The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 26: Golgotha - Xyzzy01

100% kills and secrets

Time: 9:25

Deaths: 2

 

Xyzzy01 is a mapper that I'm aware of but haven't played a lot by. I've played their maps in Nova III and Refracted Reality, but as usual with me, I don't remember anything about them. It's been a while since I've played them. Refracted Reality in general is pretty underrated I think. As for this map, if it wasn't for the fact I was playing continuous, this would have been a lot harder. I pulled out the BFG whenever I saw an archie, which was several times. This is easily the smallest map in a very long time, and with the lowest enemy count in a while too. But most of the monsters are mid-tiers. There's 15 chaingunners, but that's it for weaklings. Hope you like revs, spiders, mancs, barons, and archies! There aren't many ambushes here due to the map size, but they're tough. You have the rev fight with approaching pink doors (barons), and the yellow key fake out that sends a bevy of revs your way, and an archie or 2 to revive them and the chaingunners. Heck, the start is incredibly hot with an archie and 4 mancs targeting you immediately (didn't die!). The last 2 fights I did were the ones I did die. First off was the technical final fight with lots of mancs, 2 arachnotrons, and a cyb. There's a BFG behind the mancs, but no other cells, making this seem relatively pointless. I didn't have much luck getting the cyb to infight. It did a little bit, but it was mostly targeting me. The other fight is the secret rocket launcher fight. This one I think is the toughest, as there's not a lot of room to rocket, and you kinda need to use rockets on the revs and archie hightailing it to you. You also don't get a lot of rockets for it either. I can't imagine this one is very fun on pistol-start, as ammo seems to be lacking. Co-op seems worse tho. It jumps from 5 archies to 24! With no extra ammo! Jesus. Overall, this map's brevity is appreciated, but there could be more ammo and the RL should be out in the open.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP26 - Golgotha - Xyzzy01 (81%K/100%I/100%S):
 

This is more like it, two maps in a row that feel quite similar and are punishing in a Plutonia sense. Sadly, yesterday's map was just an abuse of mid-tiers with little to no space to navigate, in comparison, this map feels Plutonia the most of the entire megawad, short, punishing, similar looks and gameplay, but the good thing is that IT ACTUALLY lets you use space to maneuver. And of course, even though the RL fight was dreadful with the ammount of enemies it had, luckly the monster count overall was just enough for a Plutonia-styled map. Well done, fights are well staged, but playing this after MAP24 and MAP25 in the same playthrough made me skip the last battle (yet again). This is what yesterday's should have been, for sure.

Again, another short map, two in a row, say goodbye to them, as the next two maps will take you 30 minutes each.
 

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11
MAP23

MAP07

MAP05
MAP24
MAP26
MAP22
MAP20
MAP32
MAP15
MAP21
MAP31
MAP19
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP14
MAP16
MAP13
MAP25
MAP04

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

 

 

[finnks13]

MAP26 - Golgotha by Xyzzy01:

6:20/3 Deaths
Golgotha is the only map in PRCP2 that I am not playing blind, as I've played it before in Xyzzy's compilation wad "Xerxesia" (which we should still totally play with the club at some point, it's cool) and I really liked it there, and I still really like it here. It's the sort of thing that I was expecting PRCP2 to be going into it - maps that decidedly feel "Plutonia" but also feel like they've got the author's stamp on them. You've got funny details such as the turbo scrolling SP_FACE1 that's everywhere, but also the rather unusual choice to lock out the best fight in the map (and the rocket launcher it gives you) behind a fairly obscure secret involving a pressure plate. I knew where this was having played the map before, and also knew about the horde of revenants supported by some archviles that picking it up would release. While it's very unforgiving, I absolutely love this fight, because managing to take out just enough revenants to squeeze past the rest and grab the megasphere in the corner of the arena is so satisfying. As you'd hope from such a difficult encounter, the rocket launcher makes the rest of the map after you've gotten it significantly easier than if you were just stuck with the SSG.

 

I really like the yellow key area that has you running through a small gauntlet of corridors with cages blocking paths & allowing projectiles through and then once you've been baited by the yellow key (and treated to a face full of super speed SP_FACE1), the layout of the cages changes completely and you're now having to dodge archviles & chaingunner attacks at the same time with a new layout that you have to figure out immediately, it's a great fight and a great surprise. The ending is a small infighting puzzle, which is fine but probably the weakest part of the level - you're given a BFG to deal with the cyberdemon once it's done so thankfully cleanup takes no time at all. I've seen some people talk about this map's visuals as if it's really ugly, but after a bunch of unclear and messy maps, the incredibly clean and simplistic visuals are a breath of fresh air and they feel absolutely perfect for a Plutonia homage. It's not a surprise that a map this brief after all the behemoths we've been playing recently is going to be a welcome sight, but even ignoring that, this map is bloody fantastic.

 

Overall, Golgotha is exactly what I was hoping that most of PRCP2 would be, unfortunately it's the exception and not the rule. But what an exception it is, I'd love to play a full episode of Xyzzy plutonia maps in this style.

 

But what do the teleporters look like?????

Spoiler

MAP26 - 4/10. It seems like all the effort went into making the map really fun instead of making the Plutonia teleporters exactly how I like them. How dare you >:(

 

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by finnks13
gave the teleporter a bonus point since xyzzy pointed out my obvious hypocrisy :P

[cannonball]

MAP25 - “Sting Operation” by General Rainbow Bacon

 

This map felt very flawed and wonky in places and it certainly felt a little too stingy on health. However there were a lot of good things to this map. It is short and fairly concise, there is plenty of action to be had and some neat and hair-raising moments. That said the ending sequence isn't good, I am not sure how and why the final area was designed how it was, but it resulted in combat that felt very off. The cyberdemon felt a little pointless (Ironically it would have been better to simply release the pop-up archviles when hitting the switch to open the exit.

Not a bad level, once you get over some of the misgivings, the yellow key crusher section was pretty neat.

 

MAP26 - “Golgotha” by Xyzzy01

 

Okay this one is genuinely short, most of the action tends to involve a lot of bigger monsters (Which helps as you can often use them to distract other monsters). Again you can essentially allow the cyber at the exit to move away and slip past, but grabbing the BFG and instigating infighting was more fun. I found the secret (Which contains a pretty decent fight) after everything else was completed. 

Overall a very nice and compact map, no real complaints.

PS the visuals are fine, clean in a Scythe 2 kind of way.

 

Edited July 26, 2023 by cannonball

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 26: Golgotha

by Devon " @xyzzy " Barnett

 

Someone easier than I've come to expect from xyzzy, "somewhat" being the operative word. While someone thinking quick can probably handle the opening traps the first time around, that becomes a much taller order later on. Hiding from the Arch-vile from the start isn't too hard but one should be more aggressive with their Mancubi guardians than we were. The only available staircase will take us to a little temple and walkway combo, the entering of which will provoke a massive crowd of pop-up Revenants to appear, along with a Baron of Hell or two. Although we can grab a Berserk Pack if we're quick, it wouldn't be of much use against this fiercesome murder until much later. Still, this is a "horde every shot" type of map but that's not so obvious from the outset.

 

An outside switch opens a door to a hallway which an Arch-vile comes bursting out of. When we enter the courtyard here, stairs instantly appear on either side, along with a quad of Arachnotrons that almost made us wish we'd conserved our ammo earlier but it wasn't too bad. Entering the beautiful little vined hallway the Arch-vile appeared from leads to a currently closed door and a mysterious pressure plate which seems to open something a distance away. Turns out it's a shootable switch that can be seen from the ancient greenhouse which lowers the fence near the rocket launcher we saw earlier.

 

It's too bad this RL is hiding a horribly sadistic trap behind us containing a small army of Revenants and at least one Arch-vile. Worst part is how likely it is they'll come down stairs on both sides since they'll be taking up every other square inch of real estate. At some point though, there should be enough room to run in and grab the Megasphere sitting in the corner of the open courtyard.

 

After this, we head toward the door that's opened on the other side that seems quiet...too quiet..until a couple of pop-up Arachnotrons appear in front of us, distracting us from the deceptively large mob of chaingunners hanging out near the fence. Though we survived the first time, our health was too low to deal with the subsequent fury, so we had to reload.

 

What was this fury, you may ask? Some extremely dickish Revenant/Arachnotron/Changunner/Arch-vile teleportation of course! Right after we cross to a yellow key, which is then blocked off by a wall of screaming skulls. It ain't for nothing this map's called Golgotha after all. We didn't even initially guess there was a second Arch-vile and needless to say, we were all but drained of ammo by the time we were all done and collected the only accessible yellow key.

 

And here we come up with a fight where the two distinct enemies may still fight each other, but leave you drained when trying to kill the rest. This refers to the Cyberdemon marching out of the temple of course, along with the Mancubi appearing from the massive hallway behind you! There's a BFG behind the Mancubi facing the void but you've got only one shot - make it count! Not until the Mancubi are all dead of course, but unfortunately, the Cyberdemon has a height advantage that proves a little difficult for even 15-20 Mancubi to counterattack. So naturally, we ended up killing the Cyberdemon with our very last bullet, after we went through the trouble to cause infighting with the very last Mancubus. Although we would have had some shells and bullets left if we hadn't wasted any on the Mancubus.

 

I probably prefer this to 25 because it's a little bit less confusing. At the same time....

23 hours ago, finnks13 said:

 

 

Overall, Sting Operation is a real return to form and while I can understand why this has been a rather controversial map in the club, I can't deny it's the most fun I've had with PRCP2 in a long time.
 

But what do the teleporters look like?

  Reveal hidden contents

MAP25 - 8/10. They look perfect, but unfortunately you don't start on the starting teleporter which is, as has been previously discussed, an illegal mapping action. Also if you were to clip up to the teleporter, you'd find that the ceiling is too low for doomguy to jump off the ledge it's placed on to the spawn point of the map which I think suggests that PRCP2 doomguy can crouch, and that's inconsistent with lore so I don't appreciate that.

