The DWmegawad Club plays: Hellbound

rileymartin said:

4. Mouselook is recommended by the author. There is some insane verticality in a few of the maps and it helps to know where the hell you're falling to.

I'm out. There's no looking up and down in Doom, dagnabbit!


(also, "large WAD" is a problem, given my lack of free time this month)

I didn't really have any big problems with no mouselook. And if you haven't played it, you should give it a try. Iirc the first maps aren't too big.

MAP02 - Canal Road - Difficulty: Easy

"Your path leads you through the treacherous canals, now overrun with undead and demons. Beware of the water below, industrial waste is known to be flushed into it. That UAC base is nearby, hopefully it is able to hold the invasion and you can meet some reinforcements there."

A smooth transition and a direct thematic continuation from map01. There is more exploration and height variation here and quite a few ways to approach the map. You have the option of exploring the sewer canals below or taking the "clean" way up above with the occasional descent to grab an objective, such as the red key. I grabbed the Chainsaw to the right early on and made good use of it. Hey, why not, it's one of the few maps where it can be useful. There's also a secret Berserk in the main building with 4 floors so the melee option is there if that's your thing. There's a neat little puzzle secret in the storage room to the left that can be unlocked from the computer room behind the blue door by hitting the correct coloured panels. The V-Sphere is a bit strange to have there but it can be used quite well with the Berserk to quickly run back and punch out the Hell Knights and Demons guarding the red key.

Just like in Doom 2, the SSG is acquired in map02 and is useful in the triple Revenant area before the exit, since rocket ammo is still quite sparse. Another enjoyable map taking place in a desolate city block. I believe the midi is from Duke3D's e3m1. Oh, and for some reason I really like this Sergeant apartment with the fireplace that you can't access.

Alright, here we go. I played the first 10 maps or so of Hellbound not long after it came out, and for the most part quite enjoyed the experience. However, as often happens, that playthrough was interrupted by outside factors, and since that time I've been hoping to see the WAD as a DWMC feature, that I might have a convenient venue for playing/completing it properly.

Going from that partial earlier playthrough, I'd say that Hellbound's primary strengths are in aesthetic presentation and atmosphere, and the overall impression is of a mapset with its head and heart set staunchly in a 200X period of PWADing, though delivered with a very modern voice. While in terms of shape and architecture a lot of what's seen here is in a traditional/familiar Almian idiom, the set uses some of the most attractive/non-tacky realistic/representationalist visual design that I've seen, features consistently engrossing mood-lighting (generally speaking, modern authors seem hesitant to use darkness as freely as Z86 does in some of these), and excellent usage of stock Doom/Doom II textures. Physical scale is generally spacious/tall, just to my liking, and each map is fairly expansive, thus representing a goodly chunk of playtime, another reason why I wanted to play it via DWMC (i.e. 1 map a day representing a hearty, filling portion). Action, from what I've seen, is generally framed in a more 'classic' incidental way punctuated by traps and straightforward repopulations, with more of a mind towards cinematic/diegetic placement than anything resembling proper choreography or conceptual combat (and setpiecery has thus far been very rare). Bodycounts are fairly high, perhaps in line with the letter of modern expectations, but given the size of levels overall density is seldom really thick, and classic framing means that 'big' encounters are often high-monster/low-threat; for the most part this struck me as satisfyingly bloody in a very leisurely/unpretentious way, though I can certainly see how some would find it dull. I've also read/heard a number of worrying reports about symmetry becoming more and more of a noticeable issue in later levels (author fatigue, maybe?), and the age-old pistol-start snare of 'weapons that make things go faster being hidden in secrets' is definitely in attendance to some degree, so just how well the overall package gels together and maintains momentum over the 30+ map duration remains to be seen.

Now to see if all of that rot I just babbled out actually holds up to a replay. This will be what I'd consider a leisure playthrough of a leisure mapset, and so this time it's Eternity, UV, pistol-starts, mouselook (been a while!), saving if I feel like it since maps are on the longer side (though I will probably forget most of the time).

