The DWmegawad Club plays: STRAIN

[Magnusblitz]

SoundofDoomDoors said:

I'm starting to play Going Down. I've written comments for the first six levels. would posting them alongside the STRAIN level of the day be alright, or would that be too off-topic?

I'd leave it out of this thread. Others have made their own review threads, could post it there, or bump either the Going Down thread itself or the DWMC Going Down thread (October 2014).

[Capellan]

SoundofDoomDoors said:

If it's more of what we've seen for the last few days, I quit for the month. I don't know how the rest of you can take this.

Without specifics ... if you're not having fun with it now, it's unlikely that the last 11 maps will change your mind.

SoundofDoomDoors said:

I'm starting to play Going Down. I've written comments for the first six levels. would posting them alongside the STRAIN level of the day be alright, or would that be too off-topic?

There's already a DMWC thread for Going Down (link in the OP) - please post your comments on it there or in a new thread of your own, so as not to spoil those of us who haven't played it yet.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

Okay, got it. I'll keep STRAIN here and post my comments on Going Down in full once I'm done with it in that thread. I guess I kind of knew thread necromancy was okay after the whole thing with Erik Alm dropping by the Scythe 2 thread and everyone posting in it a while after the playthrough was over. I just didn't think to do it in this case until it was brought up. Thanks guys.

About STRAIN, I'll keep trying it. Bashing it is its own fun, and I can always not record so I can carry stuff over to cope with the difficult pistol starts. 19's slime rooms would've been much easier if I'd started with some armor and guns to help with the shotgunners. That would've meant more health lying around for later when I needed it!

To not be all negative, the really big thing about STRAIN I like is how the weapons and monsters were changed (save the demon, I changed my mind). It's probably the most ambitious hacking project of its time. I just wish the level design lived up to how promising the gameplay changes are.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP19: Waste Processing
29:22 | 100% everything

I didn't really have any problems with this map. Opening the first teleporter was the biggest challenge, and the yellow key took me a minute. My natural secret-finding inclinations made sure I checked everything that needed activating. Found the rad suits right away, and never took any nukage damage. The backpack secret puzzled me the longest, and the computer map was the most challenging. It's definitely a quirky map, but I didn't mind it.

MAP20: Reactor
4:24 | 100% everything

This is the map where I first remember the demon lord making an impression on me. But this time around (even on a higher difficulty) it was largely underwhelming. Only the second half of the map was even challenging. I entered the level with 200% health and was down to 175% after cleaning up the first half; grabbing the two (!) soulspheres felt like a waste, but there was no going back from the final arena. Speaking of which, those polydrones are a pain! A pretty unexciting map, but it goes by so fast it hardly makes an impression.

[Capellan]

SoundofDoomDoors said:

I can always not record so I can carry stuff over to cope with the difficult pistol starts

There are a couple of exceptions, but STRAIN is generally a much more relaxed proposition on continuous than on pistol start.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP19: Waste Processing
100% kills, 6/6 secrets

Definitely some awkward progression with this map, though I was able to muddle through it without too much trouble. Lots of switches which open stuff far away, which is pretty annoying... the red switch is also semi-hidden (it's got the same texture as the wall, only clue is that it sticks out). Might not have figured out the yellow key either without the computer map (which showed there was something inside the column). On the other hand, this level has a "jump through the window" secret, which I always like. The slime maze is pretty annoying (at least there's rad suits, even if you need to unknowingly backtrack for them). Gameplay is geared towards the riff-raff again, but lack of health means they pose a good threat. I suppose enjoyment will depend on how much the player is willing to tolerate 90s-style progression, as it can be somewhat obtuse.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP20: Reactor

A short and action-focused intermission map which treasts the player to a very 'clean' techbase look of COMP textures and gleaming silver. Progression is, at least, nice and clear this time: hit switch, fight horde, continue onwards. The final battle is a bit of an anticlimax; we've seen all these critters before, and they don't really have the staying power to truly threaten. I can see where the multiple switches are intended to create a battle of attrition, with the slowly-lowering barriers and need to shoot through a monster to get to the next switch in sequence intended to keep the player exposed to the fire of the mini-cyberdemon and floating cubes for longer, but honestly it's easier just to pop them first, then worry about the switches. I think it may highlight a weakness in the custom Strain bestiary, that for all its interesting tweaks it removes the high-hitpoint 'brick' monster types from the game.

