The DWmegawad Club plays: Ad Mortem & Wormwood 1/EU/3

[brick]

MAP08 - “The Torture Garden” by Velcrosasquatch
We're back to pre-secret levels style, the opening room is beautifully detailed. I enjoyed my time with the map, but there are some very strange designs and the progression makes very little sense. I reached the exit and noticed I still had 3 locked doors (the map uses all 6 locks), so I went on a hunt to get them. Doing so was fun, and there's some really cool set pieces (the outdoor area with the backpack, crushing the demons to open the door, the red keycard ambush) but all of it seems extraneous. You need the yellow skull key to get the red keycard, but that only raises the yellow key card bars from the other side... which is completely pointless because you need the yellow keycard to get the red keycard anyway. The textures might trick you into thinking the red keycard is needed to get to the exit, but in fact it's the skull key you need there. Even after all the searching I couldn't find the purple keycard, but that doesn't matter either because the area behind that door can be accessed through an unlocked hidden door. The teleporter there sends you to the soulsphere, and stepping off its platform should open a nearby teleporter, but it doesn't because they're flagged S1 instead of W1, and it doesn't matter anyway because they're meant to lower a floor that is already at the lowest point (probably should be raising the ceiling instead). Speaking of secrets, one of the secret sectors near the rocket launcher in the southwest contains nothing and seems completely impossible to activate, even using noclip to stand in it doesn't find it. None of these oddities made me dislike the map, I still enjoyed it, but it all adds up to a lack of polish that is surprising considering the level of careful detail in the visuals. Despite the issues I still found the map a lot of fun, which is perhaps what really matters.

[RHhe82]

MAP09: Norwitch Lane. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 588/588 K, 5/5 S, 150/150 I. Completion time 30:26.

 

Now we're talking! Norwitch Lane's outdoor areas remind of Darkwood, which I guess is my second favourite map after Norwitch Lane. Everything comes together again, it's a fun map, it looks great and has fun encounters. Real highlight is the "sunder-lite" (afaik) cathedral that houses most of the map's monster count.

 

I find very little to complain here. The midi was next to non-existant, but it didn't detract from the experience either. I guess if I had to find something to nag about, the first cyberdemon encounter in the outdoor area isn't that special, infighting potential is missing. But who cares, it's the best map so far. It took me half an hour (plus one or two reloads I think) but never once I feel the map overstays its welcome.

[Pseudonaut]

Map09:
Certainly one of the better maps. There are a couple of slaughter fights at the end which stand out. In the the imp + cyberdemon fight, I sensed that I was about to be cornered, so I rocketed through some imps to get to the adjacent room and earn some space. Initially, I thought some maneuver like this was necessary to avoid being trapped, but it turns out that you can stay comfortably in the same room while holding the fire button down and come out of it just fine. I'm a little disappointed by this discovery; maybe if there were even more imps or a few beefier enemies, there would be a real threat, but idk. The final fight has somewhat light opposition for the amount of space and health given, but I suppose the archviles could be a big problem with worse RNG than what I got, or an inattentive player who lets them create an insurmountable obstacle.
 

 

[cannonball]

MAP09 - “Norwitch Lane” by LunchLunch

 

This is certainly a step up from "Feeders digest" from Skulltiverse :)

 

Probably the most complete map so far in terms of mood setting and getting some fun combat together. The eerie midi sets up a map that has a lot of quiet moments, where the player can take in the setting and feel at home in this tense and well detailed map. It is a feeling that has been lacking for most of this wad so far.

The combat is generally solid, contrary to the the monster density, the difficulty doesn't really pick up too much, yes there are a lot of monsters in the large structure to the west of the map. However there is sufficient pressure to keep firing/moving, but it never feels overwhelming, I would call it a popcorn fight. After I cleared enough imps I just hit every switch and let all hell break loose. 

The only complaint is the first cyber, you can push past him with zero negative consequences because of the terrain. Luckily at the end I had a glut of cells, so I gave him a proper hosing before leaving the map. There are a couple of odd Nazi embedded secrets (Just the monsters with some fitting detailing) to find.

Overall this is a great map, it has this feel that you get when you play a good Eternal map. A solid experience with enough in the gameplay department to carry it to the finish.

[galileo31dos01]

Ad Mortem - 09

 

I chose to make a demo of this map today, and it resulted in stress-free fun times. I loved the eerie ambience this got going on outdoors. Of all the sound effects, I'd say hearing the cicada chirp around the facade of the mansion was the coolest. I liked the two staged ending fights the most, but I can't forget the few moments of quality joy I had with the sped-up chainsaw too -- who would have thought it'd work on these satyr guys!

 

One additional observation -- the secret house felt incredibly familiar the first time, as if I've been there before. I looked it up in the editor and indeed the familiarity wasn't a mere coincidence: this part is from one of the dbps called "Morbid Autumn", just retextured with this wad's assets and including a nazi. That's interesting, I'm guessing it's a homage or tribute to the other map? ..

 

 

[finnks13]

MAP33 - Uncle Reggie's Candy Factory by African Equus-Sapien:

7:23/5 Deaths
This map's fine. The doomcute visuals are appreciated as always, they do a good job of making the "factory" come to life, and I quite liked the fight in the final room. I didn't particularly enjoy the rest of the map, it's incredibly clamped and you barely have any room to dodge. Which isn't as much of a problem as it may seem, because there are so many chaingunners placed in just the worst spots that it doesn't really matter that you can't dodge since your survival is a roll of the die anyway. The hardest part came after the room with the Commander Keen in his office (I'm not sure what's going on here, but I assume that this factory isn't particularly profitable), I kept getting rushed and destroyed by the skeletons until I got enough lucky stuns to push through them.

 

MAP08 - The Torture Garden by Velcrosasquatch:

13:49/1 Death
I felt like I was playing through a Memento Mori map when making my way through The Torture Garden's halls, maybe it's just because of the texturing of the opening room, which reminded me of MM2, with it's use of the brick textures - but it's probably also to do with the mazey, corridor heavy layout that is filled to the brim with key locked doors. That's not to say that I didn't like that map, on the whole it's decent, with some cool set-pieces. 

 

The start of the level is incredibly low on ammo, I had to chainsaw the skeletons in the outside area and this continued up until I got through the purple door where you become inundated with shells and rockets. There's a cool scripted sequence before you go into the red skull key room, where some pinkies get crushed and the room they're in fills up with blood, and starts up some other machinery. It would have been cooler had that affected the level in a more dynamic manner than just opening the door to the next area though - if you had traversed that area earlier on in the level, and the raised blood level allowed access to a new door (maybe it does in here, I only found 2 of the 8 secrets after all!)

