Catching Up - Celestin's review thread (now playing: Obituary)

Corruption Complex is a small, dimly-lit techbase with a tiny monster count and a propensity for claustrophobic combat. I've expected this to be a low-ammo survival horror, but you are equipped well to take out small groups of monsters that inhabit this place. The ending is the clear high point, where several revenants and an archvile teleport into the starting room. 

I've had a rather limited exposure to myolden's maps, considering his prolific output in the last couple of years. From the handful of examples I've seen, I know he is a versitile mapper who can make a hard map if he wants to.

Electric Red is the toughest map yet. It boils down to a series of discreet fights that like to lock the player in with monsters (something that was used heavily in myolden's maps from PUSS IX). You know, I've been mostly playing classic or classic-inspired wads recently (Ichinichi, Realm of Chaos, the IWADs), so I did miss this modern approach to combat. You'll need the blue key that unlocks the blue skull and red key to open the way to the exit. As I've said, most of the fights are teleport ambushes that hit hard due to limited space, with the rocket launcher fight on your way to the red key being the one I like the most - imps on one side, revenants on the other and some cacodemons to harras you. The blue key trap, with a pulsating corridor, row of hell knights and two balconies of imps was also great. The skull is guarded by hell knights in a pit and revenants with a high ground, it's not bad, but can't match the rest. Save some rockets for an archvile and company that appears by the exit and the map is over.

I know I'm gushing over a map that, while good, is by no means spectacular, it just feels great to return to modern combat design, CC4-tex and the feel of 2010s blockbuster megawad.

Terminal Decay is a dark and disorienting map. The low lighting does a great job of building an atmosphere of a derelict complex, this I think is the map's strongest side. The layout relies heavily on backtracking and opening new passageways - I personally think LordEntr0py went overboard with this and it's easy to get lost, but if you're getting attacked, that means you're going in the right direction. 

Just like Electric Red, Terminal Decay is full of lock-in ambushes in a limited space, where the map fills space with imps and adds a handful of bigger monsters. The ammo balance is tight, I was always running low on ammo, but never to a point I wasn't able to defend myself. I do like how the secrets are handled - look out for blue lights and you should find them all. In the end, it's a solid map, I just wish it wasn't this dark. I think there's a way to balance atmosphere and visibility.

The map starts with a big shoot-out in a frozen courtyard. White snow with blood peeking out, a fiery sky and a BTSX midi are a perfect backdrop. As for the map itself, after sorting out the start, you enter a nearby geothermal power station in search for the yellow key. I don't think this part is bad, though it is clearly a breather between the opening fight and the main event, where you return to the courtyard, press the switch and snow starts to melt, revealing a temple and even more monsters. I really like this one, it's one of those battles where projectiles are flying from every direction, so you have to be really careful dodging and eliminating foes that stand in your way. 

Cold Blood is a brisk 10 minutes map that doesn't waste your time and is satisfying to finish. It's one of the highlights of the wad.

The second episode of Skulltiverse leaves techbases behind and opens up in a ruined temple of a long-forgotten civilisation, buried deep underground. I won't go over the individual fights, because it's mostly the same thing repeated. You've got an arena with a slime pool (thankfully of non-toxic variety, though its colour might suggest otherwise), a central rock and a ledge around it. Every time you pick up a key or press a switch, monsters appear here, almost always featuring a crowd of imps with revenants mixed in and mancubi snipers. Sometimes it adds archviles, sometimes pain elementals, but it mostly revolves around clearing the pit and dealing with the rest. Still a fun map, with detailed layout and texture choice.

Skulltiverse contributors surely do enjoy flooding a map with imps and having you break through their ranks, while fending off bigger demons. 

Necropolis feels a lot like Electric Red with its combat design: lock-in fights and limited mobility. Sometimes it's just getting squeezed by two pairs of hell knights, oftentimes a more spacious arena where imps take up space, while snipers or flyers attack you from the sides. I'm trying to think about more stuff to write, but truth be told, the individual encounters feel less memorable than in MAP09. I was still having fun, but aside from the visuals that strongly invoke Sunlust (a wad I mostly know second-hand, as after the first couple of maps I realised it was way above my capabilities at that time - perhaps one day I'll be confident enough), which speaks volume about myolden's talent, but I doubt Necropolis will stick with me.

The map is named after Horae, the goddesses of seasons in Greek mythology, which explains the shift from summer to winter and back that the map experiences. 

Sanctuary has a lot in common with Ruins, that is, it features a single, open arena where you have to survive several waves of attacking monsters. There are two big waves of enemies, each one changes the floor colour and gives you a new weapon. Winter gives you a plasma rifle, while summer hands you a rocket launcher. I consider the latter to be the harder one, as at one point archviles appear, and they are a pain to isolate in the crowd. There is a secret invuln sphere in the western caves, it's not that hard to find, but this place gets locked out for the majority of the fight. Even after taking out the viles, I was down to 1% health and ended up camping in the northern part of the map, firing my remaining rockets and cells, trying to thin out the crowd enough to make a run for a berserk pack I've left for emergency.

What a map. It has an interesting concept behind it and provides enough thrills to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Now this is art. A crumbling ruin that is furnished with so many pieces of debris that part of a challenge is to figure out what can be used as a makeshift staircase or a passage to another room. While exploring this place and fending off a skeleton crew that inhabits it, you'll stumble upon a FIREBLU portal, transporting you to a past version of the temple - intact and more vicious with combat. The fights, as seen in previous maps, tend to be low on available space, though once you cut through the initial wave, it's much easier to find a circuit to make laps around the room and finish the monsters off with a super shotgun. I have to say, I completely cheesed the fight by the blue key, where you are met with a row of pinkies and several mancubi behind your back - there was a small gap in a wall where I hid and waited for infighting to do its job.

I don't fully understand the progression here, I get that you can warp around using FIREBLU gates, but also through passing random lines, like on the way to the yellow skull key (which I think is impossible to obtain, but I might be missing something). Essentially, there are two skullgates: blue one takes you to MAP16, but there is also the red one in the past, which unlocks the secret map. Navigation issues aside, reaching the regular exit isn't that hard, but the secret path is much more involved. I think obtaining the blue skull allows you to trigger several additional fights. One has you killing archviles one by one in a tiny room with no cover, so your only option is to hug those small square blocks that absorb blast damage, while also avoiding other monsters that spawn in. Another fight drops an archvile in a room that you've already cleared of enemies, this one isn't that great. Both of them allows you to obtain a red key, which in turn unlocks the red skull fight. That one was tough - a wall of hell nobles with arachnotrons behind you and unlike other fights, you can't just outrun the monsters and pump rockets into a crowd, as there's some linedef magic that blocks you from entering the back of the room while letting monsters in.

I'm impressed by this map, A Crack in the Skull is beautiful, elaborate and provides both a sense of adventure and a test of skill.

I haven't played much of Hellevator, ViolentBeetle's previous community project (I've dropped it after the first few maps), though I can't say I see much similiarity - it looks more like Skulltiverse's early techbase maps, though considerably more challenging. Either way, Sanity Control is a compact map that throws ambush after ambush against you, no matter where you go. It's easy to catch too many revenants missiles and health isn't plenty. That being said, you should reach the blue skull without many issues, at which point, several archviles appear around the map and a cyberdemon decides to camp inside the skullgate. I don't mind the viles, it was a fun task to eliminate them and the monsters they revived, cybie on the other hand felt like a filler, he's harmless if you save enough cells.

To reach the super secret map, you have to find four shootable switches that unlock the red key (and another archvile-lead trap). I've spotted three relatively quickly, the one that took me a while hid itself inside a secret with a computer area map. Red key in hand, you can activate an elevator and travel to the top of the building. It's a solid secret map, both the regular progression and the optional stuff were enjoyable, though I'm not sure if it fully realised the potential of a secret level.

Where have I heard this midi? A quick search on Doomwiki reveals that Jimmy's "Technownage" was also used in 1994 Tune-up CP, Swift Death and MAYhem 2020, but I don't think I've played any of those. It's just so energetic track, perfect fit for a large, combat-centric map.

Unlike the other secret map, The Penthouse does resemble something from Hellevator, with a flat base and the rest of the map built on top. It is also small, but manages to squeeze a surprising amount of content by locking off parts of the map, leaving one or two sections that create distinct arenas. The combat itself share a lot with MAP14, relying on surviving monster-dense fights in locked rooms. It's much longer this time, clocking in just under 30 minutes, but it's action all the way. The best and hardest part is at the end, where a large portion of the map opens up, with like a hundred of monsters (including archviles and two cyberdemons) appear. Too bad I didn't knew about the secret invuln, I wouldn't have died so much.

