The DWmegawad Club plays: Urania

[Demtor]

 

MAP06 - “Death Mask”

gzDoom/BDoom - UV – continuous/saves

 

This was pretty fun but tough as nails. I can’t even begin to fathom what a pistol start would’ve been like though. Just GTFO. Few too many shotgun guys hiding in little windows, hiding behind vines and ducking down in tiny cubbies. At least there was a lot of health and armor to be found just about everywhere as you were invisibly drained. So much so that it felt like this whole damned map was a damage floor. Every where you turned, it started with you taking a shotgun shot to the side, back, and/or front. Thankfully there were no CG’ers but it got to be a bit much if you asked me.

 

The real trick of this map seemed to be surviving through the gauntlets of pain and trap ambush encounters to get to all of the health/armor and ammo. It’s there, just good luck getting to it alive. The teleporting enemies randomly is a really cool concept. I didn’t know what was going on until I started reading some of the write ups. Very neat idea. I figured something had to be up as you don’t normally have a silent AV just kind of randomly wondering your direction while other guys kind of mill about in places you’ve supposedly wiped clean before. Wait a minute, where did these guys come from? Now I swear I checked that corner already… how in the, aAAHHh!

 

I liked the look of the hanging cages off the wooden beams. The final star room was interesting. As was the beginning with all of the candle lit marble. The trapped in YK area was pretty well designed I thought beyond just looks. Lots of places to run, hide and take cover behind while still feeling trapped and attacked from all sides.

[galileo31dos01]

3 hours ago, quakis said:

I understand that, reason alone I love using Choco for vanilla compatible wads. It's just a selfish desire of mine for a bug I wouldn't miss in an engine I like using :(

Have you tried with Crispy Doom? In my experience I haven't seen any bug using it. You can configure it to run identically like Chocolate Doom. 

[Salt-Man Z]

1 hour ago, Demtor said:

The frozen horde was a really odd choice as well.

That was kinda bizarre. It was rather anticlimactic, too, since I was expecting a locked-in slaughter for (I presumed) the yellow key in that room. But no, turns out they just end up wandering out into the main area while you're on the other side of the map...

 

1 hour ago, Demtor said:

The real kicker through out this one was when I managed to get all 3 keys and felt like I’ve spent enough time on this map only to find that the final exit is still inaccessible. ... I figured it out but it didn’t feel all that clever to me. Felt like just forcing a player to waste more time. *shrug*

It worked out differently for me, as I got stuck on finding the yellow key. So I got blue and red, then found the switch that lowered the exit 'porter. So I knew where the exit was, had made it accessible, and knew that it all lay behind the yellow door. Just had to find that @#$% key...

[quakis]

1 hour ago, galileo31dos01 said:

Have you tried with Crispy Doom? In my experience I haven't seen any bug using it. You can configure it to run identically like Chocolate Doom. 

Didn't realise Crispy fixes that issue! Tested it just now with saving/loading and works like a charm. I'm considering switching over to this for MAP08 onwards. Cheers for the heads up.

[riderr3]

1 hour ago, Salt-Man Z said:

That was kinda bizarre. It was rather anticlimactic, too, since I was expecting a locked-in slaughter for (I presumed) the yellow key in that room. But no, turns out they just end up wandering out into the main area while you're on the other side of the map...

Because it was inspired by chinese famous terracotta army

And also level take place underground.

[CapnClever]

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP09: Metal Mayhem finally shows to us a new approach to combat in this mapset, a true breath of fresh air. It does this by allowing the player enough room to navigate through the many enemies given, and by making weaponry available rather easily from the start. (There are even two separate SSGs depending on which route you take first!) Combat focuses primarily on large groups with arenas spacious and covered enough to fight as you like: the main area from which you begin is overwhelming and forces you to retreat, but the enemies slowly roll in from there, providing an extra layer of complexity. Progression is mercifully straightforward, if a little back-and-forth between areas, but this is an excellent coupling with the enemy placement. Finishing the level is a bit of a brain teaser, but I found it amusing.

 

Really, this is the pace-breaker I needed in the mapset. Just wish there had been a couple more by now! A lot of levels thus far can cause significant map fatigue, as the general pacing tends to be very slow relative to the size of the level and making progress in clearing out enemies often feels like pushing a giant boulder up a hill. Here, the level gives you just enough leeway through space and resources to just run around and figure out what to do without being annihilated by the opposition. I'm not saying every level should do this (that would defeat the point about repetition) but I'm hoping there are more levels with this opportunity.

