The DWmegawad Club plays: Hellscape & Preacher & Deadly Standards 2

[Summer Deep]

MAP28

 

For me this would rate well above stuff like maps 24, 26 and 27 as a playing experience, but not quite in the league of the free-flowing earliest maps in the wad. The Spider Mastermind arena was impressive - on the first playthrough the SM on the left was vanquished by the Arachnotrons, but on the second she wiped out every last one of the lesser critters. Not so much scope for infighting with the other SM, but it's no match for the BFG anyway. Sensibly, the author dialed down the excessive number of invulnerability spheres and megaspheres in the map (I think there were three invulns in the vicinity of the SM blood lake in the original, even on UV). 

 

The room with the columns and the secret areas in the corners played very similarly to the version in The Spirit World, but the action in the red key area and the exit room was beefed up considerably, and the acquisition of the yellow key was reworked, being cleverly amalgamated with the HK and Archvile ambush, which is a lot more challenging than the one in the original. I was also expecting to find an equivalent of that little room with the light switches which appears near the start of the Doom 2 level, but was unable to locate it, though I suspect it's included somewhere.

[gaspe]

MAP29: So this is the map already released in 2007. I don't know if some changes were done in this version but it's glaring the difference between this and the new maps as The Dying End is less busy visually and the whole layout stayed more compact and it isn't as sprawling and gigantic like the new remakes. The gameplay is almost all based on the snipers while you have walk on those rather precarious paths, health keeps to go down quickly. I would have liked if a rad-suit was available early, I wanted to explore the bood pit to search for the secrets but the 10% damage blood doesn't make it possible. I had to wait until I reach the ashwall cave with lava to use a rad-suit from there and finally finding the secret plasmagun. After you get past the rather rough startit isn't that difficult. Then at the blue armor room you can stack a lot of ammo, and I guess you can skip very easily that fight. The only cheap moment was the arch-vile in the open that spawns before teleporting to the cyberdemon area, it was also "out of character" for the mapset. This time the cyberdemon isn't skippable, at last Lutz put a timed lock. Some goats will be there to help, and even the caged can give you a hand, if they are still alive, but in any case you are given an easy secret bfg  before for the boss.

[riderr3]

MAP28

 

If you go unprepared to the northeastern location, this will not end in anything good. In general, this ambush was not balanced - there was little room to turn around.
Otherwise, on this map there is a significant number of hitscanners that are hiding in crevices and on the top of the fortified towers. The battle with spider mechanisms is also seasoned with the number of snipers on the towers.

I was expecting to find the yellow key behind the area of "scrolling spines" but instead there is a plasmagun.

The elevator in front of the red key is slightly broken and there is a chance to get temporarily stuck on it when you are on the edge.

 

MAP29

 

There was a lot of running around, parkour and falls. It seems that the author has done everything possible to limit the player’s movement: narrow ledges, small harmful puddles and huge pits, as well as a bunch of monsters located not clear where, but smashing you with their fireballs.

It was obvious that the cyberdemon encounter would be balanced and that this time we had to wait until the column went down. I was lucky that the cyberdemon was distracted and I managed to smash him with a shot from the BFG and he fell dead on the lower platform.

 

[Andromeda]

MAP29: The Dying End (Hellscape)

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

 

Quite the difficulty spike! The hairiest moments are at the start, with a relative scarcity of supplies so you need to be careful not to lose too much health. The monster count, comfortably below 200, is not excessive but they're used very well and you'll feel pressured by pretty much every single one of them. The irregular terrain doesn't help either, making certain fights much harder than they usually are. This level places a huge emphasis on nasty traps where you'll take lots of damage so finding secrets is almost mandatory to survive, at least from a pistol start.

 

Most of the secrets are hidden behind shootable walls and should be easy to find for the most part. There's a "fuck you" moment before the last teleporter, where an arch-vile spawns directly in front of you in a spot with virtually no cover. It's easily handled if you happen to have the secret BFG9000 equipped, but good luck killing it with any other weapon. The final showdown with the Cyberdemon is probably the only encounter that's actually easier than the original - you've got barons of hell to damage it a bit, plus you've got a little bit more space to dodge its rockets.

