The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP22 - Trickster's Lair - Jark (83%K/72%I/0%S):

Another banger by Jark, just like with Solar Struggle, Jark manages to throw something outside the box with this map with tricks in every single place you walk to. As the name implies, this lair is full of traps, EVERYTHING in this map is booby-trapped, EVERYTHING is a going to throw shit at you, every blind spot has a hitscanner, every switch will not do what you expect. My god, what a level, something you actually don't see that often in maps. I feel Jark likes to for a DFF-take, making maps in a more unconventional way. This time the author presents you a map that may resemble a little bit to Anti-Christ or Tombstone, and other times completely forgets it is a Plutonia styled map.
Right from the start, Jark puts you in a hurry, and each time you fall into a damaging pit, he puts you into a painful waiting sequence until something reveals or lowers, making you progress. Talking about progress, you will feel totally confused, so you will start roaming around mindlessly, as unconventional actions performed by switches here and there will make your head scramble. Not only the map has some tricks in terms of fights, but there are some timed sequences and puzzles aswell. I really liked this one, but it is so hard at times it is infuriating. Still I don't think it is the worst map in terms of difficulty, as the anger I got with this one came because of said cheap tricks and low punches it throws to you. Another problem I've found with this level is that, at the end, you will run a bit out of ammo, so the last fights I've decided to skip them. At the end, I've just expected the exit pad to be a trap aswell, revealing me more archviles, but surprisingly, it wasn't. So unexpected you end up expecting another trick, that does not happen, how fun.
I have to say I had to mute the music, as I could not take that awful song, but I guess it goes pretty well with the frantic playstyle this level offers, so in terms of "world-building" it gets a pass.
 

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11

MAP07

MAP05
MAP22
MAP20
MAP32
MAP15
MAP21
MAP31
MAP19
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP14
MAP16
MAP13
MAP04

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

 

 

[Tiramisu]

UV/saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP22 - Trickster's Lair

 

Kicking off with a start so hot you might as well be on the surface of the sun, Trickster's Lair lets you know loud and clear - you are in for it now. You'd think escaping the Archvile and Revenants at the blood pool would be the worst of it, but it somehow just keeps getting worse and worse, and as you run for your life thinking "it can't get any worse" you get another two Revenants round a corner. Only once you clear the entire starting area of monsters will you be able to take a breather - now the REAL stage is beginning. You are in the lair of the Trickster now, and you are nothing more than today's entertainment!

 

It's honestly stupefying how good, how artistic this map is in screwing the player over. It consists almost entirely of traps, and each is more elaborate than the last. You can really tell the author is having a grand ol' time of unbridled, sadistic fun - and you can almost feel them watching you through the red eyes of the ever-present gargoyles (DOOM's equivalent of the trollface), laughing as you bumble through.

 

In a way, it almost feels like a disservice to use saves in this map - but it would take an absolutely insane person not to do so, if only due to its length. I ended up saving every few traps, and I think I found a good balance of fun and tension in that - especially given the map's pleasantly non-linear layout, which allows you to choose an entirely different path more often than not.

 

And in the end, I must say I really, really enjoyed myself! After you get used to the way the map works, it becomes something of a playground of ideas, with endless curiosities around each corner. But you have to learn to laugh with the Trickster, instead of getting angry - a skill I think most Plutonia fans won't have a lot of trouble with at this point. Most importantly, as cruel as the traps here are, none of them really felt unfair (maybe except for the Archvile/Mancubus pincer strike), each time serving small portions of monsters that can reasonably be dealt with once you recover from the initial shock.

 

If I had to choose my favorite traps in the whole bunch, it would be the dark room that spawns in Chaingunners as you exit, and the toxic blood maze - these two are the map's masterpieces. The former completely subverts your expectations of a trap by giving away free ammo and health in the most suspicious-looking room ever seen (I mean, there's literally a spotlight on the resources!), then subverts it again once you've already let your guard down! The latter is just a work of art in trolling - the confusing layout, the eyes everywhere looking at you mockingly, the dead-ends where you're greeted by the gargoyle trollface, and can almost hear it say "oh, sorry, took a wrong turn? here's a stimpack for the road!". Finally the actual place where you can see the Soulspheres in plain sight but it's a dead end and you cannot collect them and AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

The rocket launcher gauntlet is also up there, if only for the sheer amount of punishment the map makes you go through for a single weapon. In general, except for health and ammo, nothing is free in the Trickster's lair - I ordinarily don't like ambushes over things like green armor, but here it's a given, and honestly pretty hilarious in how disproportionately harsh they can get! On the other hand, health is usually ambush-free and pretty abundant, which is a welcome choice in a map like this.

 

Now, if there's anything I might complain about here, it's that the map is a bit too long - though I feel like that might be intentional, in order to really make the player feel like they've been put through a wringer. And I can confirm that works - it is in the end an absolutely exhausting map, and at this point I'm just glad it's over. 10/10. Plutonia on crack.

 

Plutonia memories, MAP22 (Impossible Mission) - I really liked this map overall. The room with the nobles on a platform above slime is one of the most memorable setpieces in Plutonia, if you ask me!

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP22

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

 

MAP13

MAP20

MAP12

MAP05

MAP07

MAP10

 

MAP02

MAP06

MAP14

MAP11

MAP16

MAP21

 

MAP18

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09 

MAP01

MAP19

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP22: Trickster's Lair by Jark

(UV Pistol started, Played on DSDA, 92% kills, 0% secrets. Completion time: 29:44)

 

*HEAVY BREATHING*

 

hoooooly shit... yeah, no I... did not care about 100% kills here. When i saw the exit open i got out of there like a bat outta hell.

every... goddamn thing in this map is like pulling teeth. Every switch, every lift, every step forward is a malicious trap, made to be as excruciating as possible, just nothing but enemies in tight space, damaging floor, teleport lines, being constantly roadblocked, and with progression that is so... hairpulling unclear and frustrating.

 

It probably didn't help matters i had to load a save during this, and unbeknownst to me: i had yet to hit a switch that progresses the level from where i had saved, so cue a good 10 mins of me running around and getting lost in jark's hellish funhouse.

 

While the map starts unbelievably hot, once the action dies down the energy really begins to sag, and it never really picks back up outside of a few key ambushes, leaving you to wander around and figure out what the hell it is that Jark wants you to do.

 

In a way, Jark's house of pain feels almost fitting of a Plutonia project, almost feeling like an overclocked map from the 90's, like something Malcolm Sailor would make if he'd had a really bad day, or if a Yonatan Donner & Jim Flynn map had a twisted love child. however, Trickster's Lair doesn't quite jive with Plutonia's white knuckle, high-intensity action, and Jark's particular flavor of cruelty still ends up feeling out of place, being too drawn out and methodical.

 

Overall, this distinct flavor of cruelty just does not jive with me, as i'd quite happily rather be two-shot cyberdemons, and generally would rather never play this map again.

 Grade: D-

 

The only reason it's not an F is because at the very least Jark's map looks great, and they succeed in their mission of making a really frustrating and tricky map. A terrible job well done to them.
 

