The DWmegawad Club plays: Moonblood (it's our 5 year anniversary, golly!)

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP26 Coliseum

 

Well I was expecting a whole lot more out of this, but whatever. This is a weirdly constructed arena map, where the danger is not actually going to be cyberdemons or spiderdemons or other bigwigs (at least on this setting), but instead monster from cages, vertical spans, and just snipers in general. And revenants, lots of those are actually sprawling around. And arch-viles actually. This is the first level that really would get me as far as arch-viles are concerned, especially the blue key area. Oh yes, and this map just so happens to be a three-key hub map, with the exit in the center. While two keys are at the far sides, we have one that ends up involving a block puzzle. Neat stuff, but I sort of wish there was more out of it. The ending of this map hints at some theme change, hmm...

[paymentplan]

+++ Perdition's Gate to get some interest going in the fan-made sequel.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP26 | E5-6: Coliseum

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

 

Well, it certainly looks like a coliseum, down to the imp spectators scattered around the stands, but has enough walls and different divisions that it doesn't play like your average Doom 'coliseum' - more like the Deadwing maps we've seen so far squished into one. Which isn't bad actually, it grew on me as it went on, especially after getting up high on the ledges after the red key. It does feel like it's falling a bit back into AV/rev overuse, though, and I was a bit disappointed when there wasn't a SMM or cyber that teleported into that largely conspicuous hole in the red key stands.

 

 

[NuclearPotato]

MAP11 - Logistics
88/99 kills, 1/4 secrets

Never mind what I said about the previous map, this is my new favorite. :P  The E2 closer has an insidious little trick up its sleeve compared to the previous maps: much of its difficulty comes from roaming hitscanners.  The WAD has trained you to check blind corners so much that you kinda forget that enemies can wander around if heard, and this can fuck you if you aren't prepared for them here.  I LOVE this.  Once again, while the level is open ended, there's a path of least resistance that anyone pistol starting this will want to take (in this case, the path to the right, though said path also has an alcove with the map that actually killed me twice, so I kinda forgot to go that way in my final run :P).  To get on that path though, you'll have to brave the opening firefight, which sets up the threat of wandering enemies nicely, what with the PE and hitscanners lurking behind the giant pillar that makes up the center of the map.  The bulk of the map uses the new threat of roving hitscanners to distract from the blind corner ambushes that have worked so well up until this point, giving a new dimension to Moonblood's gameplay.  Along with these comes plenty of nasty ambushes; the yellow key ambush throws plenty of midtier monsters at you in confined quarters, and even taking your eyes off of one type of enemy will allow them to punish you badly.  The meanest ambush in the map goes to the final teleporter ambush; placing a Manc, two HK's and a Arachnotron in such a tiny room surrounding you is MEAN, and makes the optional Soulsphere tucked away in a corner of the map practically essential to survive.

[Deadwing]

MAP 24 - The title sums up my initial concept idea, although it looked a lot more cool in my head haha When building on doom builder, the sky didn't look so good in the floor, especially because the picture would look cut off easily. That's why it's somewhat hard to see it in the outdoor areas. Still, I like this level, especially how you start in the middle of it and have to explore the area around it. The progression is quite simple, although very non-linear, and I found some players getting lost on it (for example, wandering around for 5 minutes to find the yellow door), which negatively surprised me. Some battles can be quite challenging, but with more careful approach shouldn't offer much challenge, except the Cyberdemon one. Here I had to use the boom trick so the player wouldn't hear the Cyberdemon noise and think "hey, there's a cyberdemon in this level!". It's also a 100% chance that he'll spawn in too haha The Spider Mastermind is also another cool cinematic setpiece and the player get access to the second (and last - ?) invincibility orb of the wad.

 

Here's my awful playthrough of it lol

 

 

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP26, E5-6: Coliseum

 

I'm a little torn on this one, because on the one hand, it doesn't feel like it really delivers on the potential that a coliseum setup suggests and is capable of, and on the other hand, so many coliseum maps or areas can be disappointing that it's actually rather nice to see this doing something different with the concept.  So essentially you've got a central arena laid out like an obstacle course, and around that various modest puzzles or setpiece encounters which can yield more weapons and supplies and eventually the three keys necessary to progress.  I don't know that this one will stay etched into my mind, except for the teleporter, the section that follows, and the exit room, which are dramatic and striking and do raise some questions as to just how the slowly arcing story of the WAD all fits together.

