The DWmegawad Club plays: Claustrophobia 1024

[bioshockfan90]

MAP12: Spitshine

 

100K | 30I | 0S

 

A nice break from the unfun mess that was MAP11, but not by much. Sparse monster placement, obligatory end-of-map archvile that serves no purpose, monster placement that feels just straight up *random* at points leads to a combination that feels rather rough around the edges and unpolished. The only part of this map that I liked is the flowing water section. The rest is just kinda dull. Saved from the bottom spots, but just by a hair. 3.1 out of 5. 

 

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

MAP05

MAP07

MAP01

MAP09

MAP06

MAP04

MAP02

MAP10

MAP03

MAP12
MAP08

MAP11

 

 

[DavitW]

MAP10: Mudbath
It ain't pretty, but it gets the job done. The enemies in this map seem to be particularly lethargic, many of them not waking up even if they're standing in the middle of a gunfight. Must be some sort of fancy mapping trick. Assuming you don't get chewed up by the chaingunners too bad, the biggest challenge here is the final trap. Quite similar to the one at the end of the last map. A battle with hell knights while large groups of fodder fill up the area. Focus on the jabronis first and you should be good.

 

MAP11: Technicfear
Slapping a Cyberdemon at the end of this map didn't do much to make it any more challenging. It looks cool, very symmetrical like a dead simple map. After some rather insubstantial combat with shotgunners, imps, and a non threatening pinkie trap, it's time for the Cyberdemon. He's chosen a terrible spot to camp out at, meaning the only real challenge in this map is whether you have enough shotgun shells to defeat him or not. In the end I had more than enough ammo to deal with him and the subsequent Archvile.

 

MAP12: Spitshine
Well, it's a very silver map. I can say that much about it. At least it's not brown. The elevator past the blue key door trivializes a good portion of the combat in this map. Sure, I get that you can consider it my fault if that's how I choose to play the level. But if you give me an easy way out then I'm going to take it 9 times out of 10. Chainsawing revenants certainly gets the adrenaline pumping, though. I'd suggest doing it to at least one of them to save a bit of ammo for later on.

 

1024CLAU10.zip

1024CLAU11.zip

1024CLAU12.zip

[rehelekretep]

map11 fda

basic map. the collecting of the keys is a waste of time. i did like the unusual way of doling out resources. i had to pistol the cyber. ignored the vile.

 

map12 fda

more interesting combat here. quite a fun map. the midi is very loud though?!

[HiMyNameIsChair]

MAP12: Spitshine by Fiend

 

(Played on DSDA, UV Pistol-Start. 100% Kills / 100% Secrets. completion time: 4:29)

 

I came into this one with no prior experience with Fiend's work, so imagine my surprise when Spitshine not only looks really good but even plays a little bit mean~!

 

Spitshine starts with a scramble for a single barrel amid some hitscanners, and the realization that health is not plentiful in this techbase, so try to minimize unneeded wear & tear. I have to compliment Fiend on their layout, as it's nicely varied in shape and neatly drawn. In particular, the staircase spiraling around the central pillar looks fantastic. Fiend really tries to put the squeeze on you early, with a pair of revenants in a cramped tunnel, and making you push your way through some caco's to secure an SSG. Taking the lift up will bring you to maybe Spitshine's biggest blemish, an objectively awful and mean fight with two mancubi in a very cramped space. I try and save chaingun ammo specifically for this part, so I can hide behind one of the mancubi and pray for good pain chance rng.

 

Observant players likely already found the green armor in a secret earlier, but I imagine more people found the second uh... 'secret' by finding a switch in the newly open metal tunnels, which is not very hidden. Fiend rewards you for finding their barely hidden secret with ... some armor bonuses and health vials..??? what is this?  A map from the '90s?

 

I typically save the plasma and extra ammo you get for it for the two bruiser brothers. After that, slow roll two arachnos, get right in the face of the obligatory exit archvile, and pain chance him to death with the SSG, and that's a wrap on the map.