Map 01 -- Apartments - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
This introductory map made a strong positive impression on me on the first play, and that has held up pretty well, it seems. It does away to a greater or lesser degree with all of the tired textbook map 01 conventions which have spanned generations, and yet is still very credibly framed and presented as a map 01, rather laying all of the cards on the table from the get go, something that's important in adventure-style WADs or those that make a special effort to create a sense of journey. The sense of mood and place is front and center from the moment the game begins, with the slow but instantly portentous buildup of "Opening to Hell" used as the very first BGM track, and the player character's vision clearing to show a tidy apartment illuminated moments before by fluorescent bulbs. Story text or no, it's immediately impressed upon you that something horrible is afoot, but all's quiet for now. Pistol in hand (I like to imagine Doomguy sleeps with it under his pillow), you can putter around in your quarters to suit up with a flak jacket and some extra ammo; looking out the windows shows streetlamps barely holding back the inky folds of a very dark night, and a street that ominously seems as still as the grave. Upon stepping out your door, you're immediately accosted by a possessed corpse staggering down the hallway. After putting a bullet in his brain, you find that the body is that of your landlord ("never been easier to pull the trigger", you mutter to yourself). Other than that momentary engagement, the game's opening minutes are likely spent poking around in neighboring apartments, finding the occupants slaughtered and taking in more views of the street and neighboring alleys, where if you look closely hints as to the gruesome goings-on are barely visible just out of shot. Action proper doesn't begin until the breaker blows and you are assaulted by a literal closetfull of imps upon reaching for the blue card in the landlord's room.

All of this can play out in a matter of seconds if you're in a rush, of course, but as presented I think it's a very credible stab at establishing suspense and an air of things going terribly wrong, especially in idtech1, and especially in contrast to the far more common trope of having a very snappy, upbeat, even cheerful offering in the 01 slot. This is not just an angle that's limited to the opening sequence, either--throughout the level's runtime (which, being on the short side of 'medium', is again a goliath by traditional slot 01 standards), there is consistent and concerted effort in establishing a sense of disorientation and dread, with the very downbeat setting of gloomy streets littered with corpses and the shadowy interiors of apartment buildings crawling with things all too lively presenting a contrast between open (if elementary) combat and more trap-oriented fare. In abstract, all of the encounter design and thing placement here is quite basic--shotgun vs. small groups of mostly weak enemies, a bit of chaingun at the tail-end, and a secret RL + 3 rounds which reads more like a leg-up for the next map than of particular moment in this one--but the simple placements synergize smoothly with the setting and sense of cinema. Zombies roam the streets and cluster together in dark alleys. Creatures burst out of the drywall in the foyer of the apartment building across the street from yours, and a bevy of lost souls emerge from sheets of flame in the reception area. Upstairs the rolling power failures see specters and a few others taking advantage of the visual interference to try to overwhelm you, and upon reaching the red keycard sitting on the rim of someone's balcony (which is visually teased very early on if you were bothering to look out of the windows in your own building, incidentally) you can hop over the rim back to the street below to engage the arachnotrons now primed to scour the streets with plasma.

It's only two 'trons, of course, and you've more than enough space to move. For that matter, there's absolutely nothing done to stop you from riding the lift back downstairs and fighting them through the building's door, if you like. All of the outdoor gunfighting is basic cover and/or charge stuff where you'll only take much damage if you stand out in the open and constantly miss your shots like a first-timer from the depths of 1994. The traps only sting if you panic (though of course trying to get you to panic because things like that often don't happen in map 01 is precisely what they seem to aim for!) And in actual fact, none of this stuff really scares or unnerves me--my days of being frightened by imps and specters sidling up to me in the dark are long behind me. Still, I appreciate the thought and care shown in the pacing here, and the dedication to the level's concept of presenting your initial brushes with Hell's forces as something that could credibly be the first 10 minutes of an apocalypse horror/thriller movie. In a sense, you could say that the mostly simple action is carried by and lent flavor through the way the setting is presented, which seems to be a common thing with Hellbound from what I've seen thus far--monsters and encounters more often fill a narrative/cinematic function than being particularly good at applying pressure (and yes, sometimes they're pretty evidently just there as grist for the feedback loop, so you can shoot shit). Like a lot of our recent playthroughs, this is more than a little old-fashioned in pitch, it must be said. Given the extra bloodiness and in deference to the author's skill at painting a scene with sectors and vertices, it's something I personally find genuinely charming rather than merely quaint; so far so good.

