A new Doom player's WAD reviews

[Explorer of Time]

Inspired somewhat by Celestin's review thread, I've decided to make one of my own to review maps at my own pace. I'm a new Doom player who got started in late 2023, around the anniversary, and, though I'm not the best player, I really enjoy Classic Doom and look forward to playing tons of the best WADs from throughout Doom's history.

 

Unless stated otherwise at the start of a WAD or map, I use GZdoom as my source port with mouselook enabled, I play on ITYTD and pistol start everything, and I use saves, though I only save when out of combat. I try and 100% everything, doubling back and using Doomwiki and/or IDDT to find the last enemies/items/secrets if I missed something when I reach the exit.

 

Feel free to ask questions or comment if you want. I already have a list of about ~20 WADs I plan to play, but suggestions for more are always welcome.

 

Index:

 

Back to Saturn X Episode 1: Get Out Of My Stations

My House

Phobos Mission Control

Sigil

Sigil II

Tech Gone Bad

 

Completed prior to thread creation:

The Ultimate Doom

Doom 2

TNT: Evilution

The Plutonia Experiment

No Rest For The Living

Master Levels for Doom 2

Dante's Gate

Crossing Acheron

Cabal

Edited February 17, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

To start this thread off, the first WAD I'm playing is Sigil.

 

E5M1: Baphomet's Demesne by John Romero

Spoiler

I know I'm biased because I love Hell Maps, but this had beautiful graphic design, and Hate Machine is quite possibly my favorite song so far in my short time playing Doom. In terms of gameplay, it's a bit simple even for people who went to Sigil straight from Doom, without many enemies and only a Shotgun and Chaingun, but this map would've been an excellent starter map for new players who hadn't played any Doom before.

E5M2: Sheol by John Romero

Spoiler

This was another map that had stellar visual design and great music, but the combat was simple and a little lacking, owing, again, to Romero's decision to use only the Shotgun and Chaingun in the map. Still, it had more enemies than the previous map so it was a little more challenging this time. This still really feels like a warmup for people who've taken a long break from playing Doom, though.

E5M3: Cages of the Damned by John Romero

Spoiler

Now we're talking. This is the first map of the WAD that had combat that I liked, and its graphical design was just as stellar as the first two maps, though its song wasn't as good. Still only a Chaingun and Shotgun up until you get rockets for the very last monster on the map, but the encounters are designed to make both of them fun to use. And more challenging, too; I nearly ended up dying to the first of the map's two Barons. That being said, the western corridors with the blood are a mandatory hurtfloor, and though you get radsuits to go through it, it makes backtracking difficult if you missed secrets or monsters. Mandatory hurtfloors are one of my pet peeves with map design and this really didn't need to be one.

E5M4: Paths of Wretchedness by John Romero

Spoiler

This map was amazing and not only my favorite map of this episode (so far) but one of my favorite Doom 1 levels ever. Paths of Wretchedness continues Sigil's amazing visuals and the soundtrack is back to the glory of the first two maps, and the gameplay is quite fun too. This map finally gives Rocket Launchers before the end of the map, though for the most part I just shotgunned most monsters, but the real genius was the environmental design. I love maps where you can go take multiple paths to get keys in whichever order you want, and each of this map's paths had different gimmicks that made all three paths unique and fun.

 

I personally went Red -> Yellow -> Blue, and though I love the type of cliff ledge battles that the Red path had, the Yellow and Blue paths made me fall in love with hurtfloor and crusher segments, two mechanics I normally hate! But the mad dash across the sinking platforms of the Yellow path and the excellently telegraphed lighting in the Crusher path made them both not only tolerable, but the highlights of the map, which is something I never thought I'd say about hurtfloors or crushers, let alone in the same map.

 

The sole flaw was that the evil eye in the first Crusher room was a little hard to find.

E5M5: Abaddon's Void by John Romero

Spoiler

This would have been a map I liked had the map not had so many mandatory hurtfloors between the islands. And without radsuits too. Still, the atmosphere and visual design were top notch yet again. The islands in the dark lava sea with the glowing cracks in the ceiling above the level made this one of my favorite levels to look at, if not to play. The music, though not as exciting as previous songs, also fit the level's dark, oppressive landscape quite well. The combat was good, though not exemplary.

