Catching Up - Celestin's review thread (now playing: Plutonia 2)

Celestin · July 29, 2023

Inspired by similiar topics by @Capellan and @Jokin, plus a question in DWmegawad Club whether to replay already-covered wads, I decided to post my write-ups here. I'm mostly focusing on wads that the Club has already played, but I haven't. It's likely going to be less regular than DWMC, I'll try to upload multiple write-ups in one post for clarity sake. Feel free to comment.

Unless stated otherwise, my personal rules are:

I use the latest version of Woof! with an appropriate complevel;
I try to get all kills and secrets;
I pistol-start the maps;
I use saves, though I try to avoid saving mid-combat.

Wads played:

Spoiler

Community Chest 2 (starts in this post)
UAC Ultra (starts here)
MAYhem 2012 (starts here)
Hell Revealed (starts here)
Hellbound (starts here)
Doom 404 (starts here)
UNWELCOME (starts here)
Ultimate Doom (starts here)
SIGIL (starts here)
Doom II: Hell on Earth (starts here)
No Rest for the Living (starts here)
Master Levels for Doom II (starts here)
TNT: Evilution (starts here)
The Plutonia Experiment (starts here)
DBP7: The Merry Christmassy Doom Project (starts here)
Skulltiverse (starts here)
DBP19: A Doomer Boards Christmas Carol (starts here)
Double Impact (starts here)
Scythe (starts here)
Obituary (starts here)
Community Chest 4 (starts here)
SuperMAYhem 17 (starts here)
Coffee Break (starts here)
Rylayeh (starts here)
Alien Vendetta (starts here)
Alien Vendetta: Black Label (starts here)
Moonblood (starts here)
0x0 (starts here)
Doom the Way id Did (starts here)
Crumpets (start here)
Jenesis (starts here)
DBP26: The City of Damned Children (starts here)
Plutonia 2 (ongoing, starts here)

The first wad I'm playing is Community Chest 2. The reason why? Well, I joined DWMC in February 2023 and CC2 was played in January. That way, I'll be able to say I finished the whole 2023 season of the Club (hopefully).

Community Chest 2 is one of the wads I tried early on (read: in 2020), but gave up after reaching (you guessed it) MAP05. This isn't a blind playthrough, I've seen footage from CC2, so I more or less know what to expect.

MAP01-MAP07

MAP01: The Furnace by Erik Alm

Spoiler

I don't think I need to introduce this gentleman.

The Furnace feels like something from Scythe's second act: a compact base with some nifty details (like the lights in a set of stairs, "illuminating" the floor below) and mostly non-threatening foes, with the exception of a single fight. I am talking about the part where you jump into a hole to find yourself inside the titular furnace: a fiery basement with little room, a pair of hell knights and an inconvenient landing spot on top of a berserk pack. Nope, I'm not trying to punch them out in a room this small, at least until one of the nobles is dead.

The trap by the exit is clearly telegraphed and completely toothless, since Erik didn't lock a door behind you and you can just escape, instead of fighting against imps and revenants in limited space.

Not a bad start, a bit too brown for my liking (though it makes the furnace part stand out), but it's quick and makes a good first impression.

MAP02: Coolant Platform by iori

Spoiler

I'm getting strong Knee Deep in the Dead vibes here, with generic textures, E1 monster roster (aside from cacodemons at the end) and arsenal limited to shotgun and chaingun. Oddly, two out of three secrets contain rockets, despite no rocket launcher being present.

The combat is a mixed bag, iori throws large groups of basic enemies at you, which to me is the Doom equivalent of fast food - unsofisticated, sure, but entertaining in its simplicity. The barons and cacodemons at the end, though, it feels grindy to hack them with basic guns. I do wish there was a rocket launcher, it would have made the final parts smoother.

In the end, there are some cool Boom tricks early on, but other than that, it's pretty mediocre.

MAP03: Slige Control by The Flange Peddler

Spoiler

According to Doomwiki, Slige Control is a sole survivour of a lost freakmapping contest (a project where participants are improving maps created by a random level generator), which was added to CC2 at 11th hour and somehow didn't cause the project to be rejected from /idgames archive, despite its ban on map randomly-generated maps.

It's hard for me to talk about Slige Control, because I'm not sure where Slige ends and where The Flange Peddler begins (the original, Slige-generated map is also lost). The whole red key room set-up seems like something an algorithm would spit out, it's very symmetrical and repetitive. You need to press four switches to activate another set of switches to lower a platform with a key. Yeah, I don't think a human mind could come up with this and say "this is great, let's put it in the map". I do like the fight here, with cacodemons and lost souls, especially after finding a super shotgun, placed in a random side room. But the details like a burst pipe, ceiling in the red key room or some of support columns - that has to be a deliberate work.

Slige Control isn't bad, but I think its backstory is more interesting than the map itself.

MAP04: Deja Vu by Gene Bird

Spoiler

Okay, this one isn't good. Deja Vu consists of a linear set of basic rooms, where you shoot small groups of random enemies with SSG. It feels very dated, repetitive and too long. The map was released standalone a year prior, so it's safe to call it a filler.

MAP05: Elixir by RjY

Spoiler

Cool premise, but the execution is hit-or-miss.

Your mission is to infiltrate a factory hidden within a cave complex and sabotage a health vial manufacturing line. The early fights pits you against hordes of imps and hitscanners, so you might expect a fun romp. However, once you enter the plant proper, everything changes. Elixir is stingy with resources, cramped and loves repopulating recently-cleared areas with more enemies. The main obstacle, though, is a cyberdemon, which appears in the starting area after you turn off the factory. You need to rely a lot on berserk and infighting to save enough shells to take him down, as the exit is in the same place and requires a bit of careful maneuvering to reach it.

I like the look of the map, the factory, while small, does look convincing (unlike, you know, MAP12 from Doom 2) and there are some nice details, like a pallet jack or a crane grabbing a box. Elixir made me drop CC2 the first time I played it, it's one of those maps that are hostile to blind players and requires a foreknowledge to beat. Even when you know what to do, it feels grindy and takes too long to finish. I feel like this one would benefit from better balance, it's still the best map of CC2 so far, though that's more because MAP05 is the first substantial one.

MAP06: The View by Lutrov71

Spoiler

Good map, especially considering Lutrov was 11 years old when he made The View. It's a large techbase, surrounded by pools of green slime, well-detailed, though a bit flat in places. The combat is mostly unthreatening and leaves little impression, with the exception of the final fight, where you can release like a third of map's monsters and trigger a huge infight.

One gripe I have are the broken secrets, likely a result of testing the map in ZDoom. One can't be triggered at all, other can be accessed by an archvile jump, but since it's at the very end of the map, I don't think it's worth the effort. Other than that, it's an okay map.

MAP07: To Hell and Back by The Flange Peddler

Spoiler

Here's a techbase with a twist. After passing through a couple of rooms and taking down weak monsters, you enter a room with an exit, but it needs a red skull key to open. The goal is to unlock a nearby teleporter, travel to hell and retrieve the missing key from there. The problem is, you have to search through the whole damned base for a set of three keys, while dealing with incidental trash and a handful of teleporting revenant traps. The base is confusing to navigate, even though The Flange Peddler tries to help the player by demonstrating what switches do after being pressed.

Once the portal is opened, you can finally take a trip to hell, find the key, battle the MAP07 crew with some friends and return to exit. To Hell and Back feels like a showcase of Boom magic, there are translucent windows, conveyor belts and teleporting items, not to mention the red tint in the hell section. While I enjoyed the map, I feel like streamlining the techbase part would have improved the experience considerably.

Edited June 6 by Celestin

Celestin · July 30, 2023

MAP08-MAP14

MAP08: The Pit by Gene Bird

Spoiler

While a slight improvement over Deja Vu, The Pit reprises all the issues I had with MAP04: basic design, random texturing and repetitive combat. It also adds its own problems, like blatantly copy-pasting rooms or including a really slow lift that you need to use a lot, since it acts as a hub for a bulk of the map.

So why did I enjoy it a bit more? Well, The Pit is more dense with its monster placement, you'll be killing large crowds rather than a trickle. Despite a similiar monster count, it makes the map shorter, or at least it feels like this.

It's still a bad map, though.

MAP09: The Transformer by Graf Zahl

Spoiler

A tiny techbase that is noteworthy of two things: an insane shotgunner count, who are particularly deadly when presented in large numbers and cramped rooms, and a high number of secrets, some truly overpowered (rocket launcher and invuln are the most egregious ones). This feels like a perfect map for speedrunners, my first playthrough left me with little impression, but once I learnt where the secrets were and figured out some route, I had a better time.

MAP10: Intermission by VolteFace

Spoiler

Pretty chill map and judging by the title, it was intentionally made as a breather. Most enemies are on the weaker side, the traps aren't very threatening and you are well supplied throughout the run. The high point is a fight against a caged cyberdemon, but you are given a plasma with a ton of cells, so he's a pushover - just circle-strafe and fire through from the corners of the arena. Other than that, I like the map's moody vibe.

MAP11: Beyond Pain by Exl

Spoiler

Exl crafted a non-linear map, which sends you to search the techbase for a set of 3 keys. My routing really screwed me over, because I only found a super shotgun at the very end. Without it, I had to rely on a regular shotgun for the bulk of the run and it was a bit grindy. You are given a plasma rifle and a rocket launcher, but ammo for them is limited and best saved for groups of revenants or an archvile that caught me by surprise.

I like the look of the map and I don't think it's bad, but also not good enough to give it another chance with a better route.

MAP12: Redemption by Gene Bird

Spoiler

This is the best Gene Bird's map so far, though the bar isn't very high. It's shorter than Deja Vu and provides more fights against large groups of monsters that I liked in The Pit. Also, I feel like Redemption is more consistant with its texture choice, which improves the visual side somewhat. Other issues, like repetitive combat, primitive layout and basic detailing remain.

This would have been an okay map circa 1996, but, like his other works, feels grossly outdated by 2004 standards.

MAP13: Annihilation Invention by psyren

Spoiler

I felt a slight sense of deja vu while playing Annihilation Invention. The map felt familiar, though I couldn't identify where I've seen it. A quick glance at Doomwiki's page explained everything. A year later, a retextured and rebalanced version of Annihilation Invention appeared in psyren's Crimson Canyon as MAP03: Acid Base. Both maps follow a similiar gameplay style. The trek through this slime processing area is taken in a largely linear fashion, though some setpieces can be approached from several angles. You'll be mostly against crowds of imps and hitscanners, with keys being guarded by beefier monsters. There's a rocket launcher with a ton of ammo in an early secret, it helps a lot.

My favourite fight is the one shortly before the yellow key, where you are locked in a room and have to survive agains mancubi and hell knights. Explosive barrels dotted around increases tension of what would otherwise be a simple rocket spam. There's an invuln here, but I saved it for the red key room, a cramped fight against arachnotrons and hell nobles (I later learnt there was a BFG available, which would trivialise this part.

Annihilation Invention is one of the better maps in CC2 so far, though I prefer its reworked version, the custom textures of Crimson Canyon improve its visuals a lot.

MAP14: Shadow of Evil by Mephisto

Spoiler

This one didn't wow me. It's mostly narrow corridors, where monster are coming at you single file. Detailed architecture and "Shards" as midi are not enough to redeem Shadow of Evil. At least it's short.

Jokin · August 1, 2023

Hah, I'm glad to have "inspired" something like this.

The DWMC is such a cool idea, but I'm usually too late when I want to join it. Community Chest 2 is a wad that is definitely on my "To play" list, mostly because of The Mucus Flow. The video MtPain did on it really peaked my interest. I dont want to be "spoiled", but I'll keep an eye out in case you happen to play a WAD I've already played.

Celestin · August 4, 2023

MAP15-MAP18

MAP15: City Heat by Stephen "The Ultimate Doomer" Clark

Spoiler

It's magnum opus time, set apart an afternoon for this one, because City Heat is a long map, especially if you try to reach secret stages.

I'm glad I played Fragport, Clark's solo megawad from 2001, because its DNA can be felt throughout City Heat. From a city theme that strongly reminds me of Fragport's middle part, through the formula of a scavenge hunt to unlock the exit, to finally, numerous attempt to upgrade and modernise Doom's gameplay, this time using the power of Boom, rather than limiting himself to the original executable. The goal is to explore the map in search of 9 switches that unlock the exit. They are all located in numbered buildings and Clark is kind enough to mark which ones were already activated.

The start can be tough due to a lack of weapons and a sniping cyberdemon at the northern end. Visiting the buildings is a lottery, because they all hold weapons, some more useful than others. The combat there isn't hard, but you want to get armed as soon as possible, because at the 10 minute mark, a horde of hell knights, revenants and cacodemons appear on the streets. There are two more such attacks, each more dangerous than the last one, with the third wave spawing a trio of cyberdemons (and a mastermind, but she usually dies without being asked). I'm not a fan of this idea, it's hard to prepare if you don't know it's coming and, in my opinion, derails an exploratory gameplay Clark was going for. I would prefer if the ambushes happened after clearing specific buildings. It would have felt less random. If you want to reach the secret stages, you need to find another set of switches, marked by skulls and hidden in secret areas. They are well hidden, I found 6 on my own.

There are a lot of advanced editing tricks in use here: 3d bridges between buildings, conveyor belts, "slopes" (a bunch of small steps close to one another), there are also sectors synchronised to move up and down, simulating waves in the water. All of this is cool, but aside from bridges (which are as buggy as always), they serve little purpose gameplay-wise.

City Heat is an impressive map with some neat tricks that push the boundries of what can be done with Doom. It's also square to a fault, janky in execution and the combat fails to engage. You know, just like in Fragport, but on a bigger scale.

MAP31: Idee Fixe by Sarge Baldy

Spoiler

A boxing match against hell knights, pinkies and revenants at the start is the hardest part of the map. The rest is a breeze, provided you found a switch that unlocks the red key. It opens a secret stash with a BFG, which you want for the yellow key trap: a revenant crowd with an archvile in the middle. Save some cells for the exit-guarding cyberdemon and the map is over.

It's an average map with generic looks, but I welcome a breather after City Heat.

MAP32: Sodding Death by chopkinsca

Spoiler

Another grand map that will take you an hour to beat, Sodding Death opens up in a rocky valley, where imps fire at you from from the cliffs and health isn't plenty. After a bit of rock climbing, you'll find an exit sign, leading to a tomb with three coloured switches. The keys are all located in a nearby stronghold, where the bulk of the map takes place and also, its most frustrating parts.