 

I find myself unsure where to rank Spitshine. it's handsomely made, and it has its moments... but I think it suffers from its combat being a bit too incidental, and monsters end up feeling more like beefy roadblocks than parts of larger, coordinated encounters.

 

That said, its incidental nature doesn't devolve the map as much as it does in say Mudbath. The start is solid, and overall the map still offers a decent challenge.

 

Spitshine is a perfectly fine map, but it definitely had the potential to be even better.

 

Grade: B-

 

Order of Preference

 

Spoiler

MAP05

MAP03

MAP07

MAP11

MAP09

MAP12

MAP08

MAP01

MAP02

MAP04

MAP06

MAP10

 

This was a hard one to grade because it feels very padded by the fact that monsters feel more like time sinks than encounters, but ultimately, Spitshine is far too competent, and well-constructed to land a low score, so it just barely squeaks it's way to a B. 

 

Thankfully, I think our next map, will be much... MUCH more up my alley~!

Edited August 12, 2023 by HiMyNameIsChair

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP12 - Spitshine - Fiend (100%K/I/S):

Another simple map with incidental combat that also feels taken from Congestion, but this time, it is mostly because of good things, aesthetically especially, it looks overdetailed with mostly vanilla textures, something that for me is so hard to do it deserves a medal.
It is interesting to lap a little bit around this map. Plasma gun trivializes this map a bit but, I suspect giving you a rocket launcher in a map so cramped is not a good idea. Of course, another archvile at the end, gotta love those. I don't think there is much more to say about Spitshine, as it really delivers with a solid map for a size so short. Quite standard 1024 map.

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

MAP09

MAP05

MAP03
MAP07
MAP12
MAP06
MAP02
MAP04
MAP01
MAP08
MAP10
MAP11

 

I've also re-ordered map04 just like DFF in the preference list.

[Tiramisu]

MAP12 - Spitshine

 

Starting out with an intentionally ammo-scarce scenario (good thing I learned how to chainsaw Revenants a while back!), Spitshine shifts gears midway through into a huge difficulty spike, with a surprisingly deadly Mancubus duo and even more deadly trap that leaves you utterly swarmed in a cramped corridor. Afterwards there's a double Baron ambush (my favorite fight in the map, good use of Barons as a tanky threat) and some cleanup to get to the exit. Overall, while I wasn't a huge fan of the combat here, I really liked the aesthetics - from the rock pillars outside, to the cylinder of lights and the complex grating on the skylight, there's just a lot of stuff to look at around every corner! Each area also has a distinct look, which, combined with the map's extensive use of height variation, really makes it feel like a complete, if compact, techbase on its own.

Edited August 12, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[Snikle]

MAP12 - Spitshine (HMP)

Took a good bit of damage in the opening area, but everything died pretty quickly. Visuals are very nice so far as I open the unlocked door and walk into a curved hallway. The hall looked good with the blue floor lights, and the next room looked amazing with its flowing water, leaky wall crack, and midtex platform near the switch. This room had some chaingunners as well as the usual hitscan boys and imps. Hitting the switch let loose two revenants, which weren’t hard to knock out, and the blue key.

 

Through the blue door is a chaingunner, shotgunner, and pinkie in a semicircular ascending hallway. There’s cacos in the back which awaken once the player goes in, and there’s an SSG in the further of 2 pods outside the semicircular area. Up the elevator, the 2 mancubi got me down to 6%, and then I frantically sprayed my new plasma at the shotgunner ambush, amazingly surviving. The pinkies and Hell Knights stayed outside the little plasma-shotgunner room, either due to monster blocking linedefs or maybe just good luck. Once everything died I could get the 4 stimpacks and leave. One teleporter took me to a secret stash of bonuses, the other took me out.

