The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonia Revisited Community Project 2

[Celestin]

MAP19: Acid Bath by DukeOfDoom

Spoiler

This is probably the hottest start in the entire wad up to this point: you are in the open, on top of the cross-shaped platform and immediately getting fired upon by chaingunners and some other enemies, with two pain elementals closing in. The guns are here, so good luck picking them up under enemy fire. I have no strategy here, just cross my fingers, hope I survive long enough to arm myself, jump down a hole and start killing stuff. 

 

I feel like once the initial threats are done with, the map kinda dies down. Everything else can be taken care of more or less safely, with the cramped basement that leads to the red key being an exception. I have to complain about the secrets, though, as they are utterly useless. They are unlocked at the very end, where almost everything is killed, aside from a small group of monsters that ambush you in the second one. 

 

This feel more faithful to Plutonia than the bulk of PRCP2 and I appreciate Acid Bath's compact nature and brutal start. Not a bad map, overall.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Celestin

[Book Lord]

MAP 19 – Acid Bath by @DukeOfDoom

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

 

Well, that was a crazy hot start! The hostilities began instantly and with such an intensity that did not allow Doomguy to turn around. He started on a cross with many useful weapons that cannot be picked up, because too many hitscanners were ready to shoot on target. Pain Elementals will follow and fill the air with flaming skulls, and soon monsters will start teleporting on the central cross, using teleport pads that should be a player’s prerogative. There was no other choice but to take an Acid Bath in the green slime, revealing the greatest lie ever in a map title: not a single damaging floor could be found in this level!

Spoiler

The only way out of the central pit was a blind jump in a hole; it was a good idea to shoot a couple of rockets in advance, since Imps were waiting at the bottom. The skull switch opened the whole map, exposing its corners and allowing to take out the distant snipers and find some respite. Most of the enemies guarding the keys could be sniped with impunity from the harmless floor, before venturing on the north-western ledge to collect the RK and to the red door at the centre to pick up the BK. No real threats were unleashed when taking the keys. There was more effort in the design and visual polish of the optional plasma rifle section to the west, where I was trapped and attacked by numerous monsters before being allowed to return to the cross-shaped ledge.

Spoiler

The exit was in the south-western corner, but opening it required a trip to the north-east and then to the last platform that had not been visited yet. The double-face switch allowed me to collect the secret BFG, which came in handy only for the heavily trapped Soul Sphere secret. DukeofDoom put a lot of care in designing deadly ambushes in sections that were not mandatory, a bizarre approach if you ask me, but the hot start felt at home in a Plutonia-inspired community project, and I appreciated the clean visuals with interesting height variation. The lack of a proper Acid Bath was also a positive feature of the map, which I will record among the hits of the megaWAD.

[Endless]

MAP17: The Wolf Hour

Fun, interesting layout that opens up more and more as you progress. The design of the level is quite good, much more clean and makes less use of vines and the "overgrown" style of the previous episode, while also keeping the generally brown and brick-ish layout. Pretty fun, and I liked the visuals of the final area.

 

 

MAP18: Enclave

Dark and mysterious, with a considerable rise in difficulty. An understandable layout makes up fast and frenetic gameplay with plenty of combat encounters, particularly the last arena with its massive opening. Kinda reminds me of Scythe 2.

 

 

MAP19: Acid Bath

Didn't enjoy this one that much. The visuals feel more amateurish and damped, while the gameplay is less balanced than previous entries and kinda odd. The very first room is a ball buster and the rest of it is just too confusing and filled with little tight spots and switches that are hard to spot.

 

 

PS: Sorry for the short commentary. Sadly, my university vacations are over, so I'm back on the grind. Had to quickly play these today.

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP19: Acid Bath by DukeOfDoom 

 

(Played on DSDA, UV Pistol Start, 105% Kills, 100% Secrets, Completion Time: 12:09)

 

Now this is more like it,  DukeOfDoom's entry really feels in line with the Plutonia ethos, with a blistering start that really cranks up the heat. This is kind of a brilliant little start, with chaingunners and a few boxed shotgunners, imps, Mancibi that can teleport in from the room below, revanents and arachno's off to the side, and even two pain elementals.

 

Duke actually gives you a lot upfront here: a single barrel, an SSG, chaingun, and even a rocketer launcher. however, that generosity has a caveat: you *can* grab it all immediately... but you likely won't *want* to.

 

How Duke has set this up, means that trying to grab everything on the cross-shaped platform will result in you getting ventilated by chaingunners. So, it encourages you to make multiple trips back up, and at the start, be selective of what you start with. The single barrel and chaingun are more ammo efficient and great for picking off imps and hitscanners, but the SSG and rockets are crucial for shutting down the floating lost soul factories and putting down the mancubi. It's a surprisingly nuanced start.

 

The map does lose its heat considerably after this... but it does rebound in a few spots, namely The slime room on the west side of the map. I gotta compliment Duke on how nice this looks. The map's visuals overall are fittingly utilitarian, but the greenstone, torches, slime, and dim lighting combined with the backlit falls, look very sharp while being efficient on lines.

 

Spoiler

 

it's a tight room with pinkies, Hell Knights, Chaingunners dropped in, Revenants, and even some Specters to compliment the darkness. it's a dastardly fight and delivers a sharp injection of adrenaline. Duke is also kind enough to give you a plasma for this, although i wish they make the extra ammo for it more apparent, as it's kind of tucked off to the side by the pillars. The ensuing encounter in the tunnel is deliciously sinister, you're likely to unleash the Hell Knight and his boney wingman first and unassuming first-timers who immediately go to greet them and leave their corpses in the tunnel don't realize what a mess they're about to make. The 2nd switch unleashes a Baron ... and an archvile behind him.

 

This is incredibly mean but also really clever, because if you don't lead the skeleton and hell knight out of the tunnel first, it can lead to a sticky situation where the archie can keep resurrecting them, hiding behind his meaty bodyguard. it really makes you think about how you tackle the encounter and encourages aggressive play to push in and take down the pissed-off martian. 

 

Afterwards the excitement mostly dies down, but overall... it's solid work, the layout is neat, and the visuals are efficient but works quite nicely together. Although i dont feel Duke gets as much mileage out of the massive slime pit as he maybe hoped, as there isn't a lot of incentive to take a dip down there as it first appears, the archie & his entourage don't feel as effective as they maybe should be, and the massive rocket stash is a bit easy to miss at first.

 

Also, the secrets did get me to raise an eyebrow as the BFG is laughable easy to find, unearthed by the classic trope of a switch behind a switch, but i was surprised to eventually find out the 2nd secret is nested, as the linedef that lowers the teleporter is the platform the BFG is on. 

 

Sadly, this feels kind of tacked on as you can't get these secrets until the literal end of the map, and the ensuing fight you start from getting the soulsphere isn't really worth the price of admission. 

 

All in all... not bad. Acid Bath starts hot, and simmers out pretty quickly, but it's generally quick & fits the Plutonia mold nicely.

Grade: B

 

Order of Preference 

 

Spoiler

MAP11

MAP17

MAP06

MAP32

MAP10

MAP05

MAP15

MAP01

MAP08

MAP12

MAP03

MAP19

MAP31

MAP07

MAP14

MAP13

MAP18

MAP02

MAP16

MAP04

MAP09

 

Also, I'm learning the hard way that the max total attachment size takes a while to reset, so definitely gonna be fewer photo's until that resets. 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP19 - Acid Bath - DukeOfDoom (100%K/I/S):

I remember DukeOfDoom spamming submissions to Final Doom the Way ID Did and failing to capture the original design aspects of a Casali map, by directly failing to even capture Plutonia design choices. He never resigned, and I'm happy, because he got quite better, this is one of his submissions, that is now used for PRCP, something that I was about to do, but two submissions from one person is just enough. I don't know, technically, if the author is capturing 100% the design choices by Milo Casali, but still, this is a pretty convincing OG Plutonia-styled map, with similar gameplay, short, and deserving of the mapslot it has, considering most maps in this point in Plutonia were quite short and action packed as this one.
The start of the level is where all the heat of the map is, quite challenging. Possibly the hardest start so far. Onslaught and Slayer from the original Plutonia comes to mind with this time of starts. I don't have too much else to say, other than that, and also that you can see some texture misalignments here and there, but I guess this one is solidly Plutonia, and gets a pass in my books. Although I remember DukeofDoom submitting another map for the early slots, that was quite more convincing, but I think he decided to switch maps late into development. Again, good Plutonia stuff. The last secret, rather than being a secret, it is just a punishment for your curiosity. Something both Casalis would have done, for sure. And thanks, because it is short.