Order of Preference 

 

Spoiler

MAP11

MAP17

MAP20

MAP06

MAP32

MAP10

MAP05

MAP15

MAP01

MAP08

MAP12

MAP03

MAP19

MAP31

MAP07

MAP14

MAP13

MAP21

MAP18

MAP02

MAP16

MAP04

MAP09

MAP22

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by HiMyNameIsChair

[finnks13]

MAP20 - Calamity Valley by Yumheart:

19:40/10 Deaths
It's the last map in Episode 2, and, fittingly, it ends with the hardest map thus far. Having made a megawad with Yumheart, I'm very familiar with her mapping style and this is absolutely a perfect example of the sort of map she likes to make. Large arenas that loop back onto each other, grand visual designs with some more gimmicky encounters thrown in to stand out a bit. This would clash horribly with the rest of the wad because it's absolutely nothing like Plutonia, feeling more like a combination between the incidental design of Resurgence with the set-pieces from early Ribbiks works such as Sunlust or Swim with the Whales. Thankfully 70% of this set has bugger all in common with Plutonia, so it doesn't stick out horribly. I really like the grand visuals, especially how the light shines in through the gigantic window in the starting area on everything else. The immense structures in the outside areas are really a sight to behold, and everything feels very pleasing to look at. I'd have probably hidden the voodoo sectors & monster closets if you were going to give out an automap that easily, but that's just me :P

 

As I'd expect, the incidental combat here is the star of the show. It flows incredibly well, and you're constantly kept on the move by various snipers or traps that you spring. There's a lot of health around, though you'll definitely use it up pretty quickly and start to run low, which is not ideal given all the backtracking through previous areas that have been politely repopulated with archviles that you'll be doing. The structured ambushes are a little weaker, the plasma gun fight is excellent bait and once you realise that the whole room is lowering onto your head it's very scary, but it's not telegraphed well at all. I suppose the incredibly loud sound of everything lowering should have tipped me off, but I assumed it was just some sort of detail effect that I couldn't see. I think the rooms here use boom generalised crushers, which isn't ideal since they're borked and in my run one hell knight managed to survive the crushing. The section where you get all the keys at once is rather strange, I suppose you're meant to trigger all the fights at once because doing them one-by-one is very non-threatening, though all three waves are definitely competently designed.

 

The secret fight that gives you a BFG (that I ended up replaying the map to find cause I think you're locked out of it at some point) is incredibly mean. Frankly I'm not sure how you'd be able to do it if you came in with absolutely no cells, since I barely managed it while coming in with ~200. The timing here felt a little too tight, especially since you're fighting the cyberdemons two at a time and can't rely on two-shotting them as easily. Then again, it's optional so I don't think it's a massive deal if it's a bit too difficult. The finale is entertaining, you have to deal with a massive horde of revenants and barons that have archviles placed behind them which are the main actual threat here. Rushing the archviles feels like a bit of a crap-shoot but I managed it eventually thanks to some help from the mastermind who is actually very effective here. Jump off of the lava fall (WE'LL GET TO YOU) and you are winner!

 

Overall, Calamity Valley is a very good closer to the second episode. Nothing like Plutonia, but if you're still playing PRCP2 at this point you've come to expect that.

 

MAP21 - Scorched Sacellum by Wydoomer:

11:55/1 Death
OK, there have been many maps in this that aren't very much like Plutonia, but you've gotta be taking the piss with this one. It doesn't even use Plutonia's texture palette at all, looking like something out of Requiem more than anything else. You don't get any better weapons than a rocket launcher, never get a Super Shotgun and have to deal with opposition that is laughably weak for Episode 3. This is a terrible opener for the final episode, I appreciate the fact that we're being given a small break from the challenge, but this is the easiest map in the wad without a doubt, I died to falling into an inescapable pit and barely dipped below 70% health other than that. The combat is crap, the red key fight is the only thing of note but if you've not been put to sleep then you'll have found the "secret" rocket stash that trivialises it. I'm sure if this were in Episode 1 of any other boom project then I'd have very little problem with this, but I've rather lost my patience with this wad at this point.

 

Overall, Scorched Sacellum is so horribly out of place, I cannot fathom why it's here, no less in the Map21 slot. Was there any vision for this project at all?

 

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

Spoiler

MAP20: 0/10. There aren't any. Not sure how that happened. The text screen even mentions the method of exiting from this map, so it's not like this wasn't known about, they just didn't give a shit.

 

^{Please play some appropriately upsetting music while viewing this image, thanks}

 

MAP21: -1/10. You start on a teleporter this time, but it's just a white teleporter gate texture?????? What????? You also exit by jumping into a fireplace which is also just what?????? This is worse than forgetting about them completely lmao

 

 

^{There's not going to be any more maps that don't start you on a teleporter right? I'm not sure I can take it.}

 

[cannonball]

Unfortunately due to becoming very busy I have fallen behind and are unlikely to make up the lost time. I did start map20 but seemingly ended up in the secret BFG fight by accident and subsequently ended up a position that made me feeling rather unhappy and called DNF on my first playthrough as RNG was being very unkind (cybers acting far too often like they were uv fast or moving in manners that made quick BFG dispatch almost impossible. 
Map21 looks pretty nice, but it did feels very out of place, at least a lot of the maps that felt in-Plutonia like seemed to follow a natural progression in terms of the genre (be it like PL2 or SOD or Sunlust etc), this one felt like a rather generic but pretty boom map.

[Celestin]

MAP23: Wrong Turn by MattFright

 

A short conveyor belt ride through MattFright's interpretation of how a quantum accelerator operates spits the player into yet another blood-filled base. The foreboding atmosphere is much to my liking, the map itself... That's a more complicated story.

 

For once, the start isn't hot, but it heats up once you leave the starting room. Wrong Turn makes an evil use of archviles, mixing them with other monsters in cramped fights or teleporting them into already-cleared rooms you need to backtrack through. There's little things as demoralising as hearing sounds of fallen monsters getting revived. The first tough fight takes place in a blood moat, with hitscanners and revenants on the walls, bunch of crap below, exit on a timer (so you can't just flee) and an archvile for a good measure. The upper level isn't much better, as a pair of cyberdemons are roaming around, so it's best to ignore them and dash for the safety of a stronghold. Now, this is a part died a lot. Very cramped with not much health to heal your wounds, so you are more or less limited to super shotgun (or a secret plasma rifle, but there isn't much ammo for it).

 

At some point you find a BFG, but save cells for the return to the bloody lake, where the cyberdemons and their teleporting company are waiting. I feel like this is something Trickster's Lair lacked: a catharthic final fight that rewards you for overcoming all the previous challenges. One slight annoyance are those two cubes where revenants get teleported in, unless there's a crusher somewhere I've missed, it takes a while before they are depleted. A spiderdemon behind the red door makes a last-ditch effort to stop you, but as usual, she's no threat.

 

Wrong Turn is a good map, but I'm afraid PRCP 2 is reaching a level of difficulty where I'm not good enough to give the maps justice. I know difficulty is something you should expect from any wad that has "Plutonia" in its name, I was just more comfortable with the first half.

Edited July 22, 2023 by Celestin

[plums]

3 minutes ago, Celestin said:

I'm afraid PRCP 2 is reaching a level of difficulty where I'm not good enough to give the maps justice.

I found most of the 3rd episode of PRCP2 to be really high on "fuck you player!!" energy. I eventually toned it down to HMP and felt a lot more comfortable; the maps seem to do a good job of accommodating lower difficulty settings.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 22: Trickster's Lair - Jark

98% kills and 75% secrets

Time: 30:01

Deaths: 1 (yup, you read that right, only 1!)

 

Jark decided that his map for this set will hate you and do all its power to kill you in multiple different ways. I don't recall his Solar Struggle map doing that. So it was sorta surprising to see how brutal this map is, even if it is a Plutonia map. The fact that I only died once is amazing. My death came in the northeast corner where you go outside, head up some cliffside stairs and run smackdab into an archie. Turn around and a manc is now blocking the path from which you came, and another archie is up on the fortress's balcony. Yeah, I was boned. Almost boned the 2nd attempt, but I fell into the blood and found a way back up that put me back on the other side of the manc. This is only one trick out of many in this map. There's always an ambush around every corner, there's always a demon popping up when you hit a switch, the teleports take you to unexpected areas with high-pressure situations. The damaging blood all throughout the map (with no rad suits) doesn't help either. I guess you could say this map is filled with mini combat puzzles that don't have a lot of enemies, but has interesting room layouts and gimmicks to make them dangerous. Thankfully, Jark does show some mercy with the health, as I noticed there was a lot of it here. 48 medikits, 5 soul spheres, and 2 megaspheres really help make the brutalism of the encounters go down fairly easy. The secrets here are also pretty cool. The long jump into a raised teleporter for the cells could be tricky, but I hit it first try. I especially liked the BFG secret, which I didn't realize I needed the blue key until I went onto the wiki to look up how to find the 2 secrets I was missing. The hidden yellow key and the secret it revealed I probably would not have figured out on my own, and the other missing one required I didn't kill that aforementioned fortress balcony archie to do an archvile jump, so there went maxing this. Oh well, nbd! I also liked the non-secret double soul sphere blood tunnel that's pretty easy to decipher, but you need a lot of health going into it to make it to the end before dying. I barely did. So the map is mean, but does it feel like Plutonia? Idk. The texturing and layout honestly reminded me more of Doom II's MAP29, but Plutonia did have its own homage to that, so I guess? So overall, I enjoyed this one quite a bit! It's incredibly hectic and mean, but there's more than enough health to offset that, and the mini combat encounters are fun and creative. 

