finnks13

MAP08 - Aggrandizement by AD_79: 10:19/1 Death Bit of a weird one, this. I wasn't expecting a map in this wad to put atmosphere at the forefront of it's identity, but Aggrandizement certainly does. It's obvious from the start as you stare down the grand fortress in front of you, which is on a larger scale than anything seen before and in plutonia, and wandering through this map you'll feel very small compared to the surroundings - the quiet, contemplative MIDI (Death's Toll from the Plutonia MIDI pack) really adds to this feeling. Shame about the combat then, isn't it? With the exception of the very harsh yellow key fight, nothing here has much punch and you'll be in more danger from the floor than from most of the monsters. I remember finding the progression of the map particularly confusing on my first playthrough, you get up to the tower and go through the blue key teleporter and then the trail just sort of ends. I took my only death in the yellow key fight, though it's my fault for not rocketing enough - but it's a cool fight with how little room you have to dodge the revenant missiles, though I could have done without the short marathon over the damaging floor afterwards. I didn't dislike this map, but the oppressive atmosphere that's built up by the grand surroundings isn't backed up at all by the gameplay and that's a shame.

MAP07 - Fraughtification by Scotty: 6:21/0 Deaths One of the more interesting Dead Simple's I've ever played, Fraughtification (sick pun!) is a small fortress set into a blood lake. A cyberdemon stands on a podium near the start of the level, and has a view over a large part of the level - so you'll need to keep moving to avoid getting instakilled by the rockets, though there are cacos, pinkies and mancubi placed to try to limit your movement as much as possible. I liked the use of the Dead Simple tags, they open up the map in a more organic matter than is normally seen in Map07 - though the lack of immediate indication of what happened when the mancs were killed got me turned around for a bit. The chaingunner that spawns in the cages after the mancubi are dead is a real nuisance and messed me up a lot before I figured out where he was. I like the scenery of the map, it feels a bit unusual for this early in a Plutonia-like wad reminding me mostly of The Temple of Darkness, but the architecture's nice and the layout is simple to navigate which I appreciate. I liked the little ambush guarding the switch that raises the stairs to the exit, you can hear the revenants through the walls but they still managed to surprise me! The ending felt a little anti-climatic, I was expecting an archvile or something to be revealed from the lowering pillar, but it's just the teleporter. It's only a minor blemish on an otherwise excellent map, however.

MAP06 - Viper by AD_79: 5:23/0 Deaths Great map! It has pretty much everything you'd want in a plutonia-like level, it's got a solid layout with fun combat and ambushes, and it nails the visuals too. While the individual areas of the map remind me of Ghost Town, they're laid out in a much more intuitive way and flow well together - it's also the only AD_79 map that I've not gotten lost in so far, so that's gotta count for something :P A highlight would be the large red key area, you start off under fire from six perched chaingunners with the plasma gun out in the open to tease you out of your hiding spot. An archvile pops out upon grabbing the red key and stands on the ledge overlooking the outdoor area, leaving you with very limited space to take out the revenants and hell knights that spawned in too. The finale contains a similar trap, but the area you have to fight the monsters in is much smaller, and the archvile doesn't teleport away. The ambushes here aren't particularly complicated to deal with, but they're punchy and fun. I quite liked the little platforming segment to grab the secret megasphere too, it's not very hidden but it still made me feel clever when I was able to jump to it. The references to the original's story in the text screen were entertaining and left the map off on a good note.

MAP05 - Hopeless by AD_79: 9:05/1 Death Presumably that title comes from the MIDI, it's the closest a MIDI has come to capturing that melancholic feel that Sign of Evil has (which, fittingly this is a replacement for in the Plutonia MIDI Pack). The map is the first that, to me, would have felt completely out of place in The Plutonia Experiment. This map blends a complicated layout, with a larger focus on exploring the environment than the punchy monster-light ambushes that have appeared so far, and this creates something that often feels very at odds with Plutonia's gameplay style. Admittedly, I'm not sure that it works very well - the start of the map has quite a lot of dead air, and I didn't think that the cave sections had very good combat when exploring them. I also found the layout very confusing, and got lost or went back on myself multiple times which got quite frustrating, the two identical triangular shaped hallways being particularly confusing. I know it's Plutonia's thing to look very samey, and I do appreciate how consistently textured the map is considering it's entirely on an off angle. Maybe that's where the title comes from: the hopelessness that comes when you still get lost in doom maps in 2022 :P I did like the little section after raising the rock bridge with the yellow key, sure it was a revenant ambush followed by another revenant ambush but the tight space and my lack of rockets made it pretty memorable. I also liked the fight in front of the exit, the sky floor was unexpected and looked cool. This is my least favourite of the 5 so far, but the experimental nature of it has definitely made it stand out too.