[mouldy]

SoundofDoomDoors said:

I'm starting to play Going Down. I've written comments for the first six levels. would posting them alongside the STRAIN level of the day be alright, or would that be too off-topic?

Feel free to bump the Going Down project thread if you like:
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/wads-mods/65955-going-down-final-release-on-idgames/

I'm going to bump it myself in a few days with a minor bug fix update (nothing to worry about with your version).

[vdgg]

MAP20. The author was not given his usual MAP02 slot, and... he failed to create something difficult. I mean it, after reading some comments I replayed it pistol start, deliberately omitting the secret(s). Easy, ammo problems? impossible. Health? Oh, please, soulspheres, soulspheres, soulspheres.

I don't care much about tubular corridors, but I like this ceiling hole here: (pic)

When playing continuous, there is one more obscure thing, recorded in my 2nd episode run. In the .txt I failed to give correct explanation on what happened. NFG, like plasma, can occasionally "noclip" through walls, and romero head got hit through the first switch, behind the arch-vile.

Speaking of demos, I watched Heretic's MAP31 UV Max again after finishing the level myself and I'm even more impressed. If there's one Strain demo to watch, it's this one.

MAP21. Beautiful and bizarre, the music fitting well. There's nothing to play here, though. Everything is optional.

[Capellan]

Map21
Requiem and STRAIN are very different wads but the two 1997 releases both share a central theme: they try to be something different to Doom. In Requiem's case this is mostly exemplified by engine trickery to transcend the 'limits' of the game. In STRAIN's, it's in the strong slant toward puzzle oriented gameplay.

I never made it this far in the 1997 attempt at the wad, but this map is the examplar of why it took me 15 years to actually get around to finishing STRAIN. It almost completely jettisons FPS gameplay (there are all of 13 monsters on UV) in favour of teleport puzzles.

Bah, I say. Bah and humbug and yuck and no. Do not want. The only enjoyment I will ever get from this level is reading people's reactions to it.

[4shockblast]

Map 20: Kills: 100%, Items: 66%, Secrets: 0%, final time: 4:12 (0 deaths)

I heard this map was short from other comments, and it was definitely very short. Not very interesting either, little to talk about. Just some pretty bland gameplay and visuals, but at least it doesn't last long.

Edit: Just read the other comments, and it seems like I was promised a hard time if I missed the first secret, but I found none of the secrets and it was still pretty boring. :P

FDA here.

[mouldy]

MAP20 - "Reactor” by David Davidson

Well that was short and sweet. Perhaps not quite as challenging as it wanted to be, its styled as a kind of arena battle but with only a handful of enemies. After clearing the room and picking up the tons of rocket ammo I was expecting a proper fight, quite a surprise to suddenly exit instead. I liked the visual theme anyway, blue and silver computery stuff always looks good. Not much else to say..

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP21 Maintenance

oh no no no no no no nope nope...

you know, I enjoy puzzle elements in games, but only if there are subtle hints in them to guide first-time players (which is why there are hints present in NOVA II MAP04 which are easy to figure out if you have a brain). this one, right off the bat does actually have one behind the teleporter, thankfully. there's another puzzle, this big one which involves ABSOLUTELY PRECISE timing if you want to cross over the long way. see, the switches behind the teleporter lower the three blocks after the first one, which constantly rises and lowers, and the three switches where the zombies are at raise them up. to get across the long way, you must time it so that the first block is rising and/or lowering, the door out doesn't close, and you make it across the other blocks all the way to the end. I actually did this once...ONCE I TELL YOU. I can't believe I actually figured it out the long way.

but guess what? You don't have to do any of that shit! you don't even have to fear the rest of the map! there's a teleporter to the left that takes you straight to the other side without having to mess with the switches, and there's even a functional exit next to it (you don't step on the platform though, you press in front of it to exit)! another puzzle up ahead consists of finding which sides of teleporters to enter. doing it right takes you to yet another strange puzzle with teleport pads and rising/lowering pads.