E5M6: Unspeakable Persecution by John Romero

Spoiler

I liked the eastern half of this map, but the design of the southwestern hurtfloor cavern was... not the best. The decision to make a huge section dark and give the player a Light-Amp (and hurtfloors with a Radsuit) kind of wrecked Sigil's visuals for that section, since the whole WAD's lighting philosophy has been to make things kinda dark, but not so dark that it impedes combat, with faintly glowing reds everywhere that don't quite shine as brightly as real light, as though the darkness of Hell is so deep that it stifles even the light of hellfire. It was a masterpiece of lighting design, and the bright green tint on the screen wrecked that. Other than that, the teleporter segment on the eastern half was fun, though I had to look up how to find the secret level so I could review it. The combat was also much easier than the previous three maps, since you get a plasma rifle and lots of cells early on.

E5M9: Realm of Iblis by John Romero

Spoiler

This was another good map, with good combat, exploration, visuals, music, etc. The environment was much brighter than the rest of Sigil since it was sorta outdoors, and the sparse industrial tech elements worked well, and it makes sense to have this be the secret map since it's environmentally different from the rest of Sigil. I also quite like John Romero's philosophy of mapmaking where you return to a central hub area several times in a map, and it was put to excellent use here.

E5M7: Nightmare Underworld by John Romero

Spoiler

Again, as with the rest of Sigil, this map had great visuals, and this map also had excellent combat, aside from the ledge with the Cacodemons towards the end. The teleporter towers made backtracking harder, though, and I think something broke involving the middle room with the lava river, because I had to idclip to kill the last four monsters, the only time I've had to idclip in this WAD. (I also missed the Rocket Launcher until the map was over.)

E5M8: Halls of Perdition by John Romero

Spoiler

Like most of Sigil, this had, once again, amazing visuals and music. That being said, this was a very easy level even by ITYTD standards, with the Cyberdemon at the end being straight up removed and only a Spider Mastermind to fight; which was quite easy because I found the level's BFG 9000. This map should have have kept the Cyberdemon in the final boss fight for lower difficulties, I think. As it was, the final boss was basically a retread of E3M8, but with a few easy encounters and a BFG before the boss itself.

 

Edited January 23, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

To conclude this playthrough, Sigil is a visual masterpiece and its maps have quite possibly my favorite-looking maps so far. However, this being a Doom 1 WAD, it's missing a lot of more powerful monsters that could've really improved the maps, and the difficulty curve was quite irregular on ITYTD, with most of the levels feeling like a step back from Doom 1, and especially easier than most levels in E4. However, it did have some standout maps that I loved, like Paths of Wretchedness and Realm of Iblis, and there weren't any maps that I outright hated. Even my least favorite, Unspeakable Persecution, is merely a "meh" in my eyes.

 

I am, of course, going to continue onwards to Sigil 2 for my next WAD.

[Explorer of Time]

But before I get to Sigil 2, I'm going to play through Romero's two standalone Doom 1 maps, starting with Phobos Mission Control.

 

I'm not personally a fan of E1-style maps, but this is quite a good one, as far as they go. It fits in quite well in E1, though as it literally had the same designer as all but two of the original E1 maps, this is not surprising. A little on the easier side, given E1's restrictions on monster use blocking any of the truly difficult monsters, but that's to be expected from an E1-style map. Aesthetically, it's the spitting image of an E1 map that you could almost imagine having been released in some alternate timeline of Doom's development. Again, not personally my thing (I preferred E2 and E3), but anyone who loved E1 will find this a dream come true.

[Explorer of Time]

The second of Romero's standalone Doom 1 maps is Tech Gone Bad. This map, though it is a well-made map, is not one I personally liked. It's an E1-styled techbase with lots and lots of hurtfloors and radsuits, and lots of low-tier enemies from Doom 1, but no tougher enemies save for the two Barons at the end. In short, this map hit a lot of my own personal pet peeves with mapmaking, and I personally have no interest in playing it again, though I expect that other people will like it. The final battle against the Barons was quite fun though, and was worth going through the rest of the map for.

