The DWmegawad Club plays: Claustrophobia 1024

[FistMarine]

Hi everyone. I'm late as usual but hopefully I can quickly catch up (I reached MAP13 earlier today), with a couple maps reviewed per each post. I didn't get to read all the posts so far, only limited myself to reading the ones until the map I reached currently.

 

I wasn't able to participate the previous month because I've been quite busy and exhausted from playing so many megawads as of lately and didn't feel like forcing myself to finish another long megawad in a month, especially one I haven't even played before (I will revisit the entire Plutonia series at a later time).

 

But for this month, it seems an older megawad from 2009 was chosen and it has shorter maps, so I thought why not give it a try? ;)

 

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4 (cl9) - UV 100% continuous with saves

 

I am somewhat familiar with the 1024 series (Congestion 1024, Claustrophobia 1024 and its sequel), having played them a decade ago with AEOD mod in ZDoom, back when I was using gameplay mods that broke the balance of the maps quite a bit. But I don't remember ANY of the maps from the past playthrough, so it's almost a semi-blind playthrough this time around.

 

And this time I'm revisiting them in PrBoom+ without any mods, to give them a fair chance. Though I wasn't sure if the megawad is Boom or MBF compatible, considering the intro demos all played fine in boom-compatibility and I read a few years ago that MBF compatibility was glitchy anyway, so I hope Boom is all that's needed to complete the megawad. Hope to not run into ZDoomisms either.

 

General impressions:
-maps are mostly short and relatively easy
-maps are somewhat cramped and sometimes it is difficult to avoid enemies' attacks or accidentally picking up items you don't need at that time
-megawad has nice new graphics for main menu, title, status bar and other cool stuff like a modified palette (example the blue tint when picking up stuff) and new songs, plus even three new intro demos that are worth watching to get an early impression of the maps.
-some maps don't have any armor at all, though usually not much of an issue when playing continuously and bringing your own armor from the previous level
-there are impressive Boom related effects like the conveyor belts used in some maps
-there is an emphasis on the teleport traps, which are quite common, especially when enemies teleport directly behind you

 

Let's begin!

MAP01: The Warp Facility
by The Green Herring

 

The first map is fairly easy and if you find the secret green armor, you should be set for the rest of the map. You fight zombies, imps and a few demons/spectres, though you should be careful on teleporting shotgunners and a few chaingunners too. The presence of chaingunners allows you to get an early chaingun, so this is a positive in my book.

 

The chaingun is actually a good choice to have it selected when pressing a switch or entering a room because you want to kill the teleporting monsters quickly. The shotgun can be a bit slow to take care of the monsters quickly, although you get more ammo for it. It is up to you to decide how you deal with the monsters.

 

Overall, pretty good starting map.

 

MAP02: Return to the Darkening
by Impboy

 

Is that a reference to The Darkening episodes released back in 1998-2000? I was thinking to revisit these wads one of these days. Maybe when I have a bit more time.

 

Anyway, the second map is still easy but has a few tricks up sleeve. UV players even get to fight TWO Revenants! But wait, don't worry if you are playing continuously, as bringing the Chaingun from previous map will make short work for them and they shouldn't have a chance to fight back (I was lucky they didn't fire a homing missile). One of them appears in the crates room with the Rocket Launcher and the other one right at the exit.

 

In general, there are a few traps that aren't too difficult to deal with, on a continuous run at least, while the pistol starters don't get the luxury of an early Chaingun and this map doesn't even give you any armor! But on the bright side, there is a Soulsphere secret that you can find in the same secret that leads to the RL secret. It's located in the corner of that room I mentioned earlier with the RL.

 

Oh yeah, speaking of the RL, I didn't have any use of it for the first 6 maps, so I ended up keeping it in the inventory for much later, in some levels where it proved useful. Oh and there is also a Chainsaw you can find in the red key room if I remember correctly, which is nice to have.

 

Fun map overall.

 

MAP03: Break the Chain
by Jodwin

 

This map is shown in the intro demo. The player only makes it to the blue key and then dies.

 

As for the map, it's one of the easiest. It's just zombies, imps, demons, one caco and two knights. Nothing very threatening. The map may be challenging when pistol starting because the ammo is scarce and you need to use the Berserk to punch the monsters. But the continuous player has the luxury to just shotgun/chaingun everything to death.

 

The only thing I don't like is having to pick up green armor while still having 70-80% of the previous one that I got in first level, though I ended up with 179% health and 97% armor at the end anyway, so it really wasn't much of a loss from that last imp fireball, as I still have more than enough health/armor for the next level. The armor was required to be picked up to reveal the last few monsters but it also contains the map's only shotgun, so pistol starters need to keep this in mind, although they also want the armor as early as possible.

 

Fun map overall.

 

MAP04: Pit of Sludge
by Stewboy

 

Another map that was fairly easy. You need to do a bit of platforming to not fall down (I didn't fell down thankfully but I assume you can escape from the pit, right?) and also watch out for some traps later on. You are eventually given the SSG and the remaining monsters shouldn't pose much threat, since it's just zombies, imps, demons, cacos and knights. And now with the SSG you have more than enough supplies to deal with all of them.

 

The highlight is the trap towards the end while you are walking on the ledge. You can just retreat and pick off the monsters from the safe place earlier. And that's pretty much it. After pressing the HeXeN switches, go back to where the Armor was earlier to find the exit teleporter is now open.

 

The berserk secret contained the last imp and the secret Soulsphere was very much needed for the next level.

 

Pretty interesting map overall.

 

MAP05: Subterfuge 1024
by Mechadon

 

I really appreciate the Soulsphere and the Armor from the previous level because I took plenty of damage at later points in the map, though luckily I haven't dropped below 75% health and the medkits came in handy but the extra health was pretty much gone when I was done with the level. Also appreciate the secret green armor, to replace my half used one. For the continuous players, it is recommended to get the armor at the end, so you save it for the next level, as you will find out soon why.

 

There are plenty of interesting fights in this level and I especially like the idea with the switches where you "insert" the key. The only thing I'm not a fan of is teleporting a chaingunner directly behind you, which happens a few times in this map. And this is something that commonly happens in the megawad but in this map it was a bit more noticeable and one chaingunner may not be that big of a deal but he can still surprise you and deal quite a bit of damage in return, sometimes can happen while already dealing with other monsters.

 

The level design was very nice and I think this was a solid map overall.

 

MAP06: Four Square
by The Green Herring

 

As you can tell from the title, this map has four square rooms. There are some good fights but also lots of ambushes that involve teleporting a few enemies upon pressing switches, grabbing keys, etc. Sometimes even teleporting enemies directly behind you. I got a bit spoiled from reading the Doomwiki walkthrough when looking for secrets but the actual secret I didn't get until I was done with the map. And honestly I can't think of a place where the Berserk was going to be useful, even if we are talking about restoring health because this map gives you plenty of health. On another hand, there aren't any armor pickups in this map, besides armor bonuses, so the continuous players are encouraged to bring their own armor from the previous level.

 

I was lucky with the ambushes that I didn't lose much health from them and got to keep 75% armor at the end, besides 100% health obviously. The winning move was running out of the room as soon as a switch was pressed or keycard was collected, with the sole exception being when THREE shotgunners will teleport behind you upon opening the blue door. The problematic cacodemon ambush from the yellow key was easily solved by sliding between the cacos and getting out of the room without taking a hit. I was fearing I would get quickly surrounded but then while making my escape, I reminded there is one advantage at vanilla Doom's flawed collisions and that is being able to slide between monsters most of the time, which is something that isn't possible in ZDoom based ports with the fixed collisions, where you can get cornered much easier in situations involving cramped ambushes. It looks like there are advantages and disadvantages for both sides.

 

Anyway, back to the level, upon getting the red card and then dealing with last teleporting zombies and knights, there is one more obstacle at the red door: THREE BARONS! Prepare your SSG and start blasting them. It may take a while but I found this method safer than firing rockets. Due to how cramped these maps are, I hesitated using the rocket launcher so far and just collected the ammo for later.

 

Overall, this may not have been as impressive as the previous maps and the teleport ambushes got old quickly, including the many switch hunts but the level is still alright in the end. And the blue sky is really beautiful, so the map gets extra points for that.

