azure Ambition

A lovely square map with a lot of open areas, and waters, tons of water. I'm not complaining, though. The simplistic visuals and modest details work well in creating the more ''grandiose'' feeling of the various open areas, tall ceilings and pillars. Gameplay is quite simplistic at this difficulty, but has just the right enough amount of bite to still be fun and enjoyable. I must say that the way the map flows and the combat goes, it is actually quite relaxing. I like that.

 

 

MAP09: Church of Pollution

A little bit messy and inconsistent thematically speaking. There were only two areas that I actually felt were church-like, but the pollution does seem to get done quite well. The flooded, overgrown and contaminated areas are pretty cool looking, particularly the central area. The gameplay feels a little more opened up, meaning that most of the encounters are easy to straight outrun, or some, you can even ignore, like the cacodemon swarm in the blue key area.

 

 

 

MAP10: Natural Selection

Flooded brown forts filled with overgrown. The style is already starting to set in and there's a little more consistency in the general style of the megawad overall, probably because these last maps feel a little bit alike. Natural Selection is a simple (maybe a bit too simple) layout, mostly made out of corridors connecting rooms in different encounters, with a not a lot of depth to it with just the right amount of diverse sets with a modest style and lovely visuals. There's nothing that I could find to highlight, or nothing that I really disliked. I just wasn't such a fan of the final fight, mostly because the bars take a little longer than needed, but other than that? Nah, fun map.

 

[cannonball]

MAP10 - “Natural Selection” by DJV

 

This felt a little under-cooked. Some of bigger fights were very cheese-able and maybe this was so in map06, but progressing forward felt more dynamic and rewarding in DJV's other map than here. The layout means that you will have to do a lot of running and there are a lot of chaingunner, but the tactical element of placing these was missing (They were either dug well into the walls or revealed point blank). As such despite the scariness, a lot of the fights are quite easy to dismantle, mostly because none of the fights are lock-ins. 

The final fight a little on the irritating side, the layout and enemy placement doesn't quite allow for a fast and dynamic clear up and in the end after having a few too many poor revenant damage rolls, I left the cyber to prowl the land on his own.

In the end, this wasn't too bad, but it feels like this one needed more work, there were quite a few misaligments and rather bland texturing in places, even by plutonia's standards. That isn't that there isn't some cool looking sections, but the single textured corridors absolutely dominate here.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 09: Natural Selection - DJV

100% kills and secrets

Time: 13:29

 

The 2nd and final of DJV's contributions to this WAD is a little more sedate than the first. While there's a lot of chaingunners and revs, there's not really any spot in the map where they're dangerous. You can either retreat when something pops up, or take it slow and open the monster closets at your own pace to take them out (see the 3 chaingunner closets in that one hallway next to the secret). Even the red key ambush is telegraphed as when I shot the lone chaingunner nearby, it woke the 3 revs and 1 archie that were going to jump out at me when grabbing the key, so I knew what to expect and where they would come from. Having encounters be telegraphed before they happen is common here, and I think those monsters should be set to ambush players so you can't get a read on it. I knew mancs were going to pop up when I hit the switch at the end of the dark waterway, and I knew revs and pinkies were going to pop up by the yellow key cause I could hear them. The end of the map reminds me of Baron's Lair with the 2 side areas, revs, and a cyb wandering around, tho the giant structure in the center is very obtrusive, and it's oddly hard trying to hit the chaingunners in the corners of it. This cyb is useless anyway, as I blasted it with the plasma. The rev part of this was the only kinda dangerous part of the map, and it's only really cause of the environment working against you. Despite all these criticisms, I think I may like this one more than Waters. The more hallway-based design made the incidental encounters feel better and more purposeful (I think? I'm not sure of the word I'm looking for here tbh). I enjoyed going through the halls of this than I did the more open areas of Waters, even if this map was a lot easier than that one. I think if the ambushes weren't as obvious as they were, this would be a lot better. 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 10: Natch-ooo-ruhl Su-lek-shiin

by Diego @DJVCardMaster Villarroel

 

 

I'm tired, cranky, lacking in energy or much of anything else. All I can say is that this is not a visually stunning map, and yes, chaingunners are everywhere! Don't play as badly as we did though: it's a real killer. Not like the bit with the Arch-vile across the room with the chaingunners oddly enough, or basically any of the Revenant traps. It was determined afterward that the reason for the low amount of rockets and cells in the Cyberdemon arena was because of the pair of Revenant ambushes spawned which are meant to soak up Cyberdemon rockets while the gate to the exit lowers ever-so-slowly. That was our fault, but it's hard not to look at the incidental stuff outside that idiot line of chaingunners on the upper path leading to the rk cavern as lacking a special something. It's fine to save much of that for the end, but we were failing at spatial awareness, beyond which the far chaingunners in the tower are kind of a red herring anyway. Cyberdemon would blow us to bits if we spent too much time at them.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP11: Plutonium Rust by Eternal

Spoiler

I was surprised to see Eternal here, as it has been a while since he released anything new. He is a master or adventure maps, which prioritise exploration with combat taking a secondary role. I know Eternal made a bunch of maps for Plut2, but I haven't played that wad, so I can't tell how he balanced Plutonia's formula and his own style. Plutonium Rust, however, went full Eternal.

Spoiler

MAP11 of PRCP 2 is a grand adventure that took me almost an hour of in-game time to beat. I won't describe the progression, because someone else would do it better. Suffice to say, the map appears to be open-ended at first, but I guarantee that a first-time player will at least once reach a locked door that will force them to backtrack in search of a key or some other mean to open it. This does increase the playing time, but as a side effect, running back and forth makes one familiar with the layout, so navigation is surprisingly easy. Throughout the entire runtime, Eternal provides a steady stream of low- to mid-tier monsters to dispatch, with only the keys and the exit being guarded by major fights. The yellow key one is my favourite, a large battle against barons, cacodemons and revenants. It isn't hard, especially with a secret BFG or a nearby invuln, but it's one of few departure from incidental combat. 

Spoiler

Speaking of secrets, the map is full of them. Look for hidden switches, odd candles or sounds of lowering walls and you should find most of them. I tracked all but one by myself, they were both helpful and fun to find.

 

I have no doubt fans of Eternal's style will greatly enjoy Plutonium Rust, I surely did. Just be aware this is probably the farthest departure from the Plutonia gameplay you can get.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Celestin

[DJVCardMaster]

Why all my maps in every single megawad preceed hour/30-minute long ones? Two of them here, one in Solar Struggle. I will start throwing shorter ones to serve as campfires for club members at this point. 😅

[finnks13]

MAP10 - Natural Selection by DJV:

11:25/1 Death
DJV's second and final map in PRCP2 is another fun and very Plutonia-feeling map, which is a breath of fresh air at this point in the wad. I do think his other map was a little stronger than this one, and a bit more memorable, but Natural Selection is undeniably solid and entertaining. Visually it's very classic-feeling, using mostly IWAD textures and a few midtex vines to liven things up, and while the level of detail is fairly low, I like it, it's readable and the midtex vines don't get in the way and pointlessly obscure things (like they have done and will continue to do). There's also the usage of faux-3d sectors for a midtex bridge which feel very at home in Plutonia.