(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11

MAP07

MAP05
MAP32
MAP15
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 19: Acid Bath - DukeOfDoom

100% kills and secrets

Time: 16:00

 

Well that was easily the hottest start to the WAD so far. Good luck, pistol-starters! Continuous players can just jump into the non-damaging acid and quickly rocket everything before you turn into swiss cheese. After that, the map dies down a bit considerably. I really like the acid aesthetic going on in this map. The green of the acid looks really nice with the tan and beige bricks, and I like seeing the rooms that are basically acidfalls. It feels like Plutonia, but a little bit different. I can't really say the gameplay feels like it, outside of the hot start. I was incredibly surprised that neither key triggered an ambush of any kind. I thought for sure the blue key would, given the 2 bulk cells right before jumping to it, but no. There's this big open area right here that has no monsters in it at all that could have used a teleport ambush when you do something here. Maybe there were monsters in this area, but they teleported onto the starting platform during the initial hot start? I did have a few imps, revs, and mancs show up there that I wasn't sure where they came from, but I don't think the mancs would fit into the teleporter closets here. Either way, lack of ambushes in this area is a major missed opportunity. There are a couple at least. There's one that initially opens 3 doors with pinkies, revs, and a hell knight, but that gets added with a tunnel filled with a rev, hell knight, baron, and archie. Sticking an archie in a narrow tunnel behind all the other monsters is a mean trick that just makes this a rocket sink, as sure enough, the archie revived the baron directly in front of it. Outside of the opening, the only other dangerous fight was the secret one. A baron, arachnotron, and 2 cacos end up in the room with you, while an archie revives the enemies around the exit. Not a lot of room to maneuver, but you have to get the BFG secret to get to this, so let it rip. Plus, this secret does net you a soul sphere, so that's good! Overall, this map didn't do much outside of the hot start and secret fight, but it looks really nice. 

[Tiramisu]

UV/saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP19 - Acid Bath

 

Maybe I'm just too blasé at this point of playing a Plutonia-related project, but if there's less than 10 Chaingunners at once I won't even register a hot start as a hot start - even here I was merely like "oh, rocket launcher, five Chaingunners, ok let's go". I was a little bit worried about the slime floor when dropping down, but that quickly turned out to be a non-issue - confusingly enough given the map's name, the slime's entirely safe to play in! And knowing that, it was all smooth sailing from there - the Chaingunners were safely dispatched one by one, the Mancubus and Revenants were dealt with by a telefrag and some rockets respectively, and only the Pain Elementals were a bit annoying, especially if they decided to wander off somewhere else to infight.

 

Overall I feel like this map would have benefited a lot from the slime being an actual damaging floor. The aforementioned hot start would get a lot more dangerous if the player were incentivized to stay on the platform, sniping the many perched Arachnotrons and the Archvile ahead of time would be less viable, and, with the addition of a radiation suit or two, the map's main setpiece encounters in the second slime-flooded cavern would get a bit more interesting.

 

Still, no use crying over spilled slime, the map wasn't exactly bad the way it was, either. There were some minor issues like Chaingunners sniping the player from way too far away in one specific spot, and the button needed to get to the red key being a bit too easy to miss, but aside from that the map was decently enjoyable, and most importantly decently short - with a Plutonia-legal monster count of just over 100 it was a welcome breather among the increasingly lengthy maps the project's serving us!

 

Plutonia memories, MAP19 (NME) - That one was probably my least favorite of the original Plutonia maps, it just felt weirdly cramped and disjointed.

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

MAP13

 

MAP12

MAP05

MAP07

MAP10

MAP02

 

MAP06

MAP14

MAP11

MAP16

MAP18

 

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09 

MAP01

MAP19

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[cannonball]

MAP19 - “Acid Bath” by DukeOfDoom

 

Some rather questionable design choices on offer here. Firstly the start is rather annoying as you are right in the crossfire with weapons situated in every direction at the start. I think personally being able to grab the weapons with less stress would have been nice. The intial skirmishes are pretty decent, but the map seems to die off from around the half way point, no big abushes or monsters repopulating the central area, just nothing but a couple of monsters who are tucked away a little too well. The secrets are both at the end and serve literally no purpose (Even the fight in secret 2 was a little weak).

Overall a welcome drop in the map runtime which kind of makes the start more forgiving from a critic's point of view, the rather lackluster gameplay after the initial moments is less forgivable. Overall an okay map.

[Veeda Vidlak]

Map19 “Acid Bath”

 

So how long did everyone’s blind run last?

 

None of the floors are damaging, but it feels like being dunked in acid right from the starting pistol thanks to the most lethal hot start we’ve had this month. A chaingunner crossfire with PE’s joining in shortly, along with various dudes randomly teleporting to the beginning platform. Our weapons are readily available but require exposure to gunfire, putting us at the mercy of RNG. It gets even crazier when you hit the switch in the slime cavern down south, exposing the starting area to like half the enemies in the level.

 

Progression can be convoluted at times but in general consists of a steady path around the map hitting switches and obtaining keys (first red, then blue). Combat following the hot start is mostly incremental, but we’ve got a series of rough encounters fairly early on to deal with. The switch lowering us into the southwest nukage cave puts us in intimate relations with a hell knight that can deliver the cheapest of hits, which I don’t appreciate. Right afterwards we have a cramped ambush involving chaingunners, revenants, and hard to see specters you’d best jump on immediately. Finally, exiting this area involves fighting a rev, hell knight, baron, and a vile crammed into a tiny tunnel in that order. Putting the vile behind the meat wall in this place is mean, though not so much to make the fight frustrating (I love this encounter).

 

The difficulty eases past this part, like many of these maps the primary challenge is surviving the opening rounds. We do get one more toughie involving a soulsphere secret towards the end of the level, though the BFG we get beforehand should sufficiently deal with it. I must say I greatly appreciate the short duration, Acid Bath felt like it flew by in comparison to the previous maps (and the coming ones). It’s another good outing, and very much in line with Plutonic ideology.

 

prcp2map19.zip

Time: 5:51   Kills: 105/105    Secrets: 2/2

[Book Lord]

MAP 20 – Calamity Valley by @Yumheart

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

 

Calamity Valley was the first map by Yumheart I have ever played, but it will not be the last since there is another one at the end of the third episode of PRCP 2. We are indeed far from anything seen in The Plutonia Experiment, since this entry was a showcase of modern design sensibilities, ranging from combat puzzles to compact slaughter gameplay. It started in a dark library full of spiders and with a rather uncommon Arch-Vile & Cacodemon ambush happening near the rocket launcher. The elevated Spiderdemon was a constant harassment and invited me to retreat deep inside the building.

Spoiler

After collecting the SSG and seeing the plasma rifle tauntingly disappear, the non-blind player might choose to head westwards, where the map progression unfolds, or to stay a little bit inside the charmingly lit building to collect plasma weapons he will not find in the other path. Not knowing what lay ahead, I entered the northern chamber that slowly revealed itself as a vicious crusher trap. I must hit a series of switches that released enemies in the confined space and get out before the lowering ceiling squished everybody. The situation was not exactly easy to understand, as the crusher started immediately, and I waited several seconds before activating the closets. Moreover, a monster miraculously survived inside the room and could not be reached for 100% kills. Despite these problems, I liked the original design of this trap, taking full advantage of Boom's generalised crushers.

Spoiler

Another optional part was the “secret” Cyberdemon BFG two-shot training centre. I suck at that practice, but gaining the weapon early on was worth fighting 7 of them in their private loft. There was nothing else to do in the library, so I moved in the direction of the titular Calamity Valley, getting ambushed by Revenants and Demons just before leaving. The valley was a large outdoor section with a few canyons to explore and titanic abstract structures in the background, ranging from ancient Roman arches to weird open-air bookshelves. The Cyberdemon on a pillar was a pain in the neck, and I recommend shooting at him as soon as possible, because he will teleport near the “hoi!” lava pool and stop attacking Doomguy wherever he goes. Watch out for the numerous snipers and an Arch-Vile ambush, and reaching the teleporter at the other side of the canyon will not be a problem.