MAP04 - Carcinogen by Scotty: 6:35/1 Death The pressure is turned up quite considerably here, I was very lucky to only die once (to a face-rocket, of course!) as there are some pretty mean ambushes contained within the map. The key and each weapon is guarded by harsh ambushes, but the layout of the map lets you get into a real flow of defeating ambushes, and fumbling your way into another one. The only fight in the map that didn't really work for me was the plasma gun fight since it can be declawed very easily by, at least my, instinct of running away and hiding on a staircase. Archviles are used very well in the blue key fight to limit your movement, and in the yellow key fight to murder you - spawning one on each side of you is very mean and unexpected for a Map04, even a Map04 of a Plutonia homage - and the little window to the soulsphere secret makes retreating and trying to deal with the viles that much more challenging. I've not mentioned this yet, but I like the sky used in this first episode - I think it's just the plutonia episode 1 sky tinted a bit orange, but I think it works really well with the style. There's also the first instance of "Plutonia Liquid" in the wad, the nukage wasn't damaging in MAP03, but it is here! Thank you to Scotty for not making a Caged homage (because I hate that map :P) and I'm glad to say that this is the first truly excellent map in the wad, and I hope more are to come!

@Endless @Scorpius Pinging you both to let you know that I've set the deadline for final updates of everyone's maps to be 18th September at 11pm BST, in preparation for a RC1 release the following week. Feel free to post them in the thread, PM them to me - or join the project discord and upload them there. Also, since the project is getting a fully bespoke soundtrack by our composers, if there's a specific style you'd like them to go for then I've told them to keep an eye on the thread too.

MAP03 - Ritual by AD_79: 5:42/0 Deaths I like the little ritual altars that appear around the map, it's just a little bit of doomcute spice but it gives the map a personality beyond "Aztec 2.0". The curved hallways and tight spaces that make up this map remind me of Plutonia's Aztec, down to the curved hallways being really quite annoying to navigate - thanks doom collision! The fights are given extra oomph thanks to this cramped layout, though the difficulty is still kept pretty low. I did find the progression to get both keys was a bit weird, especially the part where you have to jump into some slime, with the only visible elevator being non-functional. Cydonia has been much less full of mean traps than Plutonia so far, and this map contains just a glimpse of where the wad is likely heading - after the blue door, having the gall to walk up a set of stairs spawns in some chaingunners and two revenants around you - I would have certainly perished here were it not for the secret blue armour. It's not a hard trap to take out, as backtracking to safety works, but the initial surprise is a wake-up call for anyone who found the previous two maps too easy. Other than the annoying corridors though, I'd say this map is a fun time overall.

Ayyyyyy it's Cydonia - a wad I was so excited to get to last month, I played the first six maps before I realised that Ray Mohawk had won the vote :P I will be playing with dsdadoom v0.24.3, from a pistol start on UV. I'll try for 100% kills, but my patience for secret hunting is very limited. MAP01 - Quetzalcoatl by AD_79: 4:47/0 Deaths Cydonia starts off with an homage to Plutonia's Congo - while the overall structure of the level is very different (and there's no resurrecting chaingunners on platforms yet!), there's definitely cues that have been taken from it. The wooden supports of the tunnels in front of you at the start, the little crate maze with a hidden weapon and the final room with 3 mancubi perched on a 3 shaped platform are the obvious comparisons. Plutonia is very fond of these homages, and the map definitely feels different to play than Congo - since your main damage dealing weapon will be the SSG, not the rocket launcher - so I don't think this is a bad thing. There's not too much to say combat wise, it's solidly fun and if you find either of the two secret rocket launchers, nothing should really trouble you. You're given plenty of room to leave troublesome fights as the map is very open and once an area's been cleared out, it's cleared for good. I did find the map a bit confusing to navigate - the whole map looks very similar and I kept getting confused with which staircase I should take to the raised platforms but the small scale of the map means this didn't frustrate me. I like that there's doubles of the SSG and rocket launcher, which means you shouldn't be undergunned no matter what route you take through the level. Much like it's inspiration, it's a solid opener to the set. MAP02 - Amazon by Scotty: 3:24/0 Deaths Even easier than MAP01, Amazon sets up the grander scale that Cydonia's architecture will take on when compared to Plutonia which is definitely one of the largest differences between Cydonia and it's inspiration. The hardest part of the map is the start, as you're surrounded by hitscanners, and jumping off the waterfalls to safety and the SSG will add two revenants and mancubi to your issues. Thankfully, there's a blue armour down here, and it makes the rest of the map a pretty chilled out experience as none of the ambushes can pose much of a threat when you've got this much health to work with. I like the red key room, you're under fire from every angle and have to hug walls for shelter in order to make progress - the arachnotron and three chaingunner turrets do a great job at this. Overall, Amazon's a fun map to make your way through, but I don't find it particularly memorable as the meat of a Plutonia inspired set is when it starts throwing cruel death traps at you every so often, and we've not quite gotten to that stage yet here.

