The DWmegawad Club plays: Cydonia & Arrival

[NiGHTS108]

MAP09: Neurotoxin
Kills: 73%

Items: 50%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 5:38

 

Another pretty fresh and tight map that's probably one of the hardest so far, Neurotoxin is another grimy tech base sinking into the acid below. The hardest parts of the map are probably the start and the end, it can be tricky to find your footing early on with all this nukage all over the place and only a rocket launcher to properly defend yourself from all these heavies running around. Thankfully you get at least some more breathing room in the blue key room, which you can at least take slightly more at your own pace. The ending is probably the hardest and best fight so far, a surprisingly difficult Doomguy sandwich on Caco and Revenant bread. Punishing stuff.

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: B

 

 

[finnks13]

Now that AD_79's posted the inspirations for his maps, I have a fun extra game of trying to figure out what parts from the corresponding Doom 2 the way id Did maps were referenced - as for the following map, I think this may have been one of the more obvious ones :P

Spoiler

 

MAP12 - Venomous by AD_79: 

8:58/0 Deaths
Cydonia serves up it's interpretation of Speed (the coolest Plutonia map) in the Speed mapslot, though this map still certainly has it's own identity. I mean yes it's really wooden, and there's a point where some chaingunners appear on a platform against the sky, but the rest of the map is barely anything like Speed since it's pretty open and not very oppressive. The secrets are plentiful, not well hidden if you're willing to explore the nukage and give you a large advantage over the enemies - there's two soulspheres and an invulnerability hiding in them!

 

There are a lot of small, spritely ambushes in this map that constantly keep you on your toes - there's nothing that's overwhelmingly difficult, and you can use radsuits to gain an edge in the tougher parts to open up more room to fight in, but I only felt the need to do this with the pain elemental ambush near the yellow key. I really liked the fight for the invulnerability, it's tense if you go in with just the SSG and rewarding to complete this early on in the level. I don't think this map is easier than map11, despite what my death toll may suggest - I got incredibly lucky with revenant missiles, which makes a nice change!

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 12: Venomous - AD_79

100% kills and secrets

Time: 10:50

 

This poisonous map does have a sting to it. There's a lot of up-close-and-personal traps in this one that will light you up if you're not careful. The plasma I carried over from previous maps saved my bacon for the yellow key fight. I killed the 3 revs in the cubby by the switch, then jumped over to the manc platform for some ammo, without knowing an archie had also appeared in the vicinity, so by the time I got the ammo, it had already revived the revs. I blame the band Hælos as I think their song "Dust" was what was playing at this point that was admittedly a little louder than the game sounds. But pretty much every little action you do causes revs and chaingunners to pop up, with the occasional archie too. The 3 secrets were nice. Tho the one with the invul is better to use the invul itself on to safely rocket everything. At least the other 2 have soul spheres. I know this was Speed influenced, but I only really felt that in the yellow key room. I did get a little bit of Slayer at the end too. Another solid entry.

[erzboesewicht]

MAP12: Venomous

 

Speed the Way the Casalis did, only much easier. And with green, damaging toxic slime instead of red blood, which is a pretty good-looking combination. In my opinion this is probably the real breather map from the stretch after MAP07. You're harassed with a lot of Plutonic chaingunner/revenants traps and ambushes, and there are several archviles - in fact, without having seen the stats, I think it's the most vile-heavy map until now. But anyway I experienced it as relatively easy, because the ambushes (with one, pretty deadly exception near the start, which was the only reason I didn't beat this map blind without reloading a save) give you ample space to run around, and above all, multiple angles to handle the viles both from close and afar. The two viles near the yellow key were the worst placed archies in this wad until now, as they could simply rocketed and provided no threat at all. And there's a lot of ammo around, above all shells but rockets are also far from being scarce. There's even an invul in a secret! That makes it a pretty fun map, ideal for casual play. A thing I liked: Bullets are at a premium here, so you have to waste rockets to take down the distant chaingunners.

 

Rating: 7/10 (quite a long stretch of maps with this rating - good and fun but not outstanding)
Difficulty: 4/10

MAP13: Chimera

 

Cydonia's sadism is back, although the wad still has offered nothing close to "Abattoire"'s or "Twilight" madness. There seems to be an homage to the latter at the start/exit teleporters. Thematically the visuals of the main areas are a bit similar to the map before with browns and greens. The central hub is a big bone-shaped ledge with two lifts (one of them frecuently lowers automatically, which is a bit annoying). Gameplay-wise I felt some similarities to Plutonia's "Slayer", but with more stable ground under your feet. Chaingunners and arachnotrons are used as snipers covering a wide area, so be wary. The protagonists of this map however maybe are the pain elementals, which come often in combination with cacodemons and sometimes backing our beloved Plutonic habitué team of revs, viles and chaingunners. At the blue key there is a funny Tricks and Traps setpiece with a cyberdemon and some barons, the nobles will probably be able to weaken the cyb for you, and a surprise vile and PE will bring a bit of chaos, above all if you liberate them too early. In theory you could use the vile to resurrect the barons so it's maybe even possible to kill the cyb pacifist. A BFG is available in an easy-to-access secret, however this liberates some more baddies in the starting area, in a very clever mix where spectres help our standard Plutonic monster combo to make BFGing not too trivial. As it is already almost "tradition" in Cydonia, the exit fight is the easiest encounter.

