The DWmegawad Club plays: MAYhem 2020

[loveless]

18 hours ago, golbeeze said:

The cyb didn't teleport for me. He just walked back and forth until I blasted him. 

 

living the dream over here.  meanwhile, i was scuttling about hoping to avoid splash damage.

[Biodegradable]

11 minutes ago, klaymeb said:

I appreciate these last maps, where the map opens up on itself, rather than being a progression into new areas after each key door. It's a cool design, and gives some interesting layouts.

 

Yeah fam, that's my favourite style of map too, especially if they loop around in on themselves.

[Obsidian]

13 hours ago, Pechudin said:

WHY IS THIS NOT IN THE MAIN BUNCH!?

 

Heh, I thought that map was pretty good too and were it not for the veritable deluge of maps that we got this year then it probably would be in the main line-up. As such, it had to be shifted back to make room for the newer mappers: Impie was one of the few that submitted multiple maps to the project and so I had to make an executive decision as to which map of his would make it into the 32. I'd like to hope that I made the right decision in that regard. :)

[kalaeth]

HMP, no mods, continuous play, trying not to save during levels :

 

MAP08 : Ok, I didn't see the caco until it had already eaten away most of my health, so I ended up being chaingunned to death shortly after, in a totally avoidable away. Wandering around and shotgunning (mostly) imps is nice, but I still have no idea of what I am doing. Health is plentiful if you'd call stimpacks here and there that, and the  layout is nice if a bit confusing, after finding the blue switch I finally saw the blue key.. And oh, a HK, I'm on the right direction! There, got the blue key and a couple more stimpacks that got me up to 100% health. Let's go press that switch! And we are past the shotgunning of imps and have entered the "real" combat part? The rockets are a nice acquisition even if I'm not gonna have them for long, those mancs really love them too. Not to worry for more rockets await me. Oh, a fire boy. hope he likes rockets too for he's about to be spammed. He didn't complain. Red key is mine and we are nearly done. Let us open that red door, shall we? So many meatballs and no spaghetti! Had to plasma the manc since I was fresh out of rockets and only saw the two boxes after.. Done! Nice level, I like the techno-organic style and combat was never too punishing. Could have pulled this one with zero kills if it wasn't for that initial rambo-ing :D

death count : 1

total deaths : 37

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[kalaeth]

in the meantime I have "finished" all the extra maps. and I write it with quotes because the last 6 maps I only managed to finish with cheats on. 

Here are my short notes of the extra maps, os spoilers despite not having that many spoilers :

 

Spoiler

MAP33 : really nice abandoned base feeling, I would complain about the baron on a 1st level, but there was a RL with enough ammo to kill it so I'll let it slide.
(0 deaths, 100% kills)

MAP34 : cool layout but there isn't enough meat (in HMP) and the map ends up feeling too light.
(0 deaths, 100% kills)

MAP35 : another pretty map, progression wasn't that obvious at first but once I got the blue key it became better. That final fight with the teleported hell nobles was really something, but I ended up missing 2 enemies somehow.
(3 deaths, all of them on the final fight, 100% kills)

MAP36 : oh, a field trip! That final stretch is kinda brutal, killed me some 4 or 5 times until I managed to do it right with the rockets.
(5 deaths, or something close to it,  100% kills)

MAP37 : Love the trees! And it actually feels like I'm walking around a small village. Free BFG? Don't mind if I do. And a blue key in a cave, nice.
Ups. So it wasn't totally free, the BFG, I see. Map could benefit of some more monsters after the big fight, maybe release them when you use the blue switch? 
(2 deaths, dead to big courtyard fight, going once, twice and then the third time is the charm.  100% kills)

MAP38 : ok, that's a hot start. The megasphere helps soften the blow a bit but still, damn. The hidden barrels almost took most of my life though. Short but cute map.
(0 deaths, yey, 100% kills)

MAP39 : an even shorter map, intersting navigation but not much more I can say about it.
(0 deaths, 100% kills)