 

^{This first one was such a pain in the arse to get a picture of, I had to take it in a different source port that has a fly mode, and even then the picture still looks like shit :P}

 

~~~

VOTES!

+++ Finely Crafted Fetish Film, Old Still Life, Jumpwad (obviously the best choice here, i want to see a bunch of people lose their minds in Mechanical Embrace like i did :P)

 

and because I don't want to play D2ISO (and it seems like it's the only competitor at the moment!):

+++ Abscission

 

 

I think I'd have enjoyed the last one a lot more but I'm picking and choosing maps at this point because unfortunately I'm a little tired because Finn and I actually have very similar combat preferences, I might just have a larger pallette?

 

But on another note, let's not mind him for being a Tarnsman hater:) Not everyone can appreciate a mapper who likes engaging in light trolling all the time every now and then.

 

 

[Tiramisu]

1 hour ago, finnks13 said:

I've seen some people talk about this map's visuals as if it's really ugly

 

I never said that, I only meant to say that they're a bit too basic but otherwise fine! Now, I was curious about this so I actually went back and took a stroll around the map without monsters, and honestly on second look I agree that it looks perfectly fine, especially as a Plutonia homage. It is simple, but I'm not sure where I got the "mono-textured" thing from as that is not the case at all - it's just that for some reason, all I remembered from my first playthrough was basically a solid clump of beige, I think I was just too focused on the fights to actually notice any of the details :P

Edited July 26, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[HiMyNameIsChair]

Map 25: Sting Operation By Sebastian Graham (General Rainbow Bacon)

 

(Played on DSDA, UV Pistol Start. 102% Kills / 100% Secrets. Completion Time 19:04)

Oh sweet christmas, finally some decent food~! it's been a dire time in episode 3 but  General Rainbow Bacon gets us back on track, with a distinctly Plutonic map, and boy howdy do they not pull any punches~! 

 

The start here is white hot, with shotgunners, skeletons, a few imps,  and some chaingunners off near one of the windows that you can thankfully crush with a switch. it's one of the hardest starts in awhile and i welcomed it with open arms. 

 

Ammo is gonna be tight in this early section, but you can find an early Berserk via a hidden teleporter down in the blood marked by a candle to the east along with a megaarmor, a map, and some ammo you'll appreciate later. Sadly you wont get to punch anything just yet (unless you can squeeze past the pinkies),  as the next ambush is a mix of chaingunners,  perched revenants, mancubi and a spider on the ground floor.

 

Hold on to your hat for the next part because General Rainbow Bacon takes off the kid gloves, and picking up the red key unleashes an absolute clusterfuck of a fight, with an assorted bestiary spearheaded by an archvile. The horseshoe design of the eastern half of this arena really is the star of this fight, as there is no way to cut through it, and it makes navigating the battlefield tricky. You're only real escape is the teleporter that takes you to the first secret which you should use if you feel like you're going to get pinned. Getting to the archvile here is going to be an uphill battle, but do not fret. Keep moving, manage your ammo carefully, and try and get the pissed-off martian to come after you and separate him from his posse.

 

It's a mean fight, maybe even a little overturned, but after what the start of this episode had to offer i actively welcome the brimstone.

 

Next, through the red door and it's a classic Plutonia moment with pop-up chaingunners, and even spiked with a bit of TNT with a soulshere hidden behind a fake wall. you'll also get some meat to punch out with a Hell noble and his lesser cohorts around the corner, and after remembering the ammo drought at the start, i just started boxing here. The start of the yellow key fight is a devious little fight, with a cramped crusher room with a safe perimeter and two archies who will make themselves at home. A lot can go wrong here but i surprisingly made it out ok by being aggressive with my SSG shots.

For those who need another pick me: hit the switch that lowers the red key pillar again, hop on, and look for a set of eyes that don't belong, netting you some health, ammo, and a handy backpack.

The pool of blood surrounded by a cage is maybe a little messy on execution but thankfully the plasma rifle will help you punch through the meatier foes. The baron that pops up at the top of the stairs however... that one I can't really defend, that's just flat-out mean, and the fact you can't really autoaim at him at the bottom of the stairs is a bit much.

 

Also, i feel like the progression here could be a bit more clear as it's hard to gauge exactly what the switch does at first. 

 

Punch out more pinkies, rocket some caco's, hose down the oversized cow with plasma and lay waste to two more archies, and that's a wrap~!

All in all.... yeah I can definitely see why this one would ruffle feathers, it is a mean SOB, and while the Plutonia flavor is distinct, it does lack refinement in a few spots. It definitely makes it a bit rough around the edges and it could have used some fine tuning. So if you felt like you got burned here, your frustration is definitely valid. 

 

Despite that, I did come out of this one somewhat satisfied, as it's generally pretty short, and truth be told I'm a sucker for frantic, high-intensity fights, so this really hit the spot for me, albeit it did leave me longing for a bit more. While more faithful to the Plutonia than most, there are other maps in the set that faithfully emulate its ethos that I like a bit more. Also, thinking about it, the fire really dies down a bit after the archvile crusher room,  and while the cage room *can* go wrong, you're given enough plasma to dismantle it, especially if you find the secret backpack.

 

Overall: Not quite a show-stealer and definitely divisive, but if you're not deterred by fire and brimstone... it's not half bad. otherwise, this one might have you leaving a bit sour.

 

Grade: B-

 

MAP26: Golgotha by Devon Barnett (Xyzzy01) (2nd playthrough)

(Played on DSDA, UV Pistol Start. 109% Kills / 100% Secrets. Completion Time: 7:17 )

Now this is more like it~! So right off the bat: the rocket launcher and the fight it triggers genuinely should have been part of the map proper and not a secret. On my first playthrough, i didn't find it until *after* the yellow key fight, and half my of 14 min runtime was spent looking for it. Without it, Golgotha is fast-paced, and high-energy, but feels a smidge uneven. However, if you find the rocket launcher as soon as possible, Golgatha becomes a delightful popcorn map that's over in a flash and genuinely a high point for the set. 

 

The start here is very hot like MAP25, however, the temperature here is much lower. The archvile is easy enough to dance around, and as long as your quick the chaingunners and mancubi won't be too much trouble.

 

The next fight is a spirited little encounter, attempting to pin you between some spooky bois and two slabs of meat. Xyzzy generously gives you berserk here to help save ammo, which you'll want for the Archvile waiting in the doorway near the start of the map. 

 

This is around when you want to grab the rocket launcher and tackle that fight. So step over the pressure plate, rush over to the fence, shoot a switch,  grab it, and get ready to fight enough skeletons to fill a Spirit Halloween.

 

Afterward, head east, get surprised by some spiders and a legion of very angry Santa Claus impersonators, and grab the yellow key. Straight up, with the rocket launcher this is a really solid encounter as two archies and a supporting cast are dropped in,  and you'll have lots of supplies to aggressively stand up to the pissed off martians before they start resurrecting the monsters you killed earlier, but without you kinda have to hack it with the SSG, and you might be short on ammo.

Afterward, get the Cyber to infight and kill all the mancubi, grab the BFG and put a bow on the map.

 

All in all, Golgotha is definitely the kind of map that benefits from replay, as it's sole secret is a massive QoL improvement and boosts the enjoyment factor immensely.

 

It's short, nicely calibrated, and properly gets the set back on track with some solid Plutonia gameplay that doesn't have the same lows that MAP25 did. You can clear it in under 10 mins, and is so far an easy high point for Episode 3, and the set at large.

Grade: A

Order of preference 

 

Spoiler

MAP11

MAP17

MAP20

MAP06

MAP32

MAP26

MAP10

MAP05

MAP15

MAP01

MAP08

MAP12

MAP03

MAP24

MAP25

MAP19

MAP31

MAP07

MAP14

MAP13

MAP21

MAP18

MAP02

MAP23

MAP16

MAP04

MAP09

MAP22

Ok. I know I said I'd slowly catch up... but I had a look at the next two maps and found they were mercifully short so, I went ahead and knocked those out too!

Edited July 26, 2023 by HiMyNameIsChair

[Book Lord]

MAP 27 – Rules of Nature by Potatoboih

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

 

Who on earth is Potatoboih? Never heard this name before, and if my research is correct, it is the pseudonym for a community veteran known as @Gardevoir. Anyway, after playing this map I will surely remember his various nicknames, so I could save myself from another miserable experience. I played his magnum opus Rules of Nature until I reached the end that also marked the end of my tether, and I needed a four-day rest before I found the motivation to resume my PRCP 2 playthrough.

 

Rules of Nature received a lot of attention in the visual department, and it was very difficult to find an area that was not charming or even stunningly beautiful, thanks to the decorative detail and special sector props, with corrupted trees being the most memorable ones. Conversely, lighting was not particularly accurate, it just respected the natural difference between indoor and outdoor areas. Except for the “corrupted nature” theme, the level did not follow a narrative thread, taking the player from brown stone buildings to caverns, then inside the bowels of a possessed tree that grew underground, emerging on top of a marble tower, and returning to the quasi tech-base hub where everything started.

Spoiler

The environment was designed for the eye candy, and it could have been one of my favourite levels if it was not for the terrible gameplay. Everything in this map had to be earned at a high price: weapons, keys, and obviously the ticket to MAP28. It started in an open hub with dozens of snipers and basically no cover, so the only viable method was to run like a headless chicken and gradually eliminate the weakest foes. The necessary weapons were far away, and only the plasma rifle was accessible in a trapped shrine on top of a hill. Arch-Viles, Chaingunners, Revenants were ready to pop up on crucial moments, and they caused a lot of pain because my movement was always impaired. Rules of Nature was the reign of obstructive detail that propitiated every kind of annoyance, from hitscan attacks missing their target to Doomguy getting stuck on things or wall protrusions when least desired.

Spoiler

SSG was in the western building along with the RSK, but do not unleash the Arch-Viles in the fire without collecting the other weapons! If you can beat the healer quartet and their sidekicks in such a cramped arena without a BFG (I could not), I am afraid that picking up the RSK that released more Arch-Viles and two Cyberdemons in the space of a living room will not turn out very good for you. I let them stay in the fire and ventured in the caverns to the south-east instead, more than certain I was taking an optional path which eventually revealed itself as normal progression. Monsters continued to pop-up without preambles, but I carried on until I finally found a rocket launcher. Picking it up released two Arch-Viles with so many other enemies around that they killed me on the spot, so I had to slowly wipe out everything in the area before approaching the coveted weapon.