 

Also noticed that the intermission texts are unchanged from the original Doom 2, judging from the text that showed up at the end of MAP06. The levels have new names on the automap but the intermission texts are unchanged. Maybe I was supposed to also load the separate BEX file? I thought the 1024CLAU.wad file already has integrated the BEX/DEH files inside and most source ports should pick these up automatically.

Deaths so far: 0

 

Screenshots

Spoiler

 

[Snikle]

MAP16 - Nocturnal Abyss (HMP)

The player starts alone in a small room, outside of which are some former marines and a few sergeants up high in some pillars. The MIDI sounds very familiar. The visuals in this opening area are exquisite as well. Up some stairs is a hallway with some neat faux-room over room. On one end is a Hell knight, but he’s no nuisance to kill. Shoot a switch to get some armor, and also a revenant on the other side. Doing all this lowers the blue key back out in the main area.

 

Grabbing the blue key activates a nice, nasty trap with imps, all manner of zombies, and a few demons and Hell knights. Even with no more than a shotgun and chaingun I was able to take minimal damage and have fun doing it. Incredibly luckily, I didn’t get hit with any revenant missiles behind the blue door. I went past them to the bridge where I don’t think they could follow, and was able to use 1 to block the other until one was dead, then I could stunlock and kill the other. Out here is a backpack and a lot of ammo, and a switch. Hitting the switch activates a tough aerial ambush of cacos and Pes, with a mancubus blocking the area where you came in. What I did was quickly get behind the manc before it gets out of the bigger room (because you can’t get past it once it’s on the thinner area) and let the cacos pelt it from behind while shooting it yourself from the front. Due to the ingenious layout of the map, the flying enemies can be fought from the main area once they begin to get close enough to overwhelm up top.

 

Now, the elevator across from the blue door is accessible. Up there is the yellow key alongside a few chaingunners, a pinkie, and an arachno that thankfully didn’t fire at me until after everything else was dead. Through the yellow door is a small lift that leads to a larger lift. The larger lift spawns a Baron that killed me. After reloading I kinda walked atop the Baron’s head to get to the exit before the lift had gotten halfway up lol. I didn’t want to single-shotgun a baron in that tiny space. Sadly didn’t find the secret though, but this is one of my favorite maps so far (Really wish I got an SSG though).

[TJG1289]

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

Map 32:  Oil Rig - Mik57

100% kills and secrets

Time: 14:54

Deaths: 2

 

Been a minute since a map killed me, tho this map is filled with tough enemies, including 3 cybs. These cybs are kind of a grind to kill, especially the 2 that aren't free roaming. There's also a lot of barons too, and the fact that there's a lot of cramped areas in this make them really feel like moving doors. The constricting halls and height changes make this a tough map as well. Overall, this map's not too bad, just a little tough, and the layout is kind of constricting. Looks pretty good, but it's kinda dark.

 

Map 16:  Nocturnal Abyss  - Brinks

100% kills and secrets

Time: 9:10

 

A breather map, this one takes place in a techbase in the void. There's only 40ish monsters here, and there's only 1 dangerous ambush when you grab the blue key. Everything else is pretty easy going. I like the general design of the map tho. I kinda want my techbase maps to look like this a bit. The flyers are kinda annoying, only cause they can be pushed far away so it'll take a second to wait for them to come back. Took me way too long to find the switch that raised the platform to the exit as well. But overall, I liked this one. Fun and simple.

[brick]

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

 

MAP31 - “Skyscrape IV” by Jodwin
Unfortunately I wasn't a fan of the secret levels. This one is definitely impressive in how much it builds in so little space, I think it's also the first one to use the vanilla fake 3D floors so visibly and extensively, and it made me wonder why other mapers didn't (ab)use them considering the size restrictions. There's an octagonal hub room of sorts, and not far a room with the exit switch (requiring the 3 keys) and a column with 4 switches, pressing each one at a time opens up a different passage (usually but not always leading to a key). Much as I admired the clever tricks to cram so much level into the space, I disliked the combat, the cramming also means every passage is so narrow and it makes the combat far too claustrophobic. Yes I know it's in the wad title, but this one went past what I find enjoyable, especially with so many archviles. I'm not sure what opens the secret exit, after reaching the normal one I backtracked to look for it and there it was.

 

MAP32 - “Oil Rig” by Mik57, Mechadon
Not as constricted as the previous map, but still pretty tight, especially with how many nobles teleport in. The cyberdemon with the switch behind it was a pain, I kept hoping for an alternative but I don't think there's a way forward without killing it first. There's a lot of backtracking, even with the small size I found some of it unnecessary. Despite the text file mentioning the wad is meant to be played from pistol-start, this map has a huge continuous bonus in the form of a BFG in the exit room, the first one so far, and if I'm not mistaken the only one in the wad, your reward for finding and finishing both secret levels.

 

I'm not sure if I want to tackle the bonus maps now or leave me for the end.

[Horus]

MAP17 - “Transfer Base” by Solarn, Kyka, Jodwin

 

This map is wonderful, I really enjoyed the concept. Basically, the map is split in two visually distinct diagonals, with the starting diagonal consisting of the standard silver/grey techbase aesthetic, and the other diagonal consisting of a somewhat more corrupted base with more of a hellish feel, with browns and blacks, with red and yellow lighting. 

 

The two diagonals are kept separate throughout the map, but you regularly teleport between them, revealing bit-by-bit more of each. As you do, enemies repopulate, in ever more challenging, and as ever, claustrophobic, scenarios. Towards the end I really had to consider how to use infighting to assist with my limited ammo situation. The free blue armor at the start is also much appreciated. 

 

There was a secret at one point I just stumbled upon, it seemed so obvious that I must have inadvertently triggered it earlier on and not realised. The other two secrets I only found at the end, when it was too late! 

 

There was one somewhat BS encounter involving a close-quarters cacodemon but the rest of the map was thoroughly enjoyable and it’s my favourite map so far (dethroning map 33!).

 

The concept also gave me an idea for a new map of my own. Whether I’ll actually make it or not is debatable given how practically non-existent my mapping has been these last two years, but you never know! 

[Celestin]

MAP17: Transfer Base by Solarn, Kyka and Jodwin

 

I've played this map twice, first time I ran out of ammo at the final stretch and killing three revenants and an archvile at the end was impossible. The second attempt was more successful, I was more careful with ammo spending and finished with a large stockpile of bullets and shells in the backpack; I'm still not sure how I managed to screw up this bad. This is one advantage of pistol-starting, especially in maps this short: if you mess up, you can just restart and not miss much.

 

Anyway, the concept behind Transfer Base is cool, half of the map is a silver techbase, the other half - a dark castle. You move back and forth between those parts, sometimes by crossing a random line, which can get disorienting. As I've said earlier, the biggest challenge was ammo management, combat is mostly fighting imps, chaingunners and revenants in tight corridors. A berserk pack would have been a lifesaver here, but tough shit, the mapping trio doesn't give you one.

 

After figuring out how to play, I wasn't having a bad time, though I have to admit Transfer Base can feel too grindy at times.

[cannonball]

MAP17 - “Transfer Base” by Solarn, Kyka, Jodwin

 

Duality 1024....... (Yes this very much reminds me of the secret map from TNT:R)

Yeah I didn't like this one, the random teleporting nonsense, the extremely cramped nature of the map, the sheer amount of meat and the fact that the authors seemed to forget to place ammo in the last 20% of map contributes to an experience which feels extremely jarring, the archviles can easily drain your ammo supplies purely because they can resurrect literally everything, in the end I left the remaining monsters because I ran out of ammo. 

In the end this map just felt like excess for excess sake and as such it felt like I was going through the same nonsense over and over again, not to mention that the midi really starts to grate after a while.

Oh and when you go through the first marked teleporter, have the chaingun equipped because having anything else here spells certain death because who doesn't want to teleport into a tiny room stuffed with monsters that will instantly attack you.

[RHhe82]

MAP17: Transfer Base. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 159/159 K, 3/3 S, 62/62 I. Comp. time 22:37

 

This one reminds me of an earlier map, MAP09, in that there are very tight corridors, and level seems to open up bit by bit (although this time the opening mechanisms are somewhat different). Even the kill count instantly reminded me of MAP09. Anyway, I liked the aesthetic side here, it's a brown base that's curiously pleasingly scaled. I really had fun with this one...