 

MAP09 - Norwitch Lane by LunchLunch:

14:35/2 Deaths
I really liked this one, I've played (and loved) LunchLunch's 10x10 project before so I was expecting a lot from both the visuals and combat, and they delivered on both fronts handily. The understated and atmospheric MIDI contributes a lot to the unsettling tone and the bleak cliffs that surround you are very oppressive. This atmosphere is spoiled somewhat by the goofy custom enemies (well mainly the skeletons), but they are fun to fight, so I definitely get why they're used so much. The start of the map is rather slow, and the cyberdemon after the red key barrier seems incredibly pointless but the main event occurs inside the large mansion at the eastern side of the map.

 

This fight is very fun, you get to blow up loads of imps, which is always great, but the threat is dialed up as more and more stuff spawns in, but the mansion is large enough that it's not too difficult to keep moving. The two cyberdemons in here also help with clearing out the large hordes, while still leaving open the always scary prospect of "death by random cyber rocket". I only found two secrets, but one of them took me to a large house with the wheel for a mill, with an archvile, baron and SS hidden inside, and this room looked absolutely incredible. This is the sort of map that you replay an entire community project, just to revisit, it's a standout map and I had a great time playing it.

 

~~~
All caught up now! My apologies to BartekMil for not crediting you for creating Map07 - not sure how I messed that up, but sorry anyway!

[RHhe82]

MAP10: King Boner's House of Fisting. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 483/483 K, 2/3 S, 11/11 I. Completion time 33:55.

 

... Umm. Okay. At first the map makes me hate it. There are what look like voodoo dolls, instantly triggering CC1 flashbacks, even if I suppose they aren't actual dolls here. I do find the SSG to take out the archvile, but not without a couple of tries first, and not without attempting the timed switches several times. Then we proceed to other gimmicky areas until we hit Benjogami-land, which is where the level gets decent for my tastes, and at the end level gets slaughtery, I won't get tired of mass-gibbing the skellingtons.

 

So? I don't know. On the other hand I've got to admit the mapper's been creative, I really like the notion of the first part of the level being a set. The cyberdemon house whirling in space or something looks cool. But to counter the cool things there are worse things, like the tyson start and some timed switches which I've never liked. Not when such sequenced things appear in Eviternity and not here.

 

I admit I couldn't find the final secret without looking for it in UDB, hence only 66% secrets. I think I should have found, I missed the second switch in the sequence, and missing any will make it unlikely to rediscover them again, but I guess that's on me. What I can dislike is the one BFG near that secret that's there only for the show. I spent a lot of time trying to jump on the platform, in vain.

[WashingMachineEnthusiasts]

An advance warning: there are some unfixed bugs in MAP11 (The Other Dario) meaning one secret is inaccessible and a couple of enemies don't teleport in. These will be fixed in the next version that we're working on, but for now don't tear your hair out trying to find the last secret, because you won't.

[brick]

MAP09 - “Norwitch Lane” by LunchLunch
A very impressive map, but I found it strange (not necessarily in a bad way). Visually it's just stunning, the amount of detail is insane, and it just keeps ramping up. The building near the start looks good enough, but the passage leading to the red key ups things quite a bit with the distant vista (though I don't think you can go out there, it's just eye candy). Then there's the winding path leading to the castle? cathedral? not sure what that humongous building is but it looks incredible, especially once you get inside. There's such a strange contrast though between how atmospheric the detailing is, especially with a quiet ambient sound track playing, the MBF21 sounds guiding you towards a secret bookshelf... which leads you to a goofy secret nazi shrine with SS in it... but even that is so well detailed I couldn't tell if I'm supposed to laugh or be wowed (maybe both?). Gameplay is equally strange, the map is strictly linear despite the automap making it look like large open spaces. There are some platforming bits that aren't very hard but feel a bit out of place. Combat in the early stages is pretty relaxed, but the Megasphere inside made me suspicious of a coming slaughter fest. Turns out the majority of the enemy count is in the following combat against hundreds of imps and a few friends, which are not too hard to dispatch with the copious rockets provided (I must admit that it is quite cathartic to blow them all up after a long day at work). The fight after that is meatier, infighting certainly helps with the Cyberdemon, though the architecture gets in the way of his rockets and makes it more interesting and quite fun. There's a teleporter outside that didn't work, turns out the destination only exists on UV, but it leads to a secret with enemies and items flagged for all difficulties, so it's impossible to max anything below UV. I'm not sure what to think of the map as a whole, though it's certainly a feast for the eyes and I had a lot of fun with some of the sections.

 

MAP10 - “King Boner’s House of Fisting” by Punch you in the face man
A haunted house map with some very cool gimmicks and suitably creepy soundtrack. The first part is all Berserk, there was definitely much punching in the face to be had (I will naturally completely ignore the double entendre in the map title and just pretend it refers to punching skeletons, which will also happen quite a bit). I liked pretty much every step of the progression with the switches and sector machinery. The corridor with the pumpkins and the Cyberdemon was particularly fun and a great-looking use of some MBF21 special effects (though it sadly is another bit that doesn't render quite right in GZDoom). The armoury gives you most of the weapons outright but taunts you with the BFG - actually finding the switches to unlock it was not too hard but it's a very nice chain and a rewarding secret. The flesh tunnels contrast well with the backstage, leading to a very trippy moment after grabbing the yellow key - of course I expected some kind of trap, but this was much more interesting! The purple and green strange area afterwards has some of my favourite combat in the wad, with the caco cloud (harder difficulties will also have to deal with PEs!) and then the infighting to get rid of the Spider. If I had been a bit more willing to rush, I would've found a Cyberdemon, and adding him to the mix would've made infighting even more fun.
I liked the next part less. The lone Cyberdemon on the bridge is just a thing that's there. The following two huge waves of skeletons are just a BFG spamfest, though I suspect those two fights are more challenging (and much more obnoxious) on UV since the revenant turrets get replaced with the souped up rocketeers, on top of many more revenants around the room. I was excited at the thought of going back to see what was behind that yellow door near the beginning, but it's just a troll computer map. The exit is a pretty cool surprise callback though, and a very clever use of the Playstation Doom fire sky using sky transfers.

[Pseudonaut]

Map10:
"King Boner's House of Fisting" is an excellent name. I like gimmicky maps too, so I enjoyed the gameplay throughout. The first significant fight pits you against an archvile and two revs with only the berserk fist, and there are basically two ways to approach it: attempting to punch the vile while avoiding damage from all three enemies, or trying to get a rev to hit the vile so it will switch targets, leaving it alone while it serves your cause. The latter turned out well here, I eventually just let the vile kill the revs and there wasn't much work left for me to do.

 