Spoiler

I jumped into the grotesque mouth of the demonic tree just to find another obnoxious setup: a battle against two Cyberdemons and Hell Nobles in the dark, meandering, and narrow stomach of the behemoth. If the player jumped down there before collecting the plasma rifle, he is doomed; if he has prescience of everything, he might find the secret BFG, but what time was given to the blind player? The whole map applied continuous backstabbing and aggression of the unfairest kind. I was shocked by the Arch-Viles resurrecting corpses of creatures I did not kill, then I learned through the editor that our meticulous author placed them there at the beginning of the level with a behind-the-scenes barrel & crusher combo.

 

The welcome in the marble tower area was harsh as usual, whereas the BSK encounter was the only remotely fair thing I found in this map: just Hell Nobles to repel with rockets before they get too close. I did not find a single secret, as I was never in the mood for searching with frustration reaching unprecedented levels, comparable only to Hell Revealed played blind on UV -fast. Based on what I saw later the content of the secrets was very helpful, and they could be considered mandatory for pistol starters.

Spoiler

The arena fight preceding the exit was presented in the usual irritating fashion, attacking Doomguy with every resource before he could assess the situation. Once figured out that the Arch-Vile must go first, the two Spiderdemons must infight to give you the time to kill Revenants and Chaingunners, and that no switches should be touched until everybody else was dead, the set piece could be beaten consistently and with some satisfaction, an emotion that rarely affected me during this playthrough. I felt tricked, strangled, deprived of my combat skills, forced to fight in tight spaces full of impediments, while the necessary resources were always elsewhere. In case it is not clear, I did not like Rules of Nature at all.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map25 “Sting Operation”

 

Well what do you know, Plutonia is back on the menu. 

 

Sting Operation starts hot and will likely hand out several deaths before the player figures out a good plan for survival. Fleeing isn’t a good idea, rushing the eastern section will result in injuries not compatible with life, so hold your ground in the starting area. Once the initial baddies are dealt with carefully work eastward, we’ve got some switchwork to do while under duress. Of particular concern are long range revenant snipers, the one across the gap in the beginning area being an especially talented sharpshooter.

 

Eventually we are able to lower the red key, resulting in a wicked teleport ambush. I’d highly recommend fleeing through the red door (watch the chaingunners at the bottom), the incoming enemies are best dealt with later. Taking the teleporter down here leads to a deadly close quarters encounter with viles and hell knights (or a swift execution if you didn’t hit the crusher switch at the beginning) that can be jumped on with the RL to do some initial damage. Following this we come outside where that earlier rev sniper was and may or may not have a horde of baddies across from us. If the coast is clear then jump down and teleport out to take them on, otherwise retreat to the crusher room and peekaboo shoot the vile and his friends, not really a better option.

 

The hard part is over, but we’ve got one room left and it’s got a lot of stuff. Spiders, mancubi, PEs, a caco cloud, useless pinkies, and an unfair pop-up baron by the switch to get in (after the yellow door). Finding the subtly marked secrets helps with ammo management and with them I liked massacring everything up north, though without them I suspect the fight is aggravatingly grindy due to a lack of rockets. To finish we get a trivial cyberdemon cell sponge followed by a pair of pop-up archviles that can gank us if we don’t have any rockets left. Kind of a dick move, but not an issue with foreknowledge.

 

I liked this level but, again, I’m not playing it for the first time and Sting Operation is not blind friendly. In addition to the hot start we have brutal ambushes, murky progression, gotcha traps, and some situations that can infuriate unfamiliar players (did you catch that small switch at the beginning for the crusher? If not enjoy the fastest death in the megawad once you teleport there). It is, like much of the third episode, an acquired taste. But it is a taste I’ve acquired and a welcome sight after the previous three maps.

 

prcp2map25.zip

Time: 7:27  Kills: 121/121    Secrets: 3/3

Edited July 27, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[Tiramisu]

UV/saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP27 - Rules of Nature

 

PRCP2: Okay, you may have two Plutonia-style maps as a treat, but then it's back to 300+ monster adventure maps!

Me: Oh joy 🥲

 

Maybe it's because of the recent breather maps, but Rules of Nature did make a very good initial impression on me. As I emerged into the chaotic, intricately detailed outside area, the map instantly became one big forward push, with hitscanners carefully placed to force your advance, and the tasteful use of sniping Revenants preventing you from staying put for too long. This same energy continued into the first indoor area, where I tore a path through Chaingunners to escape from the crowd of assorted monsters giving chase. And I enjoyed it very much! It's been a long time since I played a map with this sort of natural forward momentum to it, and I think this direction is pretty much the pinnacle of incidental combat design.

 

What's even better about Rules of Nature, is its visuals - one of the wad's most finely detailed maps, it only continued getting better and better as I advanced into further areas. The architectural flow of the rooms and caverns is top-notch in itself, and on top of that there's all sorts of super interesting details all around the place. My favorite one was the Archviles inside the blocks of solid fire - it took me a while to notice them, but it was honestly super badass and probably the best use of Boom's transparent lines I've seen since the meat cubes in Plutonium Rust. I also loved the little semi-secret that had the Chaingunner inside a box, that will never not be funny for me - and it also reinforces the hunch I've had since MAP04 that there's these ready-made crates full of Plutonia enemies that you can order somewhere to instantly give your map a Plutonia flavor. Heck, one of the crates here even had its Plutonia-brand green camo wrapping partially intact! :D

 

All that said, this map certainly has its flaws. First of all, for a map this large and open, there really should be more than one (non-secret) instance of each weapon. I was lucky enough to find the tucked-away super shotgun early on, but I didn't get the plasma gun until later on - and I can attest that if you miss either of these, then you are in for a rough ride. I actually knew where the plasma gun was, but since I died once to the ambush it triggers, I thought "oh, I'll come back there when I have the rocket launcher so I can snipe the Mancubus first". And that was a huge mistake - it turns out that what seems to be an extension of the main area, actually locks you in into a long and difficult path where the only way out is through.

 

By far the worst offender here was the double Cyberdemon fight in the blood cavern - after quickly finding out I don't even have enough shells to deal with them (I had rockets, but there was far too little space for that), I just decided to rush for the switch, have them infight with the Archviles that get released, and then rush to the exit. It took me a really long time to get that right, even after I started resorting to mid-fight saves (something I don't normally do), and it's all because I didn't pick up that stupid plasma gun! Once I was out of there, and saw that I still had 100+ monsters left to deal with, my feelings on the map quickly began to turn sour.

 

As a bit of a digression, I'll just take a moment to mention that I really didn't like the music choice here - I just don't understand why people keep picking such short, repetitive tracks for such long maps! I mean, it was a good song, but at the end I was just absolutely sick of it!

 

Anyway, the red key area fights weren't much better - the quadruple Archvile battle seemed pretty much impossible without the plasma gun and rocket launcher, and even then there was so little cover that it just felt like an RNG-fest. And then after that, two more Cyberdemons just for good measure! I was just about to nope out of there, but the author took care to lock the exit doors, so I had to grind that fight away and discover the correct way out ;_;

 

Not all of the setpieces in Rules of Nature are this frustrating - the fights in the caves were pretty fun, I really liked the blue key fight where you had to hold off the tide of nobles with a rocket launcher, and the final battle was a pretty neat puzzle that forced you to figure out which of the many threats to deal with first (in my case the answer was the Spider Masterminds, as killing them unlocked the best hiding spots). In the end, I think it's kind of funny that this map's incidental combat was so well-designed that it was generally better than its setpieces, that's genuinely a rare thing to say about a map!
 

Overall, despite not being anywhere near the highest monster count, this one felt like the most difficult and exhausting map in PRCP2 so far.

 

Plutonia memories, MAP27 (Anti-Christ) - I was certainly a bit confused at the idea of two separate Living End-style maps! This one was the better of the two, but I don't remember much from it either, other than I think there was some sort of cage fight against Hell Knights at some point...?

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP22

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

 

MAP26

MAP13

MAP20

MAP12

MAP05

 

MAP07

MAP10

MAP25

MAP23

MAP27

 

MAP02

MAP06

MAP14
MAP11

MAP16

 

MAP24

MAP21

MAP18

MAP08

 

MAP04

MAP09

MAP01

MAP19

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[Celestin]

MAP27: Rules of Nature by Potatoboih

 

"My God, not this midi!" That was my initial reaction after launching Rules of Nature (no relation to a track from Metal Gear Rising). "You Suck", a depressing game over theme from Rise of the Triad, holds a special significance in the Doom community, scoring the hardest levels in Alien Vendetta and the original Scythe. Indeed, Potatoboih left a comment under Tatsurd-cacocaco's playthrough, claiming Rules of Nature was originally intended for the 29th slot. Even though it was placed two maps earlier, this is the greatest challenge of PRCP 2.

 

The start is the oppressive and confusing unlike anything in the wad yet, the enemies are everywhere and no place is safe. My best strategy for the opening minutes is to grab a nearby chaingun, kill a shotgunner to get his weapon and try not to die removing the initial threats. A plasma rifle (trapped with an archvile and chaingunners up-close) is nearby and it is essential for the bulk of the map. Now, the progression requires you to find two keys, the blue one is accessible through the caves in the east, the red key is in the building in the western part of the map. While the red key fight is brutal and I recommend saving it for the end, the building it is housing should be your first priority. It contains a super shotgun and a relatively easy to find secret rocket launcher, both were immensely helpful with the blue key caves. It's a string of crowded encounters in dark places and while tough, the additional stopping power tipped the scales in my favour. That is, until I reached a gaping mouth in one of the walls. Here, the second hardest fight in the map awaits: a cramped bio-organic innards with a pair of cyberdemons. There's a secret BFG here and it can make this easier if you know how to get it. I didn't, so plasma was my only option - it was long and the longer the fight goes, the more likely it is you run into a rocket or get stuck on something. The remaining route to the key and back to the hub was rather uneventful, aside from a cool fight by the key with approaching hell nobles in a small room.

 