Spoiler

The three skull keys were found in the same terrace overlooking the Calamity Valley, each one on a pillar with a switch that released a different combination of monsters, acting either as shooting turrets or as ground forces. All the assortments provided a good challenge, but I found the BSK to be the hardest, with Mancubi as turrets and Revenants & Hell Knights on the floor. The return path to the library was enlivened by a monster teleport integrated by resurrected corpses, courtesy of two Arch-Viles, but the main slaughter set piece was about to take place in the starting area. The RSK unlocked some useful resources, while the BSK and the YSK must be used on the respective switches, unleashing about 40 Revenants, 6 Arch-Viles, the Spider Mastermind and a bunch of Hell Nobles in the area. The healers were the priority, so I assaulted their closet with the BFG trying to kill them quickly. I succeeded at the second attempt and had no problems cleaning the rest of the room afterwards. The Spiderdemon was stun-locked by a Revenant and killed with bare hands. I stand by my impression that it had nothing to do with Plutonia, but I acknowledge that Calamity Valley was a well-made Doom level with a good degree of originality, paired with streamlined combat design that kept the map’s duration around 20 minutes. A memorable work, worthy of its slot.

Edited July 20, 2023 by Book Lord

[Catpho]

MAP15 - “Ironclad” by Cheesewheel

 

This one's bark is far worse than its bite, but, to be fair, that's one piercing bark. Enemies litter the horizon, perched beyond reach, producing a suffocating flank. There are zero effective (non-secret) armaments handed on the onset, so most would find themselves literally driven to a corner at the map's southmost point.

The survival horror intro, however, gives way to a ludicrous turnaround; as fate would have it, a convenient RL and scores of ammo litter the abyss. What follows is a lesson in player empowerment. True, those sniper towers are scary, but Cheesewheel always leaves a pillar or a turned corner (or a meatshield!) for cover, which is far more than any of your enemies can claim to have as you snipe them back. Monster closets are deployed too close for comfort, but there's always one more square to pull out a big gun or stir up opportune friendly fire. Nightmarish metal album cover monster placement shifts into Skillsaw-esque power fantasy delight. On a related note, I find it pretty cool that there's a, perhaps accidental, physical arc to the progression of the first key: where the player, after hitting rock bottom, just seems to rise higher and higher via lifts and stairs, cutting through opposition as they fall from their perches, ascending via a (figurative) mountain of corpses.

Thing placement is only one-half of the equation. The level boasts a stern, steely aesthetic, where metal eats metal, noted by other club members to basically be Cheesewheel’s own take of the Plutonia Experiment’s “The Twilight” (which, admittedly, is the only thing I remember from that level). The pleasures are the same, but more. More complicated height variation, more complicated interconnections, more awesome Bucket music. “Ironclad” also uses bold strokes of sector lighting, where the “sector” part is really felt as you can see exactly where the lighting level changes in the many luminant circles and semicircles littered across the map. It divides a level already architecturally defined by how many ways it can give the impression of precisely-cut metal somehow contorting into horrible lines into the realm of robotic accuracy, as the level is divided into planes upon prickly planes. The overall impression is that of the bones of some ghastly, inscrutable war machine, its decaying splendor a perfect attraction for the vultures of hell.

One could bring up the mapset’s other major triumph in minimalism, dt_’s “Murder Well”. Deetee’s map uses the cleanliness to emulate how the Casali’s original work wanted there to be a clear-eyed focus on combat, but otherwise tries to create an inviting, pleasant, and, in the case of the big well vista, picturesque place. There is no such life in “Ironclad” — its very name already promises the antiseptic, and promise fulfilled. In other words, “Murder Well” is minimalist as a means to an end; “Ironclad” is minimalist because there is nothing left.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP20 - Calamity Valley - Yumheart (99%K/66%I/33%S):

Ok this is actually a map made by Ribbiks, it seems he accidentally left one of his maps in a Plutonia community project, I guess. Jokes aside, this is a really good representation of what a Ribbiks-styled map looks like, with Plutonia textures because PRCP, Yumheart is somewhat new at mapping, but you can clearly see the influences going on. Secrets that hold big fights for a reward that is probably going to get used in said fight, severe abuse of light level tricks to simulate dynamic lighting and other cool tricks, big areas with overwhelming views, and most importantly, slaughter-maps. Yes, it is a plain slaughter-map, not a "hard as hell you would misinterpret this as a slaughter-map" kind of level, this is just a slaughter-map. Right from the start you have big fights here and there, and you will need to cause some infights as fast as possible to save your butt. My favourite part had to be the timed sequence with the crusher... Holy fuck, I did not notice that was a crusher the first time, I thought it was a long-ass lift what I was waiting for... you will need to press some switches to escape that room as soon as possible. There is a neat secret room which holds a secret fight, which is, I think, mandatory, as you will get an early BFG for your troubles, but the downside is that you will need to face the secret cyberdemon horde fight. Yes, exactly as those modern slaughter-maps do, hiding secret fights. The outdoors area kinda underwhelmed me a little bit, as there are no big fights, nor interesting ones. I decided to skip the only cyberdemon in this area when going back to the main area. The area which holds the three keys was a hectic one, because of the small space in which you will have to maneuver, but luckly we all know from playing these kind of maps that you should not press every switch at once. The last fight was something that I would not forgive, as it is, for now (And I'm afraid it could get worse in the future), the hardest bit in PRCP2. Yeah, I don't like slaughter-maps, honestly.
To be fair, this kinda lost the Plutonia escence a little bit, in fact, there are not any Plutonia teleporting pads to be present in this one, for some reason, making you think that the author lost the point of the project. A trend that at least from what I've seen in the next map, goes on. I think now I understand Finnks and his desire to make Plutonia pads feel correct, THIS MAP DOES NOT EVEN HAVE THEM.

Good map, but overwhelming, if you like this kind of setpieces, feel blessed, at this is not the last Yumheart map in PRCP2. In my case, I feel totally doomed.

 

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11

MAP07

MAP05
MAP20
MAP32
MAP15
MAP31
MAP19
MAP08

MAP01
MAP09
MAP12
MAP02
MAP03
MAP14
MAP16
MAP13
MAP04

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

 

@finnks13 complaints start getting real when you see the only ties to original Plutonia for some of the maps that do not even share similar aesthetics, are the iconic teleporting pads...

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 20: Calamity Valley

by @Yumheart

 

Unlike BookLord, I've played probably around half a dozen maps by the artist formerly known as CentralPr0cessing, so I'd guessed somewhat accurately what we'd be in for here.

 

That's not so obvious from the beginning, though the Baron behind us technically makes this a hot start. A couple of Mancubi, along with a Spider Mastermind outside are suggestive of something and the Arachnotrons make it impossible to stand still. There are plenty of columns to seek cover. The real challenge comes after we reach a pool of slime leakage next to the fence at the other end containing a rocket launcher, spawning a predictable trap with Cacodemons and an Arch-vile close enough by, it's best to run out of the line-of sight of the AV before we're blasted. Taking care of this isn't too difficult, admittedly. But pressing the switch in the closet opened by this attack opens the way to some wooden-walled sewer-like environs, having some chaingunners that pose no threat if eliminated quickly, however, we're confronted by a far more dangerous attack of Revenants and Mancubi in an incredibly tight space. At the other end is a plasma rifle which then raises to the ceiling. Ducking into the library here reveals another plasma rifle behind some shells but the ceilings are high enough that we can guess that something big's coming.

 

....And we completely failed to realize that a Quake-style slow-motion crushing ceiling is involved. The midi works for the rest of the map but it doesn't even come close to capturing the sort of existential dread we feel from a trap that rarely shows up. Worst yet, ducking into side rooms opened by respective switches will not help because eventually these rooms also have their ceiling lower, making dallying at any point a bad idea. The Pain Elementals and chaingunners at the beginning of this bit, along with the mancubi guarding the vary last switch we need to press are really the reason for this. Then plasma and rocket launcher must be switched between at....

