The DWmegawad Club plays: SIGIL & Nihility & Back to Basics

[dobu gabu maru]

 

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 SIGIL HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD NIHILITY HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD BACK TO BASICS HERE<<<

 

John Romero’s SIGIL is out! Let’s play it! And after that’s done, we have two Ultimate Doom Episode 2 replacements to play: Years’s moody Nihility: Infinite Teeth (new enemies, sounds, & graphics!) and Espi’s masterful Back to Basics! Go out there and Rip and Tear!

 

We’re starting Sigil on the 1st, Nihility on the 10th, and Back to Basics on the 19th (so the secret maps get their own day).

 

Maplist for SIGIL:

E5M1 - “Baphomet’s Demesne”

E5M2 - “Sheol”

E5M3 - “Cages of the Damned”

E5M4 - “Paths of Wretchedness”

E5M5 - “Abaddon’s Void”

E5M6 - “Unspeakable Persecution”

E5M7 - “Nightmare Underworld”

E5M8 - “Halls of Perdition”

E5M9 - “Realm of Iblis”

 

Maplist for Nihility: Infinite Teeth

E2M1 - “Dammerung”

E2M2 - “Speicherung”

E2M3 - “Obstgarten”

E2M4 - “Die Hallen”

E2M5 - “Albtraum-Haus”

E2M6 - “Blutfabrik”

E2M7 - “Kloneteildienst”

E2M8 - “Bestrafung”

E2M9 - “Hirntod”

 

Maplist for Back to Basics

E2M1

E2M2

E2M3

E2M4

E2M5

E2M6

E2M7

E2M8

E2M9

 

BONUS CONTENT

Doomwiki: SIGIL

kmxexii reviews: Nihility

Making of SIGIL (shacknews)

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OLD THREADS

Spoiler

The DWmegawad Club Metathread

 

2012

• BF_THUD!
• Community Chest 4
• Jenesis
• MAYhem 2012
   

2013

• Memento Mori
• Interception
• 2002: A Doom Odyssey
• Hadephobia
• Coffee Break & Fava Beans & Double Impact
• HYMN
• Stardate 20X6 & Monochrome Mapping Project
• Realm of Chaos
• Back to Saturn X E1 & Favillesco E1
• Kama Sutra
• Unholy Realms & Zone 300
• Vile Flesh
• Ultimate Doom
   

2014

• Whitemare & Sacrament
• Scythe
• Epic 2
• Whitemare 2
• Sunder & Countdown to Extinction
• Doom 2 the Way id Did
• MAYhem2048
• Stomper
• Back to Saturn X E2
• Going Down
• Rylayeh & Crimson Canyon & Azagthoth
• Serenity & Eternity & Infinity
   

2015

• Resurgence
• Requiem
• ConC.E.R.N.ed & Draft Excluder
• Doom 2 Reloaded
• Valiant
• Scythe 2
• NOVA II
• STRAIN
• Icarus: Alien Vanguard
• Sunlust
• Plutonia 2
• Revolution!
   

2016

• 50 Shades of Graytall & Erkattäññe
• Hell Revealed
• Vanguard, Hell Ground, Bloody Steel
• Eternal Doom
• Japanese Community Project
• Ancient Aliens
• Bloodstain
• Estranged
• Alien Vendetta
• THT: Threnody & No Rest for the Living
• Hellbound
• Echelon & Mutiny
   

2017

• TNT: Evilution
• TNT: Revilution
• No End in Sight
• Speed of Doom
• Urania
• Newgothic Movement II & Deus Vult II
• Slaughter Until Death & The Evil Unleashed & Obituary
• Moonblood
• Crumpets & Stardate20X7 & Rush
• Plutonia Revisited Community Project
• 3 Heures d’agonie 3
• The Darkening, The Darkening 2, & Crusades
   

2018

• Reverie
• Tangerine Nightmare & UAC Ultra & Realm of Shades
• Eternal Slumber Party
• Super Mayhem 17
• 99 Ways to Die & The Troopers’ Playground & The Talosian Incident
• Dimension of the Boomed & MAYhem 2016
• Struggle
• Disjunction, Scythe X, Counterattack
• Heroes’ Tales
• Doom 404
• Memento Mori 2
• Deathless
   

2019

• A.L.T.
• Dawn of the Dead & Earth & Classic Episode
• Eviternity
• Avactor & Deadly Standards
• ESP 2
   

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

[Egg Boy]

Never played the latter 2! Count me in.

