The DWmegawad Club plays: Base Ganymede

[Soul_Runner]

E1M5 - K - 100%, I - 88%, S - 100%, Time: 15:30
Pistol Start, No Saves, UV Max, Not Blind, No Deaths
Starting off with a rocket launcher, saving the ammo and using infighting to kill most of the start monsters.
Saving the rockets makes easy work of the baron and the next room is much easier if you know the chaingun secret to get an early chaingun. Well made room having all the imps above firing down at you. Heading over to the blue key, we get more imps from above, now with shotgunners as well. Rockets for lost souls and imps take out most, shotgun or Chaingun for cleanup. Outside area is good for infighting, all good rooms so far. Managing to survive after a face rocket :/ Moving into a second large open area, we get a walkway a long the side to a room full of imps and shotgunners while imps from above and far away fire down at you. Getting in the room alerts zombiemen and spectres to fight you. This inside area is well made with some nice larger acid corridors and balconies with imps to fire from. Rad suit triggers a fight in the acid with imps and a cacodemon but can easily be dealt with. Here we can find the room with the yellow key. This is probably my favourite room of the level, the switch triggering a group of aerial enemies to surround you on the small platform and hitscan enemies to shoot you from their own platform. Fortunately, my spare rockets make quick work of the hitscan and the cacos. On the way out of this area i ran back around to grab the second secret, the raised alcove with the 5 imps for a rocket and some free plasma. The large open acid area outside is the arena for our first boss, a spider mastermind. Easily taken down with a storm of plasma shots if your prepared. Through the Yellow door we get a rather dangerous area. A room with a horde of imps, when opened you face down 3 barons, 6 pinkies will suddenly appear if you run across the acid to the items and if you get them, a horde spawns in which with smaller weapons, would easily overwhelm a player.
The blue key door opens to a large area with a sizable number of imps and pinkies, then after a switch to reveal a second boss, a cyberdemon. Not only do we have over 250 enemies (261), but E1M5 has 2 bosses! Here a single rocket can easily mean death. Some spectres, cacodemons and the cyberdemon and the map is finished.
Could be a challenging map for some, with the acid river trap being a spot that could easily kill a player as well as either boss demon. Once again a nice feel of a tech base built into a rocky, cavernous area.

 

 

[Doritos420]

 

E1M5 - Evacuated Complex

Spoiler

Holy shit this is one big level. Feels like the wad is not playing around anymore. Large amounts of enemies and two boss type enemies as well. Pretty intense map with lots of interconnectedness. Almost feels a bit like a metroidvania with lots of keys to gather and areas to unlock as well as trying to open up and explore the entire map. I really dug the vibe with this one though, I love exploring different areas, or coming back to a familiar area after progressing through and opening up shortcuts. The area right before the cyberdemon was probably the most intense, a bunch of pinkies spawn right infront of you when you go to explore a toxic dead end, and then a shitload of demons spawn in blocking your path out and you basically have to sit tight, firing plasma/rockets at them hoping they won’t box you in. The final area is also pretty fun, you unleash a cyberdemon and have to fight him. Luckily you can get him to infight some of the other demons as well. One thing is though, I wish there was a rad suit somewhere in this final area since you eventually have to hit a switch to escape the room, but the switch is surrounded by nukage. If you took too much damage during your fight with the cyberdemon you may be screwed over if your health is too low to hit the switch to escape. Anyway I really liked this level, I could see it being a final level in an episode so I’m excited to see what else this wad has in store. How much more crazy will we get? I’m wondering if we’ll get levels that have a monster count >500. I mean we already beat a cyberdemon and spider mastermind in this level alone and it’s only E1M5!

[dei_eldren]

E1M6 - Nukage & Brimstone (HNTR, Continuous): K 100% (118/118), I 97% (26/27), S 0% (0/2), T 20:56, D <integer out of bounds> - i suppose we are now very close to hell, about half the level being somewhat similar to D1 Ep3 aesthetics, whilst the other half is now a slightly corrupted techbase.  Aesthetically by far the most accomplished map until now, and possibly also by combat - so much so, that i was within hair's breadth of quitting, twice, still feeling raw from the bitterness of the previous level.

 

The combat begins immediately continuing to the end of the level, only breaking at times for backtracking or change of room, all of which are filled with Imps and hitscanners, and sometimes Demons.  i like the way Cacodemons and Barons of Hell are reserved for traps, and extremely effectivelly - albeit again that effectiveness is aided by the low method of withholding health and armor. 

 

Unfortunately, my curiosity for obscure passageways lead me first to the worst trap of the map - the circular Cyberdemon room with a surrounding staircase descending from the door to the opposite side to both left and right - awesome in the viciousness of its design, dreadful in its efficacy at ruining the chances of survival of the player.  That the first Soulsphere is finally presented here offers some solace, but only little, as we are only given 100 cells of plasma (bringing the total amount of cells to 140, still nowhere near enough considering a good portion will always go to waste, given one has to be in constant movement and there is no BFG!) to deal with the menace.  i don't know how many tries it took - for sure, more than fifteen.  i'm not the type to rage quit, but i did lean back on my chair and muttered in Finnish, 'vittu mitä paskaa'.  i usually got to the point where plasma was out and had switched to Chaingun, but always the splash-damage caught up with me at some point, as i found the staircase particularly difficult to run around on while aiming.  Then i learned to give myself some breathing space by taking breaks from shooting, just running, and starting again.  When the meanie finally vanished, i was down to only shotgun shells.  i'm sure people with more natural ability than me can even enjoy a technical challenge such as this, but for me this was the worst Cyberdemon fight i've ever done.  At any rate, i won't complain more than this about it, because at the end of the day, it is a legit and fair fight, while i am at best an average player and still managed it, and only the Soulsphere really made it possible for me (i would imagine it won't be present on harder settings - you guys and girls, about everyone of you, won't need it :P  but hopefully no one enters the room with very low health).  So finally i feel my choice of HNTR was justified.

By the way, the whole structure in which the Cyberdemon dwells, accessed by a teleport, is just a beautiful design, in layout and aesthetics, of red stone and oak, with a curious little passageway of brimstone, not marked as a secret, inhabited by some Demons.

 

The second lethal ambush came in the YK area, surrounded by nukage.  After clearing the area from Imps and hitscanners, a feat in itself given my health was below 20%, getting killed in the first three attempts, i attempted to tackle them couple times as they came on, and inevitably always got me, or the nukage did - and here again i seriously considered resigning.  Until i stopped and looked around for some solution, and found the hidden radsuit and Berserk-pack!  (This should have, in my opinion, been marked as a secret.  Is it only because of their importance that the mapper is pretending this isn't a secret?)  The sound of a thousand trumpets...has nothing to do with this, but it was a genuine delight, and made finishing the level possible.