[Deadwing]

MAP25 - The idea for this level was an infernal town ruled by a Cyberdemon, which would wander through its open fields, but this time from the three small plazas of the town. I like the gimmicky because it create some sort of omnipresence of the boss, where the player has to be aware of the cyberdemon, even when he's not there, or else he'll probably get rocketed. After the player has scavenged for enough resources, he'll be able to deal with the cow. Still, the hardest part is probably the last setpiece where the player will have to deal with several skelletons. I guess this is the closest we'll get from a slaughter scenary from this wad lol

 

Other than that, I guess there's not much to say. The level can take a while to finish, but actually all you need is just a key to access a door which will take you to the revenants setpiece, so most of it is actually optional.

 

 

[Capellan]

MAP26

Couldn't work out how to get the yellow key, so that's me for the month: I don't cheat my way past stuff.  It appears that the intent is that the helmets on the mini-island will make you go there, which will allow you to see that the cross platform acts as an elevator when you walk on the island.  I can confirm from experience though, that if you go this way first, as I did, you'll probably be far too busy to notice the down/up action.  And if you miss it, then all the mini-island becomes is a differently-lit sector with a light-source on it, which turns the map into a haystack and the way forward into a needle.

 

[Steve D]

Gotta give Scotty some back-up.

 

+++ No Sleep for the Dead, UAC Ultra, Scythe X

[riderr3]

MAP27
So we back to tech-base with funny music.
Right after start there is many snipers all over the place and mancubi appeared in the cages.
It is possible to attack monsters in rear from fleshy cave.
Megasphere is helps a lot especially when I wandering with 7% HP. There are lack of medikits on this map.
There are many roaming monsters especially arch-viles, which revives dead baddies.
I'm wasted invul.sphere, think I can use it when "armored" cage opens with couple arch-viles.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP27, E6-1: Magma Refinery

 

So we're back to the techbase theme, though I am left wondering just what the implications are of the MAP26-27 exit-entry transition matching that of MAP19-20; at the end of MAP19 whas the player whisked aside into some kind of alternate reality or dream sequence, to be returned only here and now to physical reality or the waking world?  It's a bit unsettling.  If there's a signature gimmick or trick to this map, it seems to be telegraphed and orchestrated clusters of arch-viles pouring into the map after each key is collected to get busy undoing the player's handiwork, though my experience was that those sequences weren't the most dangerous parts of the map, which instead I felt was the revenant orgy in the north-east annexe.  It's mostly good luck that I'd left the megasphere until after that sequence.  I'll admit I'm not sure precisely which encounter the invulnerability is intended to help soften, since it's tucked carefully enough away that you'll likely spend a good part of its duration running from where it's found to wherever you think you most need it.  Overall I'd call this a solid enough map, but not especially distinctive next to the body of Moonblood's other levels, outside of the arch-vile onslaughts which honestly weren't threatening the second time the same scenario popped up.

[DAZZER]

MAP24: Hanging Fortress

Time: 14:16

 

This is a very weird Map if you don't get like me at first what it is supposed to be... It came to me when I saw the ceiling was Lava and the Floor was sky. This is a hanging Base. It starts action packed with mancubi and revenants around you. Not that difficult to kill them though. There's really not much to this Map. It features large open areas and some cool Fights like against a SpiderMastermind and many Archviles or other Demons on "The Chasm" like small path's. Finding the three Keys wasn't a problem but it took me like 5 minutes to find the goddamn red door which leads to the exit Blue Door. I kinda got the feeling there really was to much health in this Map. In nearly every corner I found an Stimpack. And for that the Fight's weren't that hard.

