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

[Urthar]

"Hnnng-ahhh, hrng, unggg..."

 

So here it is ladies and gentlemen. If you were ever curious as what might be the Greatest Doom Map Ever Made with stock textures

and vanilla limits, then wonder no more, for here it is. A young man from Finland named Esa Repo made it 12 years ago, look upon his

works ye mighty and despair.

 

Hyperbole aside, it doesn't just look good, it plays well too. It's tightly focused with no filler to speak of, and has a few fairly intense

fights at close quarters. At least within the context and general difficulty level of the episode as a whole. There are any number of mapsets

down the years than have been more action packed, faster paced and more creative with encounter design, but this is pretty good.

There's quite a few secrets, not all of which I think I've ever found, so I think might have another go and admire the scenery.

 

Anyway, if E2M5 inspired me to want to make a Doom map of mine own, then this one sealed the deal. In terms of craftsmanship this is

just incredibly well done. And I'm very glad I got the excuse this month to replay it.

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by Urthar

[Capellan]

+++ Nanopineapple 2018

 

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

E2M7

 

If the bulk of Back to Basics has been dedicated to carefully interconnected techbases constructed out of lovingly interleaved and interwoven subsections, this map represents a shift both from techbases to an almost purely Hellish experience and from exploratory gameplay to a more monodirectional exercise.  The opening techbase section of the map squats atop a gaping wound between Deimos and Hell, though the jury is still out as to whether the mutilated Deimos side of that rift represents the entry wound of a too-greedy too-deep delving into things best left untouched, or an exit wound of an infernal eruption or demonic invasion.  The way is open, and the only way to go is down.

 

That isn't to say that there's a straight and clear path from start to finish open to you, or that you're compelled to backtrack through the whole of the map's convolutions if you want to search the early areas of the level for secrets you might have missed; the player's downward progress is directed through twists, spirals, and undulations, and there are a couple of points at which a lift, door, or set of stairs offers a shortcut back to higher, safer ground once you've delved to a sufficient depth.  There's also a sense of certain areas in the later, lower portion of the map reflecting earlier rooms as though in a warped funhouse mirror; I'm thinking particularly of the start room here, with its ceiling decoration and gently curled half-spiral staircase, and the "choke point" room at about the level's two-thirds mark, right before the chapel-like chamber from which you proceed (ever downard) into the undercroft.

 

This also feels like the point at which the WAD remembers it has teeth and ought to use them; there are a number of tough close-quarter encounters that are simplified by the use of the BFG, so you'd best hope you either brought one from an earlier level or found the map's secret armoury.  There's definitely a different feeling and pace to the map's encounters compared to those in the earlier levels, with the more straightforward layout contributing less of a sense of creeping dread and more one of fierce resistance; you're pushing constantly forward and downward, rather than squirming through the tangles of a maze, and so ahead is generally where you'll find the greatest threat, rather than emerging behind and around you from every quarter.

[FrancisT218]

+++Whispers of Satan

[gaspe]

E2M7: This is probably the most diverse map as there are quite many themes stitched together, the familiar browns and grey stone, startan and the hell parts of flesh, wood and red marble that this time steal the scene from the tech areas. I don't know how to feel exactly about the hell that suddenly is so prominent, I would have liked to see introduced it more previously. The parts where hell is linked to the techbase are really cool, with bricks and startan that fall apart while the flesh and bones keep overgrowing. My favourite area was the computer room inside the wooden halls. The combats were serviceable enough for the slaw crawling into these halls, the first barons at the elevator posed a nice little challenge. The locked setup before the exit was weird, it felt something totally out of place and rushed just to fill in that space. To be honest I don't recall so much of what was going on in this map, I'm sure that I played it but that's it.

 

+++whispers of satan, let's see how many level of this I can bear this time

[Walter confetti]

++++ Doomworld Mega Project 2018

[Alper002]

Spawning vats? What is the spawn that these vats spawn? Hellspawn?

E2M7 Was a fun map. I decided to play this one saveless as well(Except the one I made at the start of the map). Didn't suffer quite as many causalties, though. Even then, there were some close calls, like the barons and cacos teleporting in near the end of the map. I liked the map aesthetically, it started off like a techbase, but something was clearly wrong. As you delved deeper and deeper there was more flesh on the walls, until you were completely engulfed in hell. Fitting of the hellish look, the monsters were tough to fight as well. If I saw some areas of the map again I could probably point at a few of them and say that I had a close call there. Interestingly, I started the map with very low health, yet I managed to beat it relatively easily and with a lot of resources in reserve. Not that it matters since to exit the level you have to die...

I liked this map a lot, honestly!

[Sui Generis]

Nihility - Prboom+ UV continuous

 

E2M6 - “Blutfabrik” (Blood factory)
This is a gentler paced map compared with the secret level and somewhat less remarkable too, with a much more room-by-room, smaller scale approach. This level is more like a rabbit-warren punctuated by a few larger areas and hot blood, which acts as a unifying theme. Consequently there is less room for monsters and we have smaller encounters, but the environment instead takes up some of the slack as a hazard, with the aforementioned blood and then memorably, the crushing floor area in the spiral section.

 

Like E2M3, I don't have quite so much to say about this map - it certainly has a better layout than M3 did and has more memorable features, but otherwise after the cavernous secret map and the strong showing of M4 and M5, this one is rather less like the norm. It's good as a break map I guess.

Incidentally, this is the map where I lost my 100% streak on secrets, as in spite of a late rush of getting virtually all of them after the map was cleared, I couldn't find what the switch in the "NO LIFE" room did. I decided to call it quits.