[Alper002]

While lurking here I've always been interested in these megawad club threads, and participating in them. I'm definetely gonna participate at least a little bit this time!

[Suitepee]

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/432660411 = part 1 of SIGIL. (starts at 38:00)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/432661508 = part 1b of SIGIL.

 

SIGIL was awesome to play through.

[Spectre01]

Quote

E5M5 - “Abaddon’s Vid”

Should be "Abaddon's Void" @dobu gabu maru :P

[dobu gabu maru]

Going to be playing through SIGIL for the first time if anyone wants to watch: https://www.twitch.tv/dobu_gm

[Beezle]

Played map e5m1 several times and thoroughly enjoyed it, e5m2 was kicking my ass cuz I was trying to go toe to toe with the Baron after grabbing the berserker pack lol. Has anyone noticed that when you start map e5m1 on Nightmare, or sometimes even UV, you can't move forward at first? Is it cuz of the Spectre? Playing on Doom Retro.

[Salt-Man Z]

Well, shoot, I'm currently on M7 of SIGIL, but I'll give it a replay (this time on HMP with Jimmy's MIDIs) for the Club. And Nihility is already on my shortlist of WADs to get to...

[Urthar]

There's quite a bit going on here in this inventive first level. Romero introduces us to the

visual language cues for the episode, such as the Evil Eye triggers, and the Demonic exit.

He establishes the precarious nature of our journey through this episode, both physically

with the often narrow ledges and walkways suspended above deadly lava, and psychologically

with the quite limited amounts of ammo and resources available to deal with the opposition

that springs out at us from the ubiquitous darkness.

 

Suffice to say, he doesn't want us feeling safe or in control of the situation. Things get

easier if we manage to find some secrets, but the rewards while often substantial, are

quickly spent.

 

Visually, the map is rougly hewn, but good use of colour and texture pulls everthing together.

The lighting guides us where it needs to, silhouettes half seen foes, and hides lurking threats.

 

Basically, this is a great opening map.

Edited December 6, 2019 by Urthar

[Catpho]

More stuff to link in the OP:

-Icon of Sin: Doom and the Making of John Romero's Sigil

-kmxexii reviews Nihility: Infinite Teeth

[Beezle]

Thanks Catpho! I'm now on map 04, really enjoyed the 1st three maps but they all seem to be a little short. Really fun though, died many times on map 2, and that's playing on HMP lol. UV tends to really focus on smart monster placement so there's lots of good fights in tight quarters.

[DuckReconMajor]

The free wad has bugfixes right? I used the free wad with SIGIL_SHREDS.wad

 

Anyway I waited for this to finish MAP01 on UV. Great map, took me a few tries, but when I found the soulsphere secret it made things more manageable. 

 

I played through once with each soundtrack, and both Bucket and Jimmy have done a fantastic job so far. This is the first time I've sat at the opening/intermission screens just to listen to the music. 

[Beezle]

5 minutes ago, DuckReconMajor said:

The free wad has bugfixes right? I used the free wad with SIGIL_SHREDS.wad

 

Yeah the free wad is more up to date, John Romero said in a tweet that owners of the wad before its release should load 1.1 with Sigil_shreds, not sure what was updated though, people have had a lot of trouble with crushers in map 04, maybe something to do with that? 

[Egg Boy]

Here goes!

 

WAD: Sigil_compat.wad

 

Source Port: PrBoom-Plus

 

Difficulty: Hurt Me Plenty

 

Play-style: Continuous

 

Secrets: 4/4

 

Notes: I'm playing without Sigil_Shreds this time, I want to hear those sweet, sweet Jimmy Midis.

