Octillion

MAP21 - “Platform Base” by skeletonpatch. Ah, a moon base split by teleportation, yet interconnects once you go through them all. The detailing was average, it was mainly squares and long halls. Though there were a few areas that looked "Doomcute.", overall, it was simple design. Nothing to write about the combat either, the confined nature of the map does not allow for much creativity, only a few monsters in every corner, the only spice here was the final battle. The map also features a decent amount of secrets that aren't too hard to find. MAP22 - “Lunar Comms Station” by DMPhobos. I agree with Pechudin here, I felt it was more Lunatic than BTSX. (Either way, both are awesome lol.) A non-linear map with a decent amount of detailing, and fun combat. Though most paths that the player will take are reasonable, the ammo situation is unfair if you go a specific route and will be brutal to progress any further. (Played on RC2, didn't switch to RC3 back then.) Still, it was very enjoyable for the most part, I didn't find anything particularly annoying. Maybe the several mancus that come out when the walls open before the ending felt like camping and grinding, but it wasn't too bad as you had the RL. I honestly thought there was going to be a cyber at the finale instead of the quad manc, perhaps that's too sadistic for the size of the room. All in all, this is a strong map with minor flaws, and an amazing architecture. (I really enjoy DMPhobos's map designs.) MAP23 - “Lunatic Dais” by Finakala, Paul977. I instantly recognized some of the gameplay, it was definitely Paul977's setups. That starter alone was a pain to deal with, the vile just kept resurrecting everything and I wasn't able to get a good shot on him after a few deaths. Though the rest of the combat isn't as brutal as the start, it was fun overall. This map also features another heavy atmosphere midi which again keeps the suspense before every encounter. Creepy moon base setting is always awesome, I'll never get tired of it. I still can't get over the fact that these are the first maps by some authors, because these are pretty damn solid. MAP24 - “The Ship That Wore A Mask” by Albertoni. Right... Albertoni is back with another interesting theme here, if the first one was alternate-reality, this one is a psychological trip. First of all, the map starts off very generic, nothing interesting but a few demons here and there that are easily dispatched; however, once you venture deeper into said spaceship, you'll notice the twisted nature that has been hidden. This felt like a descend into madness rather than a hell-corrupted ship, a nightmare for our protagonist. The midi also adds a layer of insanity here, that tune reflects the dementia that the player encounters here, completely illogical yet it's there. Game play starts easy, but there are layers of difficulty here. The more progress you achieve, the harder it gets, and it ends with a dead simple on steroids. You can skip the cyber as everyone mentioned, if you're burned out from the mancs/spiders so there's always that option. After all, you might have to get into a RL duel with it, and not everyone enjoys that. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

Ah, I neglected the lighting factor. Green is noticeable in dark areas, blue might be too much I guess.

Am I the only one who thinks the crosses being "blue" instead of "green" would look so much better? No...? Okay...

MAP19 - “Ancestral Domain” by Paul977. This map gave me Speed of Doom flashbacks, from the zimmer, the rocks and the atmoshphere. (And that instant-popup pain elemental duo... Damn.) Now, it's not as difficult as a SoD map, but it was a lot of fun. To be honest, I have almost no criticism here. The combat was enjoyable, the hectic start, the imprisoned vile outside, guarding the exit when you escape the revs from the RSK room, and the double vile beyond. (An overused trap, but still enjoyable.) The ending sequence is on the weak side here, the monster block makes it too easy to deal with the mancs and revs. The midi echoing the area truly enchants the experience, keeping that enigmatic feel when you finish an encounter and go to the next one. This definitely scores very high in my book from the set so far. MAP20 - “Ritual Horror” by Scotty. Another goodie from Scotty here, a lavish architecture with a somewhat non-linear progression, cements itself as the final act for this temples theme. I will say that the shotgunners were really annoying here, that vertical advantage to us non-free look players is just deadly, they are also unnoticeable at first, allowing for a few pellets to land on the player. The ammo can be very tight in the initial stage as well, so if you miss a lot, you won't have a nice time. I see that some have mentioned "Plutionia" vibes here, I did feel it was Plutonia and Unholy Realms together, (Don't ask how.) there is one particular sector that ports in a lot of our favorite hitscanner after all. I had mixed feelings playing through this one, mainly irritation at myself for messing up a couple of times. (And failing the platforming section, ascending is always harder than descending for me.) One notable area gave me a headache, and that was the wooden door trap that spawned a variety of hell spawn, The mancubus really messed me up here and caused a few deaths. Eventually, I reached the final area and stumbled upon the BFG, it wasn't as brutal as I thought it would be, the nukage did more damage than the demons. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