[Spectre01]

MAP10 - “Stuffed” UV-Max in 10:55 attached, which I did a few months back.

 

Remember Hunted from Plutonia's map11? Well, you can't really claim you took inspiration from that IWAD without including a similar map in your set! Plutonia 2 had a gargantuan maze consisting of over 80 Viles while Darkwave's map in PRCP was more similar to SoD's Vile Pain and sporadically deployed Archviles mixed with other enemies. Stuffed presents its own unique take on the (in)famour Plutonia map by scattering a large group of Revenants with only a few Viles as backup into a moderately-sized maze. You may notice that the doors are automatic lifts here but they don't activate unless you shoot first. Interestingly, checking Doom Builder shows the doors are controlled by 3 Lost Souls in small hallways outside the map which pass over trigger lines controlling the maze gates. This makes the timing on the doors, and therefore the movements of the Revs and Viles somewhat unpredictable and the map can play out quite differently on multiple attempts. The 'slow but safe' strat is funneling a large group behind one of the cage barricades and hoping a few Viles end up there too so you can kill them relatively safely and not risk them running around reviving Revenant corpses that you've left behind all over the labyrinth. This map's a bit of a short, fun 'gimmicky' breather assuming you're comfortable with dodging Rev missiles in hallways. There's also plenty of Soulspheres and Blue Armour to keep you near 200/200. Flipping 5 switches scattered around opens the red key guarded by 2 Viles and allows you to leave the maze. You end up being teleported to an open caughtyard with Barons guarding the exit switches and Pain Elementals spamming Lost Souls out of 4 dark bunkers. Now, in my demo I ended up with a low amount of shells and had to punch-out quite a few Barons. Coming in with a decent amount of ammo makes this part much faster and safer. The green torch teleporter takes you to a torture room with a Megasphere which in turn crushes the Souls operating the maze, for 100% kills in ZDoom-ports I assume.

 

Now, this wad doesn't have any death exits from what I remember and this type of map really benefits from a forced Pistol Start to not feel trivial for continuous players. Either way it's a nice breather before the challenging episode finale in map11.

 

 

ua10-1055.zip

[Demtor]

 

MAP07 - “Castellan’s Feast”

gzDoom/BDoom - UV – continuous/saves

 

EDIT: Forgot to put in the intro text to this one. It's simple, but effective.

 

I can see why some people would throw their hands up at this wad and call it a grind fest. I managed the wood library (looked nice with a fresh coat of gore.) well enough and thought it was fun (though the half dozen revs with CG’ers were a doozy) but the bridge section is overly burdened with a lot of stationary targets that requires too much time spent pot shotting one by one, clearing out each little window, nook and ledge. It isn’t fun but if you don’t do it… you’ll be dead soon enough. Then you go up and find even MORE of the same but in a larger space with denser amounts of enemies tucked away in side rooms surrounded by stupid amounts of CG’ers. Blah. Could do without the large amounts of tedium. It really turned me off.

 

The mediocre stuff feels especially grating with the short music track and it’s melody that repeats waaaay too often for how long you’ll spend grinding down these road blocks, one piece at a time. Doom really isn’t a game I should have to mute and put podcasts on to get through. If I’m reaching for the volume level and the next Joe Rogan Experience… something is wrong with your map. I mean, not every single window needs it’s own painful surprise. Whether it be groups of wandering asshats or stationary jackoffs that just sit there and wait for it. Give it a rest sometimes.

 

There was a neat trick I did appreciate though and that was the HK’s being released from behind to slowly plod to the players location and thanks to the auto rising/lowering lifts, they will eventually creep up on you. So if you waste too much time window hunting, you are in for a surprise. The final RK Cyber battle was kind of fun. Probably the high light for me. Thankfully I'm fully loaded. Now have a BFG. Ho ho ho.

Edited May 12, 2017 by Demtor

[Demtor]

 

MAP08 - “Depths of Asthma”

gzDoom/BDoom - UV – continuous/saves

 

And there goes my 200%/200% bonus with the Megasphere from the secret in the last map. Jeezus what a crazy mess you start out in. This map... I dunno. With that many CG’ers at every corner and angle… I dunno. Doom shouldn’t be a cover based shooter. And they keep coming back?! So I just sit in one spot, camp a window and hop in out of cover for a while? Some of the hallways were even designed for cover based tactics. What am I playing here, Gears of War?