 

E2M7 - “Kloneteildienst” (Clones facility...?)
Although in some ways, this is in line with much of the episode, with a good part of it being room by room, I think this map was more of an outlier in that it felt closer in texturing and lighting to what a typical E2 replacement wad would. There are darker areas and still good use of contrasting light sources, this overall seems brighter and more 'conventionally E2' than the rest of the wad so far. In it's own way I found this quite refreshing. Also in contrast to the previous map (which in many ways could've fit into an iwad E3 style episode imo) this one was more open. Although it's mostly not a patch on the great empty spaces of the secret map or the wide openness of M3, it does feature more of the individually large areas - in particular the low down 'channel' area in the middle of the map leading to the key gates and exit comes to mind along with some others. In a sense that part is also reminiscent of iwad E1M7 too, with it's windowed corridors looking across slime channels. The reduced claustrophobia compared with M6, plus the windows providing various overlooks of yet to be visited areas serve to make this map easier to navigate than the rabbit warren of M6, in my opinion. Plus, the green marble area is an element of traditional iwad E2 which has been largely toned down in Nihility. It's return in this map also helps differentiate it a little more from the rest of the pack.

 

Combat-wise, this map turns up the dial - I was first surprised (but I really shouldn't have been) by the lighting change in the low-ceilinged crate area; "Oh the lights have changed, I guess something will happen now" I thought - I did not bank on quite that many wraiths teleporting in so close though! Still, having already been punished for being too casual with weapon switching all the way back on E2M3, I belatedly took out my machine gun and limited my losses to having my cherished 200% health armour that I was jealously conserving from M6 being halved. After that and another wraith surprise whilst admiring the cool scrolling alpha texture in the medical area immediately after, I resolved to take ominous looking sections more seriously and made good on the baron trap at the key in the flooded infirmary. There are still places that can trip up the player, in particular the suicide zombies sneaking around the corner in the green marble area and the aforementioned central area, but otherwise careful play and consideration of the new monster's abilities should see you through.

 

I broadly like this map, in part because of it's positioning in the episode to slightly counter the feel of the earlier maps, but also I find it more varied, better integrated with the foreshadowing and easier to navigate. I did not however find that many secrets and will suffer to make do with just 4/8. In particular I never figured out what a couple of switches did in the latter part of the map near the second crate area. One final note of disappointment is that the final area (vaguely reminiscent of iwad E1M4) feels anti-climactic, like it needed a good trap, so as to acknowledge the build-up of what you have been working through the map towards. Surely a warp in of grey rapid fire imps on the ledges, along with a bunch of wraiths and demons coming from behind has gone astray here! As it is, the ending feels like something of a damp squib to me, and not what the combat in the central area led me to believe I was working towards.

But otherwise, jolly good.

[Urthar]

Showtime!

 

This is an interesting little map. Espi clearly wanted to choreograph what happened here, by using a death-exit on the last map, but at

the same time he's offering us choices in how the events of the map unfold. Potentionally you can end up starring at a Cyberdemon with

just a shotgun in hand, but chances are you'll have fought through the ancillary section of the map and secured some better armaments.

 

The plasma gun is the preferred weapon of choice, but if you're unable to unlock it's secrets then you're probably looking at having a

rocket duel with the big fella, and there's more than sufficent space to do so. The majority of Doomworld veterans aren't going to have

any problems here, and there a suggestion that perhaps this map was toned down in development, perhaps to better conform with the

tone of the episode as a whole. Because I can't help but look at that blood, and think that originally it might have been a damaging

surface. Additionally, the construction of the map suggests that there might have been two Cyberdemons here at some point. (I'm not

sure what happens if you place two Cyberdemons in E2M8. Would you only have to kill one?)

 

Or perhaps not, maybe it always intended to be as it is. Regardless, architecturally this is another very nice map and a suitably heroic

finale to one of my personal favorite mapsets. If you liked it, you should probably check out Suspended In Dusk.

 

Edited December 6, 2019 by Urthar

[Magnusblitz]

At least gonna finish up Nihility...

 

Nihility E2M8: Bestrafung

9/10 secrets

 

No singular boss arena here, instead it's the biggest/longest level so far, though still with the cyberdemon at the end. All the monsters get used quite effectively here, with some good ambushes from the get-go (especially those involving the wraiths or suicide bombers, even if the monster closets get a tad predictable here, those two monsters always give a good jolt of adrenaline on reveal). Never got lost, though I certainly felt like I was bumbling through the level on accident a few places. Got good use out of the invuln spheres for once as well. It does drag on a bit too long I feel - you'll get past the last key door and still have a third of the level's monsters left, with a procession of what could pass for final battles before finally reaching the cyberdemon, which actually feels a bit underwhelming thanks to the freebie invuln.

 

Overall, Nihility grew on me... I admit I took awhile to warm up to it since it starts off with a lot of my pet peeves such as blatant IWAD homages and some ugly texture/sound replacements (the alpha stuff was left on the cutting room floor for a reason, people!). And the lack of music! I can see what the author was going for but I still cannot help but feel that decision horribly missed the mark. As the episode unfolds though, the homages go away, and the better and more interesting monsters get introduced. I've already lauded the wraith and suicide bomber a ton, but the baron upgrade makes for a good boss monster as well and the turret imp/barons get used decently well in spots. The last couple levels are maybe a mite too long but that's a minor complaint, and the levels all do have a good helping of that IWAD style layout/design without feeling too out-of-date. The meshing of old-school level design with custom enemies is an interesting one, but it strikes a good balance. Overall I'd say it's a solid set, but a couple of disagreeable decisions keep it from being great or must-play in my book.

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

E2M8

 

After spending seven maps (eight if you found the secret) stockpiling weapons and ammunition, E2M7's death exit strips you of your hard-won arsenal and compels you to rebuild it from scratch here as you fight your way through a succession of fortified chambers toward the final, inevitable confrontation with the Cybdermon at its heart - because what else could the climax of Back to Basics be?  The singular design motif here is the metal and red stone theme that marked the deeper, inner potions of E2M7, with the layout serving as the bottom/centre of that map's downward spiral; you can traverse the whole outer spiral in a clockwise fashion if you like, or take a shortcut through the central arena to tackle about three-quarters of the spiral backwards instead, or even ignore the lion's share of it entirely if you don't mind missing out on the rocket launcher, chaingun, and secret plasma gun - though I suspect most players don't much fancy the idea of taking on the Cyberdemon with a shotgun.  I do like the prominently elevated invulnerability sphere; once you've had a peek at the central arena it's obvious how to get to it, so while it's tagged as a secret it's more of an option that's laid bare to you: "Do you want to be invulnerable while you face the Cyberdemon, or not?"  There's enough plasma provided that you can simply hose down the boss during the window of invincibility that's available; basically it's up to the player how challenging or otherwise they want that final duel to be.