 

One of the most Plutonian things about this map is the love it gives to the humble chaingunner, there's fifty of the fuckers here and you definitely notice. It feels like they're in every corridor, every corner, every trap, upon every pillar and placed in just the right way to surprise and then deal between 3 and 20,000 damage to you in less than a couple of seconds. I do think the slightly more wide-open scenery in the map leads to the structured ambushes to be less difficult than DJV's other map overall, but the final area with the cool little castle in the middle did get me once! The cyberdemon is rather eager to infight with stuff and the large amount of pillars and flying foes make it very easy to catch stray rockets or a bunch of splash damage from said rockets :P

 

Overall, Natural Selection is another great map from DJV, who has my sincere thanks for actually bothering to make his maps feel right.

 

But what do the teleporters look like?

Spoiler

MAP10 - 8/10. Like his other map these are the only disappointing part about the map :P

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

24 minutes ago, finnks13 said:

 

  Hide contents

MAP10 - 8/10. Like his other map these are the only disappointing part about the map :P

 

 

But those even have the same 10/20-height differences found in the original Plutonia, how can those be bad? ;(

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map09 “Church of Pollution”

 

We start out in a small rectangular chamber with the main areas of the level only a couple rooms away. We can go most places immediately but I’d recommend sticking with grabbing the SSG (switch through the northern door lowers it) and going through the northwest courtyard. Breaking into this area is awkward, but most of the issues are for blind players as both a chaingun and armor (and secret megaarmor) are within easy reach out here. Once the coast is clear drop into the pit to continue.

 

The area down here is atmospheric albeit a little tricky to navigate through (reminds me of Aztec with the twin PE's). Heading back upward takes us to the top level of the earlier courtyard, where a switch lets us obtain the blue key. This leads to my pick for best area of the map, the blue switch arena. The outdoor mass setting looks gnarly with the hanging corpses and black sludge and the gameplay kicks it up a notch to match the ambiance. The initial crowd of ledge hitscanners and mancubi/arachnos is fine but the real fun begins when you hit the switch, porting in a caco swarm along with a vile back at the entrance. You get the rocket launcher here so go hog wild (you can also wreck this place effortlessly with the not-secret invul at the bottom of the stairs leading here).

 

The energy dips for our finish, which requires going through a teleporter and clearing out some junk to get the yellow key. We then backtrack to the yellow key bars in the courtyard and fight a revenant teleport ambush and two barons, after which we can leave.

 

I have mixed feelings on Church of Pollution. On one hand the evil church courtyard plays great. On the other hand, there are some layout issues. The map can be awkward to move around in, there’s a fair bit of backtracking (although The_SloVinator gives us a nice waterfall secret to help with that), and the level kind of drags. I also agree with the people pointing out that the progression is unclear, amplifying the backtracking issues. Because I'm not playing these levels for the first time, wondering where to go wasn't a factor and I liked the map just fine. In the end it’s probably blind unfriendly, but otherwise an alright level.

 

 

prcp2map09.zip

Time: 8:27   Kills: 171/171    Secrets: 7/7

 

Map10 “Natural Selection”

 

Diego is back, continuing to represent the Plutonic ideology best out of what we’ve seen so far. Like last time the regulars are present in force, chaingunners and revenants make up over half the kill count.

 

In Waters, DJV’s offer to run past fights was a suggestion, this time it is an order. Do not try to clear out the initial mancubus/revenant/heavy weapon dude hallways with the SSG, instead sprint right (east) and leave them for later. Following this we have a green, brown, and blue corridor crawl with a handful of more open areas with designated encounters. It very much reminds me of Plutonia 2’s non-Gusta maps, especially Charon Eclipse which I’m guessing is intentional given they share music.

 

Gameplay is casual but solid, consisting of small ambushes and arena fights. I especially like the dark watery reservoir to the east; its lighting is excellent, and the encounter is one of the two standouts of the map (for me). The various fights aren’t particularly hard, and the chaingunners, while more numerous, aren’t as mischievously utilized as in Waters. The ones in the towers at the end are a pain though, straddling the line between well placed and aggravating.

 

After two key fights (the yellow one having a slightly awkward chaingunner ambush) we finish with a cyberdemon led squad and two teams of revenants. We have to wait for the barrier to lower so get some infighting going and have a brawl before leaving. I wish there were more cells for cybie but that’s a nitpick, the setup was fun.

 

I like Waters a bit more because of its pace but Natural Selection is a good outing in its own right. DJV exits with two quality maps which again probably maintain the wad’s closest approximation to OG Plutonia so far.

 

 

prcp2map10.zip

Time: 7:35   Kills: 130/130    Secrets: 1/1

Edited July 11, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[Book Lord]

MAP 11 – Plutonium Rust by Alexander S. @Eternal

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

 

The legendary mapper known as Eternal returned to the Doom community after several years of absence, and he blessed us with Plutonium Rust, a mammoth-sized level in which Plutonia 2 met Alien Vendetta. I have never played his solo megaWADs. I know I should, I am only familiar with his three maps from the fan-made sequel, and I remember their strong atmosphere and architectural marvels. Since the very first moments inside the gargantuan, labyrinthine building he wants us to explore, I was astonished by the constructive detail, which immediately brought me memories of Misri Halek.

Spoiler

There were no square corridors or rooms, everything was rounded or machined to look like a slope. Lighting was superb, columns and ornaments enriched every nook and cranny, but the exceptional design quality fully appeared when moving from the inside to the outside of the building. The magnificent staircase not far from the three possible landing points was equally beautiful from the outside, thanks to nice features like the prongs. This place created the illusion of an ancient, mythological building at the edge of time, and I am always delighted when a mapper achieves this kind of atmosphere.

Spoiler

Like MAP07, Plutonium Rust placed the essential weapons in a specific zone, in this case the western wing of the building. A visit there might grant an early chaingun and rocket launcher, but the tucked-away SSG might escape your attention. Ironically, I completed the whole map before returning here and picking up the weapon I dearly missed, unleashing the last Hell Knight survivor along with a bunch of Lost Souls. These weapons are too important to remain hidden, but the plasma rifle and Berserk Pack were even behind fascinating secrets in the library. A particular attention had been given to secret design, and I had a great time solving these small riddles between fights. The sumptuous rewards I received felt thoroughly deserved, including the BFG, and the only one I missed was the second Combat Armour in the south-western library.

Spoiler

Reaching the map’s end was quite a journey, taking almost an entire hour to max out everything, but I enjoyed every single minute of it. I usually loathe big maps in the middle of megaWADs, but when every single aspect of mapping received a lot of attention, I am in for the long haul. The difficulty was moderate, and the combat scenarios were varied enough to prevent exhaustion, reaching short climaxes only when a key was picked up. In fact, I reloaded a savegame only at the BSK set piece, because I was surprised by a deaf Revenant and killed on the spot. I appreciated that the requirement of the RSK was signposted before venturing south of the Cyberdemon courtyard, and there was little backtracking for such a large map. The monster teleport after picking up the RSK in the northern library almost overwhelmed me, but I resisted and used the key to access the Cyberdemon platform and obtain the YSK as well. A horde of hellspawn invaded the courtyard and it was a great opportunity to watch some infighting.

