The DWmegawad Club plays: Abscission

[Wolfgun Shootner]

MAP17: Predation

 

I'll tell you what I did with the Cyberdemon after he got me the first twenty runs. I went to the area with the s-shaped narrow downward steps. I waited until he teleported, then jumped down into the slime and teleported back. The teleporter brings you to the main hub, I could deal with the other areas then without the cyberdemon bullying me. How peaceful! 

Eventually I took him down with some plasma and the shotgun, which I'm wondering if that was intended? The secrets don't help much with ammo either, found them both.

[Pseudonaut]

Map16:
Damn solid. "Cold Ascent" may not have a memorable gimmick or crazy setpiece fight, but pretty much everything is done right, with tense combat throughout. I particularly like the placement of the invulnerability sphere, which is first seen among imps and other wimpy enemies signaling that you should save it. When shit hits the fan, there's a strong incentive to venture back to the center, where enemies are most densely packed, to grab the invuln and start rocketing everything point-blank.

 

Map17:
An adventure through caverns and craters brimming with lava, with one major complication: you're stalked by a cyberdemon the whole time. Snax posted something about the effort that went into designing monster-only teleporters to ensure the cyberdemon would be near the player as much as possible, and it really shows. Definitely feels like the player is never safe. I was a little confused about the yellow key for a while, had to check the automap to notice a major area I hadn't explored yet.

 

Map18:
Multiple tough encounters where you're up close with many pinkies, not much space, and seemingly inadequate weaponry. One of the highlights is a fight that gives you a berserk, but makes it unclear if you should use it or your guns, as shotgunners are mixed with the pinkies and your health is limited. The BFG + RL stuff toward the end is fun too.

 

Map19:
Fine, but I don't have much to say about it.

 

Map20: The first few moments after you fire a shot are definitely the most lethal. It's really chaotic, very dangerous enemies in every direction, lots of randomness. You'll very likely have to step into the damaging blood to evade an archvile's attack.

 

Map21: In my experience, there are very few maps that make you afraid of imp fireballs like "Of Flesh and Fission". There is no armor, and all the health is in the medkit stash at the beginning (Mucus Flow anyone? Disturbia, perhaps?), which you're physically separated from much of the time, usually blocked from returning to it until you go through some monsters first. In particular, the last section has projectiles coming at you from just about every direction, while returning the to health stash is not an option. Very tense.

 

Map22: I'm very surprised no one mentioned the softlocks in this map (unless I missed it). Can I call it a softlock if it traps you on a damaging floor? I don't care, both of those "deaths" should not have happened. One of them looked very much like a place that ought to be explored, and was the source of my first "death", ending what probably would have been survival on the first try. Annoying. I actually don't see anything wrong with the combat in this level, but maybe I just got lucky in some places. Anything that's hard with a relatively low bodycount is cool.

 

ab16-22FDAs-pseudonaut.zip

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 27: Maligned Annex

Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start

 

This is one of the most striking statements in Abscission so far. One of the above posters basically compared it to Hazmat Hazama, but there's nothing here anywhere near that jumbled. Red-tinted space makes it's way inside every now and then but while texture changes are abrupt and arbitrary, this still contains more signs of orderliness than say Map 13 did. It would certainly make for something quite mystical if no one was around. For whatever reason, it also took a half hour to complete.

 

But ultimately, this map falls on the combat and we'll just say the hardest fights here are the most claustrophobic so far. If our gameplay didn't prove so incompetent here, we may have cleared this area faster, but we were feeling lackadaisical......just because. Arch-viles appear in two locations and they're not exactly gonna be easy to handle in either. In the latter, just try using the BFG because maybe all the Pain Elementals will be killed instantly if it's actually aimed correctly. 

 

The fake exit sign was sure a dirty trick in the yellow key wing! Though to be fair, the lack of a plasma rifle kind of suggests that entering the hall with the blue key door was a mistaker.

 

But other than that, the hardest oddly enough proved to be the series of bookshelves with Revenants and Mancubi, with chaingunners bringing up the rear. I dunno if anyone else would feel the same, but I know there was no patience left for infighting at this point.

 

Maybe the repeat midi was the only problem though. I guess more ammo would also be nice

 

 

 

[Cutman 999]

MAP26 - “Igneus” (Pistol started, 2 attempts saveless, 99% Kills, 100% Items, 100% Secrets)

 

An abandoned mines remake that... Actually doesn't look like the original doom 2 map at all, weird.

 

The map is basically an even more linear version of the abandoned mines, it exchanged some of the side activities I remember you could do in that map for more developed combat*.

 

The scenarios are fine, the rocket launcher arena was fun to do of course, on the other hand some of the incidental combat is very slow and not so difficult to deflate with just waiting for the enemies to leave their areas, or to start infighting with bulky demons like that one baron surrounded by 4 cacodemons.

 

The final fight for the red key you can have 2 distinct impressions depending how you succeed or fail to manage it, the first one is a very tense fight centered around positioning and buying yourself space so that the cyberdemon could not murder you with the 50 armor the map solely gives in a secret, or the second one being you being confused, having no space to move thanks to all the stuff cramped in the tight ledges, that could punish you with death if you managed to fall in one of the death pits. I had both in those 2 attempts.

 

Overall, it is fine, although not too remarkable compared to the rest.

 

6/10

 

P.D it is me or this arena is shaped like a weird hand? 

 

Spoiler

 

MAP27 - “Maligned Annex” (Pistol started, used saves, 100% K/I/S)

 

Peak abscission.

 

My only complaints with this map is the fact you can get toasted if you didn't guess one of the paths brings you to the ssg, the start of the map gets significantly harder, and sometimes there's dead air like the yellow key door where you have to snipe like 5 revs and 4 mancs, other than that, possibly best map in the megawad in my opinion.

 

Music, gameplay and atmosphere mix together to create a tense, suffocating experience, but in the best way possible. The fights are between incidental, and close quarters ambushes, if you want to avoid them, you'll awake more enemies that will just chip you and probably, end you in the spot. So, this means, you have to react quickly and deal with the problems presented to you on the spot, and the archvile/plasma fight, and that initial ssg fight, are very noteworthy because of that, it forces you to engage with the overwhelming odds, that's what makes this map good.

 

The 2 special ambushes, that actually gives you even powerups to beat, are also noteworthy. The teleporting monsters one could be a bit plasma spammy but can mess you up if you don't prioritize the hitscanners quickly. And since you are in a limited space with heavy damage dealers like revs and mancs, they can corner you and destroy your health if you don't pay attention. The final fight with all those PA's is awesome, a pain elemental fight where you don't just focus on the PA's to win, since the other enemies are more mobile, and they can easily corner you, even more if you wasted the 250 this fight allows you to use.

