The DWmegawad Club plays: Plutonium Winds & Master Levels for Doom II

 

What is the DWmegawad Club?

This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

 

Can I join?

Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

 

What levels am I allowed to post about?

Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it’s the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

 

Do I have to post an entry every day?

Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

 

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?

Voting begins on the 25th of the current month. Remember to add one “+++” before your vote to make it easier to count. For example:

 

+++ Ultimate Doom

 

Note that you can only nominate up to three separate wads for a single month, and the wads must contain at least three maps each. The winning wad must receive at least four votes for a thread to be made.

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>>>DOWNLOAD PLUTONIUM WINDS HERE<<<

>>>BUY MASTER LEVELS HERE<<<

 

Don’t you ever wish there were more levels for Doom II and Plutonia? Well you’re just in luck! What if I told you that you could load up these things called .wad files using your favorite source engine, and play more levels? Crazy, right?! Well here, let’s give it a try: first up we’ll try more Plutonia shenanigans called Plutonium Winds, made by darkreaver. After we’ll move onto this cool collection of .wad files called Master Levels for Doom II. Hopefully we can make this wadding thing catch on and find a community of wadders!

 

We’re going to start playing Master Levels on the 7th, and we’ll be going in alphabetical order. I know that there’s multiple console orders for the Master Levels, but seeing as it was released on PC first in this loosely organized format, that’s the way we’ll be playing it.

 

Maplist for Plutonium Winds:

MAP12 - “Sacrificial”

MAP13 - “Infestation of Evil”

MAP14 - "Deadly Intentons"

MAP15 - “Memories of Blood”

MAP16 - “Salvation By Extermination”

MAP17 - “Diabolism”

MAP18 - “Abigor”

 

Author & Maplist for Master Levels for Doom II:

08/11/2019 - MAP01 - ATTACK.WAD (“Attack”) by Tim Willits

09/11/2019 - MAP25 - BLACKTWR.WAD (“Black Tower”) by Sverre André Kvernmo

10/11/2019 - MAP07 - BLOODSEA.WAD (“Bloodsea Keep”) by Sverre André Kvernmo

11/11/2019 - MAP01 - CANYON.WAD (“Canyon”) by Tim Willits

12/11/2019 - MAP01 - CATWALK.WAD (“The Catwalk”) by Christen Klie

13/11/2019 - MAP01 - COMBINE.WAD (“The Combine”) by Christen Klie

14/11/2019 - MAP01 - FISTULA.WAD (“The Fistula”) by Christen Klie

15/11/2019 - MAP01 - GARRISON.WAD (“The Garrison”) by Christen Klie

16/11/2019 - MAP08 - GERYON.WAD (“Geryon”) by John Anderson

17/11/2019 - MAP01 - MANOR.WAD (“Titan Manor”) by Jim Flynn

18/11/2019 - MAP07 - MEPHISTO.WAD (“Mephisto’s Mausoleum”) by Sverre André Kvernmo

19/11/2019 - MAP05 - MINOS.WAD (“Minos’ Judgement”) by John Anderson

20/11/2019 - MAP07 - NESSUS.WAD (“Nessus”) by John Anderson

21/11/2019 - MAP01 - PARADOX.WAD (“Paradox”) by Tom Mustaine

22/11/2019 - MAP01 - SUBSPACE.WAD (“Subspace”) by Christen Klie

23/11/2019 - MAP01 - SUBTERRA.WAD (“Subterra”) by Christen Klie

24/11/2019 - MAP31 - TEETH.WAD (“The Express Elevator to Hell”) by Sverre André Kvernmo

25/11/2019 - MAP32 - TEETH.WAD (“Bad Dream”) by Sverre André Kvernmo

26/11/2019 - MAP01 - TTRAP.WAD (“Trapped on Titan”) by Jim Flynn

27/11/2019 - MAP09 - VESPERAS.WAD (“Vesperas”) by John Anderson

28/11/2019 - MAP03 - VIRGIL.WAD (“Virgil’s Lead”) by John Anderson

 

BONUS CONTENT

Doomwiki for Master Levels

kmxexii's review for Master Levels

Lingyan203’s playthrough of Master Levels

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OLD THREADS

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

Darkreaver is one of those mappers whose entire oeuvre is a tease. Enough maps to get a sense you like it, not enough to truly get your fill. And that isn't to mention certain group projects that haven't come to fruition. So, ya, I hope he makes more maps. 