MAP40 : was kinda confused until I found the switch on my second trip to the small courtyard. Second part of the map makes a great usage of the layout with the many windows to make you be always moving, which also means I'm not quite sure how many laps around I already did.
And as soon as I feel brave enough to go down to the second courtyard I blow myself with a rocket dodging a rev ball...
Second run went much better. IT was always moving forward, until I found the big mother and then I had to backtrack a bit for health supplies.
I ended up saving after the big mother because with one enemy left it wasn't hard to guess who it would be.
(1 death by self rocket to the wall + 3 deaths to the cyber, trying to 2-shot it with the BFG. 100% kills)

MAP 41 : I remember this one from the beta. I hated it then, I'll hate it now. I'll still try, but I'll limit my self to 10 tries. 
There is a detail I really like about the map : the way the lava keeps moving,
(10 deaths, won't count the kills because I cheated to the end.)

MAP 42 : interesting SSG combat, but I was playing too recklessly so that when I got to the yellow key door I was under 30% health, and the arachnotron got me.
Was at 90 kills and with decent health when gzdoom crashed. Third time? 
 Maze done, saving so I don't have to restar again because of a crash. And then I died because I miscounted the number of skells in the closet and ended up closed with one inside.
 And now, a rocket to the wall. And now there's a cyber?! cyber death count : III. Oh, cool a secret elevator! Great, 1% life isn't good. Ouch, instant imp ball to the face.
  Woot, red key. And red door. And then blue key. And then back to the cyber. 2 more deaths and ding song, he's gone!
(9 deaths, 99% kills, 2/3 secrets but the level ended before I could fid out how to get to the plasma gun)

MAP 43 : oh wow.. This will be fun... Not even gonna elaborate on the various deaths, unless a funny one happens. 
so, I eventually god-moded and ended the map. I did kinda like the layout and the progression but there's no way in hell I can win on that map.
(Death count : 15 + a "few" more, no secret count 'cause I cheated)

MAP 44 : hum. slime and barrels. and.. what the fuck! Too many archs! Death count : ||||||, iddqd. really nice floors! and I got lost and eventually cheated my way out.
(deaths : another shit ton of them, no secret count 'cause I cheated)

MAP 45 : oh goddammit another!? yeah, no. damaging floor, tight platforming and a fuckton of enemies? This is obviously not a level for me.
(deaths : none, I cheated.)

MAP 46 : I finished with save scumming once before, not gonna try again. so I god-moded, killed everything and the just stepped into the exit.
(deaths : none, I cheated again)

MAP 47 : nope. 
(deaths : I actually tried to play this map on the beta, a couple of times. The first room is doable but I can't do the tunnel section no matter how much I try)

MAP 48 : I really liked the map until the IoS reveal. Then, with only 1% HP and having to platform above a dark damage sector and avoid telefraging and avoid enemy fire.. Yeah, I'll pass. (/fly + iddqd, switch, boom.)

 

some nice maps in it, but the final ones are really not what I call fun, even if inventive (MAP 47 and 48 specially) or pretty. 

[DFF]

MAP08: Edge of Twilight by Revenant (100% kills/100% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 0

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

Its getting harder to judge difficulty with my choice of gameplay mods, perhaps I need to bump up the difficulty.

 

Edge of twilight at first feels like a original doom/2 map, but once you explore more of the map it looks much nicer, a very odd map that is some sort of hell-infused base in a forest. The lighting feels a bit bright and off for the sky but its not a big deal. Map design is great, lots of areas to explore combined with re-use of old areas by opening them up further as the player progresses. Detail and design wise, very good all around.

As I said earlier the combat is getting trickier to judge, however I felt this map could have used some more traps, there was only one sequence i recall being somewhat of a trap.

 

Overall, a nice map, decent atmosphere, maybe could use a few more traps.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP05: Wastewater Plant

MAP01: Wet My Appetite

MAP04: Deep Focus

MAP06: Return to Pain Manor

MAP08: Edge of Twilight

MAP07: Heavy Lifting

MAP35: Mystery Mayham

MAP02: Nukaged-Powered Claustrocomputer

MAP34: Mild Terror at Vacation Station

MAP36: Field Trip

MAP33: The Desert Base

MAP03: Bubble Home Bunker

 

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP08 - Edge of Twilight

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, pistol starts with saves, no complevel specified

 

Awesome action packed map.