MAP16 - “Dregs of a Bitter Cup” by Obake. This is a strong atmosphere map, a catacomb fits it as mentioned by TheOrganGrinder. The music definitely adds an extra layer of immersion, and it has a decent amount of details. It almost felt like something about of a MMORPG dungeon, which speaks volumes of how good it was. Progression-wise, it was good in terms of the theme. A catacomb is supposed to be confusing for the player, and I find this a good point here. The combat, of course was very light, nothing stood out, even the traps were on the weak side. I suppose if the ambushes were more threatening, it would make the map shine even more. Overall, definitely an interesting experience. MAP17 - “Khmeer Agul Tan” by Wereknight. Although the author tries to bring the difficulty here, it falls flat. The only threat here were the chaingunners, everything else was irrelevant. Don't get me wrong, it starts very strong, but every sector after that is weaker. It's very easy to deal with everything, even the double cyber area. Not much to say about the layout, it's okay for someone who started mapping. I had to backtrack a couple of times here, as I wasn't sure where to go first and made the progression awkward for me. The BFG + Megasphere secret makes the encounters even easier, as you'll pretty much steamroll through everything. All in all, this looked like someone's first map. MAP18 - “Napkin Math” by Killer5. A more bland and monotone map here that felt like something from the 90s. It does have a vicious game play, especially if your luck with RNG is as bad as mine. I died at the RSK room, always punished with highrolled 80s from our lovely boney friend. It's not too difficult of an encounter really, I simply messed up my movement and ate the rocket. The ender is... well, something. I did die four times here, till I got it right. My problem was that the elementals spawned too many souls in a short span of time, which caused no room for me to deal with anything. This felt less of a trial and error and more heavily-RNG, to me at least. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

MAP31 - “Solar Powered” by Big ol’ Billy. What a beautiful map, I enjoyed this mashed up theme of tech and Egyptian, it felt very unique. The progression was decent, didn't feel as a switch hunt despite their number, they are very visible after all. Combat is lenient, nothing stood out here, a very easy map to blitz right through. The start might shake the player up, after all, he is faced with a good amount of demons without any weapons and ammo. This is placed after Megiddo, which makes sense as acting as a breather. The midi fits a lot here too, at least to me. MAP32 - “Fireblue Palace” by Bemused, Scotty. Oh my.... What an odd yet amazing map. I'd place this map very high in a *How to dodge and two shot a cyber.* list. This of course, will be challenging for those who have not dealt with multiple cybers active at the same time. Its called Fireblue palace... So I won't delve into the design that much, it is; however, built in a void and felt like something out of a platform game to me, which is fitting for the gimmick. As others mentioned, the viles are the key difficulty here. Taking them out takes priority over the cybers and will require precision. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

Oh man, I fell behind hard. MAP14 - “El Dorado” by Albertoni. An interesting map that uses the alternate-reality theme, though not much can be said about the looks, the gameplay for the most part, was enjoyable. Nothing too threatening except maybe the final encounter. Plenty of secrets here, and they provide an overabundance of powerups, which makes all the fights tame. I think half the secrets being removed would prove to be much better, ten is too much for it's size. MAP15 - “Megiddo III” by A2Rob, Paul977, Pegleg, Scotty. This one kicked my ass, a reminder of how much I struggle with slaugher-esque encounters. Right off the bat, the player can tell this is gonna be a ride. The architecture oozes ominous vibes, a feeling I only felt from Sunder and Sunlust. Adding to the fact that you start with literally every weapon in the game, you know this might get brutal. I started with the left portal to the RSK, and it seemed rather easy at first, which made me doubt that this won't be that hard after all. It does get a bit rough in a steady pace, but nothing lethal. But once I hit that switch near the megasphere and it opened the mastermind and the viles, I panicked and botched my BFGs, scoring my first death. It's not too bad if you have a cool head, most of the times the mastermind won't see you while you take care of everything. The ender with the double cyber is even more lax than the previous encounter, wasn't too bad. My second choice was the long path with the invisible walls featuring the rev/imp combo. Surprisingly, I didn't die here at all, except at the last encounter. I actually made it harder on myself here, I thought I was locked with all these knights, revs and turret mancs, and came to the conclusion I had to strafe between them. (I blame you sadistic slaughter authors.) After dying three times because of being bad at tight spaces, I noticed it wasn't locked and I simply crowded them up at the tunnel and spammed rockets. And the last one, which was the easiest, and more straight-forward game play. (Except that instantpop knights and revs in your face.) This definitely should have been played first, when comparing the other two. I kept damaging myself like a dolt on the harmful tar here, a small price for clearing everything. On it's .own, it's a decent piece that might be overshadowed by the other two sectors. The final chapter can get out of hand quickly with all these pain elementals, even when spamming BFG. I did run out of cells here, so it was a nightmare clearing the rest after dying twice. (Didn't notice the cells beside the cyberdemon.) The last act featured a horde of revs and viles, but it's no threat with all the space you have, a simple circle strafe is enough to finish them off. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