Spoiler

start on the leftmost block, R, U, U, R, U, and then get off

getting the computer map secret in this one comes in handy for the final puzzle. but getting to that puzzle, and the red key, isn't easy, due to trying to race through a door to open, and then through a crusher to a lift that lowers a teleporter, good god. the last puzzle is a clusterfuck of teleporters, that thankfully gets a solution for the ones with the computer map. not gonna spoiler that one. I wouldn't bother with the pickups, by the way.

overall, this map is by far, the big mofo of puzzle maps that I've seen. It's definitely not for the action junkies. the rather haunting music track seems to complement it well, although it does have a part similar to MAP17's track and gets a bit rocky towards the end.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP20 was okay. I agree the rockets are necessary from a pistol start, but the secret is well-indicated, so I don't have a problem with it. In my FDA, I didn't notice the light marking until later on. I just pushed random walls and found it. If parts of the rest of the wad hadn't prepared me to need secrets to survive pistol starts, I'd be mad. Compared to some of the other maps from this wad we've played, this is merciful. My guess is that I would've run out of ammo fighting the albino baron and his friends without it.

FDA here.

[gaspe]

Reading other comments on map 20 I do believe I hyped a little the people compared to how that map actually is :^) probably I didn't used the right words, but nevermind.


MAP21 - Maintenance

Kills: 100% | Items: 66% | Secrets: 100%

An interesting map. The Monster count is really low. The music fits really well with the almost deserted setting. Visually the first nukage area and the room before the last teleport puzzle is the most notable things in the map
The platform thing on the nukage is useless as there is a teleport right for the other side. Beware at the starting room.
With some patience you can telefrag the baron at the first teleport puzzle. This one is not as frustrating as the second one, in the cave with cacodemons.
If you find the secret the last puzzle is done.
I like this map though I'm not very fond of things without ANY hints.
Not something to everyone's taste.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP20: Reactor
100% kills, 0/2 secrets

Short little breather map, which isn't unwelcome but is definitely poorly-placed as an episode-ender, IMO. It's got a nice little bite to it (good place for the Hell Lord, for example), and the final battle isn't too bad (though it could be a bit stronger) though ending it with a couple of lone hell knights and one lone mini-cyber is an anticlimax. And there's enough rocket ammo to kill the entire level's population over threefold. At least the small level size means better detailing and lighting.

[Sui Generis]

MAP20 - "Reactor” by David Davidson
This is such a short map it's hard see how people have found much to comment on it. I can only presume that this map was intended as a boss map, what with it taking the mapslot before intermission text, and making use of the icon explosion as a 'blowing up the reactor' effect. As organgrinder states, the monsters at the end don't have the health to be threatening - after dispatching the archie the most damage I took was from the polydrones and they were easily dispatched. Then the level suddenly runs out of oomph and degenerates into a press button, SSG hellknight sideshow. I don't know if a small level was part of the author's brief, or whether Davidson just got lazy, but pfft.

MAP21 - "Maintenance” by Anthony Czerwonka and Arthur Chang
Fuck this map. And fuck tedious teleporter puzzles.

I recall trying to shorten the first teleporter puzzle by trying to press other faces of the central switch from an angle, without crossing the teleport linedefs, only to realise in dismay that the special linedefs would eat my key presses. *sigh* I guess the part after getting the two keys wasn't too bad. But then the final teleporter puzzle. What a saddening waste of one's life - I slithered down into a sad automap watching wretch, tediously learning by trial and error the right sequence of moves to get through. I did find the computer map. I didn't figure out the right moves to get the powerups or whatever, and I don't care.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP21: Maintenance
19:44 | 84% Kills | 66% Items | 100% Secrets

That secret count might be misleading, as I only found the blue teleporter puzzle room (marked as secret, I assume?) long after I found the exit, and it was so frustrating I noclipped right out after a couple of ridiculously-fruitless attempts. What was even the point of most of this map? There's that bridge-raising puzzle (maybe?) at the beginning that can be bypassed by the teleporter just sitting right there. The four-switch courtyard puzzle was decent, but obnoxiously repetitive. The red key puzzle was perfectly fine, actually. The final teleporter puzzle wasn't actually that bad, I figured it out pretty quickly through trial and error, but screw trying to get those items. The computer map showing you the puzzle solution might have been clever, if I could figure out how to read it. Finally, and this is the weirdest one, but GZDoom's automap clearly showed two exit linedefs, so I ran back to check the other one. It's the post near the beginning marked "EXIT": press it once to lower it and gain access to a non-functional teleporter, but press it a second time and the map ends. WTF?

