Favorite map theme?

[ASD]

Share your thoughts on the different environment themes of the game. 

 

• Hell on Earth (Hell on Earth, Super Gore Nest, ARC Complex, Final Sin, Reclaimed Earth, The Dark Lord, Armageddon)
• Sentinel (Fortress of Doom, Exultia, Sentinel Prime, Taras Nabad, The World Spear, Forsaken)
• Cultist (Cultist Base, Doom Hunter Base, Tundra, Torment)
• UAC (Mars Core, UAC Atlantica Facility, Extraction)
• Hell (Exultia, Nekravol, Nekravol - Part II, The Blood Swamps, The Dark Lord, Penance)
• Maykr (Urdak, The Holt, Celestial)
• Immora (Immora, The Dark Lord)

 

My vote goes to Hell on Earth - the ruined city theme we've been waiting for since Doom II. Id did a decent job depicting a burning downtown ravaged by hellspawn and infested with corruption. There were lots of scenery I expected to see including red sky, destroyed skyscrapers, broken ground filled with fire (Gotcha!), burning gas pipes and piled up rubble and vehicles. Locations I liked to visit were office buildings, rooftops, the ARC base, garages, subways and sewers. I liked the more restrained design of the buildings and the moderate use of lights, screens and holograms in the inner city. My only complaint is the lack of dynamic events. Sure, there are the titans and many monsters wandering around and the walls and floors breaking apart yet the maps could have used more destructive power like earthquakes, crashing buildings, explosions, firestorms, blackouts, etc.. This theme could also have used more playable locations including a car factory, a broken overpass junction (seen in the distance) and maybe a nearby cliff where the player has to climb to the top.

 

Argent D'Nur maps were comfy. I particularly liked Exultia and Taras Nabad for their cool atmosphere and sound world. Something tells me this theme is a callback to the castles in Doom 2's maps 15 and 19.

 

Urdak was interesting. The circuit walls reminded me of the alien base theme of Duke Nukem II. The white and red structures had a distant bony look to them; some of the circular columns reminded me of knees and muscle fiber.

 

Liked the splashy theme of UAC Atlantica Facility too.

 

Would've liked a jungle base theme. The closest we got was Torment for Battlemode.

Edited April 12, 2021 by ASD : Moved the maps from poll to simplify

[Martin-CAI]

I love Urdak, but I admit that it is like that because I was waiting so much for the "how Heaven would look like in Doom". They imagined it really well, I was amazed in the first playthrough.

 

However, there's nothing like a good Hell map. Call me conservative, but Doom is Hell and Hell is Doom. I feel specially excited in those maps, so my vote goes for Hell.

Edited April 14, 2021 by Martin-CAI

[chemo]

Man, it's hard for me to pick. I love all of the map themes.

 

If I had to choose, it would be the Earth stuff. Id did a fantastic job at giving the "Hell on Earth" concept the depiction it deserved. The environments within this theme are beautiful and have great world-building. I even like how relatively modern most of it looks - from the buildings to the vehicles, but there's still some mild sci-fi flourishes so it doesn't look out of place in the year the game takes place in.

 

Hell would be a close follow-up. They nailed the look of a dark, heavy-metal infernal realm and it's quite possibly my favorite depiction of Hell in the entire series.

 

This would probably be my rank, from least-favorite (but still good) to favorite:

 

Immora -> Sentinel -> Cultist/UAC (rough tie) -> Maykr -> Hell -> Earth

[Yurax]

I love Sentinel world, but it is much more like ElderScrolls than Doom. So first place is clear - Nekravol style gothic hell.

Then Cultist - i love the cyber-steel-industry-occult style. Pity that only two (and early) levels are there.

Hell on Earth follows, i admire Super Gore Nest, but in generic office places and atriums i miss something. They seems bit generic.

Urdak fits to the story, like place, what Slayer must visit and inevitably destroy. But one (+Holt in DLC) is more than sufficient.