MAP22 - The Man with the Mohawk by Peccatum Mihzamiz: 31:36/8 Deaths What a shame this couldn't be included in the main roster, as this is one of the best maps in the whole wad (I understand why, visplanes are a nuisance!) and would have fit perfectly in the second half as a break from the evil, similar to Map15. The map is set up as an infiltration mission of some evil villain's lair, casting Ray Mohawk as a James Bond-style hero, and this setup just works so well for the wad, all the doomcute around the base really brings it to life. There's even a large secret involving flushing all the toilets in the level, which was amusing to figure out. I enjoyed the start of the map, crawling through and clearing the infested mines that lead to the rather breathtaking opening view of the villain's lair. Most of the combat in the first half of the map isn't too challenging, I had the most trouble with the small waves of enemies that spawned in the main room, until I realised you can just hide in the side paths, sniping the enemies from the doorway. The map did feel a little imbalanced, as the red key path is quite a lot longer than the blue one and you won't get the flamethrower by going down the blue path first - though you do get to interrupt a meeting, which was fun. I feel like the combat does lose a little bit of steam in the final couple of areas, the yellow key trap just throws hordes of enemies at you, which is hectic but doesn't feel very thought through because it's really easy to hide in the room at the top, or the secret room. I also didn't really like the cyberdemon ambush at the end, it was quite annoying to get stuck on the infinitely tall cacos and die to a rocket volley. That being said, these complaints are minor because these areas weren't overwhelmingly challenging and I feel like the main effort behind the map went into creating this incredible lair to explore and that's done to near perfection. Final Thoughts on Ray Mohawk 2: I think Ray Mohawk 2 is a great sequel to the first one, it iterates and expands on the concept and chill, tropical vibe while going in a new direction due to the significantly altered weapon roster. It's also a wad that feels like it was made by two separate teams with two separate design ideologies and duct-taped together at the last minute. I really like the first half of the wad, the maps are all fun to go through and the best of them are some of the most fun I've had playing the game in a long time, since they manage to feel fresh but very familiar at the same time. The second half has some decent maps (12, 15 and 20), but is a wild departure from what the first half sets expectations for and wasn't very enjoyable. I'm surprised that only one completely new enemy was introduced here, the Sylor, as they feel like a very natural fit into the roster with RM2's weaponry due to their higher health and high, but manageable, close range damage output - I always think that they have less health than they do because of their small size but this isn't a big issue. The cyberdemon alteration feels like it was only tested in one-on-one fights in large spaces, because it works really well for that purpose and that purpose alone. As rd has said in her post about map17's finale, you have to always assume that they're going to be firing at you due to their damage output, and I agree that it's definitely the best way of dealing with them since you can't rely on the standard cyberdemon shuffle. The problem with these cyberdemons come when they appear either in large packs in open areas, where you'll get randomly sniped by them significantly more often than with regular cybers because it's not possible to keep your focus on each of them when so much is going on, and when they appear in very small, cramped rooms, due to the insane amount of splash damage they dish out. I've talked about my thoughts on the more difficult maps at length in my post about Map18 & 19, but in short, I found the combination of your unchanged survivability and necessity of ridiculously large hordes of the most dangerous monsters in order to be a threat to the player, really unenjoyable. I'm normally someone who goes for challenging maps, but the way difficulty was done here just didn't click for me and it meant both my deaths and victories felt unearned. I admit, this may be due to the day-by-day nature of the megawad club because I didn't get a chance to adapt to the mechanics as I would in a more continuous playthrough, but if I'm being honest I doubt this would have made much difference. I don't mean to be so negative, I just haven't felt this conflicted on a mapset in a very long time - the first half is absolutely fantastic, it's a set of 10 maps that I can see myself revisiting to blow off some steam, but the rest is just not what I want from a gameplay standpoint. If I had to pick which of the two wads I liked more, I'd easily pick Ray Mohawk 1 - sure it's highs don't quite reach the level of the best RM2 maps but it's a much more cohesive and solid experience that I ultimately look back on much more fondly than the second. (That being said, if a Ray Mohawk 3 were on the table with the same weapon roster, doubled health & armour limits and a more gradual difficulty curve, I would not say no to that!) Top 5 Maps: Map04 - Surf's Up in Nuketown by Cheesewheel Map22 - The Man with the Mohawk by Peccatum Mihzamiz Map09 - Temple del Sol by Moustachio Map15 - Crowded House by NeedHealth Map01 - Back Ashore! by Doomkid

MAP20 - Ray of Hope by Scypek2: 18:35/8 Deaths Well for all my complaints about Ray Mohawk 2, I can at least say it ends with a bang. After playing the first episode, this is what I was expecting from the second half of the wad - more intense fights but nothing that's outright cruel or that feels unfair. I love all of the doomcute here, there's too much to go over, but I want to particularly highlight the slot machine, basketball court and volleyball court (that horribly broke on me :P). These all just bring the world to life, and while the visuals of the outside of the building are pretty plain, I do love the monster that's taken up residence on the southern building, reminding you of your goal. Admittedly, the gameplay here is much less refined than a lot of what's come before, as Scypek2 gives you invulnerabilities whenever a fight would be too taxing but what I was wanting out of this final level wasn't necessarily a final challenge so I didn't mind it. Cyberdemons are still the most obnoxious enemy when they turn up but thankfully you only have to deal with two of them in a tight space which makes a change... Once you've cleared out the majority of the map, you can access the roof and spy the final boss of the wad and it looks spectacular. It's fitting that a midi from Revolution! was used as this monster feels very much inspired by Van der Velden's more understated sector icon of sin from Community Chest. After a short sequence of dealing with a monster spawner, you have to enter the monster and traverse it's guts. This section isn't hard, but it nails the atmosphere and sends the wad off on a fantastic note. Bonus Map 1 - Trippy Entryway in the sky?! by Philnemba: 4:44/0 Deaths This map is (no prizes for guessing) a reworked version of Entryway, with many sky sectors added for good measure. It's a decent concept for a map, particularly a secret map, but the combat doesn't have as much punch as most Episode 1 maps and there's not much actually done with the concept beyond the visual alterations. The most entertaining part was the SSG fight, when two archviles appeared in the previous room and started resurrecting everything, that's it really. It's not a bad map, just pretty dull which is weird considering the concept because my favourite thing about this map is it's title. ~~ I shall post my thoughts on the wad as a whole and how it compares with the first Ray Mohawk tomorrow along with the second bonus map.

