The DWmegawad Club plays: 10x10, Heartland, Sigil II

[brick]

The first time I played Heartland was a year and a half ago with ER/IWA, and it was also the first time I had a serious go at using Eternity. I like the engine a lot, it has some quirks and missing specific QOL that I find in DSDA-Doom and in GZDoom that I'm just too used to, but there's no doubt it's an impressive engine. The very beginning of MAP01 is such an incredible opener, I couldn't tell where scripts end and EE's unique use of portals begins. This, the vertical architecture, and the general layout and those building facades in the background all gave me a Build vibe, but the wad is also very much its own thing in gameplay, aesthetics, and the absolutely superb soundtrack. I think my favourite map was MAP05, it is packed with enemies but somehow the numbers don't feel overwhelming and at the time I couldn't put my finger on exactly why the pacing worked so well (Celestin calls it "blockbuster wad" and I think I agree with this, I think I felt similarly about Arrival). I really like the interconnectedness of the map, walls keep dropping down and opening up onto previous areas to create a new kind of space. This layout and the textures give the map such a fantastic industrial atmosphere, it looks beautiful. Of course the rest of the wad also leans into this atmosphere (MAP02 was another one where I really liked the industrial aesthetic and architecture) and also looks very beautiful. There is some fantastic sector machinery throughout, the moving bridges in MAP05 (again) were so memorable that I vividly remember them just as I type about them. There were some aspects of gameplay that didn't click with me entirely, I didn't like the cyberbruisers and their splash damage immunity, I didn't like all the maps equally even if the craft in all of them was admirable, and it took me some time to get used to the flamethrower (after which it became a favourite though!). I definitely will go back to the wad at some point, and I keep looking for new Eternity-exclusive wads. If Skillsaw wanted to show off what the engine was capable of then this wad is a resounding success, not to mention a great mapset in its own right.

[ReaperAA]

So it begins...

 

SIGIL II

One of the two gifts (other being Eviternity II) the Doom community received on Doom 30th anniversary by none other than John Romero. Given that it is a sequel to the original Sigil and being 4 years newer, I expect this to be a more bigger and badder version of the original. Just as with the original Sigil, this is a UDoom wad and acts as the 6th episode of Doom (just as how the original is like a semi-official 5th episode). Truth be told, I was slightly disappointed at first that Romero once again targeted UDoom instead of Doom 2 since he didn't make many Doom 2 maps. But then I read the news that Romero is also making a Doom wad called Hellion and I await to see how that one will turn out.

 

As for the original Sigil, I just recently played it again and in some ways feel like a more polished Thy Flesh Consumed. In fact in retrospect, Romero's E4M2 and E4M6 kind of feel like predecessors to the type of style he would adapt when designing Sigil. Chaotic hellish architecture, judicious usage of damaging floors, space restrictions, judicious usage of higher tier enemies such as barons and even cyberdemons.

 

Lets see how the sequel plays. I am playing UV pistol starts and I will try to beat the maps saveless (unless things get too rough)

 

E6M1: Cursed Darkness

The music has be hyped. The start seems similar to that of original Sigil at first. We start at a pentagram shaped section where we have to fight a bunch of fodder enemies before firing a shot at the evil eye (this trope makes a return from the original) to open the path and what's this? A cyberdemon already? Yup, you will encounter a cyberdemon within the first 20-30 seconds of the wad if playing on UV. There is also a secret near the area with gravestones that closes after 30 seconds and it contains vital goodies such a berserk and a mega armor, so you really need to rush to not miss it. Once you are done with the area, go down the lift where you have to cross a narrow path suspended above lava (20 damage damaging floor btw) while dealing with shotgunners and imps on the path and from the caged closets on the sides. Once you reach the other side, you will enter a buiding with some more fodder enemies. Here you can find a switch that reveals the radsuit behind the building, which can be used to jump down into lava and get to the cool secret with the chaingun and the Sigil 2 logo (this secret reminds me of the chaingun secret from E5M1).

 

Once back in the building, we will have to go a path which rises in small segments once we shoot each switch. What's weird is that we don't even need to do this and we can just jump down and get to the other end and the lift works fine. I guess on of those Romero's weird designs. Once you get to the top of the lift, you get to the exit area which is stuffed to the brim with barons, cacodemons and imps. You can just rush to the exit if you are not going for UV-max, but I sure was :p, so I had to deal with them. If you get lucky (like me in my successful attempt), you can get the barons and cacos to infight each other. And then kill the barons with the shotgun (can use some berserk here as well if only one is left and you have good skills). Go behind the exit portal and you will find a vertical FIREBLU texture crack on the wall which can be shot to open secret areas (this seems be the Sigil 2's version of the evil eye switch trope). This secret will give bullets and shotgun shells.