 

....but no matter, let's just jump to the large BFG secret we'd somehow opened, fucked around and found out with around 8 Cyberdemons that require two-shotting, then just rewinded to have the space to get out after pressing the switch that's revealed in the very last chamber here. Sorry for that, and my failure to pause for a few minutes later.....

 

.....in the titular valley as it happens. Yeah, I was starting to wonder where the hell the valley in question was. That would've been some remarkably bold abstraction. But this map does indeed have a large outside area, descending down into a canyon with a Cyberdemon, and some desultory hitscanners. Down here is a series of canyons and lava pools with more dangers and a couple of places where we can gaze out onto the void. Eventually, we should end up in a distant ledge, containing a series of hairy encounters that will be made easier with the hidden BFG, but cell ammo's pretty limited so it doesn't break the series of key fights here. At some point, though the teleporter back to the centrak valley opens up, with the Cyberdemon now free to wander around.

 

 

With all three keys, we then return to the starting room, use the keys and trigger the last massive ambush. Two groups of Revenants appear on either side, with many  Arch-viles behind the ones on the opposite side and several Cacodemons. At some point, the Mastermind will also join the fracas, creating a wondefully chaotic situation that's also  massively difficult, thanks to the Arch-viles. Though we did get a little lucky on our second try. After pressing a switch near a coupke of Barons, we can then finally head outside, then drop down, get hurt, exit, and read the hilarious story text.

 

Yep, don't fuck with Yumheart, yo. Although a HOM spotted at one point brought the old sneering Walton Simons quote to mind.....very good!

 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Celestin]

MAP20: Calamity Valley by Yumheart

 

Episode 2 concludes with the hardest map yet. Calamity Valley resembles something from a modern challenge wad more than Plutonia, with its imposing architecture, sadistic combat and some creative ideas. The starting room welcomes you with a kick to the face, with arachnotrons and a mastermind turret. Try grabbing a rocket launcher and a closet with cacodemons and two archviles opens up, making the room very chaotic. 

 

Nobody will give you big guns here for free. To get a plasma rifle, you need to escape an arena before a lowering ceiling crushes you. I like this one a lot, it's like something out of an adventure movie. You need to fend off ways of monsters while looking for switches to get out. Beating this part unlocks a BFG secret, which was a complete nightmare. A small room which gradually releases 7 cyberdemons was too much for me to handle. I still struggle to two-shot those bastards, so I resorted to save-scumming and left with little ammo and health. I'm sure others might have handled this better and appreciate an additional weapon, but for me it wasn't worth it.

 

Up next is the titular valley, with several ambushes along the way. The biggest threat is the cyberdemon on a column, as he can easily kill you if you aren't careful. Truth be told, this one feels more like a transitional place, leading to a platform with all three keys. You can trigger them in any order you want, but beware of their protectors. The blue one releases a horde of revenants and hell knights, yellow key teleports pain elementals and cacodemons (the former being really annoying in such limited space), and the red one drops pinkies and barons. Each phase includes additional monsters, which acts as snipers, but this part is rather generous with rockets, so it isn't that bad. Be careful on your way back, as two archviles appear in the valley, plus the cyberdemon gets unleashed. 

 

There's only the final fight in the starting room to deal with, but it was surprisingly easy. You're given a BFG (if you haven't found one already) to slaughter a crowd of monsters. It's your standard fight where it's best to circle-strafe, hoping the archviles get distracted and delete them with a BFG before clearing the rest out. Technically there's also an exit-guarding mastermind, but on my playthrough she managed to get herself killed early on by a single cacodemon. Pathetic.

 

It was hard, but other than a painful BFG secret, Calamity Valley gave me a sense of accomplishment after completing it. Great work. Also, I've noticed Yumheart made MAP29 as well. Considering the reputation penultimate levels have, I think I have a right to be afraid.

[Tiramisu]

UV/saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP20 - Calamity Valley

 

Okay Yumheart, where are the Plutonia teleporters explain yourself!!! >:( Your Baron hot start may have distracted me from the lack of the starting teleporter, but once I went through the exit I realized there were in fact none to be found! I am not a stickler for detail, unlike finnks13 I couldn't even tell you if something was wrong with most of the teleporters seen so far, but this time PRCP2 crosses the line even for me. While not exactly map-ruining, this is just a small detail (or lack thereof) that really showcases the project's lax attitude towards the source material, and makes the map seem like a completely random, unrelated piece thrown in at the last minute after a quick texture makeover (even if that wasn't actually the case).

 

Oh well. I guess we'll just have to hold on to the Plutonia teleporters in our hearts and play the map all the same - especially since Casali-factor aside, this really is a very solid, slaughter-ish map that is not to be taken lightly by any fan of intense, setpiece-based combat! There's just a lot of very clever fights here, with little downtime between each - beginning with the open-ended double Archvile fight, and ending with a magnified version of the encounter, played out in the same arena. Though my favorites were of course the triple fight gauntlet at the skull key balcony, which reused the same space over and over in completely different contexts! The fight in the crusher room was also super original - I can't remember the last time I saw something like that in DOOM, really (the first time I was there I got crushed though, because I thought the whole thing was an elevator instead lol :p). For the record, I didn't find the secret Cyberdemon arena.

 

Between fights, we're treated to some brief moments of mostly undemanding incidental combat - which also stand at a high level of quality, especially when the frankly pretty terrifying Cyberdemon sniper is thrown into the mix, his eye cast over seemingly every inch of the titular Calamity Valley (as a side note, once he descended from his perch he was actually encircled by a triple squad of Mancubi and scorched almost to death, that's the first time I've seen something like that)! In general, the map is visually very interesting and pleasant to look at, from the mysterious, Monster Condo-like library to the wide-open vista of the valley, with giant structures seen all around in the distance.

 

I have some minor complaints here I want to speak my mind about, though. First of all, I didn't care for the music choice - it felt too repetitive for such a long map. Then, there's the matter of blocking the player from backtracking - unless I did something wrong, it didn't seem possible to go back to the crusher room, or to return to the main portion of the map after starting the final battle. Now, I am not a completionist player so I didn't care that much, but still I know this is seen as a rather major flaw so I had to speak up about it.

 

Finally, and this is my main complaint, I feel like the final battle really overdid it on the Archviles - there were just too many of them to implement any sort of plan that didn't begin and end with "spam BFG and hope for the best". I was seriously contemplating skipping this one, until I found out I have actually been using the BFG wrong (you can fire much faster by holding down the button, much like the rocket launcher). Still this only helped a little bit, and once I was finally victorious I felt like I owed it mostly to luck and not any sort of skill or strategy.

 

Minor annoyances aside, I feel like this really was, again, a very good map. Maybe not a good "Plutonia" map, but a very good map none the less!

 

Plutonia memories, MAP20 (The Death Domain) - One of my favorite Plutonia maps. It was a bit eclectic and awkward at times, but it just had so much cool stuff in it - I remember the frantic Arachnotron courtyard and the teleporting Baron fight the most. Plus it had "Message for the Archvile", probably the first map I played that really did justice to that song!