MAP18 - Mall Rats by DFF: 13:51/21 Deaths I really wonder how much more I'd like this wad if the cyberdemons didn't recieve a buff, since it feels like half of my complaints are about them but this map has some of the most infuriating usage of cyberdemons in the entire wad. I will admit to playing this map rather late at night, so my frustrations might have been brought on by tiredness as well as the high difficulty here. The best thing about this map is easily it's visuals, DFF is a known master of doomcute (to me at least, his map Cargo Cult in Interception II proves that!) and the lovingly detailed shopping mall is just a joy to look around when the map quietens down... which it won't for a while. I liked the opening part of the map, you're only given the SSG at first and while it may be tempted to storm into the mall looking for the chaingun, rocket launcher (ha!) and flamethrower, you're much better off slowly laying seige to it - clearing the corridors and rooms slowly, one-by-one. I would strongly recommend getting the secret blue key as there's no armour pickups in this map on UV, which is a bit cruel considering just how packed these halls become. I've got to be honest, I really hate the red key fight - there's too much going on and it felt like all of my deaths were to a cyberdemon volley that managed to work it's way past the absurd horde that spawns in directly to my face. The flamethrower being the only viable weapon makes this worse since it completely blocks your view of projectiles, and my eventual successful attempt wasn't even satisfying since it felt like I just got lucky. The yellow key area is pretty good up until the point where the cyberdemons are released and they again make a fun area a complete misery to clear - I eventually found that you can cheese the cybers by hiding behind two crates that I could shoot over, but couldn't be hit with rockets through and frankly it was a lifesaver. I did find the invulnerability secret at the end of the map, and that did feel a bit like the map was mocking me :P MAP19 - Arch-Visland by RonnieJamesDiner and rd: 8:48/17 Deaths Well I liked this more than a lot of episode 2, and I liked the gimmick of using archviles to the point of absurdity - never releasing them in less than packs of ten! I also really like how the map transforms and lowers at the start, turning a bad situation into a worse one and that cascading with each death until the message of "you need to run away" gets through. The outside area is completely nuts, there's snipers everywhere, a horde of archviles hidden around a corner and at least ten cyberdemons - you are, thankfully, given a BFG here since anything less powerful would not be suitable for the amount of hard-hitting enemies you have to kill. I am forever thankful to whoever decided to make a lot of the outside walls here not solid, since that made this part of the map bearable to complete because there are soooooo many cyberdemons and not having to worry about splash damage was a nice change. This area can pretty much sum up why I've not enjoyed Ray Mohawk 2's second episode for the most part since it is a perfect example of the excess that is present here - but this excess is incredibly frustrating to deal with since while your weapon's effectiveness has been massively buffed, your survivability has not and because you can deal such an absurd amount of damage, an absurd number of enemies need to be placed in order to be a threat. This combines to make for an effect that I can best describe as constantly feeling like I'm on 1% health, so many times when playing these past few maps I've gone from feeling relatively safe on 200/200 with a flamethrower in my hands, only to get blindsided by a cyberdemon or archvile and instakilled, and it's just really bloody annoying because it's rarely felt like it's been my fault. I don't mind facing the odds normally, but this effect is just exhausting here - one of the most tense things about being on 1% health is not knowing where or when your next medikit will appear, but here it doesn't matter because it doesn't make any difference to how quickly you'll get killed. The other main ambush of note is the red key trap, and my best advice to a prospective player for this fight would be to leave the megasphere near the archvile spawn point uncollected and prefire two BFG balls at the waterfall behind them, what happens next is up to whether the archviles are willing to let you through. I was genuinely quite surprised that there wasn't a final "Gotcha!" with an archvile wave coming from the exit, but I suppose you've gotta know when to stop. I really hope Map20 is a bit calmer and ends this mapset on a high point. ~~~ Anyway, my votes for next month: +++Fragport +++Solar Struggle +++Cydonia/Arrival

Since it's not been mentioned in the thread yet, @gabirupee has had to step down as the project leader due to some personal reasons that have unexpectedly appeared - I won't go into more detail here, he has explained the situation in the discord if you need to know why specifically. He has asked me to take over from him, and so if you have been chatting with gabirupee about anything to do with the project (map submissions, feedback etc.), then feel free to message me instead either here on Doomworld, or through the Hardfest discord, which you can get onto via this link: https://discord.gg/4mYrRgGkDk Lastly, don't worry about this project falling into limbo, we're aiming and on track for a release of RC1 before the end of September and I hope you look forward to playing it then!

