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dobu gabu maru

The DWmegawad Club plays: Reverie

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map14: Tyranny
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

The map has a traditional layout with an outer, a moat and inner fortress. The fortress is composed of an outer rampart and an inner section with a handful of rooms. The start can be hectic but once you can grab the super shotgun life gets a lot easier. You can tackle the inner fortress rooms in almost any order to collect the 3 key cards.
 

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MAP12 - “Armageddon Valley”

 

a strong beginning of episode 2 where you land on some forgotten planet and emerge from the space shuttle, drawn as a somewhat plain metal structure in a crater. this beginning reminded me of unreal where the player exits a spaceship too before descending into caves. narrow tunnels lead into a cave, and details suggest that there's more about this: patches of stonework can be found, and there are columns at the end of the cave, as if someone was excavating an ancient temple. the music fits this suspenseful mood, and the large number of secrets for such a small map (six) helps creating this feel of adventure, as this pushes the player to explore the world. combat is rather light, the former humans are by far the most dangerous enemies, and the cacos are easily held at the blue gate. there were 2 viles, i guess those were expected to teleport somewhere, but they can be shot in their cages before they can leave. going for the ssg is indeed the most important part. i expected the sky-textured hole in the last building to teleport me somewhere else, but it ended the map already.

 

 

 

MAP13 - “Stronghold Earth”

 

that's a map i find much better when i already know it. because it's fairly large and convoluted. on one hand, navigating it seems complicated, on the other, one end will tie neatly into the other if you play it as planned. if you don't... i managed to skip one button somewhere in the wood buildings, probably being distracted by the damn chaingunners everywhere. so another building (the one with the door open a crack and a hell knight behind) remained blocked, and with it the button to lower the blue key pillar. which in turn made me search the castle-like part (with the blue bars) to no avail, repeatedly. until i somehow stumbled upon the switch in cause and wondered how the hell i didn't find it earlier. 

 

so, the map is a big puzzle of switches placed in various, wooden or castle-like structures (abstract castles, with plenty of industrial stuff, like elevators) scattered over a rocky landscape. gameplay isn't particularly hard, but requires a methodical approach because of the chaingunners everywhere, with spectres, knights and other creatures to box you in. the cyb was used well in that narrow space, and i experimented a bit and found it the most effective to just retreat, strafe just a bit while staying away from the walls, and shower him with plasma while he tries to close in, as he shoots less then. some surprise archviles as well, and overall very satisfying gameplay, especially with a mod like smooth doom, as ssg-ing zombies turns them into a spray of bits - and there's plenty of both shells and zombies. i also loved the low, moody soundtrack, indeed rott-like. primeval makes good stuff. are these midis available for download somewhere?  

so, a recommendable map, however more fun imo when you know where you're going. 

 

 

 

MAP14 - “Tyranny”

 

your "break into a fortress" map. as tmorrow described it above: a plain box with a moat. so, what could i do: grabbed a shotgun from one of the zombie guards. the sides were blocked by barons and knights, so i went forward, grinding my way through them with my shotty. i didn't look too healthy though, and the lack of space here, especially at the blue key, demanded tricking revenants into punching and shooting them at close range repeatedly. cleared that swiftly - either i got better or lucky, rather the latter. next was emptying a box of shells into 3 knights in the red key cellar from the door. that was the point where i thought: hey, this isn't crusades. go back and search better. promptly found the ssg and a soulsphere, which made the game much more enjoyable. well, as enjoyable as clearing a big box full of nobles is. 

 

 

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MAP13: Stronghold Earth

48:27 | 100% Everything

 