The next encounter requires you to direct cyberdemon rockets into some unmoving pinkies so you can shoot some hidden switches that kill the cyb and open the next area. It's ok, but a bit awkward, and I think it doesn't have enough moving parts to be much fun.

 

Eventually, the player is in a green and purple underground area with more conventional slaughterish combat, and it's pretty good. However, the purple key fight gives the player a pretty strong incentive to travel far away from it for meager health refills from the few potions scattered around, all while most of the enemies are still infighting in the same place. Maybe it would be better with some sort of lock-in and replacing the soulsphere with a mega.

 

The BFG spamfest ending is simple, but satisfying. I do wonder if it can be done consistently, or if those King Boner snipers will unavoidably ruin some saveless runs, but I haven't tested it to find out.

 

 

[finnks13]

MAP10 - King Boner's House of Fisting by Punch you in the face man:

15:07/3 Deaths
This map was fantastic! It goes for a less serious approach to the spookiness than most of the previous levels, as we start off exploring a haunted house with small little berserk only combat puzzles to tackle in the various themed rooms. I liked the archvile + revenant duo in the forest area, there's plenty of cover, but it's still quite challenging to get past the revenants and deal with the vile before they're back on you. The timed rocket-on-legs trap in the library was great too, they're telegraphed well enough that it's never bullshit, but your aim still needs to be pretty perfect in order to not get hit. I liked the cyberdemon + pinky trap in the swirling void area less, while it does look cool, the sky is swirling around so violently that it started to make me feel rather motion sick and the fight itself is pretty lame.

 

After a short visit to the gift shop, and a disappointment of finding that the platform with the BFG on is completely inaccessible due to some impassable lines (goodbye a minute of my life trying to jump from the cash register to it!), we enter a small cell that seemingly is a gateway to another dimension. This area looks pretty cool, and has some fun slaughtery fights in it - the first few rely on the rocket launcher heavily and show off the power of the armoured skeletons and just how well their homing missiles track you. The final area set in an imposing violet fortress consists of two fun BFG spam waves where you get to tear through skeletons. The first of these is a pretty tough encounter, as you'll need to clear space to dodge the homing rockets of the armoured skeletons fast or you'll get cut down.

 

I do sort of wish that the map had kept up the haunted house theme a bit longer, I found it much more engaging than the fairly non-descript teal rocks in a black void, but I also understand that keeping that level of detail up is a ton of effort. Either way, this map is great, it's setting is fun, it's combat is well designed and I do love a good Blood MIDI.

[cannonball]

MAP10 - “King Boner’s House of Fisting” by Punch you in the face man

 

Heh charming title......

You know what, it is nice to end up being completely surprised by a map, but honestly this was a really good map. The map presents itself in a very "Blood/other engine build game" manner, with a mix of semi-realistic environments and a catchy but rather awkward feeling midi (From Blood). The map is strange with some oddities, especially the first half of the map where the player will have nothing the berserk and a pistol. To be honest the strongest part of the map is this section because it gets solid mileage by creating inventive ways to disorientate the player. The wooded section fight felt far nicer than a similar type of fight in Map07, the library sequence is cool, and I even liked the strange wibbly wobbly dimensional rift room where you need to punch out the pinkies swiftly before shooting pumpkins to open the doors on either side. 

The second half is more standard slaughter lite combat, but with a continuation of the strange otherworldly setting. The combat isn't as good as Map06 or Map09, but it holds itself well enough. The bony bonanza at the end could have been designed a little better because you risk eating rockets due to the fact that there is only a narrow strip you can use to get from one side of the room to the other.

Overall this was a strange but generally positive experience where an offbeat style of horror works to its advantage. A map that probably only works within this wad.

[NiGHTS108]

MAP09: Norwitch Lane

By Lunchlunch

Kills: 103%

Items: 69%

Secrets: 60%

Time: 17:10

After a handful of duds, I'm happy to report Norwitch Lane gets the megawad back on track and then some. It's a pretty slow burning, atmospheric and beautiful map that ends with an entertaining showdown in a huge mansion. I like the start quite a bit, there's some nice details, cute secrets and a pretty cool fight for the SSG, I'm pretty sure you have to basically shoot a pair of eyes in the wall in order to progress, but it's something I can forgive as it's still pretty early on and it fits with the natural feeling of the location. The path to the manor itself is pretty spooky and ominous, with a handful of heavier enemies appearing out of the woodwork as twilight falls apon the land. After some platforming, you'll reach the mansion, which has surprisingly easily the best combat so far. I mean it kinda wastes what seems like half the monster count on an Imp fight but it's STILL COOL I PROMISE. When you start hitting switches and picking up weapons, things really get intense. Look out for Arch-Viles, Hell Nobles and Cyberdemons in this death trap. Eventually you'll make your way to the main room, which doesn't feature the hardest fight but if you kept the aforementioned Cyberdemons alive, you can brew some wicked infighting here. Overall, great stuff. Best map so far by a landslide and way better than anything in the last four maps.

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: C+

 

 

MAP10: King Boner's House Of Fisting

By Punch You In The Face Man

Kills: 102%

Items: 81%

Secrets: 33%

Time: 15:22

 

This wad is weird man, four kinda terrible maps followed by two amazing ones? Bizarre. Anyway King Boner's House Of Fisting is amazing! (Despite the name,) It's a really sweet really charming little Halloween attraction with some dark secrets behind closed doors. As cool as those secrets in question are, I think my favourite part of the map was right at the start. Lots of adorable details here, I love the little path into the main area, the small artificial forest and graveyard, the crazy space room with the Cyberdemon, the library, and who could forget the incredible gift shop. Basically everything in the first third is just super awesome, also the part where you collect the yellow key and hop into the void did legitimately catch me off guard. From there I sadly don't think the rest of the map is as good, like it's cool, a lot of the fights are really neat like the Cacodemon encounter at the purple key, and of course the ending with like 300 Silver Revenants is simply a blast, but it does kinda abandon some of the cute detail I was invested in and I wish it ended a little sooner than it did. It's not really an issue with the map at all, but the shock value kinda wears off for me near the end. Overall though, a great and super charming time. Just like the last map, it is also without a doubt the best up to this point. Let's hope we can continue this winning streak up until the end!

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: B+

 

 

Edited October 13, 2022 by NiGHTS108

[General Roasterock]

Map 33: Uncle Reggie’s Candy Factory

 

  I don’t know why I liked this one as much as I did. It clearly wants to come off as bearing nothing but teeth, but I didn’t have a lot of trouble with the fights in spite of their establishment. There is hardly an ounce of waste, every Chaingunner is maxed out in efficiency for coverage, walls are usually undetailed to prevent players getting caught on things. Despite having so little room to move about, this map is relatively forgiving for people that are engaged with the enemies placed. I only died in the vat room, hilariously painting the title of the map as having to do with substances harder than Hershey’s bars, and that was because I triggered too much shit simultaneously.