The two dirtiest tricks Sodding Death employs are spamming the player with hell knights and hiding chaingunners behind vines or in the walls. The former feel grindy to take down with a super shotgun (you want to conserve rockets and cells for archviles or bigger ambushes), the placement of hitscanner caused very cheap losses of health. With a full set of keys, you can return to the tomb, taking down an useless mastermind and some leaky teleport traps on your way. I'd enjoyed this part more if it was more engaging, but as it is, it feels like padding.

Sodding Death is probably the most complete map of the set and the design of the stronghold is impressive, but the gameplay just isn't my thing.

MAP16: Spirit World - Headquarters by Gene Bird

Spoiler

This feels like two incomplete maps stitched together. The first half is a forgettable city map with a prop warehouse. Very 90s. The rest, accessible through a teleporter, is a network of caves that brings to mind his previous map. Lots of corridor shooting with a super shotgun and the details are half decent. I would have a more favourable opinion of Spirit World - Headquarters if it ditched the opening part.

MAP17: Through the Black by Andy Leaver

Spoiler

Through the Black feels more like a test of patience than skill. Its cramped layout and high density of enemies promote camping, instead of more active playstyle. I was constantly low on ammo and you can guess how pissed I was after I found the secret room in a blood chapel after killing everything. The map looks good, but still, it's one of the weaker ones of the set.

MAP18: Internal Reaches 3 by Kaiser

Spoiler

I had fun for the most part, despite the 40 minutes runtime. Internal Reaches 3 is a large, exploration-heavy map, with a ton of secrets to find and mostly incidental combat along the way. You'll be mostly killing pinkies, imps and hell knights, while trying to figure out where to go next. The only noteworthy fight is the one that locks you in a tiny box while demons appear around you. It got me first time, second time I figured out I could just trigger the monsters and escape before I got trapped. There's also a 3d spiral staircase, which looks cool but serves little purpose.

The one thing I didn't enjoy was the excessive backtracking, especially at the end. After finding the yellow and blue key you can't just leave, you have to go back to unlock some bars, return to areas where the keys were and deal with two fights. The one with a cyberdemon and a crowd of low-tier demons was fine, but the one with some revenants felt bland. After this, survive a crusher trap and you can finally exit.

Internal Reaches 3 is a pretty map, highly detailed and varied with room design, but it would greatly benefit from trimming the final parts, so it ends before the player gets bored.

Celestin · August 5, 2023

MAP19-MAP23

MAP19: The Marbelous Three by Hirogen2

Spoiler

The enemies pose little threat in this marble fort (aside from this leaky imp teleporter in a small room, but there is an invuln nearby; I ended up not using it at all). The main attraction, though, is the detailing and some unusual texture usage. I like that one part where a red skull key is delivered to you on a conveyor belt, looks really cool. The Marbelous Three would fit better in the first episode of CC2, but it's still a decent map.

MAP20: Enigma by The Flange Peddler

Spoiler

I expected this to suck, considering Enigma is clearly based on Limbo, one of my least favourite maps from Ultimate Doom. The start, where you have to kill a bunch of cacodemons and other crap with a basic shotgun, didn't help either. Luckily, you can get a super shotgun not long after and Doom 2 monsters start to appear, both factors improving the experience somewhat.

Enigma is a hunt for the 3 keys, fortunately not as confusing than its inspiration and with less obnoxious usage of damaging floors. There's one cool part where you drain the main hub, revealing the rest of the map, but other than that, it's a painless and forgettable map.

One thing of note is an inaccessible BFG secret. You need to perform an archvile jump to enter it, the problem is, the map was designed around an incorrect implementation of this mechanic, found in pre-2010 versions of ZDoom. If you use anything else, the ledge is too high to reach. A product of its time, I guess.

MAP21: Undead Nation by Draconio

Spoiler

I have found no other mention of Draconio on Doomwiki outside of this, which means this is likely a beginner's effort. Most of the map feels very E1, with techbase design and large groups of imps and zombies to shoot.

At its core, Undead Nation follows a basic hub design, with three routes that have to be taken in a linear order. Nothing special, outside a surprisingly limited resources, even if you search for all 8 secrets. This is especially problematic when you try to exit through a teleporter behind the blue door - the map doesn't end, instead you are dropped in a couryard, surrounded by pinkies and hell knights. There's also an archvile with his meatshield, guarding the actual exit. When I reached this point, I had 10 bullets, 2 shells, 10 rockets and a berserk pack. So yeah, I made the knights kill the demons, punched them to death and spent the rockets on the vile. I'm not sure if it was intended, but this was a high point of an otherwise mediocre experience.

MAP22: Thematic Elements by Lutrov71 and Jimi

Spoiler

This map caught me by surprise with its size and scale of combat. The goal is to travel through three teleporters, beat the obstacles on your way and return to the hub with the keys. The route is linear (left -> centre -> right), but I recommend visiting the middle one first. You won't get far, but the BFG here is indispensable for the early parts. The left path throws hordes of monsters at you, with the biggest one by the switch that lowers the blue key. This is slaughter territory, something I didn't expect to see here. I also enjoyed the middle portion, clearly inspired by Plutonia with its tactical combat. The ending is the weakest stretch, it feels like TNT at its worst, with little health, overscaled rooms and faraway hitscanners.

Unlike the bulk of maps up to this point, Thematic Elements isn't afraid to use archviles. There are 15 of them on UV, usually mixed in with crowds of other monsters. This makes the combat more complex and exciting, something many maps of this set lack.

With its modern feel, Thematic Elements is one of CC2's highlights.

MAP23: Death Mountain by Cyber-Menace

Spoiler

Remaking levels from other games is a Doom's long-standing tradition, so here's a map inspired by The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (a game I haven't played, so I won't judge how similiar to the source material it is). Death Mountain is essentially one long detour through cliffs and caves, in order to get around a broken bridge.

The start is probably the most obnoxious in the wad yet, you only have a shotgun, little ammo, even less health pickups and a chainsaw to deal with imps, pinkies and some hitscanners. The map is very cramped, so it's inevitable you'll be taking hits, but it's even worse in caves, packed with monsters like cans of sardines. There's a trick, though. Because Death Mountain relies heavily on silent teleporters, you can just walk in and out, telefragging whatever gets close to the exit. This is more or less how I cheesed the SSG fight: since the monsters teleport in only after you fire (usually to kill the caged imps), I just waited until the exit opened, shoot to wake up the enemies and started telefragging them. Is it cheap? Yes, it is, but this one room is the worst example of Death Mountain's excess, so I don't feel bad. The one fight I do like is the one inside a turtle-shaped cave (I think) with hell knight snipers, pinkies chasing you on the ground and a cyberdemon roaming around. It's a simple excercise in infighting, but I appreciate having more room to move.

So overall, interesting premise, cool skybox, but the map would greatly benefit from some restraints regarding monster placement.

Celestin · August 6, 2023

MAP24: The Mucus Flow by B.P.R.D.

Spoiler

I'll save the suspense and say that while The Mucus Flow absolutely deserves its 3rd spot on the Top 100 Most Memorable Maps list, it's despite its gameplay, rather than because of it.

One thing everyone can agree on is that B.P.R.D. nailed the visuals and general atmosphere. I was amazed by the scale of the map, especially compared to the rest of CC2. The main star is the abandoned techbase, with slime leaking everywhere, but still operational (aside from dark, condemned basements and warehouses). You get the feeling that something terribly, terribly wrong happened here and the eerie music doesn't help. If you search around, you can find a secret with a giant, leaking nose, presumably where all this slime came from. The map ends with a drained starlight column, which is implied to be powering the facility. It feels like there is a story to be pieced together here, but I'm not a theorist, so let's leave this to someone else.

As for how the map plays, I get understand where the complaints are coming from. The gameplay of The Mucus Flow is highly unconventional. Pretty much all the resources are given to you at the start and you need to ration them for the entire lenght of the map (which took me an hour, reloading not included). They aren't enough to kill everything, so you have to rely heavily on infighting and melee skills. Before you even get to the main base, you have to cross a valley of respawning chaingunners. In fact, you'll need to do this a couple of times to resupply, usually chipping at your health - partial invisibility spheres helps a lot, but they aren't infinite. If it wasn't for decino's playthrough (which, combined with shameless save-scumming, is the main reason why I even completed this map), I would have no idea how to proceed. There are tons of free-roaming monsters, arachnotrons and revenants hidden in bunkers and trying to proceed is just overwhelming. The key here is to find a pair of obscure secrets: the aforementioned nose with berserk pack and a switch inside a tunnel that disables teleporting monsters.

Now, it's time to eliminate the rest with your fists, using the SSG only when punching is not an option and finding the three keys. They aren't required to complete the map (in fact, UV-Speed demos ignore them and dash straight for the exit), however, they unlock guns at the starting point, which you want for the ending. The red one is the hardest to get, it requires a visit outside, where too many pain elementals live. They are the biggest pain of the map, as they can quickly make a place crowded - especially bad when you need to stay nimble punching everything. Armed and ready, you can finally enter the final stretch: a canyon with a massive horde and some elevated snipers. The best strategy seem to lure them inside and punch one by one. Once they are all dead, it's just a couple of traps on your way to the exit, a switch that floods the base with slime and you can finally reach the end.

I personally didn't find this entertaining. The Mucus Flow is long, slow and methodical, not the best way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure if this is by design or by accident. B.P.R.D. clearly had an idea how the map should play, but in places, it looks like a first draft that was supposed to be revised later. The nose secret, for instance, contains way more health then you can use, but you can get there only once. The map is also impossible to beat in two separate ways - a switch that opens the final area doesn't work outside ZDoom-based ports and the teleporter in the nose secret doesn't work on ITYTD and HNTR. I really recommend using a fixed version of the map, made by The Green Herring.

So, The Mucus Flow is an experience anyone should try, if only to make their own opinion. To me, it's a brilliant, but flawed work, that inspires mappers to this very day.

Edited August 6, 2023 by Celestin

Celestin · August 9, 2023

MAP25: Desecration by Gene Bird

Spoiler

Out of 9 maps Gene Bird submitted to Community Chest 1&2, Desacration is the only one that wasn't released prior. It's definitely an improvement, however, Desacration still share issues and quirks with the rest of his maps.

The map is, once again, a linear series of rooms with mostly SSG-based combat. I do have to admit, the fights feel spicier, with higher monster density, but it's forgettable. The design is more complex and varied than before, though there are a handful of parts with steep stairs leading downwards and enemies placed below player's line of sight. In a game where you can't look up and down, this is a major design flaw.

Still, this is a functional map and I don't mind something more conventional to play after The Mucus Flow.

MAP26: Geist Halls by Dr. Zin

Spoiler

This one is just weird. The start is a mess with chaingunners on a ledge and pinkies chasing you through a crate maze, but once this is over, Geist Halls turns into a slow techbase crawl, with a bulk of the opposition represented by hitscanners and pinkies. Also, the place is really tight and a low ceiling doesn't help. The progression feels cryptic, there's a ton of switches that do something, but I really have no idea what exactly. Some probably open secrets, there are 7 of them and I especially like the library with an armchair overlooking the cosmos.

If Dr. Zin was going for an uneasy, mysterious atmosphere, Geist Halls definitely succeeds, though I'd probably rememeber this as "that one map with Pink Floyd midi".

MAP27: Gethsemane by Use3d

Spoiler

Prior to Gethsemane, I've played two maps by Mike "Use3d" Alfredson: Dirty Water from BTSX E2 and No Tomorrow from Community Chest 1 (the latter made me drop CC1), so I knew what to expect: a large, sprawling map with unclear progression. The start isn't bad, but it also feel deceptive.

Not far from the opening area, you can find a doorway blocked by red and blue bars. The blue skull key is nearby, but it's guarded by a large group of monsters plus a cyberdemon. I know this is just a combination of infighting and plasma spam, but this is where the map's energy peaked. The route to the red key is a complete and utter slog. It's a slow corridor crawl that requires a lot of backtracking, activating switches that do something, but you have no idea what and finally, fighting enemies dotted here and there with little health to patch your wounds. There are also other attractions, like a tightrope walk above a pool of damaging viscera that slows you to a crawl (Use3d seem to be fond of Boom's friction effects) or a part after a crusher-trapped button (which is another brilliant idea, by the way), where you have to jump down into a hole, not knowing what is below.

I can't deny it's a well put together map, the merger of rock, lava and demonic structures looks appealing, but it's still the map in CC2 I had the little fun playing.

MAP28: No Room by Linguica

Spoiler

No Room is a map designed to frustrate you. From copious examples of placing stuff below your line of sight (like that one supercharge with a death pit two steps further), low resources (especially early on) to a series of fake exits with chaingunners at the end. Other than the visual side, this is Mock 2 material. Hell, there's even a trip through a lower intestine of some large monster, so it fills the toilet humour quota.

The problem with No Room is that there is a good map to be found here, but it's buried underneath author's spiteful and trollish attitude towards the player.

MAP29: Event Horizon by Boris Iwanski

Spoiler

Despite the effort, I can't really enjoy this map. The main goal of Event Horizon is to find red and blue skulls (not to be confused with red and blue keycards, which are also present here), place them on pillars and leave this corrupted techbase. The problem is, this place is a mess to navigate, I spent a good chunk of my playthrough running around, trying to figure out what did that switch do or what's the deal with this giant sector monster (spoiler, it's mostly a decoration).

There are some interesting ideas, I like the whole blue skull setup, where you need to travel to hell to find it (kinda like in MAP07), but what I experienced was mostly diluted by awkward progression and excessive backtracking.

MAP30: In Threes by Cyb

Spoiler

How do you end a classic megawad? With a crappy Icon of Sin, of course. But here's a twist: the Icon itself isn't that bad - just run from switch to switch, collect three keys and press three switches to kill not one, not two, but three wall textures. The biggest hazard here is accidentally stepping on a cube destination. The Icon spawns so much crap that most enemies will just end up telefragging one anothers, and the path to the next objective can easily be cleared with a BFG. Not the best setpiece, but I've seen far worse IoS clones.

My issue is with the whole pre-Icon segment. It's repetitive as hell: kill two imps, open a way forward, kill three revenants, get a key, repeat 4 times. The final iteration replaces a key with an invuln sphere and throws four archviles to take care of with limited ammo and berserk, which is probably the sole exciting moment here. Also, there this whole place is full of damaging blood and health isn't plenty.

Overall, this is probably one of the better Icon of Sin fights I've seen in a while, too bad it's married to such start.