 

Also,

+++ Whispers of Satan

[Alper002]

Tower of Babel? More like Tower of Babble!

E2M8 had an interesting approach to a boss map. Instead of either just being the boss itself or having the boss come after a normal level, you instead go through a level circling around the arena which you can conveniently enter at nearly any time. Because of the increasing amount of resources you'll gain for going through all of those sections, going through everything might be optimal. However, if you're challenging yourself, you can even go face the cyberdemon with just a shotgun!

I decided to play this map saveless, since I'm forced to pistol start anyway. The first attempt failed because I didn't think about where I was going much.. The second attempt succeeded by me accidentally finding the secret that led to the invincibility sphere, in the room with the rocket launcher. Thanks to that, I somehow beat the cyberdemon with just a rocket launcher and a shotgun. And also a bunch of ammo that was lying around. Anyhow, after I beat the level, I immediately wanted to try again and see what I missed. I'm probably gonna go now to play the map a little just to see everything and beat that cybie easily.

 

14 hours ago, Urthar said:

(I'm not sure what happens if you place two Cyberdemons in E2M8. Would you only have to kill one?)

Tested it out right now with a quick map and some chocolate doom, placing multiple cyberdemons in E2M8 means having to kill all of them. If there were previously two cyberdemons in this map, I wouldn't be surprised if it was changed for reasons related to difficulty rather than anything else.

[eulo]

Hi! I'm a bit late to the party, but I gave Sigil another time yesterday, and here is my level-to-level breakdown, with UV/continuous. Admittedly this is not my first playthrough of the wad, I've cleared it a few times on HMP and once on UV already. The difference between the two skills are notable, even a single cacodemon in the end of E5M1 made a difference, but the additional cybies in M5 and M6 were huge, not to mention the extra YK Baron in M7, which made that portion a lot harder even for those with knowledge of the level, and what to expect there. In my playthrough I triggered all secrets, I think most of them are quite necessary for a succesful playthrough for those with no outstanding skill like me.

 

E5M1: Baphomet's Demesne

 

This is the first time I've ever met with the word "demesne", and had to look up in a dictionary what does it mean, and how to pronounce it. Well, it's synonymous to "domain", just with an e instead of o, and a funny archaic spelling. Anyway, the map clearly throws you under the bus right from the start as imps and a spectre attack you as soon as you start the level. The map introduces the episode's most distinct feature, the eye shooting mechanism. You know what, Romero can be criticised for many things, but he really knows his stuff in Doom mapping, and he is one of the few who can breathe fresh ideas to this 25 year old game. This is certainly a fresh and clever idea, you can only wonder how nobody came up with this so far in the last 2 decades. I bet in future wads, the illuminati eye will always be linked to a shootable wall, it's the way Romero has visual influence on the community. Another clever idea was the ending, as instead of the classic episode 1 exit door and switch (which had been overused by now), you see the Baphomet sign as exit. I think it was a questionable feature to end this level without triggering a switch though, in both M1 and M2 you can end the level earlier than you want by accidentally running into the picture. But even with this, I'm happy that the levels of Sigil have something that most userlevels struggle with: character.

 

The map itself is overall an introductory map, OK by the standards of the episode, very short, very red and very linear, your job is to build up the platform by shooting the eyes, and that's it. Romero said it was the latest level he made, and it shows by it's tutorial feel (just like the good ol' Hangar). The most notable extra here is the way the secrets were added: they are built in a chain, if you don't find the first one, you won't find the rest without heavy damage. The area with the glowing cracks and pentagrams look mightily impressive, and even more so, I love the way you can see it from two different perspectives, and you can even see the soulsphere area from the later chaingun area. Romero's genius can be seen how he makes a real sense of place in his levels like this.

 

8/10

 

E5M2: Sheol

 

Sheol means... whatever. While this map is also short, it looks much better than M1 (not that it looks bad, but Sigil has a great standard in leveldesign IMHO), and it's one of my favourites in the pack. The level largery reminds me of Perfect Hatred, but with a more sophisticated design. The similarities don't end with the start, when you see the shotgunners' back ahead of you. The level is very similar in it's basic premise as well by having a tight movable area surrounded with the harmful void, and you need to navigate through catwalks as well, another Romeroish feature in Sigil (also based on Living End and Perfect Hatred). The overall visual narrative of this map is that it's a little, lost fragment of once human construction corrupted by fleshy areas hovering above the hell itself. I also like how the teleport zones were marked in this level (with carefully introducing them in a safer area). It looks very impressive and professional.

 

Gameplay wise the map is significantly easier though, much more playable than the level it "remade". The start is tricky, now you can't wait for the imps forever to infight the shotgunners, since they can teleport in front of you, and you're grounded. The Baron makes the first visit in the episode, and now you have to kill it only with the pea-shooter shotgun at your disposal, no other options are available (chaingun is much better against other enemies, like cacos, which can be stunlocked), and this monotonous pea-shooting is quite a chore honestly, and clearly made you feel the Hell Knight was a good introduction for Doom 2. The berserk pack in this level was very useful, since many areas are tight, and the monsters are waiting for you in close distance like in E2M2. The Cybie made an early visit to the level, but it can be telefragged cautiously (it can backfires though, as the Cybie moves around a little, but it wasn't a problem for me). The final Baron vs cacos was a fun infight for me, it helped me to finish them more easily, and using the berserk here was very handy as well.