This always stuck out to me as my favorite from my first play. It gets to maintain that accolade. Wow. Just one big sprawling adventure. Very little bad to say about this one, really: it is pretty switch-hunt-y, so if you overlook a switch or clue (easy enough to do with the almost-nonstop combat) you're going to be lost until you backtrack and find what you missed. In my case, I missed the blue key for the longest time (never saw it raised up on its pillar, and only stumbled across while wandering around wondering what to do next) and after that I still hadn't lowered the red bars on account of running away from the barons that appeared in the cybie alcove. And speaking of which, that cyber was my least favorite part of the level, easily: there are few things in Doom I hate more than trying to take on a cyber without a BFG, and taking on a cyber without a BFG in a narrow hallway with a door at your back is right up there. I spent no fewer than 25 saves trying to tackle him, but it was always ended with either one rocket to face (death) or three splash damages from the narrow walls (also death). And does anything seem to take longer than trying to kill a cyber with a plasma gun? I think watching water boil goes by faster. Anyway, I eventually gave up and lured him outside to the point that the door closed behind him and I was able to get into his alcove and hit the switch, which released the barons that I had to flee from, and I tried to get cybie and barons to infight, but ended up just locking them all together in the same hall with the switch I hadn't seen yet and didn't know I needed until after I'd gotten the blue key, and well, now we're back where I started. ANYWAY. Love the little boat ride out to Revvie Monolith Island (I especially <3 the lovely touch where the oars are ready for the trip out, and then set in the bottom of the boat once you arrive.) Just a fantastic level all around, and I don't see anything else in this WAD topping it.

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MAP14: Tyranny

UV/Pistol start/No saves

Deaths: 0

 

Guys, always check the pits, there might be something useful! I don't think hiding the SSG like that is a very good idea, specially when there're barons! The map was short, a fortress secured by hell nobles and other minions. The red key part was the highlight, not sure how well you can end up if you don't kill the HKs as fast as possible and then leave, but it was engaging at least.

 

And that's it, wow that was fast.

 

 

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MAP14 Tyranny

 

And back to shorty map. One of the better music tracks in this wad, my second favorite after MAP27's and in front of MAP26's, and a fortress stormer map. Very Citadel-like, but with less puzzles. Sniping at hitscanners is fun and helps later on. Get the yellow key, easy enough, then go for blue and red through side paths. Then fight the arch-vile on the throne and get the three switches. Straightforward, but quite a bit of backtracking kinda makes pacing a bit ehy.

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MAP14: This one reminded me of Plutonia 2 MAP10, both have a central building with a inner ring full of windows and both use the same brick texture. I missed the SSG, at the start you are immediately chased by cacodemons and you don't have weapons so I rushed inside and forgot to check the pits. It made the things very tedious and I thought that the SSG was hidden in the secret. At least here it's easy to telefrag the arachnotrons :P

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MAP14: Tyranny

 

It's funny, I didn't have much in the way of a recollection of MAP11 through MAP11 from the last time I played it, but like MAP10 this one sticks in my mind - albeit not for bad reasons this time.  The compact base/fortress area in the middle of the map, with its elevated outer passage surrounding a sunken cluster of inner rooms - is familiar and provides a change of rhythm from the sprawling complexity off the preceding map, while suggesting some kind of UAC security centre that's been subverted to Hell's unfathomable goals, especially with the enthroned arch-vile lurking at its very heart.  Something relatively intense and concentrated like this is fun for the player to get their teeth into after the scale and long running time of Stronghold Earth, and of course there's another of those familiar monoliths to round out the map and take the player on their way to whatever new dangers lie ahead.

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map15: Blade Runner
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

A mostly straightforward city map with several secrets. Ammo is scarce early on and you may require using chainsaw and or berserk fist depending on which building you've chosen to clear out first. The most dangerous trap is probably the one where you reveal the yellow key card. The map has 2 exits, the normal exit to map16 and the secret exit to map31 but the secret exit is only accessible by using several secret sector switches. The secret hunt is well worth the effort, you are rewarded with plenty of health, armor and ammo.

map31: Metal Mansion
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Another epic map, this time a large puzzle map taking place in a large building complex. There are a whopping 17 secrets to find for a uvmax. Valkiriforce takes inspiration from Eternal's map30 Excalibur by Bob Evans that involves a daunting number of remote switches. The map has 2 exits, the normal exit to map16 reachable from the beginning and the secret exit to map32 reachable only after finding all secrets, hitting every switch and exploring the entire map. Some fairly tough enemies block your way, including 3 cyberdemons and 2 spider masterminds as well as several mid tier enemies. I succumbed to an unexpected archvile the first play through and then to a cyber without topped health the second play through before pulling off a uvmax. The map is nonlinear, but you need to keep finding new secrets and switches to unlock new areas, otherwise you will get stuck and that can be frustrating. Once you've memorised all the secrets and switches, the difficulty comes right down as you can focus on the fights without distraction.

