The DWmegawad Club plays: Echelon & Mutiny

[Demon of the Well]

Map 19 -- Heart of Darkness - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Two distinct halves in this one, the first emphasizing fights and the second mainly serving as a cinematic preamble to map 20. The early action takes place in the ground floor of a couple of somewhat anonymous buildings (the spaces themselves sort of resemble empty garages, though the odd little 3D-floor one-steps leading into them suggest something else, perhaps storage modulars?), packed with monsters and shrouded in heavy shadows. Both of these two fights are similar in that they use a lot of deaf monsters hiding at odd angles and behind pillars and such in order to prevent the player from pulling all of them to the street to fight, combined with arch-viles which warp in to elicit panic and to drive you into the arms of the lurkers. The second fight really showcases the idea, using a wider variety of larger monsters (intuitively, the new Echelon monsters feature prominently here, as all have attacks that are effective in enclosed spaces), and seems to have been designed in detail up to the point where the vile will actually appear in different places depending on how you move through the interior. A cool head will easily prevail in both of these encounters, and both can be relatively easily retreated from to be fought from the street after springing them, but nevertheless it's good to see encounter design paid some TLC, as it has been handled very, shall we say, 'casually' up to this point.

Edit: Oh yeah, note the objectively detrimental blursphere item in that second fight. Very oldschool. :D

The second part of the level is a long walk down a tree-lined parkway (which seems to be suspended high in the air, to whit, reminiscent of that structure we saw hinted at in the distance way back during the little lunar episode) towards an imposing dystopian Wall Street tower, apparently a bank vault. A number of stronger monsters are dotted around the area, but they are paltry given the amount of running room available. The real point of the segment just seems to be to hype up map 20 a little bit, as aforesaid, with the massive structure's skirts tagged with more ominous graffito soothsaying, one word in particular repeated prominently....

Map 20 -- Mammon - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
...MAMMON.

For all of the buildup, I must admit I found this very underwhelming. Taking place in and immediately around a vaguely cathedralesque arched corridor wrought in tu-tone riveted plate over a heart of simmering sulphur, the fight presented throws a small mixed contingent of monsters at you from the get-go, having them funnel towards your position as you pound them with rockets. Other than having to be mindful of the perils inherent to using a rocket launcher to fight any group that contains pain elementals, this is very much a quick/simple 'hold the trigger to win' fight. Arch-viles perched on high flank either side of the corridor leading from the start point to the initially blocked portal to Hell just across the way, but they can't see very well into the space where you'll by design be doing most of the fighting and so make a very limited contribution to the action at best. Once the initial scuffle is taken care of, you ride a lift up and criss-cross the vault a few times in order to reach the release switch opening the exit, blasting a couple of mancubi, a lost soul or two, and any viles/sergeants that you didn't shoot from below before continuing. Nothing to it.

The setting is dark and sinister, sure, but the halfhearted combat design just isn't cutting it at this point. Another idea done a disservice by being so doggedly tiny/casual.

[Spectre01]

MAP17 - “Neon”
Alright, an actual city map with alleyways to explore and plenty of green glowing signs on the buildings. Gameplay is largely what you'd expect, with a good balance of incidental combat involving enemies rioting in the streets and various hooligans throwing junk from roofs and windows. The graffiti and green metal theme looks great here.

MAP18 - “Possessed Plaza”
A more hectic offering here with most of the map's 50 or so enemies involved right away in what's essentially one big fight. There is some degree of pressure here compared to the leisurely combat experienced in the wad so far. The best part is finally getting the backpack and the ability to start hoarding ammo!

MAP19 - “Heart of Darkness”
Well, the interiors of those buildings were certainly dark. Couldn't see shit in there! Completely pointless Blursphere too. The walk towards the massive bank building is probably the best "cinematic" part so far, and the structure certainly looks intimidating enough. Missed an Archvile somewhere despite clearing the map.

MAP20 - “Mammon”
The inside of the building is some kind of infernal furnace with dark metal and lava pits being the primary visual style. Quite underwhelming as an "episode finale" though as the combat is very simple unless you manage to punch a Lost Soul with a rocket. A tiny offering that leaves much to be desired.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP19: Heart of Darkness

This one tries to balance meatier gameplay with cinematic flair, and while I'm not entirely sure it succeeds, the attempt is a bold one in a map that's still on the bite-sized end of the spectrum, with little room to deploy and explore each style in depth. I don't feel the choice of music really helped here, coming off as frantic and jarring in a level that seems to be more about ominous shadows and the ongoing build-up to the dark tower looming in the distance...

MAP20: Mammon

Another map that's fundamentally a choke point between preceding levels and episodes yet to come, this one makes some use of 3D floors to serve double duty as elevated vantage points for enemies to rain down fire on its primary corridor, and as a means for the player to cross that corridor back and forth toward the level's conclusion. It's a nice enough piece of architecture but feels more like a shooting gallery than most of this mapset's recent levels have done.

[Demtor]

MAP19 - “Heart of Darkness”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous




The first part of this map is a series of dark, cramped combat encounters that have some interesting enemy arrangements. The hardest probably being the AV with all of the chaingunners. Would probably be a lot easier if I didn't play with heavy shadows like I do.

Favorite part of the map though was the trees and lights heading to the massive structure at the end where I did circles around everything trying to start in fights while popping a feasting Rev in the face each time around.

Going through this project thread has been fun to see how the graffiti collages came together. Lots of creativity from all sorts of people. Love the idea and how it was done.