Spoiler

The yellow barrier in the western courtyard let me enter a huge cavern with a Spiderdemon waiting inside a translucent cocoon. Before I could awake the arachnoid and make her infight with her sister in the nearby chamber, I battled some other monsters in the cavern, then reaching the exit was only a matter of seconds. Plutonium Rust was an extraordinary adventure, a full-rounded experience that closed the first episode on a high note, venturing far from the Plutonia tropes but for good reasons. A brilliant comeback for Eternal, and a flagship for PRCP 2.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Book Lord

[Tiramisu]

UV/saveless, any%, pistol start

 

MAP10 - Natural Selection

 

Chaingunners indeed. Although I expected more to be honest! :p I normally don't read other reviews before playing a map, but that part just happened to catch my eye.

 

The Chaingunners were actually my favorite part of the map. Their placement might have been a bit hit-or-miss (especially the ones hiding in the pillars at the beginning), but overall such heavy use of them is very rare - therefore, seeing such huge groups walk out of monster closets or spawn in from teleporters is bound to stay in the memory of any player going through this map. Plus I have to admit I personally love blasting groups of these bastards into pieces with the rocket launcher - luckily the map was generous with rockets so I could do that to my heart's content!

 

Overall, DJVCardMaster's previous map was already one of the most Plutonia-faithful ones, especially on the aesthetic side, but this one imo wouldn't feel out of place at all in the original IWAD! The fights weren't too difficult, but they were all enjoyable. To neatly illustrate both points: I did most of the map on my first serious try (despite tanking a ridiculous number of rockets early on), only to get clumsily splattered by the final Cyberdemon - but replaying the map didn't feel frustrating at all honestly. My favorite fights were the two Archvile showdowns - on my first run, I was actually really surprised when I suddenly saw the first one strolling around the columns with his Chaingunners like a tour guide with a tourist group!

 

The only part I didn't like was the Cyberdemon fight - not because I died there, but because the arena felt a bit awkward, with the ledge at the entrance pretty much allowing you to safely snipe him to death if you so choose. Unleashing the Revenants and hearing them punch the Cyber half to death was pretty funny though - and I appreciate both the arena's overall homage to Baron's Lair, and the clever faux-3D structure found in it!

 

Plutonia Memories, MAP10 (Onslaught) - *Vietnam war flashbacks intensify*

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP03
MAP05

MAP07

MAP10

MAP02

 

MAP06
MAP08

MAP04

MAP09

MAP01

 

Disclaimer - this is a highly subjective list. The only criteria here is basically my vague feelings during a single playthrough, so it's not to be taken too seriously! Also, even if a map is at the very bottom it doesn't mean it's "bad" or anything, just that it was my least favorite compared to the others.

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP11: Plutonium Rust by Alexander S. (Eternal)

 

UV pistol start, Played on DSDA. 100% Kills. 100% Secrets. Completion Time: 1:08:12)

Alright... cards on the table: This map.. is *the* reason I checked out PRCP2. When i was looking at the map list... and i saw Eternal's name, on a new release... for the first time since *2018*.. my eyes just lit up~! I'm gonna be honest, this review will not be unbiased whatsoever. This is gonna just be me fangirling out for one of my favorite mappers. It's uh.. also gonna be long.. sorry about that.

 

Alexander S, AKA: Eternal honestly feels like he doesn't need much of an introduction. he is without hyperbole: one of the most acclaimed and celebrated mappers in Doomdom, with a catalog full of Cacoaward-winning work, and just as many runner up's: Hell Ground, Gravity, Frozen Time, Epic 1 & 2, Remain 3, Cybersky, as well as his contributions to Plutonia 2, and TNT: Revilution.

 

Right away I am immediately charmed by the idea that Eternal gives you a choice of starting location, and the gentleman he is, saddles you with supplies for a lengthy playthrough, among its supplies includes a shotgun, shells, a chaingun & bullets, a green armor & very generous berserk.

 

Spoiler

 

 
The Shotgun portal spits you out close to an extra Green armor,  and several early secrets: including a switch to lower a BFG you can grab later, A Soulshere in another, and most tantalizing: potentially a very early plasma rifle and a backpack for those willing to do some platforming. As is his standard: if you put the time in to snoop around, Eternal will reward you generously.

 

Spoiler

 

Clearing a nearby scrap with a pair of boney bois and two hell knights will even give you access to a blur sphere for the library, and lower the blue key. There's also the Sewers nearby that you can ravage for supplies.

 

Spoiler

The Chaingun portal throws you right in the thick of it, letting you carve a path through the library from the ground floor. it also offers a pretty light start, and most tantalizing, will spit you out almost right next to an SSG. For those not looking to throw themselves into a hail of bullets in the library, Eternal also gives you quick access to the beautiful balcony area where the yellow key door is, where you can snag an early rocket launcher, and find a brief moment of respite among the pond and lush greenery. Heading down the stairs nearby will greet you with a flameboi, access to the blue key arena which you can start cleaning up, and scattered around are several boxes of rockets.

 

Spoiler

The Berserk & Armor path will spit you out in a lovely drawn viewing area with a sneak peek of the outside courtyard. This one is pretty close to the Chaingun portal. 

 

Spoiler

 

Overall it's a very cool concept, although I suspect their close approximation is due to Eternal wanting to keep his starting area fairly small, and he definitely succeeded. It's a testament to Eternal's years of experience that despite how intimidatingly big Plutonium Rust looks, its layout is surprisingly compact for a map its size, keeping it's yardage down with a lot of interconnectivity, bridges, tunnels, and carefully segmenting the map into manageable chunks. it's a playground for you to frolic through, with a lot of rewards for those that take the initiative to look around, and with a lot of ways to tackle it.

 

Ofc i can't talk about this map.. without discussing Eternal's visuals and... it's as detailed, thorough, and finely crafted as you would expect from the great Russian master. I don't think there is a single misaligned texture in his gorgeous brownstone halls.... every corner and every wall *perfectly* lined up, bringing to mind Espi's work.

 

His halls are adorned with arches, lighting gradients, supports, skylights, indentations that bring splashes of color, numerous nooks, bridges, light fixtures and bookcases... i am in awe... of his ability to craft such ornate set pieces.

 

Spoiler

 

There are just.. so many highlights: the magnificent grand spiral stairwell... Its long shadows reach out over the steps.. and its exterior is adorned with precisely drawn decor.

 

Spoiler

 

 

The main library, so orderly and stately, lovingly housing ancient texts.

 

Spoiler

 

This magnificent hallway leading down to the sewers... complete with one of the most ornate skylights I think I've ever seen, with decor reminiscent of the floating structures from his standalone WAD: Gravity.

 

Spoiler

 

The luscious courtyard... Its splashes of green, are well suited for its carefully sculpted greystone walls.