map32: Deadlock
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

A nasty map with limited ammo. The secrets are well worth finding for the bfg, blue sphere and megasphere. The 2 cyberdemon reveal is the most dangerous trap with 2 archviles and other mid tier enemies being thrown into the mix. I managed to screw this map up in new and stupid ways several times before finally uvmaxing it.

Edited by tmorrow

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MAP15 Blade Runner

 

This guitar tone in MIDI format is the kind of thing I would expect in a Metallica MIDI, and the song clearly doesn't disappoint. Oh, where were we? Right, another long level. About as long as the previous, though if you go for the secret route, the going is gonna be ever-so-slightly longer. Play this one with markers, honestly, it's easy to forget where you even are and where you are supposed to go. The Industrial Zone feel is there in a lot of places, explore this building, clear out that one. Figure out, in frustration, all the secrets, especially that thin ledge one where failure involves spending a fucking minute climbing back up. Then, once you got a key, you have to decide where to go. That whole long stretch of land leads to four areas to the north (one you came out of, the other being the exit itself) and there's a blue door there and another blocked off path. The red key is in one of those areas, a mini-puzzle awaits there. The monsters pouring out once the yellow key is unlocked is a worthwhile challenge. More chaingunners, so a bit like MAP13, but their spots are thankfully not as nasty. The level itself though is quite a doozy.

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MAP15: Blade Runner

UV/Pistol start/Some saves

Deaths: 2

 

Ok, this map, I remember not liking it my first time, and my opinion hasn't changed this time. Don't get me wrong, a couple of moments were slightly fun, like the horde that teleports in the YK tower, or... yeah only that, the map is big and like NuMetalManiak said it resembles an industrial zone, with four areas outside including the start point. Now the start involves something that Reverie has been providing so far, chaingunners or shotgunners on upper level that can wreck you in seconds if you don't cover yourself fast enough. That was a bad start for me, but then I got a foothold after entering the main area with buildings, well almost because I died again at the RL part. Yeah this map is very tricky with ammo, for a long time you'll be using shells and bullets and maybe plasma, but rockets are scarce and it's the type of ammo I found the most useful, apart from plasma in certain points. A thing I didn't like were the rightmost building with two symmetrical lifts leading to a bunch of monsters right in your face (best is to ignore and return when you get yourself the PR). The secret hunt can be frustrating to new players, it certainly was for me back then, you have to have a good eye to catch the minimal difference between similar structures. I'm also not sure how you can safely survive the blue switch part, I cheesed the fight immediately as I didn't want to be destroyed by multiple projectiles on bumpy floors, in a small room. And also the cacos outside have so much space that one shot can push them far away, and they don't really add anything. So overall, not a fan of this map. 

 

There's a point where whatever you shoot is blocked by an invisible wall, or blockmap, whatever, it was weird. 

 

And finally after 6 hours of converting this f***ing demo into a video and uploading it to Youtube, here it is:

 

 

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MAP14: Tyranny

16:39 | 100% Everything

 

Mostly fun, if a bit forgettable. (Though the blue key ambush definitely something I remembered from my last play.) The first half is pretty much a big SSG grind corridor, not too exciting. But the interior has a handful of short but punchy encounters. The sole (ha!) secret was where I figured/half-remembered it to be, though actually getting there took half a dozen attempts (and some admitted save abuse.) A nice breather map between the epic sprawls of 13 and 15.

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MAP15: This is one of my favourite maps, I really the music here, it's cool and varied and helps a lot since there's lots of ground to cover. The layout is done in the style of Downtown, plus there are 4 towers outside the main area to explore and many places take inspiration from Industrial Zone. It isn't particularly hard, apart from the initial exposure and some more tricky moments here and there like the second tower in the north and the invasion that happens at the YK. There's a nice little puzzle to get the RK. The secret isn't hard to find, there's only one switch that is very well hidden.