 

E3M1: Baphomet's Demesne

Spoiler

I love how this map introduces the shootable eye in the first room, a trend that will continue throughout the mapset. Despite the extremely limited stock textures, Romero crafts a dark atmosphere rich with impaled skulls and bright red stone. If anything this map proves that Romero's still got it. Nothing too challenging on HMP, a few imps here and there, a shotgunner or two, nothing high tier in the least. The final room is a bit cramped (especially in UV) and it's quite easy to exit while attempting to circle strafe the demons within. Overall, a highly entertaining opener to a pretty good episode. Can't wait to get to the real ball busters, however. 4/5

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Egg Boy

[riderr3]

Sigil_compat.wad, HMP, continuous play, PrBoom-Plus.

E3M1
The midi music is very fits this map, Jimmy does his best. I like those little puzzles with evil eyes.

I though this map will be longer and less linear, but serving as opener, it's good as is.

The radsuit probably hidden in secret, and I suddenly exited when have 24% HP. Should be more careful with those narrow ledges and lava.

Edited June 1, 2019 by riderr3

[Salt-Man Z]

1 hour ago, DuckReconMajor said:

The free wad has bugfixes right? I used the free wad with SIGIL_SHREDS.wad

 

Technically, the WAD is "free" in all ways you could have acquired it. I paid the €6.66 to buy it off Romero's site with the Buckethead soundtrack, and then the other day I got an email with a link to the v1.1 download.

 

1 hour ago, Beezle said:

Yeah the free wad is more up to date, John Romero said in a tweet that owners of the wad before its release should load 1.1 with Sigil_shreds, not sure what was updated though, people have had a lot of trouble with crushers in map 04, maybe something to do with that? 

 

The v1.1 details can be found here and the next couple of posts. A lot of various bugfixes, perhaps most notably swapping the "path open"/"eye close" triggers for the eye switches so as to the fix the fairly-common bug where the eye would close, but the path wouldn't open.

 

 

[Alper002]

My first experience of this mapset was version 1.1 on Hurt me plenty, and I'll be playing through these maps again on... Hurt me plenty.

I have seen what SIGIL is like on Ultra-Violence, and it looks to not be my cup of tea, so I won't try that.

In regards to E5M1, I find it a very short and sweet map. It's a little tough in places, but nothing too extreme.

[xdarkmasterx]

cool, i've never done this before so i'd like 2 give it a go :)

 

port: crispy doom, pistol start, UV

 

e3m1 (100/100/100): This short opener is nowhere near as nasty as the beginning of ThyFlesh was (which i'm sure most players are glad of :p). from what i've played of the rest of the wad (at level 5 right now) There are a number of design aspects which run throughout the episode: namely, abundant pain floors, light platforming, restricted movement-range and those shootable eyes which raise various floors around the level.

 

The combat is nothing out of the ordinary, opposition is light and there is plentiful ammo which u can to kill them with. Red hell isn't my favourite style but I enjoyed the verical appearance of the cavern and that vista with the red lines which u can see from the soulsphere secret was rather nice, too.

 

i didn't appreciate the abrupt exit, though. i want to edxplore dam it XD, fortunately i had 100% before i went in (i'll be looking for all secrets until i find the secret level, at least)

Edited June 2, 2019 by xdarkmasterx

[Magnusblitz]

Woo Sigil! Just playing the free download version with the default soundtrack, ZDoom with mouselook, saving as I feel like, continuous for now, UV even though everyone said HMP.

 

E5M1: Baphomet's Demesne

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

 

There's a couple bits that can catch an unwary player off guard, as there's some limited space to move on the platforms and a few spots shotgunners can get a bead on your unarmored body, but certainly nothing as nasty as E4M1. Just take the fights one at a time and you'll be fine. I did like the chain of secrets heading to the chaingun. Also get a nice vista to look at too. Probably the main thing is learning about the evil eye shoot-switches and baphomet mural-exits, and this level does a good job of introducing them (although it is possible to exit the mural by mistake trying to get out of close quarters with the caco at the top of the lift).

[Spectre01]

I did a continuous UV run in PRBoom+ not too long ago, so I'll drop in with my impressions.