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP27 Magma Refinery

 

There's the theme change, back to the base so soon? And with just four maps to go. Combat at this point gets to be pretty typical, the sneaky passive-aggressiveness of the hitscanners is always a threat, and a few optional areas as well as juicy secrets are hidden within the confines of this obviously-lava-filled level. Interesting thing to note here? After getting the keys and before the exit, the map reveals arch-viles and chaingunners behind cages, and you can't shoot them. They are made to teleport away to some place where they will be much more bothersome, arch-viles in particular resurrect things, so yeah. I tried to cheese some of these when their HOM-glasses open, or at least the chaingunners who can probably go down before teleporting. Lots of archies, but thankfully not in places that's too disadvantgeous.

[Deadwing]

MAP26 - That's probably the toughest level of this wad, especially due to the frantic where the monsters will attack from most directions, and then arriving in some parts of the coliseum you'll have to deal with some harsh traps (lots of skelletons or the twins archvilles which gets released in the field. It's not very big, but it's very battle-oriented and you have to find all the three keys to reach the exit which will take you to the last episode of the wad.

 

I didn't use any bosses here because I thought they got used a lot in the previous levels (almost one in each level), so I thought I wanted to give some space to breath, but I guess I was wrong haha People were expecting some sort of big reveal in the end D: Anyway, it's a level I like quite a lot, and feels different from what was previously shown. (at least for my standards lol). The song is calm but for me it fitted well with the frantic start.

 

 

[Deadwing]

Map 27 - Sooo, back to the remixed levels from eclipse. This time I didn't want to change the progression so much, so this level still has its quite linear progression, but almost every room got its shape changed and/or extended, because the original was soooo claustrophobic. The main gimmicky for this one is the archville with gets released in the level after you do some important action (getting a key). This is obviously inspired by Plutonia's map 11, but I wanted to use the gimmicky in some sort of a "normal" level. Other than that, it doesn't feel much different from the previous tech base levels, although I think this is a good one, I guess lol

 

Originally that was the level after the current level 18 (the one with lots of imps in a cave at the end), so that's why the initial area of both are the same. I like to think that there's some sort of story reason for this though, like if that last portion of the labs got absorbed by the hell dimension and the moonblood gateway was created in its place, so that's why I kept things like this.

 

 

[rehelekretep]

map25 fda

map26 fda

map27 fda

[DAZZER]

MAP25: Helltown

Time: 14:19

 

I don't know if you really can call this a city Map (I guess that is what it wants to be). For me it's more a big surreal base with different Wall Textures. But I like it ! It's great Fun and maybe a Highlight in the Hell Episode. It also features some heavy parts like a ton of Revenants at the end or an ambush of Archviles for the Blue Key. It wasn't always easy to find the right path with lots of non linear areas around. Awesome ! I didn't have Health or Munition Problems. The Teleporting Cyber was also cool but no big challenge too. 

[Demtor]

 

MAP26 - "Coliseum"
gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Interesting start given the name you knew something bad was coming. Okay, all prepped and ready to go. Not sure why the health potions are provided as that soulsphere kind of negates their bonus. * shrug *

 

Hot damn, here we go! The first minute is kind of crazy  as you run around looking for a good place to make a stand but there are no safe spaces to be had especially with far off imps and such tossing the long firebombs at you to whittle down your health. Jumping down in the water won’t provide much of a respite either. Yikes.   

 

All of that with a backdrop of a VERY soothing music track. What the...? Usually I’m okay with that kind of thing if it’s an exploratory map or something but this didn’t work at all here. It actually hurt the atmosphere of this one. I wasn’t jacked for action stuck inside a coliseum at all. It was more like being encouraged to yawn and take a nap. 

 

In any case, you need three keys and you’ll have to climb each side for two and the third on the far end below. Some interesting puzzles and encounters I guess. A lot of chaotic stuff going on and it’s hard to pick out any single moments. Not my favorite. Never figured out how to get that BFG either. Therefore skipping past everyone in the BK trap seemed like a GREAT move. Lots of arch-viles. Lots of them. Got a bit ridiculous to be honest.

 

Finally opening up the central exit  was a cool visual, happy to be done with this one. But wait. What in hell  is this place? Oh wait… another base of some sort.  

 

Strange stuff. This map was interesting I guess but it felt really out of place to me. 