 

Rating: 8/10
Difficulty: 6/10

 

(prboom+, UV, pistol start, sometimes with saves between fights. Difficulty scale roughly: 1-2 - easier than all of Plutonia, 3 - Congo, 5 - Genesis, 7 - Abattoire, 8 - Twilight/Go 2 It, 9-10 - harder than Plutonia.)

Edited September 13, 2022 by erzboesewicht

[Pseudonaut]

Map11: (No deaths):
As everyone else said, it's a step down in difficulty. I was worried about the cyberdemon though.

 

Map12 (No deaths):

Again, pretty tame. I don't have much to say about it.

 

cy11-12.zip

[Andromeda]

12 hours ago, Book Lord said:

MAP 13 - Chimera by Alex Scott @Scotty

 

After clearing the room behind the start, collecting some weapons, and freeing the walkways from roaming enemies, the player was challenged by two Arachnotrons that were too distant for autoaim to work.

The arachnotrons are actually within autoaim range, though you have to stand very near the edge to be able to hit them.

[Soll]

MAP13: Chimera

This map, besides using the standard Plutonia textures, offers a design that is more original, with no specific homage to any Plutonia map, which is appreciated. After you teleport into the main area, snort up the line of items in front of you to deal with the flaming martian and a couple of ground hell-soldiers closing in on you. When dealing with the chaingunners and the mancubus from afar, be careful as both positions have quite a wide view of you, leaving you open to potshots. Getting the secret bfg will start a big party with revenants, spectres and two archviles. You can try separating the archviles from the group by standing to one side and bfg them first. The revenants guarding the red key are hard to kill due to their awkward position, but I played safe for this playthrough and it saved me from having to deal with point-blank skeletons. When you go through the orange door, you will drop down to yet another close-quarter cyberdemon/barons set piece. Once again, let the goats duke it out and you’ll have ample time to blast big cybie’s bum. Save at least 40 cells to nuke the archvile hiding behind the lift, get rid of the meatball and you can safely exit. The last archie goes down with ease with the help of rockets/plasma. Not the hardest map by any measure but the combat gets the juices flowing again after last map’s cakewalk. It’s also an original layout as well, so this map gets a plus from me.

[DavitW]

MAP11: Volcanic
I played this one a while ago and kind of forgot what happened in it. I do recall a lot of close quarters fights with revenants and hell knights though. There's a close quarters Cyberdemon fight at the end. If you can get past him to the switch and back out to the walkway it should be smooth sailing until the end.

 

MAP12: Venomous

A difficult start with arachnotrons plasma and mancubus fireballs flying at you from several directions while you have to contend with two revenants. There's a invulnerability available right from the beginning so it might be in your best interest to grab it as soon as you have enough firepower to deal with the archvile trap inside. There's more than enough rockets around to deal with everything, so as long as you're paying attention and deal with the archviles as soon as they appear, this map shouldn't be a problem.

cydonia11.zip

cydonia12.zip

[tmorrow]

Cydonia map14

 

The enemy is building toxic waste fortresses faster than doomguy can take them down. There's not much time to appreciate the map layout and aesthetics with snipers and an archvile commencing hostilities immediately. Fortunately, it settles down after that.  A step down in difficulty from the last map.

[RHhe82]

MAP12: Venomous. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 90/90 K, 3/3 S, 3/3 I. Comp. time 11:13 (on July 30th: 15:59)

 

A great map, real Thy Plutonia Consumed, although I guess the main influence here is Speed, MAP12 of Plutonia, but without a cybie (fortunately). I just love the episode 4 visuals with all the wood, marble (absent here, though) and metal with red or orange skies.

 

I remember struggling with this as well, but it's not that bad, you are well-equipped to handle occasional hordes. The start is a bit hot (and I guess the memory of struggle stems exactly from that), but once you're past that, you should be fine. Ambush archviles behaved well for me, things could have gone worse.

 

*
 

MAP13: Chimera. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 71/71 K, 1/1 S, 2/2 I. Comp. time 11:20 (on July 31st: 12:52).