 

The non-secret teleporter takes you to the circular structure within the hemispherical hallway from before. Then there’s 2 Barons, that I quickly spent my sparse remaining plasma on and then had to SSG the rest of the way. Kill 2 more arachnotrons in the starting room, an arch vile in the exit, and you’re golden. I didn’t find the other secret until everything was dead, but it’s location is easy to discern once the whole map’s been gone through.

[Klear]

MAP13 - “Assault” by @Joshy

QuestZDoom, UV, blind, saves

 

This is another very good looking map, though I couldn't appreciate the details as I was barely holding on after a pinky ambush midway. I'm still struggling avoid their melee attacks with the analog controls, and I felt on the back foot throughout the rest of the map. There's a neat room-over-room effect at one point - something I'm surprised we haven't seen yet (I think?), given the constraints.

 

All the rooms here are quite different from each other and after looping back the map feels surprisingly expansive, though it is a bit cramped at times. 

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP13: Assault by Joshy

 

Assault is a modest outpost with a heavy use of brick and wire fence textures, which make its low-tech aesthetcs stand out visually from other techbases. The combat leaves little impact, aside from the fight against pinkies in one of the larger rooms of the map. Just don't walk up the stairs as long as they are alive, it spawns cacodemons and lost souls, making the place even more cramped than it needs to be.

 

Everything after this poses little threat, as you are given a super shotgun. There's a bit of backtracking, but it's something I'm expecting from this wad. Good map, I enjoyed this a lot.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Blind/Saves (if needed)

Map 12:  Spitshine - Fiend

100% kills and secrets

Time: 4:57

 

Never played anything by Fiend before, and it looks like they haven't done much, which is sad cause this was really solid. There's an increase in mid-tiers for this map, with some revs, mancs, and nobles showing up at various spots as opposed to just fodder enemies. There's a few ambushes that can be intense, like one just before teleporting to the red key, as hitscan pop up in front of you, and pinkies and hell knights open up behind you. You do get the SSG in this map, so you should be fine, but this is a 1024x1024 map, so pinkies close the distance quickly, and the hell knights take a few shots to take out so they can get close quickly as well. The archie behind the exit door is harmless tho as you can trap it in there and SSG it to death. This map is another that looks pretty good. It has some nice detailing going on. I liked the touch of the small windows around the pillar that the red key is actually in, for example. So yeah, this was a good one. Nice and punchy! 

[brick]

GZDoom, Boom compat, software, HNTR, blind, continuous with saves.

 

MAP12 - “Spitshine” by Fiend
A highly detailed and very nice looking base with some great lighting. The passages coil on themselves, the lines look very busy on the automap as they fill in almost every little point in the square. Enemy composition is interesting, almost every enemy is used (no bosses) but only in single digits, for some only a couple of each, but the positioning makes them take good advantage of the restricted environment. It's fun to have so much variety in combat when the map can be finished in barely 3 minutes. I really liked this one.

 

MAP13 - “Assault” by Joshy
Another map that makes great use of layout to appear larger and more involved. On the first circuit I noted the red switch and red bars and knew I'd have to come back later. After getting the red key and ending up back at the start, what to do next was obvious, but some enemies pop up here and there to spice up the revisit. None of the fights are very hard on HNTR but they are still fun especially with a limited arsenal, with a mancubus creeping up the main passage while a caco shoots through the high window on the other side. I liked the watery look and colours, and the custom palette makes those blues look really nice. Another very enjoyable map.

[Horus]

15 hours ago, pcorf said:

 

The WOS era Pcorf late 2000's. It was a tough map to make giving the limited space especially when aiming for something open, my ideas were low and I lacked creativity but tried to balance the boredom out with ambushes and a tough Cyberdemon fight. Certainly not my favourite map by a long way. After WOS was released I focussed much more on better layouts hence Zone 400, 2022ado etc.

 

I was going to say, to be fair, I think your more recent maps have shaken off the symmetry tag!