 

I felt that two shotting it with the BFG would be too easy, so I peppered it with my last rockets and shot a BFG ball to finish it off. The author did make this fight unskippable, which is good - it always felt very anticlimatic in the Living End that you could just go straight for the exit. In terms of looks it appears less detailed than other levels in the WAD, however it's still much more striking than its inspiration obviously. Overall, a vast improvement upon the penultimate level of Doom II and my favourite level so far.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP29: The Dying End

MAP27: Condolences

MAP23: Cask-it

MAP26: Quarry

MAP28: The Spirits Within

MAP24: The Caustic Depths

MAP22: Catatonic

MAP21: The Suffering

MAP25: Veil of Blood

[Woolie Wool]

MAP29: The Dying End (5/5)

Skill: HMP | Time: 20:09 | Kills: 206/259 | Items: 131/136 | Secrets: 0/7

 

Here we are at the origin of it all, Chris Lutz's (in)famous map29 remake "The Dying End". Lutz's style accords well with the archetypal late-Romero ledge level, and throws in some cayenne peppers in the form of diabolically-placed snipers all over the main cavern. There's not enough ammo to wage Hell Revealed-style siege warfare against all the entrenched mancs and revs, so I just popped chaingunners and otherwise mostly ran like mad through the gauntlet of player exposure. Managing that exposure is crucial to survival; cover is placed so that nearly everywhere has a certain amount but nowhere is truly safe, and Pain Elementals are used liberally to restrict your movement and tactical options. This is by far the best-playing map in the set, and while the visuals aren't quite as fancy as the earlier maps, it didn't matter because you'll spend all your time running around trying not to die. The mancubi who are a thorn in your side all the way through the map become a blessing in Lutz's version of the cyberdemon showdown, where the exit is on a timed lock. You can lure the moocow into infighting, or blitz it with BFG, plasma, and SSG and use the mancs merely as a source of additional DPS (while trying not to get roasted yourself, of course!) Fantastic map.

[Snikle]

Had a busy week, falling behind, damn it. I will finish Hellscape and Preacher, don't worry. Both WADs that I love.

 

HS Map 22: Catatonic

Once again a visual feast that I loved to look at. Been a really long time since I played Catacombs, and the original map22 isn't that memorable a level to begin with, so the Doom II connects felt less cohesive to me than they did in the previous map. One part with a PE and a few revs fucked me up good. The Red key ambush was good and hard. I justs ran right through the last room with all the Lost Souls and Chaingunners.

 

Map 23: Cask-it

Played this one pretty quickly. Because it was really fun. I know "Barrels O' Fun" isn't everyone's favorite Doom II level, but I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed this even more, with all its modernizations. The original Map23 has a strange layout that does not really have many modern parallels to it the way some other original maps do, because it was based around the barrel gimmick, so seeing a modern map layed out like this was interesting. My only quibble is in some of the parts with 2 teleporters there was no indication which one was necessary to progress and which one took you back to previous areas. That's just a small thing, though, and this is my favorite in the mapset so far. Barrels are fun. I'm planning a barrel-based map of my own.

[Snikle]

Fuck my internet connection for double-posting this. I'll just put my thoughts on map24 in this waste of space later.

[Summer Deep]

MAP29

 

Well, I bloody well hated this one, it was just soul-destroying in places. Bad enough having almost every square inch of the floor covered with poison blood, but the author then had to include ammo-starvation in his recipe. Fine if you want to make the map hellishly (sic) difficult, just give me the tools to get the job done! 

 

The point at which I nearly gave up was the blue armour room. In UV difficulty at least, the playing area becomes almost instantly flooded with dozens of teleported monsters, many of them mid-to-higher tier, including the obligatory Archvile. To deal with these, you're given a mere 80 energy cells plus a few odds and ends. The best you can hope for is temporarily to blow a hole through the middle of them and clear a path to exit the room. According to one review here, this should be simple, but it isn't. I only got as far as the door on a handful of occasions, and three or four times was toasted by the AV or a Revenant missile as I was in the act of opening it. Finally, after about 20+ attempts, I got out. Whatever other faults this wad has had so far, introducing slaughter-style gameplay hasn't been one of them, but I can't find any more appropriate phrase for this particular scene.

 

Managed to grind on towards the end, albeit in a foul mood. First attempt to defeat the Cyberdemon came unstuck when I was distracted by the Cacodemons and Pain Elementals which follow the player through the last teleport, it seems. Next time, I made sure to take them out first, let the Barons soften up the Cyber, then finished it off with the SSG.