 

Map 12: "Sacrificial"

 

Everyone about to design a opening map, whether in the Map 01 slot or not, should play this. It feels simultaneously in step with 'opener traditions', yet breaks out of those chains imaginatively. 

 

- Armament is weak as expected, shotgun and chaingun are primary weapons, but you also get a rocket launcher whose ammo is scarce enough that there is still plenty of room for Progression™ to escalate.

 

- Low-tier fodder is everywhere, as one might expect, but the staffing of mid-tiers that drives so much of the action doesn't feel out of place, either. 

 

In contrast with the 'I am capable of holding a shotgun and pressing fire at the same time, yes' tests of so many openers, the action is more intense. But it's not the intensity that distinguishes it; it's the scenario-building, which is masterful, and quite a departure from the pure tone-setting approach even harder mapsets often take with their openers. 

 

1. Press the very first switch, and you get lots of hell knights on your ass, forcing you out into the open where crews of hitscanners are ready to bear down on you.

 

2. The hitscanners are well measured -- and the terrain well set up, with a bonus bevy of roaming 'cover monsters' in tow -- such that you have next to no chance of being killed Unfair™-ly. But you still have to play well to ensure that.

 

3. At this point, ammo is rationed such that you can't realistically clear out the outdoor space before making progress. (Well, maybe you can, but I wasn't inclined to try. :P) So into the next room it is, the blue key teasing you forward. You can trigger the traps inside and escape, but when you escape it is back into the populated fray. 

 

4. Aggression is deliberately rewarded; the revenants released next are the perfect monsters to get infighting with the hell knights if you left those alive to this point. 

 

5. At the end, after a few creative touches (exit fakeout, warping chainers), we get a 'miniboss' archvile that plays off of everything in the map prior. The water is dotted with mid-tier corpses, and rocket ammo is sparse unless you have been hoarding it, so depending on how the cards fall you might have a very involved task. 

 

Good map, and augurs well for the rest.  

Edited November 1, 2019 by rdwpa

26 minutes ago, dobu gabu maru said:

Reminder that we are not—I repeat, WE ARE NOT—playing Maximum Doom.

 

The DWMaximum Club plays: Maximum Doom

 

We will be starting Maximum Doom on the 7th and finishing on the 31st of December 2023. 

 

BONUS CONTENT

 

https://www.twitch.tv/tarnsmandw

Alright, might as well give this a spin. I fully expect to disappear from the thread some ways into the Master Levels. PRBoom+, UV, pistol starts, brutal yet sensitively tasteful honesty etc.

 

MAP12 - “Sacrificial”

I assume this is Boom format? There wasn't anything implying that anywhere in the text file, so the earliest hint was the initial switch not working in -cl4. This map has to be the smallest I've played in a long time, or possibly ever, outside map01 of Echelon. It's basically 2 rooms where the gameplay happens. The start is surprisingly dickish, although surprise may not be the right term as I am unfamiliar with this wad or the mapper. Avoid Hell Knights > kill hitscanners sums up the opener, as there is not enough ammo initially to kill everything before running into the blue key area. The one secrets is highly useful, giving both a Berserk to heal any initial hitscan damage as well as plenty of Shotgun shells. Beyond the rude awakening, the rest of the map is straightforward with its Plutonia-inspired gameplay. Punch some Revs, chaingun the Chaingunners, and rocket the Vile. The death exit after the first map is either a joke or out of maliciousness for continuous players. I see @rdwpa's in-depth analysis and praise, but this map left little impression on me. 

