The DWmegawad Club plays: Hell Revealed

[T-Rex]

Honestly, I find myself struggling with Plutonia on UV, and while its more manageable on HMP, it still gives me quite a workout. HR does too, but I don't find it any worse than Plutonia, despite the body count in comparison. I'd say it's a tie between them. So really, HR isn't a bad megawad when Plutonia had a lot of influence on it.

To anyone who is having problems beating it on UV, play it at a lower skill level, like HMP, or even ITYTD/HNTR. At least the first two skill levels on HR feel like Doom 2 on UV.

[Naan]

The godfather of slaughter style gameplay, uh? Well, I have played this like, a long time ago, just warping my way through maps and see what's that megawad everyone at Doomworld is referring to.

I found the .txt file somewhat hilarous to read, espiecally the story. Anyway, on to the fray, with my usual settings: GZDoom, freelook, pistol starts on UV.

MAP01 - "Into the Gate" by Yonatan Donner & Haggay Niv - UVMax on first t-oh wait I forgot those blue pots at the beginning...

After a dozen days playing Erkattäññe and its misalignments and various polygons all over the place, it's good to be back to squary techbases which, for a 1997 WAD, should've been pretty good detail, I would say on par with TVR! that was released 4 years later. Nothing really difficult here, a pointless lone cacodemon that struggles to outcome outside obstacles, a pointless rocket launcher secret only placed for continuous players, and some imp punching before finally taking the exit portal.

[antares031]

MAP02 - Gateway Lab
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/93/100

Honestly, there's nothing much to say about this map; a typical, plain level from mid-90s. You may think you can reach the exit door after you beat this level, because it's possible to activate the switch at the beginning. But at least the author knew how to prevent this trick.

[T-Rex]

Naan said:

The godfather of slaughter style gameplay, uh?

Dario Casali's Punisher and Seej are actually the first to introduce slaughter style gameplay, and while HR has several maps of that substance, it's not the entire megawad.

[gaspe]

MAP02 - Gateway Lab

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

Still easy. The music helps to give a faster pace to the map. I was overstacked with ammo. The design is quite boxy, but it's a thing that goes on pretty much in all the wad.

[ReFracture]

Map 01 - Into The Gate
Vanilla, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100, 3:26

The trigger just before walking into the exit that spawns the imps is kind of pointless. It's tedious to wait on them to teleport in when the exit is right there.

A good first level otherwise. I like the 'credits' room if you keep walking into the teleporter at the start.


Map 02 - Gateway Lab
Vanilla, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100, 4:17

Enjoyable but pretty unremarkable. Not much else to say.

I wish I participated in these so long ago.. just never got around to it. You guys have played through some great megwads.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP01 Into the Gate:

I actually enjoy this map, it's easy for the most part save for the end which can get overwhelming on a blind playthrough. There's a non threatening Caco out that window which made me laugh. Not really much else to say, it's a solid starting map.

[7hm]

Years ago I worked my way through HR until like map 18 on HMP, but I figure I can take a kick at pistol start/ no saves on UV. At some point I'll have to drop back or start saving or something but...

Map 1 - Into the Gate:

I think I've played this map a dozen times or more. I really like it. Short little corridor shooter that, as tactical stiffy says, can overwhelm you if you don't know what's coming. I don't get what that teleport behind you is for but ok.

Also I died here. Uhhhh. I didn't die in the next several maps so I'm chalking this up to nerves.

[Spectre01]

I guess this gives me a reason to play some older and less visually impressive wads. The first two maps are surprisingly fun and relaxing. Certainly a walk in the park compared to the start of Plutonia which had Archviles, Revenants and Macubi in the first map. Also a lack of Chaingunners appearing behind you which is always nice. Playing on UV continuously. Unless the text file strictly states the maps are balanced for pistol start I usually don't bother.

[Ribbiks]

HR ey? haven't touched this in ages, all I have are vague memories from playing this as a kid (and a little bit a jogged memory from jongo's badass TAS run). I played HR2 quite a bit but never spent much time with the original.

played the first 5 maps, fdas seem pointless to post because this set's been demo'd to death. it left a bad taste in my mouth though, pure drudgery. flat rooms flood-filled with mobs. door-camping is king, infinity tall annoyance at maximum overdrive, zero threat, zero interesting visuals, zero reason for me to be engaged in playing. I'm probably being overly harsh though, the authors were prolific speedrunners iirc so I'm guessing the maps might be rewarding to route-out and execute sweet speed strats on.. or something. the aesthetics and painfully simplistic design could probably be chalked up to '97-isms. Either way, I think I'll just skip ahead to map20+...

[dobu gabu maru]

^ A slight spoiler, but I've played a bit ahead and my thoughts are going to be far less kind than yours. And just a a general tip to everyone playing so far—pistol start and continuous are entirely different beasts, so expect an uphill battle if you're only walking into maps with a single sidearm.