 

... until I didn't. I guess this is another case of UV-MAX obsessiveness getting the better of me, because I ran out of ammo (and health items) by the end, when there still were at least three hell knights roaming around, and something like 5 chaingunners. I had something like 30% health. Now, HKs could be dealt with telefragging them, but that was kind of tedious, and required serious savescumming on my part. Chaingunners had to be tricked to infight while miraculously not taking any damage from them. This also had me savescumming, although to a lesser extent (HKs could also infight with chaingunners, easening the burden ever so slighly).

 

So, I guess it's a good map that I didn't have fun with, I suppose.

[bioshockfan90]

MAP17: Transfer Base

 

96K | 74I | 33S

 

Once I got what this map was going for, I appreciated it a bit more but I still think the teleporting archie in the beginning is complete BS when you only have a shotgun. Lots of traps here that will cause the saveless player to die and figure out the route. It feels *very* cramped the entire way through as well, a problem that surprisingly most of these maps so far haven’t had to this extent. Overusage of chaingunners leads to easy melting of your health, and plenty of fodder to assist in that as well. I like the “Wormhole” gimmick, but I just don’t think it translates that well to the 1024 constraint. A solid meh on this one. 3.6 out of 5.

 

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

MAP05

MAP16

MAP14

MAP15

MAP07

MAP01

MAP09

MAP06

MAP04

MAP13

MAP17

MAP02

MAP10

MAP03

MAP12

MAP08

 

 

[Tiramisu]

All right, I've got to catch up with the main route first before I play the secret maps!

 

MAP16 - Nocturnal Abyss

 

The thing that immediately stood out to me about this map was the incredible depth and detailing of the out-of-bounds decorative areas - honestly it seemed like they looked even better than the playable part! It kind of makes me want to start adding such areas to my (full-size) maps, just for the sense of place they bring... Anyway, the map itself was fairly easy and straight-forward. The layout was nice (with probably the most extensive use of 3D bridges so far), and the fights were all quickly dealt with - aside from one. The Caco & PE swarm was kind of overkill for the weapons given to us - so my reaction was to run away, and keep running, looking for a rocket launcher or SSG (neither of which were to be found). While I would call it a flaw as far as map design goes, in practice it lead to quite a memorable experience for me, so I'm not really complaining!

 

MAP17 - Transfer Base

 

Now there's a map that fully embraces the "Claustrophobia" part of the wad! For the majority of its runtime, Transfer Base had me running around blindly in a claustrophobic, constantly changing layout to the sound of monsters ceaselessly teleporting in, tripping over random teleport lines, escaping from sudden pincer attacks and somehow still managing to slowly progress - and I must say I kind of loved that experience! However, the map does end on quite a sour note - I can confirm that there was indeed not enough ammo, with the final Archvile & Revenant wave being pretty much impossible to kill (and I wasn't exactly wasteful during my run!). In the end, I somehow managed to barge through to the exit switch, but it took me a while to get that right. Aside from that though I liked this one a lot!

 

Top 5 favorites, updated: MAP09, MAP03, MAP07, MAP13, MAP17

Edited August 17, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[FistMarine]

MAP07: Dead In, Dead Out
by Mechadon

 

A Dead Simple inspired map. It's pretty tough and the hardest of the maps so far. Staying alive at the beginning is quite a challenge, especially since you don't get armor right away. That armor you got in previous two maps will eventually get consumed from how much damage you will take and then it's quite painful to take damage when you have no armor at all.

 

Camping at the starting spot seemed to be my working strategy for the most part. Rarely you will get attacked at the starting platform, unless it's lost souls that teleport in the middle of the area and then ram into you but otherwise, there will rarely be projectiles flying around your head. The mancubus projectiles from far away will hit the ground and not reach you but the two nearby mancubi may get a lucky shot if you mostly just stand in a place.

 

I died once to the Mancubi at beginning, mostly thanks to my PC lagging. All it took was two heavy projectiles and then I was dead, from 80 hp or so down to 0. The armor I started the level with was eventually gone from taking so much damage, mostly from the lost souls ramming into me and blowing my cover, though I appreciate the generosity with the medkits at least. And honestly I don't mind only one death here, especially considering that MAP07 usually manages to be the first map in a megawad that kills me. Either way I had to be extra careful when using the Rocket Launcher in this map, to not end up firing in front of a lost soul or something.

 

Once the things calmed down, killing the Barons and then the remaining Mancubi will cause the Arachnotrons to spawn! After killing them, grab the goodies (especially the Armor and Soulsphere) and press the two switches. I recommend saving and equipping the Plasma Rifle here and watch for the TWO Archviles that will teleport alongside various other monsters.

 

Getting near the Archies and spraying Plasma was the winning move because they shouldn't retaliate if you are lucky with the RNG and if you don't mind tanking a bit of damage from other monsters around you, then you will be able to survive and kill the vile quickly before things get out of the control. Do the same for second Archie, then finish off the remaining monsters with SSG/Chaingun if you are playing continuously and want to save the cells for the next levels, otherwise use the Plasma. Funny how I ended up with 400 cells and every other ammo type at full. Even better was finding the Megasphere secret at the end (thanks Doomwiki), which helped greatly for the next maps (MAP09 to be exact).

 

Overall, I think the map was fine overall, despite the cramped combat. It was quite challenging and the visuals were great.

 

MAP08: Hex of Depression
by Pcorf

 

A much easier map and a much needed breather after the previous one. It was so easy that I only got hit once in the entire map, so I got to keep all the nice extra health and armor further in the adventure. The monsters shouldn't pose much threat and you should just run upon pressing a switch or grabbing a key instead of standing still.

 

There are no items in this map, so it will say 0% items at the end of the level in non-ZDoom ports. There is one secret that I found at the end with help of Doomwiki and the only benefit I got from it was the box of bullets to get back to 400 bullets, as otherwise I already had a full supply of shells and the armor didn't need a replacement. Fine map overall.

 

MAP09: Bitter Sanctuary
by Kyka

 

Interesting map that appears to be very cramped at first but then you will quickly realize that stepping in one sector will activate a nearby trap and reveal more of the map. Sometimes it will also teleport an enemy directly behind you when you are in those cramped corridors, so you want to watch out for that. There is plenty of unavoidable damage but you don't have to worry too much about the health/armor, especially if you played continuously and started the level with nearly 200/200 and the secrets that contain extra health in them will also greatly help, though continuous players want to save the Soulsphere secret for the end. It also contains the last zombieman in case you wanted to find the last enemy.

 

The ambush at the end was the trickiest part of the map. You arrive in a small room with stimpacks/medkits and there will teleport zombies/imps into the action. I lost more health/armor than I expected but I was never running in danger of dying, since there were nearby medkits/stimpacks to refill the health when needed.

 

Interestingly, I didn't take any damage from the two knights that teleported shortly after and the revenant that showed up from the teleporter. I suppose I got really lucky here, considering that it could have easily go wrong.

 

Unfortunately, I had 54% armor remaining at the end, so that meant I needed a new replacement. Luckily I found a replacement quickly, as there were two green armors actually in the map. Though the Soulsphere secret was much appreciated to get back to 200 HP.

 

Although it was cramped at times, I still think it was an interesting map overall and an idea I have rarely seen in custom Doom maps, where new areas are revealed by just stepping on sectors. So this map should get bonus points for creativity.

 

MAP10: Mudbath
by Stewboy

 

A very brown map that is a bit challenging at times because there's no armor and plenty of monsters present but then you quickly realize it's mostly just zombies and imps, with a few demons/spectres, knights and revenants showing up at some points later on.

 

There isn't much to worry. If you are playing continuously, you can kill about 70-75 monsters just from the starting room! Aside from an occasional lucky hitscan shot or imp fireball, you shouldn't lose much health.

 

Then you have two paths to choose from. Doesn't matter which order you do them. I recommend clearing both sides carefully, as there may be a knight lurking around or the chaingunners hiding behind cages. There's also two revenants that are inside a cage at one point, though they don't pose much of a threat and you have the cover available, so you know what to do.

 

The main highlight of the map is the final battle with the teleporting imps and TWO knights (they don't teleport at the same time though). I was lucky I took minimal damage from the fight and when I was done with getting rid of all monsters, I grabbed whatever ammo/health I left behind. Oh yeah and the Soulsphere right at the end, which is accessible by shooting a switch at the beginning of the level. It's an okay map in the end, I didn't mind playing it.