[Demtor]

 

MAP27 - "Magma Refinery"
gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Another base level but with a few interesting quirks to it. The beginning is a tricky ordeal but if you’re cautious and use corner cover correctly, it’s not all that bad. 

 

Favorite part of the map was going through the blue halled area my first attempt, dieing but then later going through the upper door and in to the dark fleshy tunnels to kill the HK and snipe at those bastards from behind. Hell ya.

 

The rest of the map? Eh, it was okay I guess. Some cool shifts in texture and nice looking angles. It was fun slicing my way through hitscanners and imps here and there before coming across a waiting rev or fatty. Appreciated the green armors and med kits.

 

Getting the PG early on was good as I think we are approaching AV overkill at this point. I mean… jesus. At least they were teleported around to add some extra spice to the map. It wasn’t like I was being blindsided or ambushed again and again by them or anything and thank Christ we are given the BFG (and by given, I mean fight your way tooth and nail through a locked in pincer ambush to get it) to deal with the mayhem. Also, the megasphere came in handy. I’d say I timed that just about right!

 

The exit was kind of funny. Sup dude? How’s it hanging?
 

[Magnusblitz]

MAP27 | E6-1: Magma Refinery

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

 

Bit of an interesting one here. Back to techbases, and at first glance this one would fit right in with the earlier ones, but it's designed with a lot of multiple-approach areas for the AV group teleports (which is one of my favorite ways to use AVs, releasing them into a bunch of areas already strewn with corpses). It works pretty well for the most part, though the player has to be persistent in exploring for weapons, as both the plasma gun and BFG are off the beaten path in areas you don't need to visit for progression... but all the ammo later in the map is cells, so you really need those guns. Didn't care for the music at all in this one, for what it's worth.

 

If you're still making bug fixes... there's missing textures on the steps in one of the cubby holes the revenants come out of for the BFG ambush.

[Demon of the Well]

FDAs pack (skill 4) for Moonblood's fifth episode, maps 21-26.

 

Fun fact: about the second half or so of m22, the entirety of m23, and the first part of m24 were played during a business call of sorts, albeit one with a longtime client/friend not bothered by my indulging my Doom hobby while talking shop. Multitasking! (TM)

 

I was mostly pleased with this episode, as it introduced a number of new ideas to the set, coming at a point where the stylistic repetition of the earlier parts of the game was beginning to really overstay its welcome. The segue into new territory is not actually particularly radical, which arguably helps it read better in a megaWAD sense (as this set is comprised of material from a number of distinct mapping sessions); in terms of raw combat, m21 is based on just the same type of resource management + smallscale skirmishes against carefully placed enemies style of play that has been the set's bread and butter for the great majority of the preceding 20 maps or so, but the environment itself is a breath of fresh air. I daresay there's practically more real height variation in m21 alone than in all of the previous levels combined, and this lends the level a very pronounced sense of space (and again, a more pronounced sense of place) than the shoebox stylings of so many of the earlier maps, while also inflecting on the action to be more openly about movement and positioning in the game space than a matter of simply seeing the little traps ahead of time and faithfully checking corners/angles.

 

I also like the look of the level; personal taste, surely, but as I've said before I think that the sort of practical, clean visual/architectural style that Moonblood uses works a LOT better when there's more variation in room sizes/heights. The theme is something like Plutonia + Inferno, not as common a combo as one might suspect, making for some interesting texture combos. Again, a lot of lifting is also done by lighting (all mapset long I have generally approved of Deadwing's willingness to use a lot of dimness/darkness for visual flavor, even if I've forgotten to mention that until now!), and of course the now much greater opportunity for vista and the like. Not a big fan of the E3 sky, though; I'm generally not much of a stickler for things like offcolor pixels and the like in my Doom graphics, but this one does seem a mite cheaply made (it's the Deimos sky but with a sloppy purple paintjob, right?), although I suppose knowing that it's presumably a reference to Bloodborne's 'paleblood equinox' does lend the otherwise doofy-looking purple some diegetic context.