 

Overall, a short, compact, and lovely level, Baron shooting aside it's pleasant to look at and fun to play.

 

10/10

 

E5M3: Cages of the Damned

 

Wait, a normal level title in Sigil which you understand without using google search? It's rare. This is also a rather normal, breather level that introduced the basic zombiemen in the episode (yeah, they weren't there in the first two maps, but at least they are not extinct). What's strange here is this level doesn't look like an infernal place at all. It can very well built on a hidden canyon of the Earth, but that can be said about M4 and M7 too. The distinct feature here are the prison style cages, which made the level look different to anything else in the episode (in fact, every level here has a distinct visual difference, another strong point in Sigil). The other nice feature here is the layered construction and how the whole level open itself up from the cramped wooden corridor you start. In many ways it's a bit like Vivisection from NRFTL, with some visual narratives borrowed from Circle of Death as well.

 

Gameplay wise, I loved to instigate an infight between the cage imps and the cacos hovering around. It made the level longer, but it was also a fun thing to do. The berserk pack is not as useful in this map as in the previous one though, and I also need strafe jumping to get it safely (I hate strafe jumping). The RL also debuted in this level, which is only notable for continuous players, pistolstarters will find less use for it since it can be grabbed by the end of the map. The biggest difference between HMP and UV was the removal of some radsuits, which made the progression much more puzzly and tricky. Overall, a good level again.

 

9/10

 

E5M4: Paths of Wretchedness

 

"Wretchedness"... what a weird vocabulary again. This is a highly infamous map because of the crusher maze. It's not that hard, but it's mightily annoying, and I always save state before getting into it (yeah, call me a cheat). Overall, this is another earthy type level, and I agree with the guy who said it's an arcade-y, and video game-y in its style since the optional order of routes in the map, also the feel of beating different hazards. I have a feeling Romero based this idea from the pyramid level of Duke Nukem World Tour (Mirage Barrage), in that level, you need to find four elemental keys inside the pyramid to progress further into the space zone.

 

The left route is the most traditional part, it's based on catwalk progression and dodging bullets there. This is easily my favourite area in the game aesthetically. The marble castle, the way it melded into the rocks looks absolutely beautiful. Every time I play this area, I always feel my time is well spent. The right route is the infamous one. This section has an easy to find RL, an easy to beat Baron, and an easy to find invicibility.... but it turns out to be a total nightmare with the mightily annoying and lethal slow crusher maze. Don't even try to use the invincibility here. It made the early segment more frustrating as you can't see the safe places, where to stand, and have to suffer to stick to one of the crushers until it wears out. The broken teleport section is fun, but you need to learn how to use it as it's not a very easy task to

stop the crushers at the right time. When the maze is over, it feels like you have passed your latest exam. It feels like a true accomplishment, especially if you use occasional saves.

 

The middle route is somewhat of an afterthought. It's very short overall, and quite pointless, but it can hurt as you have to run through the lava. This is the part where the invincibilily sphere has to be used. It's a no treat that way, and at least you can go for 100% too, since the enemies are harder to beat when you have to rush through the area. Overall, a this is strenous, often even frustrating level, but it's also very well done aesthetically, and it has a distinct look like most of the maps here.

 

9/10

 

E5M5: Abaddon's Void

 

Or abandon the void. The weird words keep appearing in these level names. This map itself is a big favourite of mine, and it's a really really awesome looking corrupted city descended into hell. Some say it's a Petersen type of map, like Mt. Erebus, but I beg to differ. Sandy's city maps always use random, not so fitting textures, and his sandboxes can be played randomly, which is unlinear on surface, but highly confusing in it's depth. I think Romero clearly wanted to show us another Industrial Zone (like E5M2 was another Perfect Hatred) instead, again with fixing the "broken" things of the original one's layout. I mean "broken" those annoying stuff that hindered the entertainment value of said map. In reality, E5M5 is a very easy to progress map, it's actually quite linear as well. The only progress-related stuff I don't like is there is no sense of progression in the building with the lion switches (well, it opens the wall ahead of the blue door, but there is no evidence of it). When I have beaten this said building, I didn't know what to do next, and while the path was semi-obvious, I still didn't felt I have accomplished something in that lion switch room. A rare hiccup in Sigil (the other one was the YK nonsense in the secret level), but not a tragical one.

 

The texturing of the level might look abstract of Sandy style, but as said above I feel it's more appropriate this time. Those fleshy and other textures just blend in well, add to the atmosphere properly, instead of giving a feel of complete amateurism, which was often the case in Doom II's city episode or the famous Mt. Erebus itself.

 

UV is a lot more difficult again than HMP, simply because the "rocket turrets" in both ends of the map. Avoiding their annoying attacks first, then telefragging them later on was a true feel of accomplishment (and cold revenge!) though, so UV was better than HMP in this particular map. The problem with HMP is not just the lack of cybies, but the meaningless use of teleports into the lava. That needs to be fixed one day. Other notable gameplay stuff is the sparse ammo, which makes the level a lot harder for pistolstarters. Where is the chaingun for example? That's a huge amiss, and again, pistolstarters have to beat advanced monsters with peashooter, which can be a chore here more than anywhere else. But well, play continiuously, like me, and you won't have these problems, and you will enjoy the level's great visuals! Btw. I'm in the minority, but I love the lost soul area in this map. This is the best use for the chainsaw in the entire game!

 

Other than that, I love this level, great atmosphere, great music (both Buckethead and Jimmy midi fits well), great texturing, shading, and some great gameplay. I hope for a v1.2 though, the first secret is really lame, a chaingun can be added there.