 

13 hours ago, RHhe82 said:

[I played this on the 5th of Aug, I haven't the slightest clue as to what kind of map this was, and my own, and very short and non-informative description doesn't ignite any sort of synapses inside my skull. I consider myself verbose kind of guy at least in my native language, and I even think I'm good at english and proficient in Doom, but still my output feels sorely lacking and primitive D:]

 

I don't think it really matters too much to be honest! There shouldn't be any expectation for us to have detailed verbose reviews of each map, a brief summary is often more than enough. Tbh I ran up blanks on my map 13 write-up myself. The main thing is that we play the wad together and share our thoughts in whatever format we please.

 

MAP12 - “Spitshine” by Fiend

 

A new episode but no real change in theme to go with it. Nonetheless, this map was much more enjoyable for me, with tough but fair combat. I was actually chuffed with myself for getting through the close-quarter mancubi section without dying, you really get barely any room for manoeuvre – just enough to dodge the projectiles if you know their patterns. The rest of the map follows a similar theme, though is a tad more forgiving. I found a secret without knowing what triggered it – a teleport just appeared and I went through it and got a secret – I assume I must have done something and not realised, and it wasn’t a free secret, but I haven’t checked Ultimate Doom Builder to make sure. The MIDI is really quirky, and I can’t decide whether I like it or hate it. It’s a repetitive one, that’s for sure.

Overall, I enjoyed it - actually, I hadn't realised until Celestin mentioned it that Fiend had also made Beyond Revival, which was one of my favourite wads to play through as part of my participation in the Ironman league.

 

MAP13 - “Assault” by Joshy

 

So yeah, as I said earlier, I try to think up things to say about this one and I come up blank…it’s fine but nothing about it is particularly memorable, just a series of bitty fights that kind of just…exist. The pop-up hell knight is a bit rude, and the ensuing pinky horde is a little tricky, as is the chaingunner placement. Visually, the map is clean and consistent, and it makes good re-use of space. 

So certainly not bad but not something that will stick in my mind for long, the same cannot be said for the next few maps…

[cannonball]

MAP13 - “Assault” by Joshy
 

Most of this map is fine, again the use of space and layout feel pretty solid. You get one decent encounter in the form of the largest room in the map where the exit finally resides. However one little part really annoyed me and this was the drop from the start area where I managed to get snagged on both passes through this section and got nailed by hellknights on both occasions whilst doomguy seemed to be incapable of moving because of the weird physics that occurs on certain fences that look kind of ugly and didn’t really need to be there.

Otherwise the map is pretty serviceable, I will never understand how when I booted up the map that I took no hits at the start, there were hit scanners everywhere, lazy sods.

[bioshockfan90]

MAP13: Assault

 

100K | 57I | 0S

 

A nice somewhat-break from the mediocrity of the prior few maps, Assault makes good use of its 1024 space and has you running 2 laps through the map with a couple of spicy encounters here and there to shake things up, such as a stampede of lost souls rushing in with a Baron guarding a SSG to keep you on your toes. Health may be a bit limited here on HNTR, but I got through it on my 2nd try, plus these maps are very easy to redo given there’s only so much playtime you can fit in a small map so it’s not that big a deal. Again, nothing blowing me away here compared to some of the earlier maps, but it’s alright and serviceable. 3.9 out of 5.

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

 

MAP05

MAP07

MAP01

MAP09

MAP06

MAP04

MAP13

MAP02

MAP10

MAP03

MAP12

MAP08

MAP11

 

 

[Flyxolydian]

And continuing on with the WAD:

 

Map 11 - Technicfear:

I mean... you spend half of the map's playtime killing one enemy. Kind of all there is to say about it really? Get the Cybie infighting with the other enemies to save ammo and you're golden. Nice bit of symmetry in the room though.