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map20 “Calamity Valley”

 

In megawads, Map20s are connotatively seen as the end of the second episode, regardless of whatever categories, if any, maps are divided into. As such, they tend to be challenging, arduous affairs. Calamity Valley continues this implicit tradition, providing modernized gameplay that will spell calamity for your playthrough.

 

The first ten seconds or so should give an idea of what we’re in for. A baron gets us moving, a spiderdemon and her spawn gets us moving faster, and grabbing the only meaningful weapon in sight (rocket launcher) opens a fun ambush involving two viles, a caco clutch, and some other dudes. If this fight is a problem then get comfortable because it’s like the fifth hardest encounter in the map.

 

Moving on we quickly discover basically every weapon is a trap, Sunlust style. The SSG is relinquished without heartache (relatively) but the plasma further down… not so much. After getting jebaited by some cells we find ourselves in a circular library with a slowly lowering crushing ceiling that reminds me of Quake. This fight is hard, the sequence of switches and the enemies released is bad enough, but the time limit is ruthless. It’s among my favorite arenas of the wad… though you can get locked out of 100% kills if you bail with enemies still alive in there (which I’m not a fan of).

 

Oh, and after this we get a secret BFG fight against seven time released cyberdemons in a 2-2-3 grouping. This place was responsible for like 80% of my deaths.

 

Ironically, once we reach the calamity valley itself I find the difficulty eases a bit. Please note that “eases” does not mean “easy” but nothing here or afterwards felt as tough as the cyberdemons or even the crushing ceiling arena. The valley is sparsely populated with a fairly oppressive cyberdemon raining booms on us, who’s best ignored for now. Making it down to the key arena presents us with a small wooden platform with lava, resources, and three switches that release three waves of baddies and the keys they guard. All three battles are of moderate difficulty but your health and armor can easily get attritioned out, so consider doing whichever one you find hardest first (you can also be a badass and tackle more than one wave at a time).

 

After a skirmish with some viles and that pain in the ass cyber from earlier we return to the starting room to commence the finale. Hitting the key switches results in a massive slaughterfest of revenants, hell nobles, viles, and that spiderdemon from outside.  I find this fight more a test of nerves than anything, with a megasphere and a ton of BFG ammo focus on making some space and you can weather the storm. I like to duck into the BFG nook for a second then blitz the northern revenant closet, which should spread out the opposition enough to start circling.

 

So yeah… Yumheart… he/she makes beastly maps (did this in Literalism too). Calamity Valley is aptly named and ends the second episode with a thundering bang.

 

prcp2map20.zip

Time: 20:40   Kills: 251/251    Secrets: 4/4

 

Oh dear lord finally. Truth be told I badly wanted a victory over this one and I’m posting late because it took a while to get it. I won't be able to make demos much longer, the levels are just getting too time-consuming.

[Book Lord]

MAP 23 – Wrong Turn by @MattFright

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

 

Flickering lights on a conveyor belt were the Boom way to introduce Wrong Turn, an atmospheric map by an author with not many official submissions under his belt. MattFright showed good ambition here, as the environment he depicted had something special: a blood swamp dotted with graves and maimed bodies, containing several man-made buildings now transformed into bastions of evil. The creepy flood had dragged off crates and pieces of equipment, which Doomguy must collect to get ready for the map’s challenges.

Spoiler

The first couple of fights set up the standards: sudden pop-ups and teleport ambushes with Arch-Viles acting as threat propellant. That was not a bad idea per se, as they are very efficient Doom enemies; I only found that using them in every single fight was a bit repetitive. However, after acquiring the rocket launcher and revealing a blood-filled dale with a medieval gate structure at the other side, I was ambushed again while invisible Revenants shot homing rockets from two burning towers. My ammo reserve was constantly dropping since the beginning, and it soon became evident that Wrong Turn was not designed to methodically clear the opposition; I must only kill enough demons to quickly advance through the areas, but choosing where to go in a blind playthrough was not an easy task.

Spoiler

Trap after trap, I emerged in a large outdoor area, shaped as a ring but not entirely accessible, with a cavern shortcut through the central hill, and Cyberdemons at my heels. I concluded that the resources did not allow to make a stand, so I rushed into the southern building where the rocket-shooting goats could not chase me. The inside was a mysterious and ornate library, swallowed by vegetation and decay, but still oozing forbidden magic and lore. The author already set things straight, so most of the Arch-Vile ambushes in that section were expected. I was only killed during the BFG encounter, because I was surprised by the Chaingunners warping in and I fell into the deadly embrace of healers and their bruiser friends.

 

Emerging to the outside, I could climb on top of the bank where I saw the RSK. Picking it up triggered a large monster deployment in the area, which became a ring where running was not a problem, unless Arch-Viles get you with an unwarranted immolation from the distance. To prevent speedrunners from running to the red door, dispatching the Spider Mastermind with a BFG shot, and reaching the exit, bars were raised in front of the door and a visit to a dark cavern to the west was required. To max out the map, Revenants in the fiery towers must be killed manually, since a crusher was devised only for the reinforcements in their closet.

Spoiler

That was a bit annoying, and I was not a fan of the gameplay enforced in Wrong Turn with ammo and weapons provided in small doses. The secret plasma rifle proved essential to simplify combat in the library, while the other secrets were irrelevant, especially the Computer Area Map that I found at the end of the level. Things and small solid obstacles sometimes interfered with movement, but I was fond of the texture and sector work performed by MattFright, and I even missed the secret dining room with its stunning sector artwork and Doomcute. Hiding this piece of work behind a timed door was a weird decision; blind players have no chance to find it and might not even know it existed. A potentially great map, it proposed something different but might be more enjoyable to other types of players.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Book Lord

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP23 - Wrong Turn - MattFright (97%K/57%I/75%S):

Another great map from start to finish, MattFright brings us a really cool looking level that starts with a trippy cutscene of what could using the teleport pads look like, I wonder how Finnks will rate this one. The map has a really nice build up, and a nice environment to stage some fights. You can see it quickly starts opening up when you reach the main area, as you will be most of the time here. The best part for me if possibly the brick fortress where you do some classic Doom stuff in terms of progression, with a hard challenge. Right from the start you will be in said main area with not one, but several cyberdemons, and each time you do tasks in order to proceed, more of them will appear. This may be the problem I had with this one, as I missed most of the kills trying to exit, because, just as I said in a previous map, having maps so long will force me to skip fights to finish maps quickly, but this is not saying I'm not liking maps overall, I think this was one of the most solid ones. Size-wise is not as big as I expected, quite shorter than MAP07, and that possibly makes it better.

Again, the end you can skip it entirely, as when you enter into the red key door, you will face a spider demon that can be easily killed by throwing BFG shots to it like a monkey. No protection or cheap spot for this poor mastermind. Aesthetic-wise it reminded me a little bit to MAP07, but with a dimmer look, as we have a pretty dark sunset skybox, so everything is darker, obviously. Really cool looking map.
 