 

Grrrrrrr!

 

 

MAP30

 

Was expecting another mini-nightmare here. Would Lutz be tempted to put his own individual 'spin' on the IoS mechanism, and have me tearing my hair out trying to work out what I was supposed to do? Thankfully, no. The mechanism is pretty much the same as in the original MAP30, and as a bonus it seems that just two rockets in the slot will do the trick. Thank goodness for that.

 

 

 

 

Verdict on the wad as a whole? Great in the early phases, but becomes rather disappointing as it progresses, or fails to progress. The first three maps were only connected to their 'originals' by a handful of motifs taken from them, and Lutz was able to let his imagination roam free, which in turn seemed to promote free-flowing gameplay. After that though, he seems to be bound far more closely to the structure of the donor levels, and I think the gameplay becomes correspondingly laboured  (the word 'grindy' was used in one or two posts - that's spot on) It's often unengaging, or just an absolute pain. So, 7/10 overall.

 

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by Summer Deep

[riderr3]

MAP30

Obviously, this implementation fixed the flaws of the original MAP30: Icon of Sin, although it did not have significant gameplay changes. The only thing is that in the beginning I missed the lever that controls the extra bars near the brain hole, but even with this in mind, I managed to shoot the brain from 3 approaches to the elevator, because thankfully there were enough megaspheres and radsuits.

Overall verdict

In general, the impressions are mostly positive, although in many maps there was some imbalance in difficulty, busting with hitscanners, as well as narrow passages-bottlenecks with elevators that can block player. In addition, I never found a chainsaw for the entire episode.

By the way, I better would like to see the incarnation of MAP20: Gotcha in a similar style. Nevertheless, this map is more suitable for the third episode and is essentially considered a transitional one.

[Andromeda]

MAP30: Iconic (Hellscape)

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

 

Not much to say about this one, really. The Icon of Sin is the main event here like in the original, but I don't like how it's the only threat in the level. TNT and Plutonia had better final levels, for example - in Last Call the whole level was the leadup to the final boss, while in Plutonia the gatekeeper was introduced abruptly like in Doom II but was a lot more heavily guarded, which made the fight much more interesting. Anyway, I understand that in order to be relatively faithful to its inspiration this level was heavily restrained from the start, so it was difficult to make it much better in terms of gameplay. It does look much better, but that's about it.

 

Final thoughts:

 

A Doom II reimagining from 2017, being relatively faithful to the original while vastly improving the look of the levels. It does change things up in some levels, mostly for the better, so I found myself loving levels that I thought were "meh" in Doom II, like MAP29. Difficulty was also adapted to 2017 standards and it shows - while for the most part these levels were not too tricky, I had more trouble with them on HNTR than the original on UV. On its own I wouldn't say it's a must play, as it's better enjoyed when you've played Doom II since you can really appreciate the work that went into this.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP29: The Dying End

MAP27: Condolences

MAP23: Cask-it

MAP26: Quarry

MAP28: The Spirits Within

MAP24: The Caustic Depths

MAP22: Catatonic

MAP21: The Suffering

MAP25: Veil of Blood

MAP30: Iconic

[gaspe]

MAP30: Well it isn't hard to make something less flawed than the original IoS. Again cool detailing. The monsters that get spawned get hampered by the pillars and other sector detailing so the back and forth on the long lift was even easier than the original as I wasn't bombed so heavily.

 

So, in the end for this remake, some things were better and other were worse. I think that Lutz talent was a bit wasted into this, the detailing and visuals are very good but it's lacking the "narrative spin" that made his work more unique. It's a beautiful but very shallow mapset.

[Capellan]

Still doing the PrBoom+, HMP continuous no music thing

 

Preacher MAP01

The new weapon and monster sprites don't do much for me; ditto the new sounds.  I'm not sure if there are any actual mechanical changes to go along with them?

 

So this map ... it's very brown and has a lot of switches.  I felt like I was playing a Hexen map, except with better monsters.

 

Clearly this is not a WAD that subscribes to the gradual introduction of things, since I have the RL and BFG-replacement already, and old stompy boots makes an appearance.  He's pretty darn easy to ignore, though: I did laps of the "church" until Mr Mancubus came out and got rocketed, then blithely ran off to finish the map.  Hornface can't really threaten you much once you leave that area.