 

Things really got fun though when you got the RK and step outside though. Running through the valley of red fire as fast as I could knowing it would be too much to try and kill everything (as this wad seems to delight in), I knew it was a priority to get that BK key and get out ASAP. Then you have to double back, beneath even more enemies coming in from above and Revs below hunting you down. Wow, nice sequence of crazyness especially at the bottleneck with fatty’s who start teleporting in reinforcements. Also, LoL if you think you were safely back inside as you’ll have to run back out to get to the teleport.

 

Fun exit fight too. I have no idea how anyone would do that without saving or without a BFG. I flattened everything with it. You get pressed so hard so fast, I can’t imagine trying to keep up with all of the hitscanners in every corner. That’s f’in’ nuts. Liked the look of the environment surrounding the exit.

 

I can't believe this is just map 08. These past few felt like they could've easily been dropped in to a #20+ slot. Some might like that fact... not sure I do yet.

[riderr3]

Somebody on twitch said if I had divided this maps into three megawads, then it would have been much better.

[Spectre01]

1 hour ago, Demtor said:

Fun exit fight too. I have no idea how anyone would do that without saving or without a BFG. I flattened everything with it. You get pressed so hard so fast, I can’t imagine trying to keep up with all of the hitscanners in every corner. That’s f’in’ nuts. Liked the look of the environment surrounding the exit.

 

I can't believe this is just map 08. These past few felt like they could've easily been dropped in to a #20+ slot. Some might like that fact... not sure I do yet.

You can check my demo to see how I did that part. ;) Mainly, you can pick-off most of the hitscanners in the main room with the Chaingun before the Revenant + Nobles party shows up. Afterwards you run a few laps in the centre as the meat crawls up the stairs and then run down the side with plenty of rocket ammo and use that as a foothold. It's milder than Sunlust's set-pieces at the same point in the wad, but Urania handles difficulty in a different manner. Still one of the hardest megawads out there and really pushes incidental combat to its peak.

[Deadwing]

MAP10: Not much to say here, it's an homage to that plutonia level. Fun level, quite short without many surprises. The Pain Elementals hidden in the dark was a cool touch, though. 8/10.

[galileo31dos01]

@riderr3 I'm still wondering about the hidden weapons in the labyrinth in map 10, are they for coop or deathmatch or something??

[riderr3]

1 hour ago, galileo31dos01 said:

@riderr3 I'm still wondering about the hidden weapons in the labyrinth in map 10, are they for coop or deathmatch or something??

They are for deathmatch and just no tagged as "multiplayer only". Or may be I've not tagged them because this is kind of "easter egg"? Can't remember clearly. Myself, I like this kind of mysteries in wads.

Edited May 10, 2017 by riderr3

[Salt-Man Z]

MAP07: Castellan's Feast

1:02:45 | 100% Kills | 95% Items | 75% Secrets

 

I reeeally want to like this map. The layout is very cool, and the secrets are fun. But the combat. Man, the combat. It was absolutely brutal almost throughout. The first half was the hardest, though, which is always frustrating. The 100/100 I started with was gone almost immediately, and the sparse health pickups never lasted very long. The bridge section was particularly egregious, since the only thing that could be done (if I didn't want to immediately die upon stepping out) was to just camp everything from the doorway(s). Take a step out, of course, and you get perforated by a ton of dudes up on the wall behind you. Just, ugh. The keep itself was kinda neat, though all the dudes parked outside the windows were beyond irritating. I would end up just camped in a safe corner with my chaingun pointed at a window (at an angle) waiting for a revenant/chaingunner to walk by, and then tap-tap-tap. Repeat ad nauseam. The bulk of the fun stuff was found in the rooms between hallways. Finding the yellow key was a really cool surprise, as was accessing the yellow/blue bars. The central tower was fine, but those lowering/raising walls should have been like one-timers or something. Still not sure what their purpose was. I missed two secrets: presumably the green armor in the start room, and the soulsphere visible from that elevator. Not a bad map overall, I guess, but it was totally unfun for too long before reaching "hey, pretty cool".

[CapnClever]

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP10: Stuffed involves quite a bit of stuff, just as Hunted involves quite a bit of hunt. The level is an obvious throwback to Plutonia's MAP11, and while there's enough variation to be its own map, it doesn't quite carry the same weight as its predecessor. The maze portion involves a mass of revenants accompanied by a small group of archviles, and rather than player-activated doors they just kind of open when they feel like it (mostly intermittent). It's relatively easy to hunker down and dispatch a great majority of enemies in the right avenues, though it is also necessary to search for ammo on occasion: trying to finish the maze quickly, even when the route is known, would prove quite the challenge. The final section is a trial of endurance, and resources are tight: I would call it more interesting overall than what came before.