 

i was simply too worn down to look for the secrets afterwards, i think i'll still do it just to see how much easier they would've made my life.  i think that's one mistake i made on this level, but i was also a bit put off by the fact that secrets i thought i'd found were not secrets at all.  So i'm curious, has Khorus began to care about secrets?  Will have to see... (EDIT: Found both, Berserk-pack at the end seems to me a necessary boon for continuous players, given how low the health necessarily has dropped by the end.  The secret radsuit in the Cyberdemon's wing...i won't even start about it.  At any rate, briefly put, Khorus has only gotten interested in hiding essential stuff, in marked or unmarked secrets according to his whim.)

 

Unlike an esteemed fellow Clubber, i remain confounded as to why this WAD has gotten decorated, siding more with the decidedly average reviews, but for what it is, as enfuriating and unfair as it is, there's still a lot of good, also, even instances of inspired and brilliant design.  i keep highlighting the problems, but that's because once again, this could've been, with some extra care and work, an incredibly good set of maps.  After my dreadful experience of the Nukage Garden, this level again is absolutely great (well, apart from the Cybie, and the 'secrets', but at least he's dead.)  And i'm more than happy to give this map the deserved 4/5.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by dei_eldren

[Doritos420]

@dei_eldren Sounds like you're making the level a bit harder than it needs to be. You don't need to even kill the cyberdemon in this map of you don't want to. Or you can always come back to him once you have more ammo.

[dei_eldren]

53 minutes ago, Doritos420 said:

@dei_eldren Sounds like you're making the level a bit harder than it needs to be. You don't need to even kill the cyberdemon in this map of you don't want to. Or you can always come back to him once you have more ammo.

 

The second option would've been lovely to know, because i did find more plasma later (and to be fair, it would've been smart to find it before), but i honestly at least didn't notice how to leave the room?  Also, i think he had one of the keys... goodness gracious, i must have missed something pretty obvious?  i was really hoping to find a way to cheese the fight or just get out...

Edited July 6, 2021 by dei_eldren

[Capellan]

 

[DuckReconMajor]

E1M5 - prboom-plus 2.5.1.7um - complevel 3 - skill 1 - pistol start with saves

 

Much bigger and much more difficult. The people clamoring for more action have cursed me! Luckily on skill 1 it is not too bad. Still died once lol

I love the dark intro and any opportunity to do some Baron blasting with the rocket launcher.

I do have the sense these days to open the automap when i'm lost, which saved me a bunch this time considering the yellow key door isn't even labelled on the outside? maybe i came across it backwards somehow.

The locked-in slime fight to the right of the red key door was a lot of fun. I blasted the baron just in time to not get mauled.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

E1M5

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

So I liked this one a fair bit and it's my favourite of the wad so far, but I do harbour some ambivalence about it. To start out with the positives, the combat is the wad's best up to this point. The opening stretch is a real treat from pistol start, leaving you with only your pistol and rocket launcher to deal with the threats in the dark techbase area. There is a great atmosphere to this one with the combination of lighting and limited options for weaponry. It's not a difficult section but it provides some pretty nice thrills in a blind playthrough from pistol start. You also encounter both boss monsters here, the spiderdemon being in a nukage pit and paired with demons and an imp that ambush, and the cyberdemon coming at you from another nukage pit with a small cacocloud for some infighting potential. The cyberdemon fight is the superior of the two, with the spiderdemon being a little on the trivial side.

 

The teleport ambush found in an ammo cache beyond in the yellow key door is the wad's fieriest yet. A large number of imps and pinkies teleport into this cramped canyon alcove with a baron coming in from a closet on the side. There's a lot of urgency in this encounter, mandating you to pull out your plasma and start spraying and praying. With the ambushes in the wad so far mostly not having a lot of teeth, there was a pretty big shock to the volume of enemies that came in for this one. 

 

Now for where my mixed feelings come in, I'm having two trends jump out to me in this wad so far: the first is the primary challenge of maps being the minimal amount of health given, and the second being a lot of nukage running with rad suits. I think both of these things in a vacuum aren't bad, but I think they can be a little bit aggravating in tandem at times. If we look at this map, there are 14 stimpacks and 7 medikits total on UV, all pretty spaced out from one another. If you botch one of the fights and end up with relatively low health, there's a good chance you'll be riding on low health for most of the map going forward. Now let's say you start dallying a bit with your rad suits, or you forget to do something, and you end up having to take some nukage damage without a rad suit for a bit. I personally don't much appreciate having that threat in a map that can often cause you to ride low health throughout it. Obviously this can all be remedied by proper play, but personally it's not a potential threat that I'm too keen on from a gameplay perspective, I don't think it really adds much fun and can just make a potential death by this manner very frustrating for the player. I might be overthinking this though.

 

Those qualms aside, I thought this was a very good map overall and really enjoyed some of the fights here. So far it's the set's best.

[LadyMistDragon]

E1M5 - Nukage Monitoring

Well, this was certainly a map. Probably this part of the complex is slightly higher in the mountains, if the ledge above the plasma rifle with the Imps is any indication. I think the red key area could possibly contain some living quarters, but at this point, Khorus is screaming at you to just fucking roll with it and not worry about function so much. There are many computers in much of the map, but it's anyone's guess what their precise purpose is for the most part.

 

Anways, start in a darkened room reminiscent of the opening of The Crusher in a more Doom 1 context. Kill the zombiemen then proceed immediately forward to pick the rocket launcher up and trigger a trap with pinkies and imps that is easily handled. Pick up the ammo in this room because you're gonna need it. Exit to the right, kill the baron and find yourself in this map's hub, a sort of computer bank maze with Imps wandering around on the top. Keep moving and at some point, you may spot a hidden switch. Hit it and you'll be able pick up the chaingun sitting on a pillar here. Also, there are many clips in one corner of this room, so if you're running low on ammo, you've likely missed them.

 

Entering the first large nukage pit area (the one with the at least dozen former humans) triggered my initial memories of playing this map and how difficult I found it playing keyboard-only. Try to enter the nearby outdoor area first unless you like subjecting yourself to a ridiculous amount of hitscan attacks, deal with the various imps clusters the best you can, then drop down to the left to pick up the rad suit and rush forward to the plasma rifle. The Spider Mastermind you heard earlier will then teleport in, and then you should be able to take care of her with careful sidestrafing. The pit she appears in is very well-made, with a cool sort of whirlpool. It was not far from here that I suffered a death from an Imp because I was not really checking my side there.

 

Once you've picked up the yellow key, go to the yellow key door and find yourself in an entirely different wing of the complex. More waste disposal, I guess, though it's nonsensical for a gate to be before the slime, unless it's supposed to be like a drainage system, and it's something that gets opened sometimes so that it can....fuck the UAC.

 

So anyway, keep your rockets in reserve, take care of the opposition before you and then hit the switch between the doors and you'll open an area with THREE barons of hell. I'm not sure if infighting is necessary here, but at any rate, this is where I usually hit the switch in the chamber they emerged from, which lowers the drainage gate and immediately find yourself confronted by vast quantities of teleporting demons. I then plasma-blast my way through, pick up the berserk pack, and after firing more plasma, unload with rockets when things clear up enough.

 

Or else, you could just not bother right now and go through the other door into a rather bland, brown-colored wing that is, you guessed it, filled with slime. Seriously Khorus, this is getting so dumb. But see the first paragraph to see how useless your complaints are.