 

I remembered this one being tough, and it also was tough the second time around. I clearly remember really struggling with this one back in July, when I was certain Cydonia was going to be picked for the club. For some reason I started by running across the bridge at start, grabbing the BFG from the secret and then deal with closing archvile on one side and the horde of revenants and cacos and zombies on the other. I really, really had bad time there.

 

This time I dealt with the initial batch of revenants and others near the SSG at start. Much easier. This time I really struggled with the Cyberdemon ambush. Somehow I remember having it easy there in July, the barons would just line up perfectly for a little bit of infight. This time they wouldn't do that well, I died to the barons as much as I did to the cyberdemon. The one time I survived, the archvile revelation got me good. I finally solved the situation by leaving the cyber, barons, archvile and the pain elemental (which somehow wasn't alerted) to party by themselves while I escaped through the elevator to outside.

 

So, a great map, and effing great soundtrack. Is that a genuine Jimmy Paddock masterpiece as stated in the text file? I'm asking, because in the text file it also states that MAP13 is named "Hatchet" whereas MAP15 is "Chimera". Were the maps switched in development?

[cannonball]

MAP13 - “Chimera” by Scotty

 

This one was actually gong quite well until I hit a trigger happy revenant in that BFG ambush. I think overall this is tougher than the last couple from AD, yet at the same time I probably died as few or less times than those ones because on the whole death comes from screwing up rather than taking excessive damage via attrition. The cyber fight was much better in my opinion than Map11, there is a little more room and a bit more in terms of other monsters to do some of the work for you, at the same time the fight is much more enclosed as the flight option really isn't available. Overall this just felt more fulfilling to beat, and I did on the first attempt.

The only real complaint here is that the secret felt a little cheap, almost as if the BFG was a secret just for the sake of making a secret count more than zero but without the silly "Make the start/exit secret", as such the weapon and fight felt like it was more than just a secret little nugget but essential to get the intended feel of the map.

Overall though, another very good map with monsters well placed and fights well implemented.

 

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 13: Chimera - Scotty

100% kills and secrets

Time: 8:24

Deaths: 2

 

This bite-sized map packs a bit of a punch. Once you go through the teleporter to the main area, there will be lots of types of monster sniping at you. The chingunners by the yellow door and the archie toward the blue are the most annoying, tho the manc and arachnotrons don't help. Plus, there's a few shotgunners, revs, and cacos about too. I died here cause I alerted the chaingunners that were effectively blocking the archie from getting to me, and then I proceeded to get roasted. The BFG is super easy to find, but I think grabbing it caused the ambush over by the SSG which I didn't notice at first until I was about to hit the switch lowering a teleporter. Turned around before doing so and noticed revs and archies back where I came from. Time to test out that BFG! The BFG actually got a lot of play here, from the mini flying horde after hitting the switch, to attempting to 2-shot another up-close-and-personal cyb (death #2), to a surprise archie and pain elemental appearing inside a lift to the blue key. Probably could have used it on the archie behind the red door, but I just SSG'd it. Solid map overall with some tiny tough spots.

[Book Lord]

MAP 14 – Deadlock by Brayden Hart @AD_79

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Despite the radical changes in the colour palette, Deadlock’s obvious source of inspiration was Neurosphere. The hot start, if easier to camp than in the Plutonia counterpart, placed the player in the middle of a dangerous crossfire. Pistol starters find the chaingun close by, so sniping Commandos and Imps from the starting building might be the intended approach. The SSG required a sprint forward and granted the firepower to eliminate the rest of the opposition. I also found an easy secret that granted a better view of the area behind the red door, useful to gun down a few faraway shooters.

Spoiler

The progression was straightforward, including ambushes that used only a few monsters at a time and were quite predictable, firstly in the southern portion with the YK and a clear Plutonia MAP18 visual rip-off, then in the eastern chamber where a group of Revenants was dispatched without getting sealed in their room. I collected the RK and entered the western side of the level, where the action continued along the same lines: Chaingunner snipers and a couple of surprise attacks that I found unthreatening, even though they featured an Arch-Vile. The one that shocked me the most was the sudden lowering of a wall when approaching a random medikit, spewing out more angry Revenants, and Cacodemons. It eventually led to a “secret” Soul Sphere, which in all honesty was quite difficult to miss while killing the Commandos. Deadlock was an acceptable level to carry on the journey, but some of its encounters felt below Cydonia’s self-determined standards.

[baja blast rd.]

Fun way to trigger a trap. 

