What are the best Sunder maps

[Stroggman]

Wish i knew what are the best maps in Sunder

[taviow]

My personal favorites are 16 and 19 for their size and scope. Yes, I actually enjoyed the grueling length and feeling like the maps are a long journey through those hostile places (I mean, all of them are like that, but those especially). But my favorite gameplay is in 20, it has a few pretty inventive fights in comparison to earlier maps.

[Andromeda]

All of them.

[RHhe82]

I wish I did, too. If only someone played them through and told me :/

[Jacek Bourne]

Why not play through sunder and find out for yourself. Your opinions will always differ in some way from others so asking other people may turn out to be unreliable. Also, much of sunder is excellent so you’d probably enjoy it.

[Shepardus]

Wish you made good threads

[Firedust]

I love all sunder maps except 14.

[Gothic]

2 hours ago, Andromeda said:

All of them.

Even the catwalk one?

[LadyMistDragon]

Imo, they would probably be 15, 32, and 19

[Bridgeburner56]

Pale Monument, Zealous Machine, Obsidian Nightmare, Whispers of the Gnarled King and Harlot's Garden are top of the pile for me

[taviow]

1 minute ago, Bridgeburner56 said:

Harlot's Garden

 

Somehow forgot about this insane (gazebo lmao) map, yeah it definitely deserves one of the top spots too. Feel like I have an urge to replay Sunder every time I talk about it.

[yakfak]

im so fascinated with maps 05 and 14. i know those aren't popular choices but my take on doom is weird. always blown away with Hive Mother's encounters, you feel underpowered for so long despite having the SSG immediately, you have to argue with the enemies to not be chased out into the open too soo and the arenas are so atypical. masterpiece! i really can't beat the map on UV but now and again I load it up and think "this time" lol

 

and Precarious found me my fave Jimmy midi tbh and its one of the few sunder maps I can take saveless

Edited February 2, 2024 by yakfak

[DynamiteKaitorn]

Haven't played all of the maps but some maps have stood out visually to me. Example, MAP14 - Hive Mother, makes extensive use of hexagons to make the map feel like you're in a gigantic bee-hive-infested hellscape (possible Trypophobia warning though). MAP 32 - The Harlot's Garden is an INSANELY massive map that kinda makes you feel like an ant inside of a massive mansion map. Gameplay wise it's not the best for Sunder but blimey does it make you gobsmacked with how gorgeous it looks!

 

 

One map I DON'T recommend however is MAP15 - Babylon's Chimera. Why? LAG! It's SO detailed that Ultimate DooM builder literally highlights the linedef count in red. XD

[SCF]

Okay, so I replayed Sunder last year and made a personal ranking of all the maps for fun, but I never had an opportunity to post it, so why not drop it in this low-effort thread?

 

1. The Harlot's Garden (MAP32)

Visually stunning and imposing. I still remember the first time I entered the yard and saw this giant mansion looming over me. It's one of those moments where you forget you're playing a 30 year old game. And then you also actually enter the mansion, and it's lavishly decorated and fully explorable on the inside as well!? It's not the best combat in Sunder, but it's good with some real highlights. The finale is brutal, but really satisfying to beat. The fact that it can still be my #1 map despite the hedge maze section is saying a lot.

 

2. Beneath the Waves of Styx (MAP20)

Another great-looking map, with some really creative combat. Build your own arena, choose your own enemy composition. I'm not a big fan of the cyber onslaught at the end, but other that it's peak Sunder.

 

3. Babylon's Chimera (MAP15)

I wonder what it would've been like in 2019, seeing Sunder return after a long hiatus and the first new map you play looks like this. Some incredible architecture, with unique theming for a Doom map. Fun to play, and has a great Jimmy track too.

 

4. Archives of the Technomancer (MAP17)

Just an all-around strong map, with the crusher maze being the only weak part.

 

5. Hollow Icon (MAP07)

My favorite map in old Sunder. Relatively short, but each fight is fun and punchy, never dragging things out too long even in its epic finale.

 

6. House of Corrosion (MAP31)

I forgot why I put this one so high, but I guess it's a good map?

 

7. Whispers of the Gnarled King (MAP16)

Suffers from feeling almost endless, but the highs are high. Like the ominously dark area that fills up with an overwhelming number of enemies, or the big battle just before you enter the central building.

 

8. Pale Monument (MAP08)

A true classic, but gets a bit tedious at points with the sheer number of enemies you have to wade through.

 

9. City at the Mouth of Ire (MAP19)

Another really impressive-looking map. Similar to map 32, I really like the way you actually enter each of those buildings lining the streets. Everything after you get the BFG is a blast, with a spectacular caco cloud at the end, but it has a lot of cramped combat (often with cybers involved) that isn't really my cup of tea, so I like it the least out of the new Sunder maps.

 

10. Zealous Machine (MAP12)

The final fight is the only truly memorable part of this map for me, but it is really memorable. And I don't think there were any parts I disliked either.

 

11. The Dreaming Garden (MAP03)

A perfectly fine map.

 

12. The Singing Void (MAP18)

This one has some difficulty spikes that are too much for me to handle, so it ends up feeling like I just have to try to get lucky. Other than that though, I like the three different areas. Also, hive mothers are good enemies.

 

13. Precarious (MAP05)

I'm not a platforming fan, but this one isn't as bad as it's sometimes made out to be. In fact, I acutally like it.

 

14. Python (MAP01)

Fairly basic, to the point where it barely feels like Sunder map. But it's short and doesn't wear out its welcome.