Much is said about 'verticality' in doom maps, a game where you can't look up or down. 

Horizontality sprawl all the way forever for me.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[BoxY]

MAP08 - Edge of Twilight

I was kinda dreading playing this because I didn't sleep last night and my head hurts and I just feel like stone cold ass, but I jumped in and and it was just the perfect map for sleepy hours, no overpowered traps, annoying progression, frustrating deaths or anything, just go straight into the level, have fun running around and killing everything and leave satisfied, the essence of dooming. I wasn't expecting it to be such a sprawling (and detailed) map given the sector limits, but despite the size everything is very naturally connected, and ammo placement is perfect where just when you feel like you could really use some shells or rockets, they magically appear around the corner. Fights were all easy, not insultingly so but built just so you can turn your brain off and just know by instinct what monsters will be placed in every location before you look.

 

I also really appreciate maps with no secrets, it saves me from that annoying feeling of incompleteness where I have to exit without a max just because I didn't hump unmarked walls for an hour to find one stimpack or whatever. More kills, less secrets, better map (good advertising slogan for Sunder?).

 

In all a really pleasant and relaxing experience. If I was more awake and feeling tryhard the combat might have bothered me, but in this place and time it hit the sweet spot.

[RottingZombie]

Map07 frustrated me at first because I didn't realize I could ride a lift up in a certain area (there was even a sign pointing up). After i found that It was OK. I'm not a fan of hit-the-switch-and-run to the open door gameplay and this map over did it a little.

 

Map08 I loved. The Blue water/sky and green colors are one of my favorite combos. This map had a cool theme and I liked the monster count and vanilla-difficulty combat.

 

You keep giving me maps with no secrets and I'll keep 100%'ing them!

[loveless]

7 minutes ago, RottingZombie said:

You keep giving me maps with no secrets and I'll keep 100%'ing them!

 

 

💪💪💪💪💪💪💪

[Pirx]

MAP07 - “Heavy Lifting” by Arctangent

 

ok, this platform lift thing. i didn't realize that's it's made with only 9 sectors, that really squeezing a lot out of so little geometry. map is mostly plain concrete. monsters of all kinds below and above, most notably the manc and arachs with their firepower, so first you have to get some weapons and carve yourself a corner to live in, because you'll be chased on the ground and shot at from above. then i had silenced everything around, and got to play these switching / lifting puzzles. these were never my taste. however, they're not as convoluted as i thought, so after a bit of pushing and grunting i got a nice siege cow stomping around. backed off to the open end towards the main room, where he couldn't get splash damage on me, and he teleported into the hall. there it was much easier to plasma him, after which the exit was available. typed idmus05 btw, because i saw quad machine as more fitting than that ugly tnt track.

 

p.s. i see others had difficulty with making the cyb leave that hallway and teleport down, where he's a much easier target. no idea if this depends on the port (i'm on gzdoom here). he followed me right away and i intended to stay on that open platform and shoot him with plasma, because i couldn't take splash damage there. was surprised to see him teleport down, but whatever, even better.

 

 

 

MAP08 - “Edge of Twilight” by Revenant

 

corrupted base with long corridors, outdoor spaces in a forest and overgrown sections. many easy enemies, but watch out for elevated shotgunners and chaingunners (although there's not much elevation, it's floor level and first floor.  there's a part after the blue key pickup where infighting solves basically everything. not too big, not too difficult. steady and careful play worked best. this goes for the exit room too: i guess that running in guns blazing attracts lot of attention, but that's simply not needed.

 

 

 

 

MAP09 - “Get Up; Don’t Stop” by Phobus

 

what a beautiful industrial design. a rusty factory complex taken over by demons. something i had seen in russian wads we have previously played. loved the brown bricks and rusty supports, combined with the locker walls, wood panels and blue elements for variety. i had to switch a lot between sg / ssg / cg as there are a lot of zombies walking around while i keep my shells for something bigger. be wary of chaingunners behind corners and in elevated positions, again. the only fight that almost went wrong was the one were you drop into a courtyard with revenants on an elevator, and a dumbass pinky got in the way of my rockets. generally, slow and steady play wins the race here. expected another archvile at the exit, but it was just the switch.
 