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MAP15: Blade Runner

 

I feel that the first half of Reverie was marked to some degree by a somewhat experimental tone, its alternation of large levels with small, its varying theme and tone and setting, its various traits that are perhaps more reminiscent of a community project than a one-person megawad; and of course, the text file that accompanies the WAD details the design influences and specific goals of each, which goes some way toward explaining the idiosyncratic overall feel and deliberately disjointed level-to-level progression and transitions at work here.  Ignoring that context, though, this level is one that has an odd sense of comfort to it, of a mapper grown confident in their own idiom and bold in the deployment of their signature style meshed with classic elements and references, with its chunky urban grid that's equal parts Downtown and Industrial Zone, its late-stage invasion that brings Suburbs to mind.  There's a feeling, to me, of growing ease in the arrangement of lines and sectors, of a more ready transformation of ideas and mental sketches into realised and completed levels.

 

Outside of that feeling and specific to the map itself, this is a fun level in which combat encounters have a similarly "chunky" quality to the urban layout; there's lots of meat for the player to get their teeth into, a tendency toward squads and packs and posses over solitary ambushers, with plenty of demonic flesh to catch stray bullets and misguided rockets.  The player has some initial freedom to roam but there does come a point where the keys have to be collected in a certain, specific order for progression to happen; there are also areas where colour-coding is used to indicate more than "you need the proper key to come this way" but also to telegraph the opening of barriers or the presence of a specific key ahead.  I don't know that there's a lot of mechanical complexity to it, but it's more information, more communication and feedback, than I'm generally used to seeing, though it's helpful and appreciated in a map that's fairly substantial in its scale and features a row of annexes, separate from the meat of the level, which house the start, the exits, the red key, and a vital blue switch; without some of the colour-coded indicators present here, I think it would be easy enough for the player to forget to check the annexes, or, alternatively, to constantly check them between forays into other buildings, not knowing when a certain barrier would open or how switches and sectors were interconnected.

 

Secret levels to follow, possibly later today, possibly tomorrow before MAP16.

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MAP31 Metal Mansion

 

Oh come on, how long could it be? The normal exit is available right away, cool, but you have 17 secrets to find and a secret exit, and the monster count is...mild, surprisingly. Meant to be a Bob Evans-sort of puzzle map, except with metal theme instead of medieval like his two Eternal Doom maps were, plenty of secrets, carved in an intricate yet still accessible layout. Quite a few times, I have to press those electricity symbols in order to figure out things. The whole central portion, combat-wise is a royal pain to deal with, because of valley snipers and hell knights. Might want to take the arachnotrons in the central bridge out, then attack the hell knights on their perimeters, before going on with the rest. Note that two of the switches necessary for secret exit completion are here, so to find the teleporters leading to them, there's some puzzling to go for. And same is true for the keys, some of which need secrets, whilst some of the switches also are in secrets. Knowing exactly where everything is and how to reach them took quite some time, but I got it all down by now.

 

I should mention, the whole open area to the north. Look at all the bigwigs here, and the hidden revenants plus cyberdemon and mancubus/cacodemon/arachnotron horde. Those two corner teleporters are very useful in these scenarios, trust me there, but empty the pedestals first. Surprisingly, it's some quick combat, made even better when infighting is in. Monster density may be low in comparison to size, but the amount of bigger enemies shows the level's difficulty then, assuming puzzles are not taken into context.

 

I did get a jumpscare at one point where I teleported to the red switch, there a cacodemon presumably from the yellow switch area went through a fucking wall.

