Scariest DOOM map?

[Viewtiful-Chris]

For me, the most scared I've ever been playing DOOM is the King's Woods map from It Only Gets Worse. That shit terrifies me every time.

How about you?

[eargosedown]

E1M5

Still scares me shitless

[Jodwin]

Sky May Be

[Megalyth]

In Ultimate Doom, probably E2M6, Halls of the Damned. The music had me unnerved to begin with, and when the brightly lit corridors gave way to the nearly pitch black wooden maze with specters around every corner, I truly felt The Fear™. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. This was, of course, my first playthrough at 12 years old.

I was pretty used to Doom's atmosphere by the time I got Doom2, so I got through mostly without a hitch. My first encounter with a revenant made me jump, due to the blood-curdling scream, but that was about it.

Doom64, on the other hand, had me genuinely scared throughout pretty much the entire game. The worst was Map13, Dark Citadel. The creepy music, pale moonlight, and baron howls echoing down the halls were truly fear-inducing at the time.

Doom3 was just... gahh... Few games have scared me as badly. I guess the worst would be the first Delta Labs level, but really, the whole game was like a literal fear-gasm.

I know that many people scoff at Doom3's scare-factor, so I guess it's just me. My involuntary ability to suspend disbelief really allows me to "get into" a game. Sure, it makes for a more immersive experience, but it has its drawbacks. :)

[Phml]

E1M4. As a kid, I played only on the easiest difficulty, and that level was the first time I encountered a demon. I called it "the minotaur" and was scared shitless of going into its labyrinth, to the point where many times I just stopped playing right in front of the blue door. The few occasions I actually went in, I rushed as fast as possible to get through the maze. It took me months before I even dared shoot at the demon, much less kill it...

Probably my fondest gaming memory, heh.

[Intel17]

Megalyth said:

I know that many people scoff at Doom3's scare-factor, so I guess it's just me. My involuntary ability to suspend disbelief really allows me to "get into" a game.

QFT.

[scalliano]

MAP23 of PSX Doom (or E2M8 to everyone else). The first time I played this I got a rocket in the ear from good old Goat-Legs. The thing was, it was from the other side of the courtyard and when I hit the floor, all I could see was some pixellated shape too large for how far away it was. I'd never seen anything like it before - in this game or the 32x version - but I was afraid. VERY afraid.

For those who haven't played PSX Doom, think of the atmosphere and style of Doom 64 but with the original id graphics.

[th3malleus]

E3M9 on Iphone Classic Doom from a pistol start.
I jumped up and yelped, and I was in the theater during Avatar.

[Darkman 4]

th3malleus said:

E3M9 on Iphone Classic Doom from a pistol start.
I jumped up and yelped, and I was in the theater during Avatar.

Why a pistol start? Were you not expecting the Cyberdemon or something?

[th3malleus]

Yes, I actually just jumped straight to E3M9 and then I only started with a pistol.

I forgot about IDKFA and IDDQD.

[Darkman 4]

th3malleus said:

Yes, I actually just jumped straight to E3M9 and then I only started with a pistol.

I forgot about IDKFA and IDDQD.

Ah. That makes sense.

[Airman266]

Megalyth said:

In Ultimate Doom, probably E2M6, Halls of the Damned. The music had me unnerved to begin with, and when the brightly lit corridors gave way to the nearly pitch black wooden maze with specters around every corner, I truly felt The Fear™. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. This was, of course, my first playthrough at 12 years old.

I was pretty used to Doom's atmosphere by the time I got Doom2, so I got through mostly without a hitch. My first encounter with a revenant made me jump, due to the blood-curdling scream, but that was about it.

Doom64, on the other hand, had me genuinely scared throughout pretty much the entire game. The worst was Map13, Dark Citadel. The creepy music, pale moonlight, and baron howls echoing down the halls were truly fear-inducing at the time.

Doom3 was just... gahh... Few games have scared me as badly. I guess the worst would be the first Delta Labs level, but really, the whole game was like a literal fear-gasm.

I know that many people scoff at Doom3's scare-factor, so I guess it's just me. My involuntary ability to suspend disbelief really allows me to "get into" a game. Sure, it makes for a more immersive experience, but it has its drawbacks. :)

Good to see somebody besides me who played Doom 3 and got into it instead of spending the whole game nitpicking everything that wasn't exactly what they expected.

And Doom64, Dark Citadel, right on.