 

If the doors were player-activated (maybe even monster-activated) then this could be a really precise challenge of a map: as it stood I could camp through one of the shootable walls and take out a good three-quarters of the opposition. A neat change-up to the idea but I don't think it panned out very well. Last bit was nice, though!

 

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP11: Ejection of Energy certainly has the aforementioned burst, though it takes times to get there. The start immediately sets you under fire and into a short but awkward fence maze, and from there the level can begin in earnest. Progression begins very slow, though weapons are on-path and handed out at the right times. Once the player reaches the major sections of the map, the combat becomes a lot more interesting and varied: however, due to the pacing of certain areas, it is important, if not vital, to follow a particular progression through the map or be horribly lost in an unapproachable scenario. This could be seen as its own puzzle, as there's absolutely no reason to try another route once the optimal path is understood. Some final progression is obscure but thankfully optional, and the ending is a good capper.

 

I think this is the first map that could be a whole lot better with one basic change: cut out everything leading up to the rooms entered via door from the start. It's a slog up to that point, but once you get into the main attraction it's engaging and exciting. I myself would recommend that the red key path also by mandated as first, since it's ridiculous to expect the player to get through the blue/yellow key section without necessary supplies (at least on UV). I'd call it a good map overall, just that the beginning leaves a bitter taste.

 

Having played through each difficulty, I was surprised to learn that the player was warped to different locations depending on difficulty! Oddly enough, HMP seemed like the ideal warp point, with HNTR being very out of the way and UV requiring a cut through the horde.

 

I'm gonna write up a little retrospective on the first eleven maps later today: figure it'll help to spread out the mapset thoughts rather than try to summarize (and recall) everything at the end.

[galileo31dos01]

@CapnClever according to Spectre01 there are some lost souls that control the triggers of the doors in map10 

[Deadwing]

MAP11: That was a pretty good level. The beginning was kinda weird with the small maze haha but no big deal. That last cave section was amazing. Lots of height differences, different enemies and a well placed cyberdemon. There's a switch necessary for progress that is quite hidden though, which I expect lots of people to miss it.

 

8.5/10.

[Spectre01]

MAP11 - “Ejection of Energy”

 

A solid map11 to end Urania's first episode. This level is made up of several distinct looking areas and another "hell-trip" to a familiar looking red cavern which uses the visual style seen before in maps 05 and 08. The starting area has a cheeky maze to traverse right away while being attacked from literally all angles. All my deaths occurred here while trying to figure out the path to get out, aside from another case where I ate a Cyber rocket while not paying attention to where he was. As per usual, there are several progression paths to take here, although the optimal route for a full clear seems much better hitting up the nukage room first (nice poison towers). Taking this path leads to a tech lab holding the red key and BFG (jump on the pillar from the nukefalls to access those). There is also a hidden backpack and other good stuff which make the hell section less painful, such as access to the red door which gives a Megasphere and activates a fast crusher which helps to weaken (or kill given enough time) the Cyberdemon in that area. You only need either the blue or yellow key, in addition to the mandatory red one to open the exit. I guess that's helpful if you happen to not lower the blue key by missing the switch half-way up a spine-lift.  I also like the small eye switch in the Cyber tower which opens the barricades back up to the poison room. 

 

Difficulty-wise, this map isn't nearly as hardcore/oppressive as the 06-08 block - although still challenging enough to keep "good at Doom" individuals alert.

[Demtor]

 

MAP09 - “Metal Mayhem”

gzDoom/BDoom - UV – continuous/saves

 

This was good for the most part. Hectic running around to start which eventually opens up to all kinds of chaos. The SMM anchoring the room behind groups of barons was pretty devious. Rough going with all those enemies as there really is no safe spot or good angle to approach from within. You just have to be quick or be dead. This seemed tailor made for a co-op session as alone it’s a tad overwhelming.

 

The columned stairway area had a good look and feel to it. Was happy I got to have a few battles around it. Good stuff.

 

The openness of the last area is a bit deceiving as you’d like to run around and have a blast but it wouldn’t be pretty. Especially after some of the filler enemies start teleporting in. There were times when I would find small corners in the side rooms and just wait for tons of enemies to come my way. Lots of corner camping that felt necessary with all of those high up revs and CG’ers. That felt a bit silly as it was almost idiotic to run out in the open without whittling down their numbers. It was enjoyable dealing with the aerial assault at the center though.