Atlantica is one of best maps in terms of map layout, but i would like it in Cultist style much more.

[Z.Franz]

Hell on Earth all the way

[whatup876]

Hell on Earth was interesting considering Doom never had a "proper" Earth and i feel like you technically can't get enough of new places and ideas with the theme. there's probably a lot more you can do with the concept, as long as you still make it fit Doom.

And not just cities or urban areas, like even jungles or deserts too or like what you'd expect in a Duke Nukem/Shadow Warrior game.

Any place as long as there's Hell/UAC stuff in it.

 

UAC areas were alright and i like how they did Phobos and both the ocean base and the space trip to a destroyed Mars, even if i thought that one could be an opportunity for low gravity stuff.

 

Cultust was interesting, because it reminded me of "Hell tech" from the original games and i thought cultists/followers of Hell was an interesting concept. With the snow/ice theme, that also made me think some slippery floors mechanic could have fit.

 

Hell was technically an upgrade from 2016 (even if it had more in common with 64 than 1/2), with some new areas and ideas for variety but Immora felt like very weird from a story prespective, since it's a more different take on what "Hell tech" was originally.

 

Urdak is a unique/unexpected take on a "Doom Heaven" even if the themes/visuals felt limited because we probably didn't see more of it. naturally, a "Doom Heaven" would naturally be a bit different and perhaps an "inverse" to what Hell was/is but i also assume it's a matter of creativity and the state of the series, but we still got some cool ideas.

 

The Sentinels were interesting and unique at times, because they're the least expected concept in a Doom game. one could even argue they could fit the Quake series a bit more, but you still had memorable areas and ideas.

[Sotenga]

I think I favor UAC stuff the most because it reminds me of Doom 2016, haha. Replaying Doom Eternal has made me appreciate it a lot more, but I still love the consistent atmosphere D16 gave off with its not-Hell levels and I appreciate the throwbacks DE has to that feeling. 

[Michniko]

Started to go through the soundtrack in my head before reading the rest of the post.

 

Hell is a easy pick because of all the things you can do with the setting. Nekroval 1&2 are so insanely detailed and full to the brim of this sick demonic architecture I LOVE it. Or instead, you can go the route 2016 went in and give us a less conventional looking hell, one more akin to some of the atmospheres in original Doom. 

 

I'm just a sucker for things like human soul harvesters and gargantuan towers, they're cool.

[snapshot]

UAC Mars Core, I mean, just look at it!

 

 

 

 

Urdak is a close 2nd, strong Destiny 2 Infinite Forest vibes there

[bobbie424242]

The city part of Immora looks pretty much like a Hell version of Urdak.

[NoXion]

It's hard to choose because they all have examples that I like.

The Super Gore Nest is the best example of Hell on Earth in any Doom game. They really nailed the sense of being inside the heart of the demonic infestation of Earth.

The ruined Sentinel city of Taras Nabad had some interesting architecture. Kinda looks Byzantine to me.

 

Doom Hunter Base clinches it for the Cultist theme. Despite the fantastical architecture of being an Arctic fortress-factory in the sky apparently made entirely out of bare metal, it effectively builds up to the boss fight with the glimpses of how Doom Hunters are made.

The UAC Atlantica Facility really felt like a throwback to 2016, apart from its location. I think this map is the first game I've ever played which conveyed a very choppy, storm-tossed ocean really well.

 

Nekravol is the most impressive Hell location by far. The brutal heavy metal aesthetic, all those souls being processed, and the whole thing looks like was partly inspired by Pieter Bruegel's The Great Tower of Babel.

 

I like Urdak. It manages to look simultaneously alien and familiar. It's also an FPS sky dimension setting done right. Nowhere near as frustrating as Xen.

Immora did the whole big battle thing very well.

[Yurax]

On 4/15/2021 at 3:36 PM, Michniko said:

 

 

That artwork for Nekravol entrance looks more like "Hell in 70's brutalist utopian city". Perhaps the choice of derelic stonework that made it to final game is much better.