5 hours ago, dobu gabu maru said:

Reminder that we are not—I repeat, WE ARE NOT—playing Maximum Doom. 

We'll run out of wads at some point so that day will come sooner or later :D But in all seriousness there are some good maps there, even if many of those can be found as standalone in the archive, and picking the best to create an episode to play it here might not be a bad idea.

 

Never played Plutonium Winds but i saw it mentioned many times and always heard good things. Nice that you get to play the master levels, though I replayed them 2 months ago and don't feel to do it again for this month.

 

Plutonium Winds

 

MAP12: Nice titlepic.  Quite bare visually but the green of the Plutonia textures and the blue water makes a pleasant combo. It shows from the start that this set won't be fooling around with the gameplay, the nasty hell knights when you don't have weapons will push you to the main courtyard where the biggest fight takes place. I spent too much time there running around, and like the others have said there's not enough ammo to kill everything, and the best solution (that even looks a bit exploitable) seems to open asap the BK room and get more monsters to infight in the courtyard and staying safe in the BK room. After getting the BK things get more quiet but with a couple of little traps that you have to be quick to react.

You missed a map for pwind @dobu gabu maru :

 

map14: "Deadly Intentions"

 

Nice pick btw :)

 

Alright, I'll start by saying all I knew about Plutonium Winds is that it made the Top 25 Missed Cacowards. However, since the only entry I've played from that list was awesome (Vile Flesh), I have high expectations for this.

 

MAP12: Sacrificial (Plutonium Winds)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

Quite enjoyable opener, the start is really hectic but after you clear out the first area the reins are handed over to you, so that you can clear the next setpieces at your own pace. The arch-vile at the end is given a free pass to resurrect everything you've slain unless you act quickly to dispose of it. I left the hell knight beyond the gate alive, and it proved useful to help kill the revenants that appear after you press the switch after the blue door. The Plutonia Experiment style is emulated well, both in texture and enemy usage, providing a decent challenge despite its rather tame monster count.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Edited December 10, 2019 by Andromeda

Plutonium Winds by @darkreaver

 

Prboom-Plus, HMP, continuous play.

 

MAP12

The main thing here is to continue to constantly move and try to eliminate the chaingunner at the beginning. Otherwise, monster infighting really helps.

There is a chance that you can be blocked by monsters in a room with a blue key. A lot of HP was spent behind the fake exit, simply because I was instantly blocked by two spectres. I was lucky to have a few rockets left at the end. Death-exit still robs us of any equipment.

My Master Levels overview is eight (!) years old now but I think that it's still a good retrospective.

I don't have much experience beyond Ultimate Doom and Doom II, that's why I'm here! I thought trying select wads every month would be a nice intro to all the wads available without being swamped with the choice of where to start.

 

Anyway, here’s my newbie impressions:

 

MAP12: Sacrificial (Plutonium Winds)

GZDoom, UV, 1 Death, Time:5:55, 100% Kills

 

Talk about getting the heart pumping; that was hectic!

 

I've not played Plutonia Experiment yet so I don't really know what to expect other than the former's reputation.

 

After a very fast restart, running between switches whilst avoiding teaming death thing wasn't too hard once I got in the rhythm. After everything was dead I had a bit of a look around for the secret, but didn't find it. I wish I ended with a bit more health.

 

Other than the initial scare, I felt that the map had a nice escalation of threat without it being overwhelming.

I play with prboom+ on UV. I save each time I find a secret.

 

Map 12 : Sacrificial (Plutonium Winds)

 

 

Difficulty : Medium

 

I agree with the reviewers that this level provides a very brutal and therefore unconventional introduction compared to many first maps in Doom wads.

The level is short and warns you at the beginning of several things:

 

- darkreaver will not be generous with you regarding ammunition and health bonuses. You will have to manipulate the monsters so that they do part of the job for you (Hellknights). The rocket launcher is a powerful weapon but to be used sparingly.