Now it's time for the red key, to gain access you must survive against four archviles, cacodemons and some ressurected crap. This is nothing compared to the hardest fight of the map, which is triggered by picking up the red key. Good luck killing 2 cyberdemons and 3 archviles in a small and very tight space. If you think about running away, the way out is locked, so stand your ground and fight. Just like in MAP20, I resorted to save-scumming - I managed to kill the first cyber from above the stairs, saved and killed another after a couple of reloads.

 

The battle by the exit, while seemingly even more absurd, turned out to be not that bad (I died here only like 4 times). Two spiderdemons that will likely start infighting, two balconies of chaingunners and revenants (which for some reason reminds me of a shooting gallery, except the one that shoots back) and some teleporting enemies, including a pair of archviles. More space and a lack of cyberdemons made it more managable than the key fights.

 

In the end, I felt like I've survived, rather than beaten the map. I can't deny Rules of Nature is an impressive map, highly detailed and featuring some truly memorable setpieces. It's also brutal and merciless challenge that demands respect from everyone but the best. I have no idea who Potatoboih is, but they can be proud of their work.

[KickAss]

On 7/26/2023 at 9:30 AM, DJVCardMaster said:

We don't replay wads that have already been played in the club.

This is a lie. We all here love to replay DooM ][ - Hell on Earth from time to time or not? So there are no changes happened to D2TWID since 2014? Keep the vote up anyway.

[DJVCardMaster]

10 minutes ago, KickAss said:

This is a lie. We all here love to replay DooM ][ - Hell on Earth from time to time or not? So there are no changes happened to D2TWID since 2014? Keep the vote up anyway.

You can give it a playthrough on your own, but we don't discuss the same wad twice inside the club.

[Celestin]

14 minutes ago, KickAss said:

This is a lie. We all here love to replay DooM ][ - Hell on Earth from time to time or not? So there are no changes happened to D2TWID since 2014? Keep the vote up anyway.

I don't think there's a reason to replay wads when there are like 10 submissions already for stuff that hasn't been played before.

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP27: Rules of Nature by Potatoboih
 

(Played on DSDA, UV Pistol Start. 105% Kills / 66% Secrets. Completion Time: 46:36)

 

Well... break time was nice while it lasted. 

 

Be warned, this is maybe the hardest map in the set thus far, by a mile. The use of Lee Jackson's "You suck" as the Midi, forever immortalized by Alien Vendetta's MAP25:Demonic Horde... should be the tone-setter here. While in the past, maps that have used this midi haven't had the adequate challenge for it's use to be advisable... but in this case, it is not just a cute callback: Rule of Nature is out to mug you.

 

So to get the obvious out of the way: Rules of Nature is clearly the work of a master craftsman, it is absurdly detailed, and a work of art.

 

On the other side of the coin: Rules of Nature... is insane, uncompromising, asphyxiating, and is among the most openly hostile maps in the entire set.

The sight of the opening courtyard alone would be enough to break most players' spirits, with hitscanners galore, revenants turrets, and hordes of demons patrolling the grounds... But the worst is yet to come. Potatoboih is at least merciful enough to place doubles of a few weapons.. although some of those doubles are also in secrets. To add insult to injury: for some reason, the non-secret SSG is kinda just.. tucked off in a corner in one of the main buildings which is.. questionable considering what an uphill battle the start of the map is without it. 

The Plasma Rifle is mercifully left out in the open but it is *not* free, as you'll have to fight an archie and some chaingunners for it. This is your wake up call: almost nothing in this map is free. 

 

The fight that unlocks the way to the red key ruffled my feathers a little bit because it drops in 4 archviles and in an act of pure malice, Potatoboih decided... that the heights of the floors are not uniform... in the room which is very symmetrical. So you're expected to keep tabs on what cover is reliable... in a room where everything looks the goddamn same which is.. a tad rude in my opinion.

Speaking of rude fights: the Red Key fight...

 

*smacks lips* how uh... do i say this... politely?

yeah there is uh.. no nice way for me to say this: The Red Key fight, is bullshit. Potatoboih bars the doors and unleashes two archviles.. .and *two* Cyberdemons, in the most... cramped, and overly detailed space imaginable, it feels like it's barely bigger than a goddamn breadbox. If you have the BFG, good luck soldier... you're gonna need it. I only managed to scrape by because of months of practicing two shots... and a lot of luck. I managed to waste the archies, get one of the cybers kind of isolated and eliminated him as quickly as I could so i could 1v1 the surviving seigecow. if you don't have the BFG going into this fight: *RUN*,  try and get the archies and cybers to infight, hit a lift, run through the sewers and Get. the hell . out. Do not be a hero, you do not want to try this fight with shells and the plasma rifle. I.. cannot believe the audacity of this fight... i cannot imagine doing this without the BFG. the space you are expected to fight two cyberdemons in is so small, that chances of death via splash damage from rockets hitting the back wall are astronomically high. We are REALLY... stretching the definition of "Plutonia Style", because this is far beyond the Casalli's realm. This brand of pure malice... feels more in line with something Death Destiny would come up with.  

 

Oh BTW, as if the map wasn't already unrelentingly hard, the real kicker: The BFG... is a secret in this map... yeah, like I said: *nothing*... is free. More on that later.

 

The path towards the blue key is not much better, having you negotiate sightlines in a cave full of damaging floor, deadly archvile interjections, and a massive grotto that you are going to have to fight to carve out space in. But that, is not the worst of it, because dropping down the husk of the corrupted tree ... that is the worst of it. You're dropped into a dark, fleshy underhall built with guts...blood and metal. it's a truly intimidating sight, bringing to mind the works of Cyriak Harris and once again: Death Destiny, almost remiscent of the corrupted heart of the land from Disturbia.

 

I am writing this next section, because *no one* should have to do this fight with only the plasma rifle. i should know... i cleared this fight with the plasma rifle at first. When you first drop down here *DO. NOT* immediately drop down into the arena. From the ledge,  you should see that on the back wall, at your eye level, is a switch: shoot it and a wall should open up at the back of the room in the pit, that will gift you the BFG.

 

it is... unconscionable.. that you can lock yourself in that arena without access to the BFG, and in my opinion, it should either A) not be a secret at all, or B) should be accessible as a secret from inside the pit. Actually... it is entirely possible, that you could miss the Plasma Rifle, carve your way through the caves... and trap yourself in here without cell weapons. There is no double of the plasma rifle here to prevent that situation. That, in my opinion, is a grave oversight.

So ... what exactly is waiting down here in this cramp, dark fleshy techno hell? : Two cyberdemons... and with some hell knights and nobles looking to mug you in the dark.

 

It is possible to do this with the plasma rifle, i confirmed that myself.. but do not be a hero,  you want the BFG for this, trust me. Clear out the supporting minions to give yourself some breathing space, and then two-shotting the cyber twins won't be too much of a headache. Also, be warned, the corpses on the ground can be raised by the three archviles that drop in when you hit the switch, so be vigilant.

 

TBH after this, you've essentially seen the worst the map has to offer. The ending fight can still kill you, but it's nowhere near as hard as what you've already faced. 

 

Overall... jesus christ this map really tries to rip out your heart and feed it to you. It's by far one of the hardest maps so far, and its encounters border on insanity. The secret BFG feels almost mandatory... and that never bodes well for a map.

Out of respect for the craftsmanship that has clearly gone into this map, I will not fail it, as it's still a competent piece of work... However, it's gonna find itself near the bottom of the card. It speaks volumes that I'm generally very comfortable dealing with difficult maps, and I'm even struggling to find enjoyment in this map. I can only imagine other people in the club that had to suffer through this didn't exactly have a swell time either.

 

Rules of Nature is simply far too demanding, and asphyxiating to be an enjoyable experience, and will please only the most hardened of Doom masochists.    

 

Grade: D+
 

Order of Preference 

 

Spoiler

MAP11

MAP17

MAP20

MAP06

MAP32

MAP26

MAP10

MAP05

MAP15

MAP01

MAP08

MAP12

MAP03

MAP24

MAP25

MAP19

MAP31

MAP07

MAP14

MAP13

MAP21

MAP18

MAP02

MAP23

MAP16

MAP04

MAP09

MAP27

MAP22

 

Oh right, I forgot i didn't vote yet, it's kinda my first time here, slipped my mind.

 

+++ Claustrophobia 1024

+++ Autophagy

+++ 1994 Tune-up Community Project.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2023 by HiMyNameIsChair

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map26 “Golgotha”

 

Thanks to its brevity, Golgotha is among my favorite maps of the third act, quick, violent, and lacking in unpleasant gotchas.

 

Upon spawning we have a vile and two mancubi (among other things) at our back so get the SSG and get behind cover. This opening skirmish isn’t actually that difficult though the intensity of the gameplay will quickly escalate. Xyzzy01’s level consists of a series of orthogonal sectors containing revenant ambushes backed by archviles. It feels very Plutonian, as the fights are deadly but never unfair, and the level flies by.

 

Two encounters stand out to me, the secret RL bushwack and the final fight. Taking the rocket launcher (which should not be a secret btw) reveals a revenant horde and a vile while trapping the player in the northeast section. Maintaining position on the platform isn’t really viable but jumping down can lead to getting pinned and destroyed, the rocket launcher is absolutely required to reduce their boney ranks enough to move around. Being aggressive here is best, damage the incoming masses with a few quick shots then hop down and focus on holding revs at the stairs, eventually you should be able to sneak by and obtain the ammo (and mega) to finish everything off. As for the finale, we have a clever pincer fight between a cyberdemon and a horde of mancubi. Keep busy until the cyber shifts attention to the fatsos, which should inevitably happen once the mancs get close enough (kill the spiders, they just cause problems).

 