MAP20 - “Mammon”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous


mam·mon /'mamen/ noun
Wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion. It was taken by medieval writers as the name of the devil of covetousness, and revived in this sense by Milton.

Never heard of the word before. Huh. Weird religious nuts and their made up words, amirite? Holy shit; google image search the word. It's a pretty crazy mix of awful and awesome. Also... what?? This had nothing to do with this level. I fail to see the point here.

Anyways. The AV's were a bit unnecessary, IMO, as they forced me to receive all of the combat coming at me at the entrance area. Well out of their sight. It would have been a lot more fun and equally challenging without their threat from above. They didn't even have anything to revive! They just sit up above waiting for easy rockets and until then, just annoy the hell out of me.

The balcony hopping was pretty cool though. I would've liked a whole leveled designed around that concept but instead it's only just a short section with a few mancubi and lost souls to find the switch that will open the fire portal/gated exit that leads to the evil waiting ahead. Kind of boring considering this is supposed to be a such a well guarded place.

[Demtor]

Forgot to mention, Map 19 - Heart of Darkness has a midi track named Shadowed Hound by MFG38 where part of the song sounds exactly like Pantera's Domination at about the three and a half minute mark. Awesome!

[baja blast rd.]

"Heart of Darkness" (19)

Fun one. The second AV reveal, the one in the YK building, is pretty cool; it can revive the manc, and that fatass will block your escape! I think this map would be more fun with a SSG -- the close-quarters are very well suited to it, assuming you want to stick around and fight instead of running back to the closest chokepoint. The second half is kind of amusing, with all the monsters milling around the bank. If you run around the building the monsters will follow you, and it looks like a silly game of ring around the rosie.

"Mammon" (20)

You know, early on, in the first maps to feature combat, I thought something like, "If the combat in these small vignettes was either more substantive or more engaging, I wouldn't really mind them so much." I feel that way about this map. It's the sort of map where aggressive conventional play (the sort where you kill stuff) isn't meaningfully distinct from more passive play: you basically have to kill what is in front of you, mostly with rockets, and moving around frenetically and stuff for no particular reason while shooting rockets might LOOK more aggressive to the untrained eye, but it's really not going to be any faster in a map like this. So it kind of needs to be at least a bit challenging, unlike most levels before it, where the player is allowed to get themselves into trouble. And it really isn't.

Interesting factoid: With infinitely tall actors off at least, it seems like trying to kill the viles from below isn't such a good idea -- splash damage doesn't hit them if you strike the bottom of the 3D platforms.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP21: Center of the Unknown

Our first taste of Echelon's vision of Hell is a castle archive of sorts, a set of libraries and corridors built around a courtyard patrolled by a Spider Mastermind. Compared to the scorched metal and shimmering lava of MAP20 the atmosphere here is almost pleasant. The long corridors of the archive and many large windows of the courtyard present plentiful opportunities for monsters to spot you and rain fire or come swarming from the other side of the map.

MAP22: Sinuous

A twisted techno-Hell map that's closer in its aesthetics to the classic Doom vision of eternal damnation, though the custom textures of the familiar tiled metal hexagons pulled apart to reveal the underlying wires and pipes are a very nice visual touch, both fitting and refreshing. The action begins to heat up here with a number of arch-viles roaming the knot of hallways at the heart of the map; the rising and falling platforms are disorienting and can lead to demons spilling out on you from unexpected directions.

[baja blast rd.]

"Center of the Unknown" (21)

So much to like about this map: the theme; the spider mastermind, which looks comically oversized through the short windows; the lost souls and their tiny nooks; the constant action, where if you go fast you can just about always be shooting something; yet another blue armor secret. I came into the map with about 300 cells but for the sake of fun I didn't fight the spider mastermind until I found my way outside, and since I had nearly 200/200 H/A at that point I didn't bother with boring cover camping. It also seems possible to spam plasma at the spider from all the way down the long hallway, probably waiting until it starts firing so that the stream isn't wasted. Good stuff.

"Sinuous" (22)

This map, for its gloomy music and ominous looks, starts off with some silly gameplay: clusters of barrels are deployed conveniently close to the initial squads of monsters. I kind of like that, but I think I'd prefer the map the barrels on an earlier, drier map, maybe 18, and more serious gameplay here. I really like the pretzel layout of the interior. Also the viles, which are nicely positioned. Early on I was targetted by a vile outside, and then just as I dodged its attack I came under the spell of a vile indoors peeking out through the window and had to dodge that one too. Then I met the two other viles indoors at somewhat surprising moments too; I didn't take a hit from them, but it was engaging, which is what I've been asking for. The detailing scheme looks really nice. Sky is awesome too. Another good map.

Also, a SSG! Finally!

[Demtor]

MAP21 - “Center of the Unknown”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous


Doom demons are always so well read.


A wood finished library where even the steps have red carpet. Not too terribly original but these textures always work well to make a sufficiently hellish doom map helped by a spooky kind of haunting organ music. I like the shotgun hall with all of the nooks. Lots of incidental combat mixed in with a few planned mid range encounter in specific spots. The guys trying to hide in the pillars were hilarious. I see you!

The lighting really helps to make this kind of thing visually pop. Even with plain rock textures down at the end of the cave section. The view from below in the dark secret area was neat too.

The Mastermind was relatively harmless but a fun addition to make the hallway run less of a bore. It did well to eat up all my rocket ammo though -_- I guess I was saving it for a reason. I liked the open blood pool area he was stomping around in.

Hmmmmm, I recognize that cloud formation. Flip it upside down, change the colors and you'd come pretty close to the weird art from map 4's home.