There is a certain cosy atmosphere (despite mass demon murder), which reminds me of Shawny's map from Solar Struggle. It's easily the better of secret levels and one of the wad's highlights.

I feel a lot of Plutonia DNA here and was genuinely surprised it wasn't made by a PRCP 2 contributor, it would have fit right in. A more low-tech aesthetic, heavy usage of mid-tier demons (especially revenants), archviles raising threat and challenging fights - Plutonia fans will feel at home, I know I did.

Early on you reach a flooded courtyard, which throws you into a fight where you are avoiding fireballs flying from every way. That's not all, press a button and the water drains, revealing a canal in the middle and several switches that unlock a secret plasma rifle. I have to say, I was impressed by seeing the this part. Other highlight is the red key fight, where you have to make split second decisions whether to stay in the monster-dense outer part or hide inside the caves, risking getting cornered. Hell or High Water ends with an entertaining battle in the courtyard, where ViolentBeetle deploys revenants, cacodemons, arachnotron snipers and a surprise archvile on your way to the exit. 

I generally like the modern takes on Plutonia (hence my praise for PRCP 2), so it's no surprise this is a map I had a lot of fun with.

"Madness" and "weird" are perfect words to describe this map. The level starts with a narrow corridor and the blue skull at the end, but when you pick it up, the floor lowers into an imp pit. Want to get back to the skullgate? Here's a cyberdemon in a bunker that, without proper weapons, pushes you deep into this place. You'll pretty quickly acclimate to the general theme of Marble Madness: traps and pulling the rug from under the player. I wouldn't call it malicious, though. With a possible exception of cyberdemons, few things can insta-kill you: the crushers are of fast variety, all lava pits are escapable and don't punish you that much for falling. I'll go as far as to call the traps "playful" and found them ultimately funny, rather than annoying. The track from Master Levels midi pack certainly fit the less-than-serious vibe.

The combat I feel plays a secondary role, acting as a component to traps. This doesn't mean there aren't straight fights here. The red skull sits in a dark maze, but once picked up, the walls lowers and monsters start appearing. I also like the timed fight near the end, where you have to defend against various mid-tiers and occasional archviles. The two cyberdemon fights that follows are probably the weakest parts. The first one takes place in a tiny room where you need to dodge the missiles while spraying him with plasma. The second one gets released into the room with the crushers, but since they don't do much damage and I was out of cells after the previous cyberdemon, I just stood at the opposite end and lead him under a crusher while tapping him with chaingun. This part drags the ending down and it's the first thing I would have cut from the map. Still, Marble Madness is a surprisingly fun map, one where I was mad at first but ended up laughing with the author.

This is one of the hardest maps so far, though the small monster count might make you feel otherwise. It's all in the lack of space and very deliberate health placement. I had to repeat the first two rooms a lot, the teleporting shotgunners can melt your health fast, while the red room is cramped as all hell, with cacodemons blocking your path and monsters firing from above. Pressing a switch opens doors on a ledge above and brings more stuff in: an archvile, several lost souls and a rocket launcher. It's a brutal fight, but in a good way - you have to keep track on several things at once - targetting the vile, avoiding his attacks, looking out for stray lost souls and other enemies that might get in your way.

Following this, the map eases up for a while and the titlular symmetry takes the centre stage, with two identical wings connected clumsily by silent teleporters. Two revenant ambushes and yellow key later and you can enter the final fight: a small arena with a cyberdemon, columns that can catch his rockets, plasma rifle and some other distraction.

I think Nimiauredhel had a solid foundations as a mapper and I wish they made more to iron out the issues and improve their craft. While it does has some quirks of a novice mapper, it managed to provide a healthy challenge without being frustrating.

First things first, The Crucible is a map of stunning visuals. The map takes place on an elevated platform in the middle of a lava pit, surrounded by massive demonic buildings. The combination of lava and marble, intricate details and red sky clouded by black smoke, it's all fits together into one cohesive aesthetic that I can't praise enough.

The map relies heavily on rocket launcher, which is a gameplay style that I've always found interesting for its high risk/high reward nature. Early fights consist of eliminating teleport ambushes of mostly pinkies and barons using provided explosives while avoiding lava. The usage of barons is my biggest issue of the map because, well, they are barons - a monster that is pretty much an imp with 16 times the health. It feel grindy to kill them. 

I do have to say, the map takes an unexpected turn when you reach the platform with a megasphere and a plasma rifle - flicking a switch opens the map and throws a ton of monsters at you: more barons, cacodemon clouds, imp filler and both bosses who will likely infight and are the least of your concern. This is once again an exercise in finding an opening, making a lap around the map and attacking anything that blocks you. I have to say, it's a ton of fun once you're in the groove. The Crucible is another high point of Skulltiverse, though I wish UV was a bit more restrained with barons.

The second episode concludes with a single arena that feature three waves of monsters. Each one features a cyberdemon on top of a central column, which you need to kill to open up the map and progress to the next round. The first one throws pinkies and mancubi, with most monsters dying by infighting. The second one is where it heats up, as two archviles are let loose and they are a priority target, with the rest of the wave consisting mostly of hell nobles. The final round causes the outer walls of the temple to collapse, revealing lava beneath and around. It's less of an issue with a number of radsuits around, but the arachnotrons and a surprising amount of weaker enemies that do a great job blocking you are the threat here. 

It's a solid map, a near constant fight for about 10 minutes.

The final episode of Skulltiverse opens up with a hub linked to several rooms, all corrupted by fleshy growths. While I won't call it pretty, Shawny made a lot of effort to pervert classic themes, like a techbase, library or city street.

After MAP32, it should be no surprise Shawny loves huge fights with masses of foes that limit mobility. You'll experience such encounter twice in the northern part, where you'll need to defend against teleporting crowds of imps while keeping an eye on a cyberdemon. However, there is one place that will make Fallen Dimension stick with me and that's the huge, multi-wave battle for the red key. It's another setpiece that opens up gradually, starting in a tiny room with just some imps and revenants, progressing through hordes of monsters and, at the end, throwing three archviles and a cyberdemon. It's brutal, but I felt rewarded after completing it. I didn't find a secret BFG on my own (you need to shoot two switches and I noticed only one), but eventually managed to survive without it. 

I couldn't find any other map made by Rune, so I assume they aren't a veteran. Nevertheless, I find Yuggoth charming in a weird way. It's simple with its overall progression, but at the same time, it uses a lot of lines to add a visual flair to the map. Of course, everyone who played it will remember the room with ribs supporting the roof, it feels like walking through a husk of a long-dead giant. The fight here is fine, it's easy to just find a spot and pump rockets and plasma into crowds. The ending is also solid, with a blue key riding on a conveyor belt while you are defending against a teleport assault in a rather small room. Yuggoth feels like a break after several action-heavy maps that precede it, a choice I very much welcome.

Once you emerge from the starting room, you will be under fire from every direction. The map itself is an open arena with three distinct parts: the central pit, red key route and the blue key fight. The first task (at least what worked for me) was to clear the centre - this include a plasma rifle ambush and a flood of imps by the backpack. I recommend exploring this place thoroughly and finding a secret BFG, which you'll want for the red key, the hardest part of the map. Essentially, your only way out is blocked by a teleporting horde of hell knights and a cyberdemon spawns on a column in front of you. I've died here a lot before I just picked up the key, cut through the nobles with a BFG and went to deal with a pair of archviles that spawned in the pit (the cyberdemon can be telefragged, so don't waste your ammo). The only thing left is a blue key trap, but it's a joke - just some revenants spawning behind you, they shouldn't be a threat if you have any cells or rockets left.

Scream Bloody Gore is one of the hardest maps so far, but satisfying to finish.

Pustule kicks off with a huge fight that gives you a lot of rockets and tasks with surviving against several archviles, various mid-tiers and hitscanners, including one respawning chaingunner that is really annoying. If you manage to stay alive, congratulation, the worst is behind you. You'll find a BFG, but I recommend saving it for the end - the tunnels on your way to the blue key can be cleared with rockets and buckshot. With the skull in hand, you'll just have to fight your way through a teleporting ambush and take out two cyberdemons by the exit.

It's a rather short map, but makes up with vicious combat.