Map 12 - Spitshine:
This one makes me think of Scythe 1... what with the red sky, the tight layout, and well constructed ambushes. This one feels a lot bigger a level than it actually is! (Apparently this one is now D'Vorah because he won't stop saying 'this one')

Map 13 - Assault:
Oh Christ... a Joshy map. I was worried about having my first death here, considering his penchant for hot starts, as it turns out... quite mild by his standards. Is it a coincidence that this one is called Assault, and map 13 of Joshy's WAD Resurgence is also called Assault? Probably not to be honest.

Edited August 13, 2023 by Flyxolydian

[bioshockfan90]

19 minutes ago, Flyxolydian said:

Oh Christ... a Joshy map. 

MAP28 IMO is a lot more traditional 'Joshy', would recommend saves for that one but I forgot what difficulty you're playing on. Either way it's very hard and very fun.

[RHhe82]

MAP13: Assault. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 52/52 K, 2/2 S, 121/121 I. Comp. time 7:43

 

Another good-looking map, with intense combat, especially after the beginning, I feel. Or at least I had the most trouble with the pit with the hell knight overlooking the pit, where you can unleash revenant, and chaingunners await your escape. Map lands in the upper tier of maps for me so far.

[Flyxolydian]

3 hours ago, bioshockfan90 said:

MAP28 IMO is a lot more traditional 'Joshy', would recommend saves for that one but I forgot what difficulty you're playing on. Either way it's very hard and very fun.

Ah Ok, I'll prepare myself for that then!

I'm playing UVMAX, pistol start, saveless, and haven't quite died yet. I'm just curious to see how far I can go before it happens haha

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Blind/Saves (if needed)

Map 13:  Assult - Joshy

100% kills and secrets

Time: 5:21

 

This is a nice punchy map with a good amount of enemy variety. Nice uses of heights too, while not being too cramped. The secrets are straight out of the TNT fake wall handbook, oddly enough. I like the water-y setting too. Having the SSG late into the map after killing a bunch of mid-tiers plus a baron seems unfriendly to pistol-starters, but oh well. I don't have much more to say, but honestly that's probably just cause I'm in a sad mood today. I did enjoy the map overall!

[Klear]

MAP14 - “Deception” by Dreadopp

QuestZDoom, UV HMP, blind, saves

 

Well, this map kicked my ass. I'm posting two videos - my failed UV run and then the whole map on HMP. The map starts out tough but manageable. The opening courtyard in specific gave me some trouble as I misjudged angles from where the imp fireballs come from and lost a bunch of health needlessly. The inside was going fine until the revenants started showing up. The spooky boys always gave me some trouble, add very constrained movement space with plenty of edges to get caught on and said boys being teleported in my face and it turns into a nightmare in VR. Still, I pushed on, but after running completely dry on ammo it was game over. I made some effort to maybe run for an exit switch but it just wasn't happening.

 

Playing on HMP, I was kinda disappointed. It felt like the difficulty dropped by a LOT. I was expecting maybe one revenant per spawn here, but instead there's three imps. UV was too hard for me, HMP felt way too easy. I did die once, to a chaingunner whose spawn got delayed and so he suddenly appeared behind my back. Not too thrilled about that either.

 

So yeah, can't say I enjoyed this map on either difficulty, though it's at least partially a skill issue.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP13 - Assault - Joshy (100%K/58%I/50%S):

It's Joshy again, and this time he is not leading a project. This map looks like one of those early Alien Vendetta maps, but if I'm fair, those actually look like most of the Speed of Doom maps at the first episode, made by Joshy himself. Those were made nearly at the same time. The map is hard, but it does not have a final fight as interesting as you would expect, in addition, the exit is quite random, as you need to step in the water that lowers at the end to exit. It felt quite weird, specially because someone would expect to exit when hitting the switch behind the red bars. You will have to take two laps around the entire complex so you reach the exit. I have enjoyed it.

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP09

MAP05

MAP03
MAP07
MAP13
MAP12
MAP06
MAP02
MAP04
MAP01
MAP08
MAP10
MAP11

 

 

[bioshockfan90]

Just a heads-up on my end that I'll be posting 30-34 all in 1 day along with my final thoughts and top 5 maps as I did not find the secret exit and that's the order I played them in anyway. It'll be big, but I'll use spoilertext to make it more readable.