 

Well, you've already got many groups of oftentimes sniping Imps as well a decent chunk of demons on a walkway with barrels. Maybe there are some spare storage facilities? Head up the stairs, then grab the plasma rifle and hit the switch, and what might be the hardest fight in this episode if you're playing keyboard-only. Some pinkies will attack from the open alcove with the red key, but you probably won't notice them at first (they really hurt me as a result). Instead, you're more likely to spot the quad of Cacos flying at you from the opposite corner you're at and hear the roar of the Cyberdemon before you notice that. Now you'll have picked up some more rockets at this point, so don't hesitate them to direct them at the red balls of death, and then plasma the Cybderdemon. Oddly enough, I did not die in this section. I did end up shooting a few chaingun bullets to finally put the bruiser down. After this, there were still some enemies left alive near the exit (2 barons and an Imp) so I dispatched them forthwith (like in 5 seconds because both of them were quite weakened) and entered the exit.

 

Despite the vast opportunities for crossfire here though, it definitely did not come across as hard as I remembered. Packed to the brim with cool fights, and hopefully, you'll know how to use the ammo you've got, as you're not exactly swimming in it. Still, the chainsaw does kind of get rendered useless because of all the large fights you're in. A cool map at any rate, and the music complements it just as well as it could.

Edited July 7, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[Endless]

E1M5 | UV Continous | GZDoom & DOOM Retro

 

Big and evil. This huge tech-base with exteriors combines a good flow of gameplay along with much more amazing visuals and a larger architecture where the few cramped spaces that exist are compensated with huge rooms full of enemies. More than 280 enemies and all ready to give us a good dose of hell. Like the rest of the maps, Khorus does a magnificent job of creating a fantastic atmosphere in every single centimeter. The huge tech-base exudes life and spreads a sense of abandonment; what was once man's, now belongs to the demons in a Galilean base. The combat expands as well as the size, offering excellent challenges through massive traps with teleporters and more than enough ammunition to keep us entertained for a while. With an average length of about 10 to 15 minutes, this is certainly a bigger map than the previous five, but the constant combat and solid progression make this map feel like a fairground game of sorts. Always in motion, always in action.

 

The level begins with a rather dark area, full of tech-pc's and hallways where visibility is almost null, creating a heavy atmosphere of mystery and terror at the beginning. Of course, this is Doom! Fear is in the blood so what can we expect? The evolution of the level soon takes a turn as it opens up a hub-style area where we can take different paths to collect all the keys, as well as a few optional areas that reward (or punish) us for being explored, including an interesting trap with a Spidermastermind and a horde of demons at the end of the map. But of course, before reaching all these places we first have to move forward in our quest for the keys; each path is distinctive and usually independent of each other, but it will be necessary to obtain all 3 keys in order to achieve victory. The red key, the final one, has a certain flavor by expanding both the size and the combat, evolving the gameplay to something similar to bullet-hell but always keeping the surprises of Doom, like an unfortunate Cyberdemon surprise and a small horde of Cacos, all under a great balance between difficulty and fun. One thing I appreciate is that it doesn't throw us directly into a swarm of 5000 Imps, but it creates a clear progress that takes small steps little by little until it reaches a destructive jump that changes the pace of the map to keep us paying attention, and of course, once again, it's a map with a layout as simple as understandable; I'd be surprised if anyone gets lost in the first 5 levels.

 

It's pretty fun in my opinion. I appreciate the style and the evolving difficulty curve, as well as the modest but detailed visuals that create an epic depiction of tech-base on a non-Mars moon for a change.

[Dazel]

E1M6

(GZDoom, UV, Pistol Start, Saveless)

Death Count: 0/1

Kind of an inversion of the weapon progression of previous maps, this one gives you the shotgun right away and makes you work for the chaingun, putting it in a bit of a clusterfuck trap of a narrow staircase with two cacodemons in close range. Honestly it makes much more sense this way, especially with how common Lost Souls are becoming, the chaingun is a much stronger weapon than the shotgun when ammo is given for it, and doesn't require as careful play. I like the fights you're given to get the rocket launcher and chaingun, and my positive words for this map end here. Khorus's love affair with nukage doesn't seem to be ending any time soon, and this time you're given the courtesy of an absolute murder of a fight against a mini-cloud of cacodemons without enough room to maneuver safely outside of the nukage, that is, unless you find the unmarked secret with a radsuit that makes the fight winnable. I'm not sure if I'm more mad that the fight requires finding the secret or lucky RNG to not get completely walled off in your ledge by the cacodemons, or with the fact that it's an unmarked secret; not marking a secret doesn't mean it's okay to make it mandatory. After that we have some nice inconsistency with a non-damaging nukage pit, before a teleporter takes us right from E1 style techbase to E3 wood and brick hell. Another near mandatory secret will get you the radsuit to navigate the lava and give an extra 40 cells well needed for the Cyberdemon fight, which otherwise doesn't quite give you enough and forces some chaingunning to finish it off. As a last secret, the berserk in the exit room I guess is nice for continuous play, and maybe if you've been sloppy and had to avoid some fights with this map's very stingy health distribution, it might help for cleanup, but it's an otherwise pointless addition to the end. Overall the cohesion of the design falls apart quite a bit, we only really get one concrete fight here against the swarm of cacodemons, with everything else falling into a general brown noise. 
Rating: 1½ 🟊✭☆☆☆

 

[Biodegradable]

E1M6

UV | Continuous Play with Saves | GZDoom + Dead Marine

 

Khorus turning up the heat a bit here with some more interesting ambushes and teasing you with a sudden lack of health pick-ups to bring up the tension a notch, which is what I like to see. The layout of this map is also an interesting departure from the other maps as we start to see a lot more of Hell's influence over this moonbase begin to take shape in regards to texture work. Combat also took a fun direction and I like how Khorus anticipated that the player might take the retreat approach after nabbing the Yellow keycard like I did and had the walls short enough to allow the Cacos fly over 'em to chase after you. I like how this map shook the formula a bit since I was honestly starting to get a tiny bit bored of the same-y level design and now I'm curious to see what comes next.

 

 

[Thrustpeak]

UV| Continuous w/ Saves | PrBoom-Plus

 

E1M6
It seems hell's influence is growing as we near the climax of this episode. Walls of flesh and ominous red-tinged corridors gave the impression that hell is leaking over. Continuing the trend from the last map, traps are becoming more commonplace. Right off the bat you get assaulted by 2 shotgunners popping out of closets when you try to open a door immediately followed by getting sandwiched by 2 caco demons on the path to the chaingun. So far there haven't been any that have felt particularly evil, but I get the sense we are being eased into it. I look forward to what kind of Tricks and Traps™ will be getting regularly thrown at us by episode 3. I did not find the rad suit near the yellow key because I was somewhat low on health and looking to traverse as little nukage as possible. So—when the caco's appeared—I noped out of the radioactive waste, came face to face with the pack of imps and pinkies while backtracking to the previous room, noped out of that room, and just bottle necked everything at the door next to the exit. I'm glad I took that path first though, and glad that I found the second radiation suit to traverse the lava because without all that plasma the cyberdemon fight would have felt much more tedious. Can't say that i'm a fan of how the radiation suit was hidden (strangely not even a secret) by the yellow key, and I easily could have missed the one that allowed me to walk on the lava which felt mandatory.There cyberdemon fight felt mostly just like an ammo check as it was a simple circlestrafe until he's dead encounter. Unlike the last map, there wasn't really any encounters that really stood out to me, but I was digging the hellish techbase aesthetic to the map. 