 

I didn't hate this, but I can't say that it really revved my engines, either.  Probably the best part is that it made some good use of crossfire situations to keep you under pressure from multiple directions at once.

 

[Summer Deep]

PREACHER MAP01

 

UV continuous, GLBoom+, saves in some maps

 

Was in two minds about whether to play this, as I felt a bit drained by the previous wad, but just watching that demo run-through got me hooked - and what a brilliant song! The level itself has free-flowing, fast-paced gameplay, but there's plenty of room for strategy as well, indeed it's essential. I made one or two errors in my ammo management, by using mainly rockets against the Cyberdemon, then using up all the holy plasma from the BFG prayerbook against the Revenants - these weapons would have been better deployed the other way round. Plus, only discovered the Berserk during the end-of-level exploration, and consequently was very low on firepower by then. That chaingun replacement is just addictive though, it's hard to resist spraying the bullets around with it. A very enjoyable map.

[Woolie Wool]

MAP30: Iconic (3/5)

Skill: HMP | Time: 1:54 | Kills: 11/22 | Items: 80/124 | Secrets: 0/0

 

Pretty much the only difference between this and the original map30 is a few more monsters at the start of the boss fight and a second switch (right next to the main one) to expose the brain. Other than that this map is a matter of simple routine. The opening view looks great though!

[Andromeda]

Time for Preacher! All I know about this one is that it's a TC with a religious theme made by Darch, best known for Pirate Doom which is probably one of the best ZDoom mods to date. I'm curious to see what he managed to do under a more limited engine.

 

MAP01: Pagan Temple (Preacher)

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

 

We start things out with a fairly simple interconnected level. Things start slow, letting you collect supplies with no enemies in sight. All hell breaks loose when you take the teleporter (that teleports you to random parts inside the temple), since most of the monsters inside the level are alerted to your presence. I found the megaarmor I collected earlier was depleted surprisingly fast due to the large number of hitscanners. Things cool off after clearing the area and the enemies that remain shouldn't pose much trouble.

 

The secrets were easy to find - two of them are in plain sight, while the last one requires solving a simple puzzle. This level gives you two invulnerabilities but I found it hard to justify using a single one, let alone both. In terms of the changes seen so far, the weapons are very creative, I really like them. The new textures are an excellent fit to the atmosphere this WAD tries to convey and the new sounds are good, though I suppose if you wallhump often the "Bollocks!" interjection by the protagonist can get a bit annoying. The heavenly sound each time you pick a power up makes up for it though, I love it! All in all, a good first level that throws everything at you from the beginning, quite fun!

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP01: Pagan Temple

[Darch]

Preacher MAP 01 - Pagan Temple

 

Pagan Temple was the 5th map made for this project, with 1st slot in mind. It's small intro section is an introduction to new item sprites, armor, and a new switch texture, also attempting to build some mood.
First weapon you get is the chaingun replacement (thompson submachine gun), for a change. Maybe because there are plenty of shotgun based mapsets out there, maybe because player sprites are holding a tommy gun. As said in the txt.file, these are only graphic and sound replacements, weapon behavior is untouched.
The midi music was also written for this map, so it starts slow for the intro and grows heavier at the second part, and this pattern will be heard at many midis in this mapset. This one was an attempt to sound like Black Sabbath with a church organ.

 

At the final version, there is not much left of what was originally planned for this project: it would be a "musical", with a Those Poor Bastards' song at each map, and map locations would try to reproduce some of the lyrics, turning each map into some kind of "videoclip" of each song. It would be a linear ZDoom mod, with real music and lots of scripting. I even considered printing the lyrics at the screen. But after first beta releases, players complained about music being too distractive. And once Preacher Guy got his cultist voice clips, MP3 music was definitely removed from the maps. 

 

 

[Summer Deep]

Preacher MAP02

 

Managed to complete this without saving, albeit after a couple of failed attempts. You have some 'street-fighting' early on, then some more heavyweight encounters on the upper levels of a massive fortress-like structure. One thing that works in the player's favour in this map is the fact that one can jump down to ground level without consequence if the going is getting a bit too tough inside the fortress. Many might argue that this is one of the map's weaknesses, but it made a pleasant change from falling into radioactive gloop again and again in the previous wad. 