Out of all fleshy maps in Skulltiverse, this has to be my favourite. First of all, it looks disgusting, but in a positive sense. Blood on the floor, living flesh for walls, a lot of irregular shapes, it all works together to create unnerving atmosphere of being swallowed by a giant creature and having to make your way back.

Combat-wise, I find it easier that some of the previous maps, though not without thrills. Sure, early fights are functional (mostly throwing mid-tier demons in small rooms), but that changes when you open the yellow door and see a cavern with bloody floor carpeted with rocket boxes. What follows is a massive teleport ambush of imps (with barons and mancubi snipers attacking from the sides). It's a great fight that I managed to beat by the skin of my teeth. The red skull sits in this place and it opens the final fight of the map, a dark room with pillars, two archviles and 16 revenants. It was a hard encounter that took me several attempts to beat, but I finally made it through. Then I noticed there's one secret I haven't found yet, quick glance on the map and I've noticed an odd line in the yellow key room. It held an invuln, so I reloaded a save I've made before the final fight, grabbed the god orb and ran straight into the crowd, succeeding in blowing both viles and most of the skeletons before the power-up ran out. Suffice to say, that's the route I recommend to everyone.

I enjoyed Feeder's Digest a lot, it has this balance of difficulty and heroism that I've always liked.

Beyond Life is the sole map in Skulltiverse that I seen before going in, since it was featured in one of decino's viewer submissions. I wish I went in blind, as it's a clever work and easily one of the standouts of the wad.

True to its name, Beyond Life starts with you dying - through a combo of explosive barrels and E1M8-style death exit, your health gets reduced to 1%. Healing is scarce, some health vials here and there, a couple of stimpaks in secrets, so you'll rarely have double-digit hitpoints. This one change turns rather pedestrian fights that wouldn't be out of place in MAP01 of any other wad into struggles, where you are oftentimes one or two shots from death. Really, I don't think there was a map where I felt this nervous seeing a pair of revenants charging at me. At the same time, the level is fair by omitting hitscanners from enemy roster. What it features instead are lost souls, a lot of them. I don't think I've played a map before that respects them as a proper enemy, rather than crap that pain elemental spawns to fill space. 

The map proper is divided into three routes, branching from a hub with respawning revenants. You need to clear the eastern and western wings first, the former starts in a cemetary, but the main feature is a fight at the roof, with a teleporting ambush of lost souls and imps, capped off by an arrival of a hell knight (there's also a plasma rifle fight, where you have to keep stunlocking  respawning arachnotrons and pressing buttons, but I missed it completely). The latter is a network of catacombs that gets swarmed by lost souls. With both parts done, you can enter the final fight, two pain elementals, a cacodemon and a rocket launcher in a small room. Here, you can get a soulsphere (symbolising getting back to life) and the blue skull.

One thing I appreciate about Beyond Life is how well it pulls off its concept. Everything works here, with visuals complimenting the gameplay's gimmick, all set to Lee Jackson's creepy "Plasma". This is one map I'm sure I won't forget.

A gorgeous map, taking place in a wrecked city, torn to pieces and thrown into the void. It doesn't mess around, with the very first fight throwing a crowd of imps and hitscanners lead by an archvile - all before you even get an SSG. 

Last Ruin requires you to obtain two keys to reach the exit, both giving you a plasma rifle and staging a cramped fight. I'd say the yellow key, a tiny room that gets clogged with revenants, is the harder of them. Red key has you fighting four archviles first, than another skeleton ambush, but it's more spacious this time. Also, every time you return to the map's hub, new monsters spawn here, including an archvile in a cage in the centre. The first one is a pain to take out, the subsequent ones can be eliminated with rockets or plasma.

Once you return to the hub with both keys, a cyberdemon appears here, just run past him and open the double-locked door. Now, the fight here is an odd one, but entertaining. It's another tiny room, this time with a BFG and a drip feed of monsters. Until someone opens a valve and they appear in large waves, first revenants, followed by hell knights, followed by zombies. Completing this gives you the blue skull and enough ammo to deal with anything that's left. Also, look for a Sigil eye in the distance, it opens an invuln which is useful for the four archviles that teleport in near the exit. Speaking of the exit, there's another cyberdemon here and it feels to me like a filler. I mean, it's a tough map, where I've already conquered numerous archviles and hordes of monsters in tiny rooms, so a single cyberdemon is hardly a threat. A minor issue of an otherwise good map.

Rivi himself calls this one "controversial" and I guess he is referring to the map's difficulty. Void Hydroproccessing II (sic!) is a brutal map, the hardest in the wad and nothing comes even close. It starts hostile, with a flooded courtyard where you have to arm yourself while avoiding revenants. Then you enter the red key fight, the first of three slaughter fights here. Get ready for revenants and hell knights squeezing you from two sides, while a swarm of cacodemons approaches from the third. Sure, you have a ton of rockets and two soulspheres, but this place quickly gets overcrowded with tanky monsters. After several attempts, I survived this by pure chance.

It's nothing compared to the yellow key. Holy fuck, this one is pure evil. A mass of imps teleports in, preventing any movement and clawing you to death, while a balcony with several archviles appears alternatively on one of two sides of the room. All you have is a plasma rifle with a huge stash of cells to cut to another end, wait for the viles to switch side, run again and repeat until there are no more imps - at this point, you can more-or-less safely eliminate the archviles. This is also the sole fight of the wad so far where I've saved mid-fight, as after numerous deaths I just wanted to progress.

The fight for the blue key... Well this one isn't bad actually. It's your standard BFG spam against a cloud of cacodemons and pain elementals, reinforced by four cyberdemons (2 on the platform with you, 2 in the red key arena). Cells and health are in huge supply, so this one is more entertaining. 

Void Hydroproccessing II kicked my ass, but I respect it. The flooded castle aesthetic works great, the midi is atmospheric and the difficulty will satisfy any challenge seeker. 

The visuals took me by a complete surprise. World's End is a floating island, one of many around, where centuries-old ships crashed. Is it the Davy Jones' locker?

Anyway, this one is more straightforward and easier than MAP28, offering near-constant action. It escalates slowly but steadily - what starts with taking out weak enemies patrolling the isle, turns into huge fights against hordes of monsters. You are loaded with rockets to deal with revenants and archvile, while the final fight hands you a BFG to eliminate a pair of cyberdemons and their escort. Solid map with an energetic midi that works great as a break after Last Ruin and Void Hydroproccessing II.

Propelled by an energetic track from No Rest for the Living MIDI Pack, this is, for the most part, a great finale to a great megawad. An Eye for an Eye is a series of dynamic fights that take place in a gray castle somewhere in the void. If you're having flashback from MAP28, don't worry, it's not that bad. 

The map starts with a series of fights that can be dealt with by infighting and occasionally using rocket launcher to take out elevated monsters. You should reach the blue skull with little issues. Now, the skull doesn't unlock the exit, instead it spawns two archviles near the start, who will promptly revive dead monsters, while a mastermind also makes its appearance. She works surprisingly well as an area denier when you try to hunt for the archviles. Also, check out the IoS replacement, a giant blue skull. Pretty cool.

You need the remaining two skulls. The red one is in a room with a grid of pillars raising from the floor and lowering from the bottom, which keep you constantly moving to prevent getting crushed. Through this dance, you have to pump rockets into a balcony of hell nobles, then a crowd of cacodemons once you get to their level. As for the yellow skull, you have to take out four archviles hidden in small alcoves, while a swarm of lost souls harrass you. Now finally you can trigger the final fight of the map, for which ViolentBeetle hands you a BFG: a very cramped building in the centre of the map, stuffed with a ton of monsters, including a cyberdemon. The spawner gets activated here, but it's rather slow, so the threat comes mostly from pre-placed monsters. Anyway, use the BFG to clear the space, press four switches to create stairs to a raised platform and finish the job. An thus, Skulltiverse ends on a high note, which isn't a standard in Icon of Sin clones.

Odd-numbered maps in DBP19 are playable cutscenes of sort. The goal in each is to search a house for the next Christmas card that DBP members sent to Doomguy.

A tiny arena which consists of a single fight - a horde of cacodemons and pain elementals, both turned into Christmas tree ornaments. I'm already disturber. Also, gnomes from DBP7 return. Dispatching this wasn't hard, but then I got stuck. Turns out, the bells flanking the exit are in fact Keens. It confused me, as normally things that don't move are "dead", here a bell that doesn't ring needs to be activated. Hitting them releases an archvile, but if you have any rockets left, he shouldn't pose a threat.