Finished your map in 6:47 - it's a fun little map with some great atmosphere. I can see why you mention the secrets being a massive help since I was very low on health throughout, and I was only able to find the plasma gun. I think the map would suit well for an early slot in the wad, since the combat isn't very difficult by itself - the environment and lack of resources are definitely the main challenges you face. More specific thoughts: - Starting section is good, not having the chaingun to hand makes what would be a no-threat fight a bit of a challenge. - Maybe teleport some monsters into the corridor after the bars to the outside are opened so you can't just hide in there completely safe. - The hell knights on the cliffs, with the exception of the one that can shoot the player the whole time, feel a bit unnecessary. - The imp snipers on the cliffs don't add anything to the map, I'd replace all of them with a couple of revenant (or even chaingunner) snipers to make them a threat or just get rid of them. - The initial minutes of clearing the large outdoor area is my favourite bit of the map as it's hard to succeed by just going for it, the everpresence of damaging floors demands planning and caution. - The plasma gun is possibly a little too easy to find for how much easier it makes the last part of the map. - The cyberdemon is really easy to kill on it's own since the outside area is so large, a horde of revenants or a couple of archviles would be a more challenging final encounter (though keep the plasma gun easy to find if you change it to this!) - The exit should be both marked, and less easy to walk into by accident. I also found a couple of bugs: - You can softlock if you fail to jump onto the cliff behind the radsuit (Top Picture) - The exit floor lowers below the floor, causing a visual glitch (Bottom Picture) I finished your map in 10:36, and I don't have too much to say since it's a very solid, well made map. My main issues were due to navigability, since the floorplan of the map is very small and there's pillars absolutely everywhere, you get snagged on them loads and this made moving around the level a bit annoying. I also think that the combat could be made more consistently challenging as a lot of the incidental combat is no threat at all, and the few ambushes there are go pretty easy on the player (with one notable exception!) I feel like this would be suitable for an early map slot. More specific Thoughts: - I like the colour coordinated sky and water visuals, they're quite understated but look excellent. - I appreciate going for high difficulty with a low monster count, though there's normally a few too many safe spaces in each area for the combat to be very threatening - I don't particularly like the archvile teleporting back and forward near the red key, it's not a threat to you and quite irritating to kill. - The archvile maze area is a bit annoying, it's very hard to navigate, and the one-by-one nature that the archviles are released by is barely a threat (the last three happening at once is pretty entertaining though) - The cyberdemon is a massive difficulty spike compared to the rest of the level because of all of the pillars that are around in the water pit, it's not too bad but maybe 64 units more space to move in either or both directions would stop you getting caught on these pillars so much while fighting.

MAP15 - Crowded House by NeedHealth: 19:38/6 Deaths Crowded House is a return to form for Ray Mohawk 2, it's far more fun than anything since Map10 and while it's not one of the set's lookers, it's got a consistency of theme with understated visuals that I liked. The combat is entertaining, it strikes the balance of difficulty and fun better than anything else so far, the arenas are varied in size, shape and intensity and are filled to the brim with fodder that is very satisfying to mow down. The only part of the map I didn't like was the close range cyberdemon attack that happens halfway through, since it comes out of nowhere and is wildly more difficult than the rest of the map. You're given tons of ammo for the chaingun, and are let loose on 900-odd unfortunate hellspawn - for a map with so many enemies, it flows incredibly well to the point where you'd barely notice the high enemy count. I really like the layout too, it flows very well and loops back on itself in some unexpected ways that were always a nice surprise. I don't have too much else to say, this is a very solid map and one of my favourites in the set. MAP16 - Pier Pressure by Noiser: 18:30/9 Deaths Easily the most exhausting map so far, Pier Pressure is basically three big arenas. The first, set around a lighthouse is great, the other two... not so much. The lighthouse arena is frantic, you're always under fire from the many arachnotrons and revenants crowding around outside the fence, and at one point you blow up a boat which is just really bloody cool! It's a very fun area to work your way through, clearing safe spaces on the outskirts before jumping right back into the fray! I wasn't overly happy to be forced to pick up a soulsphere upon trying to leave here as I was already at 190% health but it's only a small blemish on a very fun area. The rest of the map is not very enjoyable unfortunately, Noiser has done his best to make sure you're never safe at all until you've pretty much finished clearing both of these arenas and this effect is more irritating and exhausting than fun. The fight for the red key is absolutely awful, you're forced to pick up a blursphere and then must roll the dice on dodging two cyberdemons' attacks - after a couple of attempts that went nowhere I decided to pick up the blursphere without triggering the fight and just waited for it to run out. The final area has a fun start, but quickly becomes a test of my patience like the last one. There's too much going on to reasonably be able to react to the amount of projectiles coming from all angles and the masterminds will constantly be peppering you with bullets. I nearly got through this on my first attempt but was foiled by an archvile + cyberdemon ambush right next to the exit, which only seems to spawn in once you've pressed all the switches - I was not happy to find this out. This map seems to have focused on difficulty at the expense of fun and I wish it was dialed back just a little. MAP17 - Poster Boy of Mayhem by Aurelius and rd: 15:23/10 Deaths So first off I want to say that while the Athletic theme from Super Mario World is a hilarious choice of MIDI, it did drive me slightly mad near the end so I had to IDMUS to something more sedate. This map is obviously very clever, from the title that serves as a hint for the map-wide secret hunt, to the intricate layout and well calibrated combat. However, there's something about this level that just really irritates me. I'm not sure whether it's the layout feeling like the designers are patting themselves on the back, with how it interweaves and loops back on itself, areas being reused for different combat scenarios, and this all at the cost of making the map a nightmare to navigate - and why'd you make the lift texture something that's both not a standard lift texture and blends in really well with the rest of the map? It could be the fact that your armour is mostly given out in packs of 25 making the screen yellow for days at a time or the red key fight that I just found very frustrating to clear. Maybe it's a combination of those... The opening is fun, and little ambushes are sprinkled throughout the level to keep you on your toes - they range from very fun to entirely unnecessary. I've complained about archviles being used to the point of losing their shock factor before, but this map takes the cake - you can barely move two metres before being set upon by three of the bastards and this made the map feel rather one-note towards the end. I didn't find the secret invulnerability before going into the yellow key fight, though I think this was accidentally a good thing since this fight is by far the best part of the level. It sets 4 cyberdemons and 6 archviles on you in a tiny room and you have to play very aggressively as it's timed almost perfectly to the time it takes to wear down a cyberdemon and archvile with the flamethrower. I do still dislike using these cyberdemons in such close quarters, especially with the pillars everywhere but if you're playing the fight correctly, they shouldn't actually have a chance to fire at you. The secret fight was probably ruined by me having the flamethrower, since it was very easy to just tear through with all the ammo I had saved up from the yellow key fight. The archvile corridor at the end is pretty silly, but this map already spams archviles - so why not bung 30 more of them in a tiny corridor for you to stab? I ended this map with mixed feelings, as I reckon I should like this map more than I actually did cause there's some cool stuff in here, but ultimately it was fine I guess.