 

Enough said, fantastic map.

 

9/10

[Celestin]

MAP28: Thresholds Beyond

 

The start is the most harrowing moment of Abscission yet - pitch-black cave accented by red, monsters everywhere (including numerous spectres), a pair or roaming archviles and you, trying to figure out what to do. It's tough even if you know where the guns are. Once you get the plasma rifle and rocket launcher, you can start clearing the place out. Then hop from platform to platform to the yellow key and get ready for the finale.

 

I have to admit, I've made this part much harder than I needed to. Early on I jumped down into the pit where the final fight takes place, found a BFG, killed a mastermind and wasted most of the resource that are here. So, I had to survive the ending with 45% health, three BFG shots and not much rockets. In the hindsight, I should have ignored this place, teleport out and wait for the infighting to conclude, only to deal with the stragglers. 

 

I won't be complaining much, Thresholds Beyond is a captivating map that perhaps benefits from a bit of foreknowledge, more than previous levels.

[RHhe82]

MAP28: Thresholds Beyond. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 110/110, S: 0/1, I: 5/7. Comp. time 16:26

 

Hello Darkness, my old friend... I'm a bit mixed on this one; On the other hand it is an eerie, action-y place - A bit like To Hieron squared, which is good. On the other hand I was slightly frustrated, but I'm guessing that's mostly due to lost souls and spectres in darkness. I'd just constantly get stuck in spectres and pinkies and whatnots and eat revenant rocket because of that, and served flesh brulee by roaming archviles as a dessert.

 

But that's okay. What I actually didn't like was that apparently the only secret was accessible only by archvile jumps. As a design choice, I can respect that; mappers don't owe players guaranteed blind playthrough maxability. And because it's completely optional secret, I shouldn't have ill will towards the map. It's just that I don't like such design choices :-D But that maybe merely due to my "max or bust"-mentality, and if I could just leave that behind and accept that a replay will be required to get everything, just like in the old days.
 

[SirPootis]

MAP23 - Hazard Pay

100% K | 1/1 S | 7:50 completion time

Spoiler

This map is a meatgrinder, in a metaphorical sense. There's only a few crushers in the entire map, but there are about a hundred barrels scattered in just the right places to make your trek through this map difficult. For those who like to compartmentalize things, theres really three main parts to the map: the main hallway with raising and lowering bridges, the yellow key office fight, and the rocket barrel fight just before the exit. All three sections will obliterate the careless. The main hallway has barrels scattered about, which on their own don't mean much, but with the multiple hellknights on both levels, three arachnotron turrets, and a mancubus in the center, you are bound to get hit by a barrel at least once traversing the area. Blind players will really struggle here, as knowing the best way through is to make a mad dash for the super shotgun at the end of the hall will make the map much, much easier (also don't be a dummy like me and forget that there's also a rocket launcher past the switch :] ). After hitting the switch and punching out the small pinky swarm, do you then have the office fight, which doesn't have any barrels. You almost wish it does, though, since there's chaingunners, imps, revenants, pain elementals, and an archvile in a relatively tight space. The crushers tend to act more like moving cover than actual crushers in this fight. Ammo can get tight here, especially if you spent most of your shells clearing out the main hallway. Checking the cubicles does give some much-needed ammo pickups, plus the yellow key. After that, you've got the barrel fight, which can either be the hardest fight or the easiest, depending on your approach and some luck. Taking out the rocket launcher and making a beeline to kill the archvile on the right side as quickly as possible tended to be the most consistent path for me, and usually by the time I clear the rest of that half, the majority of the enemies on the left side will have blown themselves up in the wall of barrels blocking their half. This map gives me similar feelings to when I was playing Slag Dump; wandering through a corrupted factory that almost feels like it's consciously trying to kill me at every chance. It can be a pain in the ass, but it's a fun pain in the ass.

 

MAP24 - Abyssal Refuge

100% K | 4/5 S | 20:15 completion time

Spoiler

This level is hell. Whereas Hazard Pay will grind the careless into a pulp, Abyssal Refuge grinds everything into a pulp. This map takes The Chasm and turns the hostility to 11. The best route is to go straight to the red platforms, as the slime maintenance tunnels they lead to give you the berserk pack, and you will need it as soon as possible. Ammo is ridiculously tight in this level, and unless I missed something, you're relegated to the standard shotgun for the entire level, and while you do get a chaingun, rocket launcher, and plasma gun later on, you'll definitely want to punch your way out as much as possible. The central structure gives a choice between getting the RL or plasma first, as it'll lock the other weapon until you get the key to unlock it later. Both branches offer their distinct styles of pain, with the plasma gun branch leading you into the distinct 'blue and silver' pinky fight that is incredibly cramped for the number of pinkies you're punching, and the rocket launcher path sending you to the iconic tightrope sections of the level, though thankfully the slime pits you walk across don't just collapse or raise up slowly like the original iteration did. My descriptions of this level make it sound like I hate it, but that's not the case at all. It is a level that I have to get into the right headspace to play, and this being the level that immediately follows Hazard Pay, just feels like a 1-2 combo knockout before stomping your head into the ground. This level is a masterful combination of beauty and hostility.

 

MAP25 - Exsanguination

100% K | 1/1 S | 6:48 completion time

Spoiler

Seeing Snax say this was a lower-effort level due to burnout is interesting, because while it is a much shorter and simpler level relative to the handful preceding it, this level is a perfect palate-cleanser after Hazard Pay and Abyssal Refuge. Seeing the super shotgun right off the bat is a sight for sore eyes. The outdoor courtyard fight with the plasma gun and the mancubus podium is pretty, and the drop-down closet fight with a hell knight and two pain elementals gave me the hardest time. The BFG secret is pretty well-hidden, I remember having to IDDT to figure it out the first time I played. The final fight is pretty and serves as a last-second bit of hectic dodging from chaingunners and archie flames. On its own, this level is just okay, but its placement immediately after two of the harder maps in the wad really helps it out.