Compared to the previous Christmas-themed DBP, A Doomer Boards Christmas Carol lacks this blue tinge, which in itself improves the visual side.

Same story as MAP01, no gameplay here.

The playable area here fits neatly inside 512x512 square and consists of a narror walkway around the central room. It does feel like Claustrophobia's smaller cousin. There's more of them here than in the previous map, so it seems zombified Santas, red hat shotgunners and green chaingunners return from last year. 

The combat is what you might expect for a space-limited map, a lot of monsters are outside your box, imps and hitscanners at first, then cacodemons and an annoying arachnotron. It's another breezy map that shouldn't be a challenge.

I was surprised there are monsters in the house - four imps, a chaingunner and a shotgunner. Initially I wanted to don't write about Christmas Eve maps, as they seem to lack gameplay, but I might reconsider that.

I'd call this the first substantial map of DBP19 - upon exiting the cave you start in, you are greeted by a crowd of pinkies and a mancubus, perfect for infighting. I got stucked here again, as I didn't notice a switch that opens the door to a nearby stronghold. The fights inside are on a smaller scale, still, it feels more inolved that the previous maps. I strongly recommend looking for secrets, since the SSG, plasma rifle and a rocket launcher are all hidden and without them, fighting archviles, revenants and other bigger demons is just not fun. 

It's a good map, but what I like is the visual side. The Pilgrim and the Hermit looks much better than anything from DBP7, I'll say it reminds me of Eviternity's winter episode.

Why is there a cyberdemon in a hat outside?

Glen seem to really like "Driving Home for Christmas", since his previous map also used this track. I always enjoy when mappers whose work I dislike manage to improve. Glen's contribution to DBP7 was a square and ugly corridor crawl. A year later he made a city map which, while still made almost exclusively of right angles, is much more pleasent to look at. 

You start in box, I assume you were sent as a present for the demons. Anyway, Surprise! is, heavy on action starting with pinky punching followed by releasing a ton of hitscanners, cacodemons and several archviles. One thing I have to criticise is map's reliance of switch hunting to progress. First you have to find all bells around the map,  then press four switches that gets unlocked and only then you can exit.  Still, everything you do activates more monsters, so it's not like I was bored. There's also one cool secret, where several Santas drop out of a fireplace - this one did make me giggle. Solid map and a massive improvement compared to previous year.

A red key nearby lets you visit a previously locked part of the house. There are more monsters this time, including a number of lost souls. 

A long and involved adventure with some large-scale combat. I once again like how the map looks, if you remove the Christmas decoration, it wouldn't feel out of place in a more serious work. The whole winter castle theme works well here, and again I'm having Eviternity vibes.

As for how the map plays, it's divided into three distinct routes, where you need to find a belltower and ring a bell to progress. First comes a a crawl through wooden corridors with basic monsters, culminating with a big fight against zombies and pinkies. Next route starts in icy tunnels, before emerging into a frozen river. This part gives you a rocket launcher to take out a massive horde of pinkies, revenants mixed in and some additional snipers. It's surprisingly challenging to lose missiles that are tracking you and I find this part to be highly entertaining. This is followed by entering a room with a plasma rifle, an archvile and another vile in the wine cellar. I strongly advise to investigate an odd shelf, it opens a closet with a BFG. You'll want that for the ending, where another archvile teleport behind your back, reinforced by several hell nobles. The final obstacle is a cyberdemon guarding the last bell, hope you have cells.

If you look for secrets, you might notice a locked corridor. It requires you to find three hidden areas, this will give you an access to the blue key in the middle of the frozen river. This one opens a room near the start with a megasphere. A bit underwhelming reward for all this trouble, since Winter Wonderland isn't that hard of a map. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun here and it's probably my favourite map of the wad so far.

I don't like killing an archvile with a regular shotgun.

The Christmas card and the text screen mention 90's nostalgia, but I struggle to see old-school inspirations. The Nut After November is a hectic map with a non-stop action. I have no idea how they do it, but each fight propels you to another, from a rocket dump against a crowd, to avoiding mastermind's fire, to telefragging a cyberdemon to crushing a wave of cacodemons... Don't forget to breathe. You are always doing something with very little dead time. 

Probably the only part I didn't like is the ending with four masterminds. Coax them all into infighting or take out one by one with a plasma rifle - either way, it slows the map down.

I almost died here, there's a lot of gnomes in a small space.

Contrary to its name, Two Sizes Too Small is a large adventure map that doesn't hit the player too hard. The combat here is solid, combining corridors with more open arenas. Probably my favourite fight is the one where you are traversing a series of stairs while being attacked from above. Other than that, it's functional, with a heavy use of gnomes.

One thing to look for are the secrets, they might feel random at times, but are rewarding to find, I especially like the blue key that unlocks an otherwise shut cabin. 

It's a solid map, but also one where I don't really know what to write about. Everything works fine, the map looks good, but leaves little lasting memories.

Finally you can leave your house. There's a fight against imps and arachnotrons with a help of a rocket launcher, I'd say it's the most action I've seen with the hub maps.

Just as the title says, the map is set on the side of a snowy mountain. The start is hectic, with fire from every possible angle. It takes a while to sort this out, following this, the map turns into a search of two keys. There's actually a lot of ground to cover and a lot of monsters to dispatch, though some might get annoying - I'm talking specifically about that one revenants sniper that's a pain to take down, the archvile on a hedge was also awkward to eliminate with nothing stronger than SSG. Other than that, the route to the keys is fine, but otherwise unremarkable.

Anyway, the map is heavy on exploration with numerous secrets to discover. I'd say the two most important are the BFG, which can be found with a bit of rock climbing, and an invuln near the exit. Combined, they let you decimate the final fight: three cyberdemons and a mastermind in a rather restricted space. It's a high point to end a map on.

I got killed by a mass of homing revenant missiles, because I didn't notice I had a rocket launcher.

A cramped mansion with gameplay style that reminds me of Plutonia a lot - ambushes, revenants and archviles. Many will take you by surprise, but gets easier if you know they are coming. What I really find odd is how you have to go out of your way to reach the best fights of the map. The square arena with mancubi, cacodemons and later archviles is (I think) only accessible after you've completed the map and the BFG room, which you have to rip from a crowd of Santas and two archviles, is more obscure than any of the map's secret.

I know I'm complaining, but this is actually a solid map, I'm always biased for Plutonia's combat. I just think it could be made more varied by making some of the optional content mandatory.

The map leads you to a hedge maze, filled with imps, shotgunners and two archviles. It's a surprisingly hectic fight for what essentially is a cutscene.

I really like the pacing here, Krampus Anomaly puts you through several big fights that are connected by more low-key combat, this all pushes you towards the next setpiece. 

Take the red key fight, which locks you up and teleport in a whole mass of monsters - hold your plasma rifle and fire away. The part that follows on a frozen pond is also good, with a mass of projectiles to avoid (and also an invuln, if you manage to spot it). What takes the top spot is the yellow key, a multi-part ambush, where walls lower to reveal the next round. It's a hectic fight already, but then you notice an invulnerability sphere and a huge horde that include several archviles. Running straight into the crowd with a god mode, firing rockets up close and trying to hunt the viles - don't tell me it's not fun.

Krampus Anomaly is one of the best maps of the set. I'll be looking out for dmdr's map in the future.

Some chaingunners and revenants to kill before entering the church.

Loading a joe-ilya's map make me excited, because they are always unique and always weird. This time, he created a gigantic house, apparently built to cyberdemon's scale. There's a ton of adorable details (like opening the map right next to a molten snowman), the house itself combines a cosy atmosphere with this touch of uneasyness, which I attribute to the interior's scale. You indeed feel like an intruder in this place.

The combat isn't hard, especially for a late map. The place is full or resources (especially if you look for secrets) and the encounters aren't particularly deadly. Probably the biggest challenge was supposed to be the cyberdemon owner in the basement, but I accidentally telefragged him.

I love stumbling upon maps like this, something odd and unexpected. While it doesn't feature the most entertaining combat or the best visuals, it's still a map I enjoyed.

No combat here, just go to the clock tower, where you'll find a pair of pants and a giant top hat. Guess I'll have to fight their owner.

Boss fight time, MAP24 takes us to an arena in the void, surrounded by clocks. I didn't pay much attention to the story, but apparently that cyberdemon which I've been seeing has frozen time and I was gathering Christmas spirit to fight him. It's a cool place, much different than the rest of the wad.