 

MAP11: Technicfear
by Pcorf

 

Interesting short boss map. Starts out by just shooting imps and shotgunners. Unexpectedly, I took plenty of damage from the shotgunners, I was down to 136 HP just after clearing the initial room and the green armor was almost consumed, since the previous level didn't give me the opportunity to replace my half used armor.

 

Press the switches and eventually a couple demons will spawn. Kill them quickly with the SSG and then collect the keys. When you open the door, you will see a Cyberdemon waiting inside while two Mancubi and a Baron will teleport in the arena. You are also automatically given a much needed MEGASPHERE to deal with all that, thanks to Voodoo doll trickery I assume (I noticed I got all 6 keys too, despite only the three keycards being present in the main room). I couldn't make the monsters infight but at least I haven't taken any damage from their attacks, so I got to conserve the 200/200 until the next level.

 

Killing the Cyber with the SSG was kinda boring but at least it was a safe way shooting by peeking around the corner. Good thing my PC didn't lag at this time. Once done dealing with the Cybie, I saved and prepared for the surprise ArchVile at the end when the exit door was unlocked. I just SSG'ed the Archie and hiding behind pillars from its attacks. Worked nicely and without any enemies resurrected.

 

Also the map doesn't have any secrets present but it seems Boom Compatible ports don't mind this, since you automatically get 100%, unlike vanilla Doom which would have scored you 0% if a map had no secrets at all.

 

I think the map was okay and served as a finale to the first "episode".

 

MAP12: Spitshine
by Fiend

 

The second "episode" starts in a nice techbase. There are mostly weaker enemies to fight but also a few of the tougher ones. I will mention a couple highlights of the map:
-The two revenants guarding the Blue Key appearing upon pressing an early switch were a nice surprise. Luckily, they didn't cause any trouble.
-There is a secret green armor that's easy to find just after opening the blue door and dealing with the monsters inside.
-Taking the elevator and looking out for the two Mancubi in the corners. I did the easy way and dropped down, while picking them off with the shotgun/chaingun.
-In the same room, I pressed the switch and ran away quickly, then picked off the monsters from below the elevator. If you wonder, the traps can be often detected by looking at the automap and noticing those white lines in certain places, at least when using Boom compatible source ports. It's almost certainly that this will be a trap at some point and this has greatly helped me in many situations.
-After taking one of the teleporters (the other one leads to a secret place), you will get the red key and fight two barons. I decided to plasma them to death quickly and only took a fireball to the face. I didn't risk to SSG them to not get cornered.
-Afterwards, kill the two Arachnotrons waiting in the first room and the ArchVile behind the exit door. I knew there was an Archie at the end, so I had the Rocket Launcher selected, opened the door while backing off, fired four shots and the Archie died quickly. He managed to resurrect a zombieman but of course that was underwhelming and he immediately got taken out alongside the Archie.

 

Overall, I think this was a pretty enjoyable map. Though again it depends a lot how you approach the fights, as I generally find ways to deal with the traps safely, even if the mapper did not take that into account. But yeah, the level design was pretty solid and looking forward to the next couple of maps.

 

Deaths so far: 1 (MAP07)

 

Screenshots

Spoiler

 

I reached MAP16 currently, having done the two main secret levels as well. I will cover them tomorrow and hopefully catch up with the write-ups and reading people's posts I haven't read yet.

Edited August 17, 2023 by FistMarine

[TJG1289]

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

Map 17:  Transfer Base - Solarn, Kyka and Jodwin

100% kills and secrets

Time: 12:09

 

This is one of the most packed maps in the set. Virtually no open areas so mostly narrow hallways, and tons of monsters teleporting in, including several archies. That alone would make this map tough, but then you have the fact this is basically map 32 from Revilution. There's several 1-time teleport lines that take you from a normal techbase to a mediaeval one, and vice-versa. It's slightly disorienting, but eventually you'll find a pure teleporter on each side you can take multiple times. There's 2 things about this map I don't really care for. First, the texture for the switch in the first room you teleport into isn't that obvious, so it took me a minute to progress. Second, when you find the pure teleporter in the techbase part, you get teleported into a very cramped room with 2 imps and a caco, and they're looking right at you, so I hope you have health and a rapid-firing weapon on you or else you're dead. Toward the end of the map, I was on the mediaeval side and could hear an archie reviving everything I killed on the techbase side, so that caused a bit of panic. You can hear all the monsters at all times on this map, which does give the map an unsettling feeling. So overall, I did like this map. As a continuous player, I didn't have a ton of ammo issues, but I did see a lack of shells placed around the map. I could see this map being a little grindy, but I didn't mind it. 

[Tiramisu]

MAP31 - Skyscrape IV (played on HMP)

 

Well, if I were to choose a single word to describe this map, it would be "unforgettable". Certainly no one expected to see such an epic, non-linear adventure map in the middle of a 1024 wad, and certainly not me! The Boom trickery-powered trek through the top floors of the skyscraper is a masterpiece in the compression of gameplay, and in atmosphere as well - with some additional extra flavor granted by the Japanese-sounding music and kanji characters on the floor. That said, I feel like the author kind of lost themselves in the epicness of their own map, and ended up really overstuffing it with monsters - after a few minutes of grinding, I decided to drop down to HMP and I feel like it was a very good decision here. While the grindiness of the combat prevents this map from becoming my favorite, I will certainly remember it for a long, long time!

 

Top 5 favorites, updated: MAP09, MAP03, MAP07, MAP31, MAP13

Edited August 17, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP17 - Transfer Base - Solarn (Edits by Kyka and Jodwin) (100%K/I/S):

Another interesting use of such a small place. This map feels quite a bit to Wormhole, because of the "parallel dimensions" kind of idea it gives, making you TP in and out from the hell dimension.

This is the author's first contribution to a community project, and he chooses a "Hall full of low-tiers" playstyle and approach, just like Kyka's MAP09, with tons of revisits to the same areas over and over again, extending gameplay for about 12 minutes or so. This time in terms of how fun it was, I don't think it had the best of results. The problem here is mainly resources at the end of your gameplay, that will mostly consist of non-pacifist gameplay, trying to mow down barrages of enemies in corridors that can be, at times, revived by archviles. Again the use of space is interesting, as making you TP from area to area, and making you revisit those, is an interesting way to increase length of the level. There are little to no traps here, though, as most of the map is just corridors with incidental combat. Most of these factors joined together makes for a not so enjoyable experience, making it at times feel like a Congestion 1024 map. It also feels a bit ugly at times, although you can clearly notice Kyka's hand in this one. Nonetheless, you can really see Solarn had some interesting ideas to maximize space usage, and he did quite a nice work with it, sadly, the result is not as enjoyable.

The only reason I could 100% this one was because the archvile revived many chaingunners in front of me and I could stock up ammo. But I have to say it would not be possible without archviles' help. Same with the random secrets you will find here, those are almost mandatory. Also, why is there rocket ammo and no RL? Continuous playthrough or an untagged secret, maybe? Also the hidden mandatory switch after the first TP (A TP from a pair of teleport spots that are annoying because they shove melee enemies right at your face), was a bad move, as it will make you hump every wall to escape that little room.

And to finish, the dumb Battletoads music choice here was grinding my head, so dumb!

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

MAP31
MAP09

MAP05
MAP16

MAP03
MAP07
MAP15
MAP13
MAP12
MAP14
MAP06
MAP02
MAP04
MAP01
MAP17
MAP32
MAP08
MAP10
MAP11

 

 

[DavitW]

MAP16: Nocturnal Abyss
My least favorite kind of encounters in Doom have to be ones where Pain Elementals spawn amidst a gaggle of Cacodemons in a huge abyss, making the entire map threaten to spiral out of control into an unmanageable clusterfuck of lost souls at any given time. But that's enough of my complaining, as I quite liked this map. Most of the combat here other than the aforementioned pain elemental segment was enjoyable, such as the ambush surrounding the blue key and the final duel with a Baron on a very tight elevator. Looking out one of the windows and being able to see the corpses of slain demons on a distant platform was a good bit of detailing. Another map that I wouldn't even notice was 1024 by 1024 if you didn't tell me first.

 

MAP17: Transfer Base
Very tight hallways, invisible teleporters leaving me confused and disoriented, the same rooms and hallways filling up with the same enemies in encounters that play out the same way over and over again. Can't say it's a bad map, but I didn't find it particularly enjoyable. Wasn't nearly enough ammo in the end for me to kill the archvile and masses of enemies lining the halls, but the score tally at the end was over 100%, so it counts, okay? You figured a map made by 3 people would have a reasonable ammo balance, but maybe I'm just a goof that's missing something. Or I just suck at Doom. I'll accept that explanation.