 

9,5/10

 

E5M6: Unspeakable Persecution

 

Yeah, of course... Anyway, this is really the BEST level in the game in my opinion. It's just perfect. There are some stunning visuals I've never seen in any other Doom maps. The Minotaur Maze has jaw-dropping details alone, but unlike others, I'm a big fan of the first half of the level too, as the dark pathway really has that oppressive, infernal atmosphere what you expects from this episode, in fact, these kind of maps were the ones we expected from episode 3 before playing it. This is hell. Dark, menacing, oppressing, dangerous, and you're welcome to be not welcome. In many ways, E5M6 is similar to E5M4 layout-wise as you need to solve two (there three) tasks to finish the level. This time however, it doesn't have that arcade-y feel. It's like the dark pathway at your right hand, and the Minotaur Maze was at your left. Unlike E5M4 however, this is a flat out linear journey, there are no options, but you have to beat one way before entering the other. It's good, again Romero cared about not to give us the same more times, so all of these levels feel fresh and different from start to end.

 

Highlights of the map are the way the lights go out in the first section, and cacos start attacking (they look so menacing there, not your funny furry friend), the BFG secret, which is hard to find, but still fair, the door is visibly marked, the invincibility secret (again, it was an original idea, and the way you play it out was also fun), and the entire second half... on UV. Yeah, again UV is different. HMP is quite lukewarm without the Minotaur himself roaming around. The teleport segments were again a good idea, and I like the secret level entrance too, which of course can be triggered by shootable illuminati eye, what else in Sigil?

 

Overall, I love this map, it belongs to my top10 overall Doom maps. The only little mistake again was the lack of pistolstarter friendly mind, so continuous is still the playstyle for you. For example there are rockets everywhere, but no launcher to grab. But the way this map portrays the abrahamic hell is something special. And the maze referring to the greek mythology shows Romero is not just building maps, but dropping references like this to give the entire game a more tasty flavour! Okay, I'm a fan...

 

100/10

 

E5M9: Realm of Iblis

 

I don't know who Iblis is, but tell him, his realm stinks. Sorry Romero, this is the stinker of the episode, that's why you placed it here. Honestly, this map felt like more of a fan made Sigil clone, or a level of "The Way Romero Did" project instead of being a map in the real thing. Okay, it's not that bad. There are some nice areas here and there, and the fast-slow crusher idea was nice... But where are the distinct ideas, the distinct visual narratives this time? Okay, this might be some sort of mechanic hell, which is actually a great idea, but shading are nonexistent, some real BS progression elements, like entering a door from the narrow ledge, and of course the biggest flaw in the game: the YK area, which can broke the playthrough as you are really not supposed to go to the door to open the switches nearby. Was this map built by John, or was made by Brenda?

 

I don't really like the cybie as well, it was placed in a cramped half-baked castle room, hard to avoid, hard to beat, I mean, it was meh... to make things worse, of all levels, this is the one with the lightamp, which was totally unnecessary here, and in fact, it ruined the coolest looking place of the level: the ending.

 

Okay, ranting aside, it's not a bad level, if you know the secrets and the WTF moments, it plays well, but it's easily the worst of the episode. On the bright side, Jimmy's midi is fantastic. This tune is stuck to my ears for days. Especially the second half of the tune is great. Like a marching song. One extra point for the music!

 

6/10

 

E5M7: Nightmare Underworld

 

Finally, a good normal title, but a misleading one as well. This is a bright, earthy map like M3 or M4, probably even more than those ones, so there is nothing "nightmare" or especially "underworld" in this map, except maybe the ending mayhem. This map was actually intended to be used between M4 and M5 according to Romero, and you can see why. This map belongs to there theme-wise. On the other hand, this map is challenging, probably more than anything else. Unlike other maps here, it has no distinct themes (except for the brilliant teleport sections in the walkway, when you visited the previous areas... again, why it was Romero who came up with this after 25 years?). This map overall is the "all around" adventure as others pointed out. It's a journey, not a task, it has a real sense of place and progression. In many ways, it reminds me of The Abyss from Duke Nukem 3D, or that legendary 1st episode in general.

 

Playwise, the map has everything (except a stunlock weapon for pistolstarters and some more health packs): shootable eye galore, catwalk, teleports, lost soul maze, lava running (as secret for god's sake), lots of enemies, and a true 3D look. Love the way how many different parts of the map I can see from the start of the big walkway. It's so cool even in 2019. We have an easy BFG as well, which is always handy to use. While the map's bright, adventurous, less menacing atmosphere doesn't give it a penultimate map feel, but the difficulty sure does. The end of the map is absolutely crazy. You aren't walking on catwalks now, you are almost doing parkour in these narrow ledges. And cacos, lost souls are there to wait you. Good luck avoiding attacks and not fall into the deadly pit. The ending with the baron(s on UV) is not a smart design choice by Romero. The problem is: it's a trial and error play. Open door, Barons tearing you apart, instadeath. I somewhat understand Gman, who wasn't

happy with this part. It was the only unfair thing in the game, and in UV, you have to beat two barons, which is hard even with preparation. Especially considering that low health throughout the map is guaranteed. But I don't complain, this 15-20 minute adventure is more than satisfying despite one little trial and error in the end.

 

Overall, love this map as well, it was the first one created, which means it was the base for the entire episode.

 

9,5/10

 

E5M9: Halls of Perdition

 

At least not the gate... Perdition does offer lukewarm levels, doesn't he? OK, that's not the case (certainly not something like E5M9), this level shows some eyecandy to the player. Those cracks, which appeared throughout the game are now at full force, the color schemes with the pentagrams are now close, and look as good as in E5M1 in the distance. Yeah, we shouldn't forget it. Romero's greatness strikes again: What was there in E5M1 as a distant void, now is a playable area. This man is really awesome. My favourite design choice in this map is that large crack with the lava and the green armor inside. It looked so cool.

 

What lacks here is the gameplay. I'm fine with the lost soul bonanza early on, that was done pretty well. But somehow, the rest of the map is just going forward. Like the last day on a cruise ship. Your vacation is over, pack your bag, and leave accordingly. Okay, we have the Spider. Fine and dandy. But it was just wait for your BFG shot, nothing else. The Cybie is also much less menacing than any other cybies in the episode (except the one on M2). And just one joke trooper (ha-ha), and "That's all folks!", with a green faced Porky stutters the final message. Don't get me wrong, I like the map as well, it looks great, and the midi is really good again, just there should have been a proper bossfight. Like "Baphomet is doing Satan's bidding". Who is Baphomet? The Cyberdemon? C'mon. Mixed ending to an otherwise great mapset by the legend himself.