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11
MAP23

MAP07

MAP05
MAP22
MAP20
MAP32
MAP15
MAP21
MAP31
MAP19
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP14
MAP16
MAP13
MAP04

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

 

 

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 23: Wrong Turn - MattFright

100% kills and 75% secrets

Time: 26:08

Deaths: 5

Areas where the map broke and I had to noclip: 1

 

Yup, that's right. This map is broken for me and I'm not sure why. The switch that is supposed to lower the bars in front of the red door did not lower said bars, preventing me from progressing, so I had to noclip. I appear to be the only one to experience this so far, and I'm not sure why it's doing that. The switch itself lowers like it should, but not the bars. I even reloaded and tried hitting it at a different time during that fight and still no lowered bars. Annoying.

 

Outside of that hiccup, this map is sinister. MattFright only has a handful of maps to their name, and I've only played their DBP49 map prior to this. I think. For this, Matt decided to go the unsettling route with the map's atmosphere. This nighttime map is kinda creepy, but the only scares you'll experience is from the nasty ambushes. Like for example, lowering a lift to only have a bookshelf behind you lower revealing an archie. The 2 cybs at the top of the lift don't help either, and neither do the 2 guard towers filled with revs. The map is pretty small, as there's only a few areas, and a lot of the progress happens in the building to the south, which is also filled with some tight encounters. Another map where I started it then had to eat dinner before finishing, I don't remember where all of my deaths were, but I'm pretty sure the aforementioned archie and cybs got me once each, plus the BFG fight in the southwest part got me with its main upper floor ambush paired with some baddies on the ground floor. I think I died in that room due to a rev rocket before getting to the BFG as well, plus one more death in the final fight outside. The final major fight gives you a lot of room to move, but as it goes on, more and more high priority enemies teleport in to make it tough. Plus, the smattering of decorations just to the west of the south building can be difficult to run through. It kinda seemed like there weren't a ton of rockets or cells in this map, so make sure to keep watch on your ammo counter during this. Some pillars will lower with rockets and cells down here though, just target archies asap to save ammo. Overall, I do like this map and its atmosphere quite a bit. It's a tough one. It's a shame the map broke for me at the end tho.

[cannonball]

MAP20 - “Calamity Valley” by Yumheart

 

I wanted to really like this one, and there are some great moments embedded into this adventure, but man there are some very mean moments and some moments that felt a little under-done. The start is very hot and calculated, the crusher section is one that I decided to avoid and took on the middle section of the map, which to be honest was a little disappointing, the position of monsters seemed rather detrimental to the scale and as such I spent more time creeping around corners, rather than running like a lunatic to blowing everything away. The three key fight is appreciated in the sense that you can handle this any way you want, but felt, I don't know, a little off. 

The final fight is actually fairly straightforward once the archviles have been put down and aggressive play seems to be quite rewarding here. I did the crusher and secret BFG section before hitting the yellow/blue switches, I think one monster was left stuck in the crusher section. Oddly the BFG fight was a lot more fun this time around, there are enough cells to avoid trying to two-shot everything, but it felt still a little too luck based for my liking.

Overall this map sort of goes down the "Lurking Fear" route for the end of episode 2 and in some ways it works, but in others it didn't quite hit the mark. Forgoing the traditional start/exit sequence also felt a little odd.

 

MAP21 - “Scorched Sacellum” by Wydoomer

 

The most un-plutonia like map so far, but as a map there isn't that much to complain about in all honest. This one seems to have a more "Scythe 2" flavour going through it (Just look at the exit), given the gothic/inferno vibe as well as a few other things. The map isn't too difficult to navigate and there is one bigger trap that does the job fairly well. In the end this was a little soft and a little too off script for the project, but overall this map was technically sound and quite fun (Oddly again the style of map actually works well without the SSG, even if it is a little controversial.

 

MAP22 - “Trickster’s Lair” by Jark

 

I appreciate the audacity of this map to dominate this map with mapping quirks, small ambushes and tales of the unexpected. But to be honest the map probably goes on a little too long for its own good, though that may very well be down to me playing three maps on the bounce and being exhausted by the experience. This was a generally pretty fun experience, though there are sections where it is very easy for the player to snooker themselves into an unwinnable position (Even if these sections tend to hand the player some decent amount of health). Small gripes aside, this was a very inventive map that draws on a mix of plutonia's and Jark's own personal flavour of punishment. Good job.

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by cannonball

[finnks13]

MAP22 - Trickster's Lair by Jark:

17:49/6 Deaths
I really didn't like this at first, but it grew on me quite a lot the further I played through it. The start is rather abrasive, you spawn immediately getting attacked by an archvile, and two revenants while being lowered into a damaging pit of blood that you cannot escape for a couple of seconds, and then when you do manage to leave, you'll find yourself in a dark cavern being immediately attacked by another archvile, with any direction you go springing all manner of traps upon you. This map does not make fast friends, though once you've realised how trap heavy it is, it becomes a bit more predictable and more about reacting to what's sprung upon you rather than being shocked by the springing in the first place. Visually it's a Living End style map, and the map it reminds me the most of is Assassin from Plutonia 2, due to the large amount of bars everywhere and the small outdoor excursion that you take about halfway through.

 

The main problem with this map is that it's a little SSG heavy. For the small scale ambushes that make up the majority of the level (which are often just two or three monsters), then this very restrictive weaponry does make sense though I did begin to find it rather repetitive after a while. Given that most of the traps are incredibly small, they often don't make an impression though my favourite one (and probably the most memorable part of the level) is the rocket launcher ambush, where you're whisked away to a very small cross shaped platform and have to kill the two hell knights on either side of you to get rid of the wall of meat blocking you from shooting the switches that raise the bridge to let you out. I think that the incredibly trap heavy design does actually feel quite at home in Plutonia, even if a lot of the individual traps feel far more modern than that.

 

Overall, Trickster's Lair is a solid map that I'd definitely recommend sticking with if the minute feels rather distasteful.

 

MAP23 - Wrong Turn by MattFright:

20:45/7 Deaths
Well from the visual style at the start, I expected to hate this map for being an homage to Wicked Garden, thankfully it's not that and I instead hated this map for entirely different reasons. It appears that MattFright decided to make a map specifically to irritate me as it ticks pretty much every box on my "Things I just don't like in maps" list except for using spectres in really dark areas :P

 

Visually, it's absolutely fantastic, the incredibly dark and sinister environment is incredibly well detailed and also a lot of very minor details that I imagine took a lot of work and would be overlooked very easily. Unfortunately, this high level of detail has it's downsides, for one the midtexture vines that are everywhere can really fuck you over by obscuring very important projectiles coming right at you - the main area with the cyberdemons was particularly bad for this. The main thing that I absolutely hated about this map was the ridiculous number of props that are spammed everywhere that block your movement and cause you to get snagged all the time making navigation absolute misery, they're also placed on 16unit wide poles which are incredibly misleading visually because the prop has a 32unit wide hitbox and this visual disparity caused me multiple deaths to cyberdemon rocket that frankly felt unearned.

 

Gameplay wise, there's some decent moments here, the two cyberdemons in the large blood area do a great job at applying a ton of pressure and forcing you out into safer buildings, and I also liked the area behind the yellow key door. Disappointingly, every single ambush in this map is predictable and dull for one reason. They all are "kill the archvile and then you win". Every single one. If the archviles were used occasionally as turrets then this would go a long way to stopping the map from feeling incredibly samey then that's one thing, but they're not. With the exception of one that spawns in the BFG fight far too late to actually accomplish anything, every archvile in this map is on the ground, behind a big group of monsters ready to resurrect them once they fall, and this is the best place for an archvile, but when your map feels like it has one combat idea, that's not going to fill 20 minutes of gameplay.

 

Overall, Wrong Turn looks great but has absolutely nothing to offer in terms of gameplay.

 

But what do the teleporterers look like???