 

As before, the action flows freely, with the main barriers to progress being Mancubuses and Arachnotrons firing from long range in elevated positions. That was a pretty sly trick with the Mancubus at the start, but it's not hard to deal with. The player is clearly encouraged to use rockets against the more powerful opponents, and it's an effective and fairly safe option, given that one can usually put plenty of space between oneself and one's adversary.

 

On a minor note, I'm finding the manic laughter sound effect a bit irritating from time to time. Seems rather cartoonish.

 

Edited February 12, 2020 by Summer Deep

[riderr3]

Preacher

 

MAP01

 

An interesting non-linear design, for some reason I remembered my maps that I created for Heretic. Replaced resources fit well into the atmosphere.

With monster placement, too, everything is in order: for example, we encounter the first mancubus, and we must cope with it in order to get the first RL. Even the battle with Cyberdemon is adequately furnished - we have a sufficient number of rockets and if we do not miss, everything will go according to plan.

MAP02

A slightly restless aura in this huge location, the safest areas are located below. I think it’s not worth running ahead mindlessly, it’s better to open ambushes one at a time and deal separately.

The main threat is the 'tron at the very top that shells the location. If you have BFG available, dealing with arch-vile and its minions will not be difficult.

[VGA]

Preacher MAP01

 

Interesting feel to this mapset, with all the sprite and sound replacements I really feel like I am playing the cultist from Blood, especially when firing the Tommygun :D

 

In this rather open-ended map, it is interesting how I kept encountering enemies where I didn't expect them. The dark atmosphere and the open, interconnented rooms made me feel uneasy and I played worse then usual, I got my ass handed to me and I had to sweep the map for health and armor to get me on my feet again :D

[Andromeda]

MAP02: Babel (Preacher)

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

 

Here we have an open and very vertical level. It's somewhat shorter than the first one but no less dangerous. There's a nasty trap at the start with a mancubus right in front of you, so be quick to ride the lift down. The pentagram teleporter, like in the first level, seems to teleport to a random place. The secrets involve a bit of platforming and especially attention to the surroundings. The hairiest moment is when you're almost at the top of the tower, being an easy target for most of the midtiers. Use your rockets well! The arch-vile is innefectual at best, it would be trickier to handle if it appeared at the bottom of the lift I think. Great level with a gorgeous look, run and gun gameplay and some tricky combat scenarios.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP02: Babel

MAP01: Pagan Temple

[VGA]

Preacher MAP02

 

I play without mouselook and I got my ass handed to me again, getting hit from unseen enemies from above, trying to cojole the autoaim to send my rockets towards the enemies ... also, that archville on the descending elevator started his flame attack before even entering my field of vision, I got wrecked. But it was good fun, good map.

 

By the way the mod description says "There are graphic and sound replacements, but weapon and enemy behaviours are untouched." Really? :D

[Darch]

About that Cyberdemon fight at map 01:

That was supposed to be a little "puzzle": you're put against a cyberdemon and some other foes with a few rockets. I assumed players wouldn't want to use rockets against a cyberdemon, so they should use rockets on the other monsters and enter the little dark room where the BFG necro staff is. There is not enough ammo to kill the cyberdemon on UV. But it felt a bit too much for a first map on HTMP, and since it is basically UV with more ammo and resources, you can kill the cyberdemon without doing this. This wad is probably more enjoyable on UV, since many battle situations are based on ammo scarcity. Although it can get a little insane by the end.

Preacher MAP 02 - Babel

 

This map is heavily inspired by the PS2 game ICO, with textures from it. Even the vertical layout was ICO's influence.