 

Spoiler

 

The awe-inspiring sand cavern... with its supports holding up a massive opening in the ceiling, its light spilling out across the expansive sands below.

 

Spoiler

 

This stairwell before the red key... each step, carefully drawn, curling around its support pillar, ushering you toward your prize.

 

Spoiler

 

Or the grand Colosseum, always just out of view,... Its silhouette stands tall in the distance. It might shock you to realize that this locale is.. surprisingly well-fleshed out~!  With portals, an entire drawn-up interior.. and even an exit! it feels like it could have been an early draft for the end of the map, or maybe even a secret exit if he'd originally planned it as a slot 15 perhaps?

 

Spoiler

 

I feel like I could be here forever... His work brings out the mapper in me, that is transfixed by the majesty of his craft, and swept away by his sheer creativity and ability to render his vision so precisely. His work reminds me of what a truly powerful tool of expression this game can be... and how delving through the community's expansive works inspired me to pick up mapping.

 

Thinking about encounters almost feels like a blur given it's lengthy playtime, but he certainly won't leave those hungry for blood feeling starved, from the massive fight in the yellow key courtyard, numerous archvile interjections, hot early encounters that will keep you moving as you gather supplies, and ofc the double spider showdown, with the queens of the desert untombed from their prisons, and fight amongst each other for control of the land~!

 

But beyond that.. the fighting is in a way, really a means to an end. Eternal is as always, the most steadfast disciple of TeamTNT, and by extension, his namesake: his beloved Eternal Doom. Those roots always reveal his mapping intent... the lust for adventure, creating a living breathing world, and letting the player be whisked away in what he's created. On that note... he has once again proven, to be one of Doom's greatest, in the art of making Doom feel alive. 

 

Does it necessarily belong in a Plutonia WAD? maybe? maybe not? But do I still love it to pieces? absolutely~!

Plutonium Rust is a masterful piece of work, heralding the return of one of Doom's most celebrated mappers...  and a welcome retreat, for those inflicted by wanderlust, and feel the pull of adventure...!  I wished that my hour-long playthrough could never end. Well done, Eternal.

 

Grade: A+

 

Order of Preference

Spoiler

Map11

Map06

Map 10

Map05

MAP01

MAP08

MAP03

MAP07

MAP02

MAP04

MAP09

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP11 - Plutonium Rust - Eternal (98%K/94%I/63%S):

Oof, this is a long one. One would expect, because of the map-slot, a maze full of archviles, luckly, Eternal offers us something completely different. The mapset keeps getting better and better as we are now inside a really intricate kind of "Plutonish" fortress, with an art-style that resembles some moments of Alien Vendetta's MAP20, as not only this level feels like a maze, but also, most of the tight corridors present to you incidental combats that will constantly lower your health. Everything is present here, Cyberdemons, Masterminds, arch-viles, everything. The early moments of exploring this map are the best ones, as the map kinda turns off after ten minutes of wandering around inside it. There are lots of secrets here, that often feel like overkill, as they gift you very good prices, I won't complain, as some of them may feel necessary for you to keep going on. This complex layout may often confuse you, as there are many paths that lead to the same place in different ways, so the best idea would be to proceed further, closer and closer to the keys. I really liked this one, but sadly it went on and on, and it went forever, until the point that, at the end, I got severly burnt out from it, and I could not enjoy the last setpieces, like the masterminds and arch-viles at the end, which I decided to skip, as fighting with low ammo/health was not a good option. I headed directly into the exit pad and refused to do more fighting. I can say Eternal did quite a honor to his name, as this map felt like an eternity to finish. I won't complain about the map's length, but I would start doing it is most of the maps follow the same length principle from now on, as Plutonia maps are usually short, and so far, most of those maps are quite the opposite. Nonetheless, it is a great map, and pretty welcome, specially coming from a Plutonia 2 mapper.

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP11

MAP07

MAP05
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP02
MAP03
MAP04

MAP10 (Ranked apart from the rest/own maps)
MAP06 

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP11 - “Plutonium Rust” by Eternal

 

Fair to say that Eternal hasn't lost his touch when it comes to slow burn maps. This one is full of architectural feasts and plenty of interesting locales on your way to the exit. I must confess that I think this map drags on a little too long, but the map is able to keep you entertained and interested during its run time. As usual the secrets aren't too difficult to spot if you know the author well and the rewards are typically high bar. 

The BFG is freely given to the player half way through the map, it was kind of nice to have it when you will only really need the weapon for a couple of fights. As such you are free to have some fun with it in places.

This is probably the best map so far, even though it technically struggle to feel Plutonia-like in any way. Is anyone tempted to start and Eternal Doom sequel and entice Eternal back to the fray?

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 11: Plutonia Rust - Eternal

100% kills and secrets

Time: 51:03

Deaths: 4

 

This was the map I was the most excited for when I saw the list of mappers. Eternal is one of the most respected mappers out there, which I'm sure anyone who has played his stuff can vouch for. I got into his stuff with Epic 2, which is still a very good megawad, and of course his other projects like Hell Ground and Frozen Time really show off his creativity as well. He isn't that active anymore, which is why it was surprising to see a new Eternal map was going to be released in 2022. And thankfully, he's still got it. This map was a lot bigger than I expected, taking me 40 minutes to reach the exit (plus deaths), and then the rest of the time was spent loking for the other 5 secrets I was missing. This is easily the best looking map in the WAD so far. Eternal's eye for visual design is top notch, with lots of nice little accents abound. Lots of curves and different heights in the rooms, and a very coherent sense of texture usage. I also like a lot of the ceilings here, with many rooms having cool looking designs. The Plutonia textures are really the only Plutonia-like elements to this map, as I'm pretty sure there's no map like this in that IWAD. Like I said, it's a big map with a lot of different paths you can take, though eventually you'll need to find the keys in order to really make progress. I thankfully went the route that allowed me to lower the blue key before reaching it, so I didn't have to spend time backtracking there. Combat for the most part is incidental, though there are a few ambushes. Said blue key ambush is simple with its monster layout (4 revs and 2 cacos), but bad play by me got me killed here. There's a nice little ambush by the BFG as well that said weapon makes quick work of, but you'll need to find the secret path to lower it first (which I did). Most of the ambushes have a small concentration of baddies, but the final one in the yellow key courtyard lays on the demons, with lots of revs and barons teleporting in, and a caco cloud being released on the other side of the court. Stepping back a bit, the yellow key is guarded by a cyb, who is kinda annoying, and can actually hit you through the narrow windows just inside the fort (cue another death). There's also the spider mastermind sandwich, which is easy to get them infighting, as long as you don't accidentally back up into the one behind you alerting it before the other one has a chance to fire and hit it (another death). When the exit lowers and the final 2 archies show up (final death), I then went to find the other secrets I had missed. Thankfully, a lot of them appear on the automap so you can see where you can start your searches. I was in the area just before the path to lower the blue key and I paused the game so I could open up the Doomwiki in another tab for help, but just before I could open a tab, I saw a hidden switch in a bookcase. Best pause screen ever! That actually helped me to find the other secrets I was missing as most of them were accessed in the same general area, so I didn't have to use the wiki at all. These secrets are good too, with stuff like megasphres in 2 of them, the plasma rifle, and the aforementioned BFG. They're hidden enough where most aren't too hard to figure out, but hidden enough where it's not obvious. Just keep an eye on your map and pay attention to the areas you can see that you haven't explored yet. So overall, this was a fantastic map. Eternal comes through again with a mid-WAD highlight that features great level and visual design, and fun encounters. Idk when this map actually was made and submitted by him, but it would be cool if he came back with another solo project someday.