Golgatha is a hit in my book. It’s speedy, it’s intense, it’s energetic, and it’s loyal to Plutonia. I even like the look of the place because Xyzzy01’s detailing, while spartan, is clean and the simple layout helps maintain the low runtime. I wish the third episode was more evenly split between maps like this and the larger epics we're a bit overrepresented on.

 

prcp2map26.zip

Time: 4:19   Kills: 75/75    Secrets: 1/1

 

 

Something short please

 

+++ Claustrophobia 1024

+++ Abscission

+++ Tarnsman's Projectile Hell 

 

Projectile Hell isn't my first choice but I'd rather get trolled by Tarn than play another grindy epicfest after this month. I don't mind playing Doom II In Spain Only but I won't vote for it.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP27 - Rules of Nature - Potatoboih (95%K/94%I/33%S):
 

Map has Scythe MAP30 music, so right from the start, you'll know you are here for a really long while...
...Aaaaand indeed; another long-ass map that is not only long, but painful to play because of its difficulty, this is the first of two maps that behave similar. There was a Natural Selection first, now Potatoboih presents to us the Rules of Nature, in which, natural selection gets inside of said rules. A massive complex full of enemies in a open landscape, so open that will force you to get inside the caves for cover, and this is bad because, most of your arsenal is outdoors, so pick your poison.
Map is quite open as you will have to get two keys, and said keys can be acquired in no order, not only that but there are multiple ways to get inside the blue key path. Every setpiece is painfully difficult, specially the cyberdemon-twin encounters, like the one at the fleshy room for the blue key, that leaves no space to breathe. There is no way to skip it, so be prepared to save-scum to victory. The red key also has a twin-cyberdemon encounter, luckly, you can skip it, as both encounters with a pair of cybers, are a pain to deal with. Terrain is too bumpy and narrow. If you don't have a BFG, don't even try it. I know there is one in this map, but I did not find it, and refused to watch Tatsuya's playthrough to know where it was.

Seems this is another case of another author using a psudonym, this is strange, what's the actual mistery? why so many anonymous mappers in this project?

It is a really likeable map, but having so many long maps in PRCP2 already, this makes me not want to play it again, one or two maps like this, maybe one at the MAP29 slot would be welcome, but at this point I don't think I can take anymore of this.

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11
MAP23

MAP07

MAP05
MAP27
MAP24
MAP26
MAP22
MAP20
MAP32
MAP15
MAP21
MAP31
MAP19
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP14
MAP16
MAP13
MAP25
MAP04

 

Tiebreaker between Clau1024 and Abscission so far, Doom in Spain is nowhere to be seen, but I understand, last week Spain had to vote for its president, so I guess Spaniards are kinda tired of democracy for the moment. (?)

Edited July 27, 2023 by DJVCardMaster

[cannonball]

MAP27 - “Rules of Nature” by Potatoboih

 

Yikes, the start of this one is just asphyxiating, monsters everywhere and no decent weapon in sight, in fact unless you know where the weapons are you will have to rob even the basic weapons from your foes. The plasma gun is nearby, but is guarded by a mix of chaingunners and an archvile. Honestly a lot of the monsters in the hub area I just left throughout, some of the placement is horrific (Mostly revenants that the author has seemingly given as much cover to as possible whilst retaining maximum threat). So we are left with the red key, the blue key and the final fight.

Red key - This was horrific, honestly I hated this section more than anything else in this wad, the initial cramped mess filled with hitscan/revenants, the fact that you need to take a side quest to get the rocket launcher that not only is essentially mandatory due to the archvile quartuplet and others, but an absolute chore due to the design of the upper level that makes you traverse 100% of the ledge to get the goodies. The fight when the red key is grabbed was just a great big nope, I am not fighting cybers in this space. Honestly if the rest of the map was like this then I would fail this map. However....

The blue key - This on the other hand I enjoyed, the initial stages felt more manageable and I was allowed to take a more aggressive approach, the cyber/archvile party in the flesh dungeon was actually quite easy to figure out, lure the cybers away from the switch, lower the archviles and taunt the cybers into firing at you and ducking behind the closet the archviles get released from, there is enough cover here to find some temporary safe zones and enough space to kill everything (Though the cyber's movements were a little unpredictable at times but it felt like there was a decent shot of beating this). The final stages were easier and overall fun to play.

The final fight - After all this, the final fight is... okay, I am not sure whether the monster compositions are the best, but this wasn't too hard to beat and easier than a lot of the map.

 

Overall - This map is the hardest of the set, possibly including Maps28-30, this map really needed to be kind at the start, give the player all the weapons except the BFG so they can at least get a foothold and not be left to cower in a corner, the first few minutes are potentially rage inducing. This alone would have made this map far easier to enjoy because the map looks great, there are some good fights embedded in the key hunts. But overall the overall feeling I have is a bitter one, thinking of how hard it was to obtained even half decent weaponry and the red key section that was awful in my opinion. 

 

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 27: Rules of Nature - Potatoboih

100% kills and secrets

Time: 37:36

Deaths: 3

 

Who the heck is Potatoboih? Idk. Whoever they are, they give us a nice big map with a lot going on. We have a central hub area that branches off into 2 sides, a west and an east one, with a final path to the south. The start is a little hot, as there's a lot of enemies around, but you can usually deal with one quarter of the hub at a time in relative peace. I fell into the damaging blood going for some armor in it, grabbed a rad suit, and headed into the east part of the map, not seeing a spot for me to get back up into the hub area. It's a good thing I'm playing continuous, since because of this I missed the plasma rifle. These bloody caverns like to send a lot at you, especially once you drop down into the big cavern area where the RL is. Grabbing that unleashes 2 archies behind you, so watch out! (cue death #1). There are 9 secrets in this map, and you can get a lot of them in quick succession in this area, including a berserk pack and a SSG, but the best one is just before you fall all the way down into the flesh creature. Look for an eye switch, shoot it, and if you're pistol-starting, run to the wall it lowers for the BFG. If you're not pistol-starting, take out the BFG you already have and hold down the fire button on the 2 cybs that appear here. Space is tight here, but that's nothing compared to a fight later. Only died once here thankfully. After that, it's some revs and an archie high up, then you can grab the blue key and take out a relatively easy noble fight. There's an archie here, but if you can take out the nobles from the blue key's spot, you won't even have to deal with it. With blue key in hand, you can head back to the hub. I finally grabbed the plasma rifle and headed into the west side of the map. Pretty cool looking area, with some blood rivers on the sides. The far west part has a pretty brutal fight that unleashes 4 archies and a caco cloud, so BFG away. The archies at least are telegraphed, so I had the BFG out when I hit the switch. I'm assuming this opened the area to the red key, but you may want to snoop around for the mega sphere first if you need it. Once you grab the red key, a closet opens at the base of the stairs you just climbed with a few archies, and 2 alcoves up by the key open with chaingunners. I rushed the archies to BFG them and heard 2 cybs. This is the most inconvenient cyb placement I've seen in a while. I ran back up the stairs  to quickly deal with the chaingunners, and almost had a  heart attack when I saw a cyb try to climb up after me. It didn't thankfully. I just waited a minute for both cybs to disappear from the stairway entrance, then rushed back to the west area, where I was able to somehow 2-shot them both in succession. Got really, really lucky there. The final fight was my 3rd death, but it's really not too bad. 2 walls of revs and chaingunners, plus revs on the floor and 2 masterminds. Get the spiders to infight, BFG the walls, and you should be good. The last ambush once you hit switches isn't too bad either, just evaporate the archies from existence ASAP. Overall, this was a pretty fun one! Looks really nice with some good detailing, and has some tricky encounters. The cybs in the red key area may be a little too mean tho, but that's really my only complaint. 

[plums]

MAP27 is where I threw in the towel on playing on UV and went down to HMP, still pistol starting, and I enjoyed it a lot more that way. Likewise with the remaining maps, where I took a quick peek on UV and thought "nahhhhhhh."

 

I assume potatoboih is this person's actual handle and they're just not on DoomWorld, because they left comments on Tatsurd's UV max video under that name:

Quote

I was absolutely aiming for Map29 slot in the set considering how difficult I made this map. My idea was to try to be more creative with encounters and try to make as many challenging and tight fights as possible. A lot of it was designed with the Plasma Gun in mind as the main weapon in case people were unable to find the secret BFG. This is probably the best map I've made for doom thus far in terms of combat and detail. Thank you for the amazing run!

 

[finnks13]

MAP27 - Rules of Nature by PotatoBoiH:

28:31/10 Deaths
This is too much mate. I'm 29 maps into a wad I'm already not having a great time with, the least it could do is stop getting longer. This is one of the most exhausting wads I've ever played and I'm playing one map per day, trying to play this like I would normally would have actually killed me. I know the term "good pacing" is about as applicable to a community project as the phrase "solid investment strategy" is to going to a casino, but it feels like pretty much every map since MAP07 has tried it's best to stand out from the crowd by being as long and as "impressive" as possible. Do you know what that means? It means that the short maps are the ones that stand out instead, and funnily enough most of the short maps in this wad have been my favourites, but I'm sure that's a coincidence :P

 

Rules of Nature parallels Map23 in a lot of ways, both are absolutely gorgeous maps that really use this texture-pack to it's fullest extent, and both play absolutely awfully. It's definitely due to it being used in exclusively miserable levels, but I really have grown to hate "You Suck!" so I wasn't thrilled upon hearing it's dread inducing opening notes as I started the map. I assumed the BLAKWALL in the hub area was meant to be a consistent visual motif throughout the map when I was clearing it out, as it's not a texture I associate with Plutonia at all, but it's only in the main hub area (and a couple of pillars in the red key section) and while I kinda like it, it definitely feels a bit off. The rest of the map is a lavishly detailed set of ruins and I think it looks great, and doesn't suffer from the prop spam problem that Map23 did. 

 