Thet crazy golden city and clouds background really stands out. I wonder if we'll get some crazy new colors in a weird futuristic city of some sort in the next maps to come?


MAP22 - “Sinuous”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous


Nope.

I didn't really enjoy this one. What a let down. Instead of a crazy golden future city I imagined, we get a lot of gross gray on gray set to a really grating soundtrack.

Grabbing the double barrel shotty in the secret here felt very unceremonious. To go out of the way to deny the player the SSG for so long, only to then throw it in as almost an afterthought in a shitty map... really failed to deliver in a lot of ways I think. Maybe that's just me.

As a "rock enclosed technology core" I suppose it works to support the narrative but I didn't enjoy the layout at all. Sloooooow rising and falling platforms are terrible. AVs all over, that felt really out of place IMO.

The feeling and threat of height is a good touch considering the new sky texture suggests you should be floating in a sea of golden clouds somewhere but if that's the case thin something about this design seems very off. Ugh.

The high out of reach switch with the vines was a neat trick I guess. Kind of a random use of the ladder in doom gimmick. That room in general was kind of strange. Bunch of dead guys out front, open up to find a dead Caco as well with two yellow fiends.

The best visual is another soulsphere light casting shadows in a tech room much like the one from the map before.

As the end portal here and on the map before along with the story text suggest that we're just kind of taking a ride to who knows where. Just hop in and find out whats next. Uh, that's a terrible idea echelonguy, lol.

[rehelekretep]

ive fallen behind a bit so here are some speedruns of 13,14 and 22 :)

goal was sub-minute :)
map might actually be possible without sg, but the time you save will often be lost by imps blocking you on the way out from the first switch anyway.

fun but frustrating nomo - everything around the RK is the hard part (doomguy has v. bruised elbows!) but even after the pickup the corridor out to the main area can catch you, BK bars can be missed, going around the corner to hit teleporter is awkward so i stopped at 0:22 after getting about 7 exits with this time. picked the one with only one obvious mistake. the RK columns can be avoided completely on the way in and out but the precise angle is so unreliable. id love to see a demo of someone go in and out seamlessly.

frustrating. the slow lifts around the 3 keys seem to have a will of their own and routinely ruin attempts. im not knowledgeable enough about doom to manipulate them consistently and so this will have to do. dont know why the left-switch (from start-of-map perspective) throws doomguy in the air either!

[Aquanet]

MAP15 - Factory Floor

Fun, feels a bit undercooked. Maybe if there was a trap after collecting the yellow key. Anyway, I found the elevated walkways generally made the level more run and gun.

MAP16 - Haunted Hood

This looks great, with the graffiti, custom textures and forbidden fruit. Somewhat interestingly, the meat of the level ends up happening off to the side in an area that's very conventionally doom-y.

MAP17 - Neon

I pistol started this one, and it wasn't terribly easy. Feels like low-rent cyberpunk and I like it. Plus the barrels were placed to do serious damage.

MAP18 - Possessed Plaza

Very cool. It's a city map with big square buildings, but there's no real going inside. The big open spaces also become an opportunity to mess about with the custom enemies.

MAP19 - Heart of Darkness

Visually very memorable and not easy given no SSG and only a small amount of rockets. That wipes out most of my basic tactics for fighting contingents of archies and mancs. The final building is a great example of simple but brilliant architecture.

MAP20 - Mammon

This is really a break from the previous levels, it's short, it's book-ended by square rooms. In the middle are some fun 3d platforms. But before you get on those, there are rockets! A lot of them, for shooting cacos and PEs. Perhaps the only issue is the gameplay gets pretty tranquil after the opening squabble.

[baja blast rd.]

rehelekretep said:

frustrating. the slow lifts around the 3 keys seem to have a will of their own and routinely ruin attempts. im not knowledgeable enough about doom to manipulate them consistently and so this will have to do. dont know why the left-switch (from start-of-map perspective) throws doomguy in the air either!

This sort of platform starts moving up and down in a random direction and at a random time within whatever interval. https://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-editing/57750-linedef-action-53-floor-start-moving-up-and-down/

[Demon of the Well]

Map 21 -- Center of the Unknown - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Echelon's introduction to Hell proper is a well-appointed library of sorts, seemingly constructed just below the surface of the ground--my fave. :) The presentation here reuses some of the carpet/curtain assets from "The Lodge" earlier on in the mapset, but the impression's actually a lot less seedy, I thought; this is the sort of place that would be genuinely pleasant to be in were it not for the monsters constantly wanting to start shit....although, I suppose it's really Echelonguy who is the interloper here, and considering how little fight the demons have been putting up all this time one almost feels sorry for them...almost.

Structurally this is a very simple plan, a long luxuriant corridor wrapping around an open central courtyard, with a number of chambers of varying sizes set to the sides. Progression involves walking the red carpet, so to speak, until acquiring a key, and then finishing up some light chores in a side room or two before leaving. Again, very simplistic stuff, and the level remains very short despite occupying more actual real estate than most of its predecessors; visual presentation is clean and pleasant, but apart from a more elaborate staircase or two, in architectural terms it remains somewhat anachronistically basic--indeed, my overriding impression of a lot of these maps is that they seem older or less developed than much of the work Sverre heretofore became famous for in the community, albeit lovingly given a fresh coat of paint, of course. One minor but notable feature of the level that sets it apart from earlier maps in the set is its large secret cave area; in material terms, the reward here is on the minimal side (a collection of healing potions and, if we want to be charitable, a chance for an early shot at the knights protecting the last key), but its larger size and the fact that it can actually be seen/teased while one navigates the main corridor helps to add a bit of a sense of depth to the setting, in contrast to the many humble little item-closets which have served as the bulk of the secret content thus far.