[Tiramisu]

UV/limited saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP11 - Plutonium Rust

 

Unfortunately we seem to have reached the furthest possible point away from Plutonia-style gameplay.

 

I know just yesterday I was saying "oh, there's room for interpretations, it's what makes it interesting", but this map makes absolutely zero effort to come up with any sort of interpretation other than "adventure map dressed up in some Plutonia textures". In fact I would go as far as to say it is antithetical to Plutonia's design - careful, methodical exploration through a sprawling layout full of dead ends and backtracking, hitscanners deliberately placed to slow you down as opposed to hurry you along, hundreds of monsters in dozens upon dozens of rooms... The unfortunate cherry on the unfortunate top here is the occasionally pretty confusing progression - at one point I was absolutely baffled to discover an important switch hidden behind a tiny door, tucked away in some barely visible nook in some god-forsaken corner of the map.

 

The fights were nothing to write home about, either. I know that such a long map necessitates less intense fights overall, but some of the traps just felt comically weak - like f.eg. an absolutely menacing circular room with a dead marine, dead center, and a single switch on the wall. Pressing the switch released... two HKs and two Revenants. At that point I kind of felt like I was being the victim of a practical joke - dungeon-crawling around the place to super tense music, expecting harsh Plutonia-style traps around every corner, but the traps just kind of never came... Until I got used to it, the first few minutes were actually kind of nerve-wracking, in a way!

 

(on the topic of comically weak traps, the huge, beautiful underground beach setpiece with a trap that releases two, count 'em, two Revenants is also up there lol)

 

Also, just to get it out of the way, the fact that in such a long map you can get surprise sniped through a tiny window by a Cyberdemon that you haven't even seen by that point is just very not nice and I do not like it at all. I mean, it didn't actually happen to me, but it almost happened to me and that was enough to sour my early impressions of the map.

 

Yeah, it's an adventure map - and I don't like adventure maps. I didn't like them in Alien Vendetta (boy was it a mistake to play that wad saveless!), and I... was about to say I didn't like it here, but really, it wasn't that bad. I just had to let off a bit of frustration I had with the map early on, but around the halfway mark, once I adjusted my expectations, I did start enjoying myself. I saved twice along the way, but only had to load once after I died in the stupidest possible way to a hitscanner trap.

 

And yeah, I have to say I do appreciate the immense amount of work and inspiration that obviously went into this map - I really do! The visuals and atmosphere were absolutely, and I cannot stress this enough, absolutely on point. The map was just bursting at the seams with interesting pieces of geometry around every corner, and on top of that there's stuff like the Spiderdemons frozen inside the gelatin cubes, which was so interesting it honestly made me forgive how useless they were once they were released. :p Secret hunting was also a treat in this map, that goes without saying!

 

In the end, Plutonium Rust is a remarkable map that anyone will at the very least respect - but it feels tragically misplaced in this wad, to the point where it actively harms the map's reception in the eyes of people like me who entered it with completely wrong expectations.

 

Plutonia memories, MAP11 (Hunted) - The opening of "Sweet Little Dead Bunny" I think best describes the feelings of any player, myself included, who enters this map for the first time and slowly, slowly looks to the left...

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP03
MAP05

MAP07

MAP10

MAP02

 

MAP06

MAP11

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09

MAP01

 

Disclaimer - this is a highly subjective list. The only criteria here is basically my vague feelings during a single playthrough, so it's not to be taken too seriously! Also, even if a map is at the very bottom it doesn't mean it's "bad" or anything, just that it was my least favorite compared to the others.

 

Edited July 11, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[Celestin]

MAP12: Close Encounters by Egg Boy

Spoiler

The title doesn't lie, most of the fights are indeed staged in cramped areas. Additionally, health is rather scarce, especially early on. The starting room with like five or six revenants killed me a number of times and if they didn't, I ended up so low on health the hitscanners in the next area would finish me easily. I feel like there is really no room for error here. But when I finally survived this, I could deal with the rest of the map, more specifically, the encounters around the blue and yellow key, both feeling much more manageable than the start. The former gives you the rocket launcher in a small room to deal with an archvile, group of revenants and some other monsters. The latter is a larger arena, where mancubi fire from above and revenants chase you from the ground, while phase 2 involve several archviles. It's best to camp by a doorway and melt everything with plasma.

 

With both keys you can unlock the way to the red one, which is guarded by a teleporting horde of revenants and barons in a narrow corridor. There are tons of rockets, so just hold down fire until everything is dead. The last fight by the exit is nothing special, just take out the archvile ASAP (it's best if you have rockets left) and circle-strafe with plasma until everything else is dead.

 

I don't like the difficulty curve here, because after frustratingly hard start, the map returns to a more or less standard Plutonia-level challenge and enjoyment. It's not a bad map, I just wish the opening minute was toned down a bit.

Edited July 14, 2023 by Celestin

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 11: Plutonium Ruuuuhst

by Alexander S "Eternal"

 

Now here we've got a map that basically a mishmash of various Plutonian visual themes, but really doesn't play within the narrow range of Plutonian tropes as such. It's not hard to see why this was cut but what's harder to see is how one might fall on this. This is considerably larger and more complex than Agarthan Anomaly, surpassing it both in likely time to complete and monster count. Like it's inconceivable such a map could even have been in Plutonia 2. Secret hunting is its strongest aspect: it's incredibly easy to stumble into a hidden compartment, but even better when opening likely culprit random wads.

 

The combat, on the other hand, can't quite carry the map. 08 was just long enough that nothing really got tiresome, but despite the presence of some nicely-framed ambushes (hitscanners in some closets adjacent to a library, a chaingunner group accompanying a pair of Spider Masterminds very close to the exit, Arch-viles placed strategically throughout the map), there's just lots of looking around corners, making sure low-ranking enemies aren't taking us by surprise. I feel torn on the Revenant ambushes and my brain's a little too cooked to say much beyond one of them felt lamely obligatory. Like it would be one thing if the blue key didn't take so long to lower because things somewhat speeded up, but progression just gets drawn out and one really has to not mind getting lost. It's still a good map, but perhaps the midi choice could've been better. I like Eternal but this wasn't a map for me right now I think.

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[KickAss]

GZDooM 4.10, PB 3.0, HeXeReTiC HUD PB3 v8.3RC2e, Weapon Neural Upscale, Destroyable Decorations Definitive Edition, Glory Kills v29b, SilentDoomguy, Flashlight, -iwad doom2.wad (ver 1.666), -skill 4 (UV), continuous play, no saves.