My least favourite thing about non-linear maps is when you're deprived of a really important weapon because you had the gall to go the other way first, and it's a massive problem here. Yes, there is a rocket launcher in the red key area, but it's hidden behind a secret that I didn't find and if you try to do the central fight without it, you're probably going to get your arse kicked. Thankfully, after one death to lack-of-rocket-launcher-itis, I decided to go to the other section that gives you one after a small set of ambushes in a cave. The fight for the rocket launcher is quite annoying, there is nowhere safe in the arena and trying to clear a space will inevitably lead to getting peppered with bullets, it's not a fun fight but one that can be brute-forced without too much trouble. Getting the blue key itself pits you in a very small cave system where a few barons & hell knights, and two cyberdemons come to attack you. This fight can be simplified massively by shooting the eye-switch before you drop down, and grabbing the BFG it unlocks. I was able to nearly do it without the BFG, dying only to the classic elastic collision + cyberdemon rocket combo while trying to whittle the last cyber down, but the BFG makes it much easier, while still keeping it rather intense. This is definitely my favourite part of the level, the fight felt very well calibrated and it was fun to unpick both with and without the BFG.

 

What's less fun is the red key fight. In the incredibly claustrophobic halls that make up the red key area, you're supposed to fight two cyberdemons (along with a few revenants that do nothing other than hurry you to leave the platform they spawn on) and frankly doing this with the BFG was annoying enough, how the fuck are you meant to do it with just the plasma gun? My best guess is to camp and slowly wear them down from the red key platform, and I'm sure it's possible because I don't believe this wad could be that poorly tested, but I doubt it's any fun. While I love difficult maps, and enjoy making them myself, sometimes striving for difficulty above all else is going to negatively affect how fun your map is, especially if that difficulty does not fit with the wad you're mapping for - while I'm never going to like when a map hides effectively mandatory weapons in secrets, if it makes sense within the context of the wad then it's fine. This map is the result of someone trying to make something really difficult without considering any of this. Well, you succeeded, it's really difficult. Good job.

 

Overall, I really could have done without another massive, painfully difficult and irritating behemoth, but here we are.
 

But what do the teleporters look like???

Spoiler

MAP27 - 10/10. At least these look good.

 

 

[Book Lord]

MAP 28 – Crimson Realm by Mattias Johansson @waverider

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

 

When I saw the name of waverider among the authors of this megaWAD, featuring in a traditionally heated position like MAP28, I was very wary of entering Crimson Realm. The Doom veteran and former Team TNT member submitted Venom to the first PRCP, a map that I found mind-boggling and exhausting, and the difficult start of his latest contribution, taking place exactly after the cramped ordeal of Rules of Nature, was enough to make me close the book on PRCP 2 and take a four-day long break.

Spoiler

Doomguy started in a medium-sized hall with active Chaingunners in the middle and dozens of enemies facing the opposite direction. The obvious challenge was to get out before they riddled me with bullets, but the exits had been purposely clogged with fatty hellspawn. The trick was to cause animosity between different breeds, dislodge the Mancubi from the doorways, and leave. The situation in the outer courtyard was not better, with many other enemies being alerted and Arch-Viles negating much of the area. The rocket launcher and the plasma rifle were right there, and once I put my hands on them I could easily clear every monster in the starting area and was settled for 90% of the map.

Spoiler

After the hot start, despite swallowing about 50 minutes of my life for 36 minutes of actual gameplay, Crimson Realm became a largely futile Doom level, following the worst practice of sprawling layouts, consisting of chamber after chamber of opposition to clear. The long path to the BSK was just an exercise in killing monsters in front of you and checking niches for barely visible Chaingunners. I noticed my shells and bullets were dropping constantly, suggesting that the intended way was to speedrun these encounters with heavier weapons. Have fun with that, but on first playthrough I tend to proceed cautiously, and I found nothing except time-consuming encounters until I arrived in front of the blue bars.

Spoiler

The teleport ambush with an Arch-Vile and Revenants from behind was a good wake-up call, instantly raising the attention level, and it lasted for the upcoming RSK ambush, which was similar and expected. The red door was not far, but it only contained a Cyberdemon to kill blind players that do not expect a rocket when opening a door. To proceed further, the player must search for a switch in the south-western cave, wasting more time with dull combat. The yellow door seemed directly connected to the exit seen before, and the YSK was just at the end of a hallway, what could go wrong?

Spoiler

Regardless of the time a player had spent so far in Crimson Realm, waverider was determined to end their run so close to the finish line. The ambush in the YSK corridor used an Arch-Vile, Mancubi, Revenants, and Hell Nobles in a very narrow space with almost no cover. Normal players like me cannot survive it without a BFG, and exceptional luck is required in any case (I watched tatsurd-cacocaco’s video: it is incredible that nobody attacked while he turned his back to Mancubi and AV). Things were about to get even worse in the large cavern outside: pistol starters must cope with a chaotic slaughter without a BFG and with insufficient health pickups, unless they keep calm and find the secret Soul Sphere while the battle rages on. I am not fond of maps lasting this long and wanting to murder the player at the end. Figuring out how to start was ok, the course of the map had few surprises in store, and I just BFG’d my way through the last big battle. I am surely not returning to Crimson Realm anytime soon.

[LadyMistDragon]

11 hours ago, KickAss said:

This is a lie. We all here love to replay DooM ][ - Hell on Earth from time to time or not? So there are no changes happened to D2TWID since 2014? Keep the vote up anyway.

Dobu Gabu maru might open that option up in the future but it would be separate from the main DW Megawad club thread. Honestly, that's a megawad I wouldn't mind replaying necessarily.

[Celestin]

MAP28: Crimson Realm by waverider

It might not seem like this at first glance, but Crimson Realm is a breather after the abuse served by Rules of Nature. Sure, the start is absurd: exits are blocked by fat demons with their back turned at you, a single firing chaingunners is begging for your attention so everything can wake up and go medieval on your ass and guns too weak to handle the situation. Most of my deaths in MAP28 came within the opening minute. You need to somehow get outside, where rocket launcher, plasma rifle and tons of ammo lay around. And also, a cyberdemon and area-denying archvile turrets. Fortunately, waverider is very generous, so the solution to all monster-related issues is to shoot them until they die.

Once the initial opposition is dead, the map chills down. Ammo for weapons 5 and 6 is abundant, the rooms are spacious and most threats can be dealt with by being careful and patient. I didn't enjoy the lava caves in the south, they contain way too many archviles and cacodemons, killing them all is a drag. The path to the yellow key, though, is another story. A collapsing floor drops you into a cramped corridor. Don't try to fight, just run through the doors into a massive red cavern. If you were missing slaughter, here's one: hordes of revenants, archvile turrets, pain elementals that fill the space with crap and a pair of boss monsters (which are the least of your concern, the mastermind will likely get herself killed and this particular cyberdemon is located in a spot where his rockets are easy to dodge). Great fight, a climactic ending this map needed.

Don't get me wrong, this is no walk in a park - we're still talking about a final episode of PRCP 2. Just that there is a lot of incidental combat between the opening and ending fights and even they feel less threatening than the previous map. Relatively speaking, Crimson Realm is a break map and I welcome something less. However, outside this context, it's merely fine and leaves little impression.

[Tiramisu]

UV/saves, pistol start
 

MAP28 - Crimson Realm

 

EDIT: This review's edgy style is supposed to be a jab at PRCP2's overabundance of long maps, not at the author of this particular map!

 

I am done writing these long-ass reviews for these long-ass maps! So yeah, blah blah blah, hot start, blah blah, map dies down afterwards, incidental combat, a bit ammo starved, overstays its welcome, blah blah. Oh, and I really disliked the use of Archviles here, especially in the final battle!

 

All in all, Crimson Realm starts off nicely and tapers off into a long, unremarkable trek through an eclectic series of rooms and corridors. More than any other map in this wad I feel like this one really did not need to be this long. But at least it didn't force me fight to that one Cyberdemon inside the tiny room, so there's that!

 

EDIT EDIT: Just to set the record 100% straight, I do not think this is a bad map at all. I found it a bit frustrating (and let that spill into the wording), but honestly it was mostly because of my fatigue with the megawad and its un-Plutonia-like gauntlets of long adventure maps (the kind I don't like in the first place). In my opinion waverider really got the short end of the stick from this community project, it just wasn't the right place to show off Crimson Realm, much less in the unlucky slot right after the single most exhausting map in the wad - but overall I think they are a good mapper and should definitely not be disappointed with their work here!

 

Plutonia memories, MAP28 (The Sewers) - I love The Sewers! I understand people's complaints that it's a bit anticlimactic for the MAP28 slot, but it's honestly such an interesting map, and there's so much cool stuff in it around every corner. Also I always wondered if it's supposed to be the sewers beneath the city from Odyssey of Noises - if so then that would explain its placement in the wad!

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP22

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

 

MAP26

MAP13

MAP20

MAP12

MAP05

MAP07

 

MAP10

MAP25

MAP23

MAP27

MAP02

MAP06

 

MAP14
MAP11

MAP16

MAP24

MAP21

MAP18

 

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09

MAP01

MAP19

MAP28

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP28 - Crimson Realm - Waverider (99%K/64%I/50%S):