In gameplay terms, threat and pressure here continue to be more or less nonexistent, and the great majority of the combat is framed as a scant procession of monsters which gradually confronts you in dribs and drabs as you follow the red carpet to the inevitable meeting with the mastermind (provided you didn't simply roast the poor bastard through the windows from the outset). The somewhat more spacious nature of the environment makes it more amenable to aggressive/freeform play than many previous maps, however, and there are a couple of placement decisions that show a little more flair than much of what we've seen previously--the panopticon-style mastermind is the most obvious example, of course, but the revenant inside the hollowed-out column near the otherwise gratuitous soulsphere probably got the biggest reaction out of me during my first trip through the map. Ironically, while the map is 'long' by the standards of most of Echelon, its post-mastermind content seems mostly tacked on as padding, but up to that point it can muster some decent action provided you're willing to run around and get a crowd following you (perhaps to be unwittingly strafed by Spidey as they chase you) rather than crawling through it like it's 1994.

Map 22 -- Sinuous - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
This is an interesting one, to me it reads a lot more like some of its author's released pre-Echelon work than the majority of Echelon itself does, being quite a different animal as it is. Another very small/short map, the big departure here is that it appears to be more of a gameplay-focused outing than a narrative breadcrumb; indeed, its place in the story is something of a hand-wavy aside. The main structure is a darkened junction-core braced by slow auto-cycle lifts (which don't become active until the player treads on them) and a small but elegant knot of licorice-rope corridors. Monsters of various sorts roam both without and within, and meshed windows both allow for ready exchanges between the interior and exterior and make it far more likely for various monster 'fronts' to be active at once during play, in contrast to the previous level (for example) where you sort of had to really go out of your way to achieve the same end. Arch-viles feature prominently, and for the first time their line-of-sight spell attacks become a significant factor in the action, as the somewhat tricky nature of the level structure (particularly the slow-cycling lifts, which can allow active monsters to sneak around behind you if you're not careful) in combination with their footspeed makes their behavior less predictable than in previous levels, where they were all either stationary turret-likes or little jumpscares.

Aesthetically it's not really anything to write home about, a starkly-textured and rather dingy-looking techno-hive by design, but its broad curves and mesh wraparounds give it some natural oldschool charm and sets it apart from most previous levels, being almost wholly abstract in form and function as it is. We also got a much better look at the cool new E3 skybox here, which colorfully depicts Hell in a stylized Dante-esque sort of way (i.e. concentric circles which become deeper and narrower as one reaches the center), but with an imaginative hi-tech otherworld cityscape spin, in stark contrast to the traditionally dour gothic/quasi-medieval look that has dominated in so many of Doom's myriad Hells.

Edit: Oh yes, be sure to look for the secrets here, boys and girls. I think you'll be quite pleased by the prizes this time.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP23: The Stone Web

Ooh, now this is an interesting one, a blood-filled river valley, its walls riddled with caves, and the valley itself spanned by multiple levels of narrow stone bridges, the stone web of the title. While several of the map's tougher critters serve a relatively static role as turrets, emplaced atop rocky pillars or on narrow ledges clinging to the valley sides, there's no shortage of lower-tier meat ranging free through the bloody morass and skulking through side passages - chances are that health loss here will be through hitscan attrition. Flying creatures would have seemed right at home in the rocky cleft that dominates the level's layout, but likely wouldn't play nice with the 3D floor geometry - we saw a little of this in MAP20 with cacodemons getting stuck between balconies and buttresses.

MAP24: Fumes of Alchemy

The idea of a Hell that reshapes itself to mirror the invader's thoughts and inflict tailored torments upon their fragile mental state goes some way justifying the shifts from one architectural style and set of themes to another, as we go from a natural-seeming (if blood-drenched) stone environment to a classic style of techbase that, in contrast to many of Echelon's earlier levels, wouldn't look out of place in any other WAD. The somewhat open layout of the level allows roaming hordes of grunt-tier enemies to converge from multiple directions; in this setup, the heavier hitters serve mostly as distractions, intended to grab the player's attention for the time it takes for a gaggle of shotgun- or chaingun-toting zombies to get the drop on them.

[rehelekretep]

rdwpa said:

This sort of platform starts moving up and down in a random direction and at a random time within whatever interval. https://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-editing/57750-linedef-action-53-floor-start-moving-up-and-down/

well that explains it. fuck that map!

[Demtor]

MAP23 - “The Stone Web”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous


Whoa.

This was great. Fun concept, challenging trip to the top with a face to face encounter with a Cyberdemon at the top. Awesome lighting with very nice visuals and design using multiple layers of play inside and out. I liked the lone torch that lights the secret blue armor are cell ammo. Very useful for the sneaky AV who ambushes you later. The color scheme is really good too. Works well with the sky and the red blood floor. Also the green metal panels on green rocks works well.

I think the soundtrack to this one is one of those Doom 2 remixed type of tracks but it actually works well this time. Not anything amazing but you could do a lot worse.

We get another secret SSG this map much like the last. I guess if you missed it before, shame on you. There was single light that might as well have been a flashing arrow. Now there is an off colored recessed wall. Still not sure if I agree with the idea of using secrets for the SSG at this point, but eh. Whatever.



MAP24 - “Fumes of Alchemy”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous


At least the roof here is ventilated.

