Magnusblitz

MAP30: Nostalgia

1/1 secret

One of the easier and more perfunctory IOS maps I've played; I was a bit surprised when I opened the red door and it's just a direct shot to the exposed IOS brain, no need to futz around with lifts or timing or anything like that. Actually quite simple to beat without firing a shot (well, except for the rockets at the end), as long as the SMM moves out of your way, as it's fairly easy to avoid the cyber by the switch. I do think I was benefiting from a bug in that I think two cybers are supposed to teleport in and form a wall on the red key, but one of them routinely kept dying on teleport (probably some ZDoom setting I have mistakenly set) making it easy to get the other one to get distracted and you can just run in and out around him to grab the key.

Overall Thoughts

Short maps are always a double-edged sword for DWMC... playing one map a day, it can sometimes feel like a disservice to pacing that might not be a problem if you play several of the maps at once. OTOH it also lets me actually play them and participate, just don't have the time to play a huge map every day anymore unfortunately.

As for the WAD itself, it was definitely... okay. Everything is well-crafted in the technical sense, there's not really any game-breaking bugs or really poor design choices. At worst, things just get bland and/or predictable. The early maps are definitely the weakest, being somewhat reliant on IWAD homages and being overly blocky, but things ramp up a bit in the second episode.

MAP29: Chambers of Dis

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

Nice marble-and-blood theme, and the curves help alleviate some of the corridorishness of it. The first cyber was fun to use to infight, especially racing ahead to let the AVs out too for some spice. Ended up with one lone hell knight surviving Mr. Cyber. Also, I think I found all the missing ammo from last map... it certainly is more fun to blast through stuff like the caco wave when you can just let loose with the rocket launcher and not worry about ammo. The second cyber-vs-knights fight is pretty meh IMO, as the cybers just turn out to be a giant meatwall easily taken out with the BFG after being softened up by the hell knights. I found all the secrets but only after going back to look for them, just got lazy I guess (and didn't even have any use for the megasphere because of it). All in all, it's ok.

MAP28: Seasons of the Abyss

100% kills, 1/1 secret

Didn't really like this one, though partially that may have been just due to some bad luck as I ate some bad revenant rockets over and over in the first fight as the curve of the area makes it hard to avoid them. Also I probably tried to stir up infights a bit too much, I actually ended up just playing the first section normally, though I did get the monsters around the BFG to take each other out, and used two barons to occupy the cyber. Ammo was stingy too. A nice vista but the actual combat areas, especially the second half, just pretty meh.

MAP27: Whargoul

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

Yeah count me in with the group unimpressed by this one. The only thing that gave me any interest was the difficulty as I was trying to get the monsters to infight, but the confines are too cramped to really do so, so instead you're better off taking the slow approach as @cannonball says. Once you get past the PE by the green armor, its pretty much just rote SSG work in hallways.

MAP25: Ddevil

100% kills, 0/1 secret

Starting to get a little amused at how the weapon pickups in this episode always seem to feature a shotgunner and chaingunner zombie near the start to grab those two weapons from.

This one is a bit of a concept/gimmick level, with a variety of enemies spread out in the main circle hallway, and as you grab keys you'll keep releasing arch-viles into that ring to resurrect stuff. I kinda wonder if it could be gamed by dragging all the monsters to one side, but probably not worth the effort since things really aren't that tough as there's plenty of cover and it's unlikely you'll get pincered. Even the cyberdemon at the end is pretty hamstrung and easy to take out with the cover.

MAP26: Sepulchural Slaughter

100% kills, 0/1 secret

Not really a sepulchre but I guess you could squint and call the key switch structure in the middle one? It is a bit of mini-slaughter though, especially if you unleash a lot of enemies at once - probably won't do with the spider mastermind, but the AVs by the SSG are very easy to trigger and the cyberdemon can be released then run away from, though takes a bit of skill/luck to tightrope the bridge out. I liked this one, it's a decently fun mini-playground to run around on and blast baddies in. The spider wing kinda drags a bit though, as does the hell knight brigade afterwards. Still, one of my most-liked maps of this set so far.

MAP24: Flesh and the Power It Holds

100% kills, 1/1 secret

Flesh is always an under-used hell theme so happy to see it used here to decent effect. Basically just a series of arena fights; although I know the maps are small I agree with @Novaseer that it seems the last few maps have lost the sense of exploration. Each of the maps is fine in this regard but stringing too many after the other is unfortunate.

As for the map itself, lots of monster variety creates a lot of chances for monster infighting, though with no BFG I did have to actually fight the cyber myself for a bit (first time this WAD?) and the dual-AV/rev ambush at the end is a good example of the old classic.