[Explorer of Time]

Now to actually start Sigil II:

 

E6M1: Cursed Darkness by John Romero

Spoiler

This time around, the opening level of the WAD is much better balanced for lower difficulties, and though there aren't many monsters, they're still used in fun and interesting ways without being too threatening for players who aren't the best at the game. The environment, visuals, and music continue their excellent design from Sigil 1, and if anything the visuals are even improved from Sigil 1's maps.

E6M2: Violent Hatred by John Romero

Spoiler

This map had fun combat, but aesthetically it was a little bit of a step down from E6M1, though even then it's still above most vanilla Doom 1 maps. I, unfortunately, somehow missed the obvious Chaingun in this map, making the Baron fights a little tougher than they should have been, but it was otherwise very well balanced for ITYTD. Most of the secrets were findable without referencing Doomwiki, but the last was in a hidden corridor I couldn't figure out how to open, and it apparently locked you out of it if you couldn't find it in the first thirty seconds, which is utterly terrible secret design and brings down an otherwise good map. (I noclipped through it to see what was there after reaching the exit, and it was just some pistol/chaingun ammo.)

E6M3: Twilight Desolation by John Romero

Spoiler

Another map with, yet again, great visuals and music, but this one was less well balanced for ITYTD than the first two. The initial Cacodemon battle was quite fun, but the map went way underboard with the monsters on every section past that. This map has every single weapon accessible including an early BFG. Players on ITYTD should get the opportunity to use them on stuff. And, just like the last map, this had a secret that locked itself in the first thirty seconds, and this time it included a Plasma Rifle. From now on, I'm going to look up the secrets for this WAD to make sure I don't miss any time-locked secrets. Lastly, the entrance to the secret map requires rocket jumping. I cannot rocket jump to save my life, but I want to play the secret level so I can review it, so I just idclipped my way to it once I had 100%ed the level.

 

Edited January 25, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[LadyMistDragon]

1 hour ago, Explorer of Time said:

N

  Hide contents

Another map with, yet again, great visuals and music, but this one was less well balanced for ITYTD than the first two. The initial Cacodemon battle was quite fun, but the map went way underboard with the monsters on every section past that. This map has every single weapon accessible including an early BFG. Players on ITYTD should get the opportunity to use them on stuff. And, just like the last map, this had a secret that locked itself in the first thirty seconds, and this time it included a Plasma Rifle. From now on, I'm going to look up the secrets for this WAD to make sure I don't miss any time-locked secrets. Lastly, the entrance to the secret map requires rocket jumping. I cannot rocket jump to save my life, but I want to play the secret level so I can review it, so I just idclipped my way to it once I had 100%ed the level.

 

 

This isn't personal, but I just wanted to say that has to be the easiest rocket jump on the face of the earth, even easier than the one in Mt. Erebus, although overshooting will probably happen at least once or twice. And outside of anything that's basically a straight line , I'm quite bad and don't really care to get better.

[Explorer of Time]

2 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

 

This isn't personal, but I just wanted to say that has to be the easiest rocket jump on the face of the earth, even easier than the one in Mt. Erebus, although overshooting will probably happen at least once or twice. And outside of anything that's basically a straight line , I'm quite bad and don't really care to get better.

I did try. Several times, in fact. I ended up accidentally saving in the lava instead of reloading after my fifth attempt, so I had to idclip out anyway.

 

How are you finding my reviews, apart from that?

Edited January 25, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Shepardus]

2 hours ago, LadyMistDragon said:

 

This isn't personal, but I just wanted to say that has to be the easiest rocket jump on the face of the earth, even easier than the one in Mt. Erebus, although overshooting will probably happen at least once or twice. And outside of anything that's basically a straight line , I'm quite bad and don't really care to get better.

I've yet to play the map so I don't know if it's a factor here, but rocket jumping is less powerful on ITYTD (since you do less damage to yourself you also get less thrust).

[Explorer of Time]

On 1/24/2024 at 8:05 PM, Shepardus said:

I've yet to play the map so I don't know if it's a factor here, but rocket jumping is less powerful on ITYTD (since you do less damage to yourself you also get less thrust).