Conclusions

Community Chest 2 is, first and foremost, an interesting look into the Doom community of the early 2000's. I personally see this period as a bit of a dark age, placed between the classic era and post-2010 mapping renaiscence. Looking back at what was released at that time, it seems there was a lot of fascination with what can be achieved with advanced source ports. This made its way to CC2, with maps like City Heat or To Hell and Back being a demonstration of Boom's capabilities. One thing I was surprised about was the visual side, a lot of maps here are well-detailed, another consequence of not being limited by vanilla Doom's restriction. A large number of contributors brought a wide range of mapping styles, there's everything from compact scenarios to grand adventures, everything in between and a couple of oddballs that are tough to classify. If you're into variety, you won't be disappointed.

Not all is great, though. I am aware CC2 is among the first community projects, so many kinks of a collaborative megawad weren't ironed out yet. CC2 wasn't as rigourously tested as modern wads, the worst example is The Mucus Flow, which is impossible to complete in outside of ZDoom-based ports. I also dislike a strong representation of previously-released maps, it does feel like padding. Finally, the question of map order. I find it bizzare that Elixir, one of the hardest map of the wad, is in slot five. Also, maps in the final act aren't necessarily harder, but are oftentimes longer than earlier levels, which makes the last third the act drag the most. Speaking of difficulty, with a handful of exceptions (namely MAP05 and MAP24), this is a pretty accessible wad, though the issues may arise from stingy resource placement.

Okay, now the controversial part: The Mucus Flow. I've read the DMWC thread a bit, there was a ton of different opinions regarding this map and its inclusion here. I'm of the opinion that, the rest of CC2 lives in The Mucus Flow's shadow. It's an outstanding map, one that people remember after 20 years and will remember after the next 20. The rest, sadly, can't match its quality and influence on the community. MAP24: The Mucus Flow by B.P.R.D. is, to me, the best map of Community Chest 2. So let's put this to the side and here's how the top 3 of the remaining maps look like:

MAP22: Thematic Elements by Lutrov71 and Jimi
MAP18: Internal Reaches 3 by Kaiser
MAP13: Annihilation Invention by psyren

My least favourite map:

MAP28: No Room by Linguica
(I was split between this and Deja Vu, but in the end, it's one thing to try making a good map and failing, another to deliberately frustrate the player).

Well, it was an experience. I had a bit of unfinished business with CC2 and I'm glad it's done. See you in the next one.

Celestin · August 12, 2023

After CC2, I decided to play something easier and shorter, so here's UAC Ultra by 40oz and Super Jamie. Now, I've played this wad before, in fact, this is one of the first map sets that I've completed on Ultra-Violence. But that was 3 years ago and I wanted to see how it holds up now, after I've seen a bit more from the community. It should be a good breather before I try some larger wads.

MAP01-MAP04

MAP01: Dig

Spoiler

The first thing you'll notice after launching UAC Ultra is the new set of textures. Yes, it's mostly dark, with black and brown being the most prominent colours. However, the textures are highly detailed, giving the wad a distinct industrial look. Besides, when it finally do switch the colours, the contrast is striking. Like the red sky over the surface of Mars, or the black and yellow caution tape during the ambush on top of a pillar. This isn't a conventionally pretty map (and wad in general), but there's something in this aesthetic that draws me in.

Gameplay-wise, Dig is won't pose a threat, shotgun is the only gun you'll get here and the opposition alternates between small groups of low-tier demons and larger ones that appear by themselves. The only burst of action is the ending, but explosive barrels can clear this place pretty quickly.

This is more of a visual showcase than a combat challenge, but it gets a job done of making the player intrigued.

MAP02: UAC in Exile

Spoiler

MAP02 starts in the same lift where MAP01 ended, I've always appreciated this bit of continuity. Speaking of continuity, UAC in Exile feels like an extension of the previous map's gameplay. It's still mostly low-key, but the map starts throwing more revenants and chaingunner snipers, the former being a bit grindy to take down. You'll be using a shotgun and a chaingun for the most part, the secret rocket launcher is best saved for an archvile that appears once you pick up the blue key.

As for how the map looks, I like the first room with yellow walls and a crusher arena at the end, but aside from it, this one didn't wow me. It's still a solid map.

MAP03: Sifting Adjunct

Spoiler

For being (allegedly) a filler made out of bits and pieces of 40oz's unfinished maps, this is a surprisingly good one. Sifting Adjunct is the first map where the combat heats up. More heavy hitters, more ambushes and finally, a super shotgun. The red room with a pair of archviles is a highlight and the ending squeezes you between two groups of monsters. I just wish there was more rockets here, you'll naturally use them on hell knights and pinkies closing in, but then a baron and revenants appear, which you have to take down with a super shotgun.

One thing I like here (and UAC Ultra in general) are the secrets. It's the kind that rewards spotting differences in layout or textures, rather than humping every wall. The 3-for-1 secret which lets you ambush a dug-in chaingunners and gives you a soulsphere is my favourite one here.

Despite its messy inception, this is a map I enjoyed more than the previous two.

MAP04: Pyrolysis

Spoiler

This feels like a step down in quality. While Pyrolysis still looks great (with red and yellow contrasting the usual palette), it just isn't as fun as previous levels. The cacodemon horde calls for more rockets (especially if you wasted them on imp crowds that guard the rocket launcher), so it's likely you'll have to take them down with an SSG. The part where you have to jump from a piston to piston combines the two things nobody likes in Doom: crushers and platforming. The rest is a standard UAC Ultra stuff, a lot of incidental combat against groups of weak demons or singular stronger ones and a rather linear layout. I fear the gameplay is getting stale somewhat.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Celestin

Celestin · August 13, 2023

MAP05-MAP08

MAP05: Hardware

Spoiler

It's an UAC Ultra map, I guess. Linear, full of incidental combat and good looking. The fight by the yellow key was good, a cramped room that drops two archviles at the end. I also like the BFG super-secret. You can spot it early on, but to access it, you need to find four switches hidden throughout the map. Still, even if you unlock it, you have only like two shots and very likely little to use it on. It's more for continous players, I guess.

While it was a fun map, the wad does feel repetitive.

MAP06: Collapsys

Spoiler

Collapsys was created with the same building blocks as the rest of the wad, both in case of gameplay and visuals. Still, I enjoyed a brisk pace of this one. Running from room to room, mowing down groups of monsters with SSG and chaingun have always been entertaining. The map concludes with a duel against a cyberdemon and a surprising death exit.

Collapsys doesn't bring anything new to UAC Ultra, but it's the map I like the most thus far.

MAP07: Haymaker

Spoiler

Well, it's a Dead Simple clone: five arachnotrons followed by five mancubi. This is not the end, though. UAC Ultra introduces a new monster here: the titular haymaker is a maulotaur from Heretic with a cyberdemon's head that fires mancubus projectiles. He's a bit tanky, but the map is loaded with rockets, so the two that guard the exit aren't hard to defeat.

The map is set in a red cavern, which does stand apart from the rest of the wad, but is insubstantial and pose little challenge - I've beaten it in 3 minutes on my first attempt.

MAP08: Worst Case Scenario

Spoiler

There's a bit of clumsiness where it comes to the combat here. For the bulk of the map, you're limited to a shotgun and a chaingun, slowly hacking at bigger demons. When you finally get a double-barrel, the map drops a mastermind, which you can leave for later so she can fight a cyberdemon, or take them down one by one with a super shotgun. Either way, it's a rather weak map. It feels like Worst Case Scenario was supposed to be placed earlier, but the authors added more tankier monsters and the bosses to make it artificially harder. I don't think they succeeded.

Celestin · August 14, 2023

MAP09-MAP12

MAP09: Counteraction Terminal

Spoiler

More UAC Ultra. I missed the super shotgun, as it turns out, it is placed in a side room I overlooked. Without it, the part with a pool of molten slag was a chore. This one is on me, though. The double mastermind room was a drag, because I couldn't manage to make them infight. On the other hand, there is the ending. If you run past a pair of cyberdemons, you can trigger the biggest horde of monsters of this wad and have them all killed. It's a high point of a rather mediocre map.

MAP10: Skagway

Spoiler

Doomworld's 66th most memorable map

UAC Ultra was in a dire need of a change of pace and this is a map unlike anything here. After a rather standard start, you reach a sign warning you about a high radiation area. So grab the radsuit and ride down into a setpiece that must have given Skagway the spot on top 100 maps list: a giant red cavern, stuffed to capacity with monsters. You are given plenty of supplies, including a BFG that you can finally unleash on the crowds. Pushing through hordes of monsters isn't hard, but it feels heroic and is a welcomed change from the incidental combat of the rest of the wad. I also have to praise the midi. UAC Ultra relies on more ambient track, which work fine when you crawl through techbases. Here, however, it is switched for Jimmy's "Astral Dreadnaught", an energetic midi that oozes action.

Not everything is perfect, the parts directly before the caves section are slow and the ending disappoints. An arena this big and imposing begs for a huge fight, instead, you just fight two cyberdemons and some arachnotrons.

I can't deny Skagway is UAC Ultra's best map, but would it made to my personal top 100? I don't think so.

MAP11: Sick

Spoiler

It's good to see a bit more open spaces, however Sick isn't the best map. The start has you killing 5 barons with a super shotgun. Just why? Then you need to press three switches, each revealing a new gun, a group of low-tier monsters and an archvile. One more filler fight later and you reach the final fight of the map. It's pretty much an Icon of Sin, except it shoots imp projectiles instead of spawn cubes. This, combined with a highly detailed monstrosity that holds the final boss (I won't call it "doomcute" when it's purposely hideous) makes it automatically better than an average IoS clone.

Sick does look good, but everything before the final area feels like padding.

MAP12: The End

Spoiler

It's a credits map. The text screen explains we are heading back to Mars to finish the mission, which I assume would be a plot of UAC Ultra 2, if it ever releases.

Conclusions

UAC Ultra is a solid episode. The visual aspect is the main draw of the wad, with a new set of textures and moody lighting creating a unique look that successfully mask a somewhat simple layout. As for the gameplay, one thing I've noticed is how little dead time there is. You're always fighting something, so the maps generally don't drag too much. Most of them can be completed within 10-20 minutes window, which greatly improve the overall flow. Finally, it's a pretty accessible wad, UV is healthy challenge for a novice player, though veteran players will likely find it too easy without some self-imposed restrictions.

Now, there is a major issue I have with UAC Ultra. It's a very formulaic wad. Part of this is due to its look, with few maps standing out visually. The rest is its gameplay, almost exclusively made out of incidental combat through linear levels. Few maps try something different, mainly Hardware with its BFG secret hunting or high-bodycount Skagway, but the rest play very similiarly. Considering this is an 11-map episode, rather than a full-size megawad, running stale this early is a problem.

Nevertheless, UAC Ultra provides a fun afternoon of action that will be enjoyed by both newcomers and players looking for something easier to relax. It's a shame its sequel is stuck in developement hell, with only first 6 maps being released. There are some aspects that could be improved and I believe 40oz has gathered enough experience to deliver something great.

My top 3 maps are:

MAP10: Skagway
MAP06: Collapsys
MAP05: Hardware

My least favourite map is:

MAP07: Haymaker

Celestin · August 17, 2023

Here's something from DWMC's early days: MAYhem 2012, a 12-map community wad created, as the name implies, in May 2012.

MAP01-MAP08

MAP01: Vigilance by Phobus

Spoiler

A small underground outpost that shouldn't be an issue to beat, provided you head east from the starting room and get a shotgun. I tried camping with a pistol and don't recommend it. The monsters here aren't very threatening, a revenant that appears after you pick up the red key is best disposed of with a secret rocket launcher.

There is a bit of custom textures here, with gold replacing silver. It's a small change, but it makes the map stand out. The midi, though, does need replacing. When I boot up a new wad, D_RUNNIN is the last thing I want to listen to.

Vigilance is a decent start of a wad.

MAP02: The Golden Age by Walter C

Spoiler

I have two theories regarding this map's title. One, it refers to prominent use of recoloured textures, which do improve the visuals (or at least make it interesting). Two, The Golden Age is an homage to early years of Doom mapping, with its basic layout and minimalistic detailing (though with some exceptions, like a corridor behind a starting point or some cracked walls).

The combat feel grindy due to high number of pinkies you have to kill with a basic shotgun. SSG is at the end, rockets are best spent on bigger demons and I couldn't find a berserk. Still, I'd say it's a decent map, far from the best, but painless to complete.

MAP03: Derpman 3D by Walter C

Spoiler

This one looks like it crawled out of some forgotten shovelware disc. Half of the map is boring shotgun fight against some imps in an underground cave, the other half is a vine-covered techbase, both looking equally primitive. The combat is boring, with a single exception: a room with pinkies and an archvile. You only have a shotgun, chaingun and a berserk pack to deal with this, the strategy that worked for me was luring the demons out, hoping the vile stays inside. This way he wouldn't revive anything, while I could pump him full of lead.

I have no doubt it was designed like this intentionally, rather than being an accident. Some might give this one a pass due to nostalgia, but for me, it's a flop.

MAP04: Eerie Canals by TheMionicDonut

Spoiler

This one is fine, I guess. Definitely more work went into how the map looks, compared to Walter's levels. The combat, though, still feels like a grind. Eerie Canals withholds the super shotgun for the bulk of its run (it's in a secret, by the way, that I've found by pure chance), forcing you to survive some cramped fights with only the basic guns. The part where you go outside and get swarmed by cacodemons is the map's low point, because taking them out and nearby hell knights with a single barrel is a chore.

Eerie Canals isn't a bad map, but it's not a one I wish to return to.

MAP05: Iron Industries by Scypek2

Spoiler

Iron Industries seems to be one of Scypek's earlier works, combining some interesting ideas with quirks of a rookie mapper.

It has a rather low monster count and the only tricky fight is right at the start when you reach a room with a lava pit, imps on a walkway around it and chaingunners in a balcony on your right. You can't just camp at a doorway because of a damaging floor, so you need to rush this and hope for the best. The rest of the map tries to shake up the Doom's formula with mixed results. The strobing cage, besides giving me a migraine, forces you to catch a door before it closes and the room with lowering floor reminds me of one map from Mock 2. On the other hand, the map is loaded with secrets and it was fun to look for them. I also like the use of silent teleporters, faking a staircase to the roof. The map ends with a run through a lava, for which you get 2 invulns and way too many radsuits in a nearby secrets.

Iron Industries mixes clumsiness with creativity and while it's not a good map by any means, it was entertaining to play through.