[Horus]

MAP14 - “Deception” by Dreadopp

 

This is another one I remember very well from my last playthrough, albeit admittedly I expected to see it earlier in the set. The MIDI (the briefing track from Descent II) was definitely one I recognised before from when I played Scythe. It’s an ominous track that fits very well with the hellish fortress-like environment that makes a notable departure of theme from the earlier maps in the set.

 

The difficulty is there too, mainly from all those damn revenants. I feel like I learned something valuable in this map though, in how to dodge revenant melee attacks properly when you're backed into a corner. Before now I was moving back and forth too soon, meaning I still got hit. But this time I waited a little more time before stepping back, which seemed to help a lot.

 

The finale is a bit odd because the revenants spawn outside and you can just walk over the exit. There is a soulsphere and some ammo back there, which I guess is a nod to continuous players. With maps these short, I imagine that continuous play dramatically alters the gameplay and challenge. However, this can be a curse, or it can be a blessing…

 

…especially because (pistol-starting) Map 15 and the secret maps were where to me the mapset took a rapid decline the first time round, and caused me to abandon my playthrough on Map 32. I’m curious to see how I fare this time, and I’m determined not to abandon it again.

 

Final side-comment – it seems weird having a Dreadopp map without an accompanying map by Lord Z :P (for context, they are brothers and often map together in the same projects with adjacent mapslots).

 

40 minutes ago, bioshockfan90 said:

Just a heads-up on my end that I'll be posting 30-34 all in 1 day along with my final thoughts and top 5 maps as I did not find the secret exit and that's the order I played them in anyway. It'll be big, but I'll use spoilertext to make it more readable.

 

If I recall from past experience, when a mapset had a map 33/34, people tended to post about them whenever they wanted (from day 15 onwards). I'll post them along with 15/31/32, but I'll spoilertext them for those who prefer to play them at the end. 

Edited August 13, 2023 by Horus

[Klear]

15 minutes ago, Horus said:

…especially because (pistol-starting) Map 15 and the secret maps were where to me the mapset took a rapid decline the first time round, and caused me to abandon my playthrough on Map 32. I’m curious to see how I fare this time, and I’m determined not to abandon it again.

 

I got through map 15 on UV, but I was considering dropping down to HMP for the secret maps. Reading this, maybe just doing them continuous will be better. I'll try that.

[DavitW]

MAP13: Assault
Ammo can be tight in this one. Other than that it's not too bad. If you want to make things interesting you can trigger the Caco's and lost souls early in the room with the big pinkie demon trap.

 

MAP14: Deception
I've heard about cutting it close, but this was fucking ridiculous. Backed in the corner with the final revenant, one shotgun shell left and almost certainly one hit away from death. Hope you like fighting Revenants in close quarters. And the sound of Revenants for that matter. Those bastards idle noises are going to be drowning out half the sound in this map. Your biggest concern will likely be the hallway near the end that fills with Revenants as you shoot the switches along the way. Did I mention this map had Revenants yet?

 

1024CLAU13.zip

1024CLAU14.zip

[Snikle]

MAP13 - Assualt (HMP)

Neat looking opening area with an evil chaingunner facing you. Lucky for me it paced around for a while before taking its first shot, so I only took a little bit of damage before shelling it into paste. The other monsters here aren’t too big a nuisance, and hitting a switch guarded by a shotgunner in a little room creates some stairs up to the chaingunner corpse and way out of the area, for now.