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

MAP13

 

MAP20

MAP12

MAP05

MAP07

MAP10

 

MAP02

MAP06

MAP14

MAP11

MAP16

 

MAP18

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09 

MAP01

MAP19

 

Edited July 22, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 20: Calamity Valley - Yumheart

100% kills and secrets

Time: 20:22

Deaths: 14

 

I too remember Yumheart's early time as CentralPr0cessing. I certainly remember Bloodfalls II which I thought was cool excelt for the weird skybox. Ever since seeing decino play that map, I've always been a little nervous whenever I see Yum's name pop up in a community project cause I always expect said map to kick my butt. I don't really think that's been the case with the maps I've played by them in Literalism, Morior Invictus, or Jamal Jones, but this one on the other hand did. First of all, this map isn't like Plutonia at all. Even the texturing doesn't save it in this case. This 100% feels completely different. It's easy to see what it feels like: a Sunlust map. This is easily the hardest map in the WAD so far, as its set pieces are designed to destroy you. First off is the plasma crusher. I didn't realize it was a crusher. I may have dawdled too long and got squished in a closet. I'm glad I didn't get softlocked at least. Leaving this area after the 2nd attempt, I saw a switch be the side get hidden, so idk what it did, but it didn't hamper progression in any way. Completing this optional crusher fight takes you to a secret area that didn't look secret at first. Then I found the BFG and had to take on 7 cybs, 2-3 at a time. I tried to 2-shot them, but I wasn't doing it quick enough, so I just resorted to getting as close to them as I could and hold the fire button down. This took me 4 attempts I believe, maybe 5. After this, I headed west to the titular valley. This part isn't really bad, as it's mostly dealing with hitscan and the occasional mid-tier, while making sure the turreted cyb doesn't hit you. It did. Twice. There's also a nasty rev/archie ambush by one of the switches you need to hit too, which that BFG is great for! I can't recall if that fight killed me, or if one of those 2 cyb rockets did while dealing with it. A teleporter takes you to a small balcony nearby with all 3 keys, each initiating a different ambush. Surprisingly, I didn't die from any of them! There's an ammo corridor that leads to the teleporter out that I noticed in between the 2nd and 3rd key battles. During the 3rd battle, it got blocked off, only to lower again a few minutes after the 3rd key fight. Kinda cool idea for rationing out ammo, but there's a lot shells and rockets at least on the main field (maybe cells too? idr). I tried to deal with most of these fights with rockets, but used the BFG on the caco/pain elemental one. The staging in this arena is pretty good, and provides an interesting layout to the fight. Returning back to the library, the cyb has been unleashed, and a few archies are around now. But now, it's time for the final fight. Red key gives you a megasphere that I didn't grab (I had 180/200), but I think I should have since I don't think you can return here after starting the final fight. The other 2 key switches start the fight. The spider mastermind that spotted you at the beginning is let loose, while tons of revs, nobles, and 6 archies flood the arena. Easily the hardest fight in the WAD so far, and is pure slaughter. I'd say half of my deaths came from this fight alone, but once I figured out to rush the closet the archies were in, I started to see some progress here. The first time I killed the archies I was able to complete the fight, but it was still a doozy. The SM didn't end up doing much either, so I had to take it out myself. Overall, this is a very solid map. Super challenging, with some fun set pieces, and a slaughter-ending. Doesn't resemble Plutonia in the slightest tho. 

[Celestin]

MAP21: Scorched Sacellum by Wydoomer

 

A combination of burnt rocks and lava is an aesthetic I've always enjoyed. Wydoomer put a lot of effort into wrecking this place, with cracked floors and crumbling walls, plus a MIDI gives this place a moody vibe. It's a pretty map, however, it does have an unfortunate effect of making Scorched Sacellum looking somewhat generic, in a sense that it would fit into most hell-themed episodes, regardless of what wad it was submitted for. There's little Plutonia in the visual department and if it turned out it was intended for a different project, I wouldn't be surprised.

 

Your main weapons here are berserked-up fists and a rocket launcher. Both are acquired at the start and it's quite an eccentric combination if you ask me. Cell weapons and super shotgun are nowhere to be seen, while shotgun and chaingun are best saved for hitscanners and snipers. The map itself is an open-ended scavenge for three keys that unlock an exit right next to a starting point. Outside the start, is not that difficult. This is due to mostly incidental combat, you either take down mancubi and arachnotrons with rockets or punch revenants and imps. Two of the keys are guarded by the most useless archviles I've seen in a Plutonia.exe wad, the red one, on the other hand, provides a standout fight of the map: getting squeezed by groups of hell knights and cacodemons with a pain elemental thrown in for a good measure. 

 

I'm torn here. I appreciate a bit of a wind-down like this, especially after Calamity Valley. It's a solid map, I just wish Scorched Sacellum looked and felt a bit more like Plutonia.

[HiMyNameIsChair]

Map 20: Calamity Valley by Yumheart

UV Pistol start, played on DSDA, 100% Kills & Secrets. completion time: 22:25

 

*PHEEEW* WOW  what a knockout~! I have never played any of Yumhearts maps before... but boy am i gonna keep a lookout for their name from now on~!

So right away... good lord this is top-shelf stuff visually, from the grand library with its arches, and high contrast lighting, to the gorgeous room housing the plasma rifle that hosted a devilish fight, the huge secret area, with its wood paneling complimented beautifully by the blood red sky and lava falls, and ofc: the fantastic outdoor arena, with its stunning sights and carefully crafted hills, with the use of Zimmer being like something right out Darkwave's work.

 

However Calamity Valley is more than a pretty face, it's combat is an absolute riot, from the opening fight that have you negotiating arachno's, caco's, two archviles, all while having to manage your sightlines against a perched spider mama. The crusher room is honestly kind of brilliant, a race against the clock as you scramble around meaty foes, hitting switches and trying to get out of the deathtrap as quickly as possible. it's a hell of an adrenaline rush~!

 

But i don't think anything could prepare me... for the secret fight: Yumheart hands you a BFG... and makes you put to good use. Once you cross the linedefs, *7* Cyberdemons are slowly released, two at a time at first, then the final 3. It is a brutal fight, and while i imagine any sane person would see this as overkill... i have to confess: i kinda love it~! Now given I am... an absolute glutton for punishment, and the fact I've been using the cyber 2 shot map: 15CC, as a warm-up map almost daily for the last 2 months probably helped a lot. That or clearing Disturbia earlier this year broke something in me, i uh.. couldn't really say.

 

After a round of dodging cyber rockets in the exterior, yumheart sends you to a perched arena, where you're pitted against waves of skeletons, strategically perched snipers, meatballs, and walls of moving beef, and they give you enough rockets to level half a city block.

 

Also, it's a small thing: but i like that Yumheart makes the scrap for the red key optional, as it's not required to leave, but they do reward you going into the last fight as it unlocks some extra supplies.

 

The final fight... is *pure insanity* an army of bones, hell knights, barons, and... lord knows how many archviles, are unleashed in the starting room. 

 

In an extreme show of generosity, Yumheart gives you a BFG for free here in case the 1v7 cyber showdown left you squeamish.

 

The only real thing I can nitpick in this map is the occasional HOM visual hiccup, but for the most part, their impact on the map is pretty minimal.

 

overall, Calamity Valley is an absolute barn burner~! It's visually sumptuous, and it maintains its high energy from start to finish. Easily one of my favorite maps so far~!

 

Grade: A

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

MAP11

MAP17

MAP20

MAP06

MAP32

MAP10

MAP05

MAP15

MAP01

MAP08

MAP12

MAP03

MAP19

MAP31

MAP07

MAP14

MAP13

MAP18

MAP02

MAP16

MAP04

MAP09

 

NGL placing this is really... really hard. For now, it's going right under The Wolf Hour, but they could genuinely be swapped at any point. They are essentially tied for 2nd at this point.

[Book Lord]

MAP 21 – Scorched Sacellum by @wydoomer

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

 

A relative newcomer on the mapping scene, according to the Wiki Wydoomer contributed a total of three levels to community projects. While the visual theme of Scorched Sacellum was something I might have seen a hundred of times, it used some brown brick and rock textures that were exclusive to PRCP 2, looking nice when paired with bright lava floors and falls. The lava replaced the more typical contrast with the sky, which was barely visible in the central room of this underground complex.

Spoiler

The Tyson start paired with hitscanners and barrel explosions was a good way to begin the third episode. The whole map established an entertaining routine of incidental combat and moderately dangerous ambushes, using slightly higher numbers than Plutonia but feeling closer to its original formula than what we had seen in the last 10 maps.  The exit was behind a Boom triple key door in the starting room, and the obvious task was to find the skull keys by exploring the Scorched Sacellum and its lava-filled rooms, for which no Radiation Suit was available.

 

The rocket launcher was granted for free and so were rockets, scattered throughout the level and constituting the primary offensive opportunity for Doomguy. A feature that I liked very much was the interconnected layout, with terraces and ledges connecting the various rooms and allowing the roaming monsters to appear and attack when not expected. I also liked the one-way escapable pit near the RSK, which forced me to find the key and trigger its ambush after falling inside. The Hell Knights and the Cacoswarm were stopped with a good investment of rockets, but I found myself pinned down at low health for a while.