 

 

 

MAP37: “Cokey-Nuts” by Impie

 

what a cute "caribbean" style map! complete with palm trees and your tourist huts with beds and lockers! you're being chased from the beginning by an angry cow, have to run around collecting things, and enter the huts. there's a bfg in a cave (behind a waterfall iirc) where you get a bfg, and some ammo, exactly enough for 4 shots in total, because now there are 2 cows! i recommend leaving them alive and pressing the first switch, because the island gets flooded with imps and revenants, who get all trampled by the cows... who can then be 2-shotted. the exit is available then, and i assume the ammo there is for the continuous player... only the music was a bit too loud for me (especially as hearing rockets and metal hooves is important), so i turned it off. i see why this map isn't in the main group, but it's still cool.

 

 

 

MAP38: “Panopticon” by Solmyr

 

quick and fairly brutal map. visually nothing special, mostly some brick walls. you have this turret cow from the start and need to play precise, and act immediately. especially at the revenant ambush in the circular hallway where you're always in range of the cyb's rockets. things get calmer when you reach the third room (the square one) and get the ssg, as the enemies can be tackled one at a time. finally stand in front of the cyb, barely strafing left and right, and he'll go down after a good measure of buckshot, freeing the exit he stands on. i guess this is the better way, since the other, that is running around and collecting the rockets, might rather get one caught in the barrels or taking splash damage, so i didn't even try this, but trusted the ssg.

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Pirx

[tmorrow]

map09

An interesting and fun industrial map that leads you on a convoluted path from the start, through the streets and into the building complex. The path winds cleverly through the building, eventually taking you to the exit. The most tense moments are when the the 2 archviles show up in separate encounters.

map38

A tower with a menacing cybie perched on a platform in the middle. The cybie platform lowers as you visit each new area so he gets a perfectly clear view and shot at the action unfolding. The rocket dance quickstep is on. The most dangerous room is where the revenants spawn in but you can retreat to the safety of the previous room if it gets too hot (since it is out of cybie's view now). There is enough ammo without even using the bfg if you don't want to risk getting too close to the big bad.

[4MaTC]

15 hours ago, kalaeth said:

MAP 45 : oh goddammit another!? yeah, no. damaging floor, tight platforming and a fuckton of enemies? This is obviously not a level for me.
(deaths : none, I cheated.)

Spoiler

You should not fight any monsters here, i suppose you are playing continuously? There is no any ammo or weapons in this map, and shooting (kinda) forbidden. It is circus, after all, who the hell carries bfg to the circus? :D

The short story of this map is: monsters tired of being massacred and locked doom guy in some kinda hellish circus and gathered altogether to watch him suffer completing challenges they made for him. But yeah, it's a hard platformer made only for fun and (almost) endless suffering of the player.

 

[Capellan]

MAP09

Cracking map.  The first to deliver both great visuals and fully engaging gameplay.  Loved the long opening stretch of constant low level harassment with monsters at multiple different levels and angles.  Nothing individually threatening, and manageable even all together, but challenging enough to get the blood pumping.  I also appreciated the frequent drip-feed of helmets and (to a lesser extent) potions as a way of recharging after battles.

 

Over time the level shifts to more set-piece type encounters, with various waves of monsters that have to be dealt with.  The caco/rev/mac combo near the exit is definitely the most bruising of these, though there were a couple of other occasions where I was happy to have a continuous-play plasma gun to my name.

 

Easily the best map so far.

[klaymeb]

MAP09 - “Get Up; Don’t Stop” by Phobus

UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

 

The quality of the maps has just gone steadily up over the last few ones. From the opening, there's a constant stream of monsters on a lot of different levels. You have to be on your toes and since there's hitscanners a-plenty. It's not until very late in the map that there's a real set piece fight. That one with the pit stands out, as well as the Arch-vile with his Revenant buddies. The map never gets really hard, but fittingly difficult. Resources are very well-balanced! 