Spoiler

MAP22 - 9/10. So the starting one doesn't flash and isn't the right brightness, but given it sinks immediately into a blood pool, I'll mostly forgive it for that (should have left the RIP plutonia teleporter joke for this map :P). The exit one is perfect!

 

 

MAP23 - 5/10. The lighting is perfect, but they don't flash which makes me sad. While I know the starting part of the map is meant to be what it's like while going through one of these teleporters, you technically don't start standing on one, which is still illegal and I'll still arbitrarily deduct points for it :P

 

I also got softlocked in this starting segment at the start of my playthrough lmao

 

[Book Lord]

MAP 24 – Deep in Naraka by Tatsuya Ito @tatsurd-cacocaco

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

 

I remember Tatsuya Ito’s two contributions to PRCP as the most faithful revisitations of Plutonia levels, bordering on plagiarism for their affinity with Realm and The Twilight in both visuals, names, and main events. When I saw the opening shot, I thought this time he paid homage to Tombstone, but I was far from the truth. He was aware that he should change the formula adopted in the previous project, but he also wanted to honour the work of his favourite authors; eventually, the veteran speedrunner decided to make a tribute to many IWAD levels at the same time. Originally created for Plutonia 3, Deep in Naraka was by far the largest and most crowded map in PRCP 2, one that will surely impress for its content while requiring a lot of patience to get through.

 

Naraka can be roughly described as a Buddhist equivalent of hell, situated deep below the human world in a series of caverns. I do not know what bad karma brought Doomguy to this place but be informed that lifetime in Naraka is usually eight times the lifetime in the previous world. How much did MAP23 take you to complete? I reached the exit after 1 hour of actual play time, without maxing out items and secrets. In this map nothing was optional or skippable: the author accurately designed its ambushes and puzzles and required me to visit every single place. While I did not feel most encounters to be that difficult, the excessive length drained my strength and attention failed me on more than one occasion. When the exit was revealed, a Cyberdemon popped-up on the bridge with a handful of Arch-Viles behind. Normally I would have broken through with the BFG, as the situation was not that difficult or RNG-dependant, but I was so tired that I let them kill me.

Spoiler

Let us proceed in due order: after a quasi-hot start, the player might either go to the east, which is recommended to find the rocket launcher, or move northwards into a very large cavern with a labyrinth at the bottom floor, the exit in the middle, and ledges around the perimeter. A visual and technical highlight of Deep in Naraka, the cavern was used multiple times as a hub, connecting the map pieces and offering gameplay at different floor levels, ranging from a maze à la Hunted without Arch-Viles to hyper-vertical stuff comparable with The Final Frontier/Antichrist. At some point, columns with caged Revenants appeared to torment the player walking on the ledges, and it was an unexpected event.

Spoiler

The BSK was found in the northern section, a poisonous blood treatment plant that reminded me a bit of The Sewers (Arachnotrons in the corners, Mancubi appearing in the middle of pools, a Baron guarding a switch). The infernal landscape seen from the windows occupied one third of the map’s total surface, and it was drawn just to complement the visuals. The ambush happening on the return path accelerated the pulse rate with a sudden change of environment: the BFG was given, but it was not necessary because making the various enemies infight with the Cyberdemon was more fun. I continued to the west into a section that called The Twilight to mind with its cages and pools of blood. I found myself in the wild RSK encounter by pure chance, as I was escaping from homing rockets. A large monster teleport took place in a chamber that reminded me of a specific area of Tombstone, but it was very far from the start, as if a smaller map with a coherent theme had been dismembered and extended to form this sprawling adventure.

Spoiler

At this point, the map’s progression lost its logic and became needlessly confusing. In principle, the keys were not acquired to open doors, even though blue and yellow doors existed to act as “shortcuts” to the corresponding switches (in fact, the stairways contained lots of pointless combat). The colour-coded switches raised the matching bars in the level, so they were all required to reach the exit, except for the blue switch that was also mandatory to access the YSK section in the north-west, another blood sewer hybrid. That was the last section I visited, after going through the massive encounters in the eastern section unlocked by the RSK and inspired by The Living End, masking strangely familiar areas with views of special grandeur. Monster deployments were not as dangerous as they could have been, which was merciful considering that at this point I was more than fed up with Deep in Naraka. There was some very good stuff dispersed in its sprawling layout, but such a big map is simply intolerable in a megaWAD that can be played continuously. I need some fresh air.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map21 “Scorched Sacellum”

 

I’d say “and now for something completely different” but we deviated hard from Plutonia last map and… we’re not really going back.

 

Wydoomer kicks off the third episode with a medium size outing, taking place in some supervillain’s volcano lair. I’ve always liked this lava cavern aesthetic, it looks good in Doom and especially looks good here. Map 21 tends to be a Tyson map and this one isn’t, though it gives the option to make it one. We get a berserk immediately and there’s no SSG, encouraging fisticuffs more than the norm.

 

I’ll start by saying this place is superbly constructed, the layout is compact for its acreage and has a lot of interconnectivity. Finding your way around can get confusing because everything looks similar which I find adds to the atmosphere of the level (sometimes I like this trait, sometimes I don’t. Here I consider it a positive). It gives the “evil labyrinthine hideaway” vibe some credibility. We need all three keys and I… think they can be gathered in any order. All the map’s weapons are obtained within about ten seconds so no need to search for those, we go key hunting immediately.

 

There aren't designated encounters per say but thanks to the lack of a super shotgun, the incidental combat isn’t as trivial as usual. Rockets are critical for taking down meat (and are thankfully abundant) and punching out revs can save a few if needed. One moment does stand out in particular, the red key ambush that sandwiches us between cacos and a pile of hell knights. Footing is tricky but holding your ground is the best option, take out the lone PE immediately and keep the tomatoes at bay to remain firmly in control.

 

Scorched Sacellum isn’t a Plutonia map but it is a good map21. I guess it doesn’t really matter anyway because the “Plutonia” requirement has long gone out the window by this point.

 

prcp2map21.zip

Time: 8:30   Kills: 137/137    Secrets: 4/4            

 

 

Map22 “Trickster’s Lair”

 

First things first, the map is called “Trickster’s Lair” so know what you’re getting into. Jark is going to drop us into his domain like Jigsaw and laugh at our suffering, which for blind players there will be plenty of.

 

Our start involves fleeing from a vile and revenant snipers, wading in mandatory damaging blood, and scrambling for cover from various enemies after dropping down a “safety” pit. Yup, get used to this everyone, the fun’s just starting. Everywhere we go involves ambushes, maliciousness, clever mapping, and damaging floor. Oh yes, so much damaging floor. This entire wretched cave is inundated in harmful liquid, much of which we must cross, dance around, or marinate in with no radsuits to be found. And Jark will punish players for not knowing where they’re going by exacting further blood tax, as the non-negotiable damaging floors will have to be traversed again and again.

 

Combat isn’t so much secondary as much as complementary to the level’s sociopathic nature. All encounters are small scale and rather than pummel the player into submission, Jark elects to wear them down. Monster placements include a lot of hitscanners, sniping revenants, close-quarters ambushes, and mean-spirited “gotcha” moments that will likely enrage first timers. He doesn’t shortchange you on resources though, we get plenty of ammunition and multiple defensive artifacts to withstand all the damage we’re taking.

 

A playthrough would be too convoluted to narrate but a few moments stood out to me. The hell knight cross platform serving as the RL fight, the double vile attack in the northeastern cavern, and the very nasty pit drop on the way to the red key are all examples of deadly encounters with petite monster counts. The secret fight behind the yellow key door is murderous without the BFG, make sure to have that before entering. Heading up the lift leading northwest can be fatal to the unprepared, we're pinned down by a spider with two revenants raining hellfire on us. Most of these traps, while cruel, do not peg my bullshit meter. The exception is the chaingunner revealed behind us after shooting the switch in the northwest room, that one gets a penalty flag.

 

I disliked this one when first playing the mapset earlier this month but this time around I had fun. It’s definitely a map you have to be in the mood for, but it does succeed at what it’s trying to do.