[Magnusblitz]

MAP21: Maintenance
100% kills, 1/1 secret

I didn't mind this as much as you guys, maybe I have a greater tolerance for puzzles. The only one that bugged me was the cacodemon room, since there's no way to figure it out except by trial-and-error. Everything else seemed to have a clue, or in the case of the four-switch courtyard puzzle, easy to figure out (though I agree with Salt-Man Z that it gets a bit repetitive given that the player can figure out the 'trick' to it pretty quickly). The cacodemon room, even playing with ZDoom showing me teleport lines, requires trial-and-error because while most of the teleport lines are two-sided, one of them only works one way and so requires the player to cross it in a certain direction (compare this to say, TNT MAP30, which has both 1) a clue with the torches and 2) is extremely obvious with ZDoom's teleport lines showing on the automap). The last puzzle was fine, I found the compmap secret no problem and the arrows made perfect sense to me. Not sure about getting the items, which would be the true reward, though.

I do wonder what the heck was intended with the bridge puzzle given that the teleporter is available right there. Also, having the weird push exit available right at the start... I almost wonder if the start area was a rough draft, still unfinished, given the extra exit and abortive bridge puzzle.

[Pirx]

so i got to play a bit again ;)
i have to warm up a lot to stay in shape when i don't play regularly.


32 -

almost a slaughtermap, for strain's difficulty until here anyway, waltzing with several waves of enemies to "blue danube", really? i remembered that map instantly because of the music, which enraged me when i played strain for the first time because it made the map look like a jokewad in my eyes ;)
seeing this now again, why not... plain and boxy map, and invulnerabilities to take care of the mob, i think i liked it _because_ of the music.


16 - living quarters

i liked how you have to leave the starting area asap and get a shotgun out of a zombie's hands. the marble hall was nice to look at, also the outdoor areas, albeit there's little detail. the mini-cyb also has a nice sound, something like he's shocked to see the player (they're fragile too, around a rev's health) and the demonlord with its lion-like roar. too bad his atack animation is broken, sending fireballs out of nowhere. the part where you encounter him is a plain box where you can dance around a pillar. overall fun map, especially the berserking part in the beginning. plenty of shells so i didn't have to use that goofy looking plasma gun.


17 - promenade

the start is not bad, a lobby where you fight some drone, then collect ammo from the rabble, get out into a stone courtyard where zombies can shoot you up badly from below while you're picking up the rockets, some caged mini-cybs... then the map turns into that terrible bland corridor where you're locked into a box with demons every 10 steps or so. i started saving here so i wouldn't risk having to do this again. disappointing after a start which was good in comparison. the end is ok again, in a square open space with pillars where you can get the whole enemy roster to infight.


18 - relay station

same starting lobby as before, but through the opposite door, which was locked in map17. good sinister music. a hexen-like cellar strangely mixed with shiny techbase metal, as if built right on ruins. inside that base there's a small medieval torture room with chains and that chaingunning spawn cube - interesting enemy, but not the kind of enemy i prefer, as they're hitscanners and more resilient than the rest. then an unpleasantly flickering corridor and another one made of 8bit-green stone with flying drones. seems like the author couldn'T quite stay with a theme and mixed whatever texture he saw fit.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP21: Maintenace

Interesting puzzle-based experimental gameplay that I am just totally not in the mood for right now. May come back on the 31st, once we're done with the rest of the WAD, to play with this in earnest.

[4shockblast]

Map 21: Kills: 100%, Items: 83%, Secrets: 0%, final time: 8:55 (4 deaths) (total time around 24 minutes)

Meh, all the puzzles in this map were either tedious or annoying. The pillars at the start seemed completely pointless, as it's possible to teleport to the blue key. The switch puzzle with the baron and teleporters is again pretty tedious and not very interesting to figure out. The cacodemon room puzzle seemed like it needed just trial and error to figure out, and I'm not even sure if it has any purpose in the map. PrBoom+ made it a bit easier by showing me the teleporter linedefs, and it looked like it could even be skipped as well with some strafejumps anyway. The path to the yellow key was kind of interesting, although I dunno if it was accessible at the start or if the baron puzzle was needed to open it. In any case, it isn't even necessary as you can press the switches behind the key bars through the bars without even having the keys (something I realized after my FDA). The red key puzzle is just kill some BFG zombiement and press the switches (although I'll admit the BFG attack took me by surprise at first), and the puzzle at the very end is simply tediously trying all the teleports until you find the correct one. As a result, all the puzzles except the caco room puzzle were tedious and not very interesting, while the caco room puzzle was just trial and error. I guess it doesn't matter too much; at least you can skip all of the map by just pressing the exit bar at the start (again something I didn't think to do in my FDA).