 

I'm impressed with the size and verticality in this map! You start furthest down and as you progress you keep looping around in both planes. The layout is great! The fight in the pit in the latter part of the map is the only place where it gets hard to see what's going on. It's manageable though, but got me a few times. 

 

This was a fantastic map! I hope the difficulty and quality holds up going forward!

Edited September 9, 2020 by klaymeb

[Endless]

Got some catching up to do! The last days of the Wadazine were full of work so I kinda got a little behind, but I'm back at it.

 

MAP05: Wastewater Plant by DavidN

LZDoom

HMP

 

Much detailed and with some interesting level design, The whole layout is one big circle that allows for multiple paths and room connected with fluid combat in mind. I like those overhead pipes adn the whole tech-base style done well. Some really simple texture work but done extremely well to become attractive, mostly thanks to the great use of the color/texture palette. Not incredible hard from the get go, but it does get tricky by the end where my best advice is to just run. That sounds cowardly. You know what? Rip and tear.

 

MAP06: Return to Pain Manor by Arno

 

 

Nothing like some cute-Doom to bright up the day. Starting in a green area outside a supposed residential area, reminiscent of an old medieval castle, we enter a somewhat more impressive map in terms of its appearance and style, however, following the same simplicity and fluidity that characterizes this megawad. Part of the progress lies in following the natural paths created by the author, with a little exploration inside a beautiful church that at the end leads us to the red key we need to move forward. Curiously, the map is more open to allow free exploration, and a few secrets are worth the feeling they convey. A pretty nice map.

 

MAP07: Heavy Lifting by Arctangent

 

 

Blue is the color. Despite being a color that transmits confort, security, calm, well theres plenty of the contrary here. A closed and well designed map thanks to an interesting set of elevators, narrow paths and walls. We started off quite hot with a few revenants and an arch-vile accompanying them, but after that things got more concentrated towards a more static combat, with a multitude of enemies piled up in certain ''sniper nest'', which in this case are the high walls. Luckily, things don't get so stiff and the combat changes to more brutal encounters with Mancubus and Elemental Pain in corridors that don't allow much maneuverability. This is a slightly more challenging map (mostly thanks to that trap ending with the cyberdemon), but with a good flow that makes it fun and fast. Also, nice MIDI.

 

MAP08: Edge of Twilight by Devin Acker (Revenant)

 

 

A nice mix between closed-areas and open-areas. With some simple yet attractive design in the entire map, this one feels like a good and slick visual joy. It's all fault of the nice textures. The starting area is pretty simple, giving you various paths to take both front and behind. Mostly a small key hunt that shouldn't be a problem at all, with some interesting encounters along the way and a tasty difficulty curve, without cyberdemons at the end. Pretty nice, pretty simple. Sometimes the less is more.

 

MAP09: Get Up; Don't Stop by James Cresswell (Phobus)

 

 

This is one mapper that I had experience with quite a lot of his work before, so I already had some expectations when getting into it. They were surely met well. I love the verticality of this map. With an excellent design that emanates a certain aura of industry, the map begins at a low level and gradually makes us climb more and more through a circular path system. After that we finally enter the more enclosed areas and find ourselves in a more office environment than the industrial exterior. Probably my favorite area is the beginning, with the texture of earth on the floor and the great ceiling surrounded by block pillars supported by iron beams. Truly fantastic to watch. You see, realism in Doom is not so bad after all, although of course, this level is more abstract in terms of its layout, but its appearances tend to go more towards the realistic. The deeper we go into the level the more detailed and well-crafted it becomes, with some really fluid progression and quite the enviromental storrytelling. By the time we reach the end, there's one special elevator section that actually manage to kill me, so beware of that, but in the end, this one is a fantastic, really nice-looking level.

 

Gotta, say, I'm enjoying the megawad so far. I'm starting to feel the difficulty curve now tho...