 

Spoiler

 

Hell is leaking over.

 

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by Thrustpeak

[Book Lord]

E1M6

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The last minutes of the previous map have been quite taxing for my health, so I was not in the best shape. At least E1M6 did not crush me right away, providing some early skirmishes with Imps and hitscanners instead. Still, I was doomed to die in the first two minutes, when the only Baron of the level teleported behind me and landed a killing blow before I could even turn around.

Spoiler

I appreciated how the tech-base suddenly became warped and intertwined with hell. The open courtyard with hanging bodies and a rolling spine was especially good-looking, just as the Cacodemon turret with demonic effigies and pillars. The search for the YK brought me to the next external area, which encompassed a toxic lake and more SP_ROCK cliffs. In the background, the silhouettes of gnarled trees stood out in the enormous Jupiter disc backlight. As we progress into the WAD, the signs of visual prowess are becoming more evident and widespread.

Spoiler

The commitment to gameplay never failed, as confirmed by the excellent Cacodemon assault after picking up YK. They emerged from behind the cliffs and from the roof of the base itself, prompting a quick response with difficult manoeuvres in the hazardous environment. I died to my own rocket because of a damned scrub, then I succeeded on the second attempt. Meanwhile, closets were opened to revitalise the backtracking to the yellow door.

 

It was not self-evident what to do with the obtained RK, but thankfully the base was small enough to notice that new steps have raised in the courtyard. Nukage oddly merged into water by a UAC door, which led to a teleporter pad and ultimately to an alien place, upholstered with the classic infernal texture scheme. There was even a river of lava, which I braved without the comfort of a shielding suit, hoping it was short and that it led to a non-secret ledge with handy equipment. There were no free radsuits on this map: one was in a secret and the other was tucked away in the nukage lake, along with a berserk pack. I did not find any secrets on this map, not even the one in the exit room. They did not offer anything valuable, if found just before leaving.

Spoiler

The hellish section ended in an elliptic chamber with a central marble pillar. While it was obvious that the octagonal column was about to lower and release some baddies, I was not expecting a Cyberdemon in such a cramped space. It was great to circle-strafe and spray plasma on him, but the exploit ended miserably when I was blocked by some obstruction and ate a rocket. I discovered that the Cyberdemon could be destroyed safely from the outside, provided you do not let the door close and seal you inside. I teleported to the courtyard after collecting the BSK, then I noticed the rolling spine had disappeared, giving way to the exit. There were three unmarked consecutive doors, each one requiring a different key. The author wanted to ensure nobody left the map while missing a part! Another outstanding level, sharing the quality of its predecessor, on a smaller size.

[LadyMistDragon]

E1M6 - Tainted Fort

 

This is actually quite a fitting and haunting track despite that Mr. Freeze had not been composing with this wad in mind. It's impossible to discern any sort of purpose to this structure, though the raised non-damaging slime pool seems to be located in something of a pillbox-like structure, containing slime that actually doesn't hurt you when you hit a switch to access it.At any rate, signs of demonic corruption are everywhere, and it doesn't even resemble a lab in any fashion whatsoever. You'll see hanging corpses in the courtyard where the pillbox is located, vined walls in certain locationsoccasional textures with demonic heads on them and perhaps most damning of all, crimson brick with a red rock floor.

 

The beginning is probably the most dangerous location. Starting in some shallow water with a raised wall containing imps on your left and a few demons up the stairs to the right, much killing follows. Which is to say nothing of the hitscanners that come piling in once you've advanced ever so slightly. I did end up risking death by shotgunner at around 42 health, but RNG worked in my favor and I quickly recovered. There are still some nasty monster closets that you'd be advised to look out for however, possibly nastier than anything thus far.

 

There are....many places you can access straight-off. The closest is an generic, marble-lined courtyard containing the red key from which Imps will come pouring out. Due to a barrier about halfway down the path surrounding the building though, you'll have to wait with good reason as it turns out (a baron and some Cacodemons teleport in when you cross the red key linedef). So anyway head back to a large door basically parallel to the entrance but at your level, and you'll find yourself in the above-mentioned pillbox and courtyard area. Here, I ended up missing a shotgunner on my right who thankfullly didn't fire the instant he spotted me. Enter a door from the direction he came from, engage in some tricky combat, and finally emerge in yet another L-shaped outside area of marble and slime. The hitscanners will occupy your time well enough, but....kind of seems like Khorus was eager to move on to hell or whatever. Did I mention I lost a decent chunk of health before I found the radsuit and berserk pack in the far corner? And I forgot to mention you pick up the yellow key here as well. which you can then use to acquire the red key if you so choose.

 

Or else you could go behind the pillbox, make your way into a sort of outside maintenance alley and press a switch to reveal hitscanners and a teleporter which take you straight to hell (To hell!), in what is largely a claustrophobic castle. So gunning down zombiemen may be a crappy use of Khorus' skills, but not to worry! Pass through this area and emerge into a circular room with lava and a pillar in the middle and imps filling the other side. Walk about halfway through to the other side, and the pillar will lower containing a Cyberdemon. Due to the not-entirely regular circular shape of the room, you can't quite blindly circle-strafe here, and I took a couple of hits as a result, but you can probably dispatch him without dying. Expect that you'll end resorting to the shotgun at a certain point though, because I'm not sure how you'd have enough plasma for him. When you're done, hit the switch at the other end of this room from the entrance, raise a platform to the Cyberdemon and blue key and pick up the blue key to trigger teleporter closets to open on either side for you to head back to the base. Khorus' use of softlocking throughout the map is kind of...strange, not to mention pointless, but you've got to keep moving forward it seems like.

 

Anyways, the flesh pillar at the one end of the pillbox courtyard will have lowered after your helltrip and you'll be able to exit, but only if you have all the keys (probably). Head through an area of butt-ugly, pea-soup brick texture, dispatch the cacodemon, open up the blood-lined wall on your left to acquire a berserk if you're playing continous, and hit the exit switch.

 

I have no closing thoughts. It's far too hot where I'm at for that kind of nonsense.