FDA here.

[purist]

20

Quick map. Gather a couple of munitions and fend off some minor ambushes at the start then a bigger battle at the end. One of the early ambushes was easily solved by standing on one warp spot then firing at another - maybe all though spots are active in UV. The next fight just requires stepping back and killing from range.

The final area was quite fun during the vile & spawn cubes. I liked scarpering for cover when I spotting the AV. After this it's all pretty pedestrian.

21

Even quicker map! This is the sort of map I'd love the author to be present for. It starts with a switch choice with one revealing a teleported and the other killing you. I was concerned this was going to be a troll map of the highest order and teleporting to be faced with a further 3 switches added to the worry. It wisent that sort of map though, there is hardly any monsters in the whole thing and although the puzzles to beyond devious into borderline sadism, the author is apologetic enough to provide an out if you wish.

I got accross the slime with the teleport and got the yellow key and then didn't like the look of the teleport puzzle so worked out the bridge puzzle, decided this was satisfaction enough without crossing the damn thing and had a cheeky squeeze on the exit pole and found to my delight and surprise the level to be over.

There's thing about this map I like. Although i wasn't fussed about the trail and error puzzles the binary death trap was at least at the very start and the rest was effectively skillable. Showing the restraint not to flood the map with monsters is admirable as does the haunting midi and above par visuals. If it was that great though I'd have returned to my last save and pretend the exit switch was not there. And I didn't.

[SoundofDoomDoors]

MAP21 starts off okay, but the caco puzzle made me ragequit after 5 minutes (or more) of fighting with it. The binary death is actually marked if you check behind the pillar. That was a good idea. I don't know where the author put all his common sense for the rest of the level I saw. I wish I'd known to press the exit pillar a second time in my FDA. Demoing it's kind of worthless now that I know, though.

[Capellan]

Map22
This is the first of three consecutive Adelusion levels, ending with his last appearance in map24. He also had a hand in yesterday's monstrosity, but I shall try not to hold that against him.

The map begins with something of a bang: it's probably the most interesting encounter in the the level in fact, as any attempt to sneak past the initial opposition just sees you stumble across more resistance. It's pretty easy to end up with a polydrone teleporting in behind you too, which can be quite painful.

After that the level settles down a lot, as you can dictate the rate at which you engage enemies fairly easily, breaking them into smaller clusters if need be. The one MiniCyber is pretty neutered by its position and the encounters with Demon Lords tend to occur in locations where you have cover from their plasma spray.

Like several other STRAIN levels, this one seems to have a thing for 'flick a switch to get a single monster that guards another switch', as it recycles the trope in the blue key section. Said blue key opens the final section of the map which is very straightforward 'shoot the monsters in front of you' stuff. And which also leads to the Psychic Blaster, surrounded by beds of flowers. Well, that's a thing.

As always for an Adelusion level, the map looks nice. It also for some reason has a section in the big hall where we started maps 17 & 18. It won't be the last time we visit that location.

[mouldy]

MAP21 - "Maintenance” by Anthony Czerwonka and Arthur Chang

What the fuck is this shit? Skipping straight to the next map. Got as far as a room of platforming across randomly teleporting pillars, lord knows what else this map has to offer but i've seen enough. Beyond bad.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP22 Specimen Storage

well now after the puzzling nonsense of the last map I'm quite glad this one doesn't pull off any ugly strings. a short, combat-oriented map here, small in design, and very standard. But I enjoy that. interesting blue key room, but the combat there wasn't difficult. notably, it was on this level that I realized just how powerful double berserk fists can get, especially since they can kill a baron much faster than the SSG can. the demon lords, though, they just piss me off with how broken their attack animation is, and close quarters can be quite the punishment for me. MAP22 also gives us the Psychic Blaster, the BFG replacement, which seems pretty odd for a weapon. Good power, but the sounds it makes are awful.