MAP23: Blood Red

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

Seems this one was frustrating for most but I actually sorta liked it, probably because the initial combat setup is different from what we've seen so far - player starts in a trench with enemies all along the sides, takes some work to get armed up and find some safety. I do think the flying monsters create a huge potential for problems, especially if you're playing with infinitely-tall monsters, so make sure you get out of the trench quick. Same thing with the AV in the blue key area - he's kinda the lynchpin of difficulty, take him out quick and you'll be fine but he'll wreck your shit if not handled. Cybie at the end wasn't too hard thanks to the cacos happy to distract him and open him to an easy 2-shot to the back.

I gotta admit I was kinda shocked there was no dropping-wall ambush in the hallway after the blue door...

MAP22: Absolute Hatred

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Ah, back to the obvious IWAD homages. The start seems like it'll be a doozy, but taking a leap of faith into the lava below solves all the problems, as there's radsuits and guns down there, as well as getting you out of the line of fire. After that things are really tame, the only difficulty comes from having to dodge some revenant missiles in close quarters. The area behind the red door looks cool but the gameplay is pretty boring.

MAP21: South of Heaven

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Basically two main fights here, each for a key... I guess you could stretch and say there's another one for the good ol' SSG. I liked the first one, second one a little less, but both decent enough. I agree with @cannonball that the baron meatwalls are a bit much and kinda slow things down when things are mostly cleared out and it's time to grab the actual key.

The music makes me think of White Christmas in parts lol

MAP20: Hell Awaits

100% kills, no map secrets >:(

This one is one of the more resource-starved levels - plenty of health, but not much armor (two green vests, no blue), no soulsphere, and tight ammo. A fair amount of Viles too, but I think the first one is the most fun/impactful (sorry @Raith138) and then they trail off from there. I really liked the first couple rooms, though I may just be a sucker for the blue/white UAC color scheme and the office doomcute. Some decent fights in the middle, and I liked the big one around the red key room, just enough room to run around and try to get the monsters to infight. The end felt undercooked though, with some weird monster placement/triggers... like the gaggle of revenants that teleport into the red key room when you enter, or the final AV/baron combo. The latter especially I think would've been better off appearing after the player actually enters into the room, as-is, the red door just makes a really simple choke to blast away.

MAP18: Fault of the Flesh

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

This one feels like the hardest yet, as not only is the bestiary mostly mid-tier Doom 2 monsters (revs, mancs, hell knights, AVs) but there's also not nearly as many defensive resources as usual - there's a green armor at the very start, and the usual plentiful medkits, but no soulsphere and no blue armor, leaving you a lot more at risk of taking a lot of chunk damage. The theme also feels like a bit of a stretch from the rest of the city episode. The actual playing area is similar in design to the levels before, but I think having some large outdoor sections that you wind around (but don't fight much in) helps make things feel different. I agree that this one gives nu-Plutonia vibes, for better or worse.

MAP19: Times of Grace

100% kills, 1/1 secret

A more modernized hot start, with a bit of a playground to run around and collect the various weapons and armor guarded by enemies. After that, I agree with @cannonball that it does get a bit weak, as there's some small rote encounters on the sides that aren't too exciting, ending with a cyber who's mostly stuck being a meatwall and easily camped from safety.

MAP17: Ars Moriendi

100% kills, 1/3 secrets

I don't wanna go to New York City, New York is a hellhole! And you know how I feel about hellholes...

This was okay. The first part of the map is pretty par for the course for this WAD, small rooms with an ambush of a few midtier enemies and some lower tier stuff to serve as obstacles. After the blue door is a nice striking visual with some bodies hanging, though the nearby cyber won't let you look at it too long. I actually dragged the cyber over to the exit so he could infight with the spider while I got the red key, and given the height differential the spider won. I then spent an inordinate of time looking for all the secrets as I was 0-for-3 at that point, despite the blue armor and BFG being so obvious. Found the switch for the early RL, but never could puzzle out the other two. Looking in the map editor, they're behind a fake wall (misaligned by one pixel maybe?) you can just step through, sigh. Ah well, not remotely necessary to finishing the level, at least.

@Novaseer: there's a (non-secret) soulsphere in the water behind the Spider that teleports two revenants in as an ambush, maybe it was that?

MAP31: Powerslave

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

It's no Misri Halek, or even TNT's Pharaoh, but there is a nice-looking pyramid nearby and some other detailing that does a decent approximation of the Egypt theme with the stock textures. The start is fun to run around in as you can make a nice loop (well, once you get the SSG trap lowered) and let the monsters mostly infight. I surprisingly was able to 2-shot the cyber without much trouble, but the AVs in the yellow key ambush can be downright nasty because of the design of the hallways with all the extra sight lines created by the recessed walls. The secrets are pretty uninspired, just more push walls.