 

[Soul_Runner]

E1M6 - K - 100%, I - 96%, S - 100%, Time: 7:54
Pistol Start, No Saves, UV Max, Not Blind, 1 Death
First sight, Starting in a lower, water logged area, we climb a staircase into the base, the map retaining the rocky techbase theme. A shotgun immediately and a lower monster count so likely not as action packed. Going left first, we get imps and shotgunners, nice to have some extra shells from these guys. A rocket launcher appears in a closet alongside lost souls and a spectre and through the next doors into an open area we get a chaingun! Picking up the yellow key sets 6 cacodemons on us, rockets to thin the numbers and chaingun or shotgun to clean up the rest. Heading back we find a monster closet open with imps, a pinky and a plasma gun! Now we have all the firepower we need. The last door to open on the left side gives us two cacodemons, green armour and another chaingun in case you went here first. Heading through the yellow key door we hit a switch to lower pillars, another rocket launcher and a surprise baron.
The switch raises stairs in the previous area with imps raised on a sewage platform. Heading up here we get some lost souls, imps, then a switch followed by shotgunners and spectres. A teleporter leads us to a place much more hellish than anything currently seen in the wad, red walls and torches around with imps and a spectre. The next room contains a reasonable amount of monsters, imps, zombies, lost souls. Heading into a lava river, this becomes much more comfortable if you get the rad suit secret to avoid floor damage. The next room has a few imps and a surprise cyberdemon hidden in a lowering pillar, making movement important in this room otherwise you get blasted by a rocket. I got stuck on an imp behind me here and eat a rocket, leading to the first death on this level.
On the second go round i took a differnt route, getting the rocket launcher on the right side of the start first, followed by the chaingun with the 2 cacodemons and the armor before carrying on. The switch behind the yellow key door raises a platform to the left in the water area, allowing you to grab the red key.
Back to the cyberdemon, taking out all the imps allows you to run circles around the cyber, avoiding splash damage and raining plasma on him from the available plasma ammo and gaining the blue skull key. From here we can get to the end, a cacodemon and a secret berserk pack, something that would have been helpful to have earlier but may have broken the balance of the map.
Overall, a good map with a good amount of ammo and a cyber which can easily kill someone. We get our first looks into more hellish areas as well which feature much heavier later on in the mapset.

[dei_eldren]

E1M7 - Hellfire Barons' Club (HNTR, Continuous): K 100% (128/128), I 100% (2/2), S 0% (0/0), T around 22min, D 4 - i admit despite surviving, i played the start with a horde of Imps and Pinkies twice simply to have more health left, and on second try only lost 15%.  And considering what's coming through the rest of the level the start was apt, very representative of almost the whole map.  In the second room ambush came my first death, but if i had had more than 30% health at this point i doubt it would've happened - so i consider it a death pro forma.  This beautiful hell-themed level had several interesting and challenging rooms, and surprisingly enough the traps never felt unfair at this point, and none of the combat or rooms were boring or half-assedly done.  Even the Lost Souls are used better than before, like for example in the cave at the RL ambush, or soon afterwards in what was actually my favourite fight in the whole level. 

 

On the way to the Barons there's also a memorable fight against hiding Cacodemons when emerging from a cave to enter another building.  After the battle access is gained inside by a raised bridge over a fiery mote.  The building is at first forebodingly empty, and there is an ominous Soulsphere placed in front of what looks like an elevator, and some extra ammo is also available.   Up the lift, and the player finds himself in a large open space where a large amount of Imps, along with some Spectres and Lost Souls, with no way to escape, as the lift itself blocks the way back.  It's almost a mini-slaughterfight, and fun as hell!  Mostly i used SSG, but in the middle of the fight fired a couple of rockets to thin the swarm just a bit, and just SSG'd the rest again.  Herding Imps is really cool. 

 

The structure of the level is also interesting, as the penultimate slaughter takes place in the starting room, walls of which have now been opened up to reveal ungodly amount of Imps and Pinkies - very similar fight to what was before, only now even in greater scope.

The final battle itself ensues as we enter unannounced to a cave through the Yellow Skull Door (the room earlier where the YSK was obtained, was amongst the highlights of this map, too, with a Baron guarding it) seen at start, where the Barons are partying, and i think we interrupted something they were enjoying, so they got mad forgetting all decorum which would've dictated they ask us to join.  Oh well, there's quite a few of them, but at first i manage to lure them one or two at the time out of the hellfire cave, to the room with more space (in which there's no crossfire, and they are gotten rid of quite easily this way.  When only few are left and their projectiles pose no threat, i venture further into the cave, picking up much needed rockets on the way, to get rid of the rest, with the help of the radsuit as there is a very high-damaging hellish floor beneath the pathway.  A teleporting Spider Mastermind ruins those plans, however, and without much brilliant strategy on my part i run behind it as escape route is not easily realized, and in a happy coincidence, the Barons aren't happy to see her either (i guess this was a gentlemen's club meeting)!  So as they bombard her from one side and me from the other, she's soon dead.  Still, they refuse my friendship so i've no choice but to dispatch them to party somewhere else, as i ask them to give my greetings to George Washington...

 

My most ignominious deaths came at the end - the exit is guarded by absolutely invisible Spectres, and they managed to maul me a couple times.  One time i got them sorted, but with such loss of health i had wanted to carry over to the next level that i had to try again.  For what? since it turned out to be a death exit!  Which i'd forgotten that this is the penultimate level of this episode, but it does make sense.

 

So, absolutely brilliant level, all the fights were fun and meaningful, all the traps were decent, and just as significantly, the design of the level was unique and even ingenious, while the visuals have now gotten the needed attention.  It's possible i'm only now getting used to the combat style, not sure (though the Nukage Garden E1M5 still seems terribly unfair and unreasonable to me, even in hindsight.)  The only questionable design choice in this level is the total lack of secrets, but that is par for the course at this point, for some reason it's Khorus' preference (whilst as good as the last level was, others have pointed out all the little missteps in it.)  Anyway, i'm even tired of my own complaints, and instead give this 5/5.  

 

(Thanks for the tips on E1M6 Cyberdemon, guys, obvious when told, and i also think i'd decided to my own detriment the fight is harder than it was, as no one else seems to have much trouble with it at all - shows how taxing especially E1M5 was for me.)

 

Most of the pictures are this time from my second playthrough of over half the level (the final picture is from my Continuous run, i didn't replay the final fight against the Barons) from just moments ago, as i'd lost my save for the end of the level, and tried it again - pistol starting with full health this level seemed easier than on continuous at dubious condition.  Still truly enjoyable journey.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by dei_eldren

[Capellan]

 

[DuckReconMajor]

E1M6  - prboom-plus 2.6um - skill 1 - pistol start with saves

 

The cyberdemon fight in this level is really well done. I'm sure it's a trick that's been done before but it's novel to me and kept me frantically running the whole time.

It does seem a bit early to throw hell stuff in but we'll see what is ahead.

 

Spoiler

 

 

[Book Lord]

E1M7

Doomsday Engine, UV-Fast, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The last fully-fledged level of first episode is not a huge one, but here you can feel the heat. This is not due to the hellish dungeon you must travel through, even though lava is frequently used; it is the result of non-stop action and harsh setups, in which you are never safe and must act quickly to avoid the worst.