 

MAP26 - Igneus

100% K | 1/1 S | 8:59 completion time

Spoiler

I really love this level. The lava facility is always keeping some pressure on the player, but it never feels unfair. The amount of cacos and pre-placed lost souls does give me a bit of grief, but that's purely a personal grievance rather than a criticism on the map itself. The standout fight is by far the flesh pillar arena, filled with cacos, imps, lost souls, and a cyberdemon roaming. The platforms telegraph where the cyberdemon can go, and sometimes if the cyber is blocking you off, like when you go to hit the switch that reveals the red key and plasmagun, it forces you to take a quick trip in the lava to escape, and the arena having steps to allow the player to get back up adds a new dynamic to a fight like this. I do like the red key door that just leads to a flesh wall, had a laugh when I saw that. Something that makes this level stand out to me is the amount of background spaces there are, it makes you feel like you're just in a huge place, when the actual play area is much smaller when you look on the map. The hallways in the windows high up, and the cliffsides surrounding the outdoor areas add a lot to the space. One of my favorites in the final third.

 

MAP27 - Maligned Annex

100% K | 2/2 S | 16:27 completion time

Spoiler

This map is one of my favorites in the wad. A labyrinth of wood, red brick, bookshelves, and metal surrounded by a lake of lava, with the black and red sky creeping in through the cracks. The incidental encounters are ramped up in this map, appropriately enough for the map slot. Hellknights line the halls, imps, pinkies, and hitscanners ambush from the corners, and revenants and mancubi block the path. The standout moments include the revenant and mancubus marble fight, the library fight with the surprise teleport, and the BFG pop-off fight toward the end. This map is just chock-full of detail, to a point where it really gives the feeling that you're deep in a hellish construct: some rooms don't lead to anything, some floors are replaced with the deep red void, etc. I really love the ending room as well, the window filled with silhouettes of hanging souls in the void, next to the actual exit. Only one way to go: deeper into the abyss.

 

[Roofi]

Map 28 : Thresholds Beyond

 

 

I like how the music from map 32 is reused in this level so I completly feel like at the bottom of the darkness and I can't go back up. Map 28 delivers an immersive experience inside the most remote cavern of Abscission. Everything seems so lifeless except for the constant growling of monsters...

 

Unfortunately, the execution is really messy and the random cavernous shapes definitely scream filler, like map 21. As others said, foreknowledge help enjoying this level more as the weapons aren't located at obvious places and you need few time to get chased by several roaming arch-viles and pain elementals. Whereas obscurity constitutes the bread and the butter of this map, the lack of luminosity eventually becomes a source of annoyance than of fear. The general design tells me above all that Snax was running out of ideas and that her last resort is to throw lots of monsters in our faces.

 

The big final brawl happening below, where the two masterminds are located, was the most thrilling moment of the map, but beyond that I'm not really convinced by this reinterpretation of ‘The Spirit World’. I'd have liked something a bit more organised instead, because here it's just too random.

 

Grade : C (10/20)

 

 

 

[Wolfgun Shootner]

MAP18 - Elder Shrine

 

Less tech more hell, with just enough resources to deal with it all. Once you survive the shotgunners/pinkie ambush and find the plasma you should be fine. I did not find the BFG though. The lights are going out again..

[Wolfgun Shootner]

MAP19: Phospene

Another level for the aficionado of the berserk with a cyberdemon at the end which I'm happy to shotgun as this is the most consistent for me anyway. I notice there are very few mid-tier enenemies in this map, especially given the advanced map slot.

 

MAP20: To Heiron

This is basically a pacifist level. Run around until everything is dead, kill the remaining stuff. As long as you stay on the path and avoid the sludge it's not too hard even though there are two cybers, pain elementals and archviles. Not too mention the spider which fortunately can be taken out quickly with the BFG right next to it.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP28 - Thresholds Beyond (99%K/71%I/0%S):

Snaxolotl really likes to make this kind of maps where there are long stretches of irregular corridors in an open area, simulating some hellish landscape, we had seem some similar ones in MAP20 and MAP26, for example, so it is starting to be a cliché. Still, it was a really fun map, the layout at start scrambled my brain, as you have several ways to tackle the goal of grabbing the yellow key. After grabbing it, the map kinda ends, as you will have a straight-forward path towards the red skull, and then the exit. The fun of this map is more about exploring and trying to clean up everything, but for this, you will need to first get the SSG, and then quickly go for the plasma gun that is being guarded by an archvile. You will have two easy to spot BFGs for your troubles, so combat won't be a problem after you rush for guns. The stretch where you have to run for your guns may be the most difficult part if you don't know the layout, and this is where my brain was scrambled. I've felt like the layout changed every time I replayed the first part. Darkness does not help. Luckly Snaxolotl plays with it in an interesting way, as walls will be lit, but not the rest of the corridor, creating an interesting "hit the shadows on the wall" game. This was clearly done in previous maps, but I noticed it was like that this far.
It is a clever map, but it kinda finishes after the keygrab. One more big fight and you are done, and specially if you previously cleared the area with the spiderdemons, which is suggested, as this area will get really crowded in the end.

Another solid map.

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP27
MAP10
MAP24
MAP28
MAP26
MAP12
MAP19
MAP16
MAP17
MAP14

MAP03
MAP06
MAP11
MAP25
MAP15
MAP08
MAP04
MAP05
MAP23
MAP20
MAP09

MAP02
MAP21
MAP18
MAP13
MAP01
MAP22
MAP07
MAP31

MAP32 (Unrated)

 

 

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 28: Thresholds Beyond 

Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start

 

Take the things that people most remember about the Spirit World, (as in, the Masterminds and vast red caverns), then reducing it to said bare essentials and blowing them up and you've got a fun, kind of mini-slaughter map where one can be quite free with the BFG and not free at all with pretty much everything else. Arch-viles are aplomb here and don't expect to find non-secret Invulnerbilities on UV. Why there's initially a fireblu barrier behind the yellow key door is anyone's guess. At least the exit isn't so far away. Though I ended with zero percent of the secrets.

 

 

 

[Celestin]

MAP29: Epiclesis

 

The feeling of this being some leftover parts of a world is even stronger than in MAP27, sharp edges and seemingly-random textures still make the map vaguely uncomfortable experience.

 

Gameplay-wise, you'll be moving through a narrow pathway, mostly avoiding crushers, eliminating monsters that block your way and removing obstacles. This changes when you reach the tower. There's a cyberdemon on the top, just like in the original MAP29, there isn't much room to move, but I managed to circle around him while spraying plasma. This would have been the end of The Living End, however Snaxalotl isn't done yet. There's a blue key here, first of three that unlock the exit. You need to make one more lap around the map, collecting the remaining keys, while a monster spawner is repopulating the map. Mercifully, the spawn rate isn't crazy and you get a BFG to eliminate anything that stands on narrow ledges.