Found it quite tough to write about these two maps, that's why they're both late! MAP13 - Terraced Estate of Terror by Gokuma: 7:36/2 Deaths Not got much to say about this one, I like that you can basically traverse the whole level right at the start by running through the sea, but the progression itself is quite hidden and you can only escape the sea in one specific spot which is a shame since I was expecting a fun, open sandbox when the map is actually very linear in how you have to tackle it. The only fight of note is a triple cyberdemon ambush on the balcony of the estate, which is a bit of a pain (I didn't realise that you could just hide behind the table you get the BFG on!) I remember liking the dock area on my first playthrough, but because I cleared it right at the start this time, it fell a bit flat since it seems like this area should be home to a massive set-piece fight that never materialises. I like the pirate ship though, so that's something. MAP14 - Lose Yourself to Dance by sluggard: 12:00/8 Deaths Didn't really care for this map, I appreciate the attempts at making gimmicky fights using the resources but they're not executed terribly well and combine to make a rather frustrating experience. After clearing the beach the map starts on and the two revenant owned bars, you have the choice of three areas to go to which must all be cleared to complete the level. I went to the blue key area first, which takes you through a hotel - with completely unoccupied rooms :( - and to a marble temple which was a bit of a surprise to discover. The enemies here raise very slowly from the ground which looks really bloody weird, but the fight itself is decent. The archviles that spawn into the hotel corridor after you pick up the blue key are a pain to deal with since there's no cover here beyond running back into the teleporter - which I wasn't aware of at first. The yellow key area is probably my favourite of the three, it starts off pretty slow and the combat's not great but the platforming section is pretty inoffensive and it's visually my favourite section. The red key area is the most expansive of the three, and easily the worst, there's a dark maze that seems to exclusively be there to waste your time as the only threat there are spectres that come at you one-by-one. What follows is a short tightrope walking section that's not fun and a fight against four cyberdemons at close range with walls all around you that is the reason I quit my first playthrough of Ray Mohawk 2. I didn't know there was a radsuit here, and I suppose that would make it a bit more palatable but I don't understand why you'd make such a cramped fight with the changes to the cyber's attack - it's not fun to dodge the attack and die anyway because the arena's too small and this problem is only made worse when there's six explosions at a time instead of one.

MAP12 - Beautiful Clean Coal by Doomkid: 17:18/4 Deaths Doomkid's final map in the Ray Mohawk duology is unfortunately his weakest. Plenty of effort has gone into the visuals and atmosphere, the buildings that have been destroyed due to all the lava and nukage surrounding them against the orange evening sky look excellent. I really like the quiet start to the map, it lets you explore for a little bit and the similarly quiet start to the MIDI piles on the atmosphere. Where this map falls down is the gameplay, there's a couple of cool moments here but also some of the wad's least fun combat so far. The dark cave section is alright, but all the random teleport lines are a very weird choice that takes away a lot of the threat this area could have had and makes clearing it feel pretty stilted as you'll have to backtrack to deal with the monsters that teleport behind you at some point and they're normally tearing themselves to pieces next to the tunnel. The fight for the red key suffers from being able to stand on a higher ledge and mindlessly butcher all the enemies below you after dealing with the very minor threats that appear on your level. The area behind the red door can be dealt with by walking in, waking everything up, then waiting for 30 seconds as they all kill each other and all the other waves that spawn here can be door camped with the little room to the north. The BFG is introduced here, and it somehow manages to leave the weakest impression out of all of the weapons here, it's fine but appears to function almost identically to it's regular counterpart - I know it's twice as powerful, it's just really hard to tell. The blue key fight is pretty awful, just a rehash of the red key fight with more archviles to overstuff the cave and large building with monsters and a random wave of barons and hell knights that have been sitting outside the red key area for the last 5 minutes - the highlight of this part was finding a ghost imp in the cave that I was able to steward to the exit :P Overall, this map is fine but feels off due to some odd gameplay decisions which I assume were made to introduce the meaner second episode of Ray Mohawk 2, though we're only one map into it and I already miss the blue skies and fun atmosphere of the first one since this by no means that least enjoyable map in it.