 

If you have managed to make it to here, you have killed most of the enemies by now. Mostly only a couple of fodder enemies and the cyberdemon left. Killing the cyberdemon is the tricky part. The intended way is to do some ledge walking and reach the bullet ammo cave area, which opens the invulnerability near the starting area and also a switch that lowers a crusher (from the sky... lol). You need to grab the invul and bring the cyberdemon to the crusher area to finish him. Though in my case, it took me quite some attempts get to the exit area and because I somehow managed to save enough ammo as well the the risk involved in doing the ledge walking to the ammo cave, I decided to kill the cyberdemon the ol'fashion way by shooting at him from the safety of higher ground. I was just able to kill the cyberdemon will like 10 bullets left.

 

Overall this was a really tough opener, one of the harder opening maps of a non-slaughter wad and definitely harder than like... most of the original Sigil's maps (hoo boy).

Edited February 21, 2024 by ReaperAA

[Insaneprophet]

I have never played the first one so I am going to use this as an opportunity/reason to finally do so. I will be commenting on both mapsets and perhaps comparing/contrasting them as we go.

 

Sigil by John Romero

E5M1: baphomets demense

 

Fairly straight forward and easy little opener, I expected harder resistance but I guess this one just intoduces us to a new hell with new tricks. Not much else to say.

 

Sigill II by John Romero

E6M1: cursed darkness

 

Now this was just as hard as I expected from the first one. It took numerous attempts before I dropped the difficulty to hurt me plenty, learned and defeated the map, then came back to play around on UV. I dont feel like I can say I particularly enjoyed my time with it but I did not hate it and do feel like I may come back to it one day and attempt a better playthrough. The hellscape aestetic that carries over from the first set does feel extremely fitting and I can absolutely appreciate what John was going for and achieving with both Sigil 1 and 2.

[Celestin]

Woof!, -complevel 3, UV with saves, blind

 

Okay, so I managed to finish the whole of Sigil II already, with the last 3 maps completed yesterday. Aside from E6M1, where I've included some additional remarks in [square brackets], I'll be pasting whatever I wrote right after completing the map. I had little knowledge about the wad before playing, with the only detail I knew about was about the presence of secrets that become inaccessible after 30 seconds. It was something I've feared, as Sigil 1 was rather strict with resources and if made too cryptic, a permanently-locked supply cache could end up frustrating. It wasn't that big of a deal in the end, but I'll get there later.  

E6M1: Cursed Darkness

 

Yup, this is Sigil. The red, cracked rocks remains, but so the deep blue sky is something new. I have no complaints regarding the visuals and the music, but the gameplay is another story.

 

The opening map of Sigil 1 was a somewhat gradual introduction to the wad's gameplay style. By contrast, Cursed Darkness expects you to know what you're getting yourself into. As per usual for post-E1 Romero, the map is filled with lava, which greatly limits your movement and pushes towards a certain path - usually one where you are threatened by enemy fire. Also, there's a wandering cyberdemon and I have no idea how you are supposed to kill it without some deliberate ammo rationing. [It seems you can crush him, but the way to do it is more cryptic than any other secret in the whole episode.] Speaking of resources, there's very little health. Perhaps there's more in secrets, I've found 4 out of 6, but snooping around was tough with the aforementioned lava and cyberdemon. [It seems each map of Sigil II has one secret that locks itself after 30 seconds and another that is exclusively covered by FIREBLU, is opened by shooting an exposed FIREBLU texture and holds a zombie besides the prize - kinda like 10x10 uses Nazis.] The worst offender is the exit, though, where you ride a lift, open a door and see a cramped platform with two barons, cacodemons and other crap. 

 

If that's the opening map, this is going to be a rough ride. [This is the nadir of Sigil II for me, the subsequent 8 maps, while not easy by any mean, are far less hostile].

[RHhe82]

I said I'd be bowing out of the club for Sigil II... and I am, I'm not playing the set, but I guess I can comment based on my memory (refreshed by other clubbers' commentary).

 

E6M1: Cursed Darkness.