 

 

MAP07 - “Argarthan Anomaly” by Captain Toenail

 

MAP08 - “Azure Ambition” by Sincity2100

 

MAP09 - “Church of Pollution” by The_SloVinator

 

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map11 “Plutonium Rust”

 

It would not be an exaggeration to say Eternal is the primary reason I’ve played this mapset already, seeing he had an entry in PRCP2 pushed it to the top of my interest list. Fittingly, his return to the mapping scene brings us our second big boy of the megawad, a venture through a baroque mansion/castle that meets expectations and then some.

 

Right off the bat Eternal presents us with a neat gimmick, a choose your own adventure style pregame area in which we can pick our starting position. Truth be told, there isn’t much point to it, the landing spots are all within a couple seconds of each other. Regardless, after entering the map proper we are beset with a gorgeous brown wood and stone setting, meticulously crafted and rich with detailing. Seriously, just take some time to look around the level…. Ramparts, stairs, floor rugs, lighting. TeamTNT’s superstar pupil’s mastery of ambiance is on full display, giving us an environment that is marvelous to behold. I found exploring the place very rewarding, and I don’t just mean the eleven secrets dotted throughout the map.

 

Gameplay is the slow burn characteristic of Eternal maps, with moderate resistance inhabiting most areas. Our resources are more than sufficient to advance at a brisk pace, especially with the many secrets (which contain pretty good items). Like many other levels in the set, we can visit much of the map immediately, but actual progression must be done in key order (blue key first). There are also a handful of switches needed to access said keys, adding a layer of complexity to routing. Despite the likelihood of getting lost in the order of operations, at no point now or during my earlier playthough did I get frustrated. The estate is such a joy to walk around in that wandering about doesn’t bother me (Book Lord’s comparison to Misri Halek is apt as that map has similar properties).

 

Eternal does break up the midrange monotony with some higher intensity scenarios, usually around keys. The first one is a cramped revenant waltz at the blue key, which isn’t particularly tough (and you can just jump off the platform). Next, we have the red key ambush, taking place in a quiescent library. A bunch of revenants and backup dancers teleport in, providing a fairly entertaining fracas that can be demolished with that BFG you hopefully just grabbed. Finally, we have the headliner, the yellow key courtyard rumble in which Eternal unleashes an army of barons, revenants, cacos, and imps while locking the player out of leaving the area. Zero in on the chaingunner snipers immediately and make sure to watch your space to prevail (and to add a layer of spice, try to yoink the key from under cybie without killing him, he’ll infight everything for you).  

 

As a side note be careful while moving around outside or through the landing above the blue door, that cyberdemon is of at least sharpshooter qualification.

 

To finish, head northwest through the yellow bars and into a very scenic outdoor hollow with two idle spider masterminds. Only one is facing you upon freeing them, so if you kill the chaingunners before hitting the switch, you should be able to get them to infight safely. While they’re busy, head around and take care of the remaining enemies in your way (notably three archviles). Reward the victorious spider with some tracers and walk into the diamond to cap off a magnificent level.

 

So yeah, Eternal is back and just as good as ever. Despite the name, the prevailing view is that this level is not even remotely Plutonia and while that’s probably true when we’re at this tier of quality the thematic failure is much easier to overlook (and I at least see some Plutonia 2 in the design, specifically Nuclear Horror). Plutonium Rust is a spectacular adventure as worthy of the term “epic” as any Doom level I’ve played. It is the banner map of the megawad right now and I don’t see that title being relinquished any time soon.

 

prcp2map11.zip

Time: 23:00   Kills: 385/385    Secrets: 11/11

Edited July 12, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[Book Lord]

MAP 12 – Close Encounters by @Egg Boy

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

 

Egg Boy said he was excited to see his map make people a little upset, but I cannot see how anybody could choose a Plutonia spin-off and be annoyed with the gameplay offered by Close Encounters. The colour scheme reminded me of Cydonia MAP18, albeit with tiny custom details brought by the author himself (various mid-textures and Inca carvings), and the swift & deadly ambush style felt in line with the modern take on the subject.

Spoiler

As typical of megaWADs with inconsistent damaging floors, it took me some time to realise that the green slime that you are required to cross repeatedly without shielding suits was completely safe. The SSG was given right away but it came with a squad of Revenants which was quite satisfying to fight on the terrace. Pistol starters might find it easier to enter the overgrown temple to snatch a Combat Armour and the secret Berserk Pack, if they check for suspicious asymmetries and keep an eye open for zombie ambushes. When I emerged to the northern side of the building, the number of Revenants and Mancubi required a stronger weapon, but its finding was delayed until I dropped in the pit near the BSK.

 

Pressing the switch behind the rocket launcher sprang a lethal trap, because I instinctively hit the backpedal when I saw a Pain Elemental trying to kiss me. I fell prey to a Revenant squad with an Arch-Vile to boot without knowing that bars had trapped me inside, so I was dead in the blink of an eye. The best approach to the ambush was to hug the Pain Elemental and repel the Spectres with either Berserk or chaingun, and deal with the other monsters later, since they were deaf and did not came after me. The rocket launcher allowed me to clear the path to the YSK, which offered the plasma rifle and quite a bit of cells, necessary to contain the shocking Arch-Vile & Hell Knight triplex that spawned a millisecond after pressing the switch marked with yellow skulls.

Spoiler

The previously mentioned keys were used to access the RSK, coming with a load of rockets and a sizeable teleport of Barons and Revenants. This was the least effective encounter in store, but it was a lot of fun to cause as much infighting as possible. Close Encounters ended with the hardest set piece, a square crowded with Imp and Revenant under the eyes of an Arch-Vile. The healer must be prioritised, or he will eventually blast the player, since there was no reliable cover from his line of sight. Egg Boy killed me several times on his map, but no hard feelings from my side. I wish more maps were so fun and fast to play.

[Catpho]

 Fell behind again. Finished 11 today so I wrote something while still fresh. Will catch up in posts in the meantime.

 

MAP04 - “Decayed Redoubt” by riderr3

 

The clubgoers here have already done a great job dissecting the non-linear aspects of the level, and why it doesn’t work as well as riderr3 might’ve wanted. I’ll just add that the level’s combat is pretty much dead for me once the YK is grabbed. The RK might as well be given for free, but the level’s homerun to the exit is equally harmless; it consists of a giant funnel of stuff that you can easily run past; which is still better than the alternative of a long sequence of grinding meat rushing down a tunnel. My favorite part of the map, ultimately, was the fight on the stone/blood lake, as it is fun to rocket things off pillars. Even during this segment, I found the resistance to be rather one-note, being generally very frontal with their attacks with little variation.

 

Visually, the texturing and shaping is generally solid, although I found the use of greens in the interiors to be garish. The most pressing problem is how everything is very flatly-lit, which makes the level seem much more bare than it really is.