Anyway, after eliminating the initial enemies, you have to shoot three clusters of explosive barrels that appear behind walls marked by cyberdemon's face. Destroying each will teleport monsters to your area (archvile included) and with all three out, a cyberdemon will appear for the final showdown.

While it's not the hardest one, I appreciate the wad ends on a high note.

Billy has created a wonderful hub map, so it would be a shame if it went unused.

Christmas Morning is a bonus map of sort, acting both as credits and a massive slaughter for anyone who found DBP19 not challenging enough. Too bad there's no exit, later DBP wads loop back to MAP01 after completing the credits map. Essentially, it's a giant clusterfuck with numerous archviles that more than doubled the initial monster count. My "strategy" revolved around running around, finding any vile I could lay my BFG tracers on and avoiding the house at all cost. I mean, a more competent player might find this entertaining, there's a ton of ammo and invulns, but to me, Christmas Morning is just too much.

The player starts in a repair shop, I'm sure about this. I like when mappers create places you can recognise without resorting to doomcute. 

Starry sky aside, Maintenance Area feels like a later E1 map. Not just because it's a techbase, but there are those tiny details that immediately brings Romero's maps to my mind. The yellow key is a reference overdose, there's an E1M3 raising stairway, a podium that invokes armor from E1M1, or a switch on the side of a column from the same room. There's a secret here that reminds me of chaingun from E1M2, where you go outside and turn a corner around a wall for a reward. I knew playing the IWADs back to back will provide me with useful knowledge.

As for the combat, it's mostly your standard Knee-deep in the Dead stuff - lots of hitscanners to mow down, especially with a secret chaingun. One thing I dislike is the yellow key - you can get there early on, but it's too high to grab. You need to find the red key first, than flip a switch by the exit and only then you can get the yellow key and return to the exit. It's not a long map, but I find this backtracking to be pointless.

Despite this, I think it's a good opener to an episode, setting a tone and providing entertaining fights.

Man, this one took me by surprise. It's like E1 map but turned up to 11. It feels much larger and stuffed with more enemies - this means more chip damage from hitscanners and health here is rather scarce. I always associate E1's aesthetics with high-octane action, where you are running from room to room, killing while crowds of basic monsters, but here, you have to be careful to survive.

Probably the hardest part is the dark basement that opens the yellow key. There's not a lot room to move, monsters like to appear behind you and there's a ton of spectres that you can barely see. The shotgunners in the red key room also brought me close to death, but I was lucky to find a secret supercharge. Speaking of secrets, there's 12 of them, including a rocket launcher and a plasma rifle. I've found both rather useless, as they are only accessible at the very end. You can have fun melting a monster closet that opens when you pick a plasma, but that's about it. Other secrets are much more helpful, providing you with health this map otherwise lacks.

I've found the secret exit before I figured out how to open the regular one and had to no-clip out of its room - this is the best way to describe Research Complex. It's a huge, convoluted map that definitely went overboard with its complexity (pun intended). I'm unable to describe what is a part of a regular progression and what opens the way to E1M9. 

There are some cool fights, with the red key being a major wake-up call - a mass of monsters appear in a room, including cacodemons and lost souls. The route to the blue key is also full of enemies, with the rocket launcher fight being a high point. I also enjoyed a cramped secret exit fight, which is like E1M6 ending but even more vicious. I just wish you could leave this place without resorting to cheats. 

I haven't talked about the midi pack yet, truth be told, I suck when it comes to talking about music. It's one field where I have zero knowledge and my views are limited to whether I like this particular thack or not. That being said, "Fight Harder... To Obtain a Better Victory!", with its mix of synths and violin, is something I haven't expected. It's a memorable track that kept me going through a map that's too long and too confusing for my liking.

If you thought E1M3 was excessively big, wait till you play the secret map. It's another giant maze loaded with imps and hitscanners. I'm not saying it's a bad level. The progression is more reasonable than in Research Complex - the starting room acts as a hub and you usually know what you're doing. The combat effectively combines a lot of incidental combat with big ambushes in key moments that lock you in a room and forces to survive. I also enjoy a change in scenery, with a design evoking the coruption of The Shores of Hell.

The problem I have is Operations placement. Playing two complex maps back to back is just tiring.

Aside from one overgrown courtyard, there's hardly anything that would fit the map's name.

I've completed this one in less than 15 minutes and greatly appreciate its shorter runtime. I feel like this one steps down in difficulty and once you survive the start, it's a smooth run to the end. I like the big fight in the courtyard I've mentioned earlier and the ending, where I finally could let loose with a rocket launcher. It feels closer to E1's gameplay style. The yellow key is an interesting idea, you reach it through a catwalk over a pool of nukage. Once you pick it up, several pinkies teleport in to block your path, while other enemies fire at you from your right. It's a tense moment, where you try yo push through ASAP.

I like the pacing of this map, I think E1M4 manages to find a proper balance between combat and exploration.

Double Impact is a wad of consistant identity. I've always had trouble describing projects like this, because after a couple of maps you feel like you've cracked the code, figure out what the authors are going for and feel like nothing will surprise you (unless we're talking about the crusher over the yellow key, that was a low blow).

Engineering Station is a solid map, but because it follows the same principles as the 4 previous maps, it kinda blends in. The most noteworthy part is the red key fight, where spectres and cacodemons ambush you in a dark room. I also like the outside area, with a slime canal in the middle and enemies on the ledges, but that's mostly because it's something that departs from Knee-deep in the Dead aesthetics (E1 generally lacked open spaces outside secrets).

Half an hour of corridor clearing. I mean, I wasn't bored, but because of similiar visual and gameplay style, the maps of Double Impact run together. I also didn't find it as hard as earlier maps, but perhaps that's because I got used to the wad's difficulty and secret placement. Once again, the combat is mostly incidental, with two setpiece fights worth mentioning. The yellow key drops you into a bloody pit with monsters, including cacodemons and two barons. This was a a surprising one, but effective as hell. Then there's the one shortly before the blue key, where you have to survive against spectres and imps in a strobing maze. I'm not a fan of this one.

The magnum opus of the project with nearly 563 enemies. Sigh.

Look, I don't want to be all negative. I think there's a lot to like here, the combat flows together nicely, you are pretty much under constant attack from crowds of monsters and there are some interesting ideas, like how at one point you drain a pool of slime to lower its level elsewhere or the outside sections under the starry sky. However, it's also an hour of shotgunning zombies and imps. I don't think Waste Treatment adds anything I haven't seen in previous maps. Well, maybe except from the ending, where a horde of imps and a number of barons teleports into a courtyard. This is a massive departure from E1-on-steroids mindset but at least it's different. I don't mind having to finish them off with a shotgun after spending all the rockets and cells I've saved.

While Waste Treatment is not a bad map itself, it is a victim of Double Impact's consistant design.

Played with GZDoom.

I understand the reasoning behind Double Impact's finale. It's supposed to be like the Icon of Sin, where your task isn't to kill, but rather to avoid enemies and reach the exit ASAP. I still didn't like it for a number of reasons, chiefly its RNG reliance.

Launch Bay is a maze with four skull switches that you need to press to open the way forward. The enemies are here to stall you and make it easier for four wandering cyberdemons to kill you. Even the start, where you teleport to the maze and get instantly surrounded by a crowd of imps, is something I feel like I have little control over and oftentimes I lost a ton of health or simply died. As I've said, the monster placement does a great job of taking your time, allowing the cyberdemons to get closer and murder you. Attacking the cybers is pointless, though I've seen people who managed to get them killed with infighting, my hunch is it wasn't an intended course of action. Even though there's a solid logic here, I didn't enjoy the result and I just save-scummed through the map.

But, what happens when you press all switches? Fucking nothing. You are supposed to crush four barons and open the rest of the map (you know, E1M8 stuff), but due to Doom's jank, this doesn't always work. So I had to repeat this in another source port, GZDoom seems to be more consistent here. Even when the map functions as intended, it's more of the same stuff - press switches, avoid rockets and press that exit button.

I know I wished for some departure from E1's gameplay, but that's not what I meant. 

Considering where Scythe is heading, it's weird to see an opening map easier than Entryway - only a handful of imps and zombies, plus a chainsaw to provide any enjoyment. I've already spent more time thinking and writing about Get Going than playing it twice, so I'll just say the lighting here (and Scythe in general) is an aspect that a lot of care was put into and I like the cosy nature of the two buildings the map consists of.