That might be why I'm having problems. I plan to replay both Sigil WADs on HMP once I'm done with them on ITYTD, so we'll see if I'm any better at rocket-jumping on higher difficulties. (EDIT: Changed my mind about replaying, for now, but upping the difficulty did make a difference, and I could rocket jump to the exit easily in a test run on HNTR)

 

In any case, I've completed some more maps:

 

E6M9: Shattered Homecoming by John Romero

Spoiler

This is a techbase map, which was a little surprising, but thankfully, it was an E2-style corrupted techbase rather than an E1-style uncorrupted one. This continued E6M3's underwhelming number of monsters for ITYTD, but it had amazing music and its visuals made it one of my favorite techbase maps, (though E2M2 still holds the crown there). I ended up using the chaingun for most of this map because I got the shotgun late, and lots of ammo for the chaingun. I like the chaingun start and wish more maps did this, it's fun to be taken out of my comfort zone and use everything but shotguns. This map also had yet another timelocked secret, in what I dread is going to be a very irritating trend for Sigil II.

 

Weirdly, one of the secrets took me to the level's Multiplayer arena, which had some monsters in it and a couple items, and its visual design was worse than the rest of the level. It was a pure techbase without much decoration, and not nearly as much effort was put into it as the single-player part.

E6M4: Fragments of Sanity by John Romero

Spoiler

I know I praise basically all of Sigil and Sigil II for their visuals, but this map stands out as excellent even by Sigil's standards. It starts off in a small techbase, which you quickly find out is in a volcanic wasteland, and the techbase has been long since destroyed and split into several ruined pieces, with a single Hell building nearby that also has been damaged by the lava. Despite the lava, the hurtfloors are very forgiving and the only mandatory one is right at the beginning, where the player isn't likely to have taken much damage and has a radsuit available on top of that.

 

In terms of combat, this map was much better balanced for ITYTD, even if it is still on the easier side of things given the lack of Doom 2 monsters. That being said, this map continues the mistake of having a time-locked secret in the first thirty seconds, blocking off the map's only Berserk Pack, and it has an annoying crusher segment that probably won't be lethal, but will do a lot more damage than most monsters will if you screw up the timing even a little bit.

E6M5: Wrathful Reckoning by John Romero

Spoiler

Like the last map, this was well-balanced for ITYTD. Unlike the last map, it had among the worst visuals in the Sigil WADs, though this is by no means an insult as it's still above-average in that regard. This is mostly a techbase map, and the hell areas are mostly caves that connect multiple techbases. It also had a hurtfloor right in the middle of the map that you have to cross multiple times to get between map areas, and you don't have nearly enough radsuits to make it past without taking damage. Even if you do the bare minimum, you'll still take 20% or so damage at minimum just from crossing the central pool of nukage. Some bridges in this area would have been much appreciated.

 

And, yet again, a timelocked secret that you need a guide to find. This one had a megaarmor, and some energy cells and shotgun shells. This is a really impactful secret to be locked out of considering that the only other megaarmor in the level is only available near the very end. There's also a soul sphere that you get locked out of right at the beginning if you don't turn around as your first action in the level, but this map has more than enough soul spheres if you miss it.

 

Edited January 28, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

E6M6: Vengeance Unleashed by John Romero

Spoiler

This map returned to Sigil's masterful hell map visuals, and was the most difficult map I've played in the series so far, mostly owing to the first Cyberdemon on ITYTD. I had a huge amount of trouble beating it up until I accidentally fell in the lava and found the BFG, since you fight it in a corridor maze that you can't move around quickly in, and I was injured from the fight with the three Barons of Hell in the Blue Key area.

 

Speaking of those Barons, I didn't have much ammo on me or weapons since I went for the middle path first, so I had to shotgun them all, and I nearly ran out of ammo doing so. I probably should have run away and found the Plasma Gun from the Yellow Key section first. It was still a difficult fight and if I had designed this map for ITYTD/HNTR, I'd have lowered that encounter to two Barons. I'm glad the Cyberdemon stayed in on ITYTD, even though I had a hard time with it, but I would've put in some extra powerups near the Cyberdemon maze on lower difficulties since most unskilled players will take a couple rocket hits. Still, this is the first time in Sigil that Romero's made a map too hard on low difficulties instead of too easy, so I don't mind too much.