 

I went in expecting more or less Sigilly experience, so it's UV or bust as always, and boy did I get wrecked. The level looks great, I love the contrast of deep blue and red rock. In short, the visual motifs of both Sigils are much to my liking. But I was in pain here, and when I finally completed the map, I wasn't sure I was gonna make it. Also, UV-MAX mentality got the better of me; I shot the cyberdemon dead with chaingun and shotgun. Not my idea of fun. So, quite mixed feelings on the first map: great visual, great(ish) layout, Superb music. But the resource starvation and the sort of difficulty Romero goes for is not quite my cup of tea.

[Magnusblitz]

Switching back to GZdoom for Sigil II - UV, pistol starts, mouselook, constant save/reloading.

 

E6M1: Cursed Darkness

97% kills, 5/6 secrets

 

Died quite a bit at the start here, as even though it's mostly just small fry at first, the resource deprivation is the real enemy. While ammo (and armor) became rather plentiful, health remained in meager supply, so the amount of damage you take in this first area is actually crucially important to the rest of the map. The evil eye shoot-triggers return, almost to a silly extent - the walkway area before the end seemed a bit undercooked and didn't quite do it for me. Maybe the lost souls and shotgunners that teleport up from the lava below are supposed to be more of a surprise, but instead they seemed to not show up until I was pretty much done with the area and just clearing stuff out. The meatwall at the top of the elevator is indeed a bit of a dick move, and basically requires foreknowledge to know you need to just blast your way through. Doing so led me to discover all the secrets around the starting area, including the crusher and the invulnerability, which lets you clear out the remaining enemies (including the cyberdemon) pretty easily.

 

Side note, the switch in the lava that appears to activate the crusher, does not actually do so - the switch itself actually re-opens the 30 sec lock secret (with the berserk/blue armor), and it's a walkover line leading to that switch that actually starts the crusher. So, the 30 sec secret here isn't permanently missable, which is nice (having read about them here, I initially thought that was the secret I missed) - I wonder if the same will hold true for the other maps? Apparently the shootable FIREBLU will also show up in each map, feels a bit extra with the evil eyes, but I guess Romero wanted to save those for triggers needed for progression?

 

Overall, a decent opener that sets the tone, though everything after the gravestones felt a little bit lackluster. I do really enjoy the secret hunting so far, though.

 

[ReaperAA]

E6M2: Violent Hatred

The name of the map reminds of E4M2: Perfect Hatred (also the 2nd map of the episode in both cases), although that may or may not just be a coincident since the layout of the map is quite different. The map starts us off inside the medium sized building with TFC style wooden wall texturing and the building is surrounded by the good'ol damaging floor lava and a patrolling cyberdemon. Inside the building, there are certain walls that are opened by linedefs when we get near to them and open up the path + reveal some enemies. Even within the building is a courtyard area whose door can be opened by finding a evil eye switch nearby. Though I would not recommend to go there first as tons of enemies will teleport and also reveal from the walls, for which you won't have ammo yet.

 

As with the case of the all the maps in Sigil 2, there is a secret that closes after 30 seconds and this one is a fake wall behind the switch (one that opens the door to outside area). It contains tons of bullet ammo (I didn't count, but there seemed to be like 16-ish bullet boxes) which are vital if you want to UV-max the map, but you can't really pick all them up. So the strategy is to stand under the wall that closes after 30 seconds. This blocks the wall from closing and it remains open indefinitely. You will also pick up the radsuit when crossing this secret wall, which is the only one on the map. So now is the the best time to go outside and explore the areas where you can find a couple of shotgun boxes, a secret soulsphere and also a fireblu crack on the west border of the map.

 

Once you have done this, now it is a good time to open the central courtyard door and clear out the enemies there since you should have about 50 shells by now. When the coast is clear, take a look at the ledges on each side of the door, each of which lead to secrets. The one on east side leads to the chainsaw and berserk and there is also an evil eye switch that opens an alternate path to the outside area and also opens the chaingun near the starting area. Around this point, the cyberdemon had reached the east side of the map and I used the chaingun to shoot him from the window where he couldn't shoot me back and refilled ammo from the 30 second secret area, until I killed him. Not the most interesting way to kill him but it worked out for me. I wonder if this was the intended way to kill him or not, since there is also a teleport when we get neat the fireblu crack which might have been intended as a way to telefrag the cyberdemon, but I only pondered about this after I had already killed him.