MAP02: Another mediocre map. I think one of the weird things about Hell Revealed is that it doesn’t kick into high gear until much later, making E1 feel a bit out of place. I mean you still have boxy rooms and masses of enemies to mow down, but stuff like that switch “maze” and the room with that platform are so not-Hell Revealed that it took me by surprise. I think I’d classify these maps as “filler” so far.

[Dylan Jarvis]

MAP02 Gateway Labs:

Not as good as the first. The beginning is symmetrical, with enemy placement, a lot of areas to get potshot from high places. And weird side areas with barely anything in them. It's a decent map but nothing special.

[Magnusblitz]

Not sure if this will hold my interest enough to play the whole month but I'll give it a go to start.

MAP01: Into the Gate
100% kills, 1/1 secret

Tiny little techbase that actually looks pretty good for 1997 IMO - good texture usage and tasteful (if a bit too subtle perhaps) lighting. Layout is kinda weird though, as half the map can be skipped easily (what's up with the weird green/sergeant room?). Also, it was quite easy for me to hit the switch in the X room and then make my way to the exit portal before the demons started teleporting in. I sat around and punched 'em all to death, but why wait? Weird. The burning barrels also block the demons and make taking them out an ease. Also don't know why they bothered with the lone cacodemon outside, who I didn't even notice until I was at 68/69 monsters and wondering where the heck the last one was.

MAP02: Gateway Labs
100% kills, 1/1 secret

Hoo boy. This might be one of the blandest levels of all time. Bland texture scheme, firstly... grey and brown, so fun. Monster placement is also pretty boring, as it just feels like room after room with some variation of zombies/imps/demons placed in groups of 5-6 at a time. Almost feels like playing a rogue-like. The final piece of the blandness puzzle is just how square everything is. Aside from the one curved tunnel halfway through, I think there's a grand total of three walls that aren't at a 90 degree angle - the one corner of the first main room, and the 45 degree angle hallway near the blue door. And that's it.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP02: Gateway Lab

Another fast-paced map, using low-tier enemies in large numbers to keep the action moving; you're given the super shotgun in a secret cubby, but honestly there never comes a point here where its usefulness and power dominate its single-barrel cousin as is so often the case in maps that bring the higher, tougher tiers of monsters into play. Not a fan of "press this switch at one end of the level, then search to find that it's revealed another switch at the the other end of the map;" honestly that only works here because the level is compact with no navigation challenges.

[Budoka]

dobu gabu maru said:

And just a a general tip to everyone playing so far—pistol start and continuous are entirely different beasts, so expect an uphill battle if you're only walking into maps with a single sidearm.

That's meticulously calculated on Donner's part, as MAP14, MAP18, MAP22 and MAP24 will make permanently unambiguous with their weapon placement.

Anyway.

MAP02: Gateway Lab by Yonatan Donner

Link to demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXZrbQu20oA

Way to forget to pick up the most crucial weapon in this map, me (that weapon being the Chaingun). I don’t have much to say about this map, I guess it has medium difficulty for the time. The visuals are rather bland, I suppose. And, well, -fast does make the beginning quite hectic.

I have no more demos available after this, I do have UV-Max substitutes for the next two maps which I recorded a while ago, but that's it. I tried to continue my MM2 playthrough yesterday, and what do you know, PrBoom+ gets minimized every 5 minutes thanks to this bullcrap. I'm not sure what to do...

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP02 Gateway Lab

What's in MAP02? a map that honestly doesn't provide too much. the 64-wide corridors to the east were quite boring, and then there's the blinking hallway of sorts. don't really like the backtracking for that one switch in the big room though, I always seem to overlook it.

[joe-ilya]

2

Meh, it's plain and mazey, some fun moments but mostly just backtracking through mazes.

3/5

[Cynical]

Ribbiks said:

HR ey? haven't touched this in ages, all I have are vague memories from playing this as a kid (and a little bit a jogged memory from jongo's badass TAS run). I played HR2 quite a bit but never spent much time with the original.

played the first 5 maps, fdas seem pointless to post because this set's been demo'd to death. it left a bad taste in my mouth though, pure drudgery. flat rooms flood-filled with mobs. door-camping is king, infinity tall annoyance at maximum overdrive, zero threat, zero interesting visuals, zero reason for me to be engaged in playing. I'm probably being overly harsh though, the authors were prolific speedrunners iirc so I'm guessing the maps might be rewarding to route-out and execute sweet speed strats on.. or something. the aesthetics and painfully simplistic design could probably be chalked up to '97-isms. Either way, I think I'll just skip ahead to map20+...

I'd recommend starting at 14 instead of 20. The first 13 are bad, yeah, but once you hit "City in the Clouds", most of the rest is pretty good (no excusing Top Hell, though; that one is awful).