Spoiler

The BSK could just be taken by jumping on its pillar from above, and an Arch-Vile was exactly what the Casali doctor ordered. The way to the YSK was longer but not particularly difficult if approached carefully, and it ended with another Arch-Vile out of thin air (he actually came from a secret compartment behind a lava fall, containing a box of rockets). The YSK area also contained most of the map’s secrets, a good combination of obvious hints and keen eye requirements. The exit contained one last attempt at resistance, but the map was practically over. A bit of a breather in terms of pressure put on the player, Scorched Sacellum was a suitable map for a Plutonia-themed project, trying to present an updated version of the IWAD gameplay and visuals without going overboard with modern concepts and priorities. Thanks, wydoomer, for making this map, and thanks, Joshy, for placing it here.

Edited July 21, 2023 by Book Lord

[Catpho]

Found something interesting while checking out Dutch's old maps. It seems MAP01 of PRCP2 is an extensive rework of MAP03 from Dutch's old levelset, Miscellaneous Mayhem. The current one is a definite trade up for me, but here are some fun shots comparing them:

 

 

[plums]

@Catpho great find!

[Tiramisu]

19 hours ago, sq. Tiramisu said:

[...] and makes the map seem like a completely random, unrelated piece thrown in at the last minute after a quick texture makeover (even if that wasn't actually the case).

 

6 hours ago, Catpho said:

It seems MAP01 of PRCP2 is an extensive rework of MAP03 from Dutch's old levelset, Miscellaneous Mayhem.

 

Oh, so there really are unrelated random pieces thrown in after a quick texture makeover (ㆆ_ㆆ)

 

Okay, that may have been a bit of an exaggeration, especially since it looks like the changes in MAP01 include enemy placement as well - but it's still a bit disheartening to know, and makes me wonder how many of these maps weren't even designed with Plutonia in mind at all. I am not against recycling maps by any means, but I feel like this project really wasn't the place to do so!

 

UV/saves, any%, pistol start

 

MAP21 - Scorched Sacellum

 

All right PRCP2, very funny, starting us off on a regular teleporter like that. >:((( I feel like this one might actually deserve a -1/10 on the finnks13 teleporter scale!

 

Continuing teleporter woes aside, I rather enjoyed this map! Sure, it consists almost entirely of incidental rocket launcher combat, but the layout is fun to navigate and there is a small setpiece treat at the end of each of the three skull key routes (my favorite one was the Hell Knight/Caco sandwich battle). Due to this nature I don't actually have a lot to say about the map though - other than that I liked the design of the secrets, and that it thankfully didn't overstay its welcome (plus it was pretty easy overall, which was a welcome bit of cooldown after the previous map).

 

Plutonia memories, MAP21 (Slayer) - I wonder how many people actually listened to the entirety of the DOOM 2 intermission text midi before playing this map. I certainly didn't, and I was surprised to hear how long it actually is!

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

 

MAP32

MAP03

MAP17

MAP15

MAP13

 

MAP20

MAP12

MAP05

MAP07

MAP10

 

MAP02

MAP06

MAP14

MAP11

MAP16

MAP21

 

MAP18

MAP08

MAP04

MAP09 

MAP01

MAP19

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[baja blast rd.]

15 hours ago, HiMyNameIsChair said:

But i don't think anything could prepare me... for the secret fight: Yumheart hands you a BFG... and makes you put to good use. Once you cross the linedefs, *7* Cyberdemons are slowly released, two at a time at first, then the final 3. It is a brutal fight, and while i imagine any sane person would see this as overkill... i have to confess: i kinda love it~! Now given I am... an absolute glutton for punishment, and the fact I've been using the cyber 2 shot map: 15CC, as a warm-up map almost daily for the last 2 months probably helped a lot. That or clearing Disturbia earlier this year broke something in me, i uh.. couldn't really say.

 

hehe I love that fight (and the map in general). I found this old clip of mine from it where I apparently got a cool finish.

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 21: Scorched Sacellum

by @wydoomer

 

Level of competence in gameplay is a total joke. 

 

Ok, I suppose I should actually say something about this map, though the sentence above may be a foreshadowing of my likely success in that area. Wydoomer seems to have made a few scattered contributions to community projects but has not appeared to have been involved anything recently. This map's pretty good though, utilizing gothic map tropes to create a space that actually doesn't feel too much like a shrine but no matter. The lava pillars are quite tasteful and are some great uses of detailing. 

 

Combat itself isn't exactly too difficult, despite the rather cramped quarters that the map is comprised of. But well, our performance was humiliating, to say the least. It got bad enough that we just ran for the exit without passing go or collecting 2 hundred dollars after killing the Arch-vile at the end of the hallway here, paying zero attention to chaingunners that tore into us some and heading once again into a teleporter nothing like the Plutonian standard. The strange lack of rockets toward the end didn't exactly ease our woes in that category either. Like maybe just reduce the size of the Hell Knight/Cacodemon ambush after the...red key I think is collected? That being said, the Arch-vile placement was pretty nice stuff! Better yet was the secret within the secret in the west functioning as a shortcut to the yellow key that allows us to get the jump on some enemies that also leads to a Supercharge! I have to say, placing shootable switches in what's probably a non-secret hallway across the lava channel here was an interesting choice but actually makes perfect sense for the design presentation of this map!

 

This is the point of the game where maps aren't necessarily mediocre if they have little which stands out, but I guess I prefer the calculated sadism of Murder Well or some other early map over Scorched Sacellum. Also, I'm not going to be playing all of the remaining maps either. I was going to be doing 22, but after such an awful performance, I now would rather wait. See you on the 25th!

 

Edit: I apologize if that last paragraph sounded rude, btw.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP21 - Scorched Sacellum - Wydoomer (100%K/96%I/75%S):

Ok, if the previous map had almost nothing to do with Plutonia, this does not even get the point of what a Plutonia map is. Two maps in a row where teleporting pads are absent, but the real problem is that it does not even have a single texture that you would say "hey, this is in Plutonia", not even a wood trimming. This is more like a submission to Requiem Revisited Community Project than anything else. Good map though, I love this kind of layouts, and difficulty and ammo balance is on point with Plutonia's difficulty, the only Plutonia-esque thing about this one though, would be the heavy use of rockets, maybe?. Regardless, I did enjoy (and suffer through its difficulty) navigating around this layout in hunt for keys, but it just feels like a disrespectful map for this mapset, as no Plutonia textures are present, no "Rev/Chaingunner/Vile" structure in its fights present, no teleporting pads present, heck, even most of its gameplay does not rely on traps, as there aren't many sequences where monsters would heavily spawn to block your path and pummel you to death. This is not implying this is an easy map by any means but, I don't know how to rank this one, as it almost feels offensive to the project to be here, and I feel this map should have been changed (Not rejected from the project), in a way that at least somewhat respects the Plutonia formula, as at this point, it feels someone could submit a random cool map and it could be accepted.

Good? Yes. A bit disrespectful? Yes.
 

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP17
MAP18

MAP11

MAP07

MAP05
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 

 

 

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP21: Scorched Sacellum by Wydoomer

 

(Played on DSDA, UV Pistol Start, 100% kills, 75% Secrets. Completion time: 12:12)

 

This one's alright, didn't exactly win me over, but it's not without merit. 

 

Wydoomer takes up the task of starting episode 3, building their map out of lava, volcanic rock, and metal, It's incredibly sharp looking, and the textures used here complement each other nicely. 

 

 I can say they definitely put a lot of effort into trying to make this engaging. The only placed weapon here is the rocket launcher. no plasma, and no SSG. you will pick up the Single Barrel and chaingun off fallen enemies but the only other tool Wydoomer actively gives you is thankfully the Berserk. Dust off those knuckles and get ready to punch a lot of spooky skeletons, and practice your revenant dance.

 

Wydoomers layout is very open-ended, giving you free rein to tackle keys in any order.  

 

However, I think this is where my praise for it ends, and the rest leaves me indifferent. While building a map around the rocket launcher sounds great on paper, in this particular case, Wydoomer doesn't quite nail the execution. Combat is overwhelmingly incidental, minus a few big setpieces, so carving out space for yourself in the opening minutes is going to be an uphill battle. 

 

I think it's that incidental nature of the combat that betrays Wydoomers intended gimmick for the map, as you'll always be tight on space,  and fighting enemies you'd frankly rather shotgun or punch out.