 

If you made it this far, you have already pretty much won the map. Make sure to grab the megaarmor and the fireblu secret by following the ledge on the courtyard door, clear out all the enemies and look around the area (you can also find a non-secret backpack) and go to the teleport which takes you to the final room of the map to exit.

 

Overall despite the name, it is easier than E4M2 and also E6M1. Actually a fairly easy map, once you have the foreknowledge. But only when you have the foreknowledge, as it took quite a few attempts to figure out the right strategy. I feel this is going to be the general trend of most of Sigil 2 maps, being blind unfriendly and require foreknowledge of where the secrets are and figure out the optimum route.

Edited February 21, 2024 by ReaperAA

[RHhe82]

2 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

I feel this is going to be the general trend of most of Sigil 2 maps, being blind unfriendly and require foreknowledge of where the secrets are and figure out the optimum route.

Without confirming or denying, this is also how I felt with Violent Hatred. I had terrible time the first time, especially since I never found the chaingun. Second time around was far more enjoyable.

 

Knowing Romero insisted on having a minimum of one cyberdemon on UV, this is the map where I think it works against the map. Cybie feels totally unnecessary and just plain stupid sort of difficulty.

Edited February 21, 2024 by RHhe82
and/or

[ReaperAA]

21 minutes ago, RHhe82 said:

Without confirming or denying, this is also how I felt with Violent Hatred. I had terrible time the first time, especially since I never found the chaingun. Second time around was far more enjoyable.

 

Knowing Romero insisted on having a minimim of one cyberdemon on UV, this is the map where I think it works against the map. Cybie feels totally unnecessary and just plain stupid sort of difficulty.

 

I agree. So far in both E6M1 and E6M2, the cyberdemon felt like nothing more than a time sink and the maps would've been better without them I think. Plucking him with the single shotgun or chaingun is meh. Though granted in E6M1, I could've tried to use the crusher to kill the cyberdemon instead of being a coward :p

 

Hope the cyberdemons in later maps are more fun.

[Celestin]

@RHhe82 @ReaperAA

E6M1 and, to a lesser degree, E6M2 feel like they were made meant to be a more gentle introduction, but Romero decided to make them harder in the last minute, just by adding cyberdemons and the exit-blocking crowd in the first map. The rest of the levels have a better resource balance and are more fun to play.

[Insaneprophet]

E5M2: sheol

 

I had a lot of fun with this little map. Again it was pretty easy but the progression and secrets were interesting to figure/find and telefragging the cyber was icing on the cake of this little slice of hell.

 

E6M2: violent hatred

 

A tiny little base set in the middle of a lake of fire that plays out much easier than map one. I am coming to understand that where all these maps from both Sigils really shine IS in the fact that they are so unfriendly to first time and UV players and I take no issue with that in the slightest. Replay value is one of the greatest achievments a game designer or creator/artist can reach as how good really is something when its a one and done commodity. I mean really, are the best movies ones that you dont ever want to watch again, or is the best music something you just dont wanna hear anymore. These maps deal in a stock and trade where learning the optimal route IS the end goal and getting to that point forces the player to, try try again. I applaud Romero for succeeding in spades and now that I know the game, I am having a ton more fun playing it.

[Celestin]

E6M2: Violent Hatred

 

This wasn't that bad, as I managed to stumble upon a secret with a radsuit. It allowed me to run through the lava outside, finding a soulsphere and a hefty supply of shells. Also, there's a secret that locks after 30 seconds right behind it, all the bullets here would be nice if I had a chaingun, but I didn't find it.

 

I feel like because I managed to locate the early secrets, I had enough resources to tackle this stronghold. Well, maybe aside from the cyberdemon that wanders outside. He's sole purpose is to make secret-hunting harder, but otherwise contributes little to the map. The rest is a string of monster closets that I had to deal with using a shotgun. While it's not my jam, I prefer Violend Hatred over the opening map, it feels less oppressive.

[RHhe82]

9 hours ago, Celestin said:

@RHhe82 @ReaperAA

E6M1 and, to a lesser degree, E6M2 feel like they were made meant to be a more gentle introduction, but Romero decided to make them harder in the last minute, just by adding cyberdemons and the exit-blocking crowd in the first map. The rest of the levels have a better resource balance and are more fun to play.