Marginally larger, but also way more engaging than MAP01. Punchline hands you a berserk pack early on and adds pinkies to the mix. It's still easy, but punching stuff is always fun. The slime processing plant is somewhat of a forgettable locale.

I get it, you go around the map to reach the exit up there, at the highest point.

Up and Around reminds me of Redemption from TNT, with its green grass and walls. It's also the first map of Scythe that is not trivial. Firstly, shotgunners make a debut and in a map this cramped, they can take a good chunk of your health. The shells are also scarce, but there's an obvious berserk secret which is an adequate replacement. I enjoyed the yellow key fight, which turns off the lights and throws several imps in a small room.

Mostly dark map with a cool hub of square strobing lights. There's little interesting in terms of combat, with a possible exception of that one spot where the walls lowers to reveal a small outside section.

This one abuses spectres too much for my taste - there's a narrow canal filled with them (and a damaging slime, but with two radsuits, it's hardly a threat) that you'll have to grind with a shotgun. I did enjoy that trap where you try to open a door and a monster closet opens around you, that caught me off guard.

Also, what's up with secret placement? The chaingun is in the open, but it's tagged for some reason. It was also a thing in earlier maps (chainsaw in MAP01, some random items in MAP04).

I have mixed feelings here. For once, Pressure Point feels more involved compared to the previous maps. It finally brings bigger monsters (hell knights and cacodemons), the visuals feel more memorable (an elevated walkway that leads to the exit) and who can forget the ending - a tight cavern where you have to be confident with using rocket launcher in limited space to survive against beefier demons. It's the first proper setpiece fight of the wad.

That being said, killing hell knights with a shotgun is slow and tedious (you want to save rockets for the final). While the map is still a rather short one, this does drag the pacing.

Kill 4 mancubi in a small, square and ugly room, do the same with 8 arachnotrons and the map is over. I'm hardly a fan of the OG Dead Simple, but this is even worse.

I am aware Scythe's first episode is focused on small maps, but I feel like there's a difference between being compact and feeling like two rooms from a larger level. That being said, Garden Base does feel more like a proper map.

The first objective is to cut through patrolling zombies, away from mancubi fire. Then you can grab a rocket launcher and start killing bigger enemies. The second part of the map is more focused on springing up traps in dark and narrow corridors, with the teleporting chaingunners being a high point.

Again, what's with tagging items in the open as secrets? I know vanilla Doom displayed 0% secrets on the intermission screen if there were none on the map, so maybe that's the answer?

Anyway, Computer Storage is a clear E1 throwback, complete with Knee-deep in the Dead cast (though reinforced by a couple of revenants and a mancubi). There's a lot of key hunting for a map this small, but it's redeemed by a murder of imps and zombies. I especially like when you enter the base with the red key and monster closets open up, perfect targets to blow them up with rockets.

This one is a misfire. I feel like Erik wanted to remake the ending of MAP06, where you need to use rockets up-close and manoeuvre around monsters on narrow ledges in search of more ammo. Not a bad concept for a fight, but that's the entire map - a single encounter with 6 monsters. It's an anticlimactic conclusion to the first episode of Scythe.

You are supposed to visit the lava cave with the blue key first, then open the blue door to obtain the red key and exit. What I did was jumping to the red key building through the upper floor window, finding the red key and getting out through the a tunnel that appeared (good think Erik thought about sequence-breakers). I did go through the blue key fight, because this is the best combat setpiece of the wad up to this point: a cavern of lava that gets stuffed with monsters, including Scythe's first archvile. You have a ton of rockets at your disposal and a secret megasphere just before this, so it isn't that hard, but exciting nevertheless.

Slightly tougher than the first chapter, as the place is dark, there's little cover in the open and the revenants are especially annoying. It's still very short, being a single courtyard that you need to search for two keys. Once you get the rocket launcher and a supercharge, the map is basically won.

A wad where you find a plasma rifle before super shotgun - that's something new. 

I enjoyed Subverted Base more than any map that preceded it. It puts you constantly on edge with its ambushes, starting right when you load the map - take a few steps into the canal and shotgunners appear behind your back. I strongly recommend searching the corridor that leads to the red key, it leads to a plasma rifle I've mentioned earlier, together with a rocket launcher that sits near the blue key, you should be armed to deal with monster closets of shotgunners, revenants and some hell nobles.

This is another quick map, but one that provides a ton of bite-size fun.

The start with several shotgunners on top of crates is the hardest part of this derelict techbase. The high number of hitscanners here brought me down to single-digit health, but managed to recover with medikits.

Power Outage is a pretty map, with a clear theme and detailed lighting. You need to run back and forth between places to collect keys and restore power to the base, I would complain about the backtracking, but come on, the map took me 3 minutes. It ends with a Refueling Base homage, where you can spray plasma on zombies, just make sure to have something for the baron.

Okay, so this is the first map of Scythe I wasn't able to sleepwalk through. I mean, I'm not complaining. This The Inmost Dens homage (which automatically gives bonus points for its visuals) uses revenants a lot, especially near the red key. Without a secret plasma rifle or super shotgun (oh, there you are), you have to deal with them using a rocket launcher and the space is rather limited. If you survive this, the hardest part is over, just make sure to have enought cells or rockets to take out two archviles that guard the exit. 

The secret exit is not hard to find, just jump from the raising wall near the regular one. Probably the best map yet.

It's clearly not Alm's map and to be honest, I'm torn about this one. It's a radical departure from the rest of Scythe in almost every regard. MAP31 is larger, longer but also uglier and less focused. 

The visuals are my biggest gripe here, as I Dunno Torn simply doesn't look good. Compared to Alm's works, I'll go as far as calling it "primitive". It's just a series of rooms, all plastered with gray rock texture, with considerably less detailed lighting. The combat is a super shotgun workout, which, while being something Scythe hasn't used yet, also felt dated. 

It's not all bad though. There's a secret in the first room that lets you skip the bulk of the map and teleport directly to the red key room. A fight here against a horde of imps is a tense moment, as I was running low on shells. The secret exit is located early on, it's not hard to find (just run through some platforms), but once again, lets you pretty much skip the map. Overall, I'm not a fan of this.

Inspired by Requiem's MAP25 and Capellan's maps in general, Enoz Soahc consists of two small, but enemy-dense rooms. The first one sends several waves of monsters on the ground, while more (including an archvile) appear on a ledge above. This is followed by a cramped corridor with hell knights that I find to be too RNG-reliant. Good luck punching them and it's a coin flip whether they move to a side, allowing you to run pass them. The final obstacle is a mass of imps, shotgunners, pinkies and hell knights that quickly fill up a tiny room. It's not that bad, make laps around the perimeter while systematically taking down anything that gets in your way. You have a plasma to cut through the weaker monsters quickly, don't be afraid to use it. 

I find it the better of secret maps, chaotic (as the reversed name implies) and without any dead time.

Back to the regular rotation, Burial Grounds in a short level with a sense of place that matches Power Outage. This time, it's a hillside cemetery with a small chapel, both occupied by monsters. I notice Scythe is begining to be more willing to use archviles, there's one that appears on the graveyard, another one in the chapel and the third one blocking the exit. The fights in the chapel and its catacombs can get hectic, but the plasma rifle helps in tight places.

MAP28, which I never, ever, will play again. Not if someone bgged me to do it. And MAP29, which is not that offensive, but somehow I find it tedious despite nice Symphony X midi.

MAP30 I could well replay, 

A series of deadly fights set in a library. Once again, the limited space will be your main enemy, as Alm likes to throw a number of imps at you or block a path with hell nobles. The one encounter that cause the most trouble was the group of revenants that appear after you return to the hub with the yellow key. It seems RNG wasn't in my favour, as most of their missiles were the homing ones. 

The final fight would be an interesting one, except you can just camp in the blue key room until the immediate threats are eliminated. Not a bad map in the end.

It's a cosy harbour, too bad the map ends so quickly. Take out monsters around you, clear the nearby warehouse and you should be ready to take on a mastermind with a plasma rifle that is tucked in a corner. The giant portal that ends the map does look welcoming.

Welcome to the future.

I see this as a welcomed change, both with map's overall concept (a longer, more conventional level) and it's unique visual style (being a silver techbase). 3000 AD blends incidental combat with several interesting fights, like that one where you are given a rocket launcher and a huge group of imps, or the red key arena.

It's good to see Erik can make more fleshed-out maps.

