Creepiest maps?

[Jeffo2448]

What do you think are the creepiest maps and/or sections of maps in DOOM? My choices have a lot to do with nostalgia since I started playing when I was 6 years old, but here they are:

E1M2 - the strobe light maze area. It's dark, eerie, and it occurs early in the game

E1M5 - the music alone is creepy. And the opening with the big acid pool is haunting IMO

E1M8- again, the music is depressing and eerie. The map itself is dark and feels "empty"

E2M4 - Deimos Lab - for some reason, this map just stuck out. Maybe it's the music or level design, but it's creepy

E3M4 - House of Pain - I remember thinking it was a torture chamber and all the dead bodies, etc. hanging from the walls scared me when I was young. Plus the bloody walls didn't help

Doom 2 didn't really have many creepy maps IMO.

[gaspe]

For Doom E2M4. It's full of spooky stuff and has a really cool eerie music. It's one of my favourite levels.
For Doom 2 I would say MAP27. The darkness helps on setting the mood, and the music is well fitting.

[Chezza]

E3M4 is definitely one of my most memorable maps of Doom. That and of course the very first level. I can't argue with your choices. If E2M2 was much darker I would of included that one.

[june gloom]

E2M4, easily.

[RjY]

E2M6, the dark maze leading to the red key, especially.

[Li'l devil]

I'd go with E1M2. That maze is really the scariest part of the game. But then there is Doom 64, where every single map is creepy as hell, thanks to the music...

[MegaSphere]

None of them are creepy we just played Doom as kids and everything scared us including Courage the Cowardly Dog so now we have a bunch of snowflakes whining that Doom 4 lacks horror when what it lacks is action. Of course the same people bashed D3 for focusing on horror too much.

[scifista42]

E3M4 and MAP27

[HavoX]

I never payed attention to the creepy parts, because I was too distracted killing those bastards.

But if we're counting PWADS as well, MAP28 of Brütal Doom's Hell on Earth Starter Pack was probably one of the most disturbing maps I've played... good thing I was brave and strong-stomached... I'm not afraid of anything!

[Pedro VC]

E2M2 - The music is disturbing as hell
E4M2 - That hallways with nukage and all the satyr faces watching you are damn unsettling

[Marnetmar]

Jeffo2448 said:

E3M4 - House of Pain - I remember thinking it was a torture chamber and all the dead bodies, etc. hanging from the walls scared me when I was young. Plus the bloody walls didn't help

Fun fact: E3M4's layout was designed after the layout of human guts.

[gaspe]

Marnetmar said:

Fun fact: E3M4's layout was designed after the layout of human guts.

After watching the layout I can see it. But do you have a source for that?

[RUSH]

Definitely E2M6 - Halls Of The Damned. Suspenseful music, claustrophobic encounters, tight hallways and strong monsters. That huge dark area with the pinkies and baron of hell is nerve racking. That part made me jump right out of my chair once. Turned around and there was a baron right behind me. No idea how I didn't it hear it. Not scary per se, but tense. E2M4 comes a close second. That one has a calm creepiness to it. Not sure what it is. Just, odd.

[Jeffo2448]

To this day I still get tense if I'm playing a map and a cyber demon comes around the corner blasting away. And I'm nearly 30. Lol

[Marnetmar]

gaspe said:

After watching the layout I can see it. But do you have a source for that?

It can be found in this book. I'd recommend everyone give it a read -- it can be likened to a more in-depth Masters of Doom.

[Pencil of Doom]

E1M2 and the music helps adding more creepiness in the map.
And if that's not enough, try playing it with the Dark Side of Phobos E1M2 music remix.

[gaspe]

Marnetmar said:

It can be found in this book. I'd recommend everyone give it a read -- it can be likened to a more in-depth Masters of Doom.

Thanks! It seems quite interesting that book.

[deadwolves]

E3M1 is just messed up. You start off in a ruined put of rotting trees with a red sky above. To get to the shotgun you have to run through an invisible wall with bloody altars. Just before the exit, more altars. And to leave the map you step into a floor of satanic images. Sets the scene for the rest of the episode.

[Jeffo2448]

deadwolves said:

E3M1 is just messed up. You start off in a ruined put of rotting trees with a red sky above. To get to the shotgun you have to run through an invisible wall with bloody altars. Just before the exit, more altars. And to leave the map you step into a floor of satanic images. Sets the scene for the rest of the episode.

True true, but for some reason I always hated that map. Never liked the design or colors.

[Tuaam]

E2M6 - The very large dark area.

Also the final boss of Doom.

[VGA]

Any time when there are no monsters I start shitting my pants.

Mappers beware. If a kinda long time without enemies passes and then there's a hard trap in the least expected moment (not when picking up a key for example) ... that's really something!

[Lila Feuer]

E2M4 easily, it's very quiet and the music is similarly quiet as well as unsettling.

For a custom WAD however I thought all but one out-of-place slaughtermap in 32 Inch Nails were really creepy. The music that played certainly didn't make it any more pleasant to explore either. And Unloved of course.

[Frisky]

Not exactly sure, I've only played a little bit of Doom I and only reached MAP05 of Doom II. Though, MAP05 was pretty spooky.

[HorrorMovieRei]

Definitely E2M7. The moody start of the map, with the light coming from the hallway; the super dark outside area and the weird floating corpse decoration, which reminds me of Evil Dead for some reason.

[snapshot]

What did you hope to accomplish by coming here ?

[MFG38]

Hmmm...

The only remotely creepy one to me is the dark maze thing in E1M5 just before the exit.

[antares031]

It's not a map, actually. But the ending scene of Doom 1 totally ****ed my childhood, and I had a nightmare for several days after I watched that scene. And because of that, I still don't want to watch the top-left corner of doomworld.com, although that one is slightly different from the original one.

If I need to pick a map, my vote goes to E2M6.

[Li'l devil]

antares031 said:

It's not a map, actually. But the ending scene of Doom 1 totally ****ed my childhood, and I had a nightmare for several days after I watched that scene. And because of that, I still don't want to watch the top-left corner of doomworld.com, although that one is slightly different from the original one.

Oh yeah, that scene. I think the entire point of it was to produce a jumpscare. After I saw it when I was little, I was scared to play Doom 1 for years.

[Tuaam]

ChekaAgent said:

Oh yeah, that scene. I think the entire point of it was to produce a jumpscare. After I saw it when I was little, I was scared to play Doom 1 for years.

SPOILER: It's his pet bunny.

[Guest Unregistered account]

Many, many levels. Many of them hold a place in my heart, and many have been posted.

But one that I think deserves a mention is Hunted from Plutonia. The whole thing seems like some kind of nightmare. The dead bunny music, a random bunch of ArchViles which chase you round the maze and then the ending... which takes place in a green, grassy area with two Teleporters...

Definitely one of the more bizarre levels in the whole of classic Doom.