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MAP13: Stronghold Earth

100% kills, 1/1 secret

 

I liked this one a lot more than the previous sprawling adventure maps, with one big exception. The layout is pretty good, lots of inter-connectness that wasn't difficult to traverse (aside from finding the right path in the cavern area and maybe taking the wrong lift a time or two) and a good variety in areas, from the outdoors to the caverns to the broken bridge area to the titular stronghold. Combat is even pretty good for the most part, though there are some annoyances (hitscanner snipers through small walls) it plays pretty well, even the cyberdemon in the corridor worked thanks to being able to flank him with the lifts. The one sticking point is that this is the first switch hunt that left me completely befuddled... it took me forever to find the blue key, as I had cleared out the entire level except for the final 30 or so enemies, and still had no idea where the blue key even was. Turns out I had just missed seeing it at the top of its column like @Salt-Man Z; and the first time I came to the building with the blue armor (and I assume the switch to lower the blue key) it was closed. When I came back again and saw it was open (without knowing what switch opened it) I also had no idea the switch in there lowered the blue key either. Probably did 2-3 circles of the entire map before just happening to walk across the blue key sitting on the floor. Overall a great map though, lots of memorable areas and great music choice.

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Map 13: stronghold of earth

 

This map is divided in two parts, the outer area made of various buildings and caves and the stronghold itself. The progression isn't that obvious, it's something you probably accidentally just stumble across by simply wandering around.

 

The game play isn't too difficult, you fight mostly weaker enemies with handful of mid-tier enemies showing up every now and then. You come across a surprise archvile or two and even a cyberdemon but there is enough health and armor around so you can afford a few mistakes.

 

I liked the boat near the end, I wish it led straight into the next map instead of taking you to a generic end teleport.

 

Map 14: Tyranny


You have a fortress, a pistol and a truckload of enemies with tons of health. I didn't think to look for the ssg in the pit so I beat most of the map by grinding it trough with basic shotgun and occasional use of plasma. This didn't bother me too much since killing all the barons or Arachnotrons isn't necessary to exit the map and can be skipped without a hassle.

 

This was a quite straightforward map overall, get the keys, hit a couple of switches and teleport out.

 

Map 15: Blade Runner

 

You get the ssg and the cg right from the start. However, the ammo is very scarce for the 2/3 of the map so using chainsaw to deal with the lesser enemies is probably on the cards. It's a good idea to leave the Arachnotrons alive to infight with the horde that spawns in later. The ammo room you eventually find gives you enough firepower to deal with everything left in the map which is a nice change in gameplay after barely scraping by.

 

The map itself takes a clear inspiration of Industrial zone, you are free to explore most of the buildings in any order you want. There is also a small puzzle involved with the red key. I liked the progression here, you always have a clear objective with the buildings outside the main area.

 

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map16: Dark Zone
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Dark Zone is a nonlinear hub map where you can collect the 3 key cards in any order before taking on the final section. If you tackle the yellow key card area first you can pick up the plasma rifle early on. There's plenty of ammo strewn around the map and no need to save your cells for a top tier boss since there isn't one. The soul sphere secret stumped me for quite a while.

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bah! behind again :(

 

map12 fda

i liked the midi and the spaceship crash into mines but some of the corridors were a bit too narrow for comfort. teleporting viles are always good.

no idea how to get the goodies on the pedestals

 

map13 fda

too long and pretty baffling. lots of ssg-clearouts. the vile use was quite cool. cyber is mean placement (is there a bfg?) too much meat to blast through. going to watch galileo's video to see how to get that blueberry!

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MAP32 Deadlock

 

This is an extreme offset if I may say so. Going from the most puzzling and longest map to a short, yet still tough outing. You can see clearly now that there's all the keys in the center, and the roar of mancubi (urgh) fills the air letting you know they along with other enemies are gonna be warp-ins. Do this scenario, get key, get ambush, but since there's no blocking of safe areas, most of this isn't as bad as it seems, except for a surprise Rocket Dongs at some point. And Chaingun Face is behind the three key bars. That's about all that's interesting to get in this map. Again, not a fan of the "switch behind a key door/switch" thing, or that one very small shootable button in Chaingun Face's waterplace (it should be pressable, honestly).

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MAP14: Tyranny

98% kills, 0/1 secret

 

I consider it a bad sign when halfway through a map I get frustrated enough to open up Doom Builder and look for the SSG in the map. Turns out there is one here, hidden in a pit. Pretty annoying, especially since this map is already pretty grindy with all the minotaur meat in small corridors, but it's even worse when all you have is a single shotgun. The layout, compact as it is, isn't bad, but I think the item balance really lets it down. Would've been a lot more fun to have a RL to clear out the outside ring with.