[Biodegradable]

MAP09 - Get Up; Don't Stop

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

My pal Phobus delivers us a veritable banquet of delicious carnage with frantic, fast-paced action as demons pour out of every orifice of this map with its intricate layout and vertical design. I had a ball blasting through this one as the heat's been turned up a bit now and much like Phobus suggests in the title, you can't stop! Go go go! Bang bang bang! There's never a dull moment with this one and the use of height variation and specific enemy placement/combinations made this one real hot and heavy, but the cruelty is more than fair and there's plenty of health/armour pick-ups at your disposal if you ration 'em. I really enjoyed the industrial design and I reckon a more aggressive midi would've complemented the fast-paced action but the track that is used is no less fun. And that's what I had with this one: Pure Doom-flavoured fun! Great map, I love it. :^)

 

 

 

Edited September 9, 2020 by Biodegradable

[kalaeth]

HMP, no mods, continuous play, trying not to save during levels :

 

MAP09 : Another map I remember from the beta. There are no safe spaces at start, and you are constantly under enemy fire until you clear both ledges. It's a patience job, and as soon as you grab the key, more enemies show up. I had just opened the blue door when gzdoom decided to crash, and I had to restart.. And of course that on the second time I take way more damage, still alive but barely.. Luckily there's the berserk... And one door cleared, now the next. And now the blue door and after a bit of tender love from a rev my health is again in the pits.. And I call the lift and it comes with a fresh dose of green plasma to the face, yey! And then the mister chaingunner finally kills me. Welp, let's restart... and get shotgunned before clearing the lower floor.. Ok, different approach : start with the chaingun for the lower floor and then shotgun for the upper deck. Already inside the blue key room.. and then the nice clear corridor to waste rockets 'cause autoaim can't aim at the HK.. After we have a minimaze of specters and another door. Deep breath, SSG in hand, press.. And the switch to rockets and lower my health to 30% when the door closes on my face.. ouch. Survivable, but then meatballs out of nowhere while I was trying to snipe the manc.. Still alive but I fear to grab that yellow key.. And with good reason.,, Back to start, yey.

 So chaingun for starters seems the best option. back to the specter mini maze, I'm getting good at this early level part.. But I still killed myself after te yellow key.. Fell down and autoaimed a rocket to a caco who just appeared on top of me... Fifth attempt. Sixth attempt (stopping mid run for lunch kinda threw me off the loop xD)

 So far so good, arriving at the specters already. And now it becomes hard(er).. And then dear old revenants rocketed me to the face...

 Seven is my lucky number... And so I said "fuck it, I'm gonna save before the specters.", and boy am I glad I did 'cause the game crashed again immediately after... Still, that yellow key closet got me again. But it was the last time. It was about time I started dying to other parts of the level. Like that archie that somehow can kill me while I he's turned with his back to me... Second time around I showered him with rockets before he tried anything. yey, some slime in a barrel to go kaboom and a evil lift trap with a caco. Luckily he missed. I didn't. And then a very evil room. It seems ideal for rockets though. Or would if auto-aim wasn't trying to shoot at the enemies who are bellow instead of those straight ahead... And to be burned by a imp (that I couldn't even see, so I'm going to suppose was down there) is adding insult to injury.. And then a normal death by rev-rock and a abnormal death by rocket to the wall... And a demon byte. and so on. and so on. And another rocket to the floor.. Auto-aim is out to hunt me... Different approach : run over and "solve" things from the other side. Attempt 1 failed. Attempt 2 succeeded but then, at the exit switch, I thought "nah, I gotta kill them all!" and ended up with bullet holes in my back..There! All dead. Now, I wonder how do I get to that blue armor...Well. I'll have to pass on it.

 

good god damn fuck what a wall of text xD Nice level, not as hard as it seems by reading this, playing with saves from the start I would have had finished this WAY before... But where's the fun in that, am I right?

 

death count : 20

total deaths : 57

[DFF]

MAP09: Get up; Don't Stop by Phobus (99% kills/95% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 3

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

I restarted my run on the hardest difficulty, I think I can rate combat better now.

 

This is a very cool map, it is a symmetrical sort of well/arena design, but it makes a lot of use out of its given area. Even though it has some heavy symmetrical design in order to get double the gameplay space from the same sectors, it does a good job of mixing up progression and designing areas so it all feels relatively different and fun.