MAP06: The Metal by Phobus

Spoiler

MAYhem 2012 has been rather underwhelming so far, but fortunately, Phobus came to the rescue with this hectic slime pit.

After dispatching the welcoming committee, jump down the hole, grab a rocket launcher and start blowing demons to pieces. Once this is over, the pressure decreases and the map turns into a crawl through a metal base. That is, until you pick up the red key and enemies start spawning in the pit. Survive this and it's a straight way to the exit.

One thing that is odd in The Metal is the weapons' dispensation. I've reached the exit relying on a rocket launcher and an easy-to-find secret super shotgun. From this spot, you can do some ledge platforming to find a secret BFG, which I've used to demolish the plasma rifle trap. It's completely optional and it is the hardest fight of the map: a dark basement with hell knights, revenants and assorted trash. On my playthrough, this represented the remaining monsters, which I would have probably skipped if I wasn't going for all kills and secrets.

This nitpick aside, The Metal is a solid map with engaging combat, the best map so far by a wide margin.

MAP07: Red Like Jungle by Walter C

Spoiler

t's clear Walter is enamored of 90's mapping, the problem is, I am not and Red Like Jungle is his worst contribution to MAYhem 2012. Yes, a gigantic cave filled with tons of pinkies and sniping mancubi made me chuckle at first, until I remembered I have to kill all of this. So I started circling around and firing rockets until everything was dead. This is MAP07 after all, so killing the last mancubus opened a wall hiding a sea of hell nobles. Jesus Christ. Even with a BFG and a cyberdemon on my side (who died pretty quickly, thank's a lot), it was a chore. But that's not all, after killing some spiders and visiting a Nazi bunker (and Walter's sector art waifu), you return to the cave where a demon fort gets opened, revealing more hell nobles and 4 useless cyberdemons. Also, continuous players will love the death exit, depriving them of the heap of resources they gathered.

This is one of the worst maps I've ever played. Ugly and tedious as all hell. Avoid it like a plague.

MAP08: Hell's Ravines by Scypek2

Spoiler

Like Iron Industries, this one is also a highly experimental map, hosting a number of gimmicks, including running through lowering columns, avoiding crushers and arachnotrons' plasma in a tiny room (fuck this part in particular) and a basic Icon of Sin fight. There's almost no combat here, so the map feels like bunch of discarded ideas from other unfinished maps. It's a mess and I prefer Scypek's previous map.

Walter confetti · August 18, 2023

16 hours ago, Celestin said:

MAP02: The Golden Age by Walter C

Actually the title level comes from the color scheme in the map.

I'm ok with all the reviews you did, really MAP07 Is the worst thing i did for you all lol

MAP03 it's a pretty generic map, i know.

Celestin · August 19, 2023

MAP09-MAP12

MAP09: Grudge by Ribbiks

Spoiler

This seem to be one of earlier maps by Ribbiks, definitely predating his rise to fame the following year with Swim with the Whales and Stardate 20X6. While Grudge is a challenging map that in many ways sets the stage for his later works, it also feels a bit rough around the edges. First of all, it's a beautiful map, filled with height variety and aesthetic design. The opening shot of zombies standing on giant stairs made of square pillars is impressive, or the ever-present hexagonal steps. It's the best looking map of the wad so far and it has no competition. Not even close.

The combat is where I have issues. Grudge is a string of teleport traps and pop-up ambushes, mostly set in cramped places. Luckily, Ribbiks was kind (or forgetful) enough to leave escape routes open, so most of them are easy to cheese. Few aren't, like the fight on a bridge where three archviles teleport one by one and you only have an SSG. This was my favourite part, Ribbiks gives you just enough time to kill a vile before the next one appears and if you get blasted off the bridge, you are dead. Speaking of them, Grudge requires using an archvile jump twice: to get a secret BFG (which you really, really want) and to escape with the red key. I'm not a fan of this. Also, the mastermind by the exit is a waste of time.

Still, this is my favourite map of the wad, with great visuals and combat I finally had to pay attention to.

MAP10: Infiltration by cannonball

Spoiler

The start doesn't leave a good impression, especially the giant cave you reach early on. It's pretty underpopulated and I've missed a rocket launcher in a nearby room, so clearing out this place was a drag. Fortunately, Infiltration picks up the pace afterwards, cannonball throws corridors full of monsters at you and you are well-supplied to destroy them all.

The cave I've mentioned before acts as a hub, you need to visit three paths in search of three keys. The red one is especially evil, distracting you with some revenants and arachnotrons, while teleporting a pair of archviles to revive victims of previous fights. The blue key fight is also good, a multi-level terrace that again, drops archvile. One thing that I would have removed are cyberdemons that appear after returning to the hub - killing a single cyb in a wide open room is more time-consuming than hard.

With all keys you can unlock the triple-locked room and be assaulted by a group of archviles. If you were paying attention throughout the map, you might have found hidden switches - they unlock a BFG here, which you want for the finale: first a cyberdemon with company in the hub (which he'll likely kill by himself), then a cramped fights against a mastermind, bunch of monsters and two archviles.

Infiltration is precisely why I enjoy cannonball's maps: tons of action and good pacing.

MAP11: A cold day in Hell by cannonball

Spoiler

First of all, that blue marble texture looks wrong. I think I would have preferred this map with stock textures, which isn't something I say often.

A cold day in Hell is the harder of cannonball's maps, with difficulty coming mostly from its cyberdemon usage. Unlike in Infiltration, there is far less room to move and the two by the yellow key are the worst. I managed to get them distracted by barons and shot BFG balls until they died. The ending features three cyberdemons in a cramped and chaotic arena that spawns more and more monsters the further you go. It would have been a great fight, however it's way too dark to move around and I was constantly running into something or catching a rocket. The rest of the map is mostly incidental and lacks the mass killing I enjoyed in Infiltration. Overall, a step down from the previous map.

MAP12: Thematic Terror by Terminus (as Moti) and Kongming

Spoiler

The final map of MAYhem 2012 is a giant adventure with a thousand enemies that took me 1,5 hour of in-game time to beat. If I had to describe it in one sentence, it would be "competently put together, but uninspiring".

Thematic Terror follows a hub format, pushing the player to new sections in search of keys. Early parts, where you have to feel around in dark caves with spectres are the worst, because the map takes a surprisingly long time to give you some bigger guns. Despite its lenght, there aren't many worthwhile encounters, it's either incidental corridor clearing or large arenas that can be spammed with rockets. I think the only memorable fight is the ending, an arena with four cyberdemons, two masterminds and tons of infight fodder. It's not hard (I generally think the encounters in this whole map aren't difficult and the challenge comes mainly from the lenght), but the combat in the rest of the map is more forgettable.

In the end, Thematic Terror is an impressive effort, but lacked something that would justify its runtime.

Conclusions

The first edition of MAYhem was very rough. The project attracted in only a handful of mappers and the main goal of creating a full 32-map megawad within a month was not met. This isn't an issue for me, as I prefer quality over quantity, but the quality here is all over the place. At its worst, MAYhem 2012 feels amateurish, while the best maps of the wad are well designed and has a clear thought behind them. As I've said before, I enjoy community works, because I can never guess what will I stumble into when loading the next map. In this regard, I was having fun, even if some maps here did their best to annoy me.

One thing is certain: the issues didn't discourage TheMionicDonut, the original project leader, from going forward with MAYhem and later installments were more popular and more polished. I also think gimmicks more advanced than "here are some recoloured textures, make maps with them" might have helped.

My TOP 3 maps are:

MAP09: Grudge by Ribbiks
MAP10: Infiltration by cannonball
MAP06: The Metal by Phobus

My least favourite map is

MAP07: Red Like Jungle by Walter C

Celestin · August 19, 2023

There are a couple of reasons I wanted to finally play Hell Revealed. First of all, it's often seen as one of the most important wads of all time and I want to experience it before I play some other map sets that I know for a fact were influenced by it (namely Alien Vendetta and Kama Sutra). Secondly, the opinions about Hell Revealed are rather mixed nowadays, so I should form my own view.

I won't be playing blind as I've seen playthroughs of all the maps here.

MAP01-MAP08

MAP01: Into the Gates by Yonatan Donner and Haggay Niv

Spoiler

The majority of Hell Revealed's opening map consists of fighting whatever leaks out of a teleporter by the exit. This includes a wave of pinkies, but you can just camp in a room with a berserk pack and abuse their inability to enter here. Other than a credits easter egg and "Suck This" as a midi, there's little to report.

MAP02: Gateway Lab by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

"Still no heavy resistance".

A short techbase populated almost entirely by imps, zombies and pinkies. I was running low on health, but that's me being careless. Other than that, it's a 5 minutes shotgun action.

MAP03: The Dumpster by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Fitting name, because the map isn't very good. The Dumpster is cramped as all hell, you'll be mostly running through narrow corridors and killing basic monsters that come at you single-file. Or riding up a lift and finding yourself surrounded. I'm not a fan of this one.

MAP04: The Garden Terminal by Yonatan Donner and Haggay Niv

Spoiler

Hell Revealed finally starts bringing in some bigger demons, though they are still used sparingly.

The Garden Terminal are pretty much two maplets connected by a teleporter. "The Garden", made by Donner, is a bland outdoor area where the only memorable thing is an inaccessible BFG. Niv's "Terminal" is a short techbase with crowds of hitscanners on its outskirts and easily the better part, though still unimpressive.

MAP05: Core Infection by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

The Dumpster 2: Even more garbage.

Another cramped techbase, this time adding more tanky demons. I strongly recommend going for the plasma rifle ASAP, technically you need to lower a lift to jump on a computer panel that holds it, but you can just bump into the wall, abusing Doom's janky collision physics. You want it for barons and other bigger demons. Aside from this, it's the same stuff as MAP03: tight corridors, confusing layout and excessive backtracking. I still don't like this one.

MAP06: The Round Crossroads by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

I like the start, the central hub finally gives you some room to move. The problem is, once this place is cleared, The Round Crossroads returns to tight corridors I disliked in previous maps. Also, now I understand why people are calling barons "doors with health". Putting tanky enemies in narrow hallways is not kind.

MAP07: Arachnophobia by Haggay Niv

Spoiler

Arachnophobia is a spider-shaped arena containing 46 arachnotrons that you have to kill with a super shotgun to reach the exit. What. A. Slog. There's also a mastermind at the end, whose only job is waste UV-max runners' time. At least it's not another cramped techbase.

MAP08: The Jail by Haggay Niv

Spoiler

I've spent way to much time luring barons into a crusher, because you don't get much ammo at the start. Other than that and a pain elemental ambush at the end, it's a mediocre map, filled with shooting demons locked behind bars.

So far it's easy and kinda mediocre, but MAP09 is the first map the authors label as "hard", so it should be interesting.

Celestin · August 21, 2023

MAP09-MAP14

MAP09: Knockout by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Knockout is a Tyson map on crack, one that severely limits you ammo and expects you to punch 242 imps, mostly in very crowded rooms. The flood of them that appears after you grab the yellow key will haunt my nightmares.

I think this is the first map of Hell Revealed where you need to have a strategy - what order to tackle fights, where the spare ammo was left etc. If you're playing blind, well, good luck my friend, you'll need it.

MAP10: Chambers of War by Haggay Niv

Spoiler

This monster mansion is a breather after the last map, relatively spacious and well-supplied. There's little to see here, just move from room to room and kill everything in your path.

MAP11: Underground Base by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

The infopack calls this "the first real challenge of Hell Revealed", but I'd say Underground Base is not as bad as Knockout. It's much more straighforward, you don't need to ration ammo and while the map brags about its strong monsters, they are surprisingly easy to tackle. Masterminds and cyberdemons are more of a time and ammo sink and archviles usually attack alone.

The start, forcing you to take out hell nobles and pain elementals with only a shotgun, is tedious. I'm not sure what opens a plasma rifle secret here, but I'm not complaining. The room with four towers (each topped with an archvile) looks imposing, it also holds two important weapons: a super shotgun in a side room and a rocket launcher secret. I was lucky enough to spot an indented arrow on the floor, otherwise I would have no idea it's here. Anyway, I think this is where the difficulty drops significantly and everything beyond this can be dealt with by being patient. Like the large infight by the BFG or the ending with caged barons.

I don't think this is a bad map, I'd say it's the strongest so far, but it's also too long and would benefit from some trimming.

MAP12: Great Halls of Fire by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Great Halls of Fire starts hostile, with a horde of imps that is best made fighting arachnotrons from a nearby room. Once this is done with, I'd go to the most Hell Revealed room of the wad so far: a super shotgun trapped with 9 barons getting released one by one. This is what Yonatan Donner considers fun, by the way.

The rest is rather bland. I'm not a fan of this map.

MAP13: Last Look at Eden by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

This is one of those maps that severely punishes first time players for not knowing what to do and even if you have a plan, you'll likely die anyway.

Last Look at Eden is all about alerting monsters with sound and teleporting them to your location. If you fire a shot before reaching the garden, a ton of monsters spawns in, making the map nigh-impossible to beat. Instead, you have to run to the garden without firing a shot and not die in a process. Then you can make stuff infight and finally start killing demons. Everything was going fine until I reached the cage. You are locked in and expected to survive until the door opens. There's no defending this part, it's a stupid RNG fest where you cross you fingers and hope chaingunners and revenants die quickly. Good news is, the rest of the map is much easier, albeit grindy. You still need to clear the room with stairs and kill a cyberdemon by now-opened exit.

In the end, this was probably the hardest map so far, one that requires planning and foreknowledge to have a chance of beating. I don't see finishing this as time well-spent.

PS: I've mentioned Hell Revealed is an influential megawad and it just so happened that I've played a map inspired by Last Look at Eden before: Muumi's Another Glance at the Paradise from PUSS IX. I strongly recommend checking it out if you haven't, while it retains the structure and some setpieces of Donner's map, it's also more forgiving on blind playthrough, offers improved combat design and looks much better (though it's hardly an achievement).

MAP14: City in the Clouds by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

You are thrown into a large city map with no guns and are expected to survive, good luck. Your main objectives early on are getting a shotgun and a rocket launcher, both are located in cramped buildings with pre-placed enemies, more appearing from monster closets and even more teleporting in ig you fire a shot. With those two guns you are as ready as you can be to obtain the blue key. Kill a row of spectres, run for the key and escape without shooting, as that would alert 3 archviles that ressurect aforementioned spectres and prevent you from leaving this place. I'd say this is the hard part, the two remaining keys require little strategy beyond "kill anything that is in you path". You can leave here or waste your time trying to kill the remaining monsters (especially tedious since you don't have a super shotgun) and reaching a truly awful BFG secret, which involves two very precise jumps. I wasted more time trying to grab it that I'd like to admit.