 

I don't want to get too ahead of myself -- I have played the rest, too... But I guess I can confirm that this is my gut feeling, too. First two maps are low-points with regards to cyberdemons and, I suppose, resource starvation (there is one later map that had me struggling for ammo, but only for some parts of the map). A rule to must have at least one cyberdemon doesn't feel that bad after E6M2, but these first two maps make me regret Romero had to have this rule.

 

While we're at it; at this point I was a bit mixed on the idea of 30 second secrets. It's not too hard to find here, and it's a cool idea for a mapper to explore what such secrets do to a map, since I feel it's very rarely used anywhere. I still hope it's not gonna trend in Doom modding community.

 

The fireblu secret is a neat idea. Not because of Fireblu necessarily, but a guaranteed secret the player knows to be on the lookout for.

[Zirtonic]

UV, pistol starts, DSDA-DOOM (because I can't get Woof to work with DooM 93 through Steam for some reason)

 

E6M1: Cursed Darkness

 

This is going to be a painful 9 levels. I do not enjoy nuRomero's brand of DooM much at all: I don't like resource starvation, I hate Lost Souls, I'm not particularly fond of routing, and I especially dislike an abundance of secrets that hide potentially level-breaking items. Unfortunately for me, Cursed Darkness has all of those.

 

The good thing is E6M1 is dressed to the nines. The opening area is a looker and I'm a sucker for angular geology. I could do without the obligatory spectre-in-a-dark-room but it fits the haunted house vibe that encounter gives off. I will be issuing a DooM-erit for the enemies below our view height in the bridge section. Yea yea, they teleport up to you, but a bundle of buckshot in your back isn't much of an apology. I squeezed past the landing party by hugging the right side of the door for about 10 seconds. Luck? Abusing pathfinding AI? You decide.

 

E6M2: Violent Hatred

 

Unholy orthogonality, Batman! You start off in a square, and you have to navigate roughly 10 more squares before you can touch the exit square (this one is 2D!). The court yard fight brings my hatred of Lost Souls front and center, what with them being ammo sinks, time sinks, obstacles, or some combination of the three. The scrub sphere that you have to traverse through damaging lava is classic Romero and an obvious homage to Perfect Hatred that I'll admit made me grin. Tight-roping my way to the Berserk is the only reason I don't hate the Barons in this level. Truthfully after having to shotgun 4 or 5 Cacodemons I consider Baron fisticuffs a reward unto itself.

[DJVCardMaster]

Still no time for Dooming, I tried to play Sigil II but I ragequitted last week. I need to give a review to 10X10 though, so I will give one the 29th.

[ReaperAA]

E6M3: Twilight Desolation

E6M3 = E3M6? Well seems like it. This map feels like Romero's take on E3M6: Mt. Erebus, right down to the way we get to the secret exit. Except this map is far more restrictive in terms of navigation and obviously harder too. The safe zone area is much smaller, there is 20 damage lava and there are no radsuits on the map. The teleports that take you to the different buildings can also be confusing at first, but I noticed that there are some cracks on lava floor going from some teleports to the buildings (more noticeable in the automap) which indicate which building the teleport would lead to.

 

The strategy at the start is to look at the building with the window, where there is a baron and a soulsphere. Find the evil eye from the window and shoot it to open this area and also get the 30 second secret (plasma gun). Once that is done, explore the outdoor area a bit until the 4 teleports are revealed. When that happens, go to the one nearest to the place where you got the 30 second secret. This takes you inside the cavernous building where you can find more supplies, backpack and another secret evil eye which gives chainsaw. Here you can also deal with the baron and some other enemies from the window before going back. By this point, you should have enough resources to be able to deal with the outdoor enemies and explore somewhat. Also make sure to grab the RL if you haven't already.

 

Other 3 teleports lead to different buildings. One takes you to a ledge with a medkit and a lightamp (you will need it later). The 2nd teleports you to the building, inside where you can find some goodies inside like a green armor and the automap and following the outer edge of the building, you can find the BFG, a FIREBLU secret and a pit which you need to rocket jump to get the secret exit.

 

The 3rd teleport takes you to a dark room with a cage area in center containing barons. This room is where that lightamp is useful. You can kill the barons using the BFG and rockets. Also there are two secrets inside the building, one behind a wall and other revealed from secret eye switch, containing ammo goodies and also a megaarmor. Once you press the switch in the building and leave, the regular exit is revealed and also a cyberdemon teleports in. This cyberdemon is pretty much a non-issue since he can be easily telefragged. Just take the teleport back to the baron cage building and wait for the cyberdemon to be on the right spot, then take the teleport inside the building to telefrag. Once that is done, just finish of the stragglers at the exit, but make sure to save at least 1 rocket if you want to go to the secret exit.