Good music here. Ribbiks nails it again with Psychosis. Almost like a Metal meets Mega Man feel, if you will. Brings in a heavy feel with a good melody mixed in which fits the map well as it is hectic and at times deadly.

There are a variety of sections in this map that all play very differently. My least favorite being the hall with sections that make movement cramped but allow weapon fire through them. You could come at this one of two ways, both having A LOT of imps. The one end however has more teleportations entrants to annoy and the other end this door with Cacos to fire at you. Grrrr. And if you rushed through to it, you'll have plenty of archatrons, chaingunners, and maybe even a HK or two waiting below you from behind. Ugh.

Things can really corner you and cut you down quick if you aren't careful. The horde of imps at the start kick things off and once you ride the elevator to the top, you won't have much time to breath for a while either. Lots of varied wandering enemies with a couple of hiding snakemen and fiend ambushes that all made me jump. Especially the ones that came from the water! Lots of enemy fire from elevated rocks in the outside areas. The YK section was sexy looking.

The yellow fiends at the end really got my attention. I quickly ran away like a coward and sent rockets from afar. F all that!

This map to me was more spatially aggravating than any of the others in Echelon so far. Fun combat when you finally found/made enough room to run around but for the most part things felt very cramped for how many enemies there were. At least the outdooor areas helped provide relief.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 23 -- The Stone Web - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
This one's pretty cool, showcasing the engine's true floor-over-floor capabilities in a much more robust way than what was hinted at in map 14 and 15 earlier in the game. Depicted is a gore-soaked ravine of wet veridian stone with many jagged, spidery rock projections forming a loose web of narrow bridges and pathways over a number of sulphurous sinkholes, connecting a complicated network of caverns and tunnels bored into the sides of the ravine. The demons have taken advantage of this (super)natural wonder to construct a killzone, the central space overlooked by perched artillery at many different levels and the internal reaches packed with walking dead eager to induct you into their ranks. Should you make it past all of that, there's also a rather nasty surprise waiting for you beyond the innocuous-looking wooden door leading out and back onto the infernal plains.

Combining a simple and very consistent visual theme of thirsty green stone with a deceptively complex layout, this can be a surprisingly disorienting level to navigate through. The overall goal--to climb to the top and make your way out--is intuitive enough, but many of the side tunnels and chambers are visually very similar with a number of redundant access points, and the paths used for climbing higher are few and far between and often positioned at some considerable distance from one another. Other than the artillery stationed on and about the web-like stone projections over the central ravine, monsters are again free to path about at will, and as they tend to spread out naturally it's easy to become distracted by them and quickly lose track of where the hell you were going. I didn't feel that this disorienting quality harmed the play, though--on the contrary, it sort of encourages you to run around and think and react on the fly, which plays well with the scattershot but also highly mobile/flexible monster composition. It's once again a small map, "objectively" speaking, but the number of possible routes through it and its more credible use of 3D space make it seem a lot larger than it is, and in contrast to a number of earlier levels it feels 'complete' as orchestrated. The bit of trolling with the cyberdemon at the end is quite effective and makes a nice topper--ballsy and/or foolish players can have a nice tense standoff with him right on the last landing, while others may prefer to engage him from afar, still a decent battle on account of having to dodge rockets along all of those narrow/odd-angled footways.

Map 24 -- Fumes of Alchemy - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Ah, yes, the 'personal Hell' angle, quite approve--as I and others have said in past Club playthroughs, Hell as an overall setting represents a great opportunity for mappers to do 'whatever' with theming without seeming to lose the plot, so to speak, and what we see here resumes the tech/industrial angle touched upon in map 22 earlier, with Echelonguy's idly wandering thoughts seeing the infernal stage twisted before his eyes into something like a treatment plant repurposed as a hardened fortress, an intuitively E1 sort of theme that plays more like one of the big boys, shrouded in gloom and more densely populated than any other map to this point. Could this strange phenomenon hint at the nature of the sudden thematic shift between maps 06 and 07 earlier on, I wonder?

This is another of the more decisively action-oriented maps in Echelon, and a most timely one at that--it's way too late to be futzing about with exaggeratedly reserved 'classic' fare at this point in the set (IMO, of course), and it's refreshing to see a map where the combat is the most assertive element of the play from start to finish. The level begins with a faceoff against a sizeable nest of imps, and after ascending from the toxic pit via the long lift (note the return of the interactive computer consoles here) the path splits into a number of different directions, all of them fully staffed by a wide assortment of hellspawn. The intention seems to be to immediately and instinctively drive you down the first path that happens to present itself through the pressure afforded by the relatively indefensible first junction, and should you play along and obligingly hurl yourself down one of them you'll experience an engagingly heated (if somewhat short-lived) rumble, mowing down enemies ahead while more pursue hot on your heels. Placements are mostly direct/incidental in nature, with the intensity eliding more from the relative density of the opposition than from choreography or the like, though there are a few tricks and traps to keep you on your toes here and there, ala the phasing imps in the dogleg serpentine corridors leading to the northeastern yard (here again staged via those concealed 'sight-boxes', though these are much more functional than the ones from map 09 earlier) or the cheeky ambush sprung while secret-hunting (humping?) via trying the yellow key on the banks of equipment set into the walls near where it rests. The group of mindfiends guarding the exit is perhaps the most dangerous enemy reveal seen thus far (arguably even moreso than the previous level's cyberdemon); no matter how ballsy you are it's probably best to retreat here and think things through a bit more carefully--careful of that mesh detailing, they can sometimes hit you through it if you get too complacent here.