 

- You will not necessarily have the monsters in front of you, you will have to move around a lot to avoid the projectiles that come from all sides. We shouldn't exaggerate, we're still very far from a wad like Swift Death. On the other hand, a beginner is highly likely to die at the first level.

 

- Darkreaver likes to create false hopes. He traps you first with a false exit and at the end he prevents you from keeping your weapons with a death exit. Anyway, I think the intention was to force the player to make the pistol-start to maintain the challenge.

 

I have nothing special to say about aesthetics, it's quite standard. On the other hand, the level is in boom format but has the appearance of a vanilla map.

 

In short, a short but violent level. I liked it, I tend to find a lot of map 01 quite boring.

 

9 hours ago, Paul977 said:

You missed a map for pwind @dobu gabu maru :

 

Oh damn this is a pretty crucial miss! I've updated the OP accordingly.

 

I plan to hop in for Master Levels since I've never played those before, but I gotta wrap up MAYhem first.

MAP12 - “Sacrificial”

 

It’s been a long time since I played Plutonia, but I have fond memories. If this mapset is designed to bring back those memories, then it does a good job. This map really captures the early Plutonia map feel, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay.

 

It’s a very small map in terms of area but packs a lot in. When I pressed the switch I feared for a second that I was very ill equipped to take on the hell knights, but the map opens up behind you to reveal a watery pool packed with hitscanners and imps. It took me a few tries to get through this. The berserk secret (and with it the extra shotgun ammo from the killed former sergeants) helped for sure.

 

The rest was simpler, because the monster spawns were much fewer in number, even if it did involve some revenants and an arch vile (arch vile on map 1, emulating Congo in that regard!). The map taunts at an exit a couple of times before revealing more monsters. The death exit is pretty damn loud.

 

The death exits mandates the player to play through pistol start, indicating it’s not balanced for continuous play – which, even as someone who is normally a continuous player – is totally fine by me, because I would much rather it be like this than no death exits but not balanced for continuous. A strong opener.

 

7 hours ago, The Nutty Neko said:

After everything was dead I had a bit of a look around for the secret, but didn't find it

 

To get to the secret:

 

 

Ahh, I finally have some time to get back into dooming, what a better way to start on it by playing some good old Masters of Doom II and some new Plutonia Styled maps?

Plutonium Winds: this is interesting, finally a Plutonia inspired mapset, and we start on an unusual way by beginning from MAP12, probably because the author wanted to use the Plutonia EP2's skybox. This mapset was finished in, according to Mr. Christian Lian (darkreaver), the author, in only 10 days! So I expect short, grindy, Plutonia Styled maps, so let's hope the gameplay is faithful to its gameplay, you know, well placed chaingunners and revenants. A classic.


MAP01 - "Sacrificial" (100% Completed)

I'll try to play, as always, on UV, as I like to get myself pummeled by trying to play wads the hard way.
What a harsh start, the map consist on a pretty short arena filled with some hell knights and some hitscanners, with some sergeants and imps snipping you from the walls. I can already feel the Plutonia styled carnage on this map, I died 4 times trying to progress from the start, and one more time at the end. How to tackle this map? Your best choice is to run for the shotgun, and kill the hitscanners as fast as you can, and then make the rest of them infight, if you manage to find the secret on the BK room, this is going to help you out a bit for removing the rest of the demons on the arena. Try getting it and doing so before you grab the BK, as you inmediately get it, it will start spawning some more monsters into the arena, and some revenants. Not a big problem dealing with them if you already cleared the arena before.
The map teases you two times with the exit, the first is the "Teleport" with the exit mark, which is not actually a teleport, the second one is the switch on the new room, which activates an Archvile trap. This is not that hard if you can anticipate him, as you can barrage him with rockets.
What a good start for the people who want to make a continuous gameplay; It already has a death exit...
...Is it because the map is called "Sacrificial" or is it going to be a recurring gimmick?