 

MAP11 - “Plutonium Rust” by Eternal

 

Always a treat to get a "feature-length" level from Eternal, considering his years long content drought, and also to see it so (deservingly) warmly received, for it is rich in every possible angle. We can start with the visuals, which have been praised in abundance — to list them all would be tedious, as the list of candidates for case studies is long, so I'll settle with marveling at how he uses low ceilings as an opportunity to have the player face-to-face with palatial sculpted details using deceptively simple but skillful geometrical & texturing tricks, strategically paced dramatic shadows, windows positioned like paintings in a staid gallery, to render the dusty, clogged air of the long forgotten without a single cobweb asset. We can talk about the consistent intrigue generated by the structure, and that's before touching the dense carpet of secrets (within secrets).

Better yet, that "Rust" still facilitates varied room heights and wide floor plans if need be, and how the bendy, cloak and dagger architecture dictates a deliberate but never repetitive style of monster placement. Specifically, Eternal gives a fascinating demonstration of just how many variations you can wring out of having low-tiers and mid-tiers gang up on you in small groups, seamlessly sliding every creature in and out of main attacker and support roles in several permutation of stuff-behind-pillars placement, and breaking them up with more choreographed, dense fights and conceptual bits, such as the cyber garden.

While inspiration for monster placement is not lacking, I'll agree with cannonball that it can still feel drawn out, by virtue of plateauing in intensity fairly early. The punctuation points in the level, while palpable, are not too much of a step-up in demands, and thus the level does not have much of an arc and leave events to blend into each other, no matter how well each moment was handled. Eternal combat setups, while consistently thought out, are also fairly mild compared to modern Doom fight setups in terms of how many moving parts it is willing to keep up in the air. This alone would probably keep it from the very top-tier of this mapset for me, but there's no denying what's here is very good work.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Catpho
Removed some vague and unnecessary stuff. I'll try to figure it out on my own :P

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP12: Close Encounters by @Egg Boy

 

(UV Pistol Start, Played on DSDA, 100% Kills, 0% Secrets. Completion Time: 14:27)

Time for Egg Boy's lone contribution to the set, where they attempt to rip out your heart and feed it to you, goddamn~! I will compliment Eggboy on being incredibly generous with shells, and more importantly: cells, because you are gonna need them. Eggboy also pairs their modestly hot start with chaingunners & revenants by gifting you a backpack and SSG. Actually, on that note, I have to congratulate Eggboy on a terrible job well done, because the positioning of the spooky skeletons, especially those on higher ground, actually makes the combination of rockets fairly hard to avoid, meaning standing your ground in the starting area and picking them off rather than simply retreating becomes deceptively difficult, so well done~! Another bright spot for this map is its layout: Egg Boy essentially gives you free rein to tackle the early stages of the map in w/e order you want, With the temple interior probably being the easiest to tackle first, as it offers the lightest resistance. 

 

The blue key area is full of hitscanners around corners, dug-in boney boi's and roaming Mancubi ready to jump you, and things don't soften up from there as hitting a switch drops in line of sight of two shotgunners and mancubi. Eggboy once again bears their fangs as he gifts you a rocket launcher and then greets you with a point-blank pain elemental and some specters as a treat for those who weren't omniscient enough to swap weapons. It's a tad rude, but I also appreciate that Eggboy is merciful enough to have the trigger be the switch and not via linedefs, so yeah, small mercies. The actual ensuing fight is definitely the easiest in the map to disarm, as the revenants and archie appear to be set to ambush and won't wake up if you deal with the other half of the room first.

 

It's probably around when you grab the blue key that players will start to realize that Health is not plentiful in this map. So buckle down, you haven't seen the worst of it yet~! Thankfully Eggboy isn't so cruel as to not offer you at least 1 secret to soften the blows, offering you a Berserk for spotting an out-of-place green torch in the temple, although in my sleep deprived state I missed that my first go around.

 

The road to the yellow key is just as threatening as the bluekey path is, with a combination of hitscanners, perched mancubi & Revenants, although some of it is easy to slowly dismantle if you have rockets, albeit less so if you rush in and cross a linedef that release an archvile, and then eggboy twists the knife by locking you in with him and even more so if you grab the plasma rifle, as hell knights spawn in to potentially close off your escape.

 

While the map has had a lot of surprises this far, I don't think anything could prepare me for the sheer audacity and shock of the yellow key fight, where Eggboy unleashes 3 archviles with an entourage, and gives you a kings ransom of cells to put them down.  it's a bear of a fight, but damn does it ever get the blood pumping~!!

 

The Red Key fight is by far the easiest fight, pitting you against an incoming wall of bone-in red meat and your given a lot of rockets of flambeau them. The real challenge here is trying not to rocket yourself on the wooden supports as you swerve revenant missiles~!  

 

the ending fight is incredibly exhilarating~! as Eggboy tasks you with managing incoming waves of enemies while managing your sightlines against a perched archvile. If you find yourself struggling here, you can rush the archie with the rocket launcher and then use the plasma to quell the incoming hordes.

 

Also, i have a feeling this is maybe intentional, but you can archvile jump over the final gate, a welcome skip for speedrunners I'm sure.

 

On the visual end of things,  Egg Boy's overgrown Temple looks very good~! The abundant green really pops against the blood-red sky, almost reminiscent of Scythe 2's Earth Jungle episode. 

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Maybe it's just the masochist in me, but i actually really enjoyed Eggboy's map~!

 

Definitely packs a LOT of bite for first-time players, but all-in-all still a really solid & compact map, with tightly choreographed fights~!

 

Grade: B+

 

Order of Preference 

 

Spoiler

Map11

Map06

Map 10

Map05

MAP01

MAP08

MAP12

MAP03

MAP07

MAP02

MAP04

MAP09

 

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by HiMyNameIsChair
Woops~! forgot the completion time~!

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP12 - Close Encounters - Eggboy (100%K/I/S):

This is not a Plutonia-styled map by any means, it is just a mid-way Sunlusty map disguised in Plutonia textures. Plutonia+ I should say, as there are some Aztec-like textures that don't belong in Plutonia, or maybe they should, considering MAP03's name, but hey, at least it maintains consistency between damage floors, or I should say, inconsistency. As said before, gameplay is nothing like Plutonia, as the heavy use of large groups of the same monster makes this level focus more on a slaughter take, rather than your usual Chaingunner/Revenant heavy stuff. Not something I was expecting this early, but it certainly annoyed me because of such intensity in gameplay, but I guess it goes in line with Speed from the OG Plutonia IWAD. Luckly this did not go forever as MAP11, as this could have ranked as one of the lowest, in my books, possibly because of exhaustion from yesterday's map. The best thing from Close Encounters has to be the visuals, for sure. The worst, the severe ammount of archviles you have to fight, specially on the big arena before the red key. Spicy map, relax and take your time to finish such an entry.

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP11

MAP07

MAP05
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP04

MAP10 (Ranked apart from the rest/own maps)
MAP06 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2023 by DJVCardMaster

[cannonball]

^To be honest a map that feels like Sunlust is going to be more representative of the plutonia spirit than some of the other maps found so far. Even more so as this is a boom compatible project.