MAP11 - Vacation Gone Wrong by Hitboi: 6:35/0 Deaths Not sure why this was chosen to close out the first episode, it feels very out of place and plays the worst out of all the maps so far. You go through a series of unconnected vignettes, which take a more abstract approach to the visuals than the attempts at realistic spaces that the rest of the episode goes for and it just doesn't really work. The fights are sometimes well calibrated, such as in the finale or the small section on a little island, and other times you're just presented with a clump of monsters that poses no threat (and this second type of fight is the more common one unfortunately). I do like the section where you get eaten by a horrible flesh monster (hiding an archvile behind the player is a dick move and I approve!) but it's a standout moment partially because the rest of the map doesn't leave much of an impression. It's a shame really since the wad has a massive change of character in the next map that persists through to the end, and it'd have been nice for the chill section of Ray Mohawk 2 to end on a high point.

MAP10 - Kalua Atoll by DFF: 7:34/1 Death After the lengthy outing of Temple del Sol, DFF debuts the flamethrower with a carnage filled trek through some beachside caves. The flamethrower's a fun weapon to use, it's main downside being that it's projectiles are so big, they obstruct your vision a lot. In this map, there's enough health, armour and megaspheres around so this isn't much of an issue though I expect it'll start to annoy me when this wad gets harder. DFF wastes no time showing you just how OP this thing is, as he spawns in a bunch of hell knights and barons at the start of the map which just crumble at the hands of your new toy. It's not perfect, I wish the invisible walls blocking you from various areas felt less arbitrary - I know they're between the buoys but you'll have to fight around them a lot and getting snagged on nothing and dying as a result sucks. The final fight is also a bit disappointing since it can be mindlessly circle-strafed, though maybe this is the point, and another showcase for the flamethrower's power - either way I didn't like it. Overall, I think this map gets a rather large boost from debuting the flamethrower but I can't deny it's entertaining to fry 100 imps :P

MAP09 - Temple del Sol by Moustachio: 27:30/3 Deaths After the previous two short outings, Temple del Sol sports a massive floor plan as well as the largest monster count so far. The scale of the map is something to behold and I'm really impressed with the fact that this is a vanilla map, since the scale of it seems so at odds with the visplane limit. If I had to sum up this map, I'd say that it feels like a more successful MAP06 - you've got the grand scale, large outdoor scenery, temple sections and exploration taking the wheel. There's ten secrets, and a lot of them involve going into expansive areas with a lot of gameplay in them, the largest one being a secret beach that holds an SSG as well as some adorable sector boats. After the initial tear through the seaside and caves, the map's pace slows considerably after getting to the temple, where I found the progression a bit stilted - it's dark, mazey with lots of switch pressing and I reckon it should have been toned down a bit. I also think it's a real shame that all three of the "big" fights give you a free invulnerability at the start, since none of them are quite large enough to remain a threat after your 30 second rampage ends and they're all fun fights to tackle without the free win given to you at the start. I understand the temptation of nerfing a fight by giving the player an invulnerability at the start (I'm guilty of it myself) but when it happens so often, it makes my victories over these massive fights feel somewhat unearned since I was never in any danger to begin with. These small qualms aside, Temple del Sol is definitely one of Ray Mohawk 2's highlights and encapsulates some of my favourite things about this wad perfectly.

MAP08 - Chocolate Island by Egg Boy: 5:22/0 Deaths A short little romp around a fortification infested with hellspawn, Chocolate Island boasts the wad's smallest monster count at just 99 and gets an unfair boost by using a MIDIfied version of "Bubbly Washing Machine" from Super Monkey Ball 2 - one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite games. The start is a mess, you've got a horde of imps on the ground level, all manner of projectile throwers on the highground ready to make mincemeat of Ray and only a pistol to defend yourself as all the weapons are fiercely guarded. There's a ""secret"" berserk pack hidden in the water that saved my arse here, being a vital refill up to 100%. There's a few fun little set-pieces here, the chaingun is protected by three archviles that jump you, the blue key spawns in a cyberdemon in the trench and revenants on the high ground and the SSG trap locks you in as hell nobles teleport all around you - though I reckon the lock in could have lasted a bit longer as they're unlikely to overwhelm you as it is. I appreciate the brevity considering some of the levels in this set, but even without that this is a very fun little map to play through and unpick.

Seems like a cool idea, dunno how SoftFX managed to pass me by since it looks great. I'll take Map14!