 

Maps 22 and 23 also represent welcome changeups, introducing layout types/tropes not really seen previously in the set. M22's framing as a weirdly complex but technically open space you run around in freely like a headless chicken (for a greater or lesser amount of time, depending on luck and your ability to juke foes until you get tooled up) is a refreshing spin on the style of non-linearity that has dominated for much of the mapset, and again I think it works a lot better here since you never really get stuck to/in a particular part of the garden to eke out your survival until the map decides to eventually re-connect with earlier spaces; instead you can usually change gears and go somewhere else pretty easily if you like, though the 3D flavor of the layout with its different sets of 'circuits' at different height levels may make this less workable for less 'navigationally-inclined' players. M23 and its sort of Gotcha-esque layout continues the trend of feeling like we're finally traveling through a larger and deeper environment, and although far less wild/chaotic in progression than that map, the much greater emphasis it places on traversing nonstandard terrain is again a welcome shift from the more restrained/contained earlier maps, which outside of the odd crusher-run in m17 tended to frame movement challenges almost entirely as lift + switch timing puzzles.

 

M24's an odd one in that it is built/laid out a lot more like the earlier levels in the set, but eases up on the resource austerity (outside of the quirky RL-based mapstart) almost entirely for a level that plays a lot more conventionally, which while somewhat nondescript in the greater scheme of things also reads like the mapset finally doing something different. I dunno about this one, did I just get really lucky and take an incredibly fortuitous route or something?

 

M25 also felt a lot more like one of the earlier maps to me, maybe like an E3 outtake done in a different texture scheme, sort of a 'village' layout (too small to be called a 'city' map, or even a 'town' map!) which most reminded me of everything in m15 following its ambush start. Really pronounced resource austerity (esp. ammo in this case) also reasserts itself as the primary obstacle to be overcome here, after taking a backseat to some other ideas in the earlier parts of the episode. As far as design goes this makes a fair bit of practical sense, since the level's main concept is the teleporting cyber-turret who makes a nuisance of himself in most major areas of the level, giving you a significant threat to worry about in addition to the generalized skirmishing. I didn't like this one as much, I think in some ways the austerity used as a means of shoring up the cyberdemon's presence (and by extension the presence of all of the other/lesser turrets he tends to run interference for) is overbearing, and it only made me want to get rid of him as soon as possible (which I did), rather than playing along with the concept. If the idea is to have the player actively operate under fire, you've got to give the player the sense that they'll be able to comp at least some incidental damage and have access to at least some stretch ordinance to burn off, and the incredibly stingy item placement style (and incredibly prickly monster placement style) here don't work to that end, all the more pronounced because the level still feels that way in spite of at least one no-strings attached soulsphere.

 

M26 is also a bit of an odd one, for me. Normally I don't really much care for this particular layout style, i.e. "modest bounding-box with an eclectic jumble of crap in it" (generally I become more and more onboard with this style the less modest the bounding box becomes, and in turn the more robust/interesting the various jumbles of crap inside it tend to become :D ), though again in the context of this particular mapset I found I was able to get into it more, since it's such a change. Once again, the overall monster placement style of the most of the mapset is here enshrined anew, but the sort of small sandbox plan, with the large height differences between periphery and center and some of the chaotic sightlines between the different piles of rubble/marble/wood and whatnot, sort of compresses and condenses what would otherwise be another slow series of small skirmishes into more of a rolling/running battle, with enemies able to hit you from a lot more angles/distances than is typical in the set. Unlike m25, this extra attrition is also hedged much more readily with an uncommonly generous supply of healing items and ammo (and premium ammo too, rockets and cells and such!), which means it succeeds where that map fails, in getting the player to run around under fire and improvise for at least the first few minutes.

 

Apparently there's one more distinct endgame episode, looking forward to seeing how Deadwing handles bringing Moonblood to its climax!