 

Combat here was a slow burner, gradually getting trickier as it went. for me ammo was a tight necessity and I often had to resort to the berserk fists which came in extremely handy. The long distance hitscanners were a lot more dangerous than they first seemed. The map also features a lot of excellent vertical movement and combat.

 

I did have a lot of fun with this one, very cool design and very fun gameplay for me, had me needing to think out my encounters just a little bit more.

 

MAP37: Cokey-Nutz by Impie (100% kills/100% items/100%secrets)   Deaths: 2

Blind Run|UV|Continuous|Trailblazer 1.5

 

Man what a fun and creative map, i'm glad I also restarted pistol on this one as well, this map really benefits from a pistol start. Its a cool idea of trying to initially avoid and hide from the cybers within the small huts.

This is a fun map, the tropical design is both super odd and super nifty, and the houses are a very nice touch, makes me feel like i'm playing an old 90's duke: life's a Caribbean themed doom mod. The setting is very unique and strong here.

 

Combat was alright, nothing to difficult, the cybers were the centerpiece here followed by the imp+rev swarm. fun but nothing super hard. Overall a very fun map.

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

MAP09: Get up; Don't Stop

MAP05: Wastewater Plant

MAP01: Wet My Appetite

MAP37: Cokey-Nutz

MAP04: Deep Focus

MAP06: Return to Pain Manor

MAP08: Edge of Twilight

MAP07: Heavy Lifting

MAP35: Mystery Mayham

MAP02: Nukaged-Powered Claustrocomputer

MAP34: Mild Terror at Vacation Station

MAP36: Field Trip

MAP33: The Desert Base

MAP03: Bubble Home Bunker

 

[BoxY]

MAP09: Get Up; Don't Stop

An aptly named frantic scrabble through a large arena into a nest of ledges and corridors. Definitely the largest and hardest map so far, using a compact layout nicely to guide the player over a large distance. Fighting was fun with an emphasis on killing a large amount of weak enemies to get a starting foothold and saving the mid tier enemies for the second half of the map. I took 3 deaths, once when I got a very unlucky 2 shot from the blue key room revenants, once when I rocketed a spectre and once to the yellow key trap, all of which were pretty avoidable. Being able to enter the lookouts on the upper floor and kill all the guys who were sniping me earlier was extremely satisfying. The only fight I didn't like was the yellow key door with the archvile, since the space is too small for all those monsters and the only option is to jump off the lift and awkwardly camp with rockets until it's clear which is lame as hell. This was the first map where the alpha textures were used enough that I felt a distinct difference in style from normal stock textures, which was neat. Overall, pretty fun and satisfying.

[Pechudin]

MAP08: Edge of Twilight (Kills: 100%, Secrets: Undefined, Deaths: 0)

    This map looks like something that could've been in a fanmade tribute WAD from the 90s if ID used (or released) all those tasty textures earlier. Maybe an E2 sequel to Fava Beans? At any rate, this map feels like E2, a large, mostly empty exploration-based map in the vein of E2M7 or E2M2. Lots of clashing styles indicating hellish takeover. I was playing this just before going to bed and the non-challenge of the enemy placement in this instance really suited me. Not all maps need to be crazy-hard. Sometimes, you just need to slow down a bit and ... take in the atmosphere.

 

However.

Yes I know, I can squeeze past.

 

Verdict: A large sprawling exploration-based map with a strong Petersen-Hall E2 vibe.

 

[tmorrow]

map10

A nice looking rundown techbase. My marine was hesitant to use the first switch and it turns out his instincts were right on the money. The switch opens up a lot of the facility and the way to the blue key. This is good! But it also restocks the entire area with enemies. This is bad! The later traps aren't nearly as threatening. Even when cybie shows up when you use the blue switch, it's immediately clear that circle strafe is the right approach and it works really well. Both of the secrets are extremely well hidden, your automap holds some clues on them. Devious!

map39

A simple, comical and fun map. Way to the crush the competition!