[Demtor]

 

MAP10 - “Stuffed”

gzDoom/BDoom - UV – continuous/saves

 

Nice mood setting start with some dead bodies. I feel like I’ve played this kind of map in Doom 64 but I don’t remember. In any case this was a nice change of pace. Labyrinth layout with revs and AV’s hunting you. (Also little pistol zombies, lol). Not a whole to say. I found this room last. Oh, so that’s what all those switches were doing.

 

The grassy end area with barons was and a pair of PE’s in each corner was kind of different. Barons being the ammo sponges that they are, not sure what I would’ve done if I had pistol started this as I don’t think I’d have nearly enough ammo to take enough of them down to open the exit and the gifted cool looking megasphere.

[Demtor]

 

MAP11 - “Ejection of Energy”

gzDoom/BDoom - UV – continuous/saves

 

That maze at the start… eh. I would’ve rather had a nice looking courtyard to move around in and fight over. Once you’re out of the maze, it’s basically just a big square thing in the way that you’ll end up fighting a lot of guys around. It felt cumbersome.

 

I thought the brown brick stuff and the mausoleum with the green muck were pretty well done. The rev ambush at the back past the CG’ers really livened things up, heh. Lots of damaging toxic green stuff in this level actually. Had to use the EV suits wisely as there weren’t all that many.

 

Taking all the varied sections in to consideration, I think the red cave section was my favorite part. Though I did like the dip in to the red lit gray metal RK/BFG section for some good combat next to some pitfalls.

 

Good use of the cyberdemon in the tower. He had LOTS of targets for friendly fire, so that was nice. I had fun trying to carefully navigate my way through each elevated landing. I liked that the end after getting the two keys connected upwards back to the beginning area.

Edited May 12, 2017 by Demtor

[Spectre01]

6 hours ago, Demtor said:

Barons being the ammo sponges that they are, not sure what I would’ve done if I had pistol started this as I don’t think I’d have nearly enough ammo to take enough of them down to open the exit and the gifted cool looking megasphere.

There are actually enough shell boxes in the maze to enter the final area with around 80 or so, which gives you enough ammo to shoot the Barons to death after hitting each group with a few rockets. If you happen to miss shells, there's always the Berserk to punch them out like I did in my demo. It wasn't pretty with the awkward vanilla hitboxes. ;)

[Deadwing]

MAP12: That was a fun level, very "urania" like, with hitscanners everywhere and hidden in the most awkward places haha There's also a good amount of roamers, which is something we've seen quite before, but it is always a good thing. Level is small by this wad standards, where progress is not as obtuse as the previous levels. Visuals are pretty good, with a cool skybox, plutonia textures (with vines, ofc) and broken bricks which are a nice touch. Surprisingly, no mid-tier foes here, which shows how deadly hitscanners can be :P I didn't like the MIDI, though, really weird IMO

 

8/10

Edited May 12, 2017 by Deadwing

[Spectre01]

MAP12 - “Odontolith”

 

We get a nice blue night sky and a map featuring only low-tier enemies as the start of Episode 2. In fact, the highest HP monster you'll be fighting is a Pinky. Might've been a good idea to include a death exit to slightly balance out continuous play before this one. Anyway, this map's all about managing Berserk and ammo usage in order to mow down large groups of weak dudes. Plenty of hitscanners are used to no one's surprise and the beginning is especially rough to survive. Afterwards, the progression is relatively simple by Urania standards, with you navigating rocky cliffs and towers along with a waste processing plant nearby. Cool pipe texture there. Combat largely revolves around Berserk and Chaingun/SSG use but you can grab a Rocket Launcher with the blue key if you want to blow up some groups of enemies. Hardly required though for Pistol Start purposes. Yeah, it's a pretty fun map and I like the drums in the midi.