 

MAP18: Weather Station
A fairly easy going fair considering what we've been going up against recently. Plenty of hitscanners and Baron's in tight places as we've come to expect from maps like this, but nothing unfair. No gratuitous Archviles (Or Cyberdemons) here, so I can appreciate that. The detailing and presentation here is also just as excellent as we've came to expect. I don't know if I'd guess this is supposed to be a weather station just by looking at it, but I can certainly buy it. The only secret is a mega armor just to the left of the exit, so completely useless unless you're playing continuous. No idea if it was just there for the taking or if one of the dozens of switches I pressed earlier that seemingly did nothing opened a door.

 

1024CLAU16.zip

1024CLAU17.zip

1024CLAU18.zip

[RHhe82]

MAP18: Weather Station. Played on DSDA v0.26.2, UV, PS. 112/112 K, 1/1 S, 15/15 I. Comp. time 10:12

 

I would say the author of this map was the same person as in the previous one... but that's only partly true, apparently. It's interesting that surprisingly many maps have several primary authors *and* additional authors. One would think such micromaps (despite all the detail and tricks they contain).

 

Just like Transfer Base, I liked Weather Station from the get-go, and this time I liked it until the end, even though I almost did run out of ammo. But I seem to have a thing for this rusty, decrepit bases. I wish the secret could have been handed a bit earlier and little ammo instead.
 

[cannonball]

MAP18 - “Weather Station” by InsanityBringer, Kyka, Jodwin

 

Teeny Weeny hubspoke.....

This wasn't too bad, though health is handed out in dribs and drabs and as such you can easily get yourself into a problematic position (The start is a bit of an RNG fest and essentially sets where your health is going to be at for most of this). Unfortunately like many maps in this set, the sheer level of crampness means that there is only one way you are going to play this one, cautiously. That said the map looks nice and plays okay, there isn't much that is offensive here and the map actually feels like something and has a personality.

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP18: Weather Station by InsanityBringer and Kyka, with edits by Jodwin

 

Weather Station is a cramped shootout against a cast of imps, hitscanners and spectres, plus some bigger demons acting as minibosses. Monsters often teleport behind your back, but I think it's a sole danger here - once you get the super shotgun, you've practically already won. The map follows a hub-like structure, where you have to explore all four quarters and find keys that unlock the next one. The tiny nukage tunnel and a radsuit feel pointless, and the only secret is a megaarmor you'll unlock right at the exit. Thanks, I guess.

 

Still, this one was fine, a brisk piece of action to relax.

[brick]

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

 

MAP16 - “Nocturnal Abyss” by brinks
I liked the aesthetics and the sky, the base really looks like it's floating in a void and the swarm of cacos that come out of that portal in the void is very cool. I like the little details in texture choices that indicate damage and age, parts of the base look like they're slowly falling apart. The map is straightforward, there's little backtracking and aside from the final room not much sector wizardry. I loved the atmosphere and the more relaxed combat was welcome after the secret levels.

 

MAP17 - “Transfer Base” by Solarn, Kyka, Jodwin
I did not enjoy this one much, again I felt it's too tight, enemies teleport in and attack from multiple directions and there's just not much space to avoid fireballs of all colours coming from all sides. The map layout and the sector machinery look clever on paper but I found the constant one-time teleports irritating. I spent a lot of time running around in circles and I ended up finding all 3 secrets while fumbling around looking for the main path, something that tends to sour me on a map's progression.

[DFF]

Map15 - Inmost 'Con'ensed
K: 100 |I: 66 |S: 100 |
Gzdoom UV Continuous, CCards 5.0, Zero Tolerance

HK may consume corpses to gain a random enchantment, Pain Elementals respawn once after death, Secrets summon a random monster with a random enchantment

 

In hindsight the imp totem/rider perk was a big mistake, and this map is a great example. The imps have a radius where they can grab enemies, and this can include through walls (or ledges more likely). Because of the small map design this means they can grab any enemy thats currently in the player space. And this map has a pit of 5 of them that all grab chaingunners, HKs or other nasties. It was doable but this map was a doozy because of the mod limitations and the combo effect of the cards.

This is a very lovely homage to map14 of DOOM2, complete with many of the details of everyone's favorite den, but minimized to fit the space. The design of Inmost dens lends itself well to this style of map aswell, since the original was rather square and featured surrounting moats and turrets with walls to keep the player on the various islands. While mostly cramped the outer walkway felt like it had a good ratio of space for combat, and the area usage was quite efficient. Traps were nifty and fun without being to annoying (the teleport trap in the small room was unessesary but its a small mark against this map). Overall a fun  map that fits really well to the design premise.

 

Map31 - Skyscrape IV
K: 100 |I: 90 |S: 100 |

 

Mancs are more aggressive, Mancs gain ice physics, Monsters have a lower flinch chance

 

This was the map i played by off chance that won this set over for me and got me to vote for it. Playing it again was as enjoyable as the first, but I already had been impresswed from the first experience. This is what i'd consider a golden standard for 1024 mapping and was an inspiration for my own map in Constriction 1024.

 

The map presents a rather unique setting of Japanese business tech (but not cyberpunk) in a Tokyo tower, where while very condensed, the map presents 4 non-linear paths that must be taken to open the exit. Each leads the player down different connected tunnels with little guide arrows to show the path. This is a great use of floor arrows and considering it works well with the map shows how well designed it is. The two sides of the map will interconnect with different paths but the traps vary. 

 

The map also makes good use of non-accessible areas to setup fun fights and make the space seem bigger than it is, not to mention various invisible bridges to squeeze as much out of the space as possible. Majority of the combat is fun and not terribly grindy, with the spider demon shadow showdown being the best for me. Overall a great design with excellent detailing and execution, I love it. If there was a complaint, it would be that there are no secrets which is a shame. Also not all paths are created equal. Depending on the order accessed the minor paths (at least one specifically) can feel underwhelming.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

 

Map31

Map15
Map06

Map05

Map12

Map07
Map08

Map14

Map03

Map02

Map10

Map09

Map01

Map04

Map11

 

DNR: map13

Cards:

Spoiler

 

Mancs are more aggressive

Secrets summon a random monster with a random enchantment

Revenant missiles bounce off walls
-Angry Revenant stalked map13-

Barons gain regenerating shields

Knights throw explosive projectiles

One marked monster spawns 100 mystery eggs

Imps can consume corpses to gain new effects

Demon Imps adjust aim

Spawns fake items that spew grenades

Imps throw illusions out
Soldiers (CGunners) gain +Fast Monsters
Imps can carry other monsters

Devil Imps fire explosive projectiles
Monsters never infight

 

 

[bioshockfan90]

MAP18: Weather Station

 

98K | 100I | 100S

 

A fun little map, although I kept dying over and over to silly mistakes. Sometimes you can’t always play at your prime, I suppose. I’ve always been a fan of green techbases, and this is exactly what I would want out of a map like this. I love how items teleport into the hub area as you progress, and progression feels natural yet not too obvious. Combat is nothing to write home about, but it gets the job done. A decent challenge for this far into the set. Near the top somewhere, although I’m not quite sure where. 4.2 out of 5. 

 

MAPRANKS:

Spoiler

MAP05

MAP16

MAP14

MAP18

MAP15

MAP07

MAP01

MAP09

MAP06

MAP04

MAP13

MAP17

MAP02

MAP10

MAP03

MAP12

MAP08

 

 

[Horus]

Haha, I see most of you didn't share my enthusiasm for map 17 :D

 

MAP18 - “Weather Station” by InsanityBringer, Kyka, Jodwin

 

Well if the last map had a few different colours going between the two diagonals, this one is focused on one in particular – green. Which is my favourite colour, so extra points there :P
However, the starting hub has quite a disorienting fast side-scrolling sky texture. From this hub you have the standard progression of an unkeyed door and three doors with the three colour keys.