 

It's definitely more linear and curated, rather than a free-forming mayhem of the previous level. I enjoyed the map, from a steady trek around the perimeter to a surprising ending which pulls a rug from under the player who expected more or less recreation of Romero's map.

[RHhe82]

MAP29: Epiclesis. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 107/109, S: 1/1, I: 1/1. Comp. time 13:16

 

It's a fine map, although I was initially a bit letdown for how much it resembles Living End. But Epiclesis really is its own thing -- especially after you find out it's an Icon of Sin map as well. Call my expectations subverted, even when we've had an IoS before in Abscission in a very unconventional map slot.

 

At first I was a bit pissed off when I had to do against cacos, pain elementals and an archvile with a single barrel. If I were to do a replay (and I might, because I didn't max this one either D:), I'd know better to run through everything and grab the SSG. Once again the IoS doesn't aggravate me nearly as much as I would think -- perhaps the same applies here than in MAP13, that the successful spawn rate is reduced due to outside area crushers. One of the things Abscission has accomplished in me is renewed faith in IoS maps - although I guess I wouldn't want it to become a new trend :P

[Magnusblitz]

I'm not dead I swear

 

MAP24: Abyssal Refuge

100% kills, 3/5 secrets

 

Admittedly it's been awhile since I've played The Chasm, but this first part of this definitely had me feeling like it was another "recreate from memory, but smaller" map. Then I got to the southern half, which really takes advantage of the large scale to make an impression. For better or worse, the ammo starvation also makes a large impression - I made good use of the berserk fist here, not only in the pinkie maze where it's intended but for the entire rest of the map as well... I punched imps, I punched chaingunners, I punched hell knights, even punched that manc.

 

I admittedly completely missed that the red/key blue key was a choice (didn't even see the second area until I had already picked one); I ended up going RL first, not sure how much of a difference it would've made to grab the plasma gun first. I'm not quite sure what was up with the Icon pain noises, I suppose for some sort of atmosphere but it just kinda confused me after awhile. Still, a decent take on The Chasm.

 

MAP25: Exsanguination

100% kills, 1/1 secret

 

Free SSG at the start and plenty of small fry hitscanners to use it on, now we're talking. Health is plentiful and there's actually an armor vest early on, so you can afford to play this one a bit more guns blazing than normal, although most of the supplies are in the center of the map so you'll need to play it safer when you're exploring the outer reaches, such as the southern drop-down ambush with the hell knight and pain elementals. (BTW, all the little cubbyholes in that area lack lower textures.) There's another bit of "choose your path" at the start, though it doesn't matter nearly as much as last map. The final area looks really cool with the marble and bloodfall columns, and interesting use of the AV to create tension early on but saving him to warp-in for the final fight (and to eat a BFG blast to the face). Sounds like Snax isn't a fan of this one map, but I think it makes for a good change-of-pace map after MAP24.

 

MAP26: Igneus

100% kills, 1/1 secret

 

First things first, this map is beautiful. Yeah it's got a lot of brown, but I absolutely adore all the industrial/tech bits here (gave me some Quake II vibes) and all the detailing. Really good sense of place too, with a lot of closed-off doors and unreachable areas giving a sense the place is much larger than what we can actually see.

 

Gameplay-wise, it's pretty much a straight on-linear assault, with a tough start (taking on a lot of cacos and chaingunners) before finally arming up enough for a big arena fight with a cyberdemon and friends. Lots of opportunity to create infighting here and use cybie to knock everything else out and weaken himself. I admit I was a little surprised to see that this was basically the end of the level - guess the false red door got me. I then spent waaaaaaaaay too long looking for a yellow key. Looking in a map editor, there isn't one, and the teleport behind it just leads to the red card arena - so I suppose it's just supposed to be a teleport for co-op purposes?

[DavitW]

MAP28: Thresholds Beyond
Another challenging affair. One of those maps I had to play a dozen or so times just to make sense of it. Archviles coming out of the maps metaphorical wiener on this one. One of them was even kind even to send me to the megasphere and invulnerability secret at the perfect time. My first priority was getting to a BFG and clearing out the spider masterminds. After that I just kind of felt things out as I went along. Considering I survived to the end I'd say it worked out just fine.

 

MAP29: Epiclesis

This was a great map. I liked it a lot. Similar to the original Living End it takes place in a large, very open cavern, though your mostly restricted to moving on narrow ledges. The penalty for falling off is usually quite light at least. The Cyberdemon fight also wakes up an Icon of Sin that starts tossing spawn cubes around the place. This repopulates the area quite nicely for the run back through the level to collect all the keys. Great way to add pressure and intensity to the level. It felt a lot like one of those parts where you activate a self destruct switch and have to escape the level in five or so minutes. This wasn't that rigid, though. Everything after the first mega armor was blind in the demo, so I was basically blasting everything in sight with the BFG by the end. Whether it be a group of pain elementals or a solo shotgunner, they all got a taste of my giant green balls.

 

ab28-29.zip

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 29: Epiclesis

Crispy Doom, UV, pistol-start

 

The scale of the Living End is hard to escape, to such an extent that even if an entirely different map is being designed that it's hard not to have the same trope in broad strokes if said map is intended at all at being a reference. What I'm saying is that an open cavern map was inevitable here, as well as several nods to the original, but textured in such a way that it's more compelling to fool around in. What's not quite so inevitable is the collapsing sense of reality. It's not unlike certain areas of The Chasm, especially with the slime ceiling in one hallway and random tech room. It's pretty clear though this is sort of an in-between of actual reality and the reality of the one behind it all. Yes, this map once again has a monster spawner, though it's effectiveness seems limited until sometime around the point the BFG's collected. But the best part is the natural flow of the layout. We'll come across a blue key door and wonder if we'll have to backtrack, only to shortly run into another previous one that we'd seen earlier. I'm now wondering if John Romero was referencing himself with a particular three-fork area from a particular Sigil map. The point where we seemingly kill the core at the end was quite nice though it does beg the question of what exactly could come next? I somehow feel like that answer is probably death, perhaps of a permanent variety/

 

 

 

[Tiramisu]

+++ Simulacrum

+++ Literalism and Duality (adds up to 31 maps)

+++ Forsaken Compound and Pina Colada (adds up to 32 maps)

Edited July 29 by Tiramisu

[Roofi]

Map 29 : Epiclesis

 

 

Who said the IoS should be placed only in map 30? Absolutely nobody. But still, it's one of the elements that make Abscission cursed because it's not supposed to be here in a more traditional wad, such as the cyberdemon inside the zombie's maze in map 10. After 28 maps of pure darkness, you should acknowledge that something is really wrong in Abscission afterall.