Like with MAP13, City in the Clouds will kill you over and over if you don't know how it works, the beginner traps here are especially nasty. I get what Donner was going for and I felt a sense of accomplishment when the map was over. I also don't want to play it again.

Celestin · August 25, 2023

MAP15-MAP20

MAP15: Gates to Hell by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

This is my favourite map of Hell Revealed so far, but nevertheless, it can't escape grinding gameplay.

The dark room you start in contains a really dumb secret: you need to shoot a dark and unmarked wall in front of you, turn 180 degrees and walk forward into a now-opened compartment. It also contains an unmarked switch, one of three that opens the secret exit. The cherry on top, you can't return to this place and the only hint about it is a riddle in the infopack.

When you do leave this place, you find yourself in a central hub of the map. The portals here open up as the map progresses and leads you to different sections of the outer ring. Each part provides a different fight, but also sniping barons that are a chore to take down and derail the pace of the map completely. Also, I think I should have left the monsters in the hub alive, as at certain points cyberdemons appear here and they would help with clearing this place out.

As I've said earlier, it's a solid map, it just need a little less tedium for my liking.

MAP31: The Descent by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

I don't like this one. The first half of The Descent is an elevator ride down, while monsters teleport in one by one. When you finally reach the bottom, it's a cramped bunker filled with spectres and chaingunners. Reaching the regular exit requires picking up two keys, one warps in an archvile on a pile of corpses, other turns the place into a suffocating fight against revenants and hell nobles. Also, all corners hold a cyberdemon each, what worked for me was clearing one such room and defend myself from there. Still, I don't consider this to be an entertaining part.

As for the secret exit, you need to cross a pit of damaging slime by jumping between platforms. Platforming in Doom was never my thing, so it took me many tries before I managed to beat it (though probably less than the BFG secret in MAP14).

MAP32: Mostly Harmful by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Hell Revealed is often cited with inventing (or, at the very least, popularising) the slaughter maps, so I'm surprised to see it took it this long to present a BFG spam that is often associated with this genre. Mostly Harmful consists of four identical rooms, each containing two cyberdemons, several archviles and other monsters, connected to a ring that is crawling with revenants. Upon loading the map, take a step back, grab a BFG and hold fire. I wouldn't call this map "sophisticated", but it's the most fun I've had in Hell Revealed.

Once you clear all rooms and get all 3 keys, a E1M8-style death exit is unlocked, allowing you to finish the map. Also, the map uses a monster spawner, which does nothing but confuse people who try to get all kills. I would have cut it out and the map wouldn't be missing much.

Mostly Harmful, in the end, is a solid level and a welcomed breather.

MAP16: The Path by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

This underground structure is full of two things: damaging blood and hell nobles. The former is hardly an issue due to an abundance of radsuits, the latter though turn The Path into a gigantic slog. After a confusing start where you try to figure out what to do and where to get the guns, the map devolves into killing segregated groups of tanky demons, often entrenched by monster-blocking lines. The mancubus corridor protecting the blue key is the absolute low point, hell knights below did a poor job infighting them, so I had to deal with them head-on. Good thing I've saved cells, rockets and an invuln, the downside is, I had to kill tons of barons with SSG...

The Path is the most tedious and boring map of Hell Revealed thus far.

MAP17: The Black Towers by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

The view of the central plaza filled with barons is truly demoralising. I tried to leave them for later, but each of the three buildings that you need to get the keys from was too cramped to enter without dying (I know this is a prefered strategy, I'm just not good enough to execute this). So I ended killing them with rockets and SSG that I managed to snatch from one of the buildings.

Anyway, the keys. I started with the yellow one, where you have to fight a mastermind up close. I'm so glad I've found a blursphere secret, it helped with surviving this. The blue key is guarded by an ambush of imps, chaingunners and three archviles, you can escape through a lift and kill them from below. The last one was the red key, with a room blocked by another mastermind, a wall of spectres and sniping arachnotrons. But it's not all, there's also a surprise pit that squeezes you between two groups of chaingunners.

Each key you grab releases a cyberdemon in the square, which is handy to infight the barons, but utter drag to kill otherwise. That's the story of Hell Revealed so far, unless you know what's coming, you'll end up with a grindy combat against bullet sponges.

MAP18: Hard Attack by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

"I Choose the Stairs" is one of my favourite tracks from Rise of the Triad, too bad it's drowned by revenant screaming, archvile moaning and activating teleporters. This is Donner's attempt at creating a tense and unnerving map, too bad it's still Hell Revealed.

The early parts involve a lot of cramped corridors, which are a complete pain to go through, unless you've found the seizure-inducing secret with a plasma rifle (I did by a complete chance). Aside from that, it's grind, grind, that one room where you can telefrag a cyberdemon that is warping around, and even more grind.

MAP19: Everything Dies by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

The gimmick of this map is, once you grab the megasphere in the starting room, you're given all guns and ammo, but aside from a handful of chaingunners, there are no other resources left. Fortunately, it's a short map and you can rely on SSG for the majority of it, pulling out a rocket launcher for tanky monsters and BFG for bosses.

Everything Dies is the easiest map in a while (I'd say since MAP10), but for once I'm glad this one didn't drag for too long.

MAP20: Judgement Day by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

I have mixed feelings here, it's one of the better looking map of Hell Revealed, with more round shapes than what came before. On the other, the beginning is the textbook definition of tedium. I'm talking about the rotunda filled with barons, a corridor of mancubi and an archvile on the top of a narrow spiral stairs. You only have a regular shotgun to deal with all this. There is a super shotgun in a secret right after, which makes the rest passible. I do like the ending, where you can unleash a cyberdemon on a teleporting crowd of enemies.

Chapter 2 is done, now the final 10 maps, where Hell Revealed gets really hard.

Celestin · August 27, 2023

MAP21-MAP27

MAP21: Siege by Haggay Niv

Spoiler

Interesting idea, mediocre execution. The map starts in a house under assault and your goal is to push through to the exit. All the health and ammo of the map is placed here (which reminds me of The Mucus Flow, by the way), each line of defense is blocked by stairs, cages or other impassible lines, so the map devolves into killing each group, returning to the house to resupply and attack again. The four cyberdemons at the end are a chore to take down, you can drop them down to kill pinkies, but even with a secret plasma rifle, you'll likely have to grind them down with a super shotgun.

MAP22: Resistance is Futile by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

This is a boxy slaughter map that hands you a BFG at the start and tasks you with finding all three keys while cutting through hordes of monsters, including 13 cyberdemons. The start is the hardest, with archvile area deniers, large groups of pinkies and revenants. If you eliminate this, the map adopts a somewhat episodic structure, opening up new areas and releasing more and more monsters. The map is very generous with ammo, so use rocket launcher as your main weapon and save cells for cyberdemons.

Resistance is Futile is the most exciting map of Hell Revealed and I know I'm not the only one to like it, since over time, it inspired several direct homages.

MAP23: Ascending to the Stars by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Ascending to the Stars is an extremally cramped map, where a lot of fights can be exploited by hiding behind a door and provoking infighting or teleporting in, firing a shot and escaping. It also contains the most idiotic fight of the wad, competing with the cage from Last Look at Eden in terms of RNG-reliance: teleporting into a lowering pillar into a small room full of chaingunners. My condolences to all speedrunners, whose attempts ended here.

I must say, by Hell Revealed standards, this is a good looking map, the red lines used to block certain sections are neat, but it's painfully slow when you play it.

MAP24: Post Mortem by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Dubbed "the very hardest map of Hell Revealed" and "complete murder" by the infopack, this Living End homage is indeed an extremally tough map, especially the start. It's a pure lunacy: surrounded by revenants and archviles, you need to jump into the poisoning blood below, find one of two secret invulns, head for another secret with a BFG, several archviles and chaingunners then finally start clearing the start with a help from a second invuln - three cyberdemons appear here, so you need to be brave.

Once this is over, congratulations, the hardest part is over. I feel like the rest of the map allows you to dug in and pump rockets into stationary targets or fight enemies that attack you from a single direction. Even up-close cyberdemons and pain elemental swarms don't intimidate me anymore, partially because Post Mortem is very generous with resources, there are megaspheres everywhere and ammo is practically infinite.

It's a brutal map, but also rewarding as hell to complete.

MAP25: Dead Progressive by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

A relatively easy map placed between two of the hardest maps of this wad. You get SSG, plasma rifle and rocket launcher early on to kill several waves of enemies. Probably the only weak part is a Realm-inspired trap that locks you on a narrow walkway and keeps teleporting chaingunners on the sides. Other than that, a solid and entertaining map.

MAP26: Afterlife by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Doomworld's 59th most memorable map.

I have to disagree with Donner, this, rather than Post Mortem, is the hardest map of Hell Revealed. The reason being, you have no guns besides the super shotgun, so hordes of monsters and archviles are especially deadly.

Afterlife is divided into three areas, the voidscape hub is filled with enemies, including a ton of pain elementals and some boss monsters that can clear most of this mess when you camp in the room with a chessboard. With this sorted out, you can finally move to the two pocket dimensions that needs to be cleared to proceed. The first one is a marble building with a narrow ring around it. You have to battle several waves of chaingunners, archviles and other enemies, culminating with a fight against a cyberdemon and ghost imps. Without a rocket launcher, you have to cross your fingers they hit something and start infighting. Dimension number two is a blue structure of indetermined purpose. The bulk of demons here will kill each other, but the dark room is the main threat. After eliminating the initial defense of barons and shotgunners, you have to fight against two archviles, a horde of revenants and a cyberdemon (which you can release at any point you want, I did it after killing the archviles. From what I've seen, you are also supposed to be ambushed by ghost monsters when you return to the hub, but they didn't appear, so whatever.

Afterlife sets itself apart from the rest of Hell Revealed with memorable visuals and more creative approach to combat. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the final map Yonatan Donner made for this project, it's an enormous step up from early levels. It's a shame he quitted mapping not long after, but I'm glad he managed to create this map.

MAP27: Cyberpunk by Haggay Niv

Spoiler

We haven't heard from Niv for a while, but his return to Hell Revealed isn't good. The super shotgun, a weapon you have to rely on due to lack of ammo other than shells, is hidden in an unmarked, unofficial secret in the second room you enter. Without it, well, I hope you like killing a deluge of imps (I'm having Knockout flashback here) bullet sponges with a regular shotgun. Even with SSG Cyberpunk is so bloody tedious, but the maze with like 5 cyberdemons and another one by the exit is the final insult. It's the worst map in a while, reminding me of the lowest points of the middle third of the wad.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Celestin

Celestin · August 28, 2023

MAP28-MAP30

MAP28: Top Hell by Haggay Niv

Spoiler

This is one of those maps that's much, much better if you don't force yourself to get all the kills. That way you wouldn't have to deal with the cyberdemons. Eight do a poor job acting as snipers, five more are placed in an optional room that makes fun of Tricks and Traps, all are a complete chore to kill. The rest isn't bad. I thought a map built around only using high-hitpoint monsters would be yet another slog, but cells and rockets are in large supplies and if you find a secret BFG, you can deal with everything. Archvile mobs, crowds of barons or the exit room that allows you to camp at the door again - besides the cyberdemons, there is less threat here than in Donner's last maps.

Cyberdemons aside, this is a solid map and probably my favourite of Niv's.

MAP29: Temple of Fear by Haggay Niv

Spoiler

The blue key fight is hard but interesting. You only have a super shotgun to fight against two archviles mixed in a crowd of revenants. The rest is mostly SSG-based incidental combat against pinkies and hell nobles. I have several major issues with this map. A cramped dark room where you teleport in isn't fun, so is that one secret in a pitch-black maze that doesn't even show on a map. How the hell are you supposed to get through it? Also, the progression is a bit confusing, I got stuck without the red key and spent a while not knowing you were supposed to return to the starting room where a wall is now opened. The cyberdemon pair at the end is a joke if you were saving cells, just circle-strafe and you've won.

It's a standard Hell Revealed map, I have little more to add.

MAP30: Hell Revealed by Yonatan Donner

Spoiler

Utter shitshow of an Icon of Sin that I've managed to beat by sheer luck: a small arena, 80-something monsters (including imp hordes that block your teleport destination, archviles that will likely zap you when approaching the button to call the lift down, roaming cyberdemon and other crap) and four spawners. There's no strategy here, just try clearing the lift and its surroundings with a BFG while crossing your fingers nothing catches your rockets. I was prepared to save-scum it, even saved after hitting the Icon twice, but managed to score the third hit. The less said about this one the better.

Conclusions

I think you need to have a certain mindset to fully enjoy Hell Revealed. One where you are willing to try, experiment and learn until you can beat a map saveless, then grind more to improve your strategy. This is a megawad made by speedrunners for speedrunners, after all. I now understand why this resonated with so many players, who were willing to accept the challenge and found a tough wad that brings ton of satisfaction when finally mastered.

However, I don't have this mindset. While I fully understand its advocates, I'm on the detractors' side. Hell Revealed's difficulty comes less from quick reaction and more from the need to approach a map with a plan. This is why coming in blind, the wad will assault you with beginners' traps where it's easy to get yourself into an unwinnable situation. Some will see this as a part of a challenge, others will likely drop the wad around MAP13 or 14.

Speaking of the overall quality, I think the first episode is pretty weak, most maps here are easy and give off a vibe of a novice mapper. The middle part is where the bad reputation comes from, the maps here the most boring and tedious, filled with groups of tanky demons that are a complete slog to kill. The final act is where Yonatan Donner improved his craft, his maps here are easily the best of the wad, offering the best combat scenarios and visuals of the wad. Haggay Niv though, let's just say he's the second best mapper of this wad.

One thing I found interesting is that despite its reputation, there aren't that many maps that I would call "slaughter". This isn't a criticism, more like an observation, but it seems they did make a huge impression on others.

Let me just say this: while I personally wouldn't recommend Hell Revealed, I won't discourage anyone either. I didn't enjoy playing the most of it, but it's a classic that will find its crowd regardless. To end on a positive note, I think completing Hell Revealed, a wad that even now is legendary for its difficulty, is an uplifting experience and I hope it will give me confidence to tackle some other sets I've put aside, thinking they might be to hard for me. But the next wad I'll be playing (I haven't decided which) likely won't be this difficult.