[gaspe]

MAP22 - Specimen Storage

Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets: 100%

Totally different from the previous map. More action-based stuff here. Really good the first encounter. We get also into that raised part of the room we have visited other times in previous map. It's kinda fun the Blue key fight.
The room with the storage of the title (I suppose) doesn't stand up very well compared to the rest of the map from a combat persective.
Here we get also the Psychic Blaster, replacement of the BFG. It uses the rockets as ammo, and beware as you can hurt yourself with its blast damage.

[Demon of the Well]

My lack of goodness, now I've REALLY got my work cut out for me.

*unseemly grunt of effort*

Map 14 -- Engineering - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
For one reason or another I tend to think of this as one of STRAIN's 'signature' maps. While quite straightforward/linear in aspect, it features some of the game's better usage of its custom bestiary (super-imps in the cubicle room work well as both snipers and groundlings, since they can path through the congested environment more easily than the player can/cyber-dwarves in the rusty metal room suddenly seem much less cute when you face them instants after being tricked into picking up a blursphere), and is also probably one of the most aesthetically/thematically coherent levels in the set--I've spent half the month bitching and moaning about how I don't like the way the STRAIN assets look interspersed with the stock stuff, but in this map's case the blend is very natural, perhaps because the overall theme (sort of a blue/silver/metal computer-base) is an old-fashioned Doom classic, as opposed to the bizarre juxtaposition of 'clean' sci-fi with grimy industrial grunge-tech and anomalous medieval scrap-heaps that defines much of the WAD. Of course, it's probably fair to say that that description I just wrote arguably neatly encapsulates the overall aesthetic of classic Doom, ironically enough, but....the devil's in the details, I say!

Anyway, interesting that the mixed authorship here produces something that kind of feels like nothing so much as a less thematically anonymous map by Jon Landis, with its network of tight, claustrophobic maintenance corridors and gantries, complete with the occasional instance of disarmingly clever interlock (never ceases to surprise me when you suddenly pop out into the dingy cement corridor just beyond the blue door after doing the whole song and dance with the underground engineering areas) and shifting terrain. While it is quite a linear affair, as aforesaid, it doesn't necessarily lead you by the nose from room to room for the whole duration, but assuming you've some feel for certain 90s progression/interaction sensibilities (e.g. interactive computer terminals and the like) you should have very little trouble navigating through. On that point, I would say that the map is a fairly good example of one of the advantages of a more loosely realistic approach to setting--while very switch-heavy and linear, a lot of the constant interactivity with the environment has the effect of making you feel like you're doing 'something', in an in-world, engineering sense, as you go along, which when done well can be a fine remedy/clever repurposing for a very simplistic progression.

Much of the combat is basic corridor/room-clearing stuff, but I feel like it's decently palatable regardless. While I just moments ago compared the level's overall structural impression as being redolent of something by Landis, the nature of thing-placement is vastly more forgiving/player-empowering, which makes a huge difference in terms of playstyle flexibility. While it is true what Capellan said that a great many of the various areas can be handily defeated by simply camping out at the entrance and waiting for enemies to dimwittedly funnel towards you, I think an important distinction here is that you don't HAVE to play this way if you don't want to; the thing-balance makes a more gung-ho approach quite viable in most of these encounters (definitely not something you'd see in a real Landis map, incidentally), e.g. the opening cubicle-room or the stuffy server-stack room shortly thereafter, where it's fun to dive in and scrap around, shotgunning stuff out of your way to and fro at literally point-blank range (I believe mouldy was also correct in his surmise that having more movement space would probably make a number of these battle setups function more poorly, incidentally). Oh, and for the record, I think the placement of the arch-vile in the exit room is, in a word, "adorable."

Map 15 -- Subsidiary Power - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
I see that lots of folks commented on the 'secret' radsuits intended for use in the long, winding waste-disposal maze. Interesting, interesting...I put it to you that the haz-closet with the first two suits in it is not intended as a secret at all (notice that it's not flagged as one), but was instead supposed to be a straightforward feature of the level's generally representational design, something that the target audience would see/identify with ease very early in the level, so they would know where the suits are when the time to don one of them comes. While it would probably be too hasty to parse this pretty significant conveyance issue as purely a function of a 'generation gap' of sorts (surely at least some players 'back when' must've run into this exact problem), I would surmise that something of this level's theme/design has been 'lost in translation' in the years between 1997(8?) and 2015, perhaps bespeaking a sea change in player perceptions/expectations between then and now, also evidenced elsewhere in STRAIN (e.g. the struggles with 'interactive' sector-terminals, things of that nature), and indeed to some extent in most vintage-era WADs the Club has played. This is perfectly natural, of course, but nevertheless interesting--sometimes what seems irrational in the here and now might seem like second nature to someone from a different era, I suspect.