 

E5M1 - “Baphomet’s Demesne”

A bit of a hot start here, both being surrounded by enemies and the various fire textures. That Spectre is barely visible in Software for me against that colour theme. The gist of this map is raising the bridge and not falling into the shit, since you have no armour and only a secret Soulsphere in the way of health. The eye mechanic is intuitive and is an interesting method of tying progression to forcing the player to shoot, thereby making sure that Pacifisters don't break the teleport traps.  Not a huge fan of the 20% lava leading up to the secret Chaingun, what with the leaky suit and all. The final trap is legitimately good, if not for the fact that it's super easy to accidentally trigger the exit by just avoiding the Pinkies. Oh yeah, and don't fall back down the lift unless you want to get infinite height eaten by the Caco. Fitting midi choice.

Edited June 2, 2019 by Spectre01

[Egg Boy]

WAD: Sigil_compat.wad

 

Source Port: PrBoom-Plus

 

Difficulty: Hurt Me Plenty

 

Play-style: Continuous

 

Secrets: 3/4

 

Notes: I'm playing without Sigil_Shreds this time, I want to hear those sweet, sweet Jimmy Midis.

 

E3M2: Sheol

Spoiler

Another short but sweet map. Didn't care for shotgunning 2 barons, but the bestiary is limited considering this is the Ultimate Doom. The architecture is kind of surreal, which I appreciate, completely. Not too much to say, this one is fairly short. Its definitely one of my favorites in the wad.

 

Edited June 3, 2019 by Egg Boy

[riderr3]

E3M2

This is more like Thy Flesh Consumed, only in more sophisticated form. The gameplay here comes down to narrow ledges, lava pits, point-blank shots from shotgunners and limited first-aid kits. The soulsphere was very useful and thankfully I found the blue armor.

If you play in a bright room with a glossy display, even with software render there is very dark, consider you can fall down accidentally, so I changed gamma to 2.

I assume that here it is proposed to cope with the baron near the red key with the help of a boomstick, but I do not intend to do this and just stole this key from under his nose and ran away, which later brought me trouble - the baron got out when I got close to the end of the level (big demon carving).

[gaspe]

Already played SIGIL but I want to give it another run to revisit the design of the maps and search for the the secrets I didn't find. From M3 I played in continuous since the tight ammo and health didn't make for an enjoyable blind playthrough, so I will retry to do pistol starts now that I have some knowledge of the maps.

 

E5M1: It's short and has a very simple concept where you basically have to follow a linear path to the exit but it's very interesting with the intriduction of the eye mechanic  so you can interact with the level to raise the platform ahead so you can progress. Outside the main route you have the secrets, 3 of them are in succession and there's a little of platforming to do, with their rewards you also have an additional view of scenery of the cave. The theme, as well for the other maps, is your standard hell with the stock Doom 1 resources. Not really groundbreaking but the recurring use of those bright red crackles as detail gives a cool  and unique touch, the other maps are more distinctive.

E5M2: Set in the middle of nowhere this level has a more interesting theme. Some precarious parts of walking on tiny ledges, all around there's a sea of 20% damaging lava plus the darkness become more prominent. The barons are introduced while you still have only the SG/CG as weapons, on the other hand the map is rather generous with the health with a total of 3 soulspsheres (2 are secrets) for this short map. Also the cyberdemon makes it first apparition even though it feels wasted since you can telefrag it easily and it is trapped in a place where it can't do much.

[Alper002]

E5M2: The first map that was so dark I was inclined to use the automap. That red key area is spooky to navigate, at least for me, since I can't be sure if I'm accidentally moving off the platform.

Otherwise, the map is kind of challenging on HMP, but since i found some secrets it was a cakewalk.

Something you may notice when playing this wad on HMP compared to UV is the lack of cybies. There's no cyberdemon here, and to spoil as little as possible, there are very few coming up in the future as well. I have a feeling most of the cybies were added just to make the levels harder to be honest.