MAP02: Canal Road

This one has an 'inner city' feel to it, tall buildings separated by walkways and canals of damaging slime - the author's note about them containing "industrial waste" paints a pretty bleak picture of the future that meshes well with the gloomy atmosphere and the choice of one of Duke Nukem 3D's more atmospheric music tracks. What's interesting is that, although the map largely feels enclosed and claustrophobic, the bulk of its real estate is given over to the open-air canals that the player is largely free to navigate - what gives it that sense of being closed-in is the way the player's movement is guided along narrow paths, either the elevated walkways above the slime or the canal-level paths with a wall on one side and an environmental hazard on the other. The elevator bridges that allow the canals to be crossed in a few places could have been designed as a puzzle but instead they're a straightforward tool of exploration and navigation; your objectives are key-based and laid out clearly for you, rather than being a matter of manipulating geometry until something happens. And there are more of the heavy hitters present here, but it's still mostly a matter of carving your way through imps, soldiers, and demons - there's enough to keep the pressure on, but aside from a wave of teleporting Hell-flesh down toward the red key, nothing to really mash the player's panic buttons.

map02 - fda

what a fantastic map. the opening shot of the canal bridge and the MIDI is just brilliant. the map loops around so you find yourself back at places you recognise and find new shortcuts and doors opening in those familiar places, ala Dark Souls - great stuff. the combat is incidental but never feels dull, apart from the HK/demon spawn in (i stupidly shot the barrels before the demons ascended from their pits) which i just ran past mostly. i particularly liked the first and second battles around the RK area.

this is the first map where vertical aiming might be useful, especially for the chaingunner and co on top of one of the buildings (in my demo you cant actually see him unless you have the alt-hud on) and if you choose to descend one of the steeper steps into the canal it can be quite tricky to see and shoot any enemies, but we were warned so im not going to gripe about it!

MAP02: I really like the theme of this map, though I feel the author could have done something better with it. Actually it's quite similar to MAP01 approach of flat walls pasted with the textures of bricks and windows to make the scenery, but I assume that MAP02 is really old like MAP01 so that's why it looks somehow simple. It's nice how you can freely navigate the map and choose how to tackle it. The action was also better here, and the restricted spaces you have to move made the things more exciting without being too harsh. The highlight in the combats is the red key ambush, that can also be neutralized if you solve a very simple puzzle.

Map 2 - Canal Road

Moving on from the apartments and the city street, we find out selves battling away in the canal, a sort of slums/sewer hybrid, with all the housing situated near industrial waste rivers. The Duke 3D music helps add to the atmosphere, we've escaped the horror of living through the start of the invasion, and moving onto exploring the area, trying to find out goal. The level doesn't seem to be as dark as the previous, but we're still under the ominous night time sky.

The combat mostly consists of mowing down low level critters found walking around the edges of swimming around the filth, with a few bruisers placed to spice things up. The RL secret was a nice touch, although I didn't spend the time solving the puzzle until after I had finished with most of the level, so the invul sphere wasn't really needed but it was a nice touch.

Spent way too long trying to find out how to access the blue key, took me a few minutes before I realised one of the indents was actually a door. The elevator section leading up to the blue key was strange, I'm not sure whether I find it cute or annoying, especially how it doesn't seem to fit any sort of aesthetic the rest of the level would be creating. But that doesn't detract from what is still a fun map.

Map02 - Canal Road
Difficulty - UV
Time - 10:57

More brick walls, but with sewage. You have a choice of fighting the monsters on the paths above or in the brown water below. I found the music fitting for this level (first map of episode 3 from DN3D if I remember correctly). An odd standout in this map is the switch secret. This is the only level you'll see something like that in this wad.

It's not a very difficult map overall, only real big encounter happens near the end of the level with a group of demons and hell knights guarding the red key. If you figure out the switch secret, the invulnerability orb makes this fight effortless.

MAP02 - “Canal Road”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous

Interesting choice but I guess canals are always a neat place to explore. Felt more like a river walk though except with railings. There are a lot of them. I mean A LOT of them. Safety first here in doom world, heh.

This area was a little more square-ish than I'd like. Not very easy on the eyes after a while but the lighting helps.