Another compact map and a direct continuation of 3000 AD. The early enemies warm you up for the main course: a cyberdemon duel followed by a flood of imps with an archvile in the back - hope you have rockets left. The gaping fiery hole with the exit does look omnious.

The final, most notorious chapter of Scythe takes place in hell. Solitude is a short cave network with a tiny monster count. It wouldn't be much harder than previous maps if it wasn't for one detail: limited resources. There's little health to recover and ammo is best spent on two archviles and other stuff that's hard to punch with a berserk. 

The map took me quite a while to beat (considering its 3 minutes runtime). At first I had no idea how much ammo do I need to save, so I relied on infighting and berserk pack to handle the courtyard you come across early on. MAP21 was rather tight with resources, but Despair seems more generous. There's a BFG in a pit, which I've saved for later. 

Now, the reason why I kept dying here is the cyberdemon that appears in the courtyard. I thought I'd finally learn how to two-shot them and after numerous attempts I succeeded. I think I'm starting to get a hold on this. It's good to save at least one BFG shot for the archvile and revenants at the end and the map is done.

Overall, a challenging but entertaining map.

I like the opening fight, a chaotic scramble for guns that triggers more and more monsters as you try to arm yourself. The rest, not so much. The caves are a thing and I struggle to say anything more about them. The finale lets you unleash two cyberdemons to eliminate a trickle of teleporting enemies, but I find it annoying to lead them out of their cubby and press a switch inside to lower the red key - got a rocket in a back a number of times. Once I did managed to trigger infighting and eliminate the cybers (no trying to two-shot them this time), there's just two more, relatively harmless archviles and the map is over.

I think I prefer Despair over Anger (which I admit sounds strange out of context), but I still regard it as a solid map.

I find this one to be weaker than the last three maps. Hatred feels grindy, especially the mancubi around the red key - they can barely hit you unless you go out of your way to kill them. There's also an inconveniently placed cyberdemon that barely infights and is a chore to take down, plus a mastermind at the end. I did enjoy the two groups of revenants that you can go wild on with rockets.

Envy doesn't feature that much enemies, but too many of them are arachnotrons. First you kill them in dark hallways, then you enter a bloody courtyard, which holds several of them plus two masterminds (hope they infight), followed by a small room of more spiders and a cyberdemon. After this, the map is over, just save 40 cells for yet another exit-blocking archvile (which seems to become a tradition here). This one is pretty underwhelming.

Holy shit, now that's a spectacle. Fear is a compact slaughter map with 666 monsters, tons of cells, megaspheres and two invulnerability spheres to eliminate a horde of monsters that gather in the trench below and 14 cyberdemons. Spam BFG until you gather all three keys and exit. It's a huge departure from small-scale combat of Scythe's previous levels, but the exciting, high-octane action makes it my favourite of Alm's maps.

Alm labels this one as "hard", but I don't find it that difficult. It's mostly incidental combat against enemies that come out of monster closets. Sure, there's a lot of archviles, but their placement isn't that challenging (mostly hiding in the closets or in places you can easily avoid their attacks). The sole thing that is difficult is the ending, but not in an enjoyable way - you are teleported on top of a blursphere and tasked with killing three cyberdemons. 

I do enjoy the aesthetic, being a combination of hell maps with Book Lords. I feel like this was supposed to be a wind-down after Fear, with easier, less impactful combat and calming "Waiting for Romero to Play" as a soundtrack.

Doomworld's 31st most memorable map. For all the wrong reasons.

It's a shame this is the map from Scythe that people remember. From what I've seen, Run From It is universally held in contempt and it's hard to not agree. On UV, it's a brutal time trial, where, as the title implies, you have to strafe-run through an obstacle course to reach an exit in roughly 30 seconds. If you fail, a voodoo doll gets crushed and you die. The time limit is very tight, with even a loss of a second being a potential run-killer. It's slightly better on lower difficulties, since you can skip a parts of a map through normally blocked shortcuts (I've tried the map on HNTR after completing it on UV and finished it first time; it was more forgiving with time limit). I've also discovered you can eliminate the lost souls and an imp without triggering the timer, this helped a bit, as they have a bad habit of blocking you early on. After I figured this out, it was doable, but still not fun.

Run From It is a bad idea executed poorly and I think it's the reason why there hasn't been that many time trial maps since.

Now, about the music. I know Scythe's final act uses Symphony X tracks, but I haven't recognised them. I've only listened to Twilight in Olympus, after stumbling into Church of the Machine years ago (not knowing about its association with Scythe's sequel). "Lady of the Snow" was on that album as well, so it's good to hear something familiar.

Hell on Earth went in a different direction compared to the rest of the wad, being large city map covered in snow. It's pretty, but not that fun to play. It just feel so grindy, with several cyberdemons, archviles appearing in every bigger fights and numerous tanky monsters (arachnotrons, nobles and mancubi). I didn't find it that hard, the only exception is a cyberdemon that appears near the yellow key. It's another bastard that you have to outrun in a limited space so you can safely kill him with two BFG blasts (I think I'm slowly getting a handle on this). The rest is more time-consuming.

Two hours of real time. Numerous saves. Blatant cheesing. I did it. I fucking did it. 

Fire and Ice is one of the hardest maps I've ever completed. No, scratch that. The hardest map I've completed. I don't see myself as a particularly experienced player, with Hell Revealed being the only other challenge wad I've played. Still, this is an absolutely brutal map. 

Where do I even begin? The start, modeled after Perfect Hatred isn't bad, I ran for the rocket launcher, BFG and started eliminating the nearby monsters. This took a while, but this place acts as a hub, connecting two different wings of the map, the titular Fire and Ice. Fire is a network of red caves, stuffed with revenants, archviles, more revenants and cyberdemons. The red key is at the end, picking it up floods a narrow walkway with a ton of skeletons and several archviles. I managed to locate a secret, where you can attack them from a bunker of sorts, the place was full of rockets and I managed to eliminate this threat.

Ice refers to a snowy courtyard, divided into two parts. I find the eastern one more managable, the cyberdemon isn't that tough to kill, cacodemon cloud can be blown away with rockets, but the building with two cyberdemons is insane - very small and if you try to escape, there's a monster closet full of revenants. That's where the cheesing starts. I managed to get the revenants and cyberdemons to infight, thinning the horde enough I could finish them off with ease. The rest wasn't as bad, the second building is a rocket dump and then you return to the hub, with the blue key unlocked and some mid-tiers to remove.

There's one thing left and that's the yellow key. This bloody part. The arena here is pre-loaded with three cyberdemons and mancubi, if you try to lower the key, three closes containing revenant hordes open and if you pick the key, another box reveals four cyberdemons and archviles. In the hindsight, I should have left the revenants alive, unleash the cyberdemons and hide in a corner like a sissy, waiting for infighting to do the job. Instead, I fought them piece-meal, running out of cells and resorting to hiding on an elevated platform and firing at the crowd below. Then repeating this with cyberdemons. But I did it. Everything was dead, I had all keys and could jump into a hole, face to face with Romero's head. I punched him to death, ending Scythe once and for all.

I don't plan to return to this map. Fire and Ice is way to hard for me to be entertaining, with "You Suck" adding to its dreary atmosphere. I'm just glad I survived it.

Time to familiarise yourself with the new elements. You now dual-wield pistols, meaning twice the power, but also it screws up with audio. Since pistol firing sound is also used for chaingun and menu, you hear more shots than you should. Imps now throw hell knight projectiles and there's a new kind of zombie: "the bazooka man", who launches a single cyberdemon rocket. The Möllers love to test your reflexes, placing them behind corners to guarantee a death if you don't kill them on sight. Also, you kick now instead of punching, but the difference seem purely visual.

Entrance is a short map, mostly consisting of narrow corridors. It feels a bit heavy on backtracking, like it tries to pad out its lenght. I like how the red key area looks, a small island in a basin, with chaingunners and rocket zombie in cages. Overall, an okay introduction.

The Cataract is a compact, mazy map that just can't decide on what it wants to be. There's slime, blood, stone and metal, all this feels disjointed to me. The combat consists of eliminating small groups of imps and zombies in tight hallways.

I think the only parts I do enjoy were the crate room, which does a great job at hiding monsters behind corners. The teleporting mass that appears once you jump to the highest point was also entertaining to take out, the rocket zombies are the highest priority here.

The exit is right in front of you, however it gets blocked once you get close. This kicks off a rather linear and backtracking-heavy map with the same playful feel Tricks and Traps had. Well, aside from the blue key that sits on a slow crusher. Had it been a fast one, I'd call it stupid and moved on, but as is, it's this exact kind of beginner's trap that I despise.