My top 3 maps of Hell Revealed are:
MAP22: Resistance is Futile by Yonatan Donner
MAP24: Post Mortem by Yonatan Donner
MAP26: Afterlife by Yonatan Donner

The worst map is:
MAP30: Hell Revealed by Yonatan Donner

Celestin · September 3, 2023

Up next is Hellbound, a one-man megawad by Zoltán "Z86" Sófalvi. It offers a detailed architecture and seamless progression - I think it will be a nice break after Hell Revealed.

MAP01: Apartments

Spoiler

A small city map that looks convincing, despite being made entirely (I think) of stock textures. There's a ton of attention to details and lighting, it all looks pretty good. Combat-wise, it's mostly weak enemies supported by a handful of hell knights what you'll likely have to take down with a shotgun. The fight in a small room against a hell knight and imps is surprisingly tense, on the other hand the part where you pick up the red key, jump down and have to dodge a pair of arachnotrons is not something I'm a fan of, as you can easily get blocked by monsters or decorations.

Still, it's a solid opener.

MAP02: Canal Road

Spoiler

Another city bloc, this one is centered around a nukage-filled canal. The fights can be divided into three groups: open-air hitscanner sniping on the walkways around the canal, claustrophobic crawl through what I think is some water treatment plant and arenas on a damaging floor. The red key fight against pop-up group of hell knights and teleporting demons is my favourite. Be sure to have a super shotgun for this one.

One thing I have to mention is the rocket launcher/invuln secret, marked with red, blue and yellow pegs. The first two correspond to the keys you can find, so I assumed there must have been a third one I've missed. There isn't one, instead you need to find a control room with coloured monitors and press the correct ones. Probably it has something to do with colour mixing, but it's something I was never good at, so I had to look up the solution. Not that I needed the rewards, everything was already dead, I was just interested in how to open this one up.

I like this one, it feels like a good follow-up to previous map's visual style and improvement in its gameplay.

MAP03: Testing Chambers

Spoiler

An unnerving crawl through a derelict techbase. This feels more like a survival horror than straight-up action, thanks to darkness and "Agony Rhapsody" in the background. Also, I've missed a secret super shotgun in the second room, but I don't think it's required here. If anything, it made combat more tense. There are some good setpieces here, like the crate maze or the final fight, where a small crowd teleports in the centre of a large arena. The rest is mostly incidental fights against imps and hitscanners.

Testing Chambers looks great, combining detailed design and atmospheric lighting. I enjoyed a change of pace a lot.

MAP04: Processing Plant

Spoiler

This dimly-lit sewer is not my favourite place. Lots of hitscanners that you can barely see, the room with open pipes and walkways is the worst in that regard (unless you find a secret light amplification goggles). Probably the only thing I will remember fondly is the red key trap, which teleports you to some hellish caverns - this one took me by a complete surprise.

Processing Plant is far from awful, but it's also my least favourite map so far.

MAP05: Underground

Spoiler

I keep being impressed with what Z86 manages to achieve with stock textures. The subway station and a nearby street outside are neat, but the view of the skyscrapers by the river is simply amazing.

As for the gameplay, the biggest setpiece is a pair of fights on the platforms of the station. Both are cramped teleport ambushes that look imposing, but are also dreadful to deal with, as you are limited to a super shotgun and a rocket launcher with little ammo. This quickly turns them into an excercise in patience, waiting for demons to thin itself out and doorfighting the rest. At least the imp purge at the end is interesting.

It's an uneven map that would benefit a lot from giving player more rockets and/or restraining its numbers.

MAP06: Gateway Lab

Spoiler

I think "Death's Bells" does a great job building the atmosphere of this abandoned science lab. The map consists of taking down small groups of low- to mid-tier demons using mostly the regular shotgun (the SSG can only be found at the very end). The ending, well... I get it was supposed to be a climactic conclusion, but pushing back a stream of monsters that gush out of a FIREBLU portal feels more tedious than exciting. Still, I don't think it's a bad map, Gateway Lab is richly detailed and has a moody vibe I enjoy, I just wish the ending was better.

MAP07: Woods

Spoiler

The portal spits you in some rural base, surrounded by a forest. It's a nice change of pace after the previous maps, but it still suffers from being too dark. I get it builds the mood, but having to spot sniping imps and spectres on your path can get frustrating. My favourite part is when you reach a mansion hidden in the woods, find a yellow key and a mob appears outside. Again, it's not a bad map, but I feel like it's look at it than play yourself.

Celestin · September 13, 2023

MAP08-MAP14

MAP08: Military Depo(t)

Spoiler

Guess who missed a secret SSG early on again...

Emerging from the woods, you stumble into a heavily-guarded techbase, with a chaingunner turret and a mastermind sentry. There's a secret plasma rifle early on, but I didn't find it, which is a shame, as it would help a lot with the blue key ambush: a big trap with revenants, hell knights and a lot of demons. Other than that, it's a clean-up of a highly-detailed base filled with imps, zombies and pinkies, occasionally reinforced by bigger demons. They aren't a threat with proper weapons, but with only a shotgun, they were a chore to kill. On the other hand, mowing down weaker demons is as fun as always, and Military Depo provides those in large numbers.

Continous players or those that know about its secrets would have more fun here than I did, but I wouldn't call this a bad map.

MAP09: Disposal Facility

Spoiler

A slime base located in a rocky canyon. This time, you get a SSG right by the start, so no complaints about tedious combat. There are some cool setpieces, like when you suddenly teleport into a lava cave with lost souls flying around and a imp ambush right after returning to the base. The final fights, nukage-filled rocky arenas, call for more monsters. The rest is an incidental stuff this wad is already full of.

Solid map, much better than the previous one.

MAP10: Cistern

Spoiler

I like the aesthetic side of the place. An underground reservoir, with brick walls covered with vines gives off a vibe of an old scructure that, while still in use, is rarely visited. It's also much brighter than a lot of previous maps.

Combat-wise, it's so-so. There's a lot of hitscanners here, especially a big fight in the titular cistern is amusing due to its excess, but the rest is, again, incidental. Another thing I've noticed is a large number of hell nobles, which you'll likely take out with a super shotgun. This does feel like a grind, rather than challenge.

MAP11: Venom Canyon

Spoiler

The map starts with yet another through techbases and slime tunnels, before emerging into the main attraction: a dam dividing a canyon. It reminds me of Half-Life, especially Surface Tension and the info file confirms this. It's a memorable landmark, but the fights here are lacking - sniping enemies on the opposite side and killing hitscanners on your path. It's as if Z86 designed this place first and then tried to fit the monsters. The ending, with a pair of cyberdemons in a large arena, poses little threat, but it's still a decent way to end the episode.

I think Venom Canyon does a great job illustrating my issues with Hellbound: the maps look great, but the fights are lacking.

MAP12: Power Station

Spoiler

Power Station is a beautiful techbase, but it was an absolute chore to play. It withholds a super shotgun and plasma rifle for the majority of the map, so between killing incidental hitscanners, you'll be hacking at hell nobles, pain elementals and a pair of archviles with a pump action. This is, however, nothing compared to the worst part of the wad so far: the blue key section. It's a labyrinthine, multi-storey arena with platforms that you'll have to strafe-run across, flickering lights, faraway snipers and lost souls flying around. The whole place is confusing to navigate, you'll be falling to the bottom a lot and wasting your time trying to climb back up, while losing health to enemies you can barely see. Just awful.

Hellbound has issues with putting style over substance and this is the worst example of this.

MAP13: Encrus Station

Spoiler

Unlike MAP12, Encrus Station isn't keeping away guns for unreasonable period of time, which in itself is a major improvement. The map itself is a mountainous base with monorail track prominently displayed (which I think is another element inspired by Half-Life) and partially overgrown by hellish corruption. It flows fine, with a sole exception being one particularly dark cavern. I don't know about you, but I personally don't like fighting stuff I can barely see - including spectres. Other than that, it's your typical Hellbound stuff: corridors with weak monsters to run and gun plus some tankier demons.

You'll be collecting keys throughout the map, with all three you can unlock a room with a BFG and a surprising drop down into a hellish dungeon. The map ends with a fight against a cyberdemon and company, which isn't hard thanks to a recently-obtained BFG.

I enjoyed this one more than any previous map, I think it's the best combination of detailed architecture and entertaining combat.

MAP14: Doom District

Spoiler

The view of this large city map is jaw-dropping. I've never questioned Z86's talent to create gorgeous scenery, but this is on a completely different level. From the scale of this place to a convincing use of stock textures, this is the best looking map of the set so far.

As for the gameplay, you start at a roof of one of the skyscrapers and make your way down to the streets, where two masterminds and a number of other monsters greet you. Pistol-starting was tense and confusing, but I quickly found a building with a super shotgun and a plasma rifle nearby. It spawned even more enemies, but there's a lot of place to run around, provoking infighting and taking down whatever is in you way. I wish I had a rocket launcher, it's located later in the level and a nearby blue key triggers another horde. Survive this, and the rest is mostly non-threatening.

I can't praise the visuals enough, but the gameplay is passible at best. Like the street fight was supposed to be this epic battle, but I had the most troubles with hitscanner getting a hit from another end of the map.

Celestin · September 23, 2023

MAP15-MAP21

MAP15: The Vault

Spoiler

I missed an early SSG again and paid for this with my time, killing everything with a single barrel. Even with a super shotgun, this is a long and tedious map, involving, like many before, slowly crawling through a dimly-lit techbase and clearing groups of monsters in your path.

Since this is a MAP15, I tried to reach the secret exit. It's a two-stage process, involving two puzzles with shootable switches that I managed to find only one.

I had little fun here, The Vault reprises the biggest complaints I had with this wad so far: boring combat amplified by its tendency to hide stronger weapons in obscure secrets and bloated size.

MAP31: Diabolus Ex Machina

Spoiler

The first secret map of Hellbound is very clearly inspired by 1010011010, the 31st map of Speed of Doom. Z86 ditches Darkwave's gimmick of using only cyborg enemies and high-tech weapons, while adding hellish corruption to the grays and blues of the original map. The final result is a decent slaughter map, though not without its issues. There is surprisingly little health for a map that has you fighting hordes of revenants, hell nobles and multiple cyberdemons.

The early parts weren't anything special - the first big arena consists of firing rockets at revenants that chase you and the blue key tunnels that follow are the weakest part of the map. There's a secret BFG here, which I was lucky to find and it helped me a lot with the remaining of the map. Cyberdemons here are great at killing their allies, especially ones that appear in a circular hub. Just be careful not to get hit too much, there are little healing items aside of the four megaspheres here.

Like in 1010011010, you need to kill several Keens to get to the secret exit. I found 3 out of 5 on my own, which I consider a good score.

I think it's an okay map, especially past the blue key, with one of better combat design so far.

MAP32: Spear of Destiny

Spoiler

The secret exit of MAP32 teased a Wolf3d-themed map, but Spear of Destiny goes above and beyond making a simple Nazi bunker. The map is neatly split into two halves. The first one is a meticulously-crafted castle, filled with SS troops and their wunderwaffen. I really like this part, you are loaded with bullets and rockets, making it easy to eliminate enemy soldiers, arachnotrons and miniboss mastermind. Finally, it's an impressive looking section, which does make you wonder how a Wolfenstein sequel running on Doom engine would look like.

The rest of the map takes you to hell, where apparently Germans got their twisted ideas from. The red rocks and lava are a bit generic combination, there are spectres everywhere and a cyberdemon can be either killed outright, or left to infight with monsters that appear once you start collecting keys. Don't forget about a secret BFG behind the red key building, you'll want it for the ending: a group of archviles that teleport around the place. Once this is over, you'll return to a more corrupted fragment of MAP15 to disparch three more viles and end the map.

Spear of Destiny is a good map. I like the first half, it's one of the best Wolf3d level I've played, and while the hell part can't match the action of the opening section, I still think it provides some solid fights.

MAP16: City Bounds

Spoiler

City Bounds is a map of impressive visuals, from intricate details of an apartment building that holds the yellow key, to imposing sights of a crumbling highway or damaged buildings outside the playing field. It's also a complete chore to play.

The map has a large monster count of nearly 600, but it's also so huge there are few opportunities for large-scale infighting or rocket/BFG spam. I ended up killing a lot of enemies myself and it just felt so grindy. The first half of the map (in some canals) is the worst in this regard, especially when you grab the yellow key and a ton of cacodemons start appearing. The latter half is better, as arachnotrons are much better at provoking fights and there is more ammo to deal with. It had potential and with better combat design it could be a good map, but as it stands, it's one of the weakest in the wad.

MAP17: Star Port

Spoiler

Doomworld's 80th most memorable map.

Star Port didn't make the best first impression, the sewer you start in isn't anything special, but once you crawl out of this hole, the map improves drastically.

The place is fairly open, with monsters lurking behind every corner. Most of them are imps and hitscanners, which can be mowed down en masse. It feels so good to escape the grind for once. Finally, you reach a runway and the map's climax: a huge slaughter with teleporting monsters. It can be demolished with a secret BFG hidden nearby, but even without it, with a help of two cyberdemons most of the horde will kill one another.

Star Port, like many other maps of Hellbound, uses its visual aspect to create a sense of real place, but the enjoyable combat is what elevates it above its peers.

MAP18: Computer Complex

Spoiler

This Knee-Deep in the Dead homage took me by surprise but damn, it's a good one. Z86 populates this large techbase with a ton of low-tier enemies, with hell knights, revenants and chaingunners joining the E1 cast. So does the super shotgun, which helps a lot clearing out the entire corridors of trash.

Computer Complex borrows bits and pieces from all across the shareware Doom, upgraded with Z86's talent for details. The end result is a fun, relaxing map, something this wad has been lacking as of recently.

MAP19: Frontier Lab

Spoiler

In a similiar vein to the previous map, Frontier Lab is one big reference to corrupted techbases of The Shores of Hell. It's also considerably harder, especially early on. Aside from the spiderdemon, the whole Doom 2 bestiary appears here and that part where you ride down a lift to the Refinery-inspired room with a massive teleporting ambush is a huge threat. I died a lot here, until I stumbled upon a room with a super shotgun and started to eliminate everything here. There's a plasma rifle in an E2M1-esque secret, but I didn't find it until the end. I did find another plasma gun, right next to a cyberdemon that gets unlocked from a huge box in a crate maze.

From this point onward, Frontier Lab gets into a familiar groove of incidental combat, only to throw a setpiece fight at the very end: like in MAP06, a FIREBLU portal spawns demons to stop you from reaching the exit. This time, you have a cyberdemon that can help a lot.