 

As with map 6, combat in the transition areas suffer from being a dull door camping fest, whilst the combat within each area is pretty fun, especially with the clever use of teleporting monsters in multiple directions meaning that you have to regularly switch priorities.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP18 - Weather Station - InsanityBringer (Edits by Kyka and Jodwin) (97%K/100%I/100%S):

A thing I really like about this mapset is the heavy use of new textures, and the small overdetailing it has at times, this map really looks nice, and I totally dig the green color scheme used here. On paper, its gameplay is again, simple. This time we have a 4-way hub, something difficult to make as you will waste tons of 1024 space just for the central area. My grippe was again ammo, as at the end you will run out of it. Also the use of ON switches that you have to turn off is a bit confusing. Pressing all the red "hidden" switches will reveal a blue armor at the end, for continuous players. Thanks for nothing though, as I had 19% life for the next map, good luck making me feel confy with that blue suit, and no ammunition aswell.

(UV - Playthrough/PRBoom+)

Order of Preference:

Spoiler

MAP31
MAP09

MAP05
MAP16

MAP03
MAP07
MAP15
MAP13
MAP12
MAP14
MAP06
MAP18
MAP02
MAP04
MAP01
MAP17
MAP32
MAP08
MAP10
MAP11

 

 

[Kyka]

 

 

On 8/5/2023 at 1:17 PM, TJG1289 said:

Also, according to the Doomwiki, Kyka' real name is Steve Muller, and I know a Steve Muller from high school, but I don't think they're the same person, unless Kyka also went viral for getting a pinball stuck in between 2 bumpers until the cabinet short-circuited. 

 

 

 

I did not go viral for that. Unless I was really drunk. Or a time traveller. Which is actually more likely than you might think.

[KickAss]

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

 

MAP07 - “Dead In, Dead Out” by Mechadon

It took me some time to get to know that the secret to the left offers a megasphere to you.

 

 

MAP08 - “Hex of Depression” by pcorf

 

MAP09 - “Bitter Sanctuary” by Kyka

[DemoGorgonZola]

I'm a bit of a fan of such restricted wads and played of lot of similar ones (down to 64 units even), but since I didn't tackle this one yet, it a good opportunity to both step into the Club - hello everyone! - and play the wad with a bit more insight and reflection than usually :)
Played on GZDoom 4.5.0 (Boom Strict), skill UV, unmodded except for hud, continuous, mostly saveless, maps played twice - first run blind/prep to check where stuff is, with aid of map/editor if needed), second run practiced (these ones are on vids).

Map01 The Warp Facility
- rude hitscan ambushes on blind, if you know they're coming not that bad but still can make swiss cheese in short time, otherwise nice little looping map ...also, look: arrows (we will be back to arrows later :) )
Map02 Return to the Darkening
- short but solid, good composition of monsters in ambushes
Map03 Break the Chain
- could ignore the berserk since I had ammo from previous maps and this changed the dynamic a lot but it's always fun to just gun stuff (since I'm playing continuous this applies to some extent to all next maps, too); road to blue key a bit unintuitive at first but obvious in hind sight/hinted with ammo so relatively easy to stumble on it
Map04 Pit of Sludge 
- a bit... brown but nice layout, trying to offset lack of space with verticality
Map05 Subterfuge 1024
- very good visuals, both architecture and colors, as well as combat, feels grander
Map06 Four Square
- kind of basic premise but mostly works; used a save mid-level, the encounters get somewhat nasty and it's a bit too easy to get stuck on geometry and catch a projectile of a face full of buckshot IMO
Map07 Dead In, Dead Out
- at this map size this feels like a proper slaughter, especially at the beginning but still enjoyable; saved before second phase because I'm paranoid and the hot start is downright oppressive (took a few tries to set a foothold) :)
Map08 Hex of Depression
- nice breather after map07, just solid shooting monsters; despite browning theme nice usage of contrast and light gradients
Map09 Bitter Sanctuary
- an open-me-up layout while a bit maze-y in part not obnoxious with it, last part really spicy without plasma
Map10 Mudbath
- brown/tan but not drab and clearly visible and this is good, combat-wise not too hard (plenty of opportunity for pot-shots and cheesing though openings), except for the exit room (also, it's possible to accidentally exit the level without killing last enemies, if it a bug of feature is up in the air, depending on your goals 100%-ing or not)
Map11 Technicfear 
- lighting on the pillars is nice, otherwise kind of meh and finishing off that cyber is a bit tedious; without supplies from previous maps ammo could be an issue, too
Map12 Spitshine
- well detailed and with solid encounters
Map13 Assault
- enjoyable encounters and good looking, feels like a believable water pump station... that's run over with demons 
Map14 Deception
- rev overdose a bit, hehe; aesthetically ok
Map15 The Inmost Con'dens'ed
- mosly fine but some fights are quite nasty, like the berserk teleport or chaingunner ambush at the end; secret exit locked off with a switch available only at start and blocked sections are a downside, very blind-unfriendly
Map31 Skyscrape IV
- lot's of monsters, lots of stuff to do, good visuals and aspects of non-linearity - author boasts 24 routes, it's good but the sheer amount of going back and forth can be tiresome - on the verge of overstaying its welcome, at least no one can really get lost due to arrows, so your millage may vary with it; used saves in this one
...and finally, once more the arrows, spoilered section contains my thoughts upon them here ;)

Spoiler

 

Guiding Arrow, light in demon's gloom,
In skyscraper's maze, you lead me on my way,
Through halls of dread, where shadows gently sway,
You guide me past each vile and cursed room.

 

Amidst the chaos, fireblu do loom,
Yet by your side, I never go astray,
In plasma's dance and rocket's fierce display,
You clear my path, dispelling shades of doom.

 

Revenants' soar, and Barons fiercely fight,
But with your aid, I face their daunting ire,
In sectors' lines, we climb to daunting height,
Your steadfast glow, my courage does inspire.

 

Oh, Guiding Arrow, true and steadfast bright,
You guide me through, to triumph we aspire.

 

 

Map32 Oil Rig
- all cybers can be pretty much cheesed with peekaboo- or pot-shotted through gaps, nobles on the other hand felt like they had laser guided fireballs, especially on the stairs (or maybe I was just unlucky) otherwise it's solid if a bit drab looking level; used save mid-level

Map33 Nil
- long with slowly sections opening more and more complex fights in an arena in the void - looks and combat like in its inspiration from Congestion 1024 Nullspace Junior, oppressive; played with saves

Map34 **NULL**
- well, that's a doozy, joke wad or not but I kind of liked it... even if got splattered countless times with rockets; eventually decided to deal with the sniper spiders and cybers early since I had weapons and ammo for it (having to wait for the crushers wasn't fun), caco/PE clouds were the next big threat as they can easily overwhelm - BFG helped (and exit can be polarizing not gonna lie)

 

playthrough vids for maps 01-15, 31-34:

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

note about progression:

Spoiler

I ordered the maps in video to some sense of coherence - there is an argument to include 33 and 34 after the end/map30 since 34 is a "showstopper" but for consistency and flow I opted to have all secret levels in one block but I messed up play order a bit which resulted in discrepancies in inventory and times. Due to my carelessness I genuinely forgot about map32 (blame the arrows for softening my guard down, perhaps) , mistaken map16 for it, and realized the mistake only while warping after the bonus secret level map34. It ended with me playing 15, 31 as usual then 16, then warped to 33 and 34, then replayed ending of 31 to get to 32 (it looks FUBAR but I didn't feel like replaying several long maps), after that I warped to 17 leaving 16 as is from the previous run... oof

 

 

 

[Flyxolydian]

We go again:

Map 17 - Transfer Base:
Quite a difficult map, I can see what Kyka meant with the ramp up in difficulty from map 09. However, this one is much more fun, with some pretty devilish Archvile usage. I'm wondering why rockets were put in when there's no rocket launcher available! I'm not sure if the map glitched or not, but the one time a teleporter didn't trigger (after yellow key door), I ended up beating the map. Not sure if intended, or accidental sequence break. A nice challenge though, which didn't feel overly cheap.

Map 18 - Weather Station:
A similar sort of map to the previous level, lots of teleport ambushes. The start is one mean MF, and can kill you straight off with bad RNG. The way to negate the rest of the map is to head back to the central room when each ambush occurs... and to take your time (and not get sandwiched between a Baron and Knight like a certain person did)...

And because it's already tomorrow in Australia:

 

Map 19 - Nova Scotia Robots:
Esselfortium? Oooh yes please. Much less intensive than the last couple of levels, but the encounters were still zesty. It genuinely feels like a miniature BTSX level, even down to the weird map name. Having to potshot an Archvile at the end was kind of long though... but that's a minor problem.