Some minor bugs--in the outdoor yard with the blue key and its little pool, there's a no-cross line around the periphery, marked by a stark flat transition, which prevents the player from taking some of the single rockets arranged there--quite strange. A very minor thing, but there's also an unknown texture on one of the internal pieces of the mysterious (and ultimately purely decorative) block of machinery in the yard before the exit chamber. Worth noting, though, that I may not be using the latest version of the WAD here--I DL'd this one before it was selected for the playthrough this month, and it seems some hotfixes may have rolled out since then.

[Demon of the Well]

Map 25 -- Bastille - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Another of the stronger levels, again with a more pronounced emphasis on action than on narrative. Dark, dank, claustrophobic tunnels mined with tricky little jabs here and there (the cacodemon in the little 3D nook is particularly startling, as many of us will not be accustomed to looking for monster nests in a true 3D sense) quickly give way to larger mixed fights in the Bastille's outer yards, the highlight being the rising ring of elevated sniper towers at the south end--conditioned by modern gameplay mores, many in the audience (myself included) will probably instinctively ignore these fellows at first and try one of the many heavy metal doors back into the prison proper, only to find that they all open as one, spilling forth a pair of arch-viles and other disgruntled inmates for a merry little game of ring-around-the-rosey on the walkway around the towers. In contrast to the past few levels, which by Echelon standards are at least 'medium' in length, this one is again quite short and over before you know it, but it makes a strong impression as a gameplay piece while it lasts. Also of note here is that, like "Exodus" and a pronounced minority of the other earlier maps, the flavor of this one is markedly different between the pistol-start and carryovers playstyles, with a paucity of heavy ordinance (basically it's shotgun + chaingun with a very limited degree of rocket support) lending the former a much more credibly oppressive air and allowing the larger fights to fully develop rather than being steamrolled before they really get going.

Visually, this is a dour, brutalist edifice of rusted metal and filth-caked concrete, dressed in barbed wire and set in unknown surroundings (perhaps, as a projected construct of the protagonist's inner turmoil, it's simply floating in an otherwise formless void?). As has been increasingly the case in this last part of the game, the presentation is more purely abstract--no little focused representational touches or the like here--but by nature it's evocative enough of a prison or other place of unwilling confinement. Moreso than in any previous level, I think, it's a presentation that's really made by mood lighting, the general dimness of the lower yards and the many instances of dark silhouetting of your foes against the vivid yellow skyscape being particularly striking. I kinda suspect it's not half as appealing under GL rendering, but in software mode the visuals alone are enough to establish a threatening atmosphere, all the more precious considering how rare threat itself has been thus far.

Map 26 -- Inner Palace - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Juxtaposing the grimy, inhospitable trappings of a plate-metal fortress with a comparatively tranquil tree-lined exterior yard, "Inner Palace" highlights the former element by attempting to immediately chase you from the airy, well-lit yard into the dark and initially disorienting guts of the so-called palace, through the device of a firing squad of mindfiends approaching you from the outset. The pistol-start/carryover dichotomy is less pronounced here than in the previous level, as things are framed to compel you to immediately head inside either way--if you come in fully armed you may feel that you can take your time and eliminate the mindfiends before continuing on, but when the first arch-vile waltzes out into the cover-free yard you'd be a fool to rely on RNG alone to protect you--though there is a notable departure in that from pistol-start you are likely to unwittingly kick off the level's main fight in the process of grabbing the heavier weapons tantalizingly strewn about the inner sanctum (though it seems likely you can avoid this if you know what you're doing). Said fight is one of the game's better uses of arch-viles, which quite disarmingly springs a trio of them on you, compelling you to flee to safety while they quickly mire themselves in the Palace's various twists and turns, setting about resurrecting its recently defeated guardians as they come after you.

I suspect this only feels as tense as it does as a matter of relativity--like, there's probably room for there to be 5 or 6 viles which spread out more rapidly and still maintain full balance--but that feeling matters, and I recall I practically did a double-take the first time I saw those three emerge. The upper levels of the Palace, again traced out in true 3D, unfortunately don't see much action (again, definitely room/scope to have a vile teleport up there as part of the trio reveal for more multi-front pressure), and on this second playthrough I found that one of the viles got stuck in a harmless fast-loop via the teleporter choking the narrow hall near the megasphere (was this possibly by design?), but on the whole the setup continues the more gameplay-focused bent of the past few levels, which, again, is a development most welcome at this point.

[Aquanet]

MAP21: Center of the Unknown

This is almost like a medium-sized map. A lot of stuff popping out of straight ahead, orthogonal hallways. The mastermind is about as useful as most. Some fun ramps and staircases. I think I missed a secret this time, I remember there being a darkened area ... full of glowing plants ...

MAP22: Sinuous

I was going to say this is my least favorite map in the megawad, but it does make for some fun encounters with the barons and archies walking around and onto the elevators, forcing you to make a different approach.

[Spectre01]

Time to catch up again!

MAP21 - “Center of the Unknown”
Apparently the portal into Hell leads us straight to a library, with demons lurking among the bookshelves and catching up on some reading material. The Mastermind makes his appearance as the first boss enemy, occupying the central blood pool of the map and able to exert some chip damage as you roam around. I thought about keeping him alive but he's pretty much useless for any infighting purposes so I gave him a plasma shower. Monster count is high for an Echelon map, which really translates to "lots of fodder to shotgun". Couldn't find that second secret either with the large dark area.