[Salt-Man Z]

1 hour ago, Alper002 said:

Something you may notice when playing this wad on HMP compared to UV is the lack of cybies. There's no cyberdemon here, and to spoil as little as possible, there are very few coming up in the future as well. I have a feeling most of the cybies were added just to make the levels harder to be honest.

To be fair, all of the cybies through M5 are at least

telefraggable.

[z_bill]

These first two maps are pretty damned impressive in my opinion. The new eye shoot mechanic is great and introduced absolutely perfectly, from a game design perspective. The amount of teaching Romero does here is good: he doesn't assume his audience just knows everything already ("You've played Doom a million times!"), ie: the eye puzzle raising up the walkways...and also I really appreciated how he telegraphed the first secret with the ledge over to the "diorama" area (J.P. Lebreton in his first playthrough described this level as like a DisneyWorld rollercoaster/tram, watching the scenes as you ride by. Clever! Like a Doom amusement park!)

 

I like the pacing and secrets are good so far. The first tough enemy being "caged" and sorta optional is cool, like "do I want to fight him yet?" The only part I don't think is obvious is the pedestal warps in e5m2. Doubt I would have figured that out on my own. 

 

Cool stuff, happy to be contributing to DWmegawad thread! 

[Catpho]

E5M1 - “Baphomet’s Demesne”

Sigil's crash course gets quite a number of things done. The evil eye is probably the most talked about mechanic in the set: a pretty cool and clever progression motif that gives the episode it's own flavor. But that's not all the lessons M1 has in store! Attrition and abusive geometry will be a prominent menace, what with the uncomfortable walkways barely wide enough to stop a fall into red hot magma and stalking shotgunners chipping away at your already limited stimpacks. Vicious death traps aren't out of the equation either, with the exit fight housing one hell of a jumpscare. It's easy to panic out of there, sure, but you can't help but think it won't be so lenient next time (bwhahaha) . One of the coolest things here, though, is the secret chain! Finding all those hidden goodies and areas is often rewarding not just because of their material prize but the sense of accomplishment during the journey itself. This map in particular has a particularly striking vista tucked away. Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be repeated for the later levels, a shame because this was a delicious incentive!

The most important lesson of all is that inn the span of a level that can be finished in less than thirty seconds, Romero introduced familiar concepts in new and exciting ways, clearly reveling in his love for Doom 1. The path ahead is certain to be painful, but this intro promises our future deaths will be in good hands.

Some screenies:

Spoiler

 

[Magnusblitz]

E5M2: Sheol

97% kills, 3/4 secrets

 

Ended up leaving the cyberdemon alive after repeatedly trying to telefrag it and failing, decided to keep my 30 shells. At the beginning I was thinking it might be a similar design to E5M1 walking across bridges, but that's only a short bit of the map, as you then instead curl back around and burrow through the marble under the watchful eye of the cyberdemon. He's not hard to avoid if you're paying attention but he might surprise you with some angles if you forget about him (such as plinking away at the baron guarding the red key from below). The last room again feels like busywork when you can just read out and run into the baphoment mural. Secrets are pretty well designed, except for maybe the one I missed (first soulsphere) that feels basically blind. Also I think John forgot to properly peg his door edges on the red key door.

[xdarkmasterx]

e3m2 (100/100/100): The difficulty ramps up a little with some fairly cramped fights against barons and cacodemons, but it's not too much harder than the first one. the cyberdemon had me worried that i'd end up teleporting when he wasn't on the destination and get shot in the back, but thankfully i managed it on my first try.

 

The "void" setting here is pretty interesting, i like the way the red torches and lines on the building stand out against the darkness, flesh textures are always good to see too

 

In the end, it took me a while to find the secret near the beginning of the level (i save at the end and go back to look), it might be obvious to find in the end but i ended up happening upon it by humping some random walls :p

[DuckReconMajor]

E5M2 is definitely much harder, took about a dozen attempts or so. Still a ton of fun. I didn't discover the first Beserk secret until the end, and even then it didn't seem to help much. Played through again with both Buckethead and Jimmy tracks, both again are awesome. I think this is one of my favorite Jimmy tracks.

Recorded my first attempt

 

Spoiler