Most the time your too busy killing things across the way to really notice the lack of detail and design variation. Which makes navigation only slightly problematic since it's so small. For instance, there are a few different platform bridges and eventually you can use the blue key to open up access to both of the bigger ones. Before I did though, I got turned around and thought I was in the same place just repopulated with enemies. Both areas looked exactly the same and I was too busy dealing with all of the chaingunners on the other side to really pause and take in my surroundings.

It's easy to get discombobulated with the two inner elevator shafts too as they can be a little tricky to navigate at first. Initially I went up way too quickly and was boxed in and destroyed by imps and pinkies. Whoops. Neat concept though to reach the roof by using the elevator system after going through the lower access door. Kind of like a sewer maintenance entrance. On my second attempt I lowered the elevator a bunch of times and you can actually feed yourself the wandering monsters from above that you can't see. Huh. Kinda cool.

Classic chainsaw pick-up with pinkie ambush. Not too crazy but at least it happened in an open area which makes things a little harder to saw through without getting bit from the side. I went with the corner method.




Suprise! A Rev in the data control room! I like the simple challenges sometimes like the puzzle to get the secret RL and invulnerability sphere by activating the correct consoles here.

Glad there were enough rad suits to help out. Hugging the walls on the small pathways below would become tiresome after a while.




The last week I've been playing through Valiant and reading along with everyone's DWMC thoughts, so it felt VERY satisfying just to grab a red key and not be eviscerated immediately. The pinkie/HK teleport action came before hand and not after. I guess the invulnerability sphere could be used here but it didn't seem that necessary if you had a rad suit on and quick feet.

The RK portion could have been a little bigger and different to mix up some of the feel of this map but oh well. 3 revs was plenty I suppose for another shorter map that amps up the pace a little bit. Another great choice of music as well. Hope that holds up throughout this wad. Liking things so far but I hope it gets killer soon.

MAP02: Canal Road
Difficulty - UV
Time - 16:06

This map confused me. So many Doors which needed the Blue Key. The Setting changed from a little Town to a bigger sewage city. I searched too long for the red Key cause I always turned right before it. Also this Map feeled like it was perfectly balanced for me. Every time i was near dead i found and medkit :D Again good Lighting and monster placement. And Again a Megawad which gives you the SSG on Level 2...

MAP02 - “Canal Road”
Too many nobles which serve little purpose but to drag the gameplay down, most notably at the end and the red key trap. The atmosphere and visuals are pretty decent and the rest of the combat and progression is okay.

Ahhhh! I found an easter egg in map 03. Wonder if anyone else will find it. (No cheating!)

Sad I could only find 2 of the 4 actual secrets :(

MAP03: The view near the start of the docks and the sea (maybe?) was cool since you come from a map that takes place in canals. We also start to explore some UAC facilities. The atmosphere was good and the combats were suitable enough, even if I dind't find the secret SSG. Worst thing about the map is that for the most is made of long ass corridors, and I remember a comment by rdwpa that was about "detail made of computer panels put inside walls everywhere" or something like that, which fits well how the map looks. I liked the crate storage, and the scrolling effect was rather cute.

MAP03 Testing Chambers

Not much to it aside from the rather nice Evilution feel going on. The fake-out right after the terminal was kinda cool, too bad the teleport closets were constructed in a way to impeded maxers. I'm talking about them being rectangular to the point where it's easy for an enemy to not teleport in. This happens again in the big chamber accessible after the ambush, but much later on once I had keys. The walkways above it serve as a hub, and I go south first to the cargo bay which is also quite typical. The yellow key was very easy to grab. I wonder if I should up the difficulty setting since I don't remember it being this easy.

Going north past the yellow doors is a somewhat frustrating segment. Playing hide and seek with the goddamn chaingunners can be rough, and you can run over the computer terminals. The blue key doesn't take too much effort though. Getting the red key after that took a bit more effort though. The red key is used for the central area where there's a final teleport ambush to be had, before taking a teleporter straight to the exit. Play it however you want, I'm sure that part is actually not hard on any setting.