 

prcp2map22.zip

Time: 20:15   Kills: 162/162    Secrets: 4/4

Edited July 24, 2023 by Veeda Vidlak

[KickAss]

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

 

MAP16 - “Ifrit’s Lair” by Doomlust

 

MAP17 - “The Wolf Hour” by Sincity2100

 

MAP18 - “Enclave” by Anon

I don't know why but my journey through the Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2 seems to end up in level 18 because my "machine" (an acer Aspire 3 ;-)) can't handle the large amount of monsters appearing in the bigger second arena after grabbing up the blue key card and controlling the DooMguy at the same time is impossible. I've tried so many times but it is getting unplayable again and again. As far as I can remember I've played this megawad about a year ago without any trouble in that early stage of the game but the last level with the 3 or 4 cyberdemons and the Icon of Sin spitting hordes of enemys was unbeatable too.

[Catpho]

Still playing / Bad at posting
 

MAP21 - “Scorched Sacellum” by Wydoomer - Some of the directional lighting is really striking, but the overall aesthetic work is inconsistent. The general idea is cool, with well-chosen textures and architectural motifs - lava pillars, simulated cracked land mass - doing wondrous work to establish the crumbling dungeon mood, but the execution can be crass with lots of horrendously bright rooms everywhere, which flattens and downplay the rich detailing and texturing. I don't know if it was a me thing, but it also felt like the level lacks memorable structures; I never got lost, but I was also never compelled to think how the RK zone is different from the BK zone, which I think is important to establish that nebulous sense of place rather than just a box of cool texture and architectural combos.
 

From a gameplay standpoint, I'm not convinced that this is the right monster placement for this layout. There are a lot of winding halls, but Wydoomer opts to put strong sniper enemies at the back of them or through a balcony, so you will mostly find your self ducking behind a corner and slowly and methodically take down the demons from the hall’s other end, with no meaningful crossover pressure from the other demons. Thus, the gameplay rhythm is something akin to surgically removing marked landmines, and a fairly repetitive one at that, with not much variety in its deployment. The big setpiece encounters are not too well judged, lacking pressure. The most egregious one is the RK fight, where there is nothing to stop the player from standing still and lob rockets at the HK horde, the demonic calvary too little too far.

MAP22 - “Trickster’s Lair” by Jark - I have to admire the showmanship here. If anything, it must have been really fun to set this up. It's all smokes and mirror though: the real enemy of the map is yourself. Jark's fights bring a lot of shock and awe, but they are not actually mechanically demanding. It is actually more likely that complications will arise when the player panics and runs into places they shouldn't be going. Therefore, the key to survival is really just to keep a cool head and back into any blind spot available at a measured pace; after a while, the fights grow manageable. The rhythm of the level also grows predictable when the challenge is only of one type, with the map being a long string of small scale skirmishes (hence “the drags on for too long” comment from cb, if I were to guess), the occasional damaging floor notwithstanding. These aspects keep me from loving it — I love me some calculated spitefulness, but I also would appreciate it if the fights do not have their sting dulled when the surprise is over.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Catpho

[plums]

2 hours ago, KickAss said:

I don't know why but my journey through the Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2 seems to end up in level 18

I suspect one of your mods is giving you trouble, though I don't know which one. If you want to keep going, it might be worth trying without mods and then adding them back one at a time, unless that's the only way you like to play.

[Tiramisu]

UV/saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP23 - Wrong Turn

 

Now this, this is the kind of unorthodox teleporter take I like to see! The ride through the void that starts off the map was certainly unexpected, but very interesting once I figured out what was going on. I imagine all the other "diamonds" that we passed led to other destinations, and the one we took was, well, the wrong turn - evident from the first look around in the place we've arrived at.

 

First of all, I absolutely loved the visuals here. The grim, murky blood swamps full of impaled skulls were a masterpiece in atmosphere - it immediately brought to mind the sound of rustling reeds and swarming mosquitoes as I played it. I especially loved the use of hanging vines, both in the sunken cliffside that spawned a wave of enemies at one point (making it really seem like they emerged from the swamp itself), and in the later tunnel full of medikits (a risky place to be if you've lost track of any of the Cyberdemons!). But what really sold me on the map was the contrast between the dark exterior and the brightly-lit interiors, also exquisitely detailed in a classic hell library/fort theme that never gets old. Finally there's the completely extra generator cavern at the end, which shows some really unique use of textures if you take your time to look around.

 

On the gameplay side of things - I'm not sure where I stand on this map. There were moments where I didn't enjoy myself, there were moments I did enjoy, and there were some that I alternated between disliking and liking as I replayed them after loading a save. I think the issue here is that it was overall a bit too grindy - some areas could have used less monsters, especially in the second indoors section. All in all, my impression is generally positive, though! My favorite fight in the map was the simple yet effective piece in the small library that contained the lift to the next area - and the slaughter-y finale with multiple Cyberdemons was pretty cool, as well. I've seen some people complaining about the excessive blocking decorations, and while I'll agree that some of the side areas in the outdoor sections were too congested, I must say that I loved the idea of the palisade of impaled skull poles blocking our way during the final battle - it made things a lot more tense and interesting in my opinion!

 

Overall, I liked this map - though I'd preferably like less slaughter and more Plutonia, but honestly at this point I'll take what I can get from the wad :p

 

Plutonia memories, MAP23 (Tombstone) - Ah yes, good ol' Tombstone. Honestly it felt like the map was actively resisting being played - and in the end each small victory it granted you was super satisfying, especially the moment when you finally manage to clear out the starting area. One of my favorite Plutonia maps overall!

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP22

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

MAP13

 

MAP20

MAP12

MAP05

MAP07

MAP10

MAP23

 

MAP02

MAP06

MAP14

MAP11

MAP16

MAP21

 

MAP18

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09 

MAP01

MAP19

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[KickAss]

7 hours ago, plums said:

I suspect one of your mods is giving you trouble, though I don't know which one. If you want to keep going, it might be worth trying without mods and then adding them back one at a time, unless that's the only way you like to play.

Yes, that this correct. Less addons for my favourite mod will give back some more performance but I am really not in the mood to replay all the first 18 levels of prcp2. But thanks for your help anyway!

[Celestin]

MAP24: Deep in Naraka by Tatsurd-cacocaco

 

"Naraka" is a concept of an afterlife in Eastern religions, where souls are suffering for the negative karma they accumulated, before they can be reborn in another life. Get comfy, you'll be here for a while.

 

The only maps by Tatsurd-cacocaco I've played beforehand where those in Japanese Community Project. They were solid, quick and conventional, but somewhat forgetful, especially when compared to some other contribution to that project. His lone map in PRCP 2 does stand out from the crowd, though not always in a positive way.

 

Deep in Naraka is a huge, nonlinear level, with a monster count that would be enough for a whole episode of Plutonia-sized maps. I got a "TIME SUCKS" at the end, so better save a full evening for this one. This is not only due to the map's size, but also somewhat unclear progression and some mean encounters that made me reload a couple of times. Like with other adventure maps, I won't describe a progression, due to its size and ton of incidental stuff, so here's a highlight reel.

 

There's one part where you reach a cross-shaped corridor, only to raise it up and transform it into a hub/arena/teleporter destination of half of the map's secrets. The red key is guarded by a mob that quickly swarms a relatively small courtyard, but you should have a BFG at this point, turning this into a fun activity. A giant fortress built inside a cavern looks stunning, it's probably the most appealing sight of the map, but all those sniping revenants kill the mood. A fight in the red cave is probably my favourite part of the map, with two cyberdemons and groups of monsters, watching out for stray rockets and trying to stay off the damaging floor. It's a great contrast to a part shortly before, with a narrow walkway and monster closets opening on its sides - it's too slow and awkward for my taste. The ending is somewhat of a letdown, with a cyberdemon on a bridge and archviles by the teleporter.