[wallabra]

The download link of Hell Revealed has a bracket preceding it.

Nothing else. Just a report :3

lol I'm joking, the report is real, but I will make a FDA of MAP03 tomorrow.

Thanks for your attention.

[gaspe]

MAP03 - The Dumpster

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

Meh. Nothing really interesting here, apart those lifts with the soulsphere.

[wallabra]

gaspe said:

MAP03 - The Dumpster

blah blah cool map blah

Erm, or it is the timezone or you missed but it still isn't day 3. So I think you posted it early on for DWmegawad club rules.

[AD_79]

Gustavo6046 said:

Erm, or it is the timezone or you missed but it still isn't day 3. So I think you posted it early on for DWmegawad club rules.

It's based on what time zone the poster is in. Seeing that gaspe lives in Italy and it is indeed February 3 there, it's perfectly fine.

[gaspe]

Actually I'm posting from the future :^)

[antares031]

MAP03 - The Dumpster
ZDoom, UV - Pistol Start, KIS(%): 100/100/100

While the last level gave me some large rooms and hallways, this one provides small and compact areas. Other than that, it's another vanilla doom level from the past. I must say though, it was hard to figure out the secret with blue armor and computer map powerup, while the secret rocket launcher was easy to grip. One more thing. At the start, do not engage the monsters across the window and just jump into the pit. Otherwise, things are going to get nasty below there.

[Pirx]

i remember i was quite shocked by hr's later levels, now let's see how this holds up.

rise of the triad's music is great, on par with doom's, and i knew it long time as "hrmus" as if donner & niv made it, because i hadn't played rott.

btw, does anyone know what yonatan donner is doing today? i remember how he posted on his geocities site that he got drafted, had an update half a year later and suddenly disappeared from the gaming scene.



MAP01 - "Into the Gate" by Yonatan Donner & Haggay Niv

good opening map, resembling entryway somehow, with a berserk pack and mindless beating demons, imps and zombies into pulp at the door.



MAP02 - "Gateway Lab" by Yonatan Donner & Haggay Niv

the start is ok, grab a shotgun from a pedestal or from one of the sergeants. the rest then is a letdown, a few square room connected together. the ssg is hidden in a secret, allows quickly killing all resistance.



MAP03 - "The Dumpster" by Yonatan Donner

mostly very close quarters, tight base corridors crammed with imps, zombies and demons. light weapons until you can jump onto a pillar with the rocket launcher.a sequence to arrange some crates into a bridge and one to get a soulsphere on top of a lift. nothing spectacular until now, hr needs heavier stuff to shine.

[Ribbiks]

Cynical said:

I'd recommend starting at 14 instead of 20. The first 13 are bad, yeah, but once you hit "City in the Clouds", most of the rest is pretty good (no excusing Top Hell, though; that one is awful).

heh. dear lord was that an ordeal. resorted to briefly perusing the map in nomo to figure out where things were. missed all 5 secrets and single-shotgunned by way through more mobs than I care to remember. your first comment rings true it seems that these maps are pretty much designed to be carefully routed before playing (uv pistol-starts, anywho). so.. I guess I'll just watch a uv-max or something before loading up the later maps, then :p

[Budoka]

MAP03: The Dumptser by Yonatan Donner

Old UV-Max demo (since I can't record): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZF3Pd1f2kg

Antares is right, waking the enemies on the bottom floor ahead of time will practically doom you. this map as a whole has a nice claustrophobic atmosphere, and I like that it loops back to the same areas multiple times as you progress. On the other hand, everything about that room with the secret rocket launcher is awkward as shit. It's also a shame that this map can permanently break in Co-Op because of the way the yellow key is accessed.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP03: The Dumpster

Grungy and claustrophobic compared to what's come before, with vertical connections (drops, elevators) and teleporters that contribute to the somewhat disconnected feel already established by the texture choices. The start, which all but prompts you to fire through the window, allowing the monters to cluster at the bottom of the nearby drop and obstruct progression, feels poorly thought out, a source of annoyance rather than difficulty. On the other hand, I did like the overall layout with its loops that repeatedly bring the player back to the same cluster of rooms from different angles.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP03 The Dumpster

cramped, 64-wide corridors, just really plain level all around. Really there's nothing to this level that sticks out for me at all.

[scifista42]

MAP02 - "Gateway Lab" by Yonatan Donner & Haggay Niv

Still rather basic design and gameplay (shooting gallery, random monster crowds, narrow corridors, pointless lifts, orthogonality everywhere...), probably appropriate for the time when this wad was made. The blue door that don't require a key got me confused. Then I couldn't reach the exit, because I didn't notice the switch panel that raised in the early lobby until I cheated around. I've got convinced for a moment that the map relied on some hacky specialities that don't work in ZDoom based ports and that's why I couldn't exit it, thankfully it turned out to be a false assumption.