[antares031]

MAP27 - Magma Refinery
ZDoom, UV - PS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

Back to the techbase, huh? I missed this good-old theme anyway. From the start, you need to kill some hitscanners, moving around the hub area, to get your weapons. It is recommended to get a SSG as soon as possible from the haunted storage room to kill mid-tiers monsters, like revenants and mancubi duo, with better shell efficiency. Like the name of level, you will see some hot magma floors while you're exploring the level. But there are even hotter things are waiting for you; quadruple arch-vile squads. Any major stages, like around the skull key, have these lunatic arsonists to incinerate you. But at least you can foresee their presence before they teleport to the level, so you can get yourself ready to confront the firestorm. You may find a BFG from the red brick dungeon later, but you need to rely on a rocket launcher for the first arch-vile attack, which is pretty bad news for pistol starters. Pretty cool level, but I can't say that I like arch-viles. :P

 

MAP28 - Remnants of Zeta Labs
ZDoom, UV - PS, KIS(%): 100/90/100

 

Say goodbye to your techbase, and welcome back to hell. Try to find two cells from the start. It will let you fire one more BFG shot. Why would you need that? Just say hello to the quadruple arch-vile squad again. After a little bit intense fight, you have two options to move on, which will lead you to the same area. And this is easily the worst part of the entire wad. Sure, there are corpses as a hint, but I still don't like it. Like inescapable pain sectors, this is something that should be banned officially and permanently. After you two-shot a cyberdemon, this level gives you another two options to choose; a part of techbase (remnants of Zeta Labs, I presume?) or a cave of hell. Both areas are pretty simple, but not bad to play with their own combat style. Just make sure to keep a few BFG shots to clear the hub area. Another good level, except one major flaw that I've mentioned. But hey, it's just a personal preference.

[riderr3]

MAP28
Well, the design of this map is looks like a boss map with some points of no-returns.
Have no problem at the start with 2 arch-viles because of having BFG and enough space to move.
I even survived in crusher hall. I knew intuitively that I had to run.
Many lost souls just prevent rocket launching.
In techbase part of map there is many moving mechanisms which can distract the player.

[Deadwing]

MAP 28 - And here is the last of the remixed levels from eclipse. It's not the last one from that wad, since the next one would be the final one, but it's the final "normal" one lol. Like map 27, I kept the progression the same and I changed the shape or enlarged most rooms to make more interesting setpieces and setups. Also, there were lots of points of no return in the original, but in this one you can go through the whole level back if you want.

 

Thematically, this is more an adventure oriented-level with some choices here and there, but it's a quite linear level. The player wanders through some remains of tech-bases and everything else was corrupted by hell fortress, flesh, caves and lava, which is somewat the theme of this episode. (some sort of E2-ish but with more focus on these flesh textures and E3 Plutonian sky). Gameplay-wise, there's not much different from what it was previously seen. Some traps can be quite harsh, although my favorite one is the one in the beginning, where you have to fight 4 archvilles in some almost symmetric arena. It's a very tough fight for me, and it hasn't changed that much from the original version, except some changes in the layout which makes the setup more interesting, IMO.

 

 

[NuMetalManiak]

MAP28 Remains of Zeta Labs

 

Throughout this one we see no indication of labs until the very end. I guess the remains of this particular labs are freakin' humungous in comparison to the actual lab. Whatever. This one is easily split into three distinct sections. Fighting off imps and the nastier horde of monsters by grabbing the BFG sure as heck is the first part, and it's an all-out fight more or less. A race-against-the-crusher thing on either side separates that part from the next one, open-air field with some snipers and all. Not to mention the cyberdemon that sits idly behind the block. The final area has two places to go, pulling a Whispers of Satan in level design. I liked how there's a bit of lab on the west side, although the east side's arena fight seems carefully prepared. All well-designed things too. Has its moments, what else is there to say.

[rehelekretep]

map28 fda

cool little red-rock Hell canyon lab/base

+ love the architecture; lots of height variation and detailing but the layout doesnt get confusing

+ generally interesting encounter design

+ a good thoughtful map without keys! i like it :D

- MIDI is too relaxing/doesnt fit the context of the map

- didnt like the symmetry of the two 'soulsphere' fights; one has a PE and revs, the other 2 AVs and revs. it also has the effect of making the final room a bit of a damp squib - especially as you can spot the last AVs arm through his box :D

- the path to the left with the pistons moving up and down is a bit of a mess; the pistons themselves neuters the enemies options to threaten you. in my demo there's a moment where im trying to get a rev to be a factor infighting but he cant get a lock on me through the geometry so i just had to give up D: the path with the warp-in trap is a lot more interesting in that respect.