 

7,5/10

 

Summary:

 

Despite the small hiccups here and there (most didn't affect my continuous playthrough), and the lukewarm secret/boss maps, this mapset is awesome, and the best thing I played for Doom for a long time. Pros are pros, and Romero is a pro, and it shows clearly in Sigil. Distinct themes, sense of placements, original ideas waiting to be copied, visual narratives, gameplay that isn't made for standard (and often boring) slaughter, but for cerebral, careful playthrough, single cacodemons can make differences. Love it. I hope we will see the sequel for Doom 2. Just ally with Petersen, American, Hall, Milo, Dario, Castle and Squibbons John (or some of them at least), and megawad time for 2020!

[eulo]

Good luck reading this rant above.

[Alper002]

Unless the dictionary definition says otherwise, I'm pretty sure rants are very angry and incoherent. Your post was anything but those two things, in my opinion, @eulo.

[gaspe]

E2M8: Red and brown metal is a nice combo but made in this way withouth anything to break up or to give some variations the level looks too plain. The death exit of the previous level makes sure that you come here to face the challenge to find the weapons, and maybe the secrets, and actually go around to explore the level instead of just beign armed to kill the cyberdemon from the start. You can use some of the monsters to infight the boss while you are busy hunting for the weapons. Not a bad concept.

 

I liked a lot the episode in the end, mostly after playing the first few levels and getting more into the mood of the mapset. Despite the gameply wasn't so endearing, I think it retains the same flaws of SiD, and I thought that some places were too basics. But there was also lots of care into the detailing and the architecture to look at and stuff that can look inspiring, even just to study it as a mapper.

[Magnusblitz]

Back to Basics E2M1

95% kills, 3/5 secrets

 

Can't remember if I've played any of Espi's works, but so far his style hits a lot of my pet peeves. Lots of tiny rooms and corridors, which means the gameplay is basically just rote room-clearing once you escape the hot start. And the rooms themselves aren't even that fun to look at or maneuver around - most of the rooms are slathered with one wall texture and a similar/same floor texture, which means it feels like you're going "oh this is the brown area" and "this is the green area" and "oh now we're in the cement area." There's a lot of staircases and height changes but the overly-corridor nature means that the height variation doesn't really mean anything gameplay-wise, it still 'plays' flat. Thankfully in the latter part of the map things open up a bit and there's some more interesting structures and design (the caco tower trap was a decent one, especially since I had neglected to grab the RL and so felt forced to run) so hopefully that continues as the map set proceeds.

Edited June 27, 2019 by Magnusblitz

[Magnusblitz]

B2B E2M2

100% kills, 3/5 secrets

 

Definitely an improvement over E2M1 in some respects, the texture use is more varied (something like this is a far improvement over the mono-color rooms of last map) and the rooms are generally more interesting. Still tight in many spots, but it has a better sense of place and there's some larger areas, and better use of windows and actual-tiered areas. Did get a bit lost after continuing to proceed past the yellow key to the red key, being unable to figure out how to get it and completely forgetting about the yellow key all the way at the back, but was fine otherwise. Combat is still relatively tame, and while you can get the RL and PG in secrets it'll likely be a whole lotta shotgun.

[Alper002]

Since I forgot to summarize my opinion on back to basics, I'll do it here and now.

 

I found the combat to be fun and engaging. I also liked the navigation a lot, which I can't say for NIHILITY. Whereas NIHILITY felt like a big maze sometimes, Back to Basics led you to the locked door most of the time in some way, and even when it didn't it was clear where to go. On top of that,I liked the simple aesthetics of Back to Basics slightly more than NIHILITY's dark and relatively detailed areas. I'm not sure why, but there's something charming about simplicity when compared to something more detailed. Also helps that despite the restrictions, the maps sort of look like the places they're named after. I also found that the mapset didn't drag too much, despite clearly being in Doom 1. Sure, sometimes you may need to shotgun a Baron, but most of the time there's either more to it, or it's optional to shotgun it.

 

Overall, I enjoyed Back to Basics a major amount.

 

In regards to its' author...

It's always sad when someone dies. Due to my lack of experience in the Doom community, I never knew Espi. However, it's still sad to know that someone who has been a member of this community and has made great things passed away.

[eulo]

14 hours ago, Alper002 said:

Unless the dictionary definition says otherwise, I'm pretty sure rants are very angry and incoherent. Your post was anything but those two things, in my opinion, @eulo.

 

Thanks @Alper002

[riderr3]

+++ Whispers of Satan

[Magnusblitz]

B2B E2M3

98% kills, 3/6 secrets

 

Was a little worried when the first few rooms were back to E2M1's one-room one-color design, but after that it varied up a bit (still more brown than I'd like) and the room design stayed creative throughout. Still very much a linear trip, and you'll probably be using the shotgun for 90% of it since the ammo is almost entirely sergeant shotgun drops, except for the RL and PG to be used on the barons. Pretty well balanced in that regard actually, I had just enough big munitions for the big enemies and just enough health/armor when I was starting to get low.

[Spectre01]

Unfortunately, I don't think I have it in me to finish B2B. The maps are certainly competent but their length combined with very basic Doom 1 gameplay is currently not my cup of tea.

[DavitW]

I'm a little more than fashionably late, but I would honestly feel kind of bad if I missed playing the latest "official" doom wad. Prboom+ with pistol starts on ultra violence cause that's the only way for me to play doom.