 

 

[Soll]

MAP14: Deadlock

For a map heavily coated in metal, this doesn’t feel Plutonia MAP04/15-inspired, probably helped by the stone texture being the second predominant texture used. The first minute is quite heated, gunned down by green dudes, surrounded by hell’s heavyweights and an archvile to make dodging projectiles just a bit more hectic. Ammo management is key in the first part of this map: you can snipe off the long-range revenants and imps to give yourself some breathing space, but you’ll have less ammo to go around, at least until you get the rocket launcher, or you can save the ammo for the bigger demons and risk getting potshotted by fireballs and missiles. At any rate, the turret gunners definitely must go first, killing them will make traversing the map much safer. You can also get the secret armour to make yourself less soft and take out the shotgunners through the gaps. Try not to stand too close to the edge of the toxic sludge, as the inviso-pinkies can nibble your feet from below. Getting the red key will open up some closets containing a mancubus and some hell knights. Fighting them in such a cramped space can be dangerous, but if you’ve hit all the switches in the room beforehand, you can just run up to grab the red key and jump out, and let the big boys take care of each other. Crossing the red door, taking out the spectres is advisable before advancing further. I was rocketing the chaingunners from above and a spectre ran up my face, which blew my health down to 1%. It was sheer luck that a gunner didn’t hit me right there, though I wasted around 30 seconds of radsuit protection backtracking to find some health. Don’t rush up the stairs, as an archvile and his wall of meat shield will pop up. Go back outside and stand to one side at the doorway and the archvile should expose himself to some rockets. Don’t panic at the revenant/caco ambush and run forward, you’ll only open more monster closets, one of which contains a flaming martian. Instead, run around the stairway and ssg/rocket them first, then you can safely open the archvile ambush. Not a very memorable map, but it keeps the momentum going forward. Cydonia is once again raising the difficulty, the combat is fiery-hot, unpredictable and not too by-the-plutonia-book. Cydonia seems to be building up to something, probably a very hard map, perhaps the hardest map they had ready for us.

[cannonball]

MAP14 - “Deadlock” by AD_79

 

This one passes quite quickly, I even missed the chaingun at the start, but suffered no real consequences because again the SSG is provided early on with a decent supply of shells. There wasn't a lot that stood out to me, most of the traps being less vicious than AD's sparring partner. Beyond the yellow door does see the difficulty rise a little as you need to finally jump into the nukage, there is a trap to access the final walkway that again falls under the clunky in terms of execution. The pop monsters are visible before you walk up the stairs. 

Overall this falls under the solid but possibly forgettable banner, though that might be because I only suffered two deaths here.

I did chuckle at the fact that the shotgun is obtained right at the end of the map thanks to those perched sergeants.

[RHhe82]

MAP14: Deadlock. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 98/98 K, 2/2 S, 4/4 I. Completion time 11:32 (on August 3rd: 15:38).

 

Another one I struggled with the first time, now it's more doable, without ammo shortage as I recall suffering from a month ago. In any case, I like Deadlock, somehow the layout and texturing is to my liking. It's a bit easier than Chimera, but for me it's not a breather either.

 

I noticed too that in the nukage walkway the pop-up monsters are visible, spoiling the trap. Moreover, the concealed archvile attacked one of the chaingunners perched on the balcony! 

[finnks13]

MAP13 - Chimera by Scotty:

6:05/1 Death
Not sure about this one, whether you have a hard fought battle through the well designed ambushes or breeze through the level without a second thought seems to depend wholly on whether you decide to press on a computer panel and pick up the BFG. You get six shots from the secret and this renders most of the difficult ambushes a joke, as long as you don't waste it on purpose you'll have plenty of cells to spare. The BFG is just too powerful for this map's threat and I feel like an early plasma gun would have been a better choice.

 

There is still some good stuff here, the yellow key puts you up close with two arachnotrons and a mancubus on the lower level, and this requires some careful maneuvering since you've only got rockets and the SSG to rely on here as the BFG isn't particularly efficient for this part. The other tough fight is the cyberdemon and baron ambush, I don't think two-shotting the cyberdemon and then rocketing the barons is the intended or most fun strat, but I like 2-shotting cyberdemons so I can't complain too much. I kind of wish I hadn't found the BFG secret as I think this map would have been more fun and engaging without it. Oh well.

 

MAP14 - Deadlock by AD_79:

5:47/2 Deaths
I really enjoyed this one, after his last couple of fairly easy maps, AD_79 reminds us that he's very good at making vicious little maps. You're underfire a lot from the start, there's chaingunners and revenants everywhere and damaging floor to limit your movements. The start of the map, up until you get the rocket launcher behind the yellow key door, is very low on ammo and I had to punch a cacodemon to death and this felt rather tense as I went through the map, not knowing when the next box of shells were coming. There's a few little surprises behind the yellow key door, but they're not too difficult to handle if you're willing to be bold with the rocket launcher, though the revenants may corner you if you take too long.