[Tiramisu]

MAP18 - Weather Station

 

When I first saw that central hub room I immediately went, "uh oh" - will there still be room on the sides to squeeze in any actual gameplay areas? The answer, surprisingly enough, was yes - I mean, they were very squeezed indeed, but they were there, and with some unique combat challenges in each, too (my favorite was the cute tiny slime room, complete with a single radiation suit)! The only part that dragged the map down was the overabundance of doorway combat - each new room seemed to be padded floor to ceiling with low-tier monsters, just waiting to be cleared out before the actual fight can begin. If I were to modify the map, I would cut the filler in favor of a fight in the hub room between each area, with monsters pouring in from each currently open doorway. Still - the map was nice enough as it was, and I certainly had fun with it!

 

MAP32 - Oil Rig

 

I can definitely see why this map has been unpopular thus far - but I personally quite enjoyed it, actually! It was definitely on the slaughtery side, but not all that grindy thanks to the weaponry at hand. My favorite part was the first big fight, it seemed impossible at first but in the end I managed to do it with some careful maneuvering around the arena - and boy, was it satisfying seeing the Cybie tussle with all those Nobles at once! The only actual flaws here were imo placing that switch behind the Cyberdemon, and spawning a wave of enemies in the starting area while the player is stuck on the upper tier. Oh, and also the midi seemed utterly broken for some reason - in my run it was basically utter silence, awkwardly broken up by the occasional guitar solo, and a part where, hilariously, the actual song seems to finally start only to fade out a few seconds afterwards XD

 

That'll be enough secret maps for now, I think - I'll probably leave MAP33/34 for next week.

Edited August 18, 2023 by sq. Tiramisu

[TJG1289]

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

Map 18:  Weather Station - InsanityBringer w/ edits by Kyka and Jodwin

100% kills and secrets

Time: 5:11

Deaths: 1

 

Interesting little spoke-layout map here. It's mostly teleport ambushes filled with lower-tier enemies, though some nobles come out of monster closets a few times. The play space is the biggest threat like usual here, with my death coming in the nukage section from getting cornered by the imps, spectres, and 1 caco. Outside of that, it's basic 1024 stuff. I like the continuous mega armor secret at the end, it's much appreciated! The map looks nice as usual, though I'm not sure the animated textures in the hub are supposed to zooooooooom like they did for me. Nice little breather of a map, even if it did get me once.

[FistMarine]

MAP13: Assault
by Joshy

 

This map starts you under attack from a Chaingunner with a few weak monsters around, so you need to be quick. There's some tricky fights in this map but nothing particularly difficult on a continuous run and a cautious player should avoid most of the damage.

 

I appreciate the fact that there's lots of bonuses in this map, especially armor bonuses that helped refill the armor to 200%. Oh yeah and the pop-up hell knight at one point did scare me a little bit. Great stuff. Don't have much else to say. I think the map was fine overall.

 

MAP14: Deception
by Dreadopp

 

A somewhat interesting map that to me is not very well balanced on UV, at least if you are pistol starting because there's apparently TWENTY goddamn revenants in this map and all only showing up on UV and NM!

 

Playing continuously wasn't too bad, except for having bad luck with a damn revenant that somehow managed to sneak by and quickly fire two homing missiles around the door at the start that perfectly followed me and hit me for loads of damage. I mean seriously, just got from 134 to 69 hp in a single second. After taking the bastard out with the SSG and grabbing much needed stimpacks/medkits, I rushed a bit and took a bit more damage from hitscanners in the next room and realized my armor had just dropped below 100%. Uh oh, that's not a good sign. Perhaps I should go back to the careful approach? Except for the times it doesn't work, so I'm convinced certain encounters are luck based how much damage you will take.

 

Anyway, after clearing those chaingunners at windows and pressing the switch, I decided to prepare in advance and take my Plasma Rifle out that I've been saving for situations like these. I decided it was finally the time I should be using it and started killing all those teleporting revs without taking any damage. What followed was a series of shooting switches and have more revs teleporting, about THREE of them each time. Then a couple more chaingunners and revenants showed up at the end, killing them and the map was pretty much over. Well, a few more skeletons showed up upon lowering the Armor and Soulsphere platforms at the level start and that was pretty much it.

 

The thing that really annoyed me at this level was ending up with 93% armor at the end, despite starting out with a full blue armor and that meant it was the time to replace the damaged armor with a brand new green armor. Normally I stick with the current armor until it gets low (or gets used entirely) and needs replacement, especially if I have the blue armor type but when I am at the end of the level and there are armor pickups around, I replace the existing armor if it's below 100% (or below 200% if there are blue armors/megaspheres still around). I guess I just prefer having "full" armor rather than used one, though if I had 100% or more armor left, I would have stuck with the blue one. But hey, on the bright side, I got my health back to 200%, so I'm sure it will pay off in the next map.

 

Overall, I didn't mind this map too much on a continuous run but according to the comments posted so far in the topic, I agree the Revenant usage should have been toned down quite a bit and use more of monster variety. Maybe only have 5 skeletons appear on HMP and 10 on UV instead of 20 only on UV. Just my two cents about that and I'm sure the map would be a lot better balanced and more fun to play on a pistol start.

 

MAP15: The Inmost Con'dens'ed
by Jimmy91

 

Disappointed it's not in the MAP14 slot...OK fine, I will stop now. The map is shown in the intro demo (kinda spoils most of the map) and the player dies at a certain infamous part later on. This map is obviously inspired by The Inmost Dens and as it has been pointed out earlier, this feels like a shrunken down version of the map. But is it fun to play or not? Find out soon!

 

It's important to note that there are parts you can't backtrack and a vital hidden switch that needs to be shot before arriving in a certain place. The switch in question is found just near the starting point. Look through the nearby opening and you should see a small green switch, which is located on top of where you can see the Blue Skull Key standing.

 

However, the beginning part is possible to backtrack at the end, if you want to return and grab the BLUE ARMOR after you are done with the map! Yep, that's right. UV and NM players get the Blue Armor, whereas the rest players get the Green Armor, according to the statistics shown on the Doomwiki. Though the continuous players need to be careful to not accidentally pick it up (assuming they already have armor at this point) when getting the YSK and pressing the switch (happened to me once, then I loaded save). Yes, I try my best to conserve the health/armor/pickups and get the most use of them, which usually pays off. Oh and there's an invisibility secret that may or may not help with some parts in the map. Would have been more useful against Chaingunners rather than the time I picked it up before teleporting to a certain cramped place...

 

Unfortunately, I died once at the most infamous part of the level, where you teleport and need to punch out teleporting imps, demons and even a knight. I tried to be smart and switched to the SSG, which proved to be a bit too slow and take damage from some monsters. But if there's one big complaint, I will say that Hell Knight teleporting at end was complete bullshit because you are literally supposed to rely on LUCK to survive. If the RNG isn't on your side, you will die in like 2-3 hits at 100 health, like it happened to me. Basically I tried to use SSG but after two shots, I died before the knight was dead.

 

On second attempt, I decided to punch the monsters as intended and only switch to SSG when the Knight was about to teleport. I made it out alive with around 50% health. Ironically, the player who recorded the demo also died at the same part. So you know, this part should have been rebalanced but if there is one positive thing I can say, is that at least it's not a baron! On a serious note, I suppose I could have used the Plasma instead of SSG to deal with that knight but I wanted to play fair and only use the weapons present in the level.

 

Oh and there's now an Archvile somewhere that blasted me once and was almost dying without any armor remaining. Wonderful. Good thing there are a couple medkits around and then I made it to the end at least, fighting against the remaining monsters that showed up. Then backtrack for blue armor and go back to collect that Soulsphere...hold on, what's with those bars? Why I can't go back to grab that Soulsphere I saved for later? I was at 73% health left and didn't want to pick it up until I found some medkits first. Oh, you have got to be kidding me! There is no way back and the bars cannot be lowered. Bullshit.

 

Yeah, I refused to use IDCLIP to get that Soulsphere I couldn't reach anymore and didn't want to leave without it either, so I ended up loading a slightly earlier save just after I had done the annoying part with the teleporting monsters. Then redo the rest of the map carefully to not take too much damage, so I pick up the health before the soulsphere and end up with the nice 200/200 and ready for the secret levels. Also watch out for the Chaingunners trap and the Baron at end. The secret exit switch is located just near the normal exit switch, provided you shot that switch earlier at the beginning. If not, then you unfortunately have to restart the level. I absolutely recommend using saves if you are playing continuously, especially in situations like these. You never know things can go wrong.