Here's a spooky altar. Screenshot taken in "dark" lighting mode, enhances the sector effects.

Deciding which texture to use, always results in an inner conflict. This monologue always happens:- My brain: Texture A compliments the atmosphere here, and makes sense since it also fits the theme. My heart: Not feeling it man, too dark. Needs to be a bit colorful, texture B is better. My brain: No, that breaks the consistency, it stands out from the rest. My heart: Who cares? Doom has always been colorful. My brain: Yes, but it wasn't over the top and it used abstractness for the player's imagination, which makes sense. My heart: Doom makes sense? My brain: Really? That circular argument again? My heart: Fine, texture A it is. My brain: Good. My heart: ... My brain: ... My heart: I still believe texture B is better. My brain: MOTHERF

So I just finished playing the map on UV, and it was surprisingly challenging in some parts. First of all, I liked the pacing here. Usually, people who do large maps with high monster count as their first effort in mapping, always turn out stale and tedious, and there is none here. You managed to make the ammo tight, but fair, which is superb. Design wise, it feels like a vanilla map, and I think you intended it to be that way, so I won't nitpick. I enjoyed most of the early combat, (That eight chaingunner in the opener though.) till I reached the aftermath of the water area. Killing two barons with a shotgun is always grindy to me, and it slows the pacing tremendously. You did make up for it with that RL section though, not sure if it was your intention to shift the gears from 1 then back to 5 like that. I did end up killing myself here because of one sneaky imp escaping my vision and crawled behind me, resulting in a good ol' rocket to my face. Fast forward to the tech area with the double vile and zombiemen, I disliked this part, it was a simple case of door combat for me here. The slime area gave me "Downtown" vibes, at least for me with those vertical advantaged revs and the buildings. I did find a missing texture here when I was playing on GZdoom (I checked glboom and it gave HoM effect.) I think you were too generous with the double mega-armor here, too much comfort zone for the player, for this difficulty in my opinion. The ending featured the classic circle strafe and kill everything, plus the damaging floor which almost got me killed because my suit ran out, as well as a 50/50 choice that affects the ender. (The door/raise floor switches.) Normally, I don't like 50/50 that impacts gameplay in a substantial way; however, this fell in the "deal with it" area more, since the player is fully equipped by then, which is good. Overall, I enjoyed most of it. A strong debut there, Horus.

