What was the hardest but most visually appealing map that you've played?

[Marcinski]

A map from any official doom game or any custom wad that just made you want to explore the map early before clearing everything but it was so damn hard!

 

I haven't played many custom wads so I'm curious to see whats quite popular but I'm also interested on your opinions about some of the vanilla maps!

[P41R47]

I really like the visual setting of Toilet of the Gods by Benjogami.
Also the music of the maps are really haunting and they give a good sense of impeding doom.

 

Love it!

But i can't even exit the first room :(

[NuMetalManiak]

It's quite obvious the majority of maps in Sunder fit this bill. Other choices are Dimensions or most Ribbiks maps. Don't think any official IWAD level can compare to those.

[P41R47]

Slaughter maps certainly had some of the most beautiful sights i stumble on any wad.

I suppose its made that way to acomodate to the epic sense of the challenge at hand. 

[head_cannon]

mouldy's MAP28 of Doom 2 In Name Only.

That gimmick of casting everything in silhouette against a bright red background was strikingly beautiful, and the exploration & final battle on the surface were great, but when it came time to leave the overworld behind and descend into the caverns below, this map kind of broke me. It kept the same gorgeous aesthetic of bright reds contrasted against deep blacks, but I didn't understand the way that the gigantic army of monsters was supposed to create a time limit to complete your goals before you're overrun and the level is lost, and I kept stubbornly insisting on digging in my heels to try to fight them all off. (I can puzzle out a solution or I can defend myself; I can't do both at once.) So I spent a lot of time on last stands that I didn't realize were already lost causes, and the wailing of a hundred tortured souls was filling my ears the entire time, compounding the torture.

 

The map is genuinely interesting once you finally grok how it works, and after finally finishing it I even went back for further punishment, grinding out attempts at a saveless run out of spite, but my grudging respect for the level is probably a symptom of masochism more than any rational appreciation.

[Endless]

Nemesis and Misri Halek from Alien Vendetta.

 

 

[Lingyan203]

I would say Toilet of The Gods, levels 1-4.

 

 

Played on Ultra-Violence, UV Max, and done without TAS. I've seen other runs of this map on UV Max but all of them are TAS. The same goes for maps 2-4.

[RonnieJamesDiner]

Sunder, by Insane Gazebo. 

 

I ended up going through the later levels with "noclip", "fly", and "no target", because they were simply jaw-dropping to look at and explore. I didn't have the skill nor the patience to attempt them though (perhaps one day, on ITYTD). 

[smeghammer]

Breach jumps to mind. It's awesome. dead.wire is - strange, but impactful. And hard...

[seed]

Sunder MAP18 turned me into nothingness.

[Andromeda]

Scythe 2 MAP27. Not the hardest or most beautiful level I've played, but is well-balanced on both counts.

[Arbys550]

Yeah Sunder map18 is probably the hardest map i've beaten where the visuals were outstanding. It has a great sense of adventure too, like exploring a surreal dream world.

[DoOmEr4LiFe]

Deus Vult. Like, all of it.

[Martin Howe]

Cheogsh 1 & 2 - beautiful architectures, but too many obscure secrets, slaughter wads, and a brutally honest and unrepentant "Difficulty levels not supported."*

HeXen in its entirety for much the same reasons :p

 

* After googling it for the spelling, I found it was made by Shadowman, which - after the recent flame-fest - does not surprise me one bit.

[Can't play on Nightmare]

Map 27 of TNT is so boring.

[Deadwing]

Probably the Ancient Aliens map with Icon of Sin