 

It's a shame that this otherwise great map was ruined by one time only switch (though I appreciate the heads up from the comments earlier I just happened to read), a bullshit trap and the various points randomly blocked. I just think these bars blocking were completely unnecessary and soured the experience with the map.

 

Overall, I really liked the design of this map, it's one of the highlights of the pack (in general I enjoyed the original DOOM 2 maps and I have seen MAP14 remade many times, I even remember a few months ago playing through a MAP14 remake in Memento Mori) and I really appreciate what James Paddock has done in his early years, before becoming a legendary Doomer that has made tons of gold over time.

 

But unfortunately, gameplay wise, this map wasn't as great as I was hoping and the various annoyances really dragged down the quality of the map. Though it appears this map was then edited by Mechadon, so it makes me wonder if most of these additions were made by Mechadon? Hopefully I don't sound rude by asking this question but I'm just curious and wish the map turned out better than it was. Maybe it needed more playtesting or something, which is ironic, considering Mechadon was also the project leader. Just my two cents about that.

 

MAP31: Skyscrape IV
by Jodwin

 

This is a very interesting secret map. It's a bit cramped for my liking and I am not a fan of some teleport traps, such as having chaingunners show up near you, especially if you have the wrong weapon selected, because you will lose plenty of health while SSG is reloading for example. And also I am not a fan of having points randomly blocked that prevent backtracking, though this is due to design, because you need to make a choice at the room with the four switches and once you complete a room, you can't visit it again.

 

The concept itself is great but the lack of backtracking mostly hurts the completionists if you forget to pick up something or you don't do it in the right order. For the continuous players, assuming they start with maximum health and armor, they can save the Megasphere room for the end, which is accessed by two of the switches, I think. It's quite tricky to do it perfectly but I managed to do it that way with some reloading I've done at some points.

 

The order I did the rooms was first the Blue Key (two Chaingunners guarding the Rocket Launcher), then Yellow Key (Blue Armor and the warehouse fights), then the basement (a few monsters and ammo) and then the Red Key (Megasphere and lots of tricky traps). I think the highlights are the Warehouse fights with the hitscanners, revenants and other stuff, then the Red Key fights with Spider Mastermind (there are tiny pillars you can use as cover at least), teleporting hitscanners, spectres in the dark, wall of nobles and Mancubi. They are all pretty tough but shouldn't be too difficult to complete if you are a bit lucky with the RNG. A couple Archies also show up at some points but mostly in the cramped central rooms and you can just SSG them to death, they aren't that bad if you take your time.

 

Anyway, I will say I almost got myself killed a few times. In the warehouse I was getting to the 30-40% health range and once I cleared the hitscanners, I got the medkits and a fresh new blue armor because if I wasn't going back, I might as well get it now. Then the Red Key fights. The spider is easy, she won't hit you if you are hugging the pillar. But then you have teleporting hitscanners and two surprise chaingunners almost got me killed. I had to quickly run to the medkits around the arena because I panicked, thinking I would die. But wait, it gets worse.

 

You need to shoot where the arrow is pointing behind the FIREBLU forcefield and then lights turn off and the spectres show up! Problem is I should have switched to the Plasma (I had 590 cells and either I was too stubborn to use it or maybe I forgot and reminded later?) and used SSG for a short while until I switched to the chaingun to stun them because I was getting surrounded. I made it out alive with around 35 HP left, luckily a few times the bites did very little damage, so I suppose it evens out.

 

The supplies are now available but as soon as I saw the hell nobles, I immediately switched to the RL and fired for a while. Luckily, I was able to dodge every projectile. But then the Mancubi show up. I made sure to quickly save in that desperate moment and then I was wondering if I should grab the megasphere now or risk dying while trying my best to dodge? I eventually grabbed the Mega but then I got a few fireballs to face and ended up with 148/148. I decided to reload and try again for a while but I can't seem to avoid the damage entirely, so then I load game again and try to play with fire by not picking up the Megasphere and wow I barely made it alive with like 10 hp left. The megasphere was much needed now and a great prize for beating this room.

 

After getting the Red Key and returning to the room, I think all left was just 2-3 Archviles and reaching the normal exit. I wondered where the secret exit could be until I read on Doomwiki and found out there is a red tiny exit teleporter in the central hub/room you can reach, as you can see in my screenshot, to give you an idea where it is located. Oh yeah and there aren't any official secrets but the Boom/ZDoom source ports will say 100% secrets anyway.

 

Overall, this was quite an impressive map. Visuals were great and gameplay was mostly fine and engaging. But suffers a bit from cramping, some annoying traps and lack of backtracking after solving each area.

 

MAP32: Oil Rig
by Mik57

 

Another interesting secret map. It's mostly brown and dark but the atmosphere is great and there are even THREE Cyberdemons! Yep, you've got THREE of them, on HMP and higher according to the Doomwiki. Oh and also one Spider Mastermind at the end, though it's not that bad to take her out.

 

The first Cyberdemon can be a bit of an issue, especially on a pistol start but after he finishes infighting, he can be hurt while behind the crates. I found this safe strategy and just snipe him in head with single shotgun and chaingun, thanks to Autoaim. Eventually, he dies and then you can move to the next room.

 

The second Cyberdemon is after taking the elevator and he will be waiting on the left side. But first, be careful with the Chaingunner squad from far away. Afterwards, be careful with the second Cyberdemon that is on the left side and waiting for you. Trying to hide from his rockets in the elevator doesn't work well, since you will be taking splash damage from his rockets if they hit the nearby walls. That hurt me a lot but then I loaded save and just decided to stand in the open, Plasma-ing him to death while dodging rockets, ignoring one or two imps that were around, though I think the splash damage took them out. He eventually died and then it was smooth sailing from now on.

 

Grab the Blue Key and Soulsphere, go back to the elevator and kill the spawned monsters. I did a cheap trick I learned a while ago where I shoot with the SSG while the door is opening/closing and that way the projectile monsters didn't hit me at all. Be careful with the chaingunner, though. Since he can still hit you while doing this trick, so it's only useful when fighting against projectile monsters. Hope you find this useful!

 

The third Cyberdemon shows up shortly after. He will be up high at the window but he can be safely Plasma'd from ground level thanks to autoaim and his rockets will not hit you if you take cover right at the spot you started the level.

 

Afterwards, go upstairs and surprise, a Spider Mastermind has showed up alongside a couple more monsters! After taking out the Spidey and her companions, then various other monsters waiting for you, open the Yellow exit door and prepare for the Archvile waiting for you. You should already know by this point there is usually an Archvile in the exit room, as you can tell when you check the level stats and have only one remaining enemy left. Afterwards, backtrack if needed for whatever supplies you left behind and check the rewards in the exit room.

 

Completing this level gives you two excellent rewards: BFG and Megasphere! Yeah, that's the first BFG of the megawad and I'm sure it will be very useful later on. Oh and there is also a Soulsphere secret right next to the exit door. Which reminds me that this level was very generous with the resources, as I ended up with a spare Blue Armor, Soulsphere and Megasphere at the end, though I grabbed the latter two anyway just for getting 100% completion.

 

Overall, I think this map was fine, it wasn't as hard as I thought it will be (I think it was somewhat easier than MAP31, despite the stronger opposition present in MAP32) and I didn't mind it. I'm happy to have finished it as part of the normal level progression, as it was very rewarding in the end. I mean who knows when you will get the next BFG? It's an offer you can't refuse.

 

And yes, I am aware there's also the super secret bonus maps MAP33 and MAP34 but I will cover them at the very end, as they can't be reached from regular gameplay, so they will be pistol started after finishing the megawad.

 

Also forgot to point out earlier that I'm only writing the map author as how they show up on the intermission screen. Sorry if I missed anyone when crediting the map authors, though the complete list is available on Doomwiki.

Deaths so far: 2 (MAP07, MAP15)

 

Screenshots

Spoiler

I guess I'm doing 5 maps reviewed per post now, maybe only 4 maps reviewed from MAP21 onwards. Speaking of which, I just reached MAP21 earlier today and I think the weekend is the perfect opportunity for taking a short break from Doom, before coming back refreshed next week and tackling the last 12 maps. I should also catch up with writing for the rest maps relatively soon. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Edited August 18, 2023 by FistMarine