Really fun starting map, let's see tomorrow what more it has to offer.

Deaths: 5

Edited November 2, 2019 by DJVCardMaster

MAP13 - “Infestation of Evil”

"Hey, did you kill those Revenants? Well then, flip this here switch and watch them get revived by an Archvile! Now, we will repeat this process several times with increasing quantities of Revenants and Viles."

Annoying, obnoxious, repetitive; it's impressive how much of that is present in what is another relatively small map. Revenants + Vile backup is a tried and true combination, but I have never seen it employed this shamelessly. The one positive aspect is the arena-style fight when the blood raises, giving you a chance to run around, pick off some hitscanners, initiate infighting, and have a good time before 2 more back-to-back Revenant + Vile groups show up. The visuals are again minimalistic and easily pass for a vanilla map; especially the monotextured gray brick intro. 

I think the last time I roasted a map in the club was PRCP map21, so it's time to dust off my Ass/10 seal of disapproval.

MAP13 - “Infestation of Evil”

 

Wow this map is quite obnoxious with its regularity of using the revenant + arch vile combo, whilst also trolling you by not revealing the automap.

 

Each switch at the start leads to a battle in the cramped blood pit with that combo, the left hand fork being easier than the right hand fork. Somehow you need to try to quickly take out the arch vile without letting the revenants kill you in the process. Else your plasma ammo won’t last!

 

The central switch reveals the greater arena, again in an area that oozes Plutonia through and through, This battle is the map’s highlight, with an actual variety of monsters to kill. You'll need to quickly finish off the hitscanners, especially if you are low on health from the earlier battles. This battle is actually pretty forgiving as long as you are constantly on the move.

 

The RK battle is a much bigger test, with three arch viles and a mass of revenants spawning. Again here you want to try and get to the arch viles as quickly as possible without getting overwhelmed by the revenant spawn. Not easy, and it took a few tries.

 

Then the final battle reached by using the RK switch is comparatively easier, thanks to provoking infighting with the cyberdemon and revenants. The final arch vile was stuck by the exit for me and so was easy pickings. Another death exit which I guess will be the case for every map in this set.

 

So revenant + arch vile central. For that reason I want to hate it, but for some odd reason I actually like it lol

Map 13: "Infestation of Evil" 

Where m12 operates with conceptual finesse, this one is all fevered scraps involving everyone's favorite duo of irritation, the revenant and the archvile. These make such a common pairing because their attributes mesh so well. Cynical explains:  

 

  

The start is really all about rushing the viles so that they don't get encased behind revs. If that happens you will be in a nasty spot ammo-wise. The big yard brawl is a surprisingly intricate fight considering how crudely it is staged. [I had all these write-ups done already before the month started, and looking at comments now, that everyone agrees how crude it is to dump a ton of revvies and viles out there is not a surprise at all. :P] Holing up in the red key temple forever is not going to work out unless you get lucky; you need to push out at some point. Outside, cover exists in the form of those cuboid slabs and incidental structures, but the viles can spread out a lot and there are so many revs bearing down on you, so it is really not enough to rely on. Therefore the resulting dynamic is one where everything else -- distance management, quick opportunistic kills against archies, herding the crowd, and using rev missiles to distract viles -- is more relevant than cover. The last fight, if done last, is strategically simple: loop around the cyb as it is waking up so that it angers several of the bunch guarding the exit. However, more than half of the map's rocket supply is in this area, which points towards the option of coming here while the rev horde is still alive in the yard. Ultimately, though, the player is kept so fragile that this map is annoying to play aggressively. Medkits scattered out in the yard would have helped a lot. 

Edited November 2, 2019 by rdwpa

56 minutes ago, rdwpa said:

Ultimately, though, the player is kept so fragile that this map is annoying to play aggressively. Medkits scattered out in the yard would have helped a lot. 