  One of my favorite things about the /vr/ anthology is the sense of humor that occasionally shows up. Seeing the Keen strung up in his office after doing a line and complaining about Reddit was a funny gag, and it doubles as gameplay, as killing the Keen removes the walls of the office, revealing an absolution of hell. It’s much smarter than just dropping a texture with funny words on it. Even if its roughly detailed, and a bit short for what I wanted out of it, this was simple fun.

 

Map 08: The Torture Garden

 

  What started off as a well dressed asymmetrical manor turned into a pretty big downward spiral of corridors and confusion. The Torture Garden uses all six keys without a real purpose, and places a lot of their locks on singular doors or unmarked switches. Note how I say “uses” and not “has”, because the latter isn’t true. Despite having a door locked by a Purple Keycard, despite the label on the door being red, there is not Purple Keycard in the map. The number of elements that are mixed and matched with this singular door confuses me to the point where I don’t know if the issue was the missing keycard, or the incorrect label on the action. 

  Even without this key issue (pun intended), navigation takes a hit after the graveyard section. The web of corridors on the upper level of the mansion are interconnected to a fault, and make later level progression difficult. They don’t do much other than capitalize on the opportunity that they’re close together. It feels like this map needs another draft. Another day, another untaggable secret. If you ended up missing five monsters like me, that’s because the trigger to release them is this tiny square on top of the Red Key, which is incredibly easy to not touch. 

  It’s a shame because this was a really nice visual setup. I liked the Red Key courtyard, and the gore machine that crushed the Pinkies to power the engines in the walls was spot on for mood. In a wider space, I feel I would’ve had a great time, but there’s still too much confusion in what’s going on.

 

Map 09: Norwitch Lane

 

  My gleeful excitement for some of these entries is hard to really quantify. I was preparing for maps of this quality in the oncoming Wormwoods (kind of cheating since I know all of them, but whatever), 

  For starters, saying this map is a slow burn would be an insult to the blistering speeds of radioactive decay. This map puts three-quarters of its monster count in about one-quarter of its runtime. The rest of the map does nothing but incredible service to its aesthetics. The moodiness of Norwitch Lane is immaculate, hardly ever letting loose, allowing all of the worn down buildings to seep with evil. All the ambient noises, which I’ve felt were a bit arbitrary and forced in many of the other maps, felt appropriate here, especially the rip of the wind from Quake playing as you approach the second structure. The secret fight with Dr. Frankenstein and his monster was textbook, showing that the author is fully aware of this setting and what makes it phenomenal. Even simple things like the backlighting on the Cyberdemon in the ravine fight are done with pizzazz and intelligence to bolster how much feeling can come out of the experience. The Nazi secret was goofy, but I really don’t care seeing as it’s essentially the political talking point equivalent of a jumpscare now, and it grounds the identity of the level back into the rest of the WAD.

  Norwitch Lane never had a problem delivering action either. I didn’t have too much trouble with the huge Imp wave, immediately thinking I had found the rest of the monster count, only to then be met with a ballroom showdown that makes use of the entire indoor area. The Cyberdemon mostly takes care of what’s on the ground, leaving the player to have to clean up the two Arch-Viles by the front door, which I did die to once having left a bunch of Hell Knights in that hallway.

  I think my only issue is that the music for this one is too ambient. I could barely hear it playing even when I had my volume maxed out. I understand its purpose, it felt empty at points, especially once the final fight had completely drowned it out with explosions. That does little to hold back this behemoth. 

 

Power Rankings

Spoiler

1. Norwitch Lane
2. Darkwood
3. The Imps in the Walls
4. Shadow over Silverspring
5. Catacombover
6. Uncle Reggie's Candy Factory
7. Caco's Keep
8. The Torture Garden
9. Tricks n' Treats
10. Pumpkination
11. Beneath Bloodstone
12. Pumpkin Delight

 

[RHhe82]

MAP11: The Other Dario. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 148/152 K, 3/8 S, 5/7. Completion time 19:20.

 

A map title like that instantly invites feelings of dread, but I guess the reference is lost on me after all, for The Other Dario is not a plutonian trap gauntlet, I don't remember seeing revenants, and chaingunners are employed in moderation. The crypt area houses a slew of archviles, and yeah, there were chaingunners too, but not in your face style. I half-cheesed the fight by retreating to the staircase and emptied my rockets from there.

 

I like the design of the first area, where you ascend some sort of structure with cacos awaiting you in the lava vats. It's just that the combat feels a bit on the side of being a chore, most of the time I'm just rocketing cacos and sometimes falling on lower ledges when dodging goat fireballs. Satyrs, were they?

 

With the advance warning in mind, I didn't try to get all the kills and secrets. I hate it that I have a predilection for UV-MAXing so much that it sometimes comes before fun. Even this time I actually spent a lot of time trying to get the soul sphere and the red armor in the crypt area, not knowing if they were the unobtainable secret we were warned about. I couldn't figure out a way to get them, so I loaded save just after the corridor shoot-out nearby -- highlight of the map for me, by the way, fun encounter! -- and proceeded onwards with the map.

 

So... an okay map, I suppose. Not a top-tier one, but a solid outing nonetheless.

[brick]

MAP11 - “The Other Dario” by Washing Machine Enthusiasts
I loved the first part of the map, which has a great sense of verticality and does what it can with the engine to make it feel that the walkway is 3D as you make your way to the top, and the setup with the teleporting mancubus is quite clever The entire cavern looks quite good too. The next part I liked the least,  there's a slow and steady flow of monster closets opening up, unleashing PEs and archviles behind your back to inflate the monster count. The two secrets (accessible by archvile jump) can help, though maybe not so much on UV. Not long after there's anoter 2-sector secret where one is inaccessible, so once again no maxing this map without idclip. The last room has a fun setup with a mother Spider, several Arachnotrons, revenants/archviles (depending on difficulty) and moving platforms to hide behind and try to trigger infighting, and then one final (and very, very predictable) surprise before the exit. There are many Megapsheres even on UV so the map is quite generous with health. If not for the middle part I would've considered the map a standout, but even as it is I still enjoyed it a lot.

[Pseudonaut]

Map11:
I played this one ahead of time because I heard something about archvile jumps being required for secrets, making them also required for UV-Max. I was going to complain about how inconsistent these jumps are due to the chaos of the fight in which they must be done, but actually, their success rate is pretty high if approached a certain way. I got both jumps six times consecutively in the video below, with the caveat that one of those attempts missed the armor but still tagged the secret. There was a seventh attempt where the viles just didn't cooperate. The strategy:

 - Get the secret soulsphere from outside to help (happens before the save I loaded in the video)

 - Do both jumps ASAP so the situation isn't too chaotic while the jumps are performed