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MAP31: Metal Mansion

 

Got through this one before dinner, I'm only writing it up now because I had other stuff to do this evening, and I won't be getting to MAP32 until tomorrow (with MAP16).

 

So as changes of pace and setting go, this is a welcome one, a big metal/industrial puzzle map that features its share of meaty combat but is mostly focused on a hunt for secret doors, keys, and switches through the multi-level convolutions of this staggering labyrinth.  The generous quantity of supplies available contributes to a sense of "fair play" here, as does the way the maze gradually becomes less intractable and convoluted as progress toward a solution is made; doors open, barriers descend into the floor, new paths of progression or of return become evident.  Likewise, the fact that an exit is always available for the player who simply runs out of patience or time is a nice touch; the map is no more of a stumbling block to progression through the WAD than the player insists upon.

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MAP31: Metal Mansion

UV/Pistol start/Saves

Deaths: 0

 

This is probably most memorable map in the set for me, and the one that has the highest number of secrets. It wasn't a walk in the park my first time, that I even commented in valkiriforce's video my frustrations with the secrets. Planning a route to record the demo was something new for me, since I generally don't think too much in Doom, and I wanted the demo to be as shortest as possible, of course in my usual pace. The achievement is there, a bit of improvising as I kept forgetting which switch did what. It took me some tries but I finally did it. Now onto the map itself, well NuMetal and tmorrow said pretty much everything. The map goes better when you have foreknowledge of all the secrets and monster placement. The BFG comes in handy for the archviles in the outside area to the north, if not also for the spiderdemons in the case they don't die at infighting. During one of my recordings I found out that, in the yellow switch area with trees, you can accidentally aim to one of the chaingunners on the tall pillars and trigger a switch, which raises the bridges and restricts the space if you haven't killed the monsters earlier. That was really funny but in no way I was going to let that happen again lol. Anyway, I guess the map wasn't so bad, yeah I think I liked it overall. 

 

The chicken normal exit sign is a good touch for people who became exhausted at the puzzles, heh, nice touch.

 

 

MAP32: Deadlock

UV/Pistol start/Saves

Deaths: 3 or 4

 

Without doubt this is the hardest map so far, and hey a slaughtermap in the style of valkiriforce! Things that played against me here were ammo starvation (in my first try), stray mancubus fireballs, one puto revenant, and cute angry archies. See when the author wants to put the player in real danger, he does not hesitate. Ok, maybe the map isn't horribly hard (nope, it isn't), but with some care and good usage of the "safe" spots it all goes down quickly. Plus the author generously placed a couple of living rocket launchers to distract the boneheads and barbecuers and save ammo (at least that's how I saw it at first because I psychologically ignored all the ammo in the little room and right after that there were tons of rockets and whatnot, galileo come down to earth for once...). There aren't any other things to point out after the first couple of waves, maybe the spectres could have had the chance to leave that platform, so they could do something. Don't forget the secret BFG to kill the last wave and last monsters faster, and if you're playing continuous there's a soulsphere to start the next map well powered. Actually I believe the BFG could be used earlier, but with the plasma rifle already is enough. 

 

One of the megaspheres is in a secret without a hint, and there's also a room accessible via another secret (the labyrinth with bonuses), it doesn't count as secret but it could be some sort of easter egg, maybe? I'd like to know, let's channel @valkiriforce

 

 

 

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MAP31: I guess that the title is a homage to Eternal MAP31 though the map itself follows the style of Bob Evans. It's a very intricate map full of secret, puzzles and lots of stuff that make you do less ordinary things to progress. Personally I love it but I recognize that something like this wouldn't be in everyone's taste, and in any moment you can also decide to skip the map with the normal exit. The combats are very light, most of the monsters are used on the red rock tiers in the center, and the other bigger fight happens in the northern area. I already played the map but I still was able to get stuck a couple of times. It's rather impressive to make a complex map like this.

 

MAP32: Didn't like this so much, overall it's allright but also very basic and lacks of some strong features. Though I liked that it's another short level packed many secrets and the "3 keys in the same area" is a nice idea.