MAP03 - Testing Chambers - Difficulty: Easy

"Arriving at the base you only find a few wandering zombies. No guards outside, dead crew inside. Looks like no reinforcements again. The place was invaded from the inside. You wonder what's beyond those metal detectors you were never admitted past..."

After fighting your way through the city streets you finally make it to a UAC facility that's likely to be the source of the invasion in your neighbourhood. In the center you find a large teleporter that starts pumping out hellspawn as you activate it from the red door control room. This is largely an indoor techbase map but there's a cool background view of what appears to be a dock with some shipping crates nearby. There's some impressive attention to detail and variety here, with the stated metal detectors being a cool way of showing that this is a highly secured facility. Too bad everything invaded from the inside and all the security personnel were killed and zombified. The rest of the base is generally what's expected from the setting with computer rooms and a dark warehouse crate area. Speaking of dark, the author is not afraid to use low brightness throughout most of the map, except for the large computer rooms where the power is still functioning. The warehouse in particular is quite dark even when using Bright lighting mode in QZDoom. I think it's great for atmosphere and the combat is not harsh enough to make the reduced visibility frustrating. Your are also given some useful night vision goggles that make grabbing the yellow key hidden among the crates easier.

One part I really like is the surprise setpiece fight after you check in at security. An evil eye protal activates from behind the door and floods the hallway with Imps and Demons leading to some claughstrophobic SSG, or Berserk, action where you create space to move by carving through the meat. The final mass teleport is mostly cinematic in nature as baiting infighting is easy before jumping down for some cleanup.

Had to take off October due to work getting busy, but time to come back and see what all the hubbub about this mapset is. Can't promise I'll make it all the way through, I see that ~300 monster counts seem to be the norm, and plenty of 500-600 ones near the end.

Zdoom (might switch to GZDoom if the levels get too laggy), UV, pistol starts for now, saving/reloading, mouselook.

MAP01: Apartments
100% kills, 2/3 secrets

A decent opener, though definitely on the long side... I think most normal MAP01s would've ended around reading the outdoors for the first time. Not necessarily a bad thing, mind, but given how I'm already worried about this being a slogfest it's a bit worrisome. The aesthetic is decent, good mix of representationalist detail along with some more classic Doom-esque abstractness, though it's overall too brown for my taste. Gameplay is pretty standard... and of course I have to chuckle at rileymartin for saying to not expect much trap-based gameplay only for the first freaking key to be a trap. Heh.

Map 02 -- Canal Road - 100% Kills / 100% Secrets
Another bracing constitutional out in the night air here, taking place in an urban residential block laced with waterworks. Between the moonlit sky, the network of crisscrossing footways lined with posted foglights, and occasional rays of lamplight or firelight spilling out of the windows of various cozy little apartments lining the waterway, it would almost be romantic. Almost. In reality, it's more like a post-apocalyptic Dickensian nightmare, the air hanging heavy with the mingled stench of sewage and blood, the beasts stalking the alleyways and sloshing noisily through the waste-flows below anything but metaphorical.

As with map 01 prior, again I felt that Z86 did a commendable job with establishing a sense of place here, a unique (in mapset context) environment that at once seems a natural continuation of and inflection on the theme of the opening map while introducing a different type of layout/progression, all while adhering neatly to traditional early-game strictures of setting (i.e. very credible or 'mundane' earthly settings, albeit overrun by hellspawn)--easier said than done. Walking about the place and seeing the sights, I reckon it's pretty easy to notice that most of the construction is very orthogonal in nature (as was also the case in map 01), with blocky buildings and squarish yards under awnings set along and amongst a lattice of long, narrow, occasionally doglegged railed walkways connecting at right angles, but at no point did I feel that this was hamstringing the artistic flair here; the regular geometry is a credible choice given the setting, and the layout itself has a lot of character independent of its humble vestments. That this is one of the set's older maps is perhaps evidenced to some significant degree by this mostly unswerving grid-based blueprint and the occasional broad unbroken expanse of neatly textured but otherwise featureless wall around the map periphery (perhaps most noticeable over by the red key's dead end), but it has been cleaned up and inflected on with a classy evening lighting scheme and small diegetic details ala the much-vaunted 'fireplace apartment.'