Out of the two homage maps, I think I prefer Computer Complex. This might be due to my personal bias towards E1 over E2, but also a tough start in MAP19.

MAP20: Border World

Spoiler

The final map of the second chapter feels somewhat uneven. The first fight is great. You make your way to a trench system, which, combined with the title, implies this place is a fortified border, separating Earth from Hell. The frontline is assaulted by two masterminds and more monsters spawning in after you grab the red key, luckily there's an invuln and tons of ammo to defend yourself.

The rest isn't as good. The remaining part of the level is spent in a huge cavern with damaging blood at the bottom. This wouldn't be such a bad place if it wasn't for a cyberdemon, sniping you from far away. You need a yellow key to progress, it's inside a tower rising from the blood. It wouldn't be that bad if it wasn't for the cyberdemon, he has a talent to fit a rocket through a window when you try to climb to the top. A fight against three archviles here isn't that bad, especially with a secret invuln.

Now you can run past the cyberdemon (I've killed him, but he's useful to fight a horde of hell nobles that appears afterwards) and continue an incidental corridor crawl until you reach another cyberdemon guarding the exit.

It's a shame Border World couldn't keep the pace of the first big fight, otherwise it would have been a great episode ending. I still think it's a solid map, but, like many others in this wad, drags on for too long.

MAP21: The Gates of Hell

Spoiler

In a megawad full of huge maps, something this quick is a welcomed change. The Gates of Hell gives you only two weapons: a shotgun early on and a plasma rifle before the final arena. The ammo is plentiful, health isn't. The big fight at the end involves a cyberdemon and the bulk of the map's monsters, but a free invuln takes the difficulty down a lot.

As for how the map looks, well, it's Hell - lava, red rocks and marble buildings. I think this is a good breather after the last two maps.

Celestin · September 26, 2023

MAP22-MAP27

MAP22: Stygian Depths

Spoiler

Yet another SSG corridor crawl, this time set inside... well, I'm not sure. It's part caves, part marble halls and the few times you can see the sky it seems like this place is suspended in the air (I think?). There are some spots where the map does something other than incidental combat. I like the cross-shaped platform with revenants and cacodemons, same with a teleporting ambush not long after (though monsters here will likely kill each other). Not the worst map of the wad, but it's yet another level of Hellbound that takes half an hour to beat. I fear this won't change till the end.

MAP23: Fortress of Ages

Spoiler

The opening fight is a mess: a huge open field, chaingunners, flying cacodemons and projectiles all around. If you know where the rocket launcher and super shotgun are, you can start taking care of this. I like how this place looks, a stone platform on a lake of lava, with an impressing view of the demonic stronghold. When you open the way to the titular fortress, a group of monsters appear lead by a cyberdemon, so this is once again an excercise in infighting.

The fortress is my least favourite part of the map, yet again very incidental search for all three keys. I do find the yellow key fight somewhat interesting, you enter a narrow ledge where enemies teleport in and there are teleport pads on each end that warps you to the other side (the cyberdemon here is a just a time waste).

I appreciate breaks from incidental combat, because the wad is already full of it. Still, I'd enjoy it more if it ended after reaching the fortress.

MAP24: City of Pandemonium

Spoiler

City of Pandemonium is a large sandbox filled with more than 600 monsters. I wish I could say more, but aside from one part where a cyberdemon and several archviles appears in the city (for which I saved a secret invuln), it is a map that more than anything requires patience and knowing where the guns are. It took me 50 minutes to beat, once the start dies down, it's mostly cleanup and corridors.

MAP25: Bastion of Void

Spoiler

Yet another huge map that drags for too long. It's nice to look at, I will admit that, with fragments of some fortress hurdling through the void. Once you start playing, though, well, it's Hellbound, you should expect how an average map in this wad goes.

The hardest fight of the map hits you early on, when you arrive at a hub with a fort in the middle. This place is patrolled by a ton of hell nobles, mancubi, pinkies and a cyberdemon. Yes, there is a plasma rifle here, but the little health there is is guarded by revenants on rampants. It gets even worse if you (like me) miss an SSG secret by the start.

The rest of the map is padded out by having to move back and forward between a hub and a red maze, each time the places refill with monsters. What does it bring to the map besides extending its runtime? I don't know.

MAP26: Forbidden Archives

Spoiler

This one has little redeeming qualities. First of all, it's blatantly symmetrical. This, combined with a large size and copy-pasted rooms make it a total nightmare to navigate. The library setting feels a bit generic, but my biggest issue lies with combat. Once you reach the titular archive, it's again running around with a super shotgun, taking potshots at monsters that appear in several waves. Rockets aren't plentiful and cells are better saved for cyberdemons and archviles, so it gets tedious really fast.

MAP27: Crimson Abbys

Spoiler

Nearly an hour of killing stuff in crowded corridors with a super shotgun. Somehow it's even more dull than the previous map. It also adds such attractions as cyberdemon that teleports around, archviles mixed into almost every group of monsters and the rocket launcher, a weapon crucial for dispatching crowds quicky, is hidden in an out of way corner.

Yes, the map still looks great, I especially like the contrast between red rocks and marble, but the longer Hellbound goes, the worse individual levels play.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Celestin

Celestin · September 29, 2023

MAP28-MAP30

MAP28: The Black Citadel

Spoiler

Same shit as MAP26: symmetrical, repetitive and grindy. It does have one fight that did caught me off guard, when you grab the yellow key and you get ambushed by a horde of imps and a cyberdemon. Aside from this, way too much time is spent on killing hell knights and other crap with a super shotgun.

MAP29: Ascension

Spoiler

An absolute unit of a map, much bigger in size and scope than the rest of the wad. Ascension is a huge slaughter map with almost 1900 enemies, but I'd say its difficulty comes from the lenght rather than encounter design. And framerate drops. For the record, I currently play on a cheap laptop and I loaded the uncut version, but still, Woof! is normally rock-solid when it comes to performance, but in some spots it did run noticeably slower. If you tend to use GZDoom, change to a different port for this one.

I like the premise, climbing the mountain keep to a flesh column on the top, while murdering hordes that stand on your path. There's one kind of encounter that Ascension repeats a lot here, a long corridor with enemies spawning at the opposite end (according to the info file, it was inspired by Serious Sam, but I think it was more overwhelming in that game). Luckily, Z86 for once isn't withholding ammo, so you'll have enough rockets to push enemies back and enough cells to handle more open arenas.

Ascension's climax is probably one of the best setpieces of the entire Hellbound. A courtyard with a pentagram and flesh column in the centre is first flooded with hell nobles and archviles, pressing a series of switches releases more, including several cyberdemons and masterminds, hordes of revenants, arachnotrons and even more viles. While it is just an excercise in infighting and cleaning up the stragglers, I wish there were more fights like this.

Ascension is the most impressive map of Hellbound and offers enjoyable combat (especially in the context of the third episode), but I do think placing such behemoth at the tail end of a megawad full of huge and time-consuming maps might turn many people away. Maybe it would work better as a standalone release?

MAP30: Worlds Collide

Spoiler

The final challenge of Hellbound has some interesting ideas, too bad it's a monster-dense Icon of Sin.

But first things first. Worlds collide starts in hell, with a small army ready to cross a portal into our world. The opening shot was evidently inspired by Nuts.wad, though with two orders of magnitude less enemies. This part consists of infighting and eliminating cyberdemons that are left standing, which is fine, but it's all downhill from here.

The second part takes place in a city, reminding me of MAP14. You are locked on a fleshy pillar upon entereing here, so five monster spawners start filling this place with crap and cacodemons start approaching you, but the worst offender is a spawning spot on a roof. It's too high for autoaim to hit whatever spawns here and if it's an arachnotron, you are a sitting duck being sprayed with plasma. You'll be released eventually (in my case - with little health), so you'd better figure out what to do, because the objectives aren't very clear. Essentially, you need to find a lift that takes you to the blue key, locate a fleshy corridor between a pair of blue doors, get the red key, return to the fleshy corridor, press some switches, kill some cyberdemons and escape this part. All the while, dealing with a ton of monsters that keep spawning, several cyberdemons and high-damage lava. It's just trial and error and at one point I was about to give up, but then I found the red bars and finally moved to the final fight of the wad. It's not as bad as the previous one, but it still involves waiting for a target to appear, while monsters are spawning around.

I'm really not a fan of this one, while not as awful as some other maps of this kind, a frustrating Icon of Sin is the last thing you want to see at the end of a megawad like this.

Conclusions

Hellbound is a megawad of stunning visuals. There's no denying Z86 is a true artist when it comes to using stock textures to create highly detailed levels. His city maps look the best, though even humble techbases and hellish strongholds do impress with their architectural complexity.

However, I do think the negative aspects outweight the positives. My biggest issue is the combat. It's downright boring, mostly incidental corridor clearing or expansive, but relatively sparsely-populated arenas. Most maps aren't generous with cells and rockets, so a super shotgun will be your main weapon. This make many levels, especially in the second half, drag a lot, with many reaching over half an hour of slowly killing tanky monsters. The early maps weren't that bad, but Hellbound overstayed its welcome somewhere in the middle of its second episode Also, some maps in the final episode are very symmetrical, down to enemy placement. Looks great on the automap, but it's not fun to play. Aside from MAP29, this makes the final thind the least fun part of the wad.

In the end, Hellbound is not a wad I can recommend in its vanilla form. Doom is a primary an action game for me, so dull combat is a fatal flaw. However, if you are looking for something to play with a gameplay mod, especially one that boosts your firepower. This way, you'll deal with the opposition quickly and will have more time to admire levels' design.

Top 3 maps of Hellbound are:

MAP29: Ascension
MAP32: Spear of Destiny
MAP17: Star Port

The worst map is

MAP26: Forbidden Archives

It's ironic I played Hellbound to recover from a grind of Hell Revealed, only to find something even more tedious...

Ravendesk · September 29, 2023

28 minutes ago, Celestin said:

It's ironic I played Hellbound to recover from a grind of Hell Revealed, only to find something even more tedious...

Oh yes, when I saw that "I think it will be a nice break after Hell Revealed" I couldn't help but chuckle, but I didn't want to comment on that before you have finished the wad to not influence your opinion xd

Great writeups btw, I thoroughly enjoyed reading them.

Celestin · September 29, 2023

@Ravendesk, don't worry, I did my research this time, because the next wad I'll be playing is Doom 404 by Capellan, whom I know from short but aggressive maps like Demonfear of his submissions to Requiem.

Episode 1: Real Life (MAP01-MAP06)

MAP01: Trouble Ticket

Spoiler

A playable cutscene, rather than a proper map, the only enemies are three zombies by the exit. Let's move on.

MAP02: Bad Signal

Spoiler

This is where Doom 404 really starts. Bad Signal is a compact techbase populated by E1M1 cast, so find a shotgun ASAP and clear this place. The main threat is the chip damage from all the hitscanners, especially since health is mostly stored in secrets. A fun map to start a wad.

MAP03: PEBKAC

Spoiler

There's a lot of pinkies and hell knights here. A part where you take a lift and end up in a demon-infested basement took me by surprise, even if it wasn't hard to clear. You get a super shotgun here, so taking care of the rest isn't hard. PEBKAC takes 4 minutes to beat, but not a second is wasted.

MAP04: System Access

Spoiler

It's dark here, but since it's a short map, a secret light amplification visor should last for the majority of hard parts.

A chaingun and chaingunners make their debut here, so you'll be mowing down trash monsters and using an SSG on hell knights and spectres. I like the usage of a lift to create an interlocking corridors, but the platforming bit by the end feels like a bit of a padding in a 5-minutes map. Still, a solid one.

MAP05: Server Room

Spoiler

The first room represent a considerable uptake in difficulty. It's cramped and quickly fills with lost souls and cacodemons, not to mention pre-placed enemies. Fortunately, a super shotgun is not far and if you manage to jump on top of the mainframe computers below, you'll have enough ammo to survive. Health though, better look for secrets.

The rest of the map is much easier, the chaingunners in the last room might be a trouble, but at least you have room to move and the last ambush of cacodemons and pinkies blocking your escape posed little threat with an SSG.

I like short and punchy maps like this one, that's exactly what I came for.

MAP06: Interface

Spoiler

The main fights here are a pair of courtyards with cacodemons and pain elementals, accompanied by other monsters. Just try not to have too much crap flying around and you should be fine. The ending in a corrupted server room has the player enter a computer to fight demons there, I'm really excited to see how this goes.

Celestin · September 30, 2023

Episode 2: Virtual Life, part a (MAP07-MAP15)

MAP07: Firewall

Spoiler

The first map inside a computer is a shooting range where you are a target for mancubi, arachnotrons and cacodemons. Dodging streams of projectiles and pumping rockets into targets are the two most important skills.

As for visuals, there's FIREBLU and red brick wall, but also vines and gray rocks, so I guess this chapter will turn towards more abstract desing.

MAP08: Random Access

Spoiler

The start is somewhat unassumming, however, once you pass through the red door, a horde of various monsters start flooding the map. If you don't run out of ammo, you should be ok.

MAP09: Hard Drive

Spoiler

Not as difficult as its title might imply, still, it's a cramped map, especially towards the end. The fight against barons where you have to outmaneuver them while firing rockets is great and the mass of demons that follows is a good way to end a map. One of my favourites in the wad.

MAP10: FAT32

Spoiler

Take a wild guess what and how many monsters you'll be fighting here.

This is the first map of Doom 404 I did not enjoy. The mancubi here are an absolute chore to fight with only a super shotgun and plasma rifle. I get this (and tight ammo balance) are supposed to promote aggressive approach, but it didn't work for me. Like other maps here, FAT32 is on a smaller size, so dealing with groups of enemies that can blanket the entire space with projectile is no fun.

MAP11: Infinite Loop

Spoiler

More like "Infinite Cacodemons". They (together with three pain elementals) start flooding the map once you lower the blue key. Since the central part of the map is full of hurtfloors, I tried to defend myself from a room in the northern part of the map. After a couple of deaths, I managed to survive the assault (there's also a secret SSG here, which would have helped a lot, but I didn't find it). This is the hardest map so far, but satisfying to beat.

MAP12: Machine Code

Spoiler

Oh, so this is why the map is shaped like 1s and 0s. The combination of metal walls and vines brings Plutonia to my mind. I like this one a lot, the combat is chaotic in a good way, especially the red key fight, where, with a bit of foreknowledge, monsters can kill one another without you asking. That one part at the end where you are squeezed by revenants on one side and spectres on another is tense, but if you find any of the map's three secrets, you'll get a rocket launcher, which can decimate one of the groups.