 

Generally, you'll never have many opportunities to effectively use rockets against bigger, clumped-together groups, and you'll mainly be saving them for Mancubi or Arachno's. The bigger fights for the most part are fine... although I will compliment Wydoomer on their plentiful amount of archvile interjections.

 

However, the red key fight... honestly needed a round of tuning. Not even because of the enemies, as the Caco cloud, Hell Knights and a lone meatball fill their roles fine. The layout, not so much. There is only one way out of the lava pool in the red key room, so maneuvering around this space is deceptively difficult. But what really makes matters worse, is there is no way to double back the way you came, and searching the lava in the connecting room for a way back up is ultimately futile. 

 

I understand what Wydoom was going for here, having you juggle different threats in a very small safe space.. but the room at first feels more spacious than it actually is, and is generally a pain to move around in a fight. It left me feeling more frustrated than excited.

 

So... where do i stand on this one? overall... it's not a bad map, it looks great, it's certainly not aimless, as Wydoom clearly had a central idea and tried to build the map around it. If nothing else i appreciate you can just run around and tackle this however you want. So overall... it's perfectly serviceable. Certainly not a showstopper, but I've played worse in this set.

 

Grade: C

 

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

 

[finnks13]

Been on holiday over the last few days, so I'll be catching up for a bit! My apologies for this incoming wall of text.

 

MAP16 - Ifrit's Lair by Doomlust:

16:58/2 Deaths
Ehhhhh, this was alright. I guess it's nice to have something a little easier and less intense after the previous couple of maps, but there's not much notable about this map. The part I liked about it the most was the MIDI, which has a five second pause at the start, which was hilarious every single time it happened. I'm really not sure why you'd choose a MIDI that does this (like a fade-out at the end can happen sometimes and it's not a massive deal) and the very loud trumpet melody did start to really irritate me after a while so I once again turned it off :P I like the visuals, the inside of the temple looks cool and uses the beige bricks that featured very heavily in Map11, but it combines them with lava and the contrast in colour and lighting really helps the map to "pop". The brown recolours of the Duke3D moonrocks were a surprising find but I think they actually work incredibly well here.

 

I managed to have a bad time here because I missed the rocket launcher for the majority of the map, because it's not entirely clear that the switch you press in the central lava chamber raises a lift towards it and a bunch off stuff being spawned in to chase me away from it, I had to SSG a lot more than was fun. The temple area behind the blue key door was my favourite part of the map, the ambushes in there felt more polished and difficult than the rest of the map, and I was also running pretty low on cells at this point so I didn't have the BFG to nuke everything with. And that's the main problem with how this map plays, the secret BFG. It's activated by a flashing switch next to the blue key that's incredibly easy to spot, and if you've seen the BFG at all so far, I think it's very easy to assume that the two are linked, and having the BFG trivialises a lot of the map because you're given a lot of cells to use the plasma gun with, which is a shame.

 

Overall, Ifrit's Lair is a fine map that was let down by gameplay that's fine but trivialised far too easily.

 

MAP17 - The Wolf Hour by Sincity2100:

13:26/4 Deaths
Sincity's second map in PRCP2 is definitely much better than his first. It's still not much like plutonia, being a send up of Silent Hour from Speed of Doom - though this isn't gonna work in the map's favour because Silent Hour is my least favourite Darkwave map in SoD. You have the same setup, in that you start in a central room that's surrounded by a large corridor with more areas branching off from it, though the areas you go to explore are significantly smaller here than in Silent Hour and I think it works for the map's benefit because you always have a sense of moving forward and I never felt like an area was being padded out. You can grab the red and blue key in either order (as far as I can tell), but I feel like you're going to want to do the red key route first no matter what because it gives you a plasma gun and that helps out a ton with the other section. Picking up each key spawns a bunch of stuff into the central area, with you needing to run around to promote infighting between the various monsters while not getting caught and murdered - these were some of my favourite parts of the map.

 

I really like that upon trying to pick up the yellow key, you get whisked away into an incredibly unfair trap out of nowhere. It feels exactly like something Plutonia would do, and once you've been caught by it once, you've probably had a good enough look at it to be able to figure it out the second time. Unfortunately, the map falters quite heavily at the finale which is just far too open, with far too few monsters to be any threat and this makes the last couple of  minutes drag a bit. I like the visuals here, they feel about right for Plutonia and I especially like the REDWALL1 everywhere (honestly this texture's fucking great I'm so upset it's not in DOOM2.wad or I'd use it way more).

 

Overall, The Wolf Hour is a pretty solid map that improves on it's inspiration for me. Still don't know why you'd reference a wad that isn't Plutonia in this but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

MAP18: Enclave by Anon:

21:22/10 Deaths
This map is very uneven. It's got excellent visual design, entertaining combat set-pieces and challenging incidental combat, but I was absolutely sick of it by the end. I absolutely love how this map looks, the fortress you explore is imposing and lavishly detailed, the recolour of the DOOM2 brick texture to be the same as DIRBRI1 looks genuinely really cool. The blood floor & deep red sky combo continues to look gorgeous, and the map is given a sinister edge from the perfectly chosen and delightfully demented Under Death. The layout of the map is a little confusing and I did spend minutes wandering around lost, looking for key doors to progress but this mostly happened near the start of the map, so I hadn't gotten annoyed with it yet :P

 

The map felt similar to late-game PL2 maps to play for me, but that's mostly due to how unforgivingly difficult it can be, with the incredibly high amount of hitscanners (especially the shotgun guys that can really mess you up) and what I feel like is a rather harsh lack of health. I didn't find any secrets so perhaps there's some good stuff in there but I felt like I was constantly getting with just 10% health, managing to scrape through encounters by picking up the couple of stimpacks that are tossed your way before inevitably losing it to the harsh monster placement. I really liked the sequence of ambushes that lead up to getting the blue key, they stand out for being the only part of the map that doesn't try to overwhelm you through large numbers of monsters, but instead try to kill you by sending you into a tiny room with six guys perfectly placed to beat the shit out of you. Unfortunately, the single worst bit of the map (and it's up there for my least favourite part of the wad thus far) is the final fight which is just tedious due to the lack of health, massive amount of hitscanners, cyberdemon turret that takes way too long to kill and the fact that I'd been playing the map for about half an hour and wanted to be done with it. I hate that fight with all my heart. I think this map is so close to being one of the highlights in the wad, and I genuinely think that with just a little bit more health it could be much more fun while keeping the vast majority of it's difficulty.

 

Overall, Enclave is a gorgeous map that trips over it's own ambition to be very difficult.

 

MAP19 - Acid Bath by DukeOfDoom:

8:32/6 Deaths
Surprise motherfuckers, it's a PRCP1 map out of nowhere. A remake of a Plutonia map (Neurosphere in this case), that is mostly fun on it's own merits but isn't as fun as the map it's obviously referencing. I know plutonia's thing is chaingunners, but there is a point at which you've placed too many and you're just adding more and more in to be annoying and that point was reached in this map approximately 5 seconds into it, because you start by unavoidably being shot by chaingunners on all sides of you (and you have to get shot by them as the weapons you need to have to even start playing the map are on the four points of the cross you start on). I do like the little progression element of lowering the nukage walls that surround the cross, that allow you into the larger part of the map as a whole. I feel like if the map just spawned you on a green armour instead of tucking it away in the side of the starting area, easily misable by someone who's focusing on not getting immediately killed by all the chaingunners.

 

I will give this map credit for actually feeling pretty faithful to Plutonia in terms of it's layout, visual complexity & encounter design. It's rather boxy, and mostly sticks to the brown brick & nukage look but honestly Plutonia's very boxy and  sticks to bricks & liquid for it's visual design too so I don't see this as a bad thing. The progression of the map is a little odd, despite it's small size there was a suprisingly high amount of "I hope this switch did something". The difficulty of the map is very front-loaded and there's very little threat to you once you've managed to clear the opening and kill all of the perched chaingunners in the large courtyards. I like the ambush in the cave where you get the plasma gun, I imagine it played out for me exactly as it was hoped - "Oh this is lame, I can just kill this baron & revenant in the corridor they spawn in. Oh piss there's an archvile behind them both and I do not have enough cells to rekill them both. aaaaaaaa". Once you've got the blue key, the map kinda of just ends with a whimper, which is a shame.