MAP32: Retrovertigo

100% kills, 1/1 secret

Basically a couple arena fights with some big monsters (and nazis). The first cyber is quite useful to help infight everything for you; I saved the invulnerability sphere for the second area beyond the red door to make things simple. Feels a bit overloaded with supplies but it's fine.

MAP16: Fear of the Dark

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Odd name for a map that's mostly 192 brightness and goes down to 112 (in the catacombs) at the lowest. :P

This one's okay, I liked the surprise ambush at the start with everyone raising out of the graves, and there's a good strong theme. That said, I think any longer of a map and it would've outstayed it's welcome, as the gravestones are quite annoying to play around, and the baron meatwalls are a bummer (especially the first one, which I opened before getting either the SSG or RL).

MAP14: Beneath

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

The trip to the subway does provide a nice thematic breakup, and I think the constraints of creating a realistic subway design also makes the layout feel different than a lot of what has come before. Things get very cramped in spots, and unlike most maps, there's also a large dearth of health and armor for the first part of the map, with most of the goodies being in the other surface area later on. The basketball court is especially cute.

MAP15: The Lotus Eaters

100% kills, 3/4 secrets

On the other hand, I think this one suffers from the constraints of its design, as the multitude of doors really drags things out and makes all the combat into a chore of room clearing. I also think the doomcute suffers a bit here as everything feels very oversized, a relatively common issue to be sure but one that hasn't been too apparent until now. And while there's a ton of details, it feels like this map could've used a bit more in spots - the "secret" house weirdly seems to be just floating in space if you look out the back windows (why not put a fence to cover up the horizon?) and the "two" stairways for the basement effect are noticeably different in brightness. The yellow door house is also oddly barren within.

4 hours ago, Raith138 said:

The plasma gun secret (which I may have done the wrong way) was a little bit annoying because the angle was tight.

Heh, I tried about 10 times when I first saw it, failed, and figured maybe there was a different way to get it. After returning back to that room I tried it again and got it first try, go figure.

MAP13: Sludge Factory

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

This one felt more similar to the opening episode in its combat design, with enemies mostly appearing in front of the player (and even a rather now-obvious wall-lowering ambush by the red key). The first room inside the factory probably has the most danger if you move around too much while scoping it out (especially if you trigger the sludge pool cacos early) but nothing really challenging here. As others said, it really seems like the main draw here is the doomcute visuals, though I did appreciate getting to splatter all the poor assembly line zombie workers too.

MAP12: The Lion's Den

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

A decently punchy opening for the city theme, though with wonky scale - the streets are tiny, but the one recognizable Doomcute living room is decently sized. The other areas eschew realism and are the typical abstract Doom design. The flow of combat is probably heavily affected by the route you take - I found the SSG first and then the blue key, without grabbing the chaingun or any armor first, which led me to a lot of cat-and-mouse gameplay early on to avoid taking any hits. The exit baron almost feels like the author is trying to make disappointing endings on purpose...

Interesting choice of music, apparently it's a track from a Sega Genesis game I'm unfamiliar with (Comix Zone), but the riff reminded me a lot of the opening to "Hiding the Secrets" (E1M9/E3M9)... so, good choice for nostalgia without just using the actual Doom track.

MAP11: Rapture

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

Definitely a sharp uptick in difficulty here, died quite a few times at the start getting my bearings - the Pain Elementals being released by grabbing the SSG is an especially devilish trap, since the last thing you want to do is let them float freely and start filling up the limited space with lost souls. Knowing where the secrets are (especially the blue armor) would probably help a lot, but I didn't find any until after clearing out most of the level. The red key lock-in is similar to some other traps we've seen, and the cyber isn't too tough with the help of the hell knights to lock him in place for some close BFG work.

Looks-wise, nothing to really note, as the scheme is pretty generic and still very blocky (though I did like the design of the marble bloodfalls along the outer edge). Really just here for the combat, and it's nice to see things finally getting interesting.

MAP10: Creeping Death

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

Finally, some combat with teeth! Well, in the final fights in the 'basement' at least, I agree the first half is fairly dull. I do sorta like the way the level wraps around itself, but also found it a bit annoying since any time you travel into the blood you need to run all the way back around (which I ended up doing multiple times). As for the ending itself, being given a free BFG plus 200 cells is a pretty good indicator you'll want to keep it out to use it, and while I did play sorta sloppy I was armored up enough from the secrets up top to survive.

MAP09: Bleed Me An Ocean

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

Yeah this one is a bit too easy, too many rockets/plasma given to the player and it's easy to just blast through everything without much thought. I was playing normally at first, relying mainly on shells and bullets, but actually started running low on those and figured I should just use the cells provided. Thus, wasn't sad about missing the BFG (which is another well-hidden and subtle secret). I did like the theme of the first part of the level, always like the grey/blue color combo in Doom. The blue key area had some potential with the way the cacos can fly over walls the player can't, something like this could really be an interesting idea to expand in a larger-sized map.