p.s. the crusher is lame :x

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP28, E6-2: Remains of Zeta Labs

 

It's odd, but I think one of the spookiest parts of this level is how very ordered its layout is; the WAD in general has focused on techbases with a function-over-form aesthetic, lots of strangely shaped machines and asymmetrical computer panels and a sense that the spaces you're navigating were built by engineers rather than architects, so the very structured layout of this map brings with it a sense that its original purpose has been subverted and swept aside, and whatever that function might once have been, now it's been reshaped into a hostile space meant primarily to test you.  There are still fragments of the original laboratories embedded in the corruption like shrapnel in a casualty, but whatever role they might once have served, whatever experiments might once have been performed there, they're now just remnants, serving no purpose except as battlegrounds.

 

There are something like four soul sphere here on Hurt Me Plenty, which is good since my play here was ridiculously sloppy.  Progression is measured, forking twice but ultimately all working toward the same objective, and I find it curious that both secrets were located in the first one-third or so of the level; I do wonder if another pass through the editor might have yielded a more even distribution of secret supplies.  There's definitely a sense that we are building toward something here, the character of the levels gradually changing to suggest that we're in the ourskirts and antechambers of something monstrous and profane.  I look forward to seeing just what infernal mysteries Moonblood yet conceals in its last couple of levels.

[Demtor]

 

MAP28 - "Remnants of Zeta Labs"

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Lots of stylish looking locations in this one. I liked all of them. Especially the start and it’s teleport pad into the main red halls filled with imps. My that BFG sure looks inviting. Sure am glad I get to… oh shit. Oh hell no!

 

I opted to circle around, hit the skull switch behind and escape out one of the two side tunnels. Interestingly they both have their own texture scheme to them. Even with the tunnels you run down to race against the crushing ceilings. Bit too slow the first attempt.

 

Either way you get dumped out in to the same landscape which is very awesome looking. Quite a shift in themes. At the top there is a cyberdemon who surprised the hell out of me. Almost a point blank encounter. The torches came in handy to block most of his rockets though.

 

I enjoyed the dark room with the pumps and it’s sort of shipping garage. The feeling of a former tech base behind taking over by rotting flesh and tendrils really comes through.

 

On the other side the stairway down looked pretty sweet. You have to be very careful with no escape out on the one side. Inescapable damage pits are a dime a dozen in this wad.

 

I liked the semi-secret side room with the computer map. Interesting choice. The battle before it was very cool with timed waves of enemies through teleporters. In fact, that happens twice in one single wave from all the teleporters after each switch above in the main courtyard. Fun stuff.

 

The exit texture shift from brown to green was nice. Pretty decent level. Very hard but doable.

[antares031]

MAP29 - Moonblood Ritual Site
ZDoom, UV - PS, KIS(%): 100/100/100

 

Wow, a BFG right after the start, again? Seems like this level won't play around at all, judging from the BFG and the highest monster count in this wad. Anyway, after you clear the outpost made out of green marble, you will enter a large, tech-hell hybrid fortress with a courtyard in the middle. The courtyard is guarded by a spider mastermind, and you need a blue skull key to enter there. Feel free to explore the whole fortress first, and choose your route to clear it. Thankfully this level throws some SSGs, allowing pistol starters to choose one of various routes. Keep in mind that this level doesn't have many arch-viles, but this level does have some revenants to make you stay focus; nearly fifty revenants are waiting for you on UV. That being said, beware two arch-vile turrets in the room with lava and a timelimit (because of the radiation suit). The courtyard fight was not bad, and it felt like the upgrade version of the one from MAP32, where you need to deal with two cyberdemons. Pretty good level for the MAP29 slot.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP28 | E6-2: Remnants of Zeta Labs

100% kills, 0/2 secrets

 

Fun one this, pretty short but with some tough-but-fair fights. Though I might've ended up cheesing the main courtyard ones by taking the lifts to the side areas. :) I like the eventual mashup of techbase and hell too. Hmm... not much to say about this one actually, but I liked it.