This map was painful to play, and lowering difficulty is not an option for me, as it is unfair to play 27 maps in one difficulty and switch o another this late into playthrough, luckly I could finish this one. After one of the most punishing maps so far, we get a second one, and I'm afraid it is going to be part of a trilogy, with this, being the hardest in terms of difficulty. There is no strategy for the first part, nor the last one. The first part is an area fully blocked by enemies, so are you deciding to escape? You will have to shoot first, as making the lone chaingunner infight everyone to decompress material in this area is not an option. You want to REALLY escape? well, none of the neighboring areas are walkable, as to your left, there is a nasty cyberdemon guarding the entrance to the caves, with arch-viles and arachnotrons, to your right, another cyberdemon, guarding a safe entrance to the palace. For the first 5 or so minutes of gameplay, you will have no room to breathe, as every room from this intricate layout may be flooded by enemies. Let's get the best aspects out of the way, the layout is good, maybe too over the place because of the heavy interconnection between random points at the same area, but I do often like this take in maps. Back again with the starting area, this is the hardest bit in PRCP2, again, I've found no real strategy to tackle said fight, no way to properly escape without replaying the same setpiece 200 times. The layout while good, gets confusing after you realize every single path you take is just an illusion of free choice, because there are no shortcuts, no "easy path", or something that could change gameplay a little bit more. Every single path has chunky enemies blocking your way, mixed with the most annoying combination of enemies possible. I've mentioned a cave area, that one is just a test of for how much time you can play Peak-a-boo against several arch-viles without losing your mind. Talking about this very aspect, most of the map in regular areas that are not big fights are just peak-a-booing enemies when you are not inside bigger setpieces. The last fight is just like the first one, Crimson Realm? More like CBT. There is some people saying yesterdays map was harder, I totally differ from it, this was 20 times harder. Again, playing in HMP is not an option, this is only a treatment I give to some particular mapsets in map 15 or before if they deserve to be played and are getting painful. Not this late into my playthrough.

Also, you can actually get softlocked here trying to get the medkit from the red key platform on the first area:




(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:

 

Spoiler

 

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11
MAP23

MAP07

MAP05
MAP27
MAP24
MAP26
MAP22
MAP20
MAP32
MAP15
MAP21
MAP31
MAP19
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP14
MAP16
MAP13
MAP25
MAP04
MAP28

 

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by DJVCardMaster

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP28: Crimson Realm by Mattias Johansson (waverider)

(Played on DSDA, UV Pistol Start. 103% Kills / 100% Secrets. Completion time: 38:19)

 

Good news~! Break time may in fact not be over!... well, mostly. 

 

I have to attach a caveat to that statement, make no mistake, Crimson Realm won't exactly just roll over for you (at first). While it's not quite a leisurely stroll with its long completion time and sparse spikes in difficulty.. it is kind of a pushover.

 

If the sight of Crimson Realm's intimidating start makes you feel weak in the knees after the traumatic experience that was Rules of Nature, have no fear, because Crimson Realm is much, much easier than then the map that came before it. 

Make no mistake... it does *look* dire: doors blocked by mancubi, chaingunners in the bleachers, and outside are archviles and cyberdemons ready to take aim.

 

However... there's a big difference between MAP27 & 28: execution. Rules of Nature was generally a slog because just getting basic supplies felt like an uphill battle, and you had to fight for every inch of ground. It also brought close-quarters fight that gave me PTSD flashbacks to Death Destiny's discography.

 

 Crimson Realm, on the other hand, feels like it takes inspiration from a much different source. TBH, it plays more like an old-school slaughter-lite map. I'd actually compare it to something like Alien Vendetta's MAP26:Dark Dome (although Dark Dome is much harder), as you're given a lot of supplies upfront, and half the challenge is deciphering the incredibly hot start. Much like maps of old, you're also given a lot of wiggle room in how you tackle its initial combat puzzle, but there's generally an obvious solution that you can single out pretty quickly. Although Crimson Realm doesn't allow for quite as many deviations in the route as other maps of this style, and there is a sort of *intended* path for progression.

The easiest way I've found to tackle this start is to not fire a shot, grab some supplies, and get a few monsters who are awake to infight with and move some of the mancubi on the left out of the way so you can squeeze past, giving you access to a rocket launcher and a plasma rifle. In my experience if you can get at least one of the fatso's out of the way, you can easily squeeze past the 2nd row. From there, mind the roaming cyberdemon, make a break for the door guarded by a mancubus and get him out of your way ASAP by either pre-firing rockets or plasma. Bolt through the door, mind the cyberdemon on your left and the one still firing rockets at you outside, find a safe space to catch your breath, and congratulations ~! You've survived the worst that Crimson Realm can throw at you~!

 

 

Like a lot of slaughter-lite maps of old, a lot of the satisfaction comes from solving the initial combat puzzle, and since most of the difficulty is frontloaded, once you make some space for yourself the heat immediately begins to die down. I'd actually say it turns down the heat way more than it needs to, and it generally throws the easy switch way sooner than most maps of this style. The building interior doesn't offer much in the way of resistance minus a few archies, a cyber, and the ensuing blue key fight which is a nice spirited encounter. This is maybe the map's biggest shortcoming, as very few of the encounters outside of the hot start and the final fight have much substance to them. The few that do are generally very short. TBH it feels like some of the fat could have been cut off here.

 

From here you actually have some options as to how to tackle the red cavern, either via kicking in the door on the archvile-guarded front entrance or what i opted for: taking a teleporter to the back of the cave to slowly dismantle enemies on the inside. The rest of this section is generally a cakewalk, and once you've carved out some space, the red cavern section genuinely has no answer for you and your backpack full of weapons.

 

However, break time is briefly interrupted by the path to the yellow key fight, as it drops you down into a dastardly encounter with boney bois, an archvile, mancubi, and some sleeping hell nobles around the corner. TBH you just have to get lucky here with either infighting or plasma/ SSG stuns on the archie, it felt like the execution needed to be tighter here. 

 

Next comes the final fight: where Waverider throws everything short of the kitchen sink at you. I managed to get through it easily enough by bum rushing the archvile near the center pillar, finding a soulshere in a secret nook, and using the space around the pillar as my base of operations as i thin out the hordes. Clean up the stragglers, watch the spidermama haplessly infight with everything, hose down one last cyberdemon, and the map is essentially done. 

 

I appreciate that Waverider uses the last few monsters on the kill count as a way to light-heartedly jab at those expecting one last trap after passing through the yellow door, as if it's their way of saying "don't worry, you're done, I promise"

 

While Crimson Realm looks menacing, it's mostly a paper tiger, as dismantling the initial start will easily declaw most of its difficulty. It makes for a surprisingly easy map this late into the set and after what I went through with MAP27, I genuinely appreciate the breather. Maybe a little uneven but for the most part, a mostly solid map with some highs, but mostly feels like it longs for tighter execution.

 

If you found Crimson Realm to be a frustrating experience, that is also valid. It's not exactly ball-busting hard for a late slot map, but it can be overwhelming trying to figure out how to tackle it at first. It's also yet another very long map, in a set full of very long maps. I only found it easy because I'm very familiar with maps of this style and have enough experience to know how to dismantle them.

 

Grade: C+

 

Order of preference 

 

Spoiler

MAP11

MAP17

MAP20

MAP06

MAP32

MAP26

MAP10

MAP05

MAP15

MAP01

MAP08

MAP12

MAP03

MAP24

MAP25

MAP19

MAP31

MAP07

MAP28

MAP14

MAP13

MAP21

MAP18

MAP02

MAP23

MAP16

MAP04

MAP09

MAP27

MAP22

 

Edited July 28, 2023 by HiMyNameIsChair

[Catpho]

Skipping 24. I wasn't feeling it after ~ 15 mins of play, and it seemed to be a long one. Maybe another time.

 

By the way, despite failing to post about them, I did finish every other map so far. It's been too long now and I didn't take notes, so I can't write about them in detail from memory and do them justice. Instead, I'll just try to mention my favorites in the monthly wrap-up. I do, however, have a draft of a MAP31 write-up, which is something that is going on my top 5 overall and I feel determined to finish, given the lukewarm reception it received here and my chance to be an edgy snowflake :D

MAP23 - “Wrong Turn” by MattFright - The setting here is certainly the map's chief appeal, but I'm breaking away from the club's opinion that the gunplay is a wash. Maybe, when viewed in isolation, many of these ideas are too simple in terms of mechanical demands, not reaching the complexity and fluidity of something like Sunlust or Cydonia. I'm also not going to deny finnks assertion that many of the deadliest fights involve AVs. This is, however, all I am going to grant. The map does a wonderful job providing variety anyway, housing everything from chord-style brawls to stalking Cyber fields to timed invasion fights , and this is all framed in a variety of spectacular setups. Sometimes, you are storming down a gate (repeated several times, each distinct in feel and visuals). Sometimes, magic carpets summon hellspawn. Sometimes you are hopping over thin wood pillars while rows of CGs take aim. There is, in short, much attention put into deciding how you are engaging these deceptively simple fights, MattFright having a flair for setting up dramatic engagements. It is good for the level that its bread and butter fights tend to go without a hitch — I'm not saying that the map's fights won't shine even brighter with a greater feeling for Doom combat complexity, and I think that kind of criticism as stated in this thread can only benefit the map, but it feels a bit wrong to not also recognize its great panache with choreography. Stylish, memorable hooks like this abound in this level:

TL;DR: While the individual fights in "Wrong Turn" aren't going to turn heads in their gameplay demands, there's still a deep imagination in how they are staged, which elevates its simplicity into something graceful and, I'd say, cool.

 

And I've rambled a great deal about looks without talking about the actual looks, and I wish I could. There are beautiful maps, as PRCP2 has in abundance, and there are maps that are story and history — the way you eyes are guided from looking at feeble torches siphoning the twilight, to gazing the beautiful casket of occult hubris, storming down through each of its protective barriers which double as its prison, peering deeper and deeper with every open door and lowering rock into its secluded, dark heart. It's not just the static sectors: the monsters are in it too, as mentioned above. Maps like this are the reason why I started this thread; you can't just call a map where looking is the gameplay and just call it "pretty". I guess I could talk about one thing, which are the props and "obstructive" midtex. Those are the map too; "Wrong Turn" is much more concerned with how the area feels to you rather than just being a conduit for fights. The obstructive visual details, with their associated gameplay quirks, cements the map as more of a morbid tour than a blood pumping playground. It's not really style over substance when style here is the substance.

 

Hope to see more from you, MattFright.

 