MAP08: Neurotica

100% kills, 1/1 secret

This was ok. The start is decently hot but not too tough as most of the arsenal is within easy reach, and the column doodads provide a lot of cover from enemies' fireballs (can never remember if this is a ZDoomism or not). I think the blockiness is starting to wear its welcome a bit... speaking of which, the grey/black blocks here feel rather out of place IMO. The final ambush was good though, maybe the first time I died (didn't sight the AV until it was too late).

MAP07: A Fine Day to Die

100% kills, 1/1 secret

Bit of a twist here, as it originally seems like it's just a "gather all keys for the 3-key exit door" map, albeit with switches for each key jumbled from the color of the key in the same room (i.e., yellow key room has the blue switch). But hit the switch and you'll find it doesn't open the matching lock, instead it teleports in a couple of mancubi you need to slay since it's MAP07 after all. In this respect, mixing up the switches makes sense since it means the player will explore more of the map and arm up a bit... for example, I didn't grab the SSG until nearly the end. Still pretty easy, as there's plenty of cover - all of the arachnatrons are in very non-threatening locations, and the switch cubby holes will give cover for most of the manc teleport-ins.

I came across a lone zombieman in the bloody charnel pit with the red key. Checking the map editor, he apparently was up on the ledge and wandered in by mistake. Shame, I think him just starting in the pit would be a good bit of narrative detail, as if he was thrown in with the rest of the bodies but wasn't quite dead yet... I guess this is the sort of thing I can muse about since the actual combat isn't too taxing.

MAP05: Poison Godmachine

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

More poison slime, but unlike last map there's really no point you're forced into it for any substantial portion of time, mostly just the dash to the switch for one of the keys. Like last map, too many radsuits, probably could cut the amount in half as you only really use them to grab ammo. Heck, on UV you could probably have removed all of them and it'd still be playable. Balance aside, I do like the general layout here, even if the combat is pretty forgettable.

MAP06: Spirit Crusher

100% kills, 4/4 secrets

Unsurprisingly there is a Spider Mastermind that you crush. That out of the way, this one gets a boost in the combat department... I was actually taking a fair amount of damage, though there's also plentiful amounts of health to make up for it. The blue armor trap is maybe even a little on the mean side? Overall, another nice tight layout, though maybe a bit too tight in places... the Spider area especially felt constrained and that it could've been expanded a bit more.

MAP04: Pull the Plug

100% kills, 5/5 secrets

Looks like I was one map too early on thinking about AVs to spice things up. While the monster selection starts to move solidly into the midtier (revenants, hell knights, cacos) I actually found this pretty easy, as we're back to the monsters mostly all just being in front of the player. There's the potential for the slime floor to create some feelings of being rushed, but I never got close to running out of radsuit time. Architecture is still solidly blocky, though I do like the design of the first room with the sludge in it (past the first main door). I admittedly am missing most of the secrets as we go, but they're easy to find with the minimap, or just playing "spot the weird texture." I did like how the plasma gun secret was hinted, though.

Short maps huh... might be able to partake again this month.

GZdoom 4.5, mouselook, UV, pistol starts

MAP01: Dragonaut

100% kills, 2/3 secrets

Man, when they said short maps, they meant short. Fun name for a map that's basically over before you realize it, with the lightest of oppositions. Only notable feature is the E1M1 homage in the west side (not only the staircase with the green armor, but the room leading into it with the four columns and lowered carpet area). Looks nice enough though.

MAP02: Under the Surface

100% kills, 3/4 secrets

This one amps up the combat a bit by adding in some more mid-tier stuff (chaingunner, cacos, hell knights, SSG) but still very easy - seeing all the stimpacks littering the floor almost feels embarrassing after the chronic resource shortages in Sigil II last month. This one obviously invokes Underhalls quite a bit with the watery floors, SSG hallway and music choice. Again, the looks are nice in a technical sort of way, though nothing memorable.

MAP03: Illuminatus

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

Alright, now things are getting good. Things get a bit spicier here, with some multi-directional combat in spots. Didn't notice any blatant IWAD homages this time, but the architecture still feels very much in theme with the proceeding maps, and I like building the little bridge to the blue key. Things did peter out a bit at the end... if I had been making this map I probably would've moved the red door a bit further away from the key and maybe unleashed a Vile or something to resurrect some of the monsters on the way back for the finale.

I'll be curious to see if things continue to ramp up or if the WAD will sorta sit at this level of being a relaxing, relatively easy WAD to unwind with.