 

I'm still irritated by the time-locked secrets, but this one isn't critical. It just had some ammo and a Medikit.

E6M7: Descent into Terror by John Romero

Spoiler

This map pretty much perfectly nailed the difficulty for ITYTD, at least for Doom 1 maps. Visually, it's still good, but not up to par with the rest of Sigil II. I quite liked the maze pyramid in the northeastern lava lake. I didn't enjoy the lift puzzle near the end, though. It was just tedious and I had a hard time seeing what I was doing because of the darkness. But the combat was quite fun, still easy enough for me to not get stressed out but hard enough that I still get to rip and tear a lot of monsters. I wish the rest of Sigil and Sigil II had the difficulty that this map had.

 

Also this map continues with the awful time-locked secrets, and this one locked a megaarmor behind it, one of only two on the map. I cannot stress enough how much I hate these.

E6M8: Abyss of Despair by John Romero

Spoiler

This was the final level of Sigil II, and the boss battle was quite hard, at least until I figured out the trick to beating it. Two Cyberdemons and a Spider Mastermind, plus an inescapable hurtfloor pit surrounding the arena, made this battle nigh-impossible for me to beat conventionally. However, I didn't need to fight all three. I ended up getting the Cyberdemons to infight with the Spider Mastermind, then teleported out of the arena, with the Spider killing one Cyberdemon and injuring the other before going down. I expected the Spider to die first, but the first Cyberdemon's rockets must've caught on the platform and missed. The part up to the boss battle was a little underwhelming in terms of difficulty, but that's to be expected in a boss map.

 

This map's time-locked secret is just some ammo, a second Berserk, and a partial invisibility. All in all, probably the most useless timelocked secret because of how there isn't much opposition until the bosses.

 

Edited January 28, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

Sigil II: Conclusion

 

If you liked Sigil, you'll like its sequel. If you didn't like Sigil, you won't like its sequel. Sigil II is still a visual masterpiece with excellent environmental design, but held back by being a Doom 1 WAD without any of the Doom 2 monsters. If you're looking for ITYTD reviews, specifically, this had a much better difficulty curve than Sigil I. The early maps were still quite easy, but the difficulty ramped up to what I personally feel is a great sweet spot for not-so-great players like myself at around E6M4, and stayed there until the finale.

 

Although, this WAD does add in one very irritating pattern that was not present in Sigil I: Time-locked secrets. Every map except the first has a single secret that must be reached within the first 30 seconds or it becomes permanently inaccessible. You pretty much have to use a guide for these, come back on a second try, or cheat to find them, since it's virtually impossible to explore everywhere they might be in the short time they're available.

[Explorer of Time]

Back to Saturn X Episode 1: Get Out Of My Stations

 

Map 01: Back to Saturn X Radio Report* by Sarah Mancuso and Richard Frei

^{*BTSX Contractual Obligation in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

I started BTSX right after finishing Sigil II, and this first map, at least, feels like the beginning of a spiritual antithesis of the Sigil WADs. In a good way, of course. Where Sigil was dark, cramped, and foreboding, this map was bright and, though it may be odd for a Doom map, very chill and relaxing. BTSX starts you off in a large, empty courtyard without any demons, and you don't get into your first combat for a minute or so depending on how fast you explore the courtyard. When you actually get to the base, it's much more open-ended than most Doom maps I've played. You only need to find a single key to open the exit, but there are many paths you can take to get there. Still, I like to 100% maps and I spent quite a while exploring the whole thing. The very end of the map was a tram station without any combat. I loved it. It felt like a place I could let down my guard and relax for a little bit after having killed everything on the map.

 

The map uses all new textures, which from what I understand are continued throughout the WAD and it's sequel. The exterior environments were very pretty, like a wilderness so beautiful that even the forces of Hell did not want to despoil it. The interior of the base felt much more like a lived-in place than most techbases, because of both the layout and the new textures. Everything about it feels... warmer somehow. Like it turned completely away from Doom's horror aesthetics, and made shotgunning demons into a chill, relaxing, experience.