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MAP32: Deadlock

 

If MAP31 was all about the puzzles over the combat, then this is its opposite, its counterbalance, a meaty and straightforward succession of arena-type battles that probably don't qualify as slaughter but are certainly tending in that direction.  Five secrets is a lot for this relatively modest piece of real estate which is given over in large part to the main battlefield; I found all of two, but after the extensive secret-chasing that made up the lion's share of the preceding map I really wasn't of a mind to spent the time and effort to hunt down the strictly optional secrets here, though of the two I found, at least the BFG happened to be one of them.  Overall I don't think this is as striking nor as memorable in what it's doing as MAP31, but it cleanses the palate and shifts gears in the player's brain for a return to more typical level design and play after the labyrinthine excursion of Metal Mansion just before.

 

MAP16: Dark Zone

 

Here we are, back into the main progression and flow of the WAD with a teleporter-based hubspoke map that plays out in a way not dissimilar to a smaller version of MAP08.  I really didn't play well here, fumbling my way through combat encounters and taking huge amounts of unnecessary damage; that likely contributed to my eventual decision to cheese the yellow key spoke, pushing my way past the initial rank of zombies without a shot fired and escaping with the yellow key as quickly as possible after shooting the chaingunners out of the way, before the invasion on the road could really get going.  It's a nice enough level to navigate, with the teleporters contributing to an initial feeling of disconnection before the player's explorations allow them to realise how the various spokes all fit together after all.

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MAP16 Dark Zone

 

Ye old hub map, done in some tower with several paths to go. The teleporters are color-coded for your convenience, so those show where to go to get the keys, and some mini-challenges are all to see. The yellow key path sticks out visually, and was the first screenshot of what I saw when I saw Reverie the first time. To get the switch behind the three key bars, there's another mini hub area with the three color bars to take care of. The three secrets are all very subtle for this one.

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MAP16: Dark Zone

UV/Pistol start/No saves

Deaths: 1

 

I'm going back to black hub, similar to the start of Tricks and Traps, except all your weapons are right there for free. As usual, each teleport is coloured to mark which key you'll find. In my opinion the best one to start is the blue key section, not as challenging as the others and there's a secret megaarmor useful for the other sections. I say this because I gave the yellow key part a few tries and if it wasn't a fireball it was a bullet spammer (ironically, these fuckers just didn't want to get into infighting), so yeah this part should be the second to choose. Then the red key section and finally the triple-colour bars part. It's all done after that, oh yes the secrets, well for me the hardest to locate is the switch for the soulsphere, the other two are passable but NuMetal is right with the word "subtle". I should hear the midi again because I think I really liked it.

 

 

 

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MAP16: I liked that the hub is separate structure that you can see from various areas around. Lots of visual variety here, and the crumbled road is quite surreal.

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map14 fda

lots of annoying backtracking + flicking switches for such a small map. i liked the pit room with the HKs/revs/plasmagun

 

map15 fda

too long, too empty, final slaughter is easy to bottleneck. not sure how youre meant to deal with some of the 'death-lifts' properly aside from sniping and then praying you dont get stuck. had a scary moment with a ghost chaingunner following me through walls, luckily i had rockets to splash him dead >.<

 

map31 fda

... not the map for me :D

 

map32 fda

slightly odd; feels like a slaughter map made by someone who doesnt really play slaughter. the mancubi and cacos dont really lend towards infighting, and then the central courtyard lets you easily cheese the cybers/avs/revs. the last fight with the HKs/PEs/cacos was fun. roadblock spider and then hold w+m1 finish.

 

map16 fda

quite cool little tricks + traps homage style map. favourite section was the YK roadway.

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map17: Fatality
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Another nonlinear hub map with a twist. The northern area contains teleporters that take you to isolated rooms for smallish fights. There is ample ammo and weapons to tackle the key cards in any order you like.

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MAP17: The idea is very similar to MAP32: the three keys are all in the same area but here is done better and the level has more substance. It's a nice mix of Plutonia and Memento Mori I would say, the lighting is set on dark tones and it's coupled with a good and ominous music. This episode has a sinister mood so far.

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