 

Spoiler

E5M1: Baphomet's Demesne
First try, Got trapped in a corner with a pistol and chewed to death by a spectre I didn't see. Second try I stepped back into some lava and burned to death which shows us two things. The maps are damn dark and full of heart floors. Only using default doom textures here but it still makes for a much more hellish and super evil atmosphere here than the Original doom maps. The idea of shooting those eye things to advance in the level is pretty cool and implented well. I also like the clip of pistol bullets sitting in front of the first one if you ran out of ammo or maybe just to make it that obvious you were supposed to shoot it.

Most of the map takes place on a narrow walkway surrounded by lava, and fighting a Cacodemon on it while lost souls fly around, Demons block the way and imps throw fireballs at you is not a pleasant encounter.I exited the map with 1% health after taking a fireball from a Caco and accidentally running into the exit.

 

E5M2: Sheol
Look's like this episodes taking the Thy Flesh Consumed approach to things. In this map ammos scarce, health is basically nonexistant except for the soulsphere and there's several Cacos and Barons with only the shotgun to deal with them. The only mercy this map gives you is that it's pretty short. atleast Im sure there were more resources in all those secrets I didn't get though. Closest encounter was eating a shotgun blast and almost being pushed back into the void, then flipping a switch and hearing a cyberdemon wake up on the wrond side of the desk. The final encounter was pretty intense, although it looked easy enough to make a run for it when the second Group of enemies opened up.

 

E5M3: Cages of The Damned
It looks like the eye switches are here to stay, along with narrow paths and hurt floors. One of those maps that starts out as a small room and then opens into a large area, here featuring a narrow path to move along and the titular cages filled with the titular damned. That hurt floor passageway where you apparently only had one rad suit to deal with it just seemed bullshit to me though, and probably the reason it took me 3 tries to beat this map.

 

E5M4: Paths of Wretchedness
The chainsaw is presented to you right at the beginning of this map, continious players may not get much out of it, but for pistol starters it can be a valuable tool to deal with the scarcity of ammo. so unlike a lot of other wads it got more use than sawing a couple of demons that appear then putting it away and forgetting you have it. The idea of this map is pretty clear when you get your first key. 3 paths, 3 keys to collect so you can open the exit and leave this map... or is it? nope, turns out you don't need the keys for the switches which can be a bit confusing first time through, It looks like theres a mandatory secret for an invul sphere to deal with the crusher trap down the right path. Overall a bit of a tricky map to get through.

 

E5M5: Abaddon's Void
This map ain't no joke from a pistol start, With no clear path for where to go and and a horde of enemies including 2 cyberdemons apparently glued to the lava it took about 10 tries for me to get a general strategy for what to do. Fortunately I found a mega armor somewhere that should probably be marked as a secret and the berserk pack was very useful, both for the health and for punching the horde of lost souls and a few Cacos to death. The cybers definitely made the outside areas very dangerous to traverse, not really a new concept but something that worked well.

 

E5M6: Unspeakable Persecution
This is the first map where I really felt the darkness the other's were talking about so far. We're given the plasma rifle early which got some heavy usage from this map. Too bad there's no earplugs to go with it cause it's still loud as hell. The highlight of this map was the big, half-arena half-maze area with the cyberdemon stomping around. I really like the usage of the cyberdemon here as it felt more like a serious obstacle and opponent to the player instead of just a sponge for rockets and plasma.

 

E5M9: Realm of Iblis
Honestly it was about here where the lack of variety between monsters and encounters was starting to get stale. Mostly plucking Cacos and Barons to death with the shotgun, atleast we get the chaingun again here and a bersek to help conserve ammo. We have some super thin crushers spread throughout the map which are likely equally dangerour to the others ones if you get caught under one, and probably pretty amusing if you could crush a demon with one of them. I only tried for a minute though. Another Cyber towards the end and I just said fuck it and ran for the switches cause you get what, 15 rockets and a shotgun to deal with them?

 

E5M7: Nightmare Underworld
The penultimate level of the episode and it's a good one. Plenty of enemies and difficult encounters, as well as great atmospehere which is definitely helped by the music. The map might have felt like a bit of a mess at times, mainly because of the tight layout and large variety of ideas here but it was a good mess that was fun to play and pretty intense. We also get out first BFG here, at least the first I found.

 

E5M8: Halls of Perdition
The Final map and we have a boss fight with both the Spider Mastermind and a Cyberdemon, But first we have some sort of dark maze area to get through. Honestly i'd rather just skip the bullshit and get straight to the boss fight so I just ran past most of these guys. The final encounter with the bosses isn't anything too special considering it's just in a corrider at the edge of the map. As i'm sure most of us kno the Spider demon's just a big pushover, but after her it's straight to the cyberdemon. Not too tough of a fight, but it's in a pretty tight hallway so just dodge those rockets and make sure splash damage doesn't get you.

 

Overall, you ask me Sigil was pretty damn good and show's how creative doom wads can be even some 25 years after the game was first released. May not be as well recieved by others but then again i'm an unashamed Romero worshipper so that take as you may. The review above may be a bit of a mess but I played and put it all together in one day so hopefully somebody can find it coherent or enjoyable in some way.

[Magnusblitz]

B2B E2M4

100% kills, 5/5 secrets

 

This one definitely feels blockier/squarish than the other ones, but still has the relatively tight constraints and linear layout. There's a couple of connections but they tend to either be hidden until later or small windows, meaning they're not really connected in any gameplay sense. Pretty much just sadled up and went for the ride and let the level take me where it would, which left me a bit confused when I got to the end without knowingly using the blue key or finding the yellow key. Turns out the blue key is used for the unmarked switch that opens up the blue-light door leading to the evil eye (but quite easy to pick up the key before reaching the switch, so you'll never know) and the yellow key secret is pretty clever, though marked in a way that flies against conventional Doom usage. Well, I have a BFG now at least. Espi was clearly aware of lighting (and there's a lot of areas with nice gradient) but I think this level could've benefited from drastically dimming the lighting in a lot of areas, especially going with the stock E2M4 music.