 

This map was also very well-balanced for an opening map on ITYTD. Mostly Imps, Zombiemen, and Shotgun Guys, but still a few tougher demons like Cacos and a single Arachnotron. This is a great point to start off the difficulty curve for ITYTD/HNTR, and, though the WAD's text file insists it was primarily designed for UV, the perfect ITYTD balancing that blows most of Sigil out of the water gives me high hopes for the rest of the WAD.

Map 02: Postal Blowfish* by Kim Bach and Sarah Mancuso

^{*Mortar Cavalry in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This is a much more linear map than the last, and a much more tightly-designed map as a result. It started adding in some tougher monsters like Revenants and Mancubi, but it's still hitting the ITYTD sweet spot. I love the combat in this map, it nails the ITYTD difficulty perfectly.

 

The graphics and music are still quite similar to the last map, so I'm going to skip mentions of these aspects in future maps unless there's a big change in either department.

Map 03: The Room Taking Shape* by Paul DeBruyne

^{*Drilling By Night in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This map had easier monsters than the last map, but it ended up being harder because I somehow didn't find out how to get the only Armor until after killing them all.

 

This map was all indoors, no outdoors, but it was less linear than the last map, with me starting out in the center and having to go collect a Yellow Key on the west end and a red keycard in the north end to open the exit on the east end.

 

There was a battle with several Mancubi in a crusher area after getting the Yellow Key, but most of the Mancubi got crushed before I could kill them personally. I think this was intentional but I'm not completely sure.

Map 04: A Good Flying Bird* by Sarah Mancuso

^{*Conceptual Birdbath in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This was a much more traditionally-structured Doom map, with a semi-linear path to three keys with some backtracking, but it nailed the combat yet again. Sarah Mancuso is as amazing at ITYTD combat balancing as she is with music and I can't stop playing this WAD. Like, I haven't gotten even the slightest bit bored from too easy combat or frustrated from too difficult combat. I look forward to more of her maps, whether working alone or with other people.

 

Edited January 30, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

Map 05: Total Exposure* by Walker Wright

^{*No Enclosure in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This was a very linear map, but it was a great one. The combat was near-perfect up until the very end with the Cyberdemon, at which point there really should've been a low-difficulty-exclusive megaarmor or megasphere. Cyberdemons are very deadly even on ITYTD, and since this map didn't have any soul spheres, megaarmors, or megaspheres, this particular Cyberdemon ended up being quite dangerous even with the cover and nearby medikits. Still, this map continues BTSX's excellent aesthetics, this time having a lot of exterior plazas and walkways where you could see some nice views of other parts of the base.

Map 06: Mix Up The Satellite* by Trevor Primmett

^{*Visplane Holding Zone in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This map had around 200 monsters, a significant jump above previous maps in this WAD, but it was still quite well balanced for ITYTD. Roughly half of the monsters here were Imps, and most of the stronger demons here were Revenants, with the occasional Hell Knight or Mancubus, which added up to a lot of projectiles to dodge and not a lot of hitscanners. Pain Elementals, chaingunners, and Archviles were thankfully used very sparingly, with all but one of the Archviles being in an area with an invulnerability and a bunch of rockets.

 

Aesthetically, this map was a little bit of a step back in parts. It felt like it was built to be a traditional techbase or Earth layout rather than playing to the strengths of BTSX's excellent texture. Still, it's only a small step back and I still enjoyed it.

 

Edited February 1, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

Map 07: Metal Mothers*: by Björn Ostmann

^{*Arachnobeliever in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This is a big, nonlinear, map with a huge loop around the outside that can be traversed freely without either key, populated with lots of Arachnotrons and a very early BFG and SSG to help you fight them. There were also some Revenants and various cannon fodder demons, and at the very end a battle with multiple Spider Masterminds that went down to the BFG. I quite liked it, very well balanced for ITYTD as usual for this WAD, and the heavy focus on a single monster type (Arachnotrons) is something I personally like in maps. It was also a return to the aesthetic excellence of the rest of the maps so far after the last map fell a little short.