 

Actually, the IOS reveals pretty late in the map and the sniping enemies coupled with the perilous pathways already encourage the player to escape instead of playing slowly. In consequence, "Epiclesis" turns to be really hostile towards blind playthroughs, specifically if you pistol-start. However, Snax kept the things short and finishing this map is not a big deal as long you know how to find the keys and the doors of their respective colors.

 

Needless to say that Abscission's map 29 retakes the core design of the iwad's map in order to make it darker and edgier. The paths are surrounded by opaque darkness but the shining structures, specifically the monstrosity made of flesh, really brings out the verticality of the map, and the fact that we're at the bottom of the hole.

 

I can't help but point out that the texturing seems to me to be wackier, rougher, than what I've found in other Abscission maps, notably map 27. I have the impression that Sandy Petersen's touch is more pronounced than usual. Petersen's style fits well with a disorganized universe, but I admit that Epiclesis is far from being the most visually appealing map in this wad.

 

In any case, this map is cursed as it should be, because it breaks the codes. The map is quite engaging as long as I don't decide to max it.

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

 

[Cutman 999]

MAP28 - “Thresholds Beyond” (Pistol started, saveless 3 attempts, 99% Kills, 42% Items, 0% Secrets)

 

The dark environment seems cool, reminds me of map 32 if it snax came back and added bunch of verticality and stuff, the gameplay on the other hand, is bland.

 

After you get the bfg from the spider pit referencing an infamous segment from its source material, the wimpy enemy count just disappears in like 3 seconds without much engagement, and the map just puts bunch of pain elementals and archviles everywhere, in wide open spaces, to incentivize you to just nuke them left and right. To make things worse, you have a megasphere from the start, and another soulsphere in the spider pit (that I think was intended for the final fight, but even with that you can just grab it easily, and tank absolutely everything the map throws at you) so is not like it is tense nor anything.

 

The final fight can be cheesed it shootin' 2 bfg balls at the crowd, and rocket spamming at the east side of the arena, with a large wall serving you as cover. I appreciate the presence of breathing maps, but considering this is map 28, it evokes more the feeling this was made to be endgame filler more than anything.

 

5/10

 

MAP29 - “Epiclesis” (Pistol started, saveless 5 attempts, 100% K/I/S)

 

I'll be unambiguous here, I really don't like this map. Not even the aesthetics grab me, despite the big flesh super mechanism being a cool idea, if it wasn't for the fact even doom 3 tried to do that exact same thing. The first impression I had was just this was the living end but with obnoxious stuff everywhere, like crushers in the middle of pathways, or pain elementals off screen just reaching the lost soul cap.

 

The combat is surprisingly bland and requires a lot of its annoying factor to work, because without it, most of the encounters are just slow cleanup that poses not much of a threat. The only combat encounter I liked was the techbase area with that archvile and friends, but only if you grab the ssg, if not, it becomes a chore to clean up with just a shotgun.

 

That last setpiece with the monster spawner isn't as bad as the one in map13, but since the map is a big open space that connects itself in a donut esque way, means that if you are unlucky, and things like archviles or pain elementals spawn, you are probably screwed.

 

Not the worst living end copycat out there, I remember having a way worse experience with D2TWID map29 if I have to give this map some credit, but in my eyes is just a gimmicky chore to play as a whole.

 

4/10

[cannonball]

MAP27 - “Maligned Annex”

The big fights have some real zip and again the visuals are very on point and interesting. The increasing level of abstractness is ominous in a good way. The only real complaint are some of the sniping monsters (A few too many hellknights and some very long range spiders). But otherwise this is a fine map.

 

MAP28 - “Thresholds Beyond”

Visually striking and plenty of incidental combat, the bigger fights are a lot messier but you should have enough resources to survive. Personally I preferred this iteration of this map type compared to map20. Stronger visuals and the layout is a bit more structured and not just one room. Another good map.

 

MAP29 - “Epiclesis”

Fair play, this takes the original living end and makes the map its own thing, including triggering the ICON of sin once you reach the blue key. he map is pretty striking, especially areas outside of the map. Now there are some flaws (I fell into a blood pit that wasn't damaging and the lift revealed a HOM (Near the three key door), that said this is really fitting of the Map29 slot and manages to exhibit its own grandiosity without treading on the source material. As such the map is one of the strongest in the wad.

Edited July 29 by cannonball

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP29 - Epiclesis (100%K/I/S):

Epiclesis feels more like the actual final map this time. Usually, MAP29 is a giant playground that gives the impression of "this is the end" to the player. In this case, Snaxolotl even implies that by adding an Icon of Sin before MAP30. 

Gameplay-wise I was expecting more of that "long, irregular corridors with low light levels here for one last time, as it seems like the easier thing to do a quick layout, specially in "hellish" landscapes. It is what it is, a Living End clone with a hellish facade, and an additional IOS. It feels there is a bit of wasted potential to its layout, but it's designed to be a quick end to the journey before MAP30. The gameplay switches a lot at the end as you can quite rush to the exit when the IOS awakens. An awarded BFG will help you with your troubles while running to the exit, so it becomes more of an escape than anything else. 

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP27
MAP10
MAP24
MAP28
MAP26
MAP12
MAP19
MAP16
MAP17
MAP14

MAP03
MAP06
MAP29
MAP11
MAP25
MAP15
MAP08
MAP04
MAP05
MAP23
MAP20
MAP09

MAP02
MAP21
MAP18
MAP13
MAP01
MAP22
MAP07
MAP31

MAP32 (Unrated)

 

 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP27: Maligned Annex

98% kills (think I forgot some of the arach snipers), 2/2 secrets

 

Another visually stunning map, perhaps not as thematically tight as last one (if partially because the theme itself is a bit more esoteric) but still very nicely detailed and impressive. Reading Snax's comment about burnout and then returning to finish the last few maps, I hope that means this level of visuals continues.

 

There is yet another choice of paths at the beginning, I actually went east and cost myself the SSG for half the map. Thankfully this wing is still quite doable without it, it just gets a bit slow in places (several points where you single shotgun a hell knight). The actual wing with the SSG is also loaded with the higher-end beasts like mancs, knights and revenants, so it's still plenty tough. I thought the rev/manc teleport ambush in the west was one of the hardest fights so far, probably should've had some health afterwards - the lack of meant that I basically had to keep retrying the battle not until I won, but until I won with enough health, which felt a bit mean. The final fight in the grid room wasn't too tough since the BFG is provided.