 

One more thing I noticed regarding the secret exit is that it isn't mandatory to perform a rocket jump. The leap can also be done by an SR50, but I wasn't able to do it consistently, so I would still recommend to save a rocket. All in all, a pretty short map that I probably enjoyed more than the first 2 maps. This was again easier than E6M1*, though probably slightly harder than E6M2.

 

* I have actually beaten all maps before E6M6 saveless at the point of writing and E6M1 still remains the hardest map so far. Talk about front loaded difficulty.

 

E6M9: Shattered Homecoming

Techbases? E1M1 homage? Yup. I'll be honest, I really liked this map, not just because of the fact that it felt like a good change of scenery, but also because this map felt far more fair than the first 3 maps when blind playing (the first map in Sigil 2 that I managed to UV-max saveless on first or 2nd attempt) and I really liked some stuff like that deathmatch area and the custom textures, which look hilariously 90s pwad tier quality, but have some references. Storm Sector 7 is the name of a deathmatch map from Daikatana.

 

All that said though, the cyberdemon in outdoor hangar area is again nothing more than a nuisance. There is a part in the map where you have to cross a narrow path to get to the outdoor area which is quite risky. So I opted to finish him from one of the windows in the starting and I was just able to kill him with the ammo that I had. Once you killed the cyberdemon, the rest of the map should be pretty much smooth sailing especially if you keeping an eye on secrets.

 

Overall, a pretty nice map and probably my favorite so far, as it felt like a nice cozy adventure after the hectic first 3 maps.

[Magnusblitz]

E6M2: Violent Hatred

98% kills, 6/7 secrets

 

Oh no, an EXM2 Romero map named "____ Hatred"...! Actually this map wishes it was half as good as Perfect Hatred was.

 

The start has a bunch of surprise ambushes that, given the tight confines and being stuck with the single shotgun, require some quick thinking with the barrels, luck, or just repeatedly dying until you learn it (thankfully, it's the start of the level, so some quick reloads aren't a big deal). While somewhat mean, this part of the level was at least interesting, which I can't say for everything after the main 'door'... lots of single shotgun against meatwalls of cacos, souls, and a couple barons. Blargh. It doesn't help that the level is pretty ugly too - I've never been a fan of the wood-on-wood E4 style, and everything here is pretty blocky and boringly-lit at 144 brightness.

 

I completely agree that the cyberdemon here is a minus, and I couldn't be bothered to kill it. In the first map, there's at least a crusher to take care of him, and he feels like more of a threat to be avoided, whereas here he seems to exist just to make it a pain to grab some of the secrets outside. The secrets again were the bright spot of the map for me, though I only had 2 until the end... took me far too long to notice the ledges in the inner courtyard.

 

Overall, this is probably in the running for my least favorite Romero map, along with Gotcha! probably.

Edited February 22, 2024 by Magnusblitz

[Insaneprophet]

E5M3: cages of the damned

 

A very enjoyable fortress in hell with fun cliffside secrets. I really am still a little shocked that Sigil 1 is seeming to be one of the easiest level sets I can recall playing and I could of sworn that some time ago I had heard that John made the UV difficulty to troll the community. I cant believe that I am just that good at the game... well at least Sigil 2 has some teeth and I am having a better time with both than I went into them expecting. 😀

 

E6M3: twilight desolution

 

We are absolutely in an abstract hell here and I agree that it has its similarities to a certian map we've seen before. Sigil 2 just seems to be getting easier as we go but at least its retaining the perfectly beautiful theme and keeping to the idea that replay and perfect routing is where the most enjoyment will be found. Heres to hoping we have another ball buster or two later in the set, and maybe something tough in Sigil 1 as well. 😀

 

 

Edited February 24, 2024 by Insaneprophet

[Celestin]

E6M3: Shattered Desolation

 

It seems like this is Romero's reinterpretation of Mt. Erebus. Just like with E3M6, it's a small archipelago on a lake of magma, but now it's cramped and more focused. I once again found a time-restricted secret, it hold a plasma rifle that I ended up not using. This is because the BFG is even easier to obtain. Granted, cells are very limited (especially if you don't find other secrets), but it's a great help with the final cyberdemon or the building with barons. What I liked less was the dark building with shotgunners below your eye level.