 

Overall, Acid Bath is probably the most faithful map to the source material so far, but I was so annoyed by the opening, it spoiled it for me.

 

BUT! What do the teleporters look like?????

Spoiler

MAP16 - 4/10. The opening teleporter looks alright, but isn't glowing. The ending teleporter is off centre due to the building it's in and is made of a fully black and fully white texture which looks just wrong and I hate it why would you do this to me

 

 

MAP17 - 6/10. Too light, and once again it appears that sincity forgot to inflate the opening teleporter

 

 

MAP18 - 7/10. They don't glow :(

 

 

MAP19 - 7/10. These ones don't glow either >:(

 

 

(sorry if these are a little more rushed than normal, I'm very tired but wanted to catch up ASAP!)

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 21: Scorched Sacellum - Wydoomer

100% kills and secrets

Time: 16:26

Deaths: 3

 

I ended up starting this map, eating dinner, then finishing it, so I'm having a hard time remembering specifics of the first half. Wydoomer has 3 maps to their name, and now I've played 2 of them (idr anything about their Boaty McBoatwad one, and watching a vid of it only brings a little bit of a memory of it back). For their Plutonia-inspired map, they didn't make it Plutonia at all. At least the last map used the Plutonia textures. I know I said I don't really care if a map feels like Plutonia, and that still is true, but I'd at least like the maps to use the Plutonia resources. Idk if these are textures used in Plutonia or its sequels, but I sure don't think they have been. So instead, we have a lava and brimstone setting, with a high amount of explosives. There's a lot of rockets in this map, so get ready to blow stuff up. The map is non-linear, as you only need the 3 keys to open the way to the exit, but there's only 2 paths from the start, so there's not much of a chance to get lost. The map's not very big. There's a lot of mancs, spiders, revs, and chaingunners in this map, and many of them are on ledges and balconies above you. I don't remember what caused my first death, but the other 2 were in the red key fight, and it was purely from falling into the nearby lava and face rocketing as I targeted the cacos. That was annoying. Other than that, not much else to say. The map is pretty good. Nice and explosive, and despite the lack of Plutonia resources, the lava cavern looks pretty good. 

[Book Lord]

We are entering forbidden PRCP 2 territory now. Prepare to suffer a bit, or a lot... Continuous play will not help that much, blind pistol starting from now is bold to say the least. Playing without saves is not recommended, unless you can/want to spend a lot of time playing Doom.

 

MAP 22 – Trickster's Lair by @Jark

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

 

So, this is what happens when Jark wants to play tricks on the player! Trickster’s Lair was conceived to be mischievous, treacherous, unfair, and frustrating. A dungeon full of damaging blood, malicious ambushes, and deadly traps, designed to keep you on your toes for half an hour. The cacophonic soundtrack Carnage Cycle by Immorpher made the experience even more exhausting, as if the constant pressure, the on and off progression, and the rather unexpected traps were not enough.

Spoiler

Just like me and Christopher Golden, Jark is obsessed with WOODGARG and her red eyes, as he hinted in his E2M6 of Solar Struggle. The sinister icon will haunt Doomguy and play countless dirty tricks on him during the whole map, starting aptly hot and mean with an Arch-Vile already conjuring fire, a damaging blood pit surrounded by enemies, an SSG, and only a hole to escape, if you notice it before being blasted to death. The situation at the bottom was not much different: Arch-Vile in a central cage like in any Dario Casali map with a pit, bad guys in all directions, Revenants, Chaingunners, a nightmare that required several tense minutes to sort out, scrambling in close quarters and asking myself where Jark hid all the weapons. Both plasma rifle and rocket launcher could be obtained in the south-western portion of the level, accessed either by going west or from the bottom of the blood pit, but not without struggle. The rocket launcher trap was particularly elaborate, with a surprise teleport line sending me in the middle of a pit, easy target for Hell Knights.

Spoiler

The eastern part of the pit was dedicated to the level’s intricate progression, starting with a platform run through crushers that ended in a devious trap. An Arch-Vile was moved where he could find corpses to raise, creating a small army. The new path led to the RSK, but the first approach ended in a dangerous pit trap that it is very likely to kill unprepared Doomguys, Once out of the damaging blood, wooden pillars allowed me to reach a switch that raised an alternative bridge to the RSK. Unfortunately, I did not notice there was a second row of wooden pillars towards the south-eastern ledge, and this accident caused me a lot of headaches as I was unable to progress. Exploring the north-western portion of the level only plunged me into more traps, but the BSK was required to open the level exit. I even found a hidden yellow door, but I did not search for its key during the playthrough. Secrets were too cryptic and elaborate in Trickster’s Lair to be discovered on a blind first attempt, when the player is overwhelmed by sudden traps and a rather complex progression.

Spoiler

When I finally entered the last portion of the map I was a bit exhausted; unfortunately, many ambushes, damaging floors, and timed lift puzzles awaited my discouraged computer self. A large blood pit, surrounded by walkways and overlooked by an Arch-Vile, must be traversed to reach the area with the BSK. I was low on rockets, since the map had been stingy with them, and when I saw the Cacoswarm I retreated inside the building, approaching a Megasphere and a switch. The Barons and the Revenant almost trapped me, but the worst problem came from the nth Arch-Vile arriving together with the Cacodemons. I eventually found the BSK, and near it I noticed Jark's mesmerising trick to hide and show a secret BFG. I failed to solve the puzzle with the remnants of my determination, I only wanted to leave and went for the exit. The last ambush almost succeeded at killing me, but there was a Soul Sphere to recover from the Chaingunners’ point-blank attack. It is very hard to enjoy a prolonged backstabbing session like Trickster’s Lair at first play, but the author did a good job at rejuvenating the Plutonia tropes by mixing them with clever trap design. It might have been more tolerable if the layout was smaller, or if the level was not part of a megaWAD already full of long, challenging maps.

[Celestin]

MAP22: Trickster's Lair by Jark

 

After completing MAP22, I came to the conclusion that the titular trickster must be Jark, having a kick watching players suffer through this obstacle course filled with the nastiest and most insidious traps I've seen in a while (nothing personal).

 

The beginning should cue you in on what to expect. You stand on top of a column above a pool of toxic blood, in a full view of revenants and an archvile. If you want to survive, jump down, try not to die while an escape route is opening and plunge straight into a fire: a cavern inspired by The Living End (or one of its clones from Plutonia, pick your favourite) where revenants are converging on your position and an archvile teleports in, pissed that you've escaped his flames. It's a chaotic start, but Trickster's Lair is just warming up. 

 

Traps are everywhere, usually featuring low enemy numbers, but combined with cramped spaces or damaging floor (or both), they are deadly and will take a first-time player by surprise. Take a rocket launcher as an example, it spawns pinkies in front of you and a mancubus behind your back, all in a room the size of a broom closet. But it's not over, as once you grab the the RL, you are teleported to a cross-shape platform surrounded by hell knights. One hit and you're pushed into a pit of corrosive blood, losing time and health. Speaking of hurtfloors, there's a lot of them and unlike in MAP31, there is exactly zero radsuits,  but I think they are used in a much more thoughtful way, applying time pressure to otherwise simple fight. Like that one time where a floor collapses under your feet, down to a pit with an archvile, two revenants and a damaging floor - nothing special unless you realise a way out is on a timer and if you take too much damage, you won't survive until you can exit. That's some Saw-tier trap, clever and brutal at the same time. Or a non-official secret maze of toxic floor that will either kill you, or grant you two soulspheres.

 

There's one problem I have with Trickster's Lair and that's the map's lenght. Despite a rather small kill count of around 160, the map took me half an hour of in-game time to beat. I think it is because there aren't any bigger fights or incidental combat to pad out the map. It's all small-scale traps, one after another and it gets tiring. Probably it was intentional, it makes you feel you're never in control and at any time Jark can throw something at you that will bring you to your knees. The MIDI helps, an Immorpher's track that made me thing of being stuck in a falling plane. In the end, Trickster's Lair achieved what it set out to do, but after the last fuck you ambush by the exit, I was too tired to apreciate it.