That's also an attempt to make a map without sky, since I always tend to built open maps. My ceilings generally sucks, and this is no exception. but I loved those windows textures and had to use them somewhere.
This map was also made with slot 01 in mind, because map 01 spoiled 5 out of 6 new weapon sprites, and 2 out of 3 custom enemy sprites. I didn't mind it before, because there were suposed to be around five maps in total, but, when it got bigger, maybe the custom stuff could be delivered slower. So the only weapons available here are the shotgun and rocket launcher. And there are no zombiemen. But, at the end, Pagan Temple felt like a better introduction, and this got slot 02.
The music track is called "Preacher Theme", since it was once the title screen track. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Darch

[Summer Deep]

Preacher MAP03

 

Radical change in the format at this point, where we move from the 'open-ended' gameplay of the first two maps to a more 'segmented' style based around set pieces. The opening phase is your typical running in circles around the central arena, progressively taking out the baddies, which can largely be achieved with rockets provided you watch out for spectral demons at close quarters. Then we have battles based around the three keys, which have plenty of variety and are pretty well done. I do groan audibly though whenever there's an ambush triggered on picking up a key, as it's such a Doom cliché, but I suppose I'll have to resign myself to meeting it time and again in the rest of the wad. It is possible to avoid this phenomenon and the 'ambush philosophy' in general by playing wads like Hellbound and the very underrated Scientist 2, but for the most part it seems to be baked into the Doom cake, so to speak.

 

The main ambush set piece is now unleashed. Probably best to try to fight most of the monsters in the enclosed corridor sections, while spending as little time out in the open as possible. By the time you emerge to check up on the Spider Mastermind in its little enclave, it will quite likely have been severely weakened by infighting or even be a crumpled pile of junk. Finally you teleport to something of an encore involving largely Revenants and Barons, which should be short and sweet provided you've remembered to pick up all the plasma ammo in the vicinity of the SM room. That final encounter reminded me a bit of some of the setups in 50 Monsters.

 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Summer Deep

[Andromeda]

MAP03: Sacrificial Altar (Preacher)

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

 

Here we have a level based on three main fights. The first one happens right as you teleport out of the first room, with the large arena being populated by a large assortment of monsters, it's really fun to use rockets to clear it quickly. Things quiet down afterwards, where you'll have to scout around for the three keys required to use the switch by the altar in the centre of the arena. You can do some secret hunting in the meantime, one of which is particularly easy to find.

 

The other two are less intuitive but shouldn't take too much head scratching. Each time you collect a key a trap springs, all of them are dangerous in its own way but the highlight to me is the whole yellow key section. First we have an arch-vile in an elevated platform before the key, really annoying to kill efficiently :P. The actual trap is interesting as well, with several lost souls on one side and a mancubus on the other. If you're quick on the trigger you can get away with using the rocket launcher here to easily dispatch the lost souls before focusing on the mancubus.

 

The second main fight (and the meatiest) is triggered after using the switch by the sacrificial altar, with a decent number of revenants, hell knights, arachnotrons and a Spiderdemon. This setup really calls for infighting so that's what I did, in the end all that remained were a few revenants - didn't even need to use the BFG9000! Pressing that switch also unlocks the last two secrets, one of which is particularly interesting for continuous players since it gives the first backpack.

 

After this encounter we unlock the exit teleporter... or so it seemed as you're teleported to a pit with some barons of hell and revenants. What I did here was make them infight, then go to the upper area and start clearing the monsters. Finally, mop up the survivors in the pit and exit. Cool stuff, I like how the author placed lots of rockets here as it really helps to clear the areas faster. I ended up using the rocket launcher for pretty much the whole time. Excellent level, bonus points for being easier to navigate than the previous two.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP03: Sacrificial Altar

MAP02: Babel

MAP01: Pagan Temple

[Darch]

Preacher MAP 03 - Sacrificial Altar

 

This was one of the latest maps made. There were some nice and unused Shadow of The Colossus textures which still needed a home, so two small / medium maps were made with them (maps 03 and 08)
The last fight is an attempt to reduce player's ammo and armor, trying to bring them as close as possible to 50 bullets and no armor. Yes, pistol start; that's the intended gameplay. But to keep both options balanced, these final fights are an attempt to prevent continuous players from getting filled with ammo. They happen at every map. 

Here you have a chance to get the super shotgun for the first time, and Preacher guy will yell even more, because there's some shouting attached to the Super Shotgun sound. By the way, all his voice clips are joined with sounds that play at full volume. (Baron of Hell death sound being the only exception). 

Some people find it annoying. They're ridiculous, but it's part of the fun, IMO. Same for the other little dark humor bits here and there. 
But those sound clips are one reason why this wad is only one episode, his yelling starts getting old at the end. Maybe five maps would be more appropriate, but again, there were so many unused good textures.
 