 

I don't know if this is the easiest map so far, but I felt the most confident with this one. Which is funny, E6M1 was like running straight into a brick wall, but the next two maps were much more manageable. If you want to reach the secret stage, you need to perform a rocket jump towards an odd island, another E3M6 callback.

[RHhe82]

E6M3: Twilight Desolation

 

I didn't get the Mt. Erebus connection until somebody mentioned, not even when I shot myself with a rocket into the crater and thought to myself: just like in E3M6! This one was also the first, where I had good time on my first playthrough, and where the cyberdemon placement feels natural. It's brought down by too many barons - which wouldn't be an issue, if not succumbing to maxxing all the kills. I also clearly remember struggling with finding the secrets. I guess a second playthrough (see footnote 1).

 

 

E6M9: Shattered Homecoming

 

I remember liking this one, more tech-basey than thy-flesh-consumey, it feels fresh. Although I gotta say I don't fancy the custom textures, they feel out of place. Other than that, I remember quite little. There is a cyberdemon that's again annoying.

 

 

¹ I think I said earlier I had played Sigil II twice, but I don't think that's exactly true. I played some of the maps twice: first on HMP and then on UV, and found myself enjoying the WAD a lot more, and I only wish I had done that from the get-go.

 

[Insaneprophet]

Since voting is open now I will reiterate mine, sorry bout knowing nothing 😀

 

+++ 1K1K by Yop

It is a community project that has recently made it to RC2 status and Ive been keeping my eyes on it almost since development started. I dont think its had many eyes on it and I certianly am going to play it at some point.

 

+++Alphabet Doom by aRottenKomquat 

Another community project that has hit RC3 and looks interesting.

 

+++The Quinary Conundrum by Vortale

The follow up sequal to The Lost Magic, it was released into RC1 over a month ago and I havnt heard a thing about it since. I am definately going to play this one as I really like TLM and it won a Caco I believe. This has to be good

Edited February 25, 2024 by Insaneprophet

[Celestin]

@Insaneprophet voting starts on 25th.

[SiFi270]

Map07: The Beating Heart

Speaking of modern Romero maps, I remember someone saying after E1M8b was released that it worked better as a standalone map than a conclusion to E1, because playing E1M7 and E1M8b back to back would be exhausting. While I already got what they were saying at the time, playing maps 5 to 7 of Heartland made me understand that point better than ever.

Edited February 22, 2024 by SiFi270

[Magnusblitz]

E6M3: Twilight Desolation

89% kills, 6/7 secrets

 

Not nearly desolate enough for my liking, as the start quickly threatens to be overwhelming with the cacos and lost souls. The real enemy though is probably that 20% damage lava, coupled with some tricky teleport lines that take some learning. A lot of the early supplies (chaingun, box of bullets) are sitting right on top of the teleport lines, so it's very easy to get disoriented from the teleport and then wind up somewhere cramped and in trouble.

 

A lot of what I said about last map could apply here - I liked the initial chaos, but the map takes a nosedive IMO in the second half, especially the baron area... thankfully, they aren't a wall so much as they're locked in a cage, so they're easily ignorable. The cyberdemon at least feels a bit more like he has a gameplay purpose here of driving the player into a pincer attack by the normal exit, and there's still plenty of fun secrets to creep around for (found my first 30 second trigger one!) I admit that I never had enough health to survive the rocket jump into the secret exit, but hey, a death exit is an exit by Doom rules. I do hope the maps start to open up a bit though, not really digging this overly cramped style.

[Celestin]

E6M9: Shattered Homecoming

 

Sigil II's secret map combines hellish environment with E1-style techbase, creating a rather unique look that make it stand out from the earlier maps. The custom signage adds a bit of personality to this place, making it truly feel like a UAC facility swallowed by Hell.

 

Gameplay-wise, I like this one. The opening was hectic, as the map is rather cramped and you can get cornered easily. I was lucky with secrets, so I didn't have to worry about running out of ammo. From cyberdemon's courtyard to the exit, I was using plasma exclusively, that was a far cry from E6M1's resource famine. I don't know, either the opening map is too hostile, or I simply got better at finding secrets - a lot of them are shootable eyes hidden inside the walls and you can spot them on the automap as thin lines. One oddity is a teleporter to what I think is a multiplayer section of the map, accessible if you spot a narrow hole inside the FIREBLU secret. It's a cool idea, but at the same time, this place very square and plastered with STARTAN, feeling out of place from the rest of the map.