Map 08: Get Out of My Stations I*: by Sarah Mancuso

^{*Waiting in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This level is basically an interlude, no monsters, enemies, or secrets to find here. Pretty much, you just get to explore more of the tram station from the first map and get on a train to the next map. It's a well-designed tram station with lots of Doomcute, though.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 09: Some Drilling Implied*: by Sarah Mancuso and Travers Dunne

^{*Offworld Dentistry in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This map felt like a step back in terms of difficulty, since there were many less tougher demons to fight, and even a little less cannon fodder. That being said, this map doesn't give you much in the way of defense, no megaarmor, no soul spheres, and only two regular armors, so if you do screw up against the few Mancubi and Cacodemons here, you may actually get killed. Still, this map is well-balanced for ITYTD, if a bit on the easier side, though maybe less so if you found out how to get the Super Shotgun that I apparently missed, according to Doomwiki.

 

Aesthetically, it seemed somewhat more industrial than the previous maps, but the textures are still mostly similar and there isn't too much of a difference. The music was great too.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 10: A Proud & Booming Industry*: by Paul DeBruyne

^{*A Guide to Dynamite Carnivores in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This map had a lot of monsters for ITYTD, almost 200, but it never felt that hard because of an excellent difficulty curve that didn't bring out the big guns until you got some big guns (and armor/health bonuses) of your own to deal with them. The combat was excellently-paced from the very beginning to the very end.

 

Also, unfortunately, this map had the first hurtfloors that you had to actually walk over since the first map's teleporter secret, IIRC. Thankfully, you have more than enough radsuits to explore everything, but still. This didn't need to be a hurtfloor.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 11: The Colossus Crawls West*: by Ed Cripps

^{*Not Drawing the Mammoth in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This map had a lot of monsters, but most of them were cannon fodder up until the end. The northwestern room with the two Archviles gave me some trouble, but otherwise I didn't face much of a threat from this map. I was basically able to (super) shotgun the whole map up until the very end when I got the BFG, and I didn't have to break out the rockets once, and the plasma gun only got brought out for the Archvile fight. This is, so far, the most poorly-ITYTD-balanced map so far because of how it mistakes monster quantity for monster quality, though given its competition, this is not exactly scathing criticism. It's still better-balanced for low difficulties than many maps created by Id Software itself are.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 12: Underground Initiation* by Travers Dunne and Paul DeBruyne

^{*Subterranean Searcher in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This was, quite possibly, the largest Doom map I have played in my life. Over three hundred monsters (174 of which were Imps), three separate areas with keys to find in which the Yellow Key area alone could have easily been its own map, and still well-balanced ITYTD difficulty throughout. I went Red Key -> Blue Key -> Yellow Key, and I quite enjoyed the key shortcuts to get you across these sections quicker if you already had one or two of the other keys.

 

Edited February 5, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

Map 13: I'll Replace You With Machines* by Sarah Mancuso and Paul DeBruyne

^{*Keep Being Cryptic in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This was mostly a linear level, but it's a really fun one and one of my favorite linear levels I've played. The initial fight against the two Mancubi is a bit hard, but the map is otherwise very well balanced for ITYTD like the rest of this WAD is. Visually, this level is quite good, with you fighting through corridors in a base surrounding a lava lake that you don't get a good look at until late in the map.

 

[Explorer of Time]

I'm going to scale back my reviews of individual maps to around a sentence or two, unless they stand out from the rest of the WAD they're in (e.g. the first map of BTSX E1). It's tiring me out to writeup reviews for each individual map and I'd rather spend more time actually playing Doom than writing about it. I do plan to writeup WADs as a whole once I'm done with them.

 

With that being the case...

 

Map 14: Big Chief Chinese Restaurant* by Matthew Edwards and Sarah Mancuso

^{*Runoff Fat From The Skygrill in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

I loved the very beginning with the chaingun start, since I love chaingun starts without a shotgun. The encounter with the teleporting Hell Knight right after was too difficult and that specific Hell Knight was very irritating, though. Otherwise it's a well-balanced map just like the others in this WAD.