[Lutz]

E1M7. Here's why:

- I play very safely -- tiptoe around, clear a room, create a safe zone, and tiptoe on from there. The problem with that is that on E1M7 there are so many open inter-connections that it's tough to find a definitive space you can consider cleared.

- Also, the first few times I played it, the guys on the elevated tech pillar scared the crap out of me because I could HEAR their breathing but couldn't figure out where they were. Combine that with the difficulty of finding a spot in which you don't have to watch your back, and you get pretty tense ("I can hear them, and they could be coming from anywhere!").

Seriously, I think it took me upwards on 45 minutes to complete that level the first time I played, simply because I would only take a step every 10 seconds and see if someone shot me.

[pavera]

E2M6 will always be embedded in my memory as the creepiest level I've ever played. It can still kinda give me the creeps at night.

[_bruce_]

Krispavera said:

E2M6 will always be embedded in my memory as the creepiest level I've ever played. It can still kinda give me the creeps at night.

I agree - the music, the weird design and especially the quest for the red skull key in the dark tech-mazes was pretty creepy...

[CeeJay]

Back in the day, when i just began playing Doom (i was pretty young at the time) i played episode 2 for some reason (as opossed to beginning with episode 1) and i just never had the nerves to get passed E2M2, it scared the living shit out of me. Am i the only one?

As i grew older and got more into Doom, i still found E2M2 scary as hell but also many other of the levels from episode 2 but just never found episode 1 as scary, episode 3 landed somewhere inbetween for me (the Unholy Cathedral level however was another one that scared me senseless). Among my favourite levels and most remembered from Doom is the fith level (E2M5) "Phobos Lab" from episode 2, 6th level and 7th level "Mt. Erebus" and "Gate to Limbo, respectively, from episode 3.

[Viewtiful-Chris]

Jodwin said:

Sky May Be

Oh god, yes.

I remember the first time I played that I was in sheer terror. It was unpredictable, the monsters were insanely overpowered, and it was all in all complete mindfuck.

The music didn't help either, nor did it cussing at me for using IDCLIP.

[DuckReconMajor]

Krispavera said:

E2M6

[Ninjalah]

Krispavera said:

E2M6 will always be embedded in my memory as the creepiest level I've ever played. It can still kinda give me the creeps at night.

I just replayed that to refresh my memory, and yes, there were points where I was scared enough to jump (In the maze, a Cacodemon just appeared out of nowhere, but it was pitch black and all I could see was a huge grin in my face), but it wasn't too bad. I still went through cautiously though.

[printz]

Try playing any map with demons on -fast.

[Icytux]

Happy Time Circus 2

Ghouls Forest 3
(i think in ghouls forest 3 you can find that thing that scared you in It Only Gets Worse

[TomoAlien]

Deimos Lab. WHERE THE HELL DO I GO OH- ARRRGHHH AAAAAAAHHHHH WHAT? ARGH!

[Kyka]

Back in the day, the original Aliens TC.

I haven't played it in a long time, so I don't know if it would still be scary, but for me, it remains the scariest dooming experience ever. With the possible exception of the first time I ever saw a cyberdemon.

The original doom would also qualify as genuinely scary. Even now sometimes.

[punnyone]

E1M5 scared me back then both due to the music, the darkness, and the traps. Nowadays, it's a walk in the park.

In doom 64, "breakdown" was creepy as hell, mainly the music though. But I remember being very disoriented when the locations changed, and saying to myself "Didn't there used to be an entrance here where these stairs are now?

For Doom 3, Alpha Labs 4 is one of the creepiest levels I've played (but only by using the emergency brige method where the lighting's out). There are many sneak attacks by the trites (which never cease to creep me out), there's the eerie "they took my baby" moment, and there's the final battle at the end which was pretty scary seeing how I didn't have a lot of ammo left over

and as for scariest custom wad, "City of the damned Apocalypse" easily gets that award for me. I don't think I've jumped so many times playing a wad, and the moment with the giant spiders after picking up the spider key is currently the only time in a doom game I've ever shouted out loud due to being startled

[Ninjalah]

pizzabob18 said:

and as for scariest custom wad, "City of the damned Apocalypse" easily gets that award for me. I don't think I've jumped so many times playing a wad, and the moment with the giant spiders after picking up the spider key is currently the only time in a doom game I've ever shouted out loud due to being startled

Awh man, I saw the sequel to this I believe in the Newstuff Chronicles, downloaded it, and tried to play it but it was too choppy to play on my comp. It looked like it held a lot of scary moments that were more than Doom-Esque. Seems promising.