 

Anyway, this is probably where Sigil's formula works best for me, with resource balance that forces you to explore if you want to survive, but doesn't make the secrets too cryptic.

[ReaperAA]

8 minutes ago, Celestin said:

I don't know, either the opening map is too hostile, or I simply got better at finding secrets

 

After having beaten all of the maps in saveless pistol start mode, I do think that E6M1 is 2nd hardest map in Sigil 2, only behind E6M6 (beating this one saveless was tense but I enjoyed the tension).

[Insaneprophet]

E5M9: realm of iblis

 

I know this is kind of out of order as the secret map doesnt show up yet in the first episode but I jumped ahead just to keep both of them together. Anywho, this is the first of these Sigil 1 maps to really put up a fight and I really liked it. Nothing extreme was going on but there were quite a few tricky situations with the whole map essentially boiling down to taking place on catwalks amidst a cavern of molten lava. Again, ammo and health starvation is the name of the game and to get the best results, secret hunting and pathing are your best friends.

 

E6M9: shattered homecoming

 

We thought we were getting out of hell with that secret portal but we come home to find the demons have already taken over this techbase and looped its exit right back into their own dimension, damn it! Best level yet, also the most traditional map so far. Secrets are still the highlights but gameplay in this one is steady and not entirely unforgiving. This was the first map in the set that I made it through in my first attempt and only needed/wanted to go back for the timed secret... and because it was a damn fun map that I wanted to play again. See ya'all tomorrow.

[Celestin]

E6M4: Fragments of Sanity

 

The visual style of E6M9 continues, Fragments of Sanity is another techbase torn to pieces and thrown into a fiery pit. The sharp edges and gaps in walls do look impressive, but good luck searching for eye switches, the map relies on them to progress forward and they can be tricky to spot.

 

At this point I've learnt that there's always a secret early on that can be helpful, so I died a couple of times trying to find it. It's not that far from the start and the berserk pack was a huge help, both letting me recover from the damage I've taken and saving ammo later on. The obligatory cyberdemon was annoying to take down, wasting all cells and most of shells I had. In the hindsight, I should have left him alive and return with a BFG (found in the secret near the end), but it wasn't that big of a deal. There's also this room with crushers, which is a thing, but because there's a large safe space in the middle, it feels a bit pointless. I do like the ending, a black room with red cracked floor, it reminds me of Sigil 1. I feel like I'm warming up to the wad's gameplay, it's getting more enjoyable than early maps.

[Magnusblitz]

E6M9: Shattered Homecoming

75% kills, 5/7 secrets

 

I think this one probably feels like the most "normal" map so far (ironic since it's the secret map), probably because it's not nearly as resource-starved as previous maps. There are still spots you can run dry, but, the secrets are pretty generous with ammo (especially plasma) and most of the eyes are easy to spot with the automap. I suspect this one would play a LOT differently if Romero hid the evil eye map lines. Things still feel a bit too cramped for my tastes though. Went back and found the two secrets I missed (the 30 sec door and the teleport to the DM section) later.

[Zirtonic]

E6M3: Twilight Desolation

 

Oh boy, more janky collision and Lost Soul spam :\ I honestly have nothing positive to say about this map other than it felt good to 2 shot the Cyberdemon. And I SR50'd to the secret level. That was neat.

 

E6M9: Shattered Homecoming

 

I almost had fun with this one. The ammo is still a little too tight for me (even with all the plasma) but I think what's holding this back most is the limited enemy roster. Subbing out some Cacos and Barons with Hell Knights would speed up combat a lot while still keeping the rooms cramped. I enjoyed dueling the Cyber again and I liked the texture combination in the final area. Banger MIDI as well, my favorite in the set so far.

 

E6M4: Fragments of Sanity

 

Are we sure Romero made these maps? Like, really, 100% positive? Because it feels like Shinji Mikami tried his hand at Doom Builder. I lost count of how many times I ran out of ammo and the multitude of Lost Souls feels exactly like dodging zombies in the early Resident Evil games. I dumped so much Crisco on myself to slip past the plasma rifle guards I'm surprised I didn't trip and fall. This is also probably the first time I've had a choice between a rocket launcher and a box of bullets and taken the bullets. At least that lava didn't take 1/5 of my health every tick. 

 

Only 4 more maps *wince*

Edited February 24, 2024 by Zirtonic