 

B2B E2M5

100% kills, 8/8 secrets

 

Okay, this one made me interested. I love the design here with the big command center (yes, it's become clear that these levels definitely were made to match the titles, an early DINO take?) in the center of a radial hub. The outer areas do end up fitting Espi's bitty corridor design, but it works quite well wrapped around the circular middle here. The secret hunt took a bit of searching, but I felt it was fair - I found III and IV in the normal course of play, went back and got I after realizing I never picked up the RL, had to hunt for II and then found the comp map at the end and used that to get (another) BFG. My only complaint would be 1) again, way too brown and 2) gameplay is still a bit banal with 90% of it being shooting guys in small corridors. But this is definitely a map I would come back to for architectural inspiration.

 

B2B E2M9

100% kills, 1/1 secret

 

I tend to like the theme of 'floating castle bits in the void' but this one was kinda meh. I think the teleports and small lifts only serve to accentuate the disagreements I have with the constrained/bitty style. Like E2M4 I think it would've been served by having some more variation in lighting.

[Magnusblitz]

Finishing up Back to Basics one day overdue...

 

E2M6

100% kills, 0/1 secret

 

Not much to say about this one, as it seems to pretty much just have the generic design of this episode with nothing outstanding. Lots of cramped, monochromatic rooms, shotgun play, etc. So much brown, and only one secret.

 

E2M7

94% kills, 3/6 secrets

 

Finally make the full descent into a hellish citadel after seeing bits and pieces of hellishness crop up. I agree with @gaspe that I actually liked the fleshy parts the best, as the full hell citadel parts just felt like the techbase sections with red brick texture slathered on. There are some cool rooms designs here and there, the spot @Urthar screenshotted is one, though I actually like the other end of that hallway too with the two angled staircases off the blue door. Some good close-quarter fights too, though there's still too much filler-in-corridors for my taste. So tired of shotgunning cacos.

 

E2M8

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

 

Goodbye BFG; here, have some demons and a baron to shotgun in tiny corridors, sigh. Kinda interesting how this one lets you choose to fight the cyber right away or take the winding path around the outside to armor up, though I suspect most people will explore the whole level. I got tired of shotgunning cacos and so started using my rocket ammo, not leaving me enough for the cyberdemon, so had to hunt around for the plasma gun. Once you get the PG and find the somewhat-obvious invulnerability it's easy to down the big boss.

[zen4040]

still waiting for my beast box to arrive

[Sui Generis]

I actually finished this last month but due to a busy weekend have not gotten round to posting - I've gotten this far so I may aswell at least finish Nihility.

 

Nihility - Prboom+ UV continuous

 

E2M8 - “Bestrafung” (Punishment)

Neat map! Never have I been so concerned of how many points of access there are in a simple rectangular layout than when I hear the screams of the wraiths near the beginning!

 

A different theme here, with the predominantly grey blue structures now which are a good opportunity to show off the alpha textures some more (it's bizarre that id didn't find a use for them in retail - I guess all the nice Tom Hall realism touches became vapour soon after he left the company and the game evolved from Evil Unleashed to the familiar Doom we know and love.)

The traps are more frequent and nasty although they do indeed start to become predictable; as soon as I saw some extra gore or a dead marine then I knew to switch to the machine gun. But nonetheless successfully anticipating a trap was not too bad as it also was satisfying, and as with secret hunting in the map, when there is a recurrent trope then realising it and utilising it to play better makes you feel like you're getting inside the author's head, which is good because for much of this episode the atmosphere meant the author seemed to be getting inside of mine! The point after the yellow key broadly became a bit of a lull until I thought to myself it has been awhile since a bunch of monsters tried to scratch my face off, and on cue a bunch of them did. :)

 

The ending is pretty satisfying and fitting, although it was trivialised by the BFG, my ample continuous cell supply and the fact that I saved the secret invuln from the yellow key area. Broadly speaking though it's good that the final map of this episode managed to incoporate a cyb fight in tribute to the original, but also that the map was not as simple as that, which clearly would have been disappointing given how much the challenge and intimidation factor of the monster has fallen as the average skill level of the doom player has risen.
It's a fun and enjoyable map, all-in-all.

 

Overall thoughts on Nihility:
I am a fan of Nihility and must praise the author's execution and production values - the new monsters are effective and well thought out in their attacks and design. The small tweak to reduce the basic baron's health is a relatively subtle, but very well-considered tweak, given how understandably tedious most doomers find shotgunning a member of the bruiser brothers to be, The creation and use of ambient sound effects is tasteful and adds to the unique flavour of the mapset, although I will echo that some of the alpha resources are weaker.

Arguably the worst time to judge a wad's replayability is shortly after finishing it for the first time, however I think that I will be less likely to replay this wad than some, because I'm doubtful the atmosphere will be the same on playing for the second time. Perhaps I also have a little fatigue from spending so much time feeling obliged to try and find all the secrets, so it may partly be on me. I may change my opinion - time will tell - though I am fairly confident that without the element of the unknown of my first play through, the unique atmosphere that is Nihility's most remarkable strength will be significantly weakened.

 

Still I found it fascinating to see the Alpha stylings brought to life, with the more magic based imp fireballs, the strange lost souls whose projectile attacks frequently caught me out, and the interesting alpha textures all being put to use as they once were intended. As I played I also was hitting up the Doom wiki and alpha walkthrough videos to try and it's fascinating to see the differences of early Doom to retail, and also see the palette of those assets and design I'm very glad that the author has taken the time and possessed the skill and artistic taste to produce  this and this first play through of what might have been Doom: Evil Unleashed is a memorable one. Bravo.

 

Incidentally, I think this style with ambient sounds and possibly alpha textures could make for an excellent modern remake of Aliens TC - after all Doom was apparently going to involve Aliens until they settled for demons from hell instead. Hint to @years perhaps? ;)

[baja blast rd.]

Nihility was outstanding. Every moment has you on the edge of your seat. Glad to see Back to Basics finally played too -- one of my first loves of Doom.