 

Edited February 6, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

Map 15: Tricyclic Looper* by Brett Harrell

^{*Tesselation Cycle in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This was a long level, but an amazingly beautiful one, with an excellent song, too. However, the combat was easy despite the high monster count, with the exception of two difficult fights, the Hell Knights in the lower left and the enemy swarm near the non-secret exit.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 31: Optical Hopscotch* by Paul DeBruyne

^{*Defenestrator in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

The first Secret Level of BTSX E1 was the only map so far that I'd say definitely wasn't properly balanced for ITYTD, this time falling on the side of it being too difficult rather than too easy. A difficulty increase is a bit to be expected given that this is a secret level, but I'd say it's a bit overtuned. Still, all the fights were winnable after a few saves and reloads, so this isn't a Plutonia-level failure in low difficulty balancing. The Archvile and Revenants in the rooms with the flickering lights should've been toned down significantly, as should the three cyberdemon telefrag battle near the non-secret entrance. Plus, it used a lot of hurtfloors, unlike most maps this WAD, and though there were plenty of radsuits, it's still a mechanic I don't like. Overall, it's my least favorite map of the WAD so far.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 32: The Hard Way* by Paul DeBruyne

^{*The Terror Of Maniac High in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This map was much better balanced than the previous one, despite having the same author, but it's the only map in this WAD so far to be set in a boring, generic environment. The combat is good, among the best in the WAD, but the visual design feels like a generic '90s map with BTSX textures. In most WADs this would be an acceptable trade-off, but in one with BTSX's amazing graphics, it feels way too out of place, and I can see why it was shuffled off to a secret level hidden behind another secret level.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 16: Get Out Of My Stations II*: by Sarah Mancuso

^{*Waiting II in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

Another intermission like the first Get Out Of My Stations. A small, nicely-designed tram station, no combat, monsters, or secrets whatsoever.

 

Edited February 8, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[Explorer of Time]

Map 17: Navigating Flood Regions*: by Sarah Mancuso

^{*Johnwind Quesadilla in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

A return to form with well-balanced combat and great aesthetics, though the initial fight with the revenants was a little hard. I quite liked the ruined base at the very end, very pretty looking.

 

[Explorer of Time]

Map 18: Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)* by Simon Judd and Sarah Mancuso

^{*The Annex in the Unity add-on version}

Spoiler

This map was very well balanced but otherwise average for this WAD, there's not much about it that stands out.

 

However, there seems to be a bit of a bug where it's possible to get through the bars to the teleporter with both the red and blue keys, without the yellow key, because the player can squeeze through them. (Presumably, the same would happen with only the yellow key.)

 

EDIT: Never mind, it's working as intended.

 

Edited February 9, 2024 by Explorer of Time

[esselfortium]

43 minutes ago, Explorer of Time said:

Map 18: Cyclone Utilities (Remember Your Birthday)* by Simon Judd and Sarah Mancuso

^{*The Annex in the Unity add-on version}

  Hide contents

This map was very well balanced but otherwise average for this WAD, there's not much about it that stands out.

 

However, there seems to be a bit of a bug where it's possible to get through the bars to the teleporter with both the red and blue keys, without the yellow key, because the player can squeeze through them. (Presumably, the same would happen with only the yellow key.)

 

Not a bug :)

[Explorer of Time]

1 hour ago, esselfortium said:

Not a bug :)

 

Ohmygods you're my favorite mapper in this WAD thank you so much for making these maps and textures and music and everything!

 

Regarding the bars, I referenced Doomwiki to see whether it was intended or not and it said all three were required. The page is currently locked for me, but please let someone know to go fix that.

 

As a side note, would you rather be credited as esselfortium? I've been using real names since those are what the level start/end screens say, but I'm fine switching over if you like.

[esselfortium]

2 minutes ago, Explorer of Time said:

 

Ohmygods you're my favorite mapper in this WAD thank you so much for making these maps and textures and music and everything!

 

Regarding the bars, I referenced Doomwiki to see whether it was intended or not and it said all three were required. The page is currently locked for me, but please let someone know to go fix that.

 

As a side note, would you rather be credited as esselfortium? I've been using real names since those are what the level start/end screens say, but I'm fine switching over if you like.

Thanks!

 

In early versions of map18, all three keys were required to exit, but I can't remember anymore whether we changed that before or after the first public release of BTSX E1.

 

And Sarah is fine.