MAP13: Bugged

Spoiler

With a name like this, I expected something like MAP10, but with spiders. Indeed, arachnotrons are plentiful in this caves, but they aren't the only enemy to be found here. This means there's more opportunity for infighting and generally, more varied combat scenarios. The ammo placement discourages camping, but when you try to run forward, more monsters get revealed. This reminds me of Going Down (another wad I need to finally sit through and finish), but on a smaller scale.

MAP14: Recycle Bin

Spoiler

The first room features a huge group of zombies and several pinkies, which should be a hint that Capellan is raising the monster count here. Recycle Bin is a non-stop massacre, especially if you find secrets, they provide useful guns earlier. It's also a point where archviles make their debut, the first one is especially nasty, as there's no cover to break his line of sight. The remaining two will revive fallen demons in the column room, but I had enough cells to get rid of them all. Outstanding map with great pacing.

MAP15: Password Protected

Spoiler

It's fine, I guess, but nothing sticks with me. I didn't have issues with ammo this time, but maybe that's because I was trying to kill pinkies with a chainsaw. The secret exit was easy to find, it's nested inside another secret, but the part where you have to raise columns to the exit (which reminded me of Doom 64 or that one awful room from Marathon) is padding. There's no puzzle here, just form steps and exit.

Celestin · October 7, 2023

Episode 2: Virtual Life, part b (MAP31-MAP20)

MAP31: Nazi Shooter!

Spoiler

I love how the IT-Guy tries to get to Hell through a corrupted computer, only to find himself in some random game. It's a good explaination why there is a secret Wolf3d-themed level here.

Nazi Shooter! is what you might expect: an orthogonal maze that branches off from a swastika-shaped hub, filled with SS troops. The layout is deliberately simplistic, keeping in touch with the original Wolfenstein 3d, though a subtle use of lifts helps adding a bit of welcomed verticality. Health and ammo aren't plentiful, so the gameplay ends up being slow, with a lot of peeking behind corners and provoking infighting.

The secret exit was found without much looking, there are two secrets, each with a Keen, and killing them both unlock a new corridor from the starting point. I think it's an okay map.

MAP32: Thule

Spoiler

The map's title and the text screen made me believe it's going to be another Nazi bunker and while the first room seems like it, Thule quickly pulls the rug from under the player and reveals a cavern filled with monsters. The cacodemon cloud that appears when you approach the yellow key reminded me of MAP11, but there is no hurtfloors here and the map is loaded with rockets. A pair of archviles appears, but I was able to single them out and dispatched without reviving too many enemies. I like this one for subverting my expectations.

MAP16: DeFrag

Spoiler

E1M1 transformed into a hard-hitting challenge (bonus points for the remix of "At Doom's Gate"). Picking up the BFG in a nukage pool reveals a crowd of zombie, but resist the temptation of wasting cells on them, because once you try to exit this place, monsters start spawning in, including an archvile and a pain elemental. The rest of the map, while tight on health, gives you enough ammo to deal with everything else.

MAP17: CPU

Spoiler

It starts as a dark and unassuming techbase, until you reach the teleporter. It brings you to an arena with a mastermind, but luckily she can be distracted by all the monsters around her, allowing me to grab the blue key and sneak out. This isn't the end of the map, though, as it gets repopulated with various enemies. Strong map, especially its ending.

MAP18: Bad Sector

Spoiler

I guess the title refers to the hurtfloors present in this cave, which puts additional pressure on you. It's probably the hardest map so far, especially because of the final fight. It's a mess of enemies teleporting in, including archviles. What makes it worse is a random nature of monster teleportation. I have no strategy here, besides finding a secret BFG and praying I can take out the viles quickly and chaingunners don't take too much of my health. The unpredictable nature of Bad Sector is not something I enjoyed.

MAP19: Crash

Spoiler

A crusher-centric map in -cl2 isn't something I usually enjoy, especially when the map is rather stingy with ammo. Luckily, the archvile here are placed in a way that won't create ghosts monsters. They are mixed into a group of cacodemons, hell knights and other enemies, representing the biggest challenge of the map. Especially if you are out of rockets or didn't find the plasma rifle.

MAP20: Portal

Spoiler

Portal won't give you a moment to catch your breath, from the moment you move you are attacked from all sides by demons, so the only way is forward. Jimmy's track from SIGIL helps a lot here, it's a perfect soundtrack for a non-stop massacre.

Something I don't think I've mentioned about this wad is how many maps here are gradually opening new passages between visited areas, creating an interconnected layout. It's used here to great effect, allowing for a highly-mobile combat, like you're trying to survive an assault from multiple direction, but also retreat and try different route. This makes Portal a great conclusion of the virtual chapter.

Celestin · October 13, 2023

Episode 3: After Life (MAP21-MAP30)

MAP21: Daemon

Spoiler

Doom 404's vision of hell combines the expected infernal decor with more human technology. I mean, they had to infest the UAC system somehow. Also, it's nice to see the sky after spending half of the megawad inside a computer.

Anyway, Daemon is a square arena with a cyberdemon in the middle, over a pool of blood. He'll do most of the killing, at least until the archviles arrive - I managed to find a spot where I could load rockets into them while having room to hide from their attacks and cyberdemon's rockets. Probably my only complaint is how you'll likely have to kill the surviving cyber with rockets or shotgun. Or just ignore him and go for the exit. Either way, a minor issue in an otherwise strong map.

MAP22: Terrorbyte

Spoiler

Good pun, but I'm not wild about this map. It is focused on a dark cave and the most prevalent ammo type is rockets. So yeah, prepare to be blown up by a sneaky spectre. After making a loop to a ledge with an exit, lowering the yellow key and picking it up, the map gets flooded with monsters, you'll likely have no ammo to kill them all, unless you knew about a berserk pack in a lava pond. Terrorbyte is probably one of the weaker map in a while.

MAP23: Biomatrix

Spoiler

A small monster count masks a fierce opposition. There are six archviles here (who, especially early on, when you're low on rockets and cells, are a chore to fight) and a ton of beefy demons. Finding secrets is a must, luckily, this time they weren't hard to spot. Don't try going for the yellow key too early, it releases a bunch of mancubi and a pair of archvile - it's one fight you'll better be prepared for.

MAP24: Sintax

Spoiler

Another map that assaults you from the very start. This time, your main threats are cacodemons that make up half of the map's monsters and chaingunners. So jump down the lava pool and run for your life. Even with SSG, plasma rifle and secret ammo, taking out all the flying foes is a daunting task and chaingunner traps kill keep you on edge.

MAP25: Hexadeathimal

Spoiler

This one isn't complex, just a lake of blood, BFG and hordes of monsters. There's a lot of room to dodge, cells are plentiful and the biggest threat are archviles. If you take them out ASAP, you shouldn't break a sweat. After several tightly-calibrated combat puzzles, Hexadeathimal is a welcomed breather.

MAP26: EnCryption

Spoiler

Out of all maps of Doom 404 so far, this gave me the most trouble. The start is insane: once you leave the room you begin in, you'll be under a constant assault of revenants, imps and hitscanners, while you are defenceless. The goal is to activate four buttons that create a path to a switch that opens the exit. Easier said than done, there isn't much health, armor is behind enemy lines and trying to progress opens monster closets full of skeletons (it's a crypt, after all, so it's no surprise there are so many revenants). After clearing everything out, I was stumped why the columns don't work properly, only to realise it's a puzzle that requires you to press switches in order.

It's not the end, though the final fight against a crowd of revenants and an archvile wasn't that bad when you have rockets and a secret BFG.

MAP27: Demesne

Spoiler

Another tough start: you only have a rocket launcher with 7 rockets and no health, so clearing out the opening courtyard and the hall right after requires a good use of infighting. Once you've established a foothold inside the stronghold, congratulation, the hard part is over. Sure, there's a big ambush here involving a ton of pain elementals, but you are loaded with rockets and shells. Also, a BFG is here, but I'd save it for the exit and the three archviles that guard it.

MAP28: Icon

Spoiler

After emerging from some shed, you are greeted with a sight of an Icon of Sin. No pumping rockets into its exposed brain, instead Icon is another compact map with little health and tough start, where you are under fire from the opening second.

There are two points of interest. The first one is a small cave with hitscanners and mancubi. Technically you won't do much without a red key here, but one, a ton of enemies will amass here at a later point, including an archvile, two, there's a secret BFG if you notice an odd-coloured torch. The second important location is the IoS building, it holds a red key and an exit behind a blue door. The fights here are very cramped, so you want that BFG. With the red key and archvile dead, you can obtain the blue key, deal with one more ambush and leave. Small size combined with limited resources and nigh-mandatory secrets makes this one of the hardest maps of the wad.

MAP29: Hellmaker

Spoiler

Overwhelming starts are a norm at this point - here's a small room with no health that gets swarmed with hitscanners. Two archviles are also here and I have no idea how to deal with them without a secret ammo cache. After many attempts I've beaten this and survived a couple other traps, which weren't that difficult. I was ready to exit the map but nope, it's an Icon of Sin time.

It's all the things I dislike in IoS fights: cramped room and an obtuse puzzle I had to check a walkthrough to complete. Essentially, you need to hit shootable switches to raise a lift, which unlocks a switch that raises it higher. Repeat three times and you can fire at a FIREBLU square to complete the map. Not my favourite map.

MAP30: Terminal

Spoiler

The Icon of Sin has been defeated, but it's not over yet. Terminal picks right after and it's pretty much a dark cave that is a stage of a pair of fights. The first one involves two cyberdemons and some other foes, the second one reveals a horde of revenants and a mastermind. In both cases, an archvile is also here, but it's likely they will get distracted. In fact, the main threat is a lack of health. You only have a single megasphere for the entire map, so better use it well. At least rockets and cells aren't a problem. I think Terminal is a fine way to end a journey.

Conclusions

Doom 404 is an interesting project. It has a clear idea behind it, using no more than 404 linedefs per map, which translates into compact maps that play like a self-contained combat puzzles. The first and third episode display a clear continuity between levels, while the middle one, those set inside a computer, is more abstract and focused on gimmicky design. The visuals are modest, but the wad has enough variety to make up for this.

As I've said earlier, the design limitations resulted in small, but fierce maps. I think it works, but at the same time, there's a pattern that is hard not to notice, especially in the final episode: emerging from a starting room to a welcoming commitee, while you have to search for weapons. Usually surviving this is the hardest part and the rest of a map lets you arm yourself. Also, secrets are near mandatory to find, which is always a controversial design idea. The final stretch combines this with a rather high difficulty, making a last couple of maps a considerable challenge. Still, the quality is consistently high, with very few maps I consider bad.

In the end, Doom 404 is a wad I recommend checking out, the first half is a collection of good maps to binge. As for the rest, I think switching to HMP would be a good idea.

My top 3 maps:

MAP20: Portal

MAP25: Hexadeathimal

MAP16: DeFrag

My least favourite map is:

MAP10: FAP32

Andromeda · October 14, 2023

22 hours ago, Celestin said:

MAP10: FAP32

A rather unfortunate misspelling :P

Celestin · October 14, 2023

I was looking for something shorter, so I've decided to play UNWELCOME by Plusw. It's also a wad focused on creepy atmosphere, so it will fit well into October.

MAP01-MAP04

MAP01: Unforgiven

Spoiler

Ok, so the first thing you'll likely notice is an altered colour palette. It's mostly grayscale with dull blue and red. Second thing is a rather low ammo count in early parts. It's more survival horror than straigh-up action game, which pairs well with ambient midi and low lighting.

As for gameplay, your goal is to search this techbase for a set of touch plates that unlock the stairs to the exit. The fights here are tougher than they appear, because of the aforementioned low ammo and cramped nature of the map. Still, I think if you survive the fight with storage containers (I think), you should be all right. Reaching the exit reveals it's not an exit and sends a pair of pain elementals at you, which were little threat. Also, there's a pair of keys hidden behing a random wall, but I have no idea what they are used for.

I'm definitely intrigued about this wad. The atmosphere feels unique and a slower, more threatening pace is something you don't normally see.

MAP02: Unknowable

Spoiler

Right off the bat you'll learn that Unknowable is centered on red and blue barriers controlled by shootable switches. They open one, but close another, which turns the map into a puzzle of sort. It's not hard to figure out, but mistakes require backtracking and this can get tedious.

As for the combat, the ammo isn't plentiful, but you'll get a berserk pack in the very first room, so you're encouraged to punch anything you can. This is because the final enemy is a cyberdemon and I have no idea how you're supposed to kill him without a secret plasma rifle. I was lucky to find it and still had to finish him off with a chaingun.

The visual aspect is still a strong side of this wad. Unknowable isn't as dark as the previous map and still is a techbase seen through a monochrome filter, but there's one part with flesh walls and they do stand out with their pink colour.

MAP03: Unhuman

Spoiler

You start in some sort of sewer and have to choose between one of two keys. Picking up one locks another, that can be obtained after completing the challenge behind a colour door. The blue one is a bit harder, as you have to fight a group of hitscanners and two revenants. There's also an elevator puzzle here, you need to time them to get to the higher floor. The red key door holds some imps and two mancubi.

Beating both rooms unlocks a radsuit, which can be used to access a switch that opens the exit and also unleashes some monsters, including a cyberdemon. I don't think he's worth wasting your time and ammo for, besides, it's easy to run past him and reach the exit.

MAP04: Unbound

Spoiler

Combat-wise, this is the strongest map of the wad so far. The map consists of a central plaza and two routes that ends in keys. The red one involves a building with a pit inside, where you have to fight a flock of cacodemons and a trap with two pain elementals and an archvile in a cave. The blue key route is a small techbase full of columns and revenants, followed by red tunnels, where hitscanners and an archvile appear after you pick up the key.

Now, one of a running themes of Unwelcome is how the exit switch doesn't end the map, but rather displays some creepy text about "opening our eyes" and unlock the actual exit at the start. So you can guess how surprised I was when I pressed a switch, turned around and found myself inside some dark cave. This fight is really tense, because you can't see a thing and will bump into wandering hell knights and dodge revenants missiles (there is a light amplification visor in one of the towers, but I didn't find it until everything was dead). Solid map, I like how it subverted my expectations.

Sign In

Catching Up - Celestin's review thread (now playing: Plutonia 2)

Recommended Posts

Share this post

Link to post

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Popular Posts

Celestin

Celestin

Celestin

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Share this post

Link to post

Join the conversation