Yep. I'm pretty sure  that I ate all the health outside to recover from the intro and the following mixed enemy fight. When it came to the 4 Viles + Rev horde, the remaining 2 Medikits were by the switch inside. More health and rockets would have been much appreciated.

MAP13 - “Infestation of Evil” (100% Completed?)

Not sure if I completed this or is this a bug with death exits and PrBoom+, as I decided to skip most of the final fight, so tell me if that's so.

Well, expectations for this quickly went down to the toilet as you start on a bland rocky area with a revenant fight in which you have to quickly get the plasma rifle and grind, press two switches which reveal more revenants and even archviles, and finally, when killing all of them, you can go up.
For some reason, I hate when the  map is not shown on the automap menu, I know, that's for not exposing the twist at the start of the level, but well, the entire map is just not visible, not that you actually need it that much, because the map is again, another arena, but this time pretty slaughter-ish.  This fight consist on quickly getting behind the first wall you find, getting some resources, trying to circle strafe to produce some infights, and proceed killing soldiers first, as always. Try first fully cleaning the arena before you go to the skull switch at the corner, since you'll make another AV appear. With the arena fully empty, this one is a piece of cake to take away.
Here is where the map made me throw all my stuff into places, where you get the RK. You'll make tons of revenants and 3 AV appear in the arena. I had no idea how to tackle this one, as here is where I died countless times (I counted them anyway, 21), trying to find a way to get out. Rushing out to the RK switch? Trying to reduce hellfire inside the room? Many tries 'till I finally succeeded at clearing the arena again "safely". I hit the switch and went down to the cave, trying to move the cyberdemon out and try to produce some infights. As I'm really bad, I could not even make the revs infight with the Cyberdemon properly, making enemies fill the arena agains, with AV's and stuff, so I decided to rush to the exit, quickly kill the AV, and teleport myself into another (oh god...) death exit.

Map length is easily stretched with big slaughter fights with one of the worst combinations of hellspawn you can have, AV's and Revs on the same room, and an entire horde of them. Not enough rockets to tackle them easier, and not a lot of spots you can use to hide from Archvile agression. 

Deaths: 31

Maps in order of preference:
 

Ok, difficulty curve scalated pretty quickly even considering the first map was not a walk in the park. This map can be described as actual CBT. I'm scared of this mapset in terms of difficulty. Hope it at least stays at the same level.
Oh, and by the way, this is not how Plutonia did its difficulty.

3 minutes ago, DJVCardMaster said:

Not sure if I completed this or is this a bug with death exits and PrBoom+, as I decided to skip most of the final fight, so tell me if that's so.

 

a) It is the type of slow death exit that relies on a Romero head's death sequence to end the level but kills you before it finishes, so you have to avoid hitting space for a few seconds. 

 

or 

 

b) If you are playing without specifying a complevel, go to options > setup > compatibility, and make sure 'dead players can exit level' is yes.

Map 14 : Infestation of evil

 

 

Difficulty : Medium

 

InFeStatiOn oF Evilzz lul. What a very generic title name. However , it was very memorable thanks to its gimmick using arch-viles and revenants. I really hesitated to classify this map as "Hard" rather than "medium", but in the end I thought that this level was not so hard if we had a prior knowledge of the traps.  My opinion is to be taken with some caution because I am a fairly experienced player without wanting to overestimate myself, I think this map can be very difficult for novice players.

 

A very strange level where the beginning could be like a jokemap or just an old D!zone map. We find ourselves in a visually very simplistic monotexturized "crevasse". The liquid rises and in the end we realize that we are in the middle of a large courtyard. Note that the automap has been totally hidden in order to reinforce the surprise! I must say that this is a good way to introduce the player into an arena because many mappers would have simply put a teleportation base or simply put a button in front of the player to raise the ground.

 

The very beginning perfectly introduces the gimmick of the level: it is necessary to kill the arch-viles sheltering behind the groups of revenants. We have a fairly large arsenal but we have to be very careful because the level contains little armor so attacks from the viles can very easily put us down.