 

The final area is great, you've got very limited time to clear the nukage filled area and climb up the stairs to safety, and there's an ambush guarding the stairs that reminded me of the red key fight from Impossible Mission, but less horribly mean! You've not got unlimited rockets here, so you have to ration them out a little bit in order to not get overwhelmed by the archvile and revenants at the end. The visuals of map reminds me a lot of Neurosphere, but a lot greyer and I think it works well. This is one of my favourites for a fair while here, good stuff!

[tmorrow]

Cydonia map15

 

A fortress of stone and wood with blood floors. Doomguy can't linger and is sent on the move as the map fires up. Most of the encounters are fair with plenty of room to move, however players are in for a rude awakening when they platform over to the ledge with the yellow key. As usual, cybie is in a very bad mood and does not give up his yellow key without a fight. Those wanting to find the secret exit will need to find all 3 keys first.

[narrowtomato]

Cydonia MAP08-14

 

Maps are getting harder, but they don't outstay their welcome.  I find that once I find a foothold from the hot starts I'm (mostly) able to stay on top of things.  Still a LOT of chaingunners, but that's as advertised.

 

 

[tmorrow]

Cydonia map31

 

A difficult map. Night terrors indeed. If archvile and rocket jumps aren't your thing then you can end the terror by using the "Give up?" switch that takes you to the normal exit to map16. If however, you want to uvmax the map and/or reach the super secret exit to map32 then you're in for a rough time.

 

I'll admit I'm not the biggest fan of maps requiring archvile jumps but I can appreciate the effort and thought that goes into designing a map like this as well as the skill/dedication required to beat these maps without saves. I decided to allocate a few hours worth of attempts before pulling the plug. Over that time I got a bit better at timing archvile jumps and after 40 attempts or so I finally pulled off a successful uvmax with 100% k/i/s. Winning requires 5 successful archvile jumps and 1 rocket jump. This is not a friendly map and is totally unforgiving of mistakes. Fall in any pit and it's lights out for our hapless hero. Miss an archvile jump (except the first), start again. Take too much damage from fighting, it's a reset.

 

There are several DSDA demos for this map where the highly skilled show how to progress through the map in super quick time and are more instructive than anything I can say here so I'll just make some general observations about the key steps.

Doomguy tends to shoot first and doesn't even bother to ask questions later. As perplexing as it is to doomguy, beating the map requires solving some archvile puzzles. He can't just kill the archviles on sight. It's helpful to weaken each archvile with 2 or 3 super shotgun blasts first but only deliver the coup de grace after each has served his purpose.

Spoiler

 

1. Archvile 1 is used for 2 archvile jumps. The first is at the top of the lift in the southwest where you archvile jump over to the ledge with a switch. This switch raises some pillars in the blood to form a staircase to the secret path and opens the way to one of the secrets. The second archvile jump requires you to kite the same archvile out to where he can blast you over to the secret area. Kill him after that.
2. Archvile 2 is in a small room with 2 switches and has to be coaxed into a monster teleporter to a cage overlooking 2 platforms out in the blood chasm. He is used for 2 archvile jumps to those 2 platforms. Kill him after that.
3. Archvile 3 is in another room with 2 switches (one lowering a green armor and the other lowering him). This archvile has to be kited up the staircase to the room with 2 switches that raise/lower 2 partitions and trap him inside. He is used for the final archvile jump to the super secret exit area. He will show up after you kill the zombieman facing away from you at the exit.

 

 

One rocket jump is also required to obtain the blue key. It's easier to execute than the archvile jumps but you can still stuff it up, I know I have. The blue key allows you to open the blue door to the megasphere you will need to survive the final 3 archvile jumps.

 

The part I found most difficult was after landing on the penultimate ledge. It's hard enough to get that far but there's more that needs to be done. Use the switch on the platform to block the last archvile from blasting you too early. Then you have to take out 3 cacodemons and a pain elemental to the east, a revenant that has spawned on the previous ledge and the archvile in the cage that blasted you twice to get onto the current ledge. You have to do all this and still have enough health for the final archvile jump. That is executed by using the other switch on the platform to unblock the final archvile so he can line you up and launch you to the exit ledge. After killing a handful of enemies guarding the super secret exit, victory is yours. Good luck, you're going to need it!