Cosmetics aside, in this map Z86's predilection towards 'realistic' design is expressed through a bevy of moving parts, bits of the environment that can be interacted with at will in an intuitive way, ala being able to raise and lower canal bridges as you see fit. Notably, the great majority of this interactivity is entirely superfluous to actual level progression--I believe the only bit of machinery you absolutely need to operate is the genny switch which lowers the blue keycard to the floor of the rooftop where it's found--which in this case I think highlights them as signature features of the level all the more. Some of the author's oddly disjunctive attitude towards implementing secrets also begins to become evident here, with simple pushwall/item-closet setups contrasting with a short optional sidequest to acquire the rocket launcher (and a V-sphere that's presumably good for.....something) by way of operating color-coded computer consoles in the control center of the central blockhouse in order to open the storeroom doors remotely. There is something about this sort of very straightfaced representational design, in contrast with the appearance of things like fireplaces and beds and bathrooms and the like, that strikes me as being kindred to an older era of PWAD design (and Z86's list of major influences in the textfile seems to bear this out), though the overall level of visual polish and the author's seemingly instinctive understanding that Doom generally needs to maintain some level of depictive abstraction in order to function from a gamefeel standpoint make for a cleaner, smoother presentation than that shown by many of its stylistic forebears. It's a known style, but one that has tended to be difficult to do well, and that the author handles it so capably (from what I've seen thus far) is a large factor in the mapset capturing my interest to the degree that it has.

Action here, as aforesaid, reads like a natural extension of what was seen in map 01, shotgun + chaingun skirmishing against milling gangs of zombies, pecks of imps, and packs of pinkies, with the occasional mid-tier monster 'for emphasis' and a number of spooky specters roaming free in the canals in hopes of catching you offguard at a bad moment (and they do blend in quite well against this particular texture scheme at this generally dim light level). The two most salient characteristics of the main play area are the potentially long crossfires and the upper level/lower level dichotomy, with the lower level naturally being safer from an exposure standpoint but kept in check by the need to wear a haz suit (of which there are only a handful) in order to navigate them freely. Excepting the chainsaw scene (again, very unabashedly 'classic', that), in this map's case there really are few if any real traps, the main concern for most players probably being hitscan attrition, which can be fairly pronounced if you miss the green armor vest in the riverside shop near the start point, though the strangely kinetic layout of the blockhouse building, built around a number of multi-level lifts, does allow monsters to path around in some really uncanny ways. Monsters are relatively free to roam throughout, and can even change levels at a couple of points, though there appear to be a handful of blocking lines in place to preclude total mobility (presumably because almost all of them hear you the first time you fire a shot), primarily separating the northern and southern halves of the level, it seems.

It's simple fare and generally requires no particular discipline or refined tactic in order to power through; most of the interest comes not from the particulars of fights per se but from the non-linearity of the early game and from the simple affordances of being allowed to choose when/where to fight, though from pistol-start the early mapslot means a limited arsenal and thus somewhat limited options in that regard. The short areas behind the key-locked doors (esp. the red ones) feel significantly less vibrant in character--here it feels more like just shooting mid-tiers in some hallways--which I suppose might further illustrate just how much Hellbound seems to rely on its sense of setting. It will be interesting to see how Z86 handles more abstract/supernatural settings in the lategame (since to all appearances Hellbound apparently follows the traditional Earth/tech -- Shores of Hell -- Hell thematic progression) if that's so, but for now I'm still quite satisfied with what we're seeing.

Magnusblitz said:

Had to take off October due to work getting busy, but time to come back and see what all the hubbub about this mapset is. Can't promise I'll make it all the way through, I see that ~300 monster counts seem to be the norm, and plenty of 500-600 ones near the end.

Haha, map29 made even glBoom+ lag significantly at times in 640x480. Really curious about how people's systems end up handling that one.

When I IDCLEV'd to check out opening shots and monster counts back when this first came out, map 29 used to crash Eternity outright and show significant framerate hits in most software-rendering and some GL ports (though GZDoom seemed to handle it just fine, oddly, as it's usually the temperamental one in my experience). I haven't moved around the map much in order to prevent self-spoilers, of course, but here in the final version (and on a newer, much stronger PC) it still seems to show some minor framerate drop, so we'll see, I guess. I think the laggiest thing I've played in recent years was certain brief segments/angles of Winter's Fury....surely it couldn't be any worse than that?