 

The passage of the red key is probably the most tense but the player should know that arch-viles can easily infight with revenants  and especially injure themselves with their own flame. The final passage seems difficult but it is very easy to escape while the cyberdemon is killing the monsters.

 

In short, a memorable level that makes massive use of revenants and arch-viles.

 

MAP13: The starting part is so annoying. At first I was fearing that the whole map would be, something in the style of Hunted. Thankfully the things take a different turn when pass the starting pit and the floor raises to a big courtyard. The avs & revs combo is kept until the end though but from that point the map gets easier to manage. In the courtyard you just have to run around a lot, there's a nasty av that will appear on the place you'll likely go to get some cover. The avs & revs came back after you pick the RK but if anything it made me roll my eyes. The cyberdemon battle is clearly setup to make it infight with the rev horde that guards the exit. It's a map centered around a specific combo of monsters, at least it has some things to vary in the middle but if it was longer it would have certainly overstayed its welcome.

MAP13: Infestation of Evil (Plutonium Winds)

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HNTR-PS, no saves, 100% everything

 

Looks like hectic starts are a trademark of this set! You start in a blood river, immediately spotted by a number of revenants with only a plasma gun as your means of defense. The two paths that follow bring you to two switches, each one unleashing an arch-vile and a some revenants to distract you while the arch-vile is resurrecting everyone. Number one priority here is to kill the arch-viles before you run out of cell ammo - otherwise you're dead, assuming you haven't been killed already.

 

It's possible to exit this area with 100/100 if you employ some fancy footwork to dodge everything, as happened in my eventual survival. After this, a switch will raise the floor, revealing a big arena where you're surrounded on all sides by hitscanners, imps, demons and hell knights, while mancubi and more revenants attack you from higher ground. Here you finally get some health, so this initial fight is pretty forgiving. The red key temple sets off some more revenants and yet another arch-vile to the arena - hiding in the temple is not a good idea, as the monsters can quickly overwhelm you. Getting the arch-vile to infight and quickly kill it is the best course of action. For the final fight, it's a matter of provoking infighting between the cyberdemon and revenants, while minding the arch-vile that can be quite tricky to dispose of in this area with little cover. All in all, good stuff, my only criticism is the first section looks quite bland.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Edited December 24, 2019 by Andromeda

Plutonium Winds Playthrough!

MAP13

The beginning of this level is more luck-based. You are lucky if the first arch-vile bypassed the revenants and you dealt with it, if not, then there is a chance that you will run out of either ammo or health.

The last arch-vile and his retinue (in the starting pit) I lured a little to the side, and I managed to break out into the fresh air. What is noteworthy, the rest part of the level did not present much difficulties. Cyberdemon cracked down on most opposition.

 

Nevertheless, putting one medikit in the beginning would be useful.

Oh god.

Well, map13 (Infestation of Evulzzzz) is by far the worst map, I believe. I think? I hope.

MAP14 - "Deadly Intentons [sic]"

Possibly Deadly Intentions, but I'll trust Dobu's spelling in the OP.

 

After not being blown away by the 2 opening maps, I think this one's pretty kick ass. It's challenging while at the same time generous enough on resources for some fun encounters. There is a heavier focus on lock-in, setpiece-style encounters; some of which, like the Imp + Vile hallway or the triple-Cyber + Rev bash lean towards a more slaughter-lite direction. The opener is rather "prickly", as @rdwpa would say, forcing you to handle some high-damage enemies with only 100HP and no armour. Hope your tight hallway Rev dodging is on point! I really like the fight which opens up after said hallway with a large number of Imps and some Demons and Hell Knights. There is a well-placed ambush Vile which complicates the situation if the player moves too far into the room and, with scarce resources, you have to decide whether to limit your movement or have the Vile join the party. In a later section with the slimefall, I managed to soft-lock myself after straferunning into the room with the Rocket Launcher. Seems like the one next to it was the intended destination. Quite a few Cyberdemons make an appearance, with 4 present in the final area. I found it safer to 2-shot the first one, as having 4 wandering around and infighting Revs increases the likelihood of eating a stray rocket, which I did the first time. Although with that amount of cells, you can likely hold down the BFG trigger and melt the whole area. Cool map.  