[DuckReconMajor]

MAP09: Get Up; Don't Stop

glBoom+ 2.5.1.7um, skill 4, pistol starts with saves, no complevel specified

 

This map is bonkers! 

I spent yesterday decrying verticality and here comes this done doing it super well. 

The height of the map unfolds naturally and the challenge ramps up at a smooth pace. Definitely in the "no way this is 20 sectors how did they?" camp.

When I saw who made it at the end i was like aww yeah no wonder

 

Spoiler

 

 

[VanaheimRanger]

 

[RottingZombie]

I had to watch guitardz video to see where the blue key was. For some reason I never turned that corner and saw it even though I ran around for many minutes searching.

 

I loved the revenant wall at the end, it was like a contra boss fight.

 

You can keep your stinking secrets.

 

 

[VanaheimRanger]

7 minutes ago, RottingZombie said:

I had to watch guitardz video to see where the blue key was. For some reason I never turned that corner and saw it even though I ran around for many minutes searching.

 

I loved the revenant wall at the end, it was like a contra boss fight.

 

You can keep your stinking secrets.

 

 

I have to look up videos or open the editor to find progress in a lot of maps.  It's become part of the experience of playing Doom for me honestly, lol.

[RottingZombie]

Tell me about it; I've relied on bigmacdavis on youtube for getting me through the iwad maps for years.

[Biodegradable]

MAP10 - Daybreak Station

UV | Continuous with Saves | GZDoom + Zagemod

 

Oh hell yeah, this was an excellent map to complement the carnage level set up by Phobus in the last map as V1per very much amps it up another notch with yet an even more open-ended map that absolutely crawling with Satan's offspring. Progression is very straightforward as new areas open up over time and the map's design is kind of maze-like but not in an obnoxious way, so it's not too difficult to navigate. But the combat is the real selling point with this one as far as I'm concerned. I had the biggest grin on my face all through my playthrough, very much resembling my avatar as I ducked and weaved and gunned down bastards, incited some infighting and painted the walls with a fresh coat of BLOOD. I was on my toes all the way through, but also didn't feel too overwhelmed at any point as there's plenty of room to move about and be tactical about your approach. The combat flowed so nicely and fluid, I just had a fucking ball with it. I felt certain I was going to be killed in the blue key door reveal battle, but I kept my cool, prioritised those pesky revenants, used infighting to my advantage and survived with nary a scratch while playing on my new difficulty level, I'm bloody proud of myself hehe. Anyways, this map kicked serious ass and I loved it.

 

 

[klaymeb]

MAP10 - “Daybreak Station” by TheV1perK1ller

UV / Pistol start / GZDoom

 

Pistol start on maps can become understandably samey. Some hitscanners to plink down, then get a shotgun and/or chaingun, and so on an so forth. When you load in on this map, you'd be forgiven for thinking the same here.

 

But it's really not. At the first three zombiemens, you wake up the entire shooting gallery - and you're the duck in the middel! The first part of the map was a mad scramble to get everything under a semblance of control. It's very intense, and there's always a hitscanner or imp to plink off your health. The outside area full of hitscan turrets and some imps is devious and keeps you going!

The next part of the map asserts a different kind of pressure, using tight corridors to funnel the monsters. The blue key fight is entirely telegraphed, except for maybe the Cyberdemon, and it's super intense. It did devolve into circle-strafing, but it's still fun in a small area with a lot of bad-ass monsters. The Arch-viles after the yellow key are a fine surprise, but without a lot of teeth. At the end there seems to be some monster blocking lines around the Barons and the Revenants. That was a shame; a last wave of those would have been great!

The level of resources are appropriate, and you gain a lot by backtracking. There's an automap early on, and I wish I'd checked it sooner, because it shows where to look for the secrets. The switches were cleverly hidden, and I liked the "oh, it should be around here... found it!" feeling. 

 

As with the other maps, this one loops around on itself, but not in the same degree as some of the previous ones. Aesthetically, the map is strict and good-looking tech-base.

 

The last maps have really been a treat! It's hard for me to say which one is "The Best", but this one is definitely a favourite so far.

Edited September 10, 2020 by klaymeb