 - Don't fire a shot after the fight starts until both jumps are done; this will minimize wandering monsters, including archviles. One of the viles will be asleep while you do the first jump.

 

 

Anyway, it's a pretty good map. Movement along the stairs in the first half of the map is enjoyable, and the combat in that section was ok, but it's mostly just rocketing tomatoes, so nothing special. The bridge fight was a little odd... seems like the cybs have a hard time hitting you while the bridge is lowering, and for the same reasons, rockets tend to fly over the skeletons, making SSG or chaingun better here. A decent fight. I don't have much else to say about the map.

 

 

[General Roasterock]

Map 10: King Boner’s House of Fisting

 

  I don’t know what I was expecting. As much as the name is sign of a horrible time to come, the first minutes of this map are really fun. The interpretation of a funhouse being turned into combat is novel, and I’m glad that the “house of fisting” alluded to this map being Tyson gameplay instead of just being a juvenile rambling. I even really enjoyed the deconstruction of the setting, being able to travel into the storage area behind the walls to reach the Yellow Key. The Cyberdemon shootout in the spinning walkway of mirrors was funny, and the library of Rocket Legs was interesting once I figured out the rhythm. 

  However, the map drops once you pick up the Yellow Key, as it drops you into an illusion that leads to the grape dimension, meaning that the original Yellow Key in the part that is behind the teleport line is still there to be seen, which nullifies the whole point of the fake out. The rest of the map from this point on is kind of barren and ugly, the green slime and purple brick never sat right with me, and it’s filled with geometry that only has equals in the likes of Down the Drain. The voidscape is pretty transparent, with Doomguy able to slam into the solid black walls and use switches that open up entire sides of the circular space for progression. 

  It’s very difficult to compare this to the quirky attraction not a minute before this and draw a through line. It’s at this point that the whole fisting charade is dropped entirely, now leaning entirely on the Rocket Launcher for gameplay, turning whole hordes of Chaingunners, Cacos, Revenants, and the like into simple pods of target practice from across the vastness given to you by the layout. I did like the BFG fight with the mass of Skellingtons on the stairs, it’s a creative use of geometry that pressures you surprisingly well, especially considering what came before it. I could give or take the second rush, felt like redundancy at that point, but the reveal of an alternate fleshworld that took the shape of the one you had just left was a neat flourish to wrap things up. It’s that kind of character that I wished the map did more of, as I was far more interested in both of the other environments over the sea of green.

  It’s definitely not bad, above par for the course, but it had great strengths it didn’t tap into. 

 

Map 11: The Other Dario

 

  Decidedly painful and closed minded, it is a perfect representation of the Dario workflow. At least that’s what I think the layout was based on, otherwise the title makes no sense. I was immediately put off by the selection of midi, listening to it while I was writing my thoughts for King Boner’s Grape Journey, as there are just strangely long periods of silence followed by really quiet guitar lead ins. It shakes me up when I’m enjoying the environment put together. 

  Ammo is pretty much infinite here. I couldn’t recall a time where I was ever in danger of being below fifty rockets after I gained a foothold, and there wasn’t too much of a resistance to warrant having so many. The entire first half is a winding staircase with the occasional cluster of Cacodemons, concluding in a chokepoint of more Cacodemons and Satyrs that refills on the mandatory second lap. A lot of the monster density in this part feels arbitrary, and none of it is very threatening since I can simply back away and level it with explosives. The highlight of the entire cauldron of lava was the walkway with the ineffective Cyberdemon turret, as that felt like something with personality, even if I could kill the Cyber by pressing the switch from within the damaging floor.

  I don’t have a lot of good to say for the indoor section. From teleporting chaingunners right on top of you to varying effects, to presenting the world’s shortest tyson stretch, the only truly capitalized idea is the Satyr lock in. Every other point feels like it needs another rewrite, specifically in reference to the Spider Mastermind room with a pair of Rocket Legs that have no issue getting stuck between the randomly moving walls. I wish I had more usefully presentable issues, but it’s just that the entire map has one line of combat that it funnels you through without any pressure. I liked the scale of the section in the lava, but otherwise this is another notch to my experience in the Dario multiverse. 

 

Power Rankings

Spoiler

1. Norwitch Lane
2. Darkwood
3. The Imps in the Walls
4. Shadow over Silverspring
5. Catacombover
6. King Boner's House of Fisting
7. Uncle Reggie's Candy Factory
8. Caco's Keep
9. The Torture Garden
10. Tricks n' Treats
11. The Other Dario
12. Pumpkination
13. Beneath Bloodstone
14. Pumpkin Delight

 

[cannonball]

MAP11 - “The Other Dario” by Washing Machine Enthusiasts

 

I want to like this map, because it does have some interesting ideas. Unfortunately most of the combat is rather uninspired to say the least. The climb is rather slow and cumbersome, made even worse if you catch a wall on one of the many jumps you need to do. Careful play will nullify pretty much all of the threats on offer here. The route to the yellow key offers a set up that has a stupidly easy method of rendering the encounter redundant. You can hit the switch and use the stairs as a means to backup and gain cover, as such you shouldn't take much damage here at all.

The corridor lock in following is probably the only enjoyable segment of the map, everything carries a decent amount of threat and the rocket launcher is the only real weapon you have to dispatch monsters quickly (Especially the goats on the pillars). The final room is probably the worst section, there are two megaspheres and frankly I needed neither of them, you can slow roll the room without too much pressure. The traps for the megaspheres are also very tepid. 

In the end this sits on the disappointing side of the maps so far, made a little worse by the fact that unlike most of the company, this one is built competently with a clear idea of how the map should play out. It just wasn't that fun to play through. However I will say that it was an improvement on the map from Skultiverse.

Edited October 14, 2022 by cannonball

[finnks13]

MAP11 - The Other Dario by Washing Machine Enthusiasts:

11:39/1 Death
I feel a little mixed about this map, there's some fun moments and also some rather tedious ones, there's some excellent visuals at points and also some very samey ones. The map doesn't start off on a great note, as slowly climbing the tower using the catwalks isn't particularly engaging since you trigger an ambush on every second step, a lot of which are very similar to one another. You are flush with rockets, so repeatedly killing four cacodemons isn't challenging, despite the thin ledges that you've got to balance on. Grabbing the red key at the top of the stairs takes you back down to the bottom, and while an ambush spawns in when you do this, taking the platform down to the bottom robs it of any threat and I just don't understand why you wouldn't stop the platform in the middle where the ambush actually spawns in.

 