 

 

MAP28: Thresholds Beyond

100% kills, 0/1 secret

 

A big non-linear interconnected layout that had me running around frantically trying to find supplies and gain a foothold. The design means a lot of the encounters are a bit ad-hoc and can vary depending on how the monsters move, which can create some tight spots. The one that stuck out to me was the RL area, where I had pain elementals and lost souls chasing me from behind, but needed to move forward into the relative cover of the RL hut, just gotta get past the arachnatron and AV inside... and not get perforated by the chaingunners behind the false wall... and so on. Like @Celestin I made the unknowable mistake of clearing out the SMM area before triggering the final ambush.

 

On the whole, didn't really care for this one, just a few too many frustrating pet peeves all at once: dark areas that make it difficult to navigate, ammo starvation to begin (didn't help that I didn't find the plasma gun until everything was dead, not sure if something lowered or I just missed it), and too many fucking Pain Elementals in wide-open spaces. These have been hallmark design bits throughout the WAD so it's possible I've just had my fill. Visuals also didn't grab me as much as the last couple maps either.

 

MAP29: Epiclesis

86% kills, 1/1 "secret"

 

Definitely recognizable as a spin on The Living End, but it's a good map to heavily homage. This one has the added bonus(?) of not ending on the cyberdemon battle, but rather having the player make another lap to collect keys while the Icon of Sin spits out monsters. Thankfully they're still not too strong for the most part, the spawned monsters mostly just caught me by surprise occasionally if I tried things a bit differently. The crushers are quite useful early on as a secondary weapon of sorts until the plasma gun is acquired. Getting to watch the fleshy bits collapse and crush the Icon makes for a satisfying end.

[RHhe82]

MAP30: Abscission. Played on UV, pistol start. DSDA v0.27.5. K: 291/291, S: 1/1, I: 28/28. Comp. time 20:30

 

This is it, the final map. And a nice one at that - while Abscission has presented us a Icon of Sins before with considerable success, I'm glad the final map is not such. In fact, I don't think it has anything to do "source material" but is the most original regular map in Abscission (secret maps are another thing, though). Then I suppose you could think of Abscission as the source material of sorts, because many of the abscissiony features are present: the darkness, the unconventional and at times benjogamian art direction.

 

Adding to that unconventionality is what I assume is some sort of invisible, non-physical enemy that isn't included in the kill count, can't interact with you in anyway, that only makes swooosh-sounds of fireballs that will distract you, and who cry like a sinful icon when they're either hurt somehow or killed. Interesting design that works at least this one time - as a common element throughout the wad, I don't know.

 

I liked this one, even when the darkness did get on my nerves. Worthy finale for a worthy wad.

 

* * *

 

It's been a good month. While I think Abscission won't land in my desert island folder (which isn't saying much anything, there are worse wads and there are better wads in there), it's still a grade A wad. Some of the design choices don't sit with me that well, but that's just me and my taste, because aside from those it's a solid wad and quite an accomplishment as it was made (as far as I understand) in 6 months by one person.

 

And I did like it better than Stickney Installation, which was a fine wad in itself, but there I remember being frustrated by something -- at least by more faithful adherence to source material than what is present in Abscission, but I'm not sure if there was something else, too... I can't quite put my finger on just how Abscission improves upon Stickney - maybe it's just that it (mostly) takes more liberties with regards to OG Doom 2. I don't know. I'm glad to have played Abscission, and I'm waiting for what Snaxalotl will come up with next.

[SirPootis]

MAP28 - Thresholds Beyond

100% K | 0/1 S | 10:31 completion time

This one's another nice map. Emerging from the void you entered last map, you're now in the depths of the hellish abyss. Essentially a massive arena split into three main sections: the rocky cave, the red brick room with the rocket launcher, and the massive blood pool below where the most obvious Spirit World inspiration is located in the form of a gang of arachnotrons and two spider masterminds. Overall, I found this map to be not much of a challenge, especially since you're bound to stumble into the BFG pretty quickly, either in the cave area or on an elevated walkway accessible from either the platform in the cave section with the plasma gun or from the fake-wall red rock tunnels in the red brick room. Combined with a small handful of backpacks in the blood pool area and plasma ammo scattered around, all it takes is a slightly disciplined trigger finger on the BFG and you can get through this map relatively smoothly. The big moments are the red brick room, where you've got a few pain elementals flooding the room while an archvile and a gang of hitscanners pincer you from opposite sides, and the red key fight, where after a teleport fake-out you're back in the blood pool, but this time a horde of arachnotrons, revenants, and hitscanners supported with mancubi teleport in. As long as you don't go too crazy with the BFG in the earlier sections, you should have at least a few shots to cull the swarm. I feel like this is map is a nice little romp that the wad allows you to go on before the finale. Enjoy it while you can.

 

MAP29 - Epiclesis

90% K | 1/1 S | 9:41 completion time

Playing through this map, it just seemed like a beat-for-beat remake of The Living End, and for the most part, it is. It's still got some new life to it, having you carefully hike along narrow paths and dip and duck through corrupted locales of humanity as you knew it. The map progresses along nicely yet familiarly, first having you dodge some mancubus bullet-hell before running into what seems like a piece of a techbase ripped from its earthly origins and slotted haphazardly into hell's foundation, like a toddler trying to jam the square block into the circle hole. After contending with some imps, shotgunners, and an archvile, you drop down into the tightrope area, with a more ferocious bite than it's spiritual predecessor. Then comes the 'three-prong' room, with three branches of shotgunners and a different monster waiting for you. So far, this looks like a pretty yet formulaic re-imagining, but then. As you climb up the staircase to the central platform, you hear the icon of sin stir to life. Something's off. You get to the top, duel the cyberdemon and finally kill those mancubus bastards harassing you all map, and then you see the blue key, and a stairway back down. Lap 2. It's such a simple, yet really fun way to add a twist to a Living End-style map. Having to run through the map again, this time refreshed with monsters from the Icon and the entire arsenal in your pocket, it's hard to tell if it's supposed to be a final challenge or a victory lap. Either way, capping off the map with the scene of the giant flesh pillar being crushed down makes for both a satisfying way to end the level and a preview at what's to come for the finale.