MAP03: Testing Chambers

There are some decidedly old-school aesthetics on display here as the player passes from Doom II cityscapes into the bowels of a UAC base that calls to mind the familiar corridors and computer rooms of Doom's first episode, all wrapped up in the WAD author's own style, layout tendencies, and fondness for representational construction - the security sensors at the entrance to the base, for example, serve little purpose as an obstacle, but 'ground' the map in a sense of how things work, how things should be. Within, there's the WAD's first major ambush as imps and demons are gleefully shovelled into a blocked corridor behind and around the player, though supplies in that room are plentiful, and after a quick scramble along a ventilation duct, you're into the meat of the level, consisting of a vast octagonal chamber around which the various subsections of the map - warehouse, the titular testing chambers, and finally the underground power and utility rooms - are arranged like spokes.

Between the obvious hubspoke layout and the large laboratory numbers set into the floor, there are few surprises in store for the player here, though opposition continuous to escalate and the near-omnipresent gloom makes the small fry more of a threat than they otherwise might be. A light amplification visor is provided early on and the player is given a choice of which of the various subsections would most benefit from its use, or, I suppose, is encourage to push through as much of the map as possible before before the advantage it provides fades. The mix-and-match horde in the central chamber provide opportunities for infighting; I largely ignored that room until I'd collected the red key, at which point I spent a little time running laps to try and coax the quarrelsome demons into walking fire over each other and doing my work for me.

rdwpa said:

Haha, map29 made even glBoom+ lag significantly at times in 640x480. Really curious about how people's systems end up handling that one.

Ah yes, Lagscension. GLBoom+ is mostly alright for me with dropping to ~40 at worst while GZDoom/Zandro can get FPS drops in the 20's or even high teens. Overall it's up there with Sunlust map28 and Sunder 14 as far as demanding maps go. The author even had to scrap the original version and add it as a bonus wad.

Map 3 - Testing Chambers
Coming from the Canals we stumble across the UAC facility we've been looking for. After walking past the docks and taking care of the shotgun toting guards, we make our way into the facility. The opening room soon floods with monsters, which you escape via the vents, since the main door seems blocked by some infernal contraption.

The facility is made up of the central room, with various computing stations to the sides, a storage room complete with crate maze and lastly the main processing area, where the exit is located. The titular testing of these chambers seems to be teleportation, since a teleporter is located right in the middle of the central room, which also houses the ending fight.

Speaking of combat, the fights are mostly incidental, with a few monster closets opening up hear and there to spice things up. As a whole, it's following the progression of the last few maps, with more monsters and more tougher monsters too. Still nothing too heavy yet though, but that I suppose that doesn't make much narrative sense. Which is one reason why I love this wad, everything plays up to the progression.

MAP03: Testing Chambers
Difficulty - UV
Time - 15:10

wow... this Map is dark. Way too long dark for my taste... the only light amplification visor i found was like something to drink in the hottest deasert. At the End I turned up my brightness... The setting changed from town to a big tech base. Im happy about that cause I dont think a third Map with the brown window Texture would be a good choice..

MAP03 - “Testing Chambers”
gzDoom - UV – Continuous

Off the streets and into an overrun tech base with testing chambers. Lots of chaingunners and Revs throughout this map. The beginning does well inform you of this with 3 at the start and a Rev in your face at the door. Time to stay on your toes here!

Finally we get some varying locations! A welcome change from the brown brick of the entrance area to the polished inside security check point. Quick ambush in a tight lobby hall, then on through a vent shaft where we began roaming through circular halls and computer component work stations. On to checking out torture rooms and various data centers. Tip toeing through flashing hallways with mechanical bits as decoration. Poking around a darkened basement warehouse shipping area. Finally reaching the dirt bottom cave system, alight with flood lights next to connecting tech walls and wire columns mixed in among toxic waste dumping spouts. All in all, good stuff to explore with nice detail that doesn't get in the way.