 

15. The Hag's Finger (MAP10)

A solid map that's marred by a few extremely tedious sections. Hope you like rocketing hell knights for 10 minutes. I do like the layout, with the spiraling path to the top of the tower.

 

16. Hive Mother (MAP14)

Mostly fine, but never left a big impression on me.

 

17. The Furnace (MAP11)

It has a good oppressive atmosphere, but a lot of areas just have too many enemies. Clearing the hell knight ledge in the starting room alone is a serious ordeal, and not particularly fun or challenging.

 

18. Grinder (MAP06)

An odd one out, with its hot start and hectic gameplay that's not arena-based like the other maps. It's grown on me over time, although I'd never consider it one of my favorites.

 

19. Metal Descendants (MAP04)

It's okay, but I never cared for crusher gimmicks. I remember the final fight being weirdly trivial, with the teleporters on opposite sides making it impossible to ever get cornered.

 

20. The Burrow (MAP02)

Similar to map 1 in that it's fairly basic compared to the rest of Sunder, but it loses points for the pointless revenant slaughter at the end. It's not as bad as in map 10, but since it's a shorter maps it takes up more time comparatively.

 

21. Obsidian Nightmare (MAP13)

Not my type of gameplay. I guess I liked the gimmick with the lines on the floor blocking enemies. I may be biased against this map because last time I played it I somehow ran out of ammo halfway through, and had to make painfully slow progress.

 

22. The Cage (MAP09)

The only Sunder map I actually dislike. It's very awkward to move around, and easy to lose your way or fall off. At least with normal platforming sections you can see where you're going. It still has a few solid fights, they just happen to be the flat, indoor areas.

[Mr. Freeze]

It's been surpassed in terms of sheer monster and linedef count, but seeing The Hag's Finger for the first time legit made me anxious. Seeing the giant tower of terror combined with the music was incredibly ominous in a way only the recent maps could match. 

[eater29]

Off the top of my head, my favourites are 11, 18 and 20.

Map11 in particular stands out in particular for me as the first Sunder map with a real sense of enormity. It's not the biggest map in the set, but it feels huge. Giant stacks of cubes ascending into the ceiling, endlessly repeating lavafalls and pillars, and that droning Metroid Fusion midi that reverberates through the superstructure you're crawling through. I also genuinely love grinding away at the massive walls of meat the map throws at you. I find it quite relaxing to just hold the mouse button and hear stuff die (probably also why I enjoy the 300 hell knight wave in map10). Same with the extremely long platforming section like halfway through. I'll sometimes boot up the map in -nomo and just do the platforming since I can just think about other things while I hop from platform to platform with the midi in the background. I love this map to death.

[Jacek Bourne]

6 hours ago, Gothic said:

Even the catwalk one?

 

That's one of the best of the original 14.

[NuMetalManiak]

I like MAP10.

MAP08 is interestingly the only Sunder map without arch-viles.

[Mystic 256]

Map32 because Its a cool massive mansion with doomcute

[netcurse2000]

Babylon's Chimera and Archives of the Technomancer.

[Gorxen]

Archives of the Technomancer is my personal favorite.

[Scotty]

My top picks:

Map02 - love the rev horde at the end that pushes you back through the map. A trailblazer for bitesize slaughter maps that have become more common since.

Map05 - a masterclass in conceptual vision and execution.

Map07 - peak gauntlet style slaughter gameplay, in the context of a single map experience the combat scaling is perfect and for me this map has endless replay value.

Map11 - THE Sunder map.

Map13/14 - these maps have incredible sense of place and capture my imagination in feeling like they could be alien planets of some kind.

[Stroggman]

On 2/2/2024 at 3:03 PM, Shepardus said:

Wish you made good threads

Sorry my thread is a bit off 

[pcorf]

MAP32

[Monsieur E]

Other than map15, I haven't played much of New Sunder so I'll just talk about old Sunder

Map02: I feel as if this is one of the more underrated maps in the wad, in large part due to its atmosphere. The map beginning with you in a graveyard descending deep into a dimly lit cavern, the entrance to the flesh tunnel being stylized akin to a creature's mouth, the strangely empty buildings in the cavern (while they are filled with monsters, I mean moreso in the context of the buildings feeling desolate and unused in whatever worldbuilding context)  and the use of Agony Rhapsody really helps build on this subterranean morbid feel of the map to compensate for its pretty lackluster and at times grindy gameplay.

Map05: The presentation really makes this one for me. It feels as if you're crawling around the collapsing ruins of some kind of massive fortress which is seemingly sinking into lava where one slip is enough to seal your fate and the incorporation of platforming into challenge gameplay was iconic especially for 2009 (even if by today's platforming standards, it's pretty easy and simple). 

Map07: Imo it's the best playing sunder map, just a fun gauntlet of macroslaughter. 

Map08: As much as I love the map's presentation, the cacocloud is really this map's highlight. The way the map is structured gives you a lot of positions where you can pick at the giant cacocloud, hoping to cut them into more manageable chunks from the whole through skirmishes and smaller scale battles. But conversely the map doesn't really give you any safespots if you camp in one area the cacos can close in on you, incentivizing you to keep moving. Frankly exceptional setpiece that stands tall even after over a decade of mapping.

 

[DeafPixel]

i haven't played all the maps of sunder, but map 02 and map 11 are my favourites and will probably remain my favourites for a while
i agree with everything monsieur E said about 02, i think its the best usage of Open Season's midi, and the best map with a "red hell cave" theme.

map 11....
theres no words to really describe the feeling. just sheer scale pushed to its absolute limit. grey, brown, metallic, unknowable. the sudden shift to scythe 2... viney ruins? theme at the end is also a nice touch. i get the feeling this place hates me.