 

MAP30 - A͏̛bs̸̷̛͜͠c̡͢i̴̸͏̕s̸̢͘͡s̀͟͟͢ioǹ̸̢͜

92% K | 1/1 S | 8:56 completion time

Wow. What a great finale. You are in the belly of the beast, metaphorically and almost literally. You first fight your way out of the last shreds of civilization you'll ever see, a remnant of a tech base and slime facility. After getting the red key, you open the door, and find yourself in the gaping maw of the hellish abyss that's been eating civilization alive. The source of suffering you and humanity have endured now lies just before you. What follows is a gauntlet of a fight. Throes of every demon in the enemy roster, including at least three(?) cyberdemons, two spider masterminds, and three archviles are in this massive cave. I love this final room. Pathways are both wide enough to let you roam around and sparse enough that you will occasionally be forced to make a push through a mob of demons to progress, all while you hear the void cry out in anguish periodically. Let me also say the music is perfect for this map. It's loud and dramatic, something you haven't heard much in this wad at all, while also having these tinges of hopefulness, like it's encouraging you, "you can do this." It's so good. (Also, side note, I gotta see if there's some map hackery that I'm missing because in certain sections I can hear phantom fireballs being thrown. I can't see them or hear an impact. Maybe it's a side effect of playing in GZDoom. hm.) (Side note to the side note: I have now realized this level has invisible decoy monsters that replace Commander Keen that do nothing but make fireball sounds and block rockets [which it did at least once to me in this map]. That's evil. I love it). To get through to the end, you'll have to find the yellow and blue keys, which are placed on opposite ends of the cave. Ammo is only slightly abundant. Rocket launcher enjoyers will see their weapon of choice get a lot of mileage in this map thanks to the amount of rocket boxes scattered around, although ammo for everything else is not tight also. I just happened to find myself running out of BFG ammo often, but that's probably more of a personal problem with wanting to lean on the BFG too much for a fight of this magnitude. Once you nab the final two keys, you can then climb up and into the black heart of the beast. Seeing the incomprehensible red void in the methaphorical aorta of the beast ties everything together for me: it's the sign of hell's corruption. It's the very first thing you see in Outer Plane when you first enter the Sarcophagus. It's what permeates the last two-thirds of the wad, both as the sky and in actual textures placed against some ledges. I may be reading too much into this, but it's what I'm interpreting it as. After seeing yourself inches away from the void, you reach out and pull the plug, ending everything, including yourself. Rest easy. You won.

 

--

Final notes:

Like I said when I first started posting in this thread, I am a sucker for ambience, including dark ambience. Ambient music is one of my favored genres of music to listen to, and I find it really easy to immerse myself and imagine a world around each song. Seeing this wad and finding out that it emphasizes moodiness and dark ambience drew me immediately. The wad is a masterclass in atmosphere while staying within the confinements of Vanilla-compatible Doom. Sure, it's easy to make a levelset in UDMF and have all the tools of colored lighting, fog, dynamic lighting, sound effects, etc. but to make something I can immerse myself into that well and also being able to be run in doom2.exe is amazing. The music is a huge factor in this as well. The songs are perfect for the wad, a selection of dark ambience that really defines the feel of each level. Like I said in some of my notes, some maps actually get a 'cold' or 'hot' feeling mainly from the music. I love this wad so much, and it's one of my favorites of the past few years.

 

My favorite maps of the wad (no particular order):

MAP03 - Hydroelectric Grid

MAP10 - Industrial Crypt

MAP16 - Cold Ascent

MAP26 - Igneus

MAP27 - Maligned Annex

 

This was fun! Despite life throwing curveball after curveball after curveball at me this month, I'm happy I was able to take the time to revisit a wad I thoroughly enjoyed and write out my feelings about it.

Edited July 30 by SirPootis

[DavitW]

MAP30: Abscission

My advice is resist the temptation to grab the megasphere right at the start until you activate the red key switch. There's plenty of health and armor to survive in the meantime. The main part of this map is a sort of arena similar to maps 20 and 28. We have three Cyberdemons, two or three Spider Masterminds, around five Archviles to deal with. Not to mention the other two hundred or so monsters to get in your way. There's plenty of ammo and powerups around to deal with them all, but very few areas to hide. There's a ledge next to the exit that might seem adequate for a while, but the Cacodemons and pain elementals will likely end up surrounding you before long. There was also some sort of invisible monster that made John Romero sounds when hit and seemed to make fireball and shotgun sounds as well. Can't say if I ever actually got hit by one, though. Not sure how they pulled that black magic off but I'm sure it's something I couldn't understand. A great ending to the wad if you ask me, which you inadvertently did by coming in here.

 

Abscission is a wad that clearly has its own style and a fairly unique atmosphere. Not quite groundbreaking, but it brought something new to the Doom table and that can't be easy to do after thirty years. I have to say, the difficulty here was probably 'Just right' for me. The peaks in difficulty were usually followed up by a few breather maps to settle everything down. This shows a great understanding of megawad design that truthfully, I feel like most authors miss. The biggest knock against this set is the occasional map that's a bit too close to the source material for my liking. Nothing wrong with reimaging maps, but I feel like Abscission should have aspired for something greater than that. Biggest offenders of that were Maps 02, 05, and 14. Most of the maps did their own thing, though. 15, 20, 27, and 30 were completely different beasts compared to the original.

 

Highlights: MAP06, MAP10, MAP16. MAP24 was probably the one I changed my opinion the most on by the end. Even compared to my initial review. The visuals were fantastic in this one. MAP27-30 was also a great run. MAP27 might be as detailed as a vanilla map gets. I have a hard time picking favorites, but that one's definitely a strong contender.

 

Lowlights: MAP05 for feeling like a drunk Waste Tunnels. MAP12 & 14 weren't exactly riveting, but they had a purpose and served it well enough. Still, something's got to go here. MAP25 felt very filler to me. But even at its worse, Abscission is simply underwhelming.

 

 

ab30.zip

[Insaneprophet]

Absission

 

I havnt been able to find the time or energy to make notes for each level since about map 15 or so but have continued to play along with the club and made sure to read everyone elses reviews. Despite not really wanting to replay this set so recently after my first run during its RC phase, I am actually glad it was picked as I have a stronger emotion attached now than I did before. 

 

This was always a strong outing but initially the shorter, more gimmicky maps stood out more in my memory. After replaying I find that there are fewer of those than I thought and even though there are only a handful of longer adventures the levels that fill in the rest of the set are what the soul of Absission is all about.

 

Well crafted homages designed to spark nostalgia but take you to a darker, eerier place where your recollections make you uncomfortable. Almost like you are reliving someone elses life and watching the nightmares inside their head.