Spoiler

The first crowd of Imps can be dispatched with circle strafing, but the upcoming closet opens in your back and deploys shotgunners. The next watery area had a good combination of Lost Souls and other enemies, all posing a nice threat popping out unexpectedly from behind pillars and in niches, until I found a Baron of Hell guarding the YSK inside a cage. The way back was sealed though, so there was no other choice but press on. After more mobs and surprise attacks, the tunnels opened into a lava cave with the quintessential Doom marble building. The suddenly generous ammo placement suggested a big fight lay ahead and an instantaneous lift threw me immediately in the middle of a demonic horde. I sensed the danger and equipped the plasma gun, which quickly cut the enemy ranks down to size.

Spoiler

A teleporter sent me back to the starting room and to the yellow door, but walls had opened in the meantime and another host of enemies was in for the kill. This was a particularly devious setup, as the screenshot clearly displays: shotgunners on the left for an early fusillade, Demons behind them so they will not infight, Imps on the right ready to unleash the fire. They got me the first time, but not the second; good ambush, though.

Spoiler

The final area was a red-hot volcanic cave, inhabited by a herd of Barons of Hell. There are enough rockets and cells to nuke them all, but they are found in separate batches along a sinuous ledge, while descending towards a switch. I liked this Baron encounter. They are placed in a way they can attack from multiple directions, with no cover to abuse. I was surprised to see a Soul Sphere, as I believed they were completely ruled out as an item on UV. Then the Spiderdemon teleported in and I realised that the bonus was there just for surviving the point-blank encounter. I fled up the ledge and found a spot where she could see but not hit me, then I released a shower of plasma on her giant brain. I must say that was a spiteful ambush, an ominous sign of things to come. Until then, it has been an entertaining and memorable level.

Spoiler

Edited July 8, 2021 by Book Lord

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

E1M6

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 0/2 secrets

 

The wad keeps the ball rolling with this one, a mostly non-linear map that introduces some new themes to the mix, starting you in a watery pit lined with vined walls and containing some sections demonic fortress texturing, and a hellish cavern section. The objective of the map is to acquire all 3 keys and use them to open the exit doors hidden behind a rotating spine column. It feels like a step down in difficulty from E1M5, but was in my opinion no less enjoyable to play and contained a few memorable encounters. 

 

The first encounter worth highlighting is the yellow key fight. You obtain the yellow key in a cliffy outdoor area, flooded with nukage with a couple of islands for safety. The yellow key is located on a smaller cliff with stairs leading to it in the middle of the nukage, and grabbing it causes 6 cacodemons to raise up from the perimeter of the arena. If you've acquired any of the big guns you can try to stick to the safer area near the entrance to the room and use those to take them down quickly, but if you are like me and would rather save your ammo on those guns the cacos will eventually converge and force you out of your foothold, causing you to need to be quick  on your feet to avoid nukage damage as you run through. It's probably the best usage of nukage yet in the wad. Once you clear out all the cacos, exploring into a small alcove within the cliffs will net you a berserk pack to refill any health you lost, as well as a rad suit so you can safely make it back.

 

To get the blue key, you must run across a nukage/water mix (which is actually non-damaging, so don't fear) and fight through a small ambush to reach a teleporter, which immediately thrusts you into a sticky situation with imps and spectres. Progressing ahead is a room of lost souls and fodder, as well as a hellish cavern below with some hellslime that leads you to rockets and a plasma gun. The big fight here is a circular room with a cyberdemon that is revealed on the central pedestal when you reach the bottom. You will probably have just under the amount of plasma needed to kill him, I had to finish him off with the shotgun, but as long as your aim is solid with the plasma there is not much extra hassle to it. This was another exciting encounter, requiring you to keep circle-strafing around the cybie for safety, while ensuring your aim is steady enough to not waste your limited shots.

 

Since I might as well talk about this as well, the red key fight is less intense than the previous two. There is a sudden ambush with a baron that you'll want to use your rockets on, but grabbing the key just unleashes a relatively non-threatening imp ambush, dispersing them evenly around the watery outdoor cliff area. They are all pretty easy to take care of, with the biggest threat of the area probably being if you get caught like a deer in headlights by the baron.

 

Pretty easy level, but nonetheless had some fun encounters.

[TheOrganGrinder]

Let's see if I can't catch up.  ZDoom 2.8.1, Hurt Me Plenty, continuous play with saves as I feel like 'em.

 

E1M1

 

I've been largely away from Doom for a few months, and so I find this WAD to be refreshingly uncomplicated in its presentation; with stock texture and monsters and familiar gameplay, it's like coming home after a long journey.  That said, even on Hurt Me Plenty this is a notch above vanilla Doom in the glee with which it shovels the standard E1 fodder monsters at you, and there's enough variation in the angles and elevations from which the enemies attack to keep things spicy even if the nature of the project constrains the bestiary somewhat.  It's not a complicated layout and I don't think it takes a particularly convoluted set of navigation choices to bring the player to the red key long before they have any notion of where it might be used, but as noted, this isn't exactly a maze and figuring out where to go upon collecting the key is just a matter of trying the one door you haven't yet opened.  Good fun, lots of meat for me to get my teeth into without feeling as though I'm being deliberately thrown in at the deep end.

 

E1M2

 

This is a lovely little techbase perched on the edge of a crater flooded with toxic sludge in classic Doom fashion, and I do like the fact that the exit is right by the start and it's immediately communicated to you that your overall goal for the level is to retrieve the blue key.  There are a few hurdles along the way, but nothing that a seasoned player can't handle, although the level is somewhat meagre with its provision of health and your ability to bounce back from an unlucky shotgun blast or reckless step into unfamiliar territory is rather curtailed; still, that helps to keep it exciting, especially when monsters start to flood the earlier parts of the level when you snag the blue key and your journey back to the exit door takes on the character of an upstream struggle against a torrent of demonic flesh.  I didn't find the secret rocket launcher until after I'd cleared out the map; I guess I'll be taking a couple of magic bullets to the next level with me, to put to use against the no-doubt stronger opposition there.

[DavitW]

E1M4
Basic premise for a map right here. Door to the left is locked so go to the right, get the key and come back. It's all designed well and looks excellent, like every single line in the valleys here was immaculately placed. There's continuity between the maps with you typically starting right where you ended the last one. Except in this case if you took the secret exit last time but we can easily overlook that. No real secrets or frills to this map, just action from start to finish and I enjoyed it.

 

E1M5
Starting back off with a pistol start here. You can get the plasma rifle here at the cost of spawning in a spider mastermind. If you opt out though you can get another conveniently right before you have to fight the cyberdemon later in the map. Not too difficult of a fight, stay up top, take out the cacodemons then grab the radsuit and go one on one with him in the slime. There's a trap at the end where you step into a slime area and a horde of demons spawn in front of you while bars raise behind you, but it's very easy to break it if you back up before they can block you.

 

E1M6
Bit of a bland map here and a bit more square than the others, not the prettiest of the set so far. Resource managemant plays a big part in this wad and I really enjoy it. It's not in an annoying way that just feels like you're not given enough ammo to deal with the situation, but rather you're given all the resources you need to beat the map. You just need to decide when it's time to break out the big guns and when it's worth it to use your rockets on a ball of cacodemons, or saving your plasma for when you're low on health and everything around you just needs to die as soon as possible.