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 14: Deadlock - AD_79

100% kills and secrets

Time: 9:42

 

It's not very often you get a Neurosphere / The Inmost Depths inspired map that uses different textures. Substitute those textures for the ones used in this map, and, you could easily call this Neurosphere II. This map's biggest challenge is the opening, as you'll have to deal with monsters firing at you from many spots. Plus, some of them will just wander in from other areas as you're exploring. Once you've gotten rid of most of the things shooting at you in this opening area, the rest of the map is a cakewalk, especially playing continuous. There's not really any trap here that is a serious threat, except for maybe the final one before the exit as you'll have an archie to deal with without much cover. There's a pop up ambush on some stairs that the chaingunners in that room can hit before they pop up, which was kinda funny. I did get hit from the archie tho as I retreated, as the door at the top of the stairs doesn't reach the walls, so it still spotted me. A chaingunner inadvertently revealed the second secret, and the surprise ambush you need to fight to get to it by opening up the secret wall, so I got to shotgun the cacos and revs from the safety of outside since their projectiles couldn't clear the windowsills they were behind, lol. Simple map, but pretty fun still. 

[tmorrow]

Cydonia map32

 

This is the only slaughter map in Cydonia. The map title is clearly a wink to plutonia's "Go 2 It". It's a funtime romp. You are provided with all the weapons from the get go and ample ammo. Survival is only an issue for the first few minutes. The southwest and west regions can be camped once the initial enemies are cleared and you can commence with a methodical eradication of the enemy from there. Once you work out that the movement of the cybies is limited, you can use their height against them (they are too tall to get through some of the doorways).

 

The ending in the north with 4 cybies and a bunch of barons can be quite nasty but there's a way to cheese the fight.
 

Spoiler

There are 2 line triggers in the room. One shuts the door behind you for 30 seconds. The second line trigger opens the monster closets. You can carefully move to trigger just the door close trigger and wait 30 seconds for the door to open again. Now when you trigger the cybie closets open, you can immediately get the hell out of the room to safety and take everything out from outside.

 

[erzboesewicht]

MAP14: Deadlock

 

Again ledges over damaging floors, but this time we see grey bricks instead of brown. And again a breather map with barely "Plutonic" difficulty (imo even easier than MAP12, I wondered if I had dialed down to HMP or even HNTR by accident ... strange that others felt it being harder), the only encounter which offered some threat is the archvile-revenant-chaingunner combo guarding the access to the final part which leads to the exit, maybe also the surprise revenants near the soulsphere secret. I think above all the red key encounter suffered from the problem that it may have been designed around shell scarcity and close-up rocketing, but I had enough shells left there so it was extremely easy for a key fight. Perhaps also the blue armor secret and medikits are too generous. I did like the layout however, "islands" of different height where you have to search for a path or staircase to access another "level", are one of my favourite map tropes, although I would have loved some better hidden secrets.

 

Rating: 7/10
Difficulty: 3/10

MAP15: Hatchet

 

Our beloved MAP15, the perfect excuse for all combat-oriented megawads to provide a more exploration-heavy offer. And this map does deliver, but it's not too long to distract from the punchy gameplay style. Neither visually nor combat-wise this seems to be a homage to any Plutonia map, and the layout plays much with height differences. The way to the normal exit consists of long stretches of incidental combat through sparsely populated territory, mostly turrets/snipers, and three major setpieces. The first one is an excellently choreographed multi-tier ambush involving damaging floors. The second one, which nets you a BFG, is an easy staircase fight where you run against two viles who want to resurrect some flyers which you'll have probably killed in a sort of intro. The third one, just before the normal exit, is a bit more hectic: a cyberdemon versus several midtiers and you, who will be engaged on a switch hunt (I actually forgot here I had a BFG and rocketed/SSGed/plasma'ed the cyb down, lol). The journey to the secret exit involves two hidden keys (blue and red), some automap reading, because a crucial switch is pretty well hidden, and a cute little pillar setpiece against an AV and a revenant. A bit harder than MAP14, but we've seen more sadistic offerings.

 

Rating: 8,5/10
Difficulty: 5/10

 

MAP31: Night Terror

 

A Plutonic puzzle map! Is this even possible? Well, if you go ahead and kill monsters like you normally would do in a Plutonia-inspired map, you'll make it only to the normal exit, which is extremely easy to reach. The secret exit requires some special action, I don't want to spoil more. Only one thing: the puzzles are in a linear sequence, and sometimes you would like to go back to a previous point but there is no way to do so. I loved some details, like the enclosure of a certain monster about midway (I thought actually I had to enclose other "things" there, so I had to do that part twice). Maybe nothing the Casalis would have done, maybe somebody like Jim Flynn or Bob Evans. Or Ribbiks - some parts reminded me of Finely Crafted Fetish Film. But super cool and an excellent secret map. And I was complaining about there being not enough sadism in the previous levels - this one has really delivered in that department :) (F* that Pain elemental!).