 

In the end there were no more than say 5 levels I didnt care for and even those were far from the worst Ive ever played. There were at least 5 levels that I absolutely loved, perhaps as many as 8 or 9. That leaves a solid half of the mapset that I rank up there in quality with anything else released and could be deserving of its own cacoaward, if it didnt already win one.

 

If I get a vote for next month, I cant make guarantees that I will write any reviews, I throw my hat in the ring for +++ good morning phobos

Edited July 30 by Insaneprophet

[Celestin]

MAP30: Abscission

 

Since Abscission (the wad) already had two Icon of Sin maps, I'm really glad there isn't the third one. What we got instead is a huge fight, easily the largest of the whole megawad, with a rather unique twist that is sure to take players by surprise.

 

After brisk run through linear corridors that allows the player to arm themselves, find the red key and blow some weak monsters (though in large numbers), Abscission (the map) opens a large cavern that reminds me of MAP28, except not as dark. As mentioned earlier, this is the biggest fight of the whole wad, with pairs of cyberdemons and masterminds, four archviles and a ton of other monsters. But there's something odd about the map: random sounds of gunfire, Icon of Sin's screams and rockets exploding when they shouldn't. This is the decoy, a new DEHACKED monster created for this one map. While it can't attack directly, it does a great job confusing the player and catching rockets, which can make the map surprisingly tricky. I managed to hide somewhere and wait for the cybers to clear the map for me, occassionally eliminating cacodemons and pain elementals that got too close. With a map mostly cleared, I found the two needed keys, killed the remaining monsters and climbed the mound of flesh in the middle of the cavern, where the exit was located. 

 

Abscission is no doubt a climactic ending. It avoids the frustration that often comes from IoS fights, providing instead a big fight with a mechanic I haven't seen before. It's a great way to end a megawad.

 

Conclusions

 

I'm glad to finally have a reason to play Abscission. It's an interesting project that takes the original Doom 2 campaign and recreates it in a much darker, moodier and more difficult way. What starts with very obvious remakes of early levels, slowly descents into a bizzaire abstraction where the original inspirations are barely recognisible, but still somewhere there. It's a strange journey, one where the world around you falls apart, by the end turning into a mess of human and demonic elements. This is definitely the strongest aspect of Abscission. 

 

I'm not a mapper, so I don't think I can fully appreciate the vanilla-compatibility of the wad - I think you need to be aware of what can and can't be achieved with the original engine to look at the maps and say "damn, that's impressive, how did you manage to do this". Compared to other vanilla wads, I can however tell that maps in Abscission does feel much grander then they really are. I've mentioned darkness and hurtfloors earlier, so now I want to add two more things. Expansive vistas are the bigger one, but I've also noticed how some maps place items in unreachable places or use doors as decoration. Small details, but they help creating a scale and mask a rather compact nature of many maps.

 

The combat is for the most part an improvement over the original. Snaxalotl prefers small-scale fights in limited space to exert pressure, several map rely on using the cyberdemons to chase players around the map. It's definitely more tense and hectic type of combat than Doom 2's standard, somewhat tougher, but not unreasonably so. Still, while it feels to me like the fights play a secondary role to the atmosphere, they don't detract from it, which is more than I can say about a couple other wads I've played.

 

Overall, Ascission is a wad I can wholeheartedly recommend, especially if you are looking for a brooding take on the original games. It's an unique reinterpretation of Doom 2 that will satisfy anyone who looks for atmospheric maps.

 

Abscission has a very even quality, so I'm making only TOP 3 this time.

MAP10: Industrial Crypt
MAP16: Cold Ascent
MAP27: Maligned Annex

 

Additionally, MAP32: Bed of Creation gets a bonus award for the most creative use of glitches I've seen in a while.

[DJVCardMaster]

MAP30 - Abscission:

Kinda like a continuation to yesterday's map, which already gave me "endgame" vibes. The Icon of Sin got destroyed, and now we are putting an end to everything, trying to escape hell itself.

The homonymous map of the mapst is another one of those "cave exploration" levels of Abscission, this is not an Icon of Sin as you would expect. Interestingly, Snaxolotl decided to place it at MAP29 instead. This one feels like when you beat the final boss in a Metroid game, and then you have an escape sequence. Fun level full of everything we've seen throughout the entire mapset. Darkness, irregular shaped places, techbase-like environments stitched to hellish landscapes giving you the idea of corruption, and overall an eeire feeling thanks to the music choice. The mapset ends in a somewhat high note, making you feel this is actually the last level, and not another one of those failed IOS fight. I insist on the IOS at MAP29, clearly it was refreshing for the mapset to end this way with the last two maps. We enter the corrupted heart of the level, and everything finishes. Leaving you a better aftertaste than most other wads. 

Order of preference:
 

Spoiler

 

MAP27 (Good)
MAP10
MAP24
MAP28
MAP26
MAP12
MAP19
MAP16
MAP17
MAP30
MAP14

MAP03
MAP06
MAP29
MAP11
MAP25
MAP15
MAP08 (OK)
MAP04 
MAP05
MAP23
MAP20
MAP09

MAP02 
MAP21 (Average)
MAP18
MAP13
MAP01
MAP22 (Meh)
MAP07 (Bad)
MAP31

MAP32 (Unrated)

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 30 "Abcission"

 

 

And now we are at the conclusion of "Abscission" and the whole design screams "Fuck it I don't care anymore about this wad !" as the world explore now ressembles not much than an indistinguishable pile of flesh, dirt , wire and other materials used to build the grimy world of Abscission. The huge monstrosity released its last demonic forces, in the vain hope of stopping you before the ultimate goal but the ending our doom guy experiences doesn't seem so happy either. You went to such great lengths to destroy this thing, but how it seems you're now stuck here...

 

I'm totally fine with this ending, even if it's definitely not the most inspired level I've ever played because the combat turns into a kind of salad, as could map 20 or 28, but here I had more fun because of the greater number of resources and monsters. The layout of the arena is totally random, but that's justified more by the fact that we've just destroyed a large entity and all that's left is ruins.

 

I don't know if I'd call this map a filler, as I did with 22 or 28, but I'm not at all bothered by it for a map 30, given that the famous “megawad fatigue” syndrome is generally well underway, whether for the player or the mapper.

 

Sidenote : the "Decoy monster" is probably one of the most clever "custom enemy" I've seen in Doom. Those really manage to confuse me in this specific level !

 

Grade : B (13/20)

 

I'll write my overall review tomorrow.

 

+++ Garrulismo

+++ Stickney Installation

+++ Perdition Gate

 

 

Edited July 30 by Roofi