[Summer Deep]

Preacher MAP04

 

This level consists largely of structures built on either side of an impressive gorge, which might even be described as 'gorgeous' (groan...). Quite fun to play, and not too difficult, though I did die a couple of times, firstly when taken by surprise in the red key trap (though should have expected something of the sort), then near the end by one of the Archviles.

 

After acquiring the red key and venturing out of doors, one of the things the player needs to sort out, sooner rather than later, is the Pain Elemental in the distant tower, which will go on spewing Lost Souls ad infinitum if you don't make a beeline for it and nuke it asap. After that it's the yellow key, where another trap is sprung involving a Spider Mastermind, but it's a pretty lame one, and you'd need to be a monumentally inept or idiotic player to get killed here. 

 

Finally, back at the ranch, a couple of AVs have checked in and will have been busy reviving the baddies you probably spent a fair bit of time zapping earlier in the level. As long as you don't make the mistake of approaching via the courtyard outside the temple-like structure, this situation is fairly comfortably handled.

 

Next stop the desert, it seems...

[riderr3]

MAP03

Fact about the starting position: you can wake up the baddies and then deal with the majority right through the window. Random teleporter took me directly to the courtyard, in the thick of things, where a lot of ammunition is scattered throughout the location.

If you look at the map well, you can logically guess which path leads to the hidden SSG.

The battle with the rusty-legged mastermind did not cause much trouble, especially since it stood still.

The final location is also adequately furnished: monsters at different heights, but there is no busting with hitscanners. Frankly, I also liked to place rushing revenants somewhere on the top of the pit.

MAP04

I liked the last two maps even more, they are more or less modest. There is a little lack of ammunition, but this is compensated by the fact that you will need to move around and everything will be found.

I tried to jump into the recess with a red window where the baron was located, thinking that there was a secret, but as it turned out there was no secret.
By the way, weapons that are not located in the middle of screen, it can be difficult to aim with them when you use the source port without a crosshair. Especially plasmagun replacement.

[Andromeda]

MAP04: Dark Tower (Preacher)

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

 

If you cared enough to watch the demo loop, you'll recognize this level. As has been standard so far in the WAD, we have a "teleport into area full of enemies" situation at the start, where you have to improvise in order to survive. Once you've cleared most of the enemies you can look around for the keys and do some secret hunting. The titular tower is located in the centre of the level and is a lot more impressive from the outside than on the inside.

 

The pain elemental trapped inside the tower is really annoying since it's always spitting out lost souls :P. Grabbing the yellow key reveals a Spiderdemon, this time it's a duel unlike the previous level. You shouldn't have much problem dispatching it, much less with the provided secret invulnerability. The real tricky moment in the level is at the end, where two arch-viles are released. Make sure to kill them quickly before the resurrected monsters overwhelm you. On the gameplay side of things this is a strong level, however I felt it could be improved looks wise - some of the bigger areas look rather empty. Still, it's a solid effort and I enjoyed it.

 

Levels in order of preference:

Spoiler

MAP03: Sacrificial Altar

MAP02: Babel

MAP04: Dark Tower

MAP01: Pagan Temple

[Capellan]

On 2/13/2020 at 7:48 AM, VGA said:

By the way the mod description says "There are graphic and sound replacements, but weapon and enemy behaviours are untouched." Really? :D

 

It's pretty easy to check the mapinfo/dehacked and confirm that there's nothing been done :)

 

Preacher MAP02

Verticality is hard to do well in Doom, and this map doesn't really rise (heh) to the challenge very well.  Expect to get punched, clawed and fireballed at impossible angles.  Not a fan of the visuals, either: this is very square and very brown.  Heck, it's even mostly the same shade of brown.  Not really a fan.

[Capellan]

Preacher MAP03

A bit more visually interesting - at least there are more colours, even if the overall palette remains a lot more subdued than I'd like - but the gameplay remains not really to my taste.  I'm also concerned that we've seen the whole bestiary, often in large numbers, by now.  What's really left at this point?

 

Preacher MAP04

I like this a bit more than maps 2 and 3, due to much more visual dynamism and a more varied environment in general that in turn leads to a greater variety of fights.  I won't pretend I'm not skipping past a lot of those fights, because wherever possible I prefer not to waste time on ammo on HKs and lost souls, but this is a more dynamic and engaging experience than what has come before.