 

Rating: 9/10
Difficulty: 1/10 (normal exit) 9/10 (secret exit)

 

(by the way: lol to the start of MAP32. First thing I did was blowing myself up due to the lone zombieman ...)

 

(prboom+, UV, pistol start, sometimes with saves between fights. Difficulty scale roughly: 1-2 - easier than all of Plutonia, 3 - Congo, 5 - Genesis, 7 - Abattoire, 8 - Twilight/Go 2 It, 9-10 - harder than Plutonia.)

[Book Lord]

MAP 15 – Hatchet by Alex Scott @Scotty

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Hatchet was the archetype of relentless, non-stop Cydonia action from the beginning to the end. Setting foot in it felt like stirring a hornets’ nest, as every ledge overlooking the start brimmed with hostile creatures. I fled from Revenant rockets and Mancubi fireballs, I collected the SSG and began responding to the attacks. I found a rocket launcher and a plasma rifle with decent ammo in the southern halls, which fuelled the inevitable cleansing of the ledges. In that area, I also found an easy secret with a creepy chamber holding the BSK, cheering me up for the secret level discovery.

Spoiler

The most dangerous ambush in store was on the long way to the Mancubi terrace. A second rocket launcher lay on a floating plate in the middle of hurting blood but getting past it triggered a heinous double Arch-Vile trap, complete with Shotgunners and Revenants. Not a large crowd of monsters, though maliciously placed. I was killed because I ran past the frontal healer and plunged into another closet of monsters; they ensnared me and handed me to the Arch-Vile on a silver platter. On the second attempt I did the opposite: I turned back and ran past the other Arch-Vile, then turned back again. There was a Soul Sphere at the end of the trip to heal any wounds, protected by Cacodemons and Pain Elementals.

Spoiler

The switch opened the bars to a round chamber in the north-east. The Former Humans on the surrounding staircase had the function to relax the player, so that he might be surprised by the sudden release of many other monsters. Luckily, there was a BFG at the top of the staircase, so most of them were quickly sent into oblivion. The teleporter sent me to the last inaccessible ledge and another switch raised pillars to reach the YSK shrine. One last trap was guaranteed, and it involved a Cyberdemon dancing on the key pedestal and shooting at me through the windows, while I was dodging Pinkies and Hell Knights. I killed everything quickly and was not so surprised to find the normal exit, requiring only the YSK for the nearby switch. A trip to the yellow door revealed that the secret exit required the RSK as well, which I individuated with surprising rapidity on the BFG stairs. The secrets were straightforward but still rewarding to uncover, and combat was all round great. Cydonia really dug up the war Hatchet with this exciting chapter from Scotty.

[Soll]

MAP15: Hatchet

Another map that offers high monster density and demands constant movement from the get-go. The music is also fitting, a track for PRCP by PRIMEVAL. The constant, non-stop rolling beats help you keep on the move throughout the fights. This map, rather than being a nod to any Plutonia map, seems to be a tribute to Mr. Milo Casali himself, specifically his mapping style, evident by the numerous circular symmetric rooms. The multiple elevated enemy positions disallow outdoor activities, so it’s best to go inside and carve your way from there. Almost every weapon and item in this map is rigged with tripwires that open monster closets the moment you grab them. The double archvile fight at the rocket launcher is best done by targeting one archvile at a time. The secret plasma rifle pits you up against 2 skeletons, one with shoulder missile launchers and the other imbued with devil magicks. The secret soul sphere also features the same skeleton pairing. The first spiral stairway exploits player instinct quite cleverly. When you get near the bfg, all the closets along the stairway will open, and instinctively, you’ll grab the bfg and press the switch behind it, which reveals an archvile perched on the central pillar. The central archie, along with the one spawned on the ground outside the stairway, complicates this fight significantly, adding to the panic of seeing a huge influx of enemies, while hearing the archie below reviving the mancubi and cacos. The second stairway fight with the cyberdemon, intimidating it may seem, is actually not that bad. Cybie can get distracted pretty easily by the monsters on the stairs, which allows you to bfg him, and the rest of the monsters are standard janitor work. Of course, this is MAP15, and as is the age-old Doom tradition, we will go on a little keyhunt and take the secret exit. 

 

This map’s replayability increases dramatically with the help of foreknowledge. During my second playthrough I went in much more aggressively compared to my cover-based approach from my first time playing. I do suppose prior knowledge does help you enjoy these kinds of maps more, but I felt this sentiment particularly strongly in this map. I like playing this map more than I thought I would, so that’s cool.

 

[baja blast rd.]

A good approach for Cydonia 32's last fight

 

Spoiler

is to just kill everything.

Waiting for several seconds of infighting than opportunistically taking out cybs can work, but getting on it ASAP seems even better.