 

Down below is a perched Hell knight, and before it can be dealt with, a revenant and some demons pop out as well. I killed them and left the Hell knight for later (or maybe I won’t even care to kill it, who knows). Inside the following room is gaggle of chaingunners, which are fun to kill. A shotgunner in the red-locked exit area took more of my health than them. Also I love the ladder and the Doom room-over-room part. Kill a popup hell knight in the hallway below, and then a large(ly tedious) group of pinkies. I don’t have any secrets yet, so there may be a chainsaw/berserk/early SSG I’m missing, but who wants to shot-or-chaingun a half dozen pinkies. Things heat up again with a caco and some lost souls once the player goes up the stairs toward the switch, and a chaingunner (that killed me once) pops up behind the bars where you came in from.

 

On my first attempt at the next part, I tried to grab the SSG, missed, and then ended up running back through the rest of the level trying to get back to where it was, even though the opposition had upgraded into assuming I had it. Then I died, and my last save was at the ladder, so let’s hope I can grab it this time. Also I missed the red key, lol.

 

The time I finally did it right was fun though. Grab the SSG to kill the dual chaingunners in 1 shot, then take out the Baron, and be sure to get the chaingunner behind the bars at some point too. I also found the secret backpack behind the fake wall. The final segment of the map was a breeze. Having killed the 2 visible imps from the floor below, all that was up top was a Hell knight, 1 more imp, and another chaingun asshole. Dispatch them and then go outside to the starting area where a Pain elemental awaits. Be sure to hit the red switch, I didn’t do it the first time and had to go around again after killing all the hell knights down below.

 

Spent a long time trying to figure out how to open that circular shaft, thinking it was the final secret, before giving up and hitting the “exit” switch. Guess I should have checked the enemy count, whoops. Never found the second secret though. Overall, a fun map with some cool looks and fun encounters.

[cannonball]

MAP14 - “Deception” by Dreadopp

 

John Suitepee would love this map.... jeez....

This map starts off pretty decent, a lot of monsters around you, the journey through the fortress feels procedural but okay (Lots of stuff to kill with the SSG), but then you reach the top and then you are faced with wave after wave of revenants in close quarters and inevitably you get that one rocket you cannot avoid that for some reason always does 80 damage and kills you. After wave 3 or 4 I just wanted this map to end (Which is quite an achievement for a map this short), the final wave of skeletons are an enigma, purely because they spawn when you lower the exit and you would only fight them if you literally chose to because they are nowhere near you and the exit is right by your feet, begging the question of why they spawn at all.

Not a fan of this one.

[EPICALLL]

MAP08: This map is so, so, so slow! It starts off slow enough, shotgunning imps and what have you. And then the second half is nothing but tanky enemy VS. regular shotgun after tanky enemy VS. regular shotgun. Whatever this aethstetic is here, I don't really dig it, either. It comes off as less of a cool mixture of two different themes and more so just the author, who's name will be omitted for the sake of not shaming them, juggling in their mind what theme they want, and never actually deciding on anything. The only redeeming factor here is that this map is over quickly enough.

Grade: D-
Difficulty: D+
======================================================================================
MAP09: Time for another session of Torture: The Map. It starts off with nothing but B.S. hitscan ambushes, continues to be nothing but B.S. hitscan ambushes, and then ends with B.S. hitscan ambushes PLUS wasting my god damn time. This map is not fun by any measure, but on the plus side, there is the visuals, which are cute and quite quaint. Back to the gameplay, I am convinced that this map is impossible without the secrets, it just can't be possible without them! The map forces you to take B.S. hitscan damage, refraining to give you the SSG until the end... Oh, thanks for giving me the Armour and Berserk after everything's already dead, that really helped! What a mess.

Grade: D-
Difficulty: A-
======================================================================================
MAP10: If you were to tell me that a map would throw hell knights at me, giving me nothing but low-tier weaponry and still be fun, you would have me floored. The fast pace and high probability of infighting makes this one hell of a chaos factory, which could be frustrating under some circumstances, but an absolute blast under others. The visuals do a pretty good job of complimenting the map, too... However I will say that in terms of uniqueness and detail, this proudly bestows the dunce cap. Otherwise, this map is still quite fun, despite it's flaws.