Chambers of Confusion is a very efficient map when it comes to its use of space, just take a look at the automap. Most of the combat consists of fighting weaker monsters in narrow corridors, once you get a super shotgun, there's little threat. Mowing down whole rooms of monsters is as fun as it has always been. The remaining two keys are also guarded, yellow one locks you inside a cage and reveals two barons (after the blue key crusher, I picked it up as fast as I could and got out before the bars lowered). The red key is placed in a cool room where square computer panels rise from the floor, while you battle enemies that appear.

It wasn't a bad map, just had one infuriating section that will kill you the first time.

Not much of a church if you ask me. There's one room with a cross on the ceiling, but that's about it. Pistol-starting this map was hard - you start in a tiny closet with lost souls, followed by a courtyard where pinkies are running around and several zombies (including a chaingunner and rocket trooper) are standing on a ring above. This part is very tight on ammo, try to save as much as you can for the next areas, a cramped tunnel with even more pinkies and a dark room with spectres.

The map eases up afterwards, the red key teleport ambush was fun, but the four barons blocking the teleporter to the exit - just why?

Compared to previous, mostly cramped, maps, The Hidden Below takes place in the largest rooms of the wad so far. However, they are flat and plastered with a single texture, so they just look very dated. Most of the combat revolves around sniping hitscanners or punching pinkies, but there are parts that I enjoyed. The introduction of a flamethrower is one such encounter. It replaces a plasma rifle, offering devastating damage at the cost of range. Once you pick it up, monsters begin to appear on a rather narrow path, so you are encouraged to spray fire and push through. Unless you catch a rocket from a zombie below, I think that one bastard is completely unnecessary.

However, what completely kills this map for me is a confusing progression. The exit isn't far from the start, but it's locked behind the yellow door. I managed to find the blue key without issues, the red one took me a bit, since I'm still not sure what opens a path to it. The yellow key left me stumped, until I've noticed an odd panel on a balcony above the red key. It's marked as a secret, by the way. This leads to a room above which I was burning demons with a flamethrower. Let's just say some design decisions have fallen out of style since 1995.

I like the part where you see three doors on a wall, each leading to the same room, but depending on the route, the walls raise and lead you to different places. It's a creative trick, the rest of the map, though...

It opens with a grid of lowering and rising pillars, then tasks you with searching the techbase for all three keys. Probably the worst part is a blinking room with 20% hurtfloor, where you will lose a ton of health (even with medikits laying around) unless you know about nearby radsuit secrets. The rest isn't that bad and I enjoyed the mass of hitscanners that appear at the end. 

I didn't try to get all kills here for two reason. One, when played by yourself, Slaughter Until Death is repetitive as fuck. You have four cross-shaped rooms, each has you press four switches to release more monsters and finally open the way to the exit. Hope you like killing pinkies with a super shotgun, 'cause that's what you will be doing for the majority of the map. Two, the map can glitch and not let you out. So one section is all I need to see.

One noteworthy thing is another new enemy, dubbed "hitech guy". He's a fast, partially transparent Nazi replacement that I recognise from Epic 2. This aside, Slaughter Until Death is just not a good map.

Damn, what a difficulty hike. The start is brutal - chaingunners, cacodemons and no guns or ammo. This building where you get the red key is the hardest part of the map, somehow you need to reach the key with very limited supply of bullets and a handful of rockets. With this done, it gets more managable. The flamethrower has a heafty supply of ammo and it can carry you through the bulk of the map. You can also enter a tiny room where you are surrounded by hitscanners. It's a bullshit trap, but if you survive it somehow, you can leave with a shotgun. 

I won't call the rest "easy", it's cramped, heavy on traps and loves to surprise you with rocket zombies. I don't mind it as the map gives you all the tools to handle them. As I've said, there's a steady supply of cells and flamethrower excels in close-quarter combat. The part where you try to solve the yellow key puzzle and instead get ambushed by a group of monsters was nice, as was the ending, with pinkies and archvile blocking the ending. This is where the flamethrower is shamelessly fun. Overall, it's a solid map, I just wish the start was better balanced (though it's very possible it was intended to be played continous).

I enjoyed this one more than other maps in Obituary. I think it's because of distinct visuals (mostly a green techbase with a ton of blue textures), the cramped gameplay doesn't bother me and generally the map flows well. As usual in this wad, it's mostly a fight against zombies and pinkies, stuffed in tight corridors and placed close to explosive barrels. I find this surprisingly entertaining.

Nuclear Research Base is generous with secrets, with a high number of hitscanners this means you shouldn't run out of ammo. As a rule of thumb, check behind every skull on a wall, most of them contains something. One such cubby leads you down to the slime pit, where a BFG replacement awaits - a sonic cannon that fires invisible projectiles.

Another map that is low on ammo early on and takes a while to gives you a shotgun. The map starts in a 4-way hub, where three routes are locked and require keys that has to be collected in a linear fashion. The first part is my least favourite, like in the previous map Denis made, you lack guns at the start, there's even this elevated platform with a cyberdemon that I recommend ignoring for now (or at all if you don't bother with all the kills). 

The rest is much easier (like MAP08, to be honest), as you collect proper guns and can comfortably deal with any and all threats. The standout moment is a flooded town (more like 2 buildings, but whatever) that you visit at the end. At this point you should be loaded to take out revenants, mancubi and all manners of zombies. Here, I also discovered the flamethrower might not be as effective against elevated targets (even ones that aren't that far), but can toast an archvile in a second. I have the same opinion about The Stand as I had with MAP08 - it isn't bad, I just wish for a smoother start.

This one is pretty unremarkable. It's yet another cramped techbase with a tough start - open a cubby you start in and get shot by a shotgunner sitting straight on a blockmap grid. There are more zombies around and two imps behind you. Survive this and the map turns into a crawl through a network of tunnels, eliminating a cast of zombies and pinkies. The only noteworthy thing about it is the name.

It's a shame Thomas Möller hasn't been active since the 90's, no joke, I would love to see him tackle one of those 1024x1024 unit projects. Biochemical Factory feels like a square where every possible space is filled with a corridor or a secret passageway, the map loops on itself and so on, and so forth. 

The combat is pretty much what you've seen in Obituary before. One thing that got me by surprise were the two fake exits. First drops you into a small room with cacodemons and shotgunners, the other opens a monster closet with pinkies behind your back. In the end, it's a solid map, one of the better in the wad.

If you find the first couple of room hard, there's a BFG behind a secret wall on your right. Other than that, it's a Thomas Möller map in Obituary - cramped and filling every possible space. I do like a giant tower with a pentagram where you fight a cyberdemon, because it's such a cute 90's idea of a challenge.

The start was an awful experience. Very little ammo, corridors you can barely run through and most of the time will be spent cutting demons with a chainsaw. Truly riveting gameplay. It gets better later, with the crate storage being a high point. I like those wooden boxes, they add this hint of industrial grime to the map. The fight at the end, with monsters teleporting out of a fountain would have been a cool setpiece, if it didn't take this long to deplete.

More distinct sights here, I think. There's a well you need to jump into to get a key and a castle behind a pool of lava. On the other hand, you need to find a way through a maze, which was boring and the final fight, taking place in a courtyard with a central tower would have been nice with more tightly-designed teleporter closets (RIP speedrunners, they take so long to deplete and I had to run into the maze several times just to coax the monsters to leave).

The secret exit was found by a complete accident, after wall-humping stone walls around the exit switch.

Essentially, three challenge rooms that need to be complete before the map is over. First is a teleporting ambush that contain half of the map's monsters, the remaining two feature an archvile in an open field, surrounded by zombies (shotgunners and rocket men in one, chaingunners in the other). Pistol-starters are only given a super shotgun and scavanged guns, raising the difficulty a notch, but it's still more managable than some starts in previous maps.

While hardly groundbreaking, I enjoyed its brisk nature, as least it doesn't sprawl like some previous maps.

An Icon of Sin I find rather janky. After grabbing guns and dispatching a handful of pinkies and rocket zombies, you are tasked with destroying the Romero's head inside a pillar. Two issues. One, for some reason I find it hard to fit a rocket through a hole, even more so than usual. Two, because the column is triangular and has a hole on every wall, it's very likely your rockets won't collide with with the pillar's interior and instead exit through another hole. The end result was somewhat annoying, but I cleared it on like third or fourth attempt.