MAP25 - “Sting Operation” by General Rainbow Bacon - A lot of the monster placement here shouldn't really be that exciting on paper - indeed, the final arena of the map is a door-camping bust, and I don't care for the insta-pop baron - but the tight resource balance here works in the map's favor for the most part. My favorite stretch of the map begins when the AVs get released just when you clear the eastern area relative to the stat. At that point, it becomes a scramble over meager space with copious infighting gambits, because there simply isn't any ammo to clear things out easily, or health to cover mistakes, and the map's simple traps such as the crusher actually start to feel oppressive. While I love infight baiting and consider it a core mechanic to Doom's longevity, I think the maps execution of it still a bit simplistic, with a lot of waiting when you finally nail down the rhythm, and it hasn't got much beyond it; when you do have to fire, matters tend to be a tad too simple — either "point, shoot", or clean-up duty. Still, I found it entertaining for most of its runtime.

 

MAP26 - “Golgotha” by Xyzzy01 - My favorite way to play this map is just to run to every corner that isn't locked by the YK and awaken everything, then gamble on the glorious unfolding chaos. Way more fun than to methodically clear out every room, I imagine. I'll agree with the others that the manc corridor behind the YK door is just bait to find the secret RL and get on with it. There's no way you are convincing me that baiting Cyb to slowly clear out a pack of mancs is fun, Xyzzy :P It looks sparse, but in the functional way that really gets the Swift Death-ish attitude across. A decent distraction.

 

MAP27 -  “Rules of Nature” by Potatoboih - This is a great one. Almost bread n' butter in a way, but not classical as it has very modern ideals regarding fight design and pacing. Still, there's something elemental to it: 2 keys each with their own setpiece fights, between them several open, interconnected incidental battlefields, but with a battle cadence that is unmistakably late game and only mildly empowering, unlike the more superhuman feats featured in the more gonzo Alm/Skillsaw school material. There's a similar no-frills feeling to the environmental design, being a vague collection of scorched wastelands connected by a web of tunnels and failing infrastructure, rendered in broad strokes, barely-representationalist, but by no means minimalist detailing. There's seemingly some non-linearity going on in the level, but in practice there is a slight nudge due to how the most easily accessible non-secret RL is stored in a very specific location, and both the PG and the RL are necessary for the many violent and complicated (but not modern-arena complicated) fights littered throughout. Generally, however, the map feels like a collection of endless twists and turns in all of its abstract glory, something like a level from the Memento Moris but with modern ideas of pressure and balancing. As a final note, this write up of mine would be much better if I had just focused on one of the aspects that made up this level, but for now I loved pretty much every moment, so I'm settling for this general overview.

 

Catpho's obligatory "I enjoyed this" notes:

 

- It's funny to read some comments about missing weapons at crucial moments. Different strokes I guess: I always try to collect as many as I can before venturing forth in maps like this, so I didn't suffer any flow issues :)

- The RK is great, the two cybs are great. Admittedly, it's more pleasant if you got all the weapons. Still, you do see all that ammo lying around. I think that's a reasonable hint to go get something to use em.

- Good long maps are great. I don't mind it if an entire episode is filled with long maps if all of them are this good. DWMC schedule is well-meaning, but one of the limitations is that you can start to feel the heat if the maps are all long, heh.

 

MAP28 - “Crimson Realm” by waverider - This feels like playing one of those Zone-of-Influence (ZoI) maps as DotW liked to called them, or stuff like the best HR maps, AV's Darkdome, or KSutra's MAP31 if you are unfamiliar. The broad strokes of ZoI is that the entire map is this oppressive mess that you dismantle one by one. "Crimson Realm" plays a lot like that, where it feels you spend most of your time trying to weather down these massive setups, but it lacks the danger, chaos, and speed that makes the ZoI maps fun. Most of the time, I feel like I'm just doing room-clearing but with bigger weapons and bigger pests, and this persists for the entire map. The thing placement works in the way that there's literally no reason to rush into danger when you can just grind down a corner and shoot from there. It's not even that fun to play loose when you could not really die from making dumb decisions given the copious health, and when you do play suicidal the monster mixing isn't that chaotic or dynamic. A map with lots of doors with health for me.

Edited September 11, 2023 by Catpho

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map27 “Rules of Nature”

 

Hearing Lee Jackson’s “You Suck” start up is sure to put a knot in the stomach, the leitmotif of Fire and Ice and Demonic Hordes undoubtedly augurs a grueling odyssey. Expectations are not subverted in Rules of Nature, this map is long, harsh, and pitiless.

 

So all the rules of nature amount to one thing. Have a plan. Know what you’re doing. This level is disgusting to play blind. All your weapons that actually kill things except the plasma are either in secrets or tucked away in remote corners of the level. Ambushes are as brutal as anything you’ll see in this wad and damaging floor permeates the map. It is especially crucial to obtain the secret BFG located in the cyberdemon cave up northeast.

 

As for a route, the starting outdoor section is filled with monsters but most of them can be ignored. You only really need to kill the hitscanners and the enemies covering the plasma. Once that’s done take a very brief foray into the western section and swipe the SSG in the diamond shaped courtyard (it’s at the eastern edge). After that leave the area, grab a radsuit, and move into the blood caves to the east.

 

Use the plasma to establish a foothold then grind with the SSG (cells are abundant enough but you want as many as possible for BFG spamming later). Eventually we come to a soulsphere that drops us into a cavern, the RL resting alluringly in front of us. Don’t take it immediately, clear the landing zone first and then nab it so you can kill the released viles much more smoothly. Clearing this cavern is just grindy so hold off on cells and maybe even the megaarmor until we’re ready to continue northeast, the cybers are waiting. Dropping through the ominous teeth takes us to a claustrophobic nightmare of an encounter against some nobles, two cybers, and then three archviles… but a subtle eye switch just beforehand opens up a BFG. The secret soundly defangs this fight, the cybers can be killed relatively safely from the BFG chamber and the viles are annihilated with two quick shots.

 

Taking the teleporter brings us to a quick blue key section that isn’t as bad as it looks. Immediately flee south to the key’s chamber, use the RL/BFG to eliminate the noble ambush, then work back to the blue door. It leads to the starting area which you can now clear out however you like.

 

Now for the western section there are two notable battles, the enemies released by hitting the courtyard switch and the ones released by taking the red key. The first one is soundly handled with the BFG but the second is another story. I’d recommend grabbing the key, BFGing the two viles immediately (revealed right behind you), then luring the two cybers to the southern entrance to the western courtyard. They can’t advance into the courtyard itself and their rockets will just hit the platform in front of you, letting you disrespect them with whatever weapon you like.

 

After cheesing the cyber brothers we have both keys and can proceed to the final fight, which is manageable. We get a megasphere and can use the BFG to kill one of the spidermomma’s instantly. Take cover in her cubbyhole and take care of the first wave before hitting the switch. The second wave is BFG fodder and afterwards we can finally leave.

 

Not to sound like a broken record but playing this map with experience… makes all the difference in the world. I like Rules of Nature but I remember being pretty vexed by it earlier this year. This time around though, among my favorite maps in the wad.

 

I'd like to make a demo but there just isn't enough time left in the month.

Edited July 28, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[Xyzzу]

Guess I'll give some dev insight to my map, two days late :P About the rocket launcher secret everyone says shouldn't be... you may not like how strong & cryptic it is but I intended for the fight itself to be the reward; it's my favorite fight so I locked it away and designed it so that, if you beat it, then the rest don't matter - you've already discovered the most thrilling part! Just have fun flinging explosive dongs at everything else in sight like a maniac, otherwise the map plays like a lot of other ones I've made. I totally understand it being quite the unusual design choice as I only started experimenting with incorporating secret fights into my levels.

As for ammo shortages in the yellow key bit, though I can see how my map may feel miserly with it, I'd chalk that up to just bad ammo placement. The map was balanced to have enough to kill everything consistently, but I can totally see people wasting bullets when they sit in the middle of the path blending in with the grass (and chaingunner corpses) and thus easy to accidentally run into, along with missing the sixteen shells I put... behind the pedestal fatsos. Also, keep in mind you aren't locked away from escaping that area at all if things get too heated and if that's not enough for you... I put a berserk in for a reason, use it along with infighting >u<

...actually, I don't have much else to say about Golgotha development-wise that I didn't already hide in its map marker in Xerxesia:

Spoiler

    This is a speedmap I made, originally to clown on TimeOfDeath's 2021
Doomworld Mega Project, but it turned out to be quite a decent unintended
attempt at a Plutonia-ish map. I started with a prefab on idgames called
"Winwin.zip". I then made it better, looking presentable and using the actual
textures from Plutonia and donated the level to the (then WIP) Plutonia
Revisited: Community Project 2. It's possibly the best overall map I've made so
far; unleashing everything in one fell swoop is fun.

I still think I put too many support beams, heh.

 

On 7/26/2023 at 5:04 PM, finnks13 said:

The ending is a small infighting puzzle, which is fine but probably the weakest part of the level

 

2 hours ago, Catpho said:

I'll agree with the others that the manc corridor behind the YK door is just bait to find the secret RL and get on with it. There's no way you are convincing me that baiting Cyb to slowly clear out a pack of mancs is fun, Xyzzy :P 

Believe it or not, that fight consisted of a crapton of revenants, barons blocking the exit, and TWO cyberdemons to distract in early versions* of the map, with a couple annoying tree decorations in the earliest revisions to boot! Needless to say, Joshy and some others in the team that gave feedback deemed it a tad too much. Funny how my nerf made my map end up having the lowest monster count of all maps in PRCP2. Looks like I dodged quit the bullet there, but at the same time... short & snappy maps are just my M.O.

^{P.S. finnks, I think there are more teleporters that are not fully dark in Plutonia than ones that are, so I feel I should at least get a couple more points back in your review for getting that part right at least!}

*I dunno how one of the files became "E" but it's another earlier version of Golgotha. Just give it the .WAD file extension rofl

Edited July 28, 2023 by Χyzzy