MAP22 - “Sinuous”
The sky texture with the golden city in the clouds is definitely very cool. Kind of a mismatch with what looks like some nukage dump tech setting. Liberal use of Archviles here, especially if 2 get on that first elevator with the Imps. Despite the small size, I found navigation here very annoying, in part due to the said elevators rising and lowering veerryy slloowwllyy.... Nice to finally grab the SSG as I was getting tired of the regular boomstick.

MAP23 - “The Stone Web”
Very distinct and impressive visual style that fits the map name well. It's a blood-filled canyon with a web of bridges supported by stone pillars. There are plenty of paths leading you up and around the canyon so there's a good degree of non-linearity and exploration to be had. You're also given the choice of either sniping the enemies higher up or fighting them on even ground. Interesting exit Cyber too. Ended up eating a rocket as he got too close and I wasn't falling down like some chump! Coolest map yet. Also, the midi sounds like a more electronic version of some IWAD track I can't recall.

MAP24 - “Fumes of Alchemy”
Imps everywhere man! A rather normal techbase map in the mountains with blue water and all that. Pretty normal looking for something supposed to be in heck. The 100-something monster count is also well padded by hordes of Imps that appear in dense groups vulnerable to SSG/Rocket attacks. What's the deal with the block line here though? Couldn't grab that one rocket and had to straferun to pick up the others. More liberal use of sniping Mancs here too, as well as some nasty ambushing Vipers around corners.

[baja blast rd.]

"The Stone Web" (23)

This map is a lot more fun with the SSG! Not sure why it's secret. As is often the case, withholding it does nothing, really, to make the action more fun, as the increase in challenge level is minuscule; it just makes it slower. 3D floors also look nice but they don't really seem to mesh well with traditional fighting. If you fall you have to make the trek all the way back up, at least until the shortcut teleporter opens, and the monotextured layout doesn't really have many notable landmarks, so navigation isn't as effortless as it is in most maps; I periodically had to look at the automap to orient myself, which I personally don't like so much. The cyberdemon is hilarious. In classic ports the cyber would not be able to fit through the narrow opening, but here it can, which looks very amusing.

"Fumes of Alchemy" (24)

Good map! This one was exciting. I was playing quite recklessly, and all was going smoothly for the most part, but the dopey fish really spooked me where they appeared. The yellow ones appear via a sudden closet reveal in close quarters, and I was like " oh crap get out of here get out of here!" Even camping them isn't effortless, because you still have to pay attention to their projectile after it hits a wall. Excellent placement there. There were a couple of blue ones that pop up in the water, too, and I had rushed past all of the other monsters straight for them, putting myself in a pickle for about a couple of seconds. Fun.

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP23 is easily my second-favorite level of the set. Blew my mind.

Demon of the Well said:

Worth noting, though, that I may not be using the latest version of the WAD here--I DL'd this one before it was selected for the playthrough this month, and it seems some hotfixes may have rolled out since then.

Yeah, I had noted both of these in the main thread; they've been fixed in the idgames release (1.5).

[Demon of the Well]

Salt-Man Z said:

Yeah, I had noted both of these in the main thread; they've been fixed in the idgames release (1.5).

Thanks, updated.

[baja blast rd.]

"Bastille" (25)

I was in the mood to blitz through this one quite quickly, and it was fun. I finished Bastille in 2:30 with 80% kills. A couple of surprises, running into rooms and encountering some archviles and having to dodge into awkward places. Was quite fun.

"Inner Palace" (26)

Anther good one. These fiends are quite scary to fight, with the strange floorbound remnants of their projectiles. They also seem to have quite a lot of HP. I'm glad the maps are more willing to be mean. The trio of archviles makes a very fun fight if you don't retreat, using the megasphere pillar (which you can jump to if you want the megapshere) as cover. The typical devices of dodging archvile attacks at the last moment so that other archviles don't start targetting you while you are in hiding from one and AV cluster attack baiting -- i.e., you deliberately avoid rushing behind the pillar ASAP so that ideally all viles attack at once and simultaneously while occupying the same region, then repeat -- makes this quite manageable without having to entertain retreating, even without some preemptive rockets. Fun stuff.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP25: Bastille

The player is dropped into the bleak heart of a brooding prison fortress and tasked with working their way out, navigating a squared spiral of passages and nested balconies toward the more open southern region of the map. The overall grimy texture scheme and use of barbed wire is really effective at communicating a sense of menace, and the map's compact space and short runtime work in its favour, keeping things focused and tense.

MAP26: Inner Palace

I'm liking the way the narrative describes Hell turning the invading marine's thoughts against them, finding a darker side to every attempt to fortify their mind and steel themselves for what's to come. Inaction becomes a prison, and the search for tranquility becomes this stark metal edifice - a sign that the player's mental construct of an 'inner palace' is not without its own inner demons. The opening scenario, with flying terrors ready to bombard the player from on high and balconies thick with sentires and snipers, seems designed to hurry the player into the palace proper, where elevated walkways provide an unexpected angle of attack during its vicious close-range encounters. The arch-vile trio guarding the map's solitary key are a playful little fright even when the tools to handle them are at hand.

[Spectre01]

MAP25 - “Bastille”
I like how this one loops around to the blue armour secret seen at the start. The Manc/Rev/HK turrets were kind of meh though.

MAP26 - “Inner Palace”
Another cool opening shot, despite all the walls being monotextured. Back to under 50 monsters too so it's a rather short affair. The 3 pop-in Viles were crap though.

[Demtor]

Just 5 maps left! Home stretch. Here we go.