Grade: B-
Difficulty: C
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MAP11: Probably the least noteworthy map so far, this one is simple; grab keys, use lifts, flip switches, and somehow manage to kill a mandatory Cyberdemon. The map up until the cyberdemon fight is moody and somewhat fun, however the cyberdemon fight is pretty poorly calibrated. He's placed in such a way that he is unable to infight with anything, which is the only way to kill him, trust me, I got all 0 of this map's secrets. Not to mention, the monsters he's supposed to infight with are way too busy fighting each other, and by the time they calm down, they'll all die in the first rocket they take, so there's no point in trying. It's a shame this map ended on a dud, I was enjoying myself quite a lot up until then.

Grade: C-
Difficulty: C-
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MAP12: Unless if I was some sort of doom genie, I don't think I could have quite expected this one. This is a huge thematic departure from the whole rest of the set, and it shows. Silver walls, red sky, ridiculous verticality to the point where the rest of the set looks like some sort of tea party compared to how steep everything is here... You know, the usual. The combat's mostly fine, at least I get a super shotgun... However, one complaint I have is that by the time you reach the archie at the end, you likely have zero ammo, thus making it a bit difficult for 100%-heads. Otherwise, this map is unique, yet quite forgettable despite that.

Grade: C
Difficulty: D+
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MAP13: Opening room; hitscan and imps laid out in such a way that it looks like some weird border checkpoint? Check. Yep, opening room is great. However, the rest of the map is pretty good too. The theme, while rather weak in it's presentation, still gets itself across pretty nicely without distracting too much from the overall experience. The timing of the super shotgun is great, and the combat is electric despite the lack of weapons in the earlier half of the map. What else can I say? This map is tall, gray, and fun all over.
 

Grade: B+
Difficulty: C+
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MAP14: Are you ready for a snoozefest? Because I'm sure there haven't already been way too many of those in this set! I'm going to lay everything out on the table for you; Repetitive revenant encounters: The map. No really, that's like 75% of the runtime. May I please see a doctor? I think I need to have my head examined after all of this trauma from repetitive combat design. This map looks quite generic and uninteresting, too. So, I guess there's that. Also, there isn't enough ammo either, you run out way too early into the repetitive revenant ambushes. This map is predictable, alright. And one hell of a snoozefest, too. If you want to fall asleep 3 hours earlier than you planned, then play this map.

Grade: D
Difficulty: C-
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Well, I can say with confidence that while this set started off pretty strong, the novelty kind of wore off and instead started to devolve into the most boring set I think I have ever played. What's next? Actual sleep medicine?

[RHhe82]

MAP14: Deception. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 69/69 K, 1/1 S, 1/1 I. Comp. time 12:37

 

Forgot to write this review when the map was still fresh in mind D: Anyway, I remember not liking this map all too much. I mean it looks good, I guess the basic idea of it is fine, but somehow I didn't find the combat all that exciting, especially when I was going through some serious ammo deprivation there, 'specially at the end. It's fine, I guess -- if I ranked these maps, this wouldn't be at the bottom at this point, not far below the midpoint.

[bioshockfan90]

after-playthrough notes: was I the only one that liked this? I guess it's mostly an aesthetic thing, I just felt this map was very nostalgic and reminded me of some of the best the '00s had to offer.

 

MAP14: Deception

 

94K | 0I | 0S

 

A fun little roamer that doesn’t take itself too seriously nor is it that difficult, just a nice plateau in the middle of the set to give you a break from some of the harder prior maps. Dreadopp does a great job making atmosphere in this map, with excellent texture usage and a clean layout for noughties standards coupled with fine enemy placement given the constraint. This is one of the better ones, for sure. Might even rank up in top 3 for now. 4.3 out of 5. 

 

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

 

MAP05

MAP14

MAP07

MAP01

MAP09

MAP06

MAP04

MAP13

MAP02

MAP10

MAP03

MAP12

MAP08