The two teleporting cyberdemons seem to add nothing to the map, though they are quite amusing, and I completely ignored them because they seemed too irritating to kill. The bridge between the two cybers lowers really slowly and the eight skeletons that slowly emerge from the walls don't pose much of a challenge. The section behind the red key door is my favourite, the fight for the blue key is tense, as walls are constantly lowering and revealing more enemies and there's a lot of archviles here which did surprise me. I also like the sandwich fight on the small bridge after it, the satyrs on the pillars do a good job of roughing you up. The final fight against the spider mastermind is a bit lame, since you've got tons of cover, cells and health, and it's quite annoying to get auto-aim to co-operate and allow you to pelt the mastermind with plasma. When this map works, it really works, but the rest is a little bit dull for my liking. I've not played anything else by Washing Machine Enthusiasts, but I think this map shows a lot of potential if nothing else.

[RHhe82]

MAP12: Checkmate. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 164/164 K, 1/1 S, 11/11 I. Completion time 16:12.

 

Wow! I really like the visual theme here, white checkboard marble. I like the music. The combat... well, I like that too, even if my skills are below combat puzzles. The very first room already made me contemplate on calling it quits because I was already convinced I ain't gonna beat this map if this is the first encounter (never mind we saw hairier spots in MSCP/Haste month). I used a midfight save, but I think the trick was to alert the enemies standing next to the archies, so they'd get ahead of you and in the way of enemy projectiles.

 

I had a hunch this was a LunchLunch map, and my suspicion was confirmed by the lone SS soldier secret. (That and I remembered there was another one coming in before late).

I find the first encounter the most fun; The second room where you need to shotgun the archviles the least. The baron/hell knight/cyber/archies onslaught is intense and thus fun, too, although it felt like a fight you just can't beat on the first try, because invulnerability lasts just enough to reach both switches, grab the key and get the hell out -- and at that point there will still be half the room infighting and/or breathing down your neck.

 

For the final area I had no cells left, and rockets were almost used up too, but had just enough to kill most of the pain elementals. Had good luck with lost soul spawns.

 

Checkmate probably isn't my favourite map, but it's top-tier material, a really memorable map. I really gotta play 10x10 beyond the first map some day.

[cannonball]

MAP12 - “Checkmate” by LunchLunch

 

This map starts off really well, a cool setting and a combat puzzle that is quite easy to solve by goading the cyberdemon into infighting everything. The following archvile fight in the lower section was really cool too. Unfortunately the gameplay sags quite badly with few mis-steps here and there. The purple key fight doesn't really work for me, so do a few other fights including the final push to the end that felt more grindy than fun. The revenant/archvile mass in a cramped space was quite fun though.

I think Lunchlunch needs a little more practice at this type of gameplay, it is a little hit and miss. But this would feel right at home in MSCP and is overall a solid experience, though less enjoyable than Norwitch lane. 

I was a little lucky towards the end because I hoarded rockets heavily from the purple key fight, this helps to thin out the revenant/archvile mass before I needed to move, as such I had sufficient heavy artillery for the final sections.

[Pseudonaut]

Map12:
I get the sense that this map is aiming for Sunlust-style combat puzzles, but the execution is flawed. My favorite encounter is actually the one at the start, as it's the most 'puzzley' for lack of a better word. Firing a shot with everything alive would cause immediate death, but luring the cyberdemon into hitting other enemies while they're asleep will clean the situation up nicely, and it probably helps not to wake up too much shit at once. There were a few encounters that felt a bit like the player is at the mercy of RNG, as unavoidable damage is taken while movement is hindered by a dense crowd of enemies that the player has no choice but to be surrounded by. I'm mostly talking about the archvile+revenant wave, which provides plenty of ammo for the plasma gun, but space is so scarce relative to the number of enemies filling it that a lot of damage is unavoidably taken from their attacks, all while the archviles have no shortage of newly resurrected meatshields (boneshields?). The pain elemental wave has a similar problem, though it is a bit easier, potentially a lot easier if the player saved many rockets from earlier (I didn't). The exit room houses chaingunners backed by archviles, and it's pretty annoying if you don't have many rockets left, having essentially no choice but to SSG/chaingun the viles through the chaingunners that they can endlessly resurrect, slowly killing them. On the other hand, I definitely dig the aesthetic of this map, particularly the midi, which is good in its own right and well-suited to the chessboard look. Despite some annoyances, I enjoyed the map.

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by Pseudonaut

[LadyMistDragon]

(You can probably tell this isn't exactly a priority for me:D) It's also been a busy week. I sort of was playing this in bits in pieces and this took just under 28 minutes, for perspective)

 

Map 05: The Imps in the Walls

by ASO3000

 

The moment the opening chords of "The Call of Ktluhu" played admidst the backdrop of the mansion just up the hill, I hoped we'd be in for something special. Even the wrong notes later on as the acoustic section ends(especially at the end of the loop, yeesh!) didn't do all that much to  ruin the atmosphere

 

And from one perspective it definitely is. Although we couldn't locate any secrets below the cliffside, there was still something really cool about gazing out on a vast expanse that put anything in Earth or any other wads like that.

 

The mansion itself clearly had lots of thought and care put into every room. Several of the bedrooms feel like they've actually been inhabited with how many of them are filled with various details. The cellar entrance is probably the coolest part. One minute, you're entering a dark space and the second, a gargoyle!

 

The dining room in particular proved to be a delight. While pushing a fairly obvious hidden switch, a rocket leg will come out to ambush you and probably mess you up kind of badly. And this actually a hallmark of the combat here in general with the amount of close quarters fights you have. There are two occasions we have to fight off Satyrs with the assault rifle because we have no room to do otherwise. That was fine, but we're not sure the same can be said about the Arch-vile that pops out of a small closet right before the switch leading to the library, mostly because monsters kept being resurrected and ammo consequently came close to running dry.

 

That's probably not as bad as the Pain Elemental we encounter in the library after hitting a certain switch. The main issue here are the Spectres and Imps on the ground floor diverting SMG fire when the delinquent was slowly pushed back and up. We really only need a little bit of patience, but this was rather annoying.

 

On the other hand, we quite like the courtyard with the pair of King Boners (the only ones) and red key in the middle, mainly because of the vast infighting potential with the nobles and Mancubi that went underutilized in our run unfortunately. They did prove a bit of trouble, especially considering the chaingunners in the little cells on the sides but we had enough rockets to blast those guys as well as any survivors to bits. Before that, we had an encounter with Gargoyles in the mezzanine after returning from another key (yellow I think), swarming in to chew us into nice toasty bits.

 

After this, we'd return to the tomb accessed through the kitchen after acquiring all three keys where some skeletons appeared ever-s appropriately. After fighting off another ambush with some pinkies and an Arch-vile, we were able to acquire the plasma rifle that was secret for some reason. 4 out of 9 secrets were found, including the one the rocket leg mentioned above came from, but we've spent enough time here as it is.

 