 

 

[cannonball]

MAP15 - “Hatchet” by Scotty

There really is something about this map that rewards aggressive play. You are faced with walls of mid tiers and moving deeper into the level seems to reveal more heavy hitters, but you are given a blue armour at the start and plenty of big weapons to eal with everything to the point where I had plentiful cells to clean house at the end. As a playable experience this is probably the most free flowing and engaging map to play so far. The only niggle is the platforming to the yellow key area, which I fell in a couple of times. The secrets and secret exit aren't overly hard to find, the blue key secret offering the most from an experience point of view.

Overall a great map.

 

MAP31 - “Night Terrors” by AD_79

I don't know whether it was because I have seen a demo of this map before, but figuring the necessary mechanics wasn't too hard to reach the secret exit. That said some of the monster placement is very sadistic here, the revenant ledge in particular can ruin you day and the ambush part way through the final sequence is also mean (That pain elemental). 

In the end this is a very niche level, but for a secret map it is perfectly fine. the only issue I have is that once you have cracked the puzzle, it would be nice to have a means off accessing the rest of the map again (With a shortcut to the exit of course). Only a minor gripe because I left one kill.

[Soll]

MAP31: Night Terrors

I do not like this map, and I think it has a burning hatred against me as well. The gimmick is so ingrained into the gameplay it’s ridiculous. The only mercy you’ll have in this map is the “Give Up?” button, Which immediately opens the normal exit, but I wanted to see what this map was all about so I continued.

 I went into the first room and did what any Doom player would do: I shot everyone I saw. Then I spent the next hour figuring out how to progress. I gave up and looked up a guide on youtube. For anyone that hasn’t played this map: DO NOT gun down the archviles. They are your ticket out of this nightmare. They act as springboards that you use to jump to different parts of the map that are required for progression. You will also have to perform a rocket jump to get an absolutely vital megasphere. I tried over and over again but the archviles kept zapping me to wherever except the actual place I wanted to go. I save-scummed my way through each archvile zap just to reach the super secret exit. For my second playthrough, I just used the MAP16 exit to save myself the headache. For me, this map was just not fun to play through. Also, I never realised I hate archvile jumps until now, so thanks for that. 

 

I know I ragged on this map quite a bit, but I will admit if you want to practice archvile jumps, this map would be a great start (maybe, in some way, this map is similar to Cyberden in that Cyberden is great for practising fighting cyberdemons), it’s just not my type of gameplay. Also, this is a secret slot, so a gimmick level is perfectly understandable here.

Edited September 15, 2022 by Soll

[RHhe82]

MAP15: Hatchet. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 88/88 K, 3/3 S, 2/2 I. Completion time 16:14 (on August 13th: 15:40).

 

A decent map, but not my favourite. Somehow it feels a bit empty at places, and some of the traps (like the spiral staircase with monsters unleashed in it when you reach the top) feels a bit tired, as does the final cyber.

 

Any case, I remember struggling with this as well the first time, I think from ammo starvation, although on the second playthrough I can't see why, or if my memory fails me.

 

*

 

MAP31: Night Terrors. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 51/51 K*, 2/2 S, 38/38 I. Completion time 13:43 (on August 13th: 14:20).

 

I hated this map the first time I played it. I'll provide a screenshot of my 1st playthrough saves, and as you can see, most of the slots are used by MAP31 (the first isn't because I always use it for the most recent save). The unfamiliar words mean more or less the same as the familiar ones for the english-speaking people.

 

Spoiler

 

The second playthrough should have been more enjoyable, and I guess it would have been, but the fucking fuckviles raised fucking ghost monsters. I counted two imps in the first area and fucking hell knight where you trap one of the viles for the final jump.

 

It's not a bad map as such, in fact I quite admire its design. I'm happy it fills one of the secret slots (maps such as this are perfect for secret maps), I'm really happy I don't insist on saveless, and I'm especially happy I don't need to play the third time (-- at least without using port options to turn off the ghost monsters).

 

(*) At the end, after getting all the other kills and all the items, I switched on god mode and noclip and killed the ghost HK who was waiting me inside the walls near the exit teleporter. Fucking prick. Pardon mon français.

 

*

 

MAP32: Get on it! Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 252/252 K, 1/1 S, 7/7 I. Completion time 26:41 (on August 13th: 23:36).

 

This was a fun riff on plutonian MAP32s! Maybe there's a couple of close-quarters cybers (in the main area) too many, but here it doesn't matter that much. For some reason I remember suffering from serious ammo starvation the first time I played this, the second playthrough was devoid of that problem.

 

I especially liked the last fight. It was exhilarating the first, and it was exhilarating this time. Here CQ-CYBs work well. I'm glad there was only four of 'em.

 

Great stuff.