MAP07 - WARehouse by Walter confetti: 7:34/0 Deaths What a pun! I'm not sure I'd describe this as a warehouse, since it feels like I'm jumping between rooftops of skyscrapers. There's a cool crashed plane in the middle of the map, which is spilling nukage into the water supply of this skyscraper pen (and is presumably where all the demons came from!) and the open layout with this doomcute detail in the middle is quite impressive considering the vanilla limits. The combat is lower key than a lot of the other maps here and with the exception of a mean little ambush near the soulsphere with a bunch of imps, revenant and archvile, there's nothing that should trouble you. The scenery is definitely a bit drearier than the previous few maps, though the tone is still kept pretty light with the ROTT midi and the generally chill combat. I don't think this map is one of Ray Mowhawk 2's standouts, but I enjoyed playing it, which is more than a lot of maps can say for themselves!

MAP06 - Hidden Ship in Pirate's Cove by UberGewei: 17:28/0 Deaths Channelling the spirit of adventure, UberGewei sends us off into a large cave complex with the goal of stealing a pirate ship and slaughtering her crew. The best part about this map is definitely the atmosphere, running into an open cave and finding a ship marooned there, strolling through the grand temple's halls and climbing cliffs to tear through a small bar for a blue key are some of the highlights of the map. I like the MIDI rendition of "Maniac" despite it not really fitting with the atmosphere of the map since it adds a certain silliness to the proceedings that make it feel really at home as a "Ray Mowhawk" map rather than a Doom map. This map also introduces my favourite weapon in Ray Mowhawk 2, the chaingun replacement which, like the pistol, now shoots shotgun shots instead of the pistol shots it would do normally. This very quickly became my goto weapon for any circumstance as it's incredibly powerful, has no cooldown between firing and is an excellent stunlocking tool for the more troublesome monsters at close-range. If this map has a weak link, it's that the combat isn't great. The gameplay consists mostly of tearing down monsters that appear right in front of you, with very little threat and while this is entertaining, it's not combat that will stay with you after the map is over. My favourite moment is probably the automap secret, where you have to attempt to deal with a load of pinkies around you while balancing on a pillar. The cyberdemon is also introduced, but beyond the new chrome look, he doesn't make much of an impression since every weapon makes very light work of him. I liked this map but I wish the combat was given more focus, though I am now intrigued to see what else UberGewei has made.

Whoops, I fell behind quite a lot so here's a three-pack! MAP03 - Beachside Bookworms by Doomkid: 5:39/2 Deaths Another step up in difficulty, the main challenges here are the Sylor which really messed me up in my playthrough. I'd figure that a pump-action SSG would be the obvious go-to gun in maps like this, but the pistol definitely outclasses it when faced with rooms full of fodder - such as the starting room in this map. The layout of the map is very non-linear, you've got to get all the keys but can find them in any order - I went through the door to the left and cleared the library first. Going through the doors in front of you to the large beach area will get you the rocket launcher replacement, which looks like a plasma gun and fires exploding plasma cells. It's fun to use here, tearing through the hordes of monsters, though the explosion will definitely catch you off guard the first time you fire it, I know it did for me! MAP04 - Surf's Up in Nuketown by Cheesewheel: 8:55/3 Deaths This map is great, you're given the shotgun and rocket launcher almost immediately and can tear through the streets of Nuketown (I guess?) with them. The streets are very open and with the exception of the three key-locked buildings, you can go pretty much anywhere which gives the action a freeform feel that I really enjoyed. The key ambushes are pretty mean, you don't get a lot of armour so the high revenant count can lead to a much quicker death than you'd expect given how OP everything else about Ray Mowhawk in this wad is. This map shows off very well how powerful the rocket launcher replacement is, since you have a ton of cells to go nuts with it. I like the city visuals, they remind me of Map01 from the original (which thinking about it plays pretty similarly to this map if you'd CTRL+F all the zombiemen into revenants :P) due to the high presence of bricks and wood, though the custom textures do give it a different feel. Easily my favourite map so far, with special mention going to those surfing hula-imps. MAP05 - 11 Holidays by SilverMiner: 3:45/0 Deaths This is a bite-sized offering that serves to show off the new SSG. It's visually pretty bland compared to everything else so far, you're in a very grey mine (I respect the commitment of naming yourself after your community project map :P) and I don't particularly like the rock textures that are used here. The map plays fine, and proves that even large packs of revenants are pretty easy to take out with just your pistol which takes some getting used to. After getting the SSG, the rest of the level consists of you tearing through packs of monsters with it, and I can't deny that's enjoyable. The SSG is a really interesting design, it's a full-auto SSG that doesn't have any cooldown until you let go of the fire button, at which point you'll have to wait through a short animation before firing again. This small addition adds a lot of complexity to the weapon, for me at least. It's incredibly powerful, but I find it quite hard to use in the more incidental sections of the wad as I can't get into the rhythm of firing like with it's pump-action cousin, it's also incredibly ammo hungry which can be a pain to deal with sometimes.

Just finished watching the whole thing. Thanks for streaming the set - shame I was asleep while it was going on or I'd have popped in to say hello (bloody timezones!) I'm glad you liked it :)