After this is the decent into another tunnel which goes on far too long which culminates in a village located inside a vast underground caver that made us think of some village in XCOM for some reason. The nobles, spectres, chaingunners and Imps consequently don't necessarily provide much of a threat, although we did have to scrounge around a little bit for rockets which were clustered toward the eastern end. After some switch-pressing, fighting off some other lil' oddball ambushes including some spectres and an Arch-vile, and rocketing some Mancubi toward the far end, we could finally walk out....before being confronted by some pinkies for no reason at all. But as we keep going, we finally encounter some of our comrades, huddling together next to a fire and whispering. A particularly brilliant piece of visual storytelling which we never see.

 

I wouldn't really call this my favorite map. Catacombover had a punn-y name and in addition, a layout that was both expansive and yet easily navigable. This one, on the other hand, was a basic corridor crawl punctuated by maybe one or two above-average fights, the rest being claustrophobic stuff not tough to handle when you know what's coming. It was a nice change of pace after the last few.

Edited October 15, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Azure_Horror]

MAP32 - “Tricks n’ Treats” by NepNep

I have two notable complaints

- returning to the start of the map is impossible

- difficulty spike, caused by Archviles and minimal cover in the final battle.

But in total, the map felt enjoyable, if a bit unrefined. (kinda like some TNT:Evilution maps)

I especially liked the canyon section!

 

MAP16 - “Ungle Reggie’s Candy Factory” by African Equus-Sapien

The high monster density is both a flaw and a success of this map.

The SSG trap immediatly after the yellow door was especially nasty - monsters collapse on you immediately, and you have less than a second to access the situation and devise a strategy. A cruel surprise on a blind run! But outside of the blind runs, the map is very mangeable, and it uses both new and old monsters for pretty inventive claustrophobic fights.

 

MAP08 - “The Torture Garden” by Velcrosasquatch

A lot of different rooms and spaces! Visually, this map felt like a Doom1 E2, but with much prettier modern textures. The map has some minor resourse starvation in the first half of the map, and often uses ambushes in narrow spaces. All those traits make for a good modern reimagining of OG Doom 1 approach to map design.

BTW, chainsaw is very effective against Skeletons and it also works against Satyrs!

 

MAP09 - “Norwitch Lane” by LunchLunch

Can you oranically mix Lost Civilization and Sunder? LunchLunch definetly can!

Most of the map is an adventure in some super-evocative and greatly detailed environments.

But the ending of the map is the grand slaughter fight in the grandioise cafedral.

 

The further you go into the map, the more fight-focused it becomes - while the start requires some exploration and even a bit of switch-hunting, the ending of the map is devoted to glorious combat. Ususally, I despise slow-burn maps with heavy comabt near the end. But Norwitch Lane executes this concept immaculetly.

 

MAP10 - “King Boner’s House of Fisting” by Punch you in the face man

I am not a fan of of tyson maps, and the start of map 10 is berserk-focused. Thus, I considered skipping this map

But Pseudonaut's playthrough convinced me to give the map a try. In the end, the map was a pretty fun experience. It uses 100% of the Halloween theme, presenting itself as a haunted cranival ride. Carnival Ride setting is used to tie together a very diverse set of challenges and visual themes, which normaly would look very incoherent together each-other. We litterarly go from secluded forest into the open space in one of the episodes of this map!

Creative overall design, interesting combat and inventive secrets - what a great combination!  

 

MAP11 - “The Other Dario” by Washing Machine Enthusiasts

This map is a weird one - it feels like a hybrid of Doom 2 Chasm Combined with some Valiant map. The map is a bit weird, and sometimes clunky, but the overall design is executed well. The pros outweight the flaws of the map, IMHO. I wish more modern maps experimented with windy ledges and verticality.

(BTW, the cybers can be crushed by a secret switch)

 

MAP12 - “Checkmate” by LunchLunch

The visuals? Breathtaking!

The first fight? Great!

But the follow up encounters are a bit more hit-or-miss. IMHO, the most flawed is the archvile-shotgunner srea near the start. Fighting off 3 roaming archviles with only a SSG is bad enough, but the shotgunner snipers and the 4th Vile sniper make this fight even more unpleasant. Luckily, the battle can be cheesed by aggroing only 2 of the 3 viles, but this still leaves a sour taste in my mouth. (I wish this fight had CyberLiches instead of Viles. They are roughly similar to Viles in their combar stats, but fighting cyberliches feels much more novel.)

The rev crowd + 4 archviles battle near the end of the map is also very unpleasant, but it gives you the plasma and rocket launcher at least.

In the end, I think this is a good map, but I feel that it could have been even greater.

[LadyMistDragon]

(hey, 2 in one day! Fortunate that there aren't many new wads being released this week? I guess.)

 

Map 06: Darkwood

by @A2Rob

 

A2Rob has long lent his services to the 'alternative' Doom mapping community, but his own mapping style and overall combat tendencies fall firmly in to the vein of Scythe with little in the way of notable quirks. This map seems like something he spent more time on then normal, but the simpler layout and combat flow when compared to the last map leads to it taking slightly less time, despite the monster count  stopping just short of 300.

 

Though speaking of combat, it's great to finally see a midi from Arrival get some usage but it feels out of sync with much of the map in the majority of situations. But then there's the ones where they aren't...and that's where the haunting and rhythmic composition really starts to shine.

 

Although I discovered the secret plasma rifle sitting in the pool of blood behind the start, A2Rob actually provides a path back in case you don't turn behind you when starting. And we certainly will need it later! Around the time we climb to the top of the tower in the middle, things would've certainly become overwhelming if we hadn't, what with the Cacodemons and Mancubi on the towers.

 

Other than that, we have a fairly constant and initially unchallenging sort of canyon map, feeling less Ad Mortum-y than all the other maps so far despite custom monsters showing up 'every so often,' (you'll understand the reason for the air quotes later.). The gargoyles are probably the largest threat in the initial area, but the plasma rifle will completely trivalize them.

 

Plunging into a hollow in the north leads us the blue key and a nasty trap featuring some satyrs accompanied by chaingunners. At this point, they proved a higher degree of threat then they did in the last map. Moving on, we climb the fort in the middle, run down some platforms and find ourselves in a series of wooden corridors. Things get incredibly nasty here, with Imps and Pinkies along with a chaingunner or two and satyrs supplementing the array of Revenants and skeletons that make this section a high challenge. Toward the end of the section, a closet opens up with two Arch-viles, but since we have a rocket launcher at this point, this wasn't too much trouble, despite a few shotgunners getting resurrected. Actually, to contradict myself a little, A2Rob is excellent at utilizing custom monsters. He hasn't done very much that was bad to be honest (like his Mayhem 2020 map)

 

After doing all this and acquiring the red key, we are able to reach the top of the fort and infinite height rears its ugly head quite a few times. I was in a rush here, but I can say there's not a huge chance of keeping your rocket count above 6 here when you're all done. I couldn't figure out how to get the armor here either, which isn't really consequential until the very end admittedly....but anyway, look at the pillars and see them head down to a certain closed-off area of hollows with the YK at the end. A Cyberdemon teleports in here along with several hitscanners and Imps, but you get a Supercharge and Cell packs are thoughtfully placed in the corners here so that you won't accidentally run into them and not have enough ammo left for the Cyberdemon.

 