 

I find it hard to write about Naraka. I'd like to see this map in a vacuum, as an ambitious project that merges exploration with challenging combat, set in a detailed world that takes visual cues from all over the Plutonia campaign (reinforcing the idea that this is Doomguy's personal hell). The problem is, Plutonium Rust and Agarthan Anomaly are in the same wad and they beat Naraka in almost every regard, including the most important one: entertainment factor. Also, at this point the megawad fatigue really starts to kick in, so I have less patience for big maps.

 

As much as I don't want to admit and despite Tatsurd-cacocaco's effort, Deep in Naraka is the third best adventure map in PRCP 2.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP24 - Deep in Naraka - Tatsurd-Cacocaco (99%K/84%I/55%S):

What a journey! This is a magnum opus homage map to Plutonia's last episode by one of my favourite Doom youtubers when I was young, the one that introduced me to other PWADs with his speedruns. This level is a journey through sections that will remind you to Tombstone, The Final Frontier and Anti Christ, The Sewers and so on. There are aswell some little references to Doom 2's Romero's maps here and there, specially in the section of the blue key. There are references everywhere in this level, and it is, mostly because of its length. A map that will take you 45 minutes to complete on your first run, almost doubling the size of Eternal's map. So, as I said previously, most Plutonia things will be "mentioned" in a way in this map.

Yes, this is a long run, and you may not like this type of long runs. Most of the combat here is incidental, and, contrary of what someone would expect from this kind of maps, it was not a hard one. It is indeed an endurance battle, but most of the fights will be quite permissive for you. There are some hard bits, but most of the fights have so much enemy variety, in big spaces, that is quite easy to make those infight. I think the hardest fight was actually a dumb one, at the yellow key section, because of the little space you have to maneuver. I have to say, although it looks good, and plays well, it was not something you would consider "EPIC" or overly-amusing, as most Magnum Opuses found in community projects. I don't think there are many landmarks that you could remember apart from the said OG Plutonia references found. I still think MAP11 is more memorable because of its size.

I did enjoy, luckly, playing around this giant maze, and I have to give it to the author, he managed to make a solid interconnected layout, full of shortcuts, and the layout may be the best part of this map. I like that overused Rise of the Triad music, but I would have used a track that does not loop that often, as you kind of get bored of it. Talking about Rise of the Triad music, at some points I've felt like playing Hell Revealed, which I despise. Solid map overall, but I think at this point I'm kind of stressed of so many long maps instead of packed up journeys that you could finish in few minutes, so I think I've enjoyed this map less than I would. This is a problem of the megawad's direction it is heading so far.

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11
MAP23

MAP07

MAP05
MAP24
MAP22
MAP20
MAP32
MAP15
MAP21
MAP31
MAP19
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP14
MAP16
MAP13
MAP04

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

 

[Tiramisu]

UV/saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP24 - Deep in Naraka

 

Oh boy here it is, I was dreading this moment! I would never even go near a 500+ monster adventure map of my own volition, but since we've gotten this far... Plus to be honest I was actually kind of curious at how gigantic this map would be, given that we've already seen some mean 300+ monster outings.

 

And now that I'm done with it - I don't think it was that big really, compared to the others. It took me about an hour to complete, the same amount of time I spent in Plutonium Rust - I think the two maps are actually comparable in size, but this one just packs the monsters in more densely. To continue the comparison, while Plutonium Rust was almost entirely incidental combat, this one, to my welcome surprise, actually cut back on the fluff and had some actual setpiece fights thrown in - some of them could honestly get pretty tense (like the red key fight against the monster horde), even though the map wasn't very difficult as a whole.

 

What this map lags behind in, however, is the visuals. Plutonium Rust was carried almost entirely by its mesmerizingly good looks and visual creativity, while this map opts for a much more basic and frugal style - mimicking Plutonia's style of decoration quite closely (which didn't end on the visuals only, there are entire sections inspired by Tombstone, The Sewers, and also The Living End from DOOM 2). The end result, while not ugly by any means, didn't convey the same sense of adventure that was brimming from Plutonium Rust and even Agarthan Anomaly, to the point where I was asking myself, "did this map really need to be this big"?

 

But then, once I arrived on the upper ledges of the central labyrinth cavern, and saw the entire vista down below, I instantly knew - this is why the map needed to be this big. That single cavern, even though you didn't actually spend that much time in it, brought the "adventure" to this adventure map, and it honestly wouldn't work nearly as well if the map were any smaller. That's why I'm willing to forgive the map's excessive length - especially since, like I said, it didn't feel that long really, and I only started getting tired of it when I reached the section behind the red key switch, close to the finish line.

 

And yeah, it was quite an easy map - mostly thanks to the generous amount of cells for the BFG, which was given relatively early on. I only died four times in total - once in the double Cyberdemon battle (mostly because I was tired at that point), and three times by falling into the lava from that stupid, stupid wavy Living End-style walkway. That single room was the most infuriating experience I've had in the whole of PRCP2 so far, all the Revenants, the Archvile, the Chaingunners, all waiting for you to slip up so they can have a laugh watching you burn up trying to reach the tiny, tiny lift located at the very beginning. Special shout-out goes to the Chaingunners - in general this map, while usually decently fair in combat, also had some of the most bullshit sniping Chaingunners I have ever seen, and those bastards peeking out of the tiny windows near the end of the walkway might just be gunning for first place!

 

All right, I had to vent about that room a bit, but now with that out of the way, I think I'll just wrap this review up - I could talk some more about the individual setpieces and stuff, but I think it's kind of pointless in a map this size, because I could just go on and on and I already spent enough time playing it lol. Overall it was a good map, and I enjoyed playing it, and please PRCP2, NO MORE 🥲🥲🥲

 

Plutonia memories, MAP24 (The Final Frontier) - I'm pretty sure the most annoyed I ever was with Plutonia was in this map, in the huge room with the narrow ledge and sniping Cyberdemon! I don't remember anything from the map aside from that moment.

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP22

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

 

MAP13

MAP20

MAP12

MAP05

MAP07

 

MAP10

MAP23

MAP02

MAP06

MAP14

MAP11

MAP16

MAP24

MAP21

MAP18

 

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09 

MAP01

MAP19

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 24: Deep in Naraka - Tatsurd-cacocaco

99% kills and 100% secrets

Time: 57:50

Deaths: 5

 

The irony that the map made by one of the most prominent Doom speedrunners is one of the longest maps in the WAD. Tatsurd-cacocaco was one of the first Doom speedrunners I watched. Their UV-Max vids were something I really enjoyed watching. His involvement in the Japanese Community Project was one of the main reasons I was excited for it. While his maps were pretty humble in that WAD, he really let loose in this one. This map is big and non-linear, but it never felt overwhelming or confusing. While you do need all 3 keys to access the exit, you can grab them in any order. You will still need to find the switches that lower their respective bars in order to raise the path to the exit, and those switches are all around the map and they will initiate ambushes. Same with trying to grab keys as well. The only key fight that got me was the red key, and it got me twice cause of the archie the shows up once you hit the 2 switches the revs are guarding. That room isn't very big, and it gets filled with enemies quickly, so you'll need to BFG your way out of that. In fact, you'll probably have the BFG by that point. In what is the coolest part of the map, you'll enter a square room with a cross walkway in order to head to other paths. You'll spot the BFG here, but you can't get it. I went north from here to grab the blue key in an area that was very much like The Sewers (there's a lot of references here to other Plutonia maps). When I came back to this area, I tried going back the way I came only to have this room completely change in an instant, shooting the floor up to the top of the room and revealing some cacos and revs, and allowing safe access to said BFG. Perfect to use on the cyb and nobles that appear shortly after. This opens up 2 upper paths you can take back around the outskirts of the giant cavern you already went through to get here. The other main paths are now blocked by color bars, so since I got the blue key, I had to find the blue switch in order to raise those bars that were blocking the path to the yellow key. There's a lot of backtracking in the map, but Tatsurd did add some shortcuts behind colored doors that lead to their switches and have soul spheres and mega armors in them (plus easily telegraphed monster closets). The red key is the only one of them that doesn't have a shortcut path and switch to hit. Instead, you have to go through the red door to the east, deal with the assorted fights behind that (including a spider mastermind), hit a switch, come out and deal with the biggest ambush of the map that has a wave of varied demons and 2 cybs, then hit the switch here. You might want to save the rad suits in this area for this fight. You may be able to do a rushed jump to the secret invul here, but that seems tough to do quickly. There's 9 secrets here, and I found 6 of them pretty easily, but had to check the wiki to find out how to get the other 3. Some of these secrets have teleporters back to the BFG room, which is a nice shortcut. The 2 secrets with these are by the blue and yellow switches, so you need to head back there anyway, so I approve. The final fight once you raise the path to the exit is a cyb and like 5-6 archies, but it wasn't too bad. I did get zapped, but I had 200 health so I was good. Overall, I really liked this map. It's big, but not super hard. The detailing is really nice, and I liked the homages to various IWAD maps throughout. The shortcuts provided helped to reduce time backtracking which is very much appreciated. A few ambushes were hairy, but nothing as bad as like maps 20 or 22. Good stuff!