I didn't mind the dark at all. You just have to pay closer attention instead of running as fast as you can, using twitch muscles to shoot anything that moves. The darkness forces you to slow down, listen and take in your surroundings before moving head long in to an ambush. Made exploring in a slower fashion more rewarding that way. Besides, it wasn't that dark. The warehouse and blinking hallway were the only sections that were truly a visually limiting challenge. Even still, those parts were short and you got night vision to deal with them anyways. So, meh. No big deal IMO. Just adds to the atmosphere and slightly forces a play style change.

Also getting some actual use out of a night vision pick up for once was great. It really did make the whole warehouse section MUCH more enjoyable.

My favorite part of the map was the big central pit that had the teleporting mob at the end of the map if you decided to flip the RK switch in the little watch station above. Always fun to circle around a bunch of baddies to get them to in fight and there’s plenty of free space for that. It's not necessary but it is nice to have the option as you could stay up top (like a sissy) or jump down and deal with things (like a boss). Your reward is a nice soul sphere for the next map and a handy teleport back to the end.

Sooooo....

Did anyone else find this unmarked secret?

map03 - fda

pretty fun little level - the imp/demon/spectre warp-in got me good the first time. this map actually reminded me of Eternal 01 for some reason. Z86, once again, not afraid to use darkness, e.g. in the box factory downstairs :p

MAP03 - “Testing Chambers”

Hmm this was a little too slow for my liking, I wasn't overly trouble by any part of this map except for being low on ammo most of the time. The teleport trap just past the base entrance can be skipped very easily.
Overall again the visuals and atmosphere are pretty spot on, though it would be nice to tackle some of the areas a little more aggressively, again the use of nobles is a little on the poor side, it would probably have been better to use less hell knights and perhaps add a beserk pack somewhere. Overall it wasn't too bad but I was surprised at the difficulty as I found this easier than a few spots in both map 01 and 02.

https://www.twitch.tv/johnsuitepee/v/98833975 = part 1 of my playthrough, covering maps 01-08. (UV, continuous)

So far so good for this apparent long adventure of a megawad, bar a few small mistakes.

The burning buildings on map 5 could have looked a bit better, the SM on map 08 was poorly placed and so was the choice of a rapid-firing teleporting Baron of Pointlessness/Irritation to Kill. The roof on the underpass of map 1 was also slightly misplaced, meaning the player has to 'bump down' the stairs by hitting the ceiling instead of smoothly going down them more naturally.

I really liked map 7 (based off a Shadow Warrior map apparently; one of many classic FPS games I haven't played!); I don't recall having played any other maps that did a good job of representing a thick "forest" in Doom without using a lot of props.
The level of detail throughout the wad has been quite good; not too much, not too little, just right to observe certain nicely done parts but without being confusing or overbearing.
Gameplay has been basic stuff, with the occasional horde fight. Nothing wrong with that...for now. I do remain in constant fear that Hellbound will start to feel sloggy/boring later on, which I hope will not come to pass.
Was half-expecting the death exit on map 6, due to the mapper mentioning Scythe as a mapping influence. Would have been nice to know that before I decided to be conserve the plasma ammo in that map's end fight though, but oh well!

I look forward to continuing the adventure sometime very soon.... (hopefully tomorrow night)

Map03 - Testing Chambers
Difficulty - UV
Time - 13:52

First proper tech-base map. The central hub area for the map is a large testing chamber with a few branching paths leading to a crate warehouse, two semi identical computer complexes, and finally and underground area where the exit is located. Another visually appealing map, though it is quite dark, especially in the warehouse portion (unless you found the night vision goggles). I'd have to say my favorite area of the map was the beginning actually, which gives you a small view of an urban roadway, and then a bigger view of a small port with some buildings in the background. The entrance to the main area is also really cool.

The beginning and end of the map is where I'd say the most challenge comes from. The beginning ambush in the entrance hallway got me the first few times I played this wad, since your given very little breathing room as you pretty much have to brute force your way through the oncoming demons and imps (the hidden berserk pack in the previous room should help out with that). Despite how dark it is, the rest of the map is pretty straight forward, and the final encounter is pretty easy to strafe around, assuming you can deal with the barrage of undead sergeants.

MAP04: Rather disappointing level overall. Even if somehow basic the previous levels were more compelling with their themes, and with what the levels did with them. The lightning at least remained nice but this was just going through corridors at its worst. And no, pasting details everywhere like that isn't going to make the place more interesting.