MAP25 - “Bastille”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous


noun [ba-steel]
1.a fortress in Paris, used as a prison, built in the 14th century and destroyed July 14, 1789.
2.any prison or jail, especially one conducted in a tyrannical way.
3.a fortified tower, as of a castle; a small fortress; citadel.


Not so much 1, but 2 and 3 for sure. A prison fortress map with lots of new metal textures and moody lighting. Eh, it was okay. Just wasn't feeling it this map for some reason. The dark section with lights was a pain in the ass with all of the hitscanners and two AVs running about. It looked really good from above and below at least. Odd columns with dudes sitting on them. Not much else to say here. A decent start with some water and elevated enemies followed by the wrap around from the grate below to the top with a few surprise closets here and there. Didn't really impact me one way or another once it was over.

The music had a weird sort of Russian vibe that made this whole death camp feel a bit darker given the real world history with their gulags... *shudder*


MAP26 - “Inner Palace”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous


Electric cannon shots, incoming!!


The opening shot showed a lot of promise right away. Finally a very unique and different looking compound in this last episode. Looks great from the outside and even better once in. Complete with... a dark jazz midi? Huh.

The sniping shotgun guys with their little windows off to the left went well with green trees and the golden palace in the clouds above. I liked the hiding chaingunner too. Hah! Nice try.

Having the optional paths at the start once inside was good. The walkways above were a good modern touch. The textures and colors inside are really well done.

I loved the look of the plasma gun area with the megasphere but those instant three AVs can go fuck themselves. Without a BFG, three in one spot is too many. I guess that's why the megasphere is there. It's perhaps the first in this entire WAD?

Anyways, another good little map with lots of fun combat involving new and old stuff. The end came a bit too abrupt though. I really wanted more space inside to explore but alas... Echelon. I can't say I'm going to miss these bite sized maps once this is all over. It's interesting especially with the story but I think it's safe to say, tiny maps are just not my thing. No matter how well designed.

[baja blast rd.]

"Fire and Brimstone" (27)

That is in fact a cyberdemon. The surging rock track and the traditional hell theme remind me of none other than Death-Destiny's "No Chance", but of course this map is really really far from that. I chose to duke it out with the cyberdemon on the structure in the center, and at the end I learned the teleporter I tried to avoid while fighting him was the exit. Yes, the exit, freely accessible from the start of the map -- it's a somewhat trivial task to leave in a few seconds. But I like to believe that if you don't, the cyberdemon and his murderous henchmen will torture countless puppies, so don't leave, and every time you UV-Speed or Pacifist this map you are responsible for dozens of doggy deaths.

Oh hey, another blue armor.

"The High Places of Baal" (28)

This one looks really cool, especially the central structure. It's a slight shame the bounds of the primary playspace are so crudely bordered by that rectangular gate instead of bleeding into the natural terrain -- which looks great from high atop the structure, by the way -- or being separated by a more sophisticated bounding structure. This one has a puzzle element to it for sure. I pressed use on the beating heart pillar because it looked so lonely out there that it felt like a secret or something, but I didn't actually realize what it did until I looked at the automap and noticed the blue square. Spider masterminds look amusing in largely scaled areas, because they look like (huge) regular monsters. There is a funny map in SF2012 where numerous masterminds are used as ledge snipers in an oversized area, analogous to arachnotrons in a normal-sized areas, and it makes me laugh.

[Spectre01]

MAP27 - “Fire and Brimstone”
Very small red rock arena map with a Cyber + Vile turrets in the middle of some lava. Straightforward rocket sniping of the Viles and then unloading some plasma at the Cyberdemon from a location of your choice. There is plenty of cover too and a bunch of alcoves with rockets to explore around the map, each containing 1 or 2 Imps. Sometimes the Viles do get knocked off their pillars and they can either find the teleporter up to your outer ring or you'll have to jump down and hunt any idiots below. Quick stuff but quite fun.

MAP28 - “The High Places of Baal”
Woah dude! Pretty far out lookin' map with a huge, and very flat outdoor area and a central exit pyramid that's crawling with hitscanners and other junk. Very cool background detailing with winding rivers and trees lining the horizon. I can also make out a temple and a city at the bottom of the skybox. Certainly another visual treat like map23 before.

[Magnusblitz]

Busy again during the holiday season. Was thinking I could catch up since people said the maps were bite-sized but wasn't expecting ... this.


MAP01: Overslept

Well uh, that was short.

MAP02: Richter Scale

Also short. Weird mix of really cool details (the cards on the table) and oddly amateurish looking stuff (the exit corridor).

MAP03: The Towering Inferno

Not a fan of the new monster, or at least not how it reuses stock sounds... of different enemies. Caco alert sound, revenant dying sound. Big no-no to me since that gets pretty confusing from a gameplay perspective.

MAP04: Apparently the Apocalypse

The dog is a lite-amp visor? Also weirded out here, did not expect the end of the level to be beyond all the fiery hallways.

MAP05: They Rise

I know the UAC has never been one for aesthetics, but... bright pink trains? Ugh.

MAP06: Home

Like the beds in the first level, the homes here seem awfully small. And apparently the TV teleports me to hell...

MAP07: Outpost of Hell

Not a fan, too big and blocky and killing the cacos with the single shotty is boring.

MAP08: Starport Departures

This is the first one to actually resemble a level, but still really too small to make an impact. I did like the ship at the end though.

Overall, not impressed so far. Spent more time reading the intermission text than playing, and what's here has a lot of blocky and bland parts. Looks like MAP09 is the first "real" level though, so hopefully things pick up.