[cannonball]

MAP23 - “Wrong Turn” by MattFright

 

The map looks the part, but as others have already said, this wasn't overly fun to play through. The map itself is pretty linear, this is most apparent at the start as you navigate a shallow valley, the map does open up somewhat for the meat of the map, where several cyberdemons prowl the central cavern. There were a lot of frustrating moments, the revenants behind the firewalls, the teleporting nonsense in the area where the BFG is obtained and of course the over use of props that seem to exist only to block the player in the worst of locations. These all slow the game down substantially. The final fight was okay, though again the ending sequence was rather grindy to get through. 

Overall this is one of the best looking maps, but the gameplay fails to live up to this and the omminous mood suffers because of the high level of aggravation this map deals.

 

[Jark]

Greetings folks,

 

My gratitude to the club for selecting Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2 to be played which, by happenstance, contains another of my maps - Map 22: Trickster's Lair.

 

It is evident this map is more divisive than that of my entry in Solar Stuggle, perhaps due to this contribution being a bit more of an acquired taste in terms of malice and ill intent. As some have mentioned, I do partake in a bit of schadenfreude and enjoy a good trap (or several (or many many traps)) however, not without reason - it was more or less my interpretation of the Plutonia format, particularly to the degree for how cruel the map would be in general for being placed at slot 22.

 

An issue I see voiced commonly and therefore take into consideration for future reference, is the fact that the map is simply too drawn out for the type of gameplay expected of the player. Something I did not factor in is the map's placement within the project and the relation to the surrounding maps, people aren't just playing my map solely by itself - they are playing a full megawad, and can be quite mentally exhausted when faced with a 30 minute gotcha fest. Another point is that past the initial chaos, the pace never quite picks up to the same point again - that and some traps lack oomph, I lament not adding more chaingunners to the spotlight stockpile trap.

 

Overall I'm quite pleased with the map for the traps I made, general execution of the Plutonia aesthetic and somewhat challenging fights with minimal monster usage.

 

For those interested, I go into more specifics in this postmortem I wrote back in March about the map, which also contains all map versions for each incremented save I did, totalling to 54 different increments!

 

Download: https://www.mediafire.com/file/arj81rq6in2ag87/TrickstersLair-Versions-Postmortem.zip/file

[finnks13]

MAP24 - Deep in Naraka by tatsurd-cacocaco:

40:05/8 Deaths
Genuinely didn't hate this anywhere near as much as I thought I would do going in. 500+ monsters, a bunch of chaingunners and basically no cover in the first room & the Rise of The Triad music do not make a great first impression (obviously I love the ROTT soundtrack it's just entirely unfitting for plutonia please don't have a fight on me) but the combat in this map is quite fun and (more importantly) not that difficult, and that saves what could have been a miserable trudge and turns it into something that I still didn't love but had a mostly good time with. At first I expected this to be an extended reference to Tombstone, but it appears that a bunch of maps get paid homage to, from Plutonia, Plutonia 2 and also (puzzlingly) Doom 2. The main areas that I spotted were Tombstone (obviously :P), The Bloodwall & The Living End, though I'm sure there's a bunch I completely missed. The level of detail here is incredibly high and this must have taken a bunch of work, but it's not so overly detailed that the gameplay suffers due to lack of clarity. I was a little sad we never get to visit the really cool looking hell cavern at the northern edge of the map, it looks perfect for a final showdown, but I suppose not every cool area needs to have a fight within.

 

The main issues this map has is it's length, especially since the non-linearity means that you could take a very bad route through the map and be deprived of supplies, health & weaponry if you get unlucky. For the first time ever, I seemed to actually take a really good route through the map, getting every weapon (including the BFG) really early on, and the BFG is especially useful for being a delete button on fights that seem far too irritating to play normally. You're given plenty of rockets to deal with ambushes and they're all nicely calibrated to be a bit of a challenge, but not completely impossible and for a map this long that's very much appreciated. Despite all the scenery changes, a lot of the map blends together and so this won't score very highly on memorability. The one area that does stand out is the Final Frontier/The Bloodwall-segment in the north of the map which is incredibly impressive with how enormous it is, but also because it's just really fun to run through, clearing out the little corridors, while trying to avoid the clump of homing revenant missiles that's coming at you from up high. I normally feel the need to complain a lot when maps feel pointlessly extended, but I don't here and I genuinely don't know why.

 

Overall, Deep in Naraka surprised me by being a genuinely solid & fun map. I think it's too long and would be much better suited as a single map release (especially since it's referencing more than just Plutonia) but I ultimately had a pretty good time with it.

 

But what do the teleporters look like???

Spoiler

MAP24 - 10/10. Maybe the teleportals looking perfect is why I liked this map. Who knows? Does it matter? ^yes.

 

 

[HiMyNameIsChair]

Suddenly got very busy over the last 3 days, so now I got some catching up to do~ Hopefully, i can knock out some maps this week.

[Celestin]

MAP25: Sting Operation by General Rainbow Bacon

With a title like this and "Stealth Mode" as a midi, I was expecing an Impossible Mission homage, but nope, it's a compact, tightly designed map with truly overwhelming traps.

Good luck with the start, where you are immediately assaulted by in-your-face shorgunners and revenants in a very crowded place. In a wad full of tough starts, this is one of the hardest. Now, in many maps here I've felt like there was a considerable drop in difficulty after the first few minutes. Not in Sting Operation. There are no moments where you can just lay back and turn on an autopilot. The fight right after the start involves chaingunner snipers, which are deadly in the open, especially when you don't have a chaingun yourself. As for the red key trap, I just ran away like a coward, as chaingunners, revenants, archvile and whatever it ressurected were too much for my ammo supply. I ended up camping by a window in the yellow key room, killing the vile as it appeared and having the rest infight, until there was a single revenant left. Tedious? Yes, but I was always low on health and ammo, so I prefered not to take risks. Speaking of the yellow key, this is probably the most managable fight in the map, providing you bothered to kill the chaingunners from the outside and have enough ammo to take down two archviles.

Try saving as much rockets and cells for the ending, it pits you agains a courtyard full of cacodemons and pain elementals, where simply moving around is a challenge, with round two spawing a cyberdemon. I'm not sure if it's worth trying to get them infighting, as the switch that releases him is in a pit, blocked by a group of pinkies. A pair of pop-up archviles at the end was supposed to be a final trap, but the renderer messed up and I could see them through the floor. Not much of a suprise.

Sting Operation does a great job replicating the visuals of Plutonia, while considerably spicing up its gameplay. Challenge-seekers should be satisfied.

+++ The Box of a Thousand Demons
+++ Tarnsman's Projectile Hell
+++ Abscission

Edited July 26, 2023 by Celestin