[Thrustpeak]

UV| Continuous w/ Saves | PrBoom-Plus

E1M7
The difficulty continues to rise. Trap closets are more stuffed than ever before and it threw us into multiple rooms with hordes of enemies and little warning. I mostly just got them to infighting to thin the numbers a bit instead of burning all my ammo, but I guess even us continuous players won't be benefiting from that with this death exit. I've began to notice the maps have started to be less generous with health. There was even 0 secrets listed so it wasn't hiding unless it was tucked away in technically-not-a-secret places like the radsuit last map. I was not prepared when the spider mastermind popped in at the end, but somehow I survived the surprise despite barons on both sides of me. I had more than enough time on my rad suit to maneuver—along with enough cells to take it out—but it still felt close. I enjoyed this level despite another radsuit section. It felt used sparingly here, and that was probably the most interesting encounter since I jumped down before killing off all the barons. The other rooms with a ton of imps/pinkies—while initially looking intimidating—didn't really feel like they put me in any serious danger. It only felt like they would put my ammo count in danger. Next up is the episode finale. Let's see how it closes out.  

 

Spoiler

 

This is fine. 

 

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

E1M3

 

Up to this point you'd be forgiven for thinking that you're playing through an E1 tribute, remake, or emulation of the sort that was so common in the early days of Doom mapping, toothier and more polished certainly than your prototypical 1994 offering but of a fundamentally similar nature.  Here, though, the WAD very much starts to assert its own identity with indoor and outdoor spakes alike taking on a greater scale and a monumental or cavernous quantity and the star-speckled darkness overhead lending a fundamentally different atmosphere to the proceedings than the brilliant Phobos sky it replaces.  Not only that, but we've got Barons of Hell making an appearance five levels early and cacodemons and lost souls popping up an episode before they normally would; the bestiary is still somewhat constrained compared to the horde of mid-tiers that Doom II provides to cover different roles, but it's certainly more varied than a classic E1 map.

 

The big nukage reservoir filled with spectres stands out to me as an interesting "organic" barrier to progress; if you're of a mind to, you can shoot down into the pit and kill the monsters with impunity from a relatively early point in the level's running time, or try and dance your way past them, but the sheer number of spectres makes that a drain on resources until you've got a melee weapon (berserk pack or chainsaw, both are available) and makes it easier to get unwittingly surrounded and devoured if you try to rush to the other end of the pool, so I ended up exploring every other part of the map prior to that chokepoint before I decided to tackle it and open up the back one-third or so of the map.  That feels like a pretty natural reaction to the situation to me - "faced with this defined obstacle, I will take the paths of lesser resistance until I run out of other options," - and I wonder if that's a common approach among other players, or if a more common reaction to that obvious, toothy obstacle is to snarl "bring it on!" and jump right in?

 

E1M9

 

Smaller and quicker than E1M3, honestly not that much more intense and to the extent that it is, some of that is down to the smaller footprint and reduced backtracking of the one compared to the other.  I think the most probable encounter in which the player is likely to be significantly bled comes right at the start of the level, when you're surrounded by monsters and have limited cover; the temptation is to rush down a hallway or through a door and get out of the open space into which you've been deposited, but diving into the unknown brings its own share of danger.  Apart from that, this one has a similar "fetch quest" layout to E1M2, with the exit located right by the start, clearly marked, and easily accessible but for the fact that it's behind a locked door, which you're send off along the level's various spokes to recover in a step-by-step manner.

[Biodegradable]

E1M7

UV | Continuous Play with Saves | GZDoom + Dead Marine

 

Hell's influence grows as lava and the red rock texture make their appearance known, health is just as scarce and now there's a new frequency of monster closets and Barons, lots of Barons! I managed to cheese the room after a couple of attempts thanks to some unexpected infighting. At first, I was confused with the progression as there was another corridor I was planning to explore once I finished dicking around with the Yellow skullkey room, only to realise later that this is where you're supposed to go so I probably missed out on some goodies in that corridor I neglected in the second to last room. Doh well :^P

 

 

[Doritos420]

E1M6 - Corrupted Installation

Spoiler

One thing I like about this episode so far is the seemingly gradual hellification of the levels as we go on. Pretty fun sense of progression to it. Again this is a cut above average from what we’ve been used to difficulty wise but compared to the last level I don’t think it’s too crazy. There was a one bullshit trap when you open one of the starting doors only to get 2 shotgunner monster closets on either side of you. I imaging if you were playing continuous and had low health at this point, it could very well instakill you. Another memorable moment, in the South outside area, when you walk along the terrace to grab the rocket launcher a hell knight spawns in behind you. Very diabolical monster spawnings.  The most deadly area for me was definitely the Cyberedemon lair that you teleport to. I ended up going there early on, with very little ammo. I barely made it out of there alive. I completely missed the secret rad suit so had to wade through the lava to get the plasma rifle. And then when I got the the Cyberdemon I didn’t have nearly enough ammo or health to fight him so ended up teleporting away to tackle the rest of the map then come back to finish him off. To me this wad really shows off the importance of proper routing in a map. I expect when the difficulty climbs I’ll be doing restarts on levels trying to find the optimal method of approach. With the nonlinear aspect to levels I expect I will start by finding the areas of least resistance and trying to progress in that direction, and then expanding outwards from there. The last secret (the one I actually managed to get), a berserk pack, was a bit of a letdown (especially for pistol starters). Once you’re near the exit I imagine you had already gotten the berserk powerup earlier, so it’s basically useless except to increase your health to 100 for continuous players.

 

E1M7 - Halls of Doom

Spoiler

We’ve finally come to an area that looks completely hellified. To me it looks  like it could have come out of Episode 3 of Doom. Considering the hellish setting this level doesn’t feel that difficult compared to what we’ve seen previously. Only 1 boss type monster in this level (the only area that gave me any real trouble). The initial area is a fight against some imps and pinkies, in this area you can use a lot of infighting to help you thin out the herd. After that you travel through some tunnels, open a few monster closets and then get to a building sitting in a pool of lava. This level has a lot of lava on the ceilings very reminiscent of Episode 2 and 3, giving the place an otherworldly quality. There is a small scale battle in this lava building too, very similar to the first, tons of imps and a bunch of other enemies. After that you kill a baron guarding a switch and teleport back to the start, to get another imp battle in the same room as before (a bit repetitive with the imp & pinky/specter rooms) This level feels a lot more linear to what we’ve seen previously too. The final room is where it gets a bit tricky to me, lava filled room with a bunch of barons. I immediately jumped down for the supercharge only to spawn in a mastermind and get killed quickly. On my second try I cleared out all the barons first (trying to be mindful and save plasma ammo for the mastermind), Finally when fighting the mastermind I took a good chunk of damage since I ran out of plasma ammo to stunlock her, and my rad suit had a leak in it. At the end I ended up killing myself with rocket splash damage when the specters are spawned right in front of you (real dickish monster spawn there). Overall though the level was not that tough, and combat and exploration wise it was probably one of my least favorite this episode. Not bad, just feels like the techbases have been more interesting than a hell level. Also a surprising death ending, I’m curious how it will affect the next level? For pistol starters it’s going to be another day at the office, curious to see how the continuous players will handle it.