Map 14: "Deadly Intentions" 

 

Earlier parts of this map feel dependent for excitement on resources running low at the right moments. The numerous archviles that are released into the start should get ensconced amid corpses and have your shells run dry, requiring you to hold them off via chaingun or make desperation dashes for dropped shotguns. On the red key path, you should run low on health, making every mistake against otherwise low-tier or low-numbered threats potentially injurious.

 

It is a bold decision, because if none of that happens, as was the case for me, what you get is protracted SSG grind, with the player hovering statically, up until just before the blue key. And even if it does happen but at the wrong moments, the action can become hopeless, because the layout is constricted enough that you can easily be boxed into one corner, without much of a chance to gamble and swoop up extra shells. darkreaver seemed especially cognizant of this, because not only are there a couple of secrets intended to soften the stodginess*, you are also given one of the most softballed archvile jump alternate routes ever, straight over the SSG at the start into the final area that grants you a BFG and lots of cells. And I much prefer the map that way. Measured play gives you a huge cache of cells to return to, and strategy over the rest of the map is reduced to 'Exactly how many BFG shots do I use on each group of overmatched foes?'. Following this 'route' you get the backpack late, so you have to continually return outside to restock, which isn't exactly thrilling. But you can't always have it all. 

 

 

*One of the secrets can be more accurately thought of as an alternative leg in the map's progression! Looking in the editor, there is a vestigial trigger dividing the two blue keys that would presumably lower the lift-fakeout barrier from the other direction when you crossed back from the secret. So it looks like you might have been intended to return to the map that way, maybe before darkreaver got the idea for that lift 'puzzle'. 

 

Note: the counter displays three secrets but one, being an errant flag, is inaccessible.

MAP14 - "Deadly Intentions"

 

This one I grew into as I went on. It has a lot of arch viles, and a lot of revenants, but not paired together this time. The first arch vile is right from the get go, and was my first focus to kill (arguably, the hitscanners may have been a better choice). Once you clear the first room, behind the door is chaingunner spam which is admittedly quite fun to tear through with the SSG.

 

Through the teleporter is the weakest part of the map. A monotextural corridor with you and a bunch of revenants. You can’t teleport back so you have no option but to kill them. Clever placement means you can clear them but it’s just a bit boring.

 

Then the bland corridor opens up into a wider, more standard techbase room. This is a much better battle (for one, I always like tearing through imps with the SSG) and encourages use of only half the area, because heading straight to the other side wakes up an arch vile which is best left to the end.

 

The RK switch triggers yet more arch viles, and a hasty retreat is needed to avoid a quick death. But it’s the next battle that’s the toughest. Yet more arch viles are accompanied by a whole bunch of chaingunners, and it’s really not easy at all to kill the arch viles without getting shredded by the chaingunners first.

 

After that it gets easier. The revenants are easy to circle strafe around, and the next arch vile battle (seriously, what is it with all these arch viles…) is much easier with the rocket launcher.

 

The map finishes with a bunch of cyber battles which are quite simple thanks to infighting with the revenants, and the provision of the plasma gun then BFG, with a very generous amount of plasma ammo.

 

The outdoor area had a bunch of poison with the ‘poison warning’ texture and yet it didn’t hurt you, which was weird. I would either have added minor damage (4-5%) or made it water. The sudden transition from poison to blood at the end is also odd, and doesn’t really fit. Especially as the map by and large is a techbase.

 

When I saw the exit I had 0/3 secrets. But since I knew a death exit was coming I had no incentive to find them (as I’m not a maxer).