Before I give my thoughts on the next maps, I would like to apologize for the authors of the last few maps for my lackluster writing. A case of flu can be quite effective and disorienting. MAP12 - “Beautiful Agony” by sincity2100. I loved the beginning of this map, it's hectic, but not over the top. Yes, there are a lot of hitscanners to deal with; however, the player gets both the SSG and RL, as well as a lot of space to dodge projectile-based monsters. I'm not ashamed to say that I died twice in the opener, a highroll combo from a revenant and a shotgunner is nasty after all. The Egyptian aesthetic here is, unfortunately underwhelming. (Slight rant.) Allow me to elaborate further, the beige color here is too overused. Ancient Egyptians were actually quite colorful, yes beige was mostly used in their architecture, but that was the outside not the inner. The most notable colors of white and gold is completely overlooked. I will give props for the stock doom texture used as ceiling here, it fits for the most part. (Yes, blue was used by Egyptians, royalty in particular.) I didn't mention this in the opener map, simply because it was multi-themed and not primarily Egyptian. This is a critique on the textures more than the map, so I'll stop there. As mentioned above by many club members, the overall game play is very symmetrical after the opener, and it does bring the map down a level. Symmetry is fine, but if it's half the map, it's boring. The player knows what he will encounter because of it, making the game play unexciting. Regrettably, this is another map that's all meat in the beginning and bones in the end. I will say, that the double vile teleport near the YSK could be dangerous, if you get stuck. The same thing can be said with the final encounter with the multiple revs and vile. MAP13 - “Tomb of Solitude” by dt_. Ah, an atmosphere map, my favorite type, brings forth the "horror" aspect in Doom. While it's cliche, the opener starts without any monsters and you are left alone with the suspense and admiring the scenery in front of you. You venture deeper into the ancient ruins, tension rising as you don't know when the demons will ambush you. The shotgun pickup killed the mood tho, I thought the author would've made it less predictable. The combat remains the same throughout the entire map, with hidden demons in corners or sneak attacking the player. Some of them worked well as horror elements, the berserk trap was the highlight of them. Nothing too lethal here, until you reach the final area. A demonic twisted ancient spherical room that screams "Boss encounter" vibes, and it was. Triple cyberdemon with a decent amount of hell-spawn warping in at random. I didn't find the BSK, so I caused a lot of infighting to chip away at the cyberdemons. The design alone is top-notch., which speaks about the mapper's experience. The usage of the dark brick with a slight tint of green along the skulls and bones in the deeper sectors was my favorite part, looked like a genuine aged tomb for executed prisoners. Overall, a nice atmosphere map that ended with a bang. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

MAP11 - “Terramin” by P1NKAC1D. I like the creativity here, a tech base that acts as the headquarters of adventurous archaeologists traversing a cavernous mine, followed by an ancient Egyptian runes. The problem lies with the gameplay as others mentioned, it felt very repetitive killing the imp/demon combo, and the multiple hell knights in the later stages of the map. Almost full health and armor throughout the entire map, nothing threatening here. It's a shame how the game play completely kills the map for me, as I really enjoyed the multi-theme going on here. Still, a very impressive map for someone who started mapping. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

MAP09 - “Scarlet Syzygy” by Xyzzy01. Ah, what a beautiful little red map we have here. I never chainsawed a vile before, and now I have. I can see a lot of people disregarding the map for it's chainsaw combat, but it's plainly obvious that's the gimmick since you meet Archie as the first monster once you pick it up. Better be fast with him though, because a good amount of souls will flank you soon enough. You do get weapons later on, but the player will still find himself using the chainsaw most of the times. Cool short map that acts as a breather for the player. MAP10 - “A Partner of the 49th Day” by Kurashiki. I did not expect to see something of this caliber here, and I'm not complaining. This is the grandest and most detailed map so far, and it packs a punch as well. If Map07 is considered as an introduction to beginner slaughter, then I'd put this at the beginning to intermediate level. As gaspe mentioned, this felt like a lighter version of Deus Vult, and I fully agree on that. But do not be alarmed, the map starts off very light-hearted and then it cranks up the difficulty step by step. RL is the key to victory here, so practice your shots and don't get splash damaged. Also, are the secrets well-hidden or is it just me? I was only able to find the SSG and the megasphere ones. The cathedral area is the highlight for me, that encounter was more brutal than the one before the exit, definitely died a few times. There's some backtracking here between the two main areas, additionally there are line portals here that might confuse your navigation when you look into the automap. (Just a heads up for those who get lost easily.) After I finished the map, I went back to look into the fireblu switches and well.... It's quite something alright... That sector will be stuck in my head for a while now, thanks author. In conclusion, this is tied with Scotty's map as my favorites so far. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

MAP08 - “The Crow Comes Last” by Angry Saint. A rough start in this one, multiple shotgunners can be very deadly if left unchecked for too long. Unfortunately, all that's left is a wolf without fangs when you're done with the starting sequence. For all that grandeur in size and clean presentation, the map falls short with the stale gameplay. The traps were very predictable, even the instant pop-ups served no threat. The progression was decent, you already have a good grasp of the entire map when you look once in the automap. I thought maybe a change in geometry will happen, but I was wrong. I think this map would be better off if it was shorter in length, due to it's linearity and open in nature. Death Counter:- Rankings:-

Well, look no further to this.... rather interesting thing I made not so long ago, full of amateur mistakes of course.