After this, grab the yellow key, head back to the top of the fort, hit the tellyporter and end up in another area inaccessible by any other means. Open the door here and prepare to face an utterly apocalyptic attack by skeletons. You'd probably survive almost certainly with the secret armor, but we're basically stuck rocketing, charging through with the plasma rifle when the ranks are sufficiently thinned, then picking up some more rockets. Don't hit the switch at the end right away because guess what? MORE skele-dudes are revealed, twice as many numbers this time, although this time, you've got considerably more room to back up. Maybe A2Rob is taking more lessons from /vr/ than I thought (but their use of brute force tends to be a little more conservative here)! It feels like something from, um, later in Running Late 2. Kill them, enter the portal and we are done!

 

For many people, this'll probably be their favorite map in the set so far and while I can understand why, Map 01 still wins out for on default, even though idk how much that one lines up with modern Doom preferences when compared to this. Tough without being extremely so except at the very end, it feels closer to comfort food than the other maps played this month.

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[finnks13]

MAP12 - Checkmate by LunchLunch:

9:31/4 Deaths
My experience with this map seems to be much the same as everyone else's: I really liked the first fight, and liked the subsequent ones much less. The first fight requires you to get a cyberdemon to infight with the rest of the enemies, in an arena that is very small - you need to get the archviles and one of the two enemy groups to start fighting with the cyberdemon at the same time so you can grab the SSG while keeping the cyber's aggression off you. The subsequent fights in this first area feel less developed and are very tight on ammo - I had to pistol an archvile to death twice, such were my ammo woes. The shotgunner on pillar + archvile combo is interesting, as you'll need to split your focus between killing shotgunners to stop taking forced damage, and hiding behind pillars from the flames.

 

The purple key fight is rather odd, you're given an invulnerability at the start, and need to deal with the archviles quickly to survive but once they're dead the fight turns into a bit of a slog, as you have to slowly whittle down some barons and a cyberdemon with the SSG - I could have rocketed more here, but the start of the map was so tight on ammo, I held onto my rockets like they were made of gold! After a surprise rocket-on-legs that made me start to realise why some people hate this sort of explode-on-death enemy, you get rushed by some revenants and a couple of archviles in a room that's a bit too small to feel safe, though it's more bark than bite in the end. The pain elemental wave with no cover was amusing but feels more like a test of whether you decided to save some rockets or cells from the previous fights rather than a test of skill.

 

Overall, I love the visual design and atmosphere of the map - the MIDI choice is perfect and gives the whole thing this ethereal, dream-like quality - but it's let down by some lackluster combat which is a shame since I know LunchLunch can make fantastic fights. Oh well, it's a solid map that just doesn't quite live up to what it's first impression promises.

[RHhe82]

MAP13: Devil Garden. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 266/272 K, 1/2 S, 10/10 I. Completion time 30:02.

 

Another gorgeous level that for a moment there I thought was by Bridgeburner -- I guess he'd make a more detailed and grandiose map, but somehow the level in any case reminded me of his MSCP level.

 

And also like Checkmate, for a moment there I thought this was too hard a level for me, even if most of the time I was struggling for silly reasons, like in the hell knight vs. knights infight party in the tree temple, I was constantly bumbling into corners and whatnot even after I figured I should be guiding the knight rockets onto the hell knights and barons.

 

And even more like Checkmate, there is no incidental combat, but set encounters, each designed as a challenge. First part of the map is infighting with a couple of straight-on encounters, which are mostly OK... although I'm not that sure on the army of cybers fight where you get a invuln sphere. That one felt that it was just put there to pad out the map.

 

I could only find one secret legit, and I think only because automap helpfully displays teleport linedefs. You can spot the teleporter pad, if you're observant enough, I wasn't. As for the second secret... No way I could have found it without the help of UDB, and even THAT helped only so much. There is a hint to its whereabouts you can spot at one specific point in map, and if you miss it while it's visible, you're not gonna find the secret unless you get "win the lottery"-sort of lucky.

 

In any case, top tier map, in the Top-3 so far.

[General Roasterock]

Map 12: Checkmate

 

  A really stellar opening that eventually calmed down by the end, Checkmate is immediately, through title and opening shot, presented as a test of brainpower. The opening Cyberdemon infight party is carried by the somber and looming midi, the myriad of pumpkin cacos in the sky, and the impressively fluid skybox. A lot of the visuals felt very clean, allowing a relatively muted color palette to play into the chess theme in the title, tiling black and white to make the buildings for the first half pop. The indoor sections are fine, but they substitute the wondrous spectacle of the mysterious haze for a subtraction of lighting to continue a similar tension, which doesn’t work as well for me.

  Combat is purposeful at every turn, I had a fair struggle with every significant encounter. The Arch-Viles immediately after the Cyberdemon was mean, as well as the rush of skeletons after picking up the Plasma Rifle. I originally scoffed at the nazi secret giving me a singular piece of plasma, but found that I used the entire supply on the latter of those fights, so I can only say that the addition of that cell was near perfect. Everything was tense and calculated to the point where dying was simply a step to a rewarding conclusion, which is ideally how it should be. The invulnerability fight was a blast too, having to maximize my time with the sphere is one of my favorite facets of gimmick fights. The last stretch of rooms were the only downers, just being stretches of Pain Elementals and a sardine can of Chaingunners that can hardly fight back against the player, let alone the Arch-Viles crammed into their room with them. Otherwise this is a sick map full of replay value.

 

Power Rankings

Spoiler

1. Norwitch Lane
2. Darkwood
3. Checkmate
4. The Imps in the Walls
5. Shadow over Silverspring
6. Catacombover
7. King Boner's House of Fisting
8. Uncle Reggie's Candy Factory
9. Caco's Keep
10. The Torture Garden
11. Tricks n' Treats
12. The Other Dario
13. Pumpkination
14. Beneath Bloodstone
15. Pumpkin Delight

 

[Pseudonaut]

Map13:
An entertaining slaughtermap. It's not perfect, though. Waiting to lure out the yellow key cyberdemon is kinda awkward, and the invulnerability vs cyberdemons BFG fight is kinda pointless; even if you start shooting a few seconds late like I did, the cybs don't pose much of a threat by the time the invuln expires. However, I appreciated the abundance of space throughout the map, which is rare in this wad. Considering how sparingly King Boner was used in the other maps, I wasn't expecting to see so many of him in one particular fight. It wasn't a hard fight, but still a pleasant surprise. There are a few parts where it seems several specific enemies have to be killed in order to progress, which will make pacifist runs difficult. I typically prefer UV-Max, but even in that case, it would be nice if the player had the option to leave these enemies alive and clean them up later, as often happens in a UV-Max speedrun.