That tangent aside, my overall assessment of map 15 is that it's like map 14, but not as good. Many of the same basic characteristics are shared--it is again linear, heavy on switches/interactivity with a fair share of backtracking, etc.--and many of the same virtues are in attendance as well (fairly coherent texture scheme used to communicate a realistic setting, a sense of engagement with the environment beyond simply passing through rooms until you reach the last one, etc.), but the overall impression falls a bit flatter, largely by dint of less engaging combat, I think. The map's most interesting feature is probably its communication of setting via shifts in the environment over time, particularly in the dirt tunnels that appear off of the mainframe early on (as though the monsters have burrowed into the installation in quest for your warm blood and soft human flesh), and then change when they are retraversed later after some heard-but-not-seen explosions, as though the area's structural stability is fading fast. Aesthetically the whole is somewhat makework and feels significantly less vibrant than map 14 despite the similar style/setting, perhaps partially by dint of being comprised of so many dingy tunnels, but to its credit there are small niceties here and there, a number of which are easy to miss (e.g. the elbowed midtex pipe at one end of the rusty metal junction chamber just outside the waste tunnels), to prevent it from feeling too aesthetically undercooked.

The action, well, pretty stylistically similar to the previous map, as I said, but only a couple of encounters ever stand out here, the rest are largely forgettable. Perhaps most notable is the introduction of the Demonlord enemy at the end of the normal path, essentially a Baron with a much nastier spreadshot attack that telegraphs in a slightly unintuitive way (read: skips a frame or two before the projectiles come out) and can one-shot you if it hits you at point-blank range, and even more HP than usual. He is individually the strongest monster in the game and will easily dominate in most infighting situations, and his more formidable attack means he is more versatile in terms of placement than the other nobles, although his HP coupled with STRAIN's tendency to spam him (and other nobles) with little discipline in some of the later maps does mean he's something you're likely to get tired of seeing before the month is through. Then there is of course the nukage maze, which seems larger than it ought precisely so it can be a 'maze', with gameplay that is literally nothing but walking forward/pulling the trigger. Makes you appreciate the barrels scattered around, at any rate, imagine how dry this segment would be without them. In fact, you don't have to imagine it at all, the otherworldly flesh-tunnel accessible from this area involved in the path to the secret exit does precisely this. On that note, it is strange how much easier the secret exit is to reach than the normal one, I would agree...in some mapsets this happens because the authors obviously really want you to see those secret maps (the extreme form of this being the rarely seen practice of having map 15's only exit travel to map 31, essentially extending the main game by 1-2 levels), but STRAIN's secret maps honestly play more like grab-bag bonus levels (ala the super-super-secret maps in Memento Mori II, for example) than like a natural extension of the main adventure, seems odd that so many players will end up in map 31 without realizing that's the road they're headed down.

Map 31 -- Secret Level - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Right, now this is a textbook Landis map, maybe even closer in style to his old solo stuff than his contemporary maps appearing in STRAIN. It is extremely high-concept, essentially a tangle of mostly featureless brickwork corridors knitted around a spacious central chamber. There is more of an element of verticality at work than it may initially appear, with some planes of the network set lower or higher than others, and a lowering floor for the central chamber, but for the most part there is little articulation or variation in the map's makeup, with its only real landmarks being the central room and the guidepost symbolplates that appear in a few places as you uncover secrets. The regular exit path is pretty straightforward and with a bit of foreknowledge the exit itself can be accessed well before Landis intended thanks to the magic of infinitely-tall usepresses, but accessing the secret exit to map 32 requires repeatedly combing and recombing the map, looking for new offshoots or compartments that open at odd points in the progression via a variety of trigger mechanisms (some fairly straightforward, others decidedly opaque) until you have essentially uncovered every secret.