[LadyMistDragon]

E1M7

 

This is a vaguely foreboding locale. Ugly-ass marble castle with a ceiling the color of yellowish-lava for some odd reason. You do travel through a cave (red-lined with a seriously foreboding gray-sand ceiling) to a wooden structure that also has...lava ceiling for some reason. It does make for quite a dangerous-seeming spot. Like the hell section in the last map, this feels overly stringy and linear, but I guess that's how Khorus can get away with not including secrets. But I only found half of the secrets in the last two maps anyway, secrets that I've found on other playthroughs I might add, so I don't think I can complain. Might be the first time where the music wasn't completely satisfying though. It was the same one that played in the secret map stewboy did for DtWId though, which was...kind of annoying to move in, but might be better than I gave it credit for. Like Khorus though, he liked making players move in slime in that case. Oddly enough, there's no need to move in lava, except the last room.

 

Lots of large Imps and pinky hordes in relatively small rooms you'll have to circle around. The battle with the Cacodemons in front of the aforementioned wood house can be kind of tricky because you'll have to rush in to grab ammo at least once since you won't have enough rockets initially to face them. Hitting a switch in the house can also be kind of tricky because of the Lost Souls that come flying your way. The teleporter that appears takes you back to the starting room, where a corner opens up revealing a chamber with a switch, an attempt at a window to the outside without actually displaying anything outdoors, and more enemy mobs. Hit the switch, and it'll open up aother room with Imps at the back and a cage in the middle with a Baron and the yellow key. To access it, you'll have to press on the fairly obvious lowering walkway and take some damage as you wait for it go up. Open the yellow door, and come into the best looking room so far in the wad. An expansive yellow cavern with a path circling around down to the lava, and mobs of Barons on the circular platforms, this is your chance to truly unload, as the ammo caches suggest. Avoid shooting the last group as much as you can though, not like me, because when you cross a linedef just before a switch at the end of the path, you'll encounter a popup Spider Mastermind and you'll probably notice the boxes of cells were all small instead of large. Meaning I ran out of cells so I had to restart which sucked, because I'd actually done the same thing when I'd played this map last(: Anyways, the Mastermind should hopefully take a decent beating from the Barons enough to where you shouldn't have to use too much other ammo to end her. If not, well you'll unfortunately have to deal with some pop-up Spectres in the open exit chamber, and it's a little harder to dodge this spider than most because of the environment and ammo factor. No matter though, because when you hit the switch to open the exit and take it, you are killed and transporter to well, you'll see.

 

This was a very solid penultimate map for a first episode. I honestly appreciate how Khorus raised the stakes visually in particular, even thought that may not carry over to the finale.

Edited July 8, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

[dei_eldren]

E1M8 - MM Puzzle (HNTR): stats irrelevant - As boss-maps go, this is an interesting one.  One room and two enemies, a lone Pinky and the Mastermind, unkillable, in her own VIP-lodge.  It seems the death exit from E1M7 was meant to ensure Khorus doesn't need to give anyone any power-ups and that the SMM would remain unkillable, even if it's extremely unlikely anyone could have amassed enough surplus ammo from last map :D  It wasn't hard to figure out what to do, took me a few tries and looks around, but execution was really a case of will she aim and shoot or not, as i ran around the edges and the beams to always reach the next teleporter.  i liked the idea, but not the gameplay, because at the end of the day, if the idea results in a luck-depended run, it should have been scrapped regardless.  For creativity and the satisfaction of figuring it out, 2/5.

 

All in all, this was a very good Episode, if a bit varied in quality of execution and design-choices particularly in the earlier maps (a few of which i found technically unforgivable, but even so, i think in the grand scheme of this WAD they don't matter much except by marginally lowering the score), and it would not take many changes to elevate this to an excellent one, and i am starting to understand why this could be awarded.  On the other hand, personally, i don't agree with (liberal) use of boss-enemies starting as early as E1M5 (D1 simply isn't meant to be as hard as Doom 2, to achieve that you have to resort to unfair antics - unless you're John Romero and made Si666il, but this was made years earlier), and i agree with Capellan that a map like E1M8 is also the result of that.  As i've said before in this club i prefer classical boss-fights and progression, even if majority thinks they are boring or antiquated.  At least in my opinion, these maps would have enough difficulty without the bosses (i didn't get the impression that they really posed much additional threat to most clubbers, apart from E1M7, which really could have been the final level, with the concluding battle at Hellfire Barons' Club being a worthy and challenging ending to the episode.)

 

i re-read some of the average reviews to which i've alluded to earlier, and agree with them less now.  No doubt Khorus is a talented designer & mapper with vision, even if in few particular instances his work reflected that less than it could have.

 

My favourite maps in this Episode were:

E1M1 - Dirty Wall and the Nukage Cave

E1M9 - Underground Clandestine Nukage Storage 

E1M4 - the Nukage Depot

E1M7 - Hellfire Barons' Club

 

Would be on the favourite-list if not for one encounter:

E1M6 - Brimstone & Nukage

 

Map that was boring:

E1M2 - Imps in Nukage

 

When it was clear the theme would be damaging floors:

E1M3 - Pass through Nukage

 

Map that was too long, exhausting and mean-spirited:

E1M5 - the Nukage Garden

 

On to Episode 2!!

Edited July 9, 2021 by dei_eldren : few more thoughts, map score

[cannonball]

E1M5 - A better large map here, the start is interesting given the first weapon you acquire. Nothing too taxing though. The rest of this large (Mostly) techbase is certainly less threatening on the incidental combat with the main events being a couple of boss fights. The Spider Mastermind can be neutered unfortunately by sitting on the spawn location (There is enough time). The cyberdemon fight was okay though with the mass of barrels acing as both hazard and weapon on the other foes.

 

E1M6 - This was pretty meh to me, one gripe is the usage of corrupt techbase doesn't feel natural here, I mean the shores of hell was hardly to modern standard but it felt like a better effort. This kind of applies to certain rooms in the previous map.

Secondly like the last map there were a lot of spot where the player could use doors as cover and pick monsters off from there. This felt worse given the more constrained layout with narrow corridors and a few larger rooms. 

I struggled in the blue key room thanks to being short on health and ammo, the stash is cruelly put in a place where walking through damaging floor is necessary. The fight itself is probably not that hard as circle strafing or even camping in the previous room is allowed.

Overall a underwhelming experience with a mix of corridor shootouts and occasional nasty (Not in a good way) moments.

 

E1M7 - A fairly short and fairly linear affair, plenty of action along the way, which was nice. You will tend to leave the monsters in the start room given the lack of weaponry. You come back here later in probably the best way I can think off. The end fight is quite tough to get right and the 20% damaging floor is a nasty surprise. A decent map overall.

Edited July 8, 2021 by cannonball