 

MAP12 - “Close Encounters” by Egg Boy

 

Well this one steps up the gas in terms of difficulty, the pressure remains pretty high throughout with some standout encounters. The yellow key is a real hair raiser with 3 archviles along with some revenants and hell knights. This is by far the hardest trap so far. The final fight too is a classic case of prioritising threats, notably the arch vile that sits in one corner. In the end the only fight that was lacking was the red key corridor where the sadism shown so far relented with a brief rocket fest for the revenants and barons that teleport in, but this is very minor and was still fun to put down.

This was a clean, visually pleasing and frenetic start to the second episode and is a proper foil to the adventurous slow burn of the previous map. Good stuff.

[Egg Boy]

32 minutes ago, DJVCardMaster said:

MAP12 - Close Encounters - Eggboy (100%K/I/S):

This is not a Plutonia-styled map by any means, it is just a mid-way Sunlusty map disguised in Plutonia textures. Plutonia+ I should say, as there are some Aztec-like textures that don't belong in Plutonia, or maybe they should, considering MAP03's name, but hey, at least it maintains consistency between damage floors, or I should say, inconsistency. As said before, gameplay is nothing like Plutonia, as the heavy use of large groups of the same monster makes this level focus more on a slaughter take, rather than your usual Chaingunner/Revenant heavy stuff.

Not that I'm defending it, BUT iirc Joshy specifically said to aim for early Sunlust with low monster counts and high intensity. I would also say that Sunlust takes a lot of inspiration from Plutonia. I think your ideas about what Plutonia should be are different from mine haha

Edited July 12, 2023 by Egg Boy

[DJVCardMaster]

Just now, Egg Boy said:

Not that I'm defending it, BUT iirc Joshy specifically said to aim for early Sunlust with low monster counts and high intensity. I would also say that Sunlust takes a lot of inspiration from Plutonia. I think your ideas about what Plutonia should be are different from mine haha

Indeed, I remember, that also explains a lot of why most maps could differ from original Plutonia 1 and 2.
For me Sunlust only takes from Plutonia the "cheesy" encounters aspect, but doubles in monster count, Sunlust always felt like a totally different take though.

[Egg Boy]

While I'm here, I should probably do a post mortem on this thing. I was able to capture that frantic feeling that a lot of Plutonia has, where you spend the first few minutes of a map running around, looking for weapons and armor while being pursued by monsters and accidentally falling into encounters, that's something I always associate with Plutonia. My main goal was to promote aggressive play, I've seen people try to play this map conservatively and it almost never works out. As a pistol start, the blue armor should be priority number one, then the RL encounter to get some much needed fire power. I don't usually make difficult maps, so it was fun to make something more challenging. I'd say the open layout is probably my favorite part, I want to make a sequel to this map at some point.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 12: Close Encounters - Egg Boy

100% kills and secrets

Time: 12:02

 

I've played a fair bit of Egg Boy maps, mostly as part of the Squanker Team sets, and their stuff is usually pretty good. Same goes here. First of all, this would have given me a much harder time if I pistol started this. But I don't do that on a WAD's first playthrough, so I got to keep my BFG and 200/200 health from the last map. And boy am I glad, since this map throws a lot at you right off the bat. Just getting to the SSG will alert the Pultonia duo (rev and chaingunner), and then 4 other revs get alerted. You don't have the ammo for it if you pistol start, so good luck finding some and not dying in the process. I was afforded the luxury of being able to take my time and enjoyed this spicier than normal incidental combat. You can grab the first 2 keys in any order. I went blue first since that was the first one I found. Similar to another map in this set, you end up having the floor pulled out from under you when you hit a switch to lower the key. This sends you to an arena with just a few mancs, and imps, and 2 chaingunners that teleport in behind you. Nothing too bad, but the soul sphere and rockets scattered about foreshadow a bigger encounter. Grab the RL and hit the switch to open up a barrage of revs, a pain elemental, an archie, and a few tucked away chaingunners. Bars block off your escape route too. If it wasn't for my BFG, this would have cooked me easily, and is probably the best example of the map's title you'll encounter here. Not a ton of room to rocket, and you have the fastest non-boss monsters closing the gap quickly. Thankfully, the yellow key ambush is more open, but also more dangerous. Despite being given the plasma and cells, I'd say pistol starters should use the RL here, as you have to face off with 3 archies and a smattering of hell knights, so eliminating the archies ASAP is the main objective. Continuous players like me however should thank Egg Boy for the cells and BFG the crap out of everything. Still a nail-biter tho as you can easily get zapped. 2 keys in hand, we can use them to grab the red key and initiate a surprisingly easy encounter. It's honestly shockingly easy and doesn't seem to fit in with the rest of the map. It's literally just a hallway rocket fest. Revs and barons spawn at one end, so spam rockets at them. No threat whatsoever. After that baffling encounter, we get a nice little ending piece. Hit the switch to open the exit, but you'll have to deal with a wave of imps, a wave of revs, and an elevated archie in the corner. Rocket/BFG the archie first while the imps come in, so you don't have to worry about it when revs show up. In terms of encounters in this map, I'd put it in the middle difficulty-wise. The lone secret in this map isn't very obvious, and I can see a lot of people not finding it without looking it up. You need to pay attention to objects in the map. Overall, this was a nice difficulty increase for the WAD! Outside of the red key ambush, this map will keep you on your toes with some challenging fights. 

[Endless]

MAP11: Plutonium Rust

Holy fuck, I was not aware that the legend, the myth, the man, Eternal, would have a map here. When I read his nickname on the intermission scream, I braced myself. Eternal is my favorite mapper of all time. Never once has he truly let me down. Every map I've played, even the small random ones, are entertaining unique experiences, and Plutonium Rust is a magnificent example of his detailed, intricate, almost sadistic level of detail, that goes into his map making art. He is an sculptor, and WADs are his marble. There's not much to say other than pure praise for this map. It is gorgeous, stupidly so, so magnificent and detailed that it feels like I can smell the wood and the old books. It is diverse in styles while also complimentary. No part feels copy-pasted, and everything is ah, lovely. Gameplay is fun, as usual, a full platter of surprise encounters and well-designed combat that puts empahis in exploration over difficulty. Enemies are part of the landscape, and it flows so damn well.

 

Only complaint is that, by pretty much sheer nature, this map is huge, and as such, it is pretty messy to navigate. It can be confusing at times, but there's no puzzles to break down, or switches to hunt, it is just that it is so big, and has so many paths to take, that you will, one way or another, get lost, but as long as you are heading the right way, you will find your exit out of this piece of top tier mapping.

 

Eternal, return to us.

 

 

MAP12: Close Encounters

A beautiful dark piece of brutal violence in fast speed and close quarters. The change in tone and style is one that's pretty enjoyable. From the previous soft colors, to something more abrasive, toxic and darker. Egg Boy makes a very enjoyable experience that's quite simple in concept, but really well done when it comes to the execution. Made out of mostly square areas, the layout is very understandable and simple to navigate, and it mostly moves in a linear manner. I don't mind this at all! As a matter of fact, I tend to prefer maps that are linear and respect my time wasted. Here we have a very well done and fun map that's pretty much a solid example of simple fun. Nothing really bad, nothing really exceptional, other than a great use of vines and green textures that go smoochie-good with the overall texture set.