Easier said than done, thanks to a surprisingly oppressive monster presence. While the enemies are relatively few in number, they decisively gum up the (!)pipe(!)works and so all are credible obstacles to at least some degree, and the STRAIN pistol-start requires a lot of melee combat and very careful ammo-rationing early on in order to make it out the other side. To many modern players I reckon a lot of the 'zerking in order here is not terribly taxing, but this must've been an absolute nightmare for the average player back when STRAIN was released. In true vintage Landis style, some of the monster placement sort of leaves the realm of traditional 'battle engagement' and crosses into that of 'carnivorous puzzle scenario', perhaps best exemplified by the legitimately nasty tri-Baron pincer trap along the southernmost corridor at one point, which requires either the conservation/expenditure of the vast majority of the map's ammo available up to that point (I think this marks the first 'non-secret' appearance of the NFG, incidentally), or some genuinely masterful Tyson play (or, more realistically, some combination of the two). What can I say? Most of Landis' maps have a definite 'right' way to play them, and most of the time the 'right' way is really the ONLY way, which of course tends to limit both their audience and their replayability. For my part, I don't find this map to be particularly aggravating or anything like that, but it is definitely something I would put in the "more interesting than good" category, I suppose.

Map 32 -- Super-Secret Level - 82% Kills / No secrets
This playthrough was actually my very first time seeing this map, never before have I found the super-secret exit in map 31. I guess I could've recorded an FDA, but it slipped my mind. Oh well, no great loss.

So, this map is butt-ugly, has a ridiculous BGM selection (and not cool ridiculous like "Dance of the Sugarplum Lunatic" or whatever it's called from the end of MMII), and is bizarrely modern in pace, if not in decor. If I had to describe the aesthetic/visuals in one phrase, I think that phrase would be "Christmastime in a biker bar toilet bowl", a nonsensical jumble of different colors and textures centering around a murky pool of unsanitary liquid with some sort of art-deco gazebo floating in its center; it's not pretty, and the structure/layout is unrelentingly flat, robbing the progression of much interest, although the central pool being harmful does add a small tactical wrinkle to a couple of the fights.

Right, the fights. Monsters are generally deployed in homogeneous blocks, with the lion's share of their number comprised of the initial cascade of shotgun guys teleporting out of the central gazebo, and most of the rest found in the series of room-sized closets off of that central space, with a sizable chunk unable to enter the map at all, whether due to malfunction or a flight of fancy on the author's part I'm unsure. The homogeneity of monster placement coupled with a wealth of ammo and some handy crutch powerups (including two V-spheres) in the gazebo starkly limit the combat's capacity for interest...occasionally you get a chance to stir up some infighting (in fact, you could probably get a decent cauldron going with foreknowledge of the map), and occasionally it behooves you to stay out of the damaging central space while fighting some relatively powerful foes (e.g. the group of Demonlords at one point), but for the most part participating in this map feels more like grouting the shower than playing Doom. Its surprisingly concerted level of straightforward 'challenge-oriented' monster-spam might've been unusual/notable (though hardly unheralded/unprecedented) for a WAD of STRAIN's general gameplay style in '97, but novelty does not a good map make.

I'll not mince words, I felt like this map was a turd, and one that doesn't even have the decency to pretend like it's at least trying not to be a turd, at that. Sort of anticlimactic finding it after all of these years and then feeling like I wasted my time.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP22: Specimen Storage
16:43 | 100% everything

Whew! What a breath of fresh air! This thing tries to kill you right off the bat; I kept getting pinned between the polydrone/cacos and the baron, and when I finally took them down ran into the hell knight I had forgotten about. Man, this level's brutal. I had to laugh when I got the megasphere only to see a soulsphere sitting behind the blue door, I'm like "already, really guys?" but then of course I get pinned by the demon lord and thank you for the supercharge as I barely survive the encounter. Demon lords all up in this thang; I freak out a little every time I hear that bellow and then I catch a glimpse of that powder-white and go into a mini-panic. Such a fantastic addition to the bestiary; not that much harder than a baron to kill, but so much more dangerous. Fun level, and short, but that just means it doesn't overstay its welcome. First encounter with the psychic blaster (I think?) and of course I waste my first 3 shots, forgetting that it doesn't work like the BFG. Funny story: the other/first time I played through STRAIN it was back in the oughts using Doomsday, which didn't necessarily play great with the PWAD. One of the quirks was that the psychic blaster's shot remained green like the BFG's, which I thought was normal. So the first time I loaded STRAIN up in GZDoom I spent ages trying to figure out what was wrong, why's the energy blast black? (It's supposed to be black, right?)