[Spectre01]

MAP13 - “Journey of Voices”

 

Seems like a safe bet that the title is a play on Plutonia's excellent map29, Odyssey of Noises. This is the largest and most non-linear map in Urania so far, taking place in a flooded compound that can be described as a sandbox version of The Inmost Dens. There are various small buildings to explore, like this rusted wire room holding the much needed SSG. The 3 main buildings resembling the map start can be descended into via lifts and contain various switches required for progression. The idea here is to raise the 2 pillars past the blue doors, which can be used to jump into the central ring in the middle of the map containing the red key. Progression is certainly obscure and the fact that you're forced to flip 4 red switches on opposite sides of the map, including this rather annoying lift room, after everything is already dead is quite unnecessary. Aside from that, the map is mostly enjoyable. The mass warp-in of enemies after stepping onto the central ring is pretty fun, especially prioritizing the high number of Pain Elementals. Despite playing this map before and having a general idea of where most things are, it still took me a good hour to get a full clear. I also had to check Doom Builder to figure out how to get the secret in the crusher room, which contains an Imp that prevents getting sweet 100% kills if you miss him.

[riderr3]

^^^
I realize too much brown stuff over there.

Someone can say brown is dull, but Doom 2 also have many brown textures. Plutonia is the same, but also adds some greens.

Edited May 13, 2017 by riderr3

[Deadwing]

MAP13: I recognize this song haha I love Jethro Tull, although I didn't think that it fit well on this level. Anyway, it's a certainly large non-linear level, remembering The inmost Dens (like Spectre01 said). Unlike previous level, this one has lots of mid-tier foes, and I think too much Hell Knights and Barons, especially because it took me a lot to get the Plasma, SS and Rocket, so dealing with these guys with a Single Shotgun wasn't really much fun. After you find the weapons, things goes smoother, though there's some annoying things that might bother you: Navigation is quite complicated, requiring you to go one of the 4 lift to get to the higher area) until you unlock some doors, two inner rooms are full of gimmick elements (crushers and lifts) and you'll have to backtrack some areas to progress, which felt unnecessary.

 

6.5/10

[Spectre01]

MAP14 - “AVC Zone”

 

I looked up the various meanings of AVC and still don't know what the AVC here is supposed to stand for. Let me get the major quirk with this map out of the way first: There is no SSG from Pistol Start. I think every other map has one besides this one. Why is that @riderr3? And with the high amount of meaty enemies like Mancs and Hell Knights, this can make progression slower than necessary. The good news is that if you grab the Plasma Rifle and the backpack early, you can stock up pretty well on cells as this map is full of them. The catch is that requires you to take a specific route where you jump over a pillar from the starting area and fall into the nukage part of the map. I messed that jump up and had to take things slow. You can't really access the Plasma Rifle quickly enough otherwise. Anyway, this maps is quite large with over 400 enemies and plenty of visual variety. None of the sections are particularly mean, although the warehouse with the lights going out can give you a fright. Great midi choice here too.

[CapnClever]

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|HMP|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP12: Odontolith sticks with low-tier enemies and, with them, remains a low-key experience. The level is occupied with only hitscanners, imps, and demons/spectres, though it still manages to put them into places that cause the level to play quite slowly. Combat generally focuses around inching through, spying for turrets (and boy are there turrets) and carefully entering each new room. Progression is occasionally mysterious, with the activation of one thing leading to unexpected motion in another, though at least the map is fairly small to avoid gross backtracking. The ending is entirely without incident.

 

Possibly intended to be a breather map, but it's still a slog to get through: if anything, the lack of higher-tier enemies means you aren't satisfied with the kills and so it's just shot after shot, spectre after spectre, chaingunner after chaingunner. There were some incredibly annoying turret windows here where I couldn't even see the enemy shooting and just had to guess that they were there. Among my least favorites in this first half.

 

^{Chocolate Doom / HNTR|UV / Pistol Start / Saves}

MAP13: Journey of Voices is a big map with a big setup, and it does manage to pay off in places, but not quite enough for its size. Finding weaponry isn't too difficult here, and there's plenty of room to roam and search: I would call it city-esque in its approach, though with the constant need to be above ground level it's more difficult to investigate in the face of combat. The combat itself is certainly incidental in the bulk, and even later groups brought in have less to do with strict tactics and more about keeping a safe distance and using supplies carefully. Progression is perhaps the most convoluted yet, with a lot of rigamarole for relatively small steps: fortunately the encounter usage is paced in tandem, so there aren't too many points of only running around.

 

I skipped HMP here, as I knew after HNTR that UV would still take a very long time (and it did: ~41min not including save-time). There were definitely some good points to this map, like the central battle after the blue key, but most of the progression feels padded. It's a pretty cool map to play once you already know what you're doing, but the blind run gets to be a chore, especially hunting down the red switches.

 

I said I would write up a retrospective earlier: gonna save that for midway I guess, already messed up the timing to do it in thirds.