Scythe

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Fact Sheet

Authors Erik Alm Kim "Torn" Bach
IWAD Doom 2
Engine standard Doom engine
Date
Levels 32
Other Some new textures, and new music

Review by Colin Phipps

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  1. Get Going! — A small start level, with a couple of industrial-style buildings in a yard. It makes you work with the pistol and chainsaw only, but the opposition is very light. There are a few, rather trivial, traps.
  2. Punchline — A small cement-and-stone nukage base. The main areas at this level are good, with lots of ledges and windows and other details; the side areas were rather bland, particularly the outdoor secret. Still only pistol and chainsaw, and this level is slightly tougher. I liked the trap on the beserk pack, which presumably gives the level its name.
  3. Up and Aroundscreenshot A cement-and-metal yard, with just a few rooms around it. It's a little scary in the opening fight, with imps close and sergeants sniping at t the player, and no shotgun to fight back with, but once you get the shotgun everything looks much safer. A few very trivial traps and you are out.
  4. Lost Warehousescreenshot There is something faintly Shores of Hell (Doom episode 2) about this level (except for the Doom 2 music), with its mixture of stone, crates and nukage. The level has style, particularly the light pillars. The level is good at the start, with a lot of monsters shooting at the player, but the opposition are thin on the ground after that.
  5. Slimy Tunnels — A small nukage base, which is quite stylish and well designed. Once again there is a good opening fight, and the rest of the level is not much, although there are a couple of good traps.
  6. Pressure Point — This map looks very crude, with very simple, cuboid structures and bland texturing. There were a number of noticable mismatched textures. With most of the monsters facing away from you at the start, you get to catch most of them by surprise.
  7. Deadly — Small, traditional MAP07, with mancubi clustered in the middle, and then arachnotrons released around the edge of the arena. The very limited space and little cover makes this tricky, although there is plenty of health if you can just survive.
  8. Garden BasescreenshotThis is a nice little level. At the start I was momentarily reminded of The Garden Terminal, but probably only due to the curved start and the name. It is a cute industrial level, with a grassy yard overlooked by ledges with mancubi and sergeants. To start you have to charge through and find a safe spot. The level continues to be good , with the ledges giving an opportunity for distant monsters to snipe at you, and there are a number of good traps. The level progression is excellent for such a small level, with a keycard and a few switches, and an interesting route around the level (although I did manage to find a shortcut avoiding one switch, but in such a small level this hardly mattered). The design is good, particularly the contrast between the cement-and-computer-panel outdoor bits and the murkier side areas. And there is a good secret.
  9. Computer Storage — This is a industrial base in a strong Knee-Deep style, very similar to Computer Station (Doom E1M7) in style — with lots o the brown cement textures, computer panels and windows between areas — but also including a lot of crates, and the music from Containment Area (Doom E2M2) — hence the name, I suppose. The level has lots of detail and interesting structures. All three keycards are used, somewhat unnecessarily for a short level like this, since they are all easily accessible in very little time; most of the monsters are visible to the player at the start, in the windows of the buildings overlooking the start, and the gameplay consists mainly of clearing these, although there are some monsters released later on.
  10. The LordsscreenshotA strange little showdown level, where you get loaded up with ammo, then thrown onto a ledge around a lava pool in a small cave and duel it out with 6 barons (the Lords I suppose, nice name). The cave is suitable spooky and sinister. Then you have to exit the level by dying — an interesting trick, which I haven't seen used before.
  11. Sneak Peek

    screenshotAn excellent little level, based on a canyon-and-cave system with a couple of small buildings built into it. The caves and lava pools are well done, as are the buildings, with good lighting and details like crates and computer panels.

    screenshot It's a tough one too, with quite a few revenants, limited ammo early on, and some good traps and secrets. The caves and lava pools are well done, as are the buildings, with good lighting and details like crates and computer panels.

  12. Walk in the ParkscreenshotNot quite a walk in the park this one, unless your idea of a walk in the park is in the dark and surrounded by maurauding imps. The level consists of a few buildings scattered around a grassy, but dark, yard. You have to fight the first wave from inside the start building, and there is a good fight to keep the cacodemon from floating in. Once outside there are barons and imps to deal with; there are also a few traps with chaingunners teleporting in. Plenty of loot means it's not too hard, though.
  13. Subverted Base — Another buildings-in-a-canyon level. Again quite well done, with a mixture of Knee-Deep feel in the industrial-style buildings, plus some crates and gory decorations. Lots of traps — some easy to spot, others which make a nasty surprise — and some secrets.
  14. Power Outage — A clever little map, set in a small industrial base. The idea is that you start out with the building half-lit and with the doors and switches not working; you have to go to an outhouse and restore the power supply, and then the switches all work. Neat. The opposition is light; the level has a Doom 2 style, with a room full of alcoves that is very much like Refuelling Base (Doom 2 MAP10); the rest of the base is nicely done, with crates, a partially flooded floor, and a helipad outside.
  15. Blood Bath — An excellent map, with the a brown stone and blood texture theme which reminded me of The Inmost Dens (Doom 2 MAP14) or its sequels like The Inmost Dens III (Hell Revealed 2 MAP24). The style is done perfectly, and the layout is very open, with lots of windows between areas and gory decorations. There is a nice little opening fight, and an archville early on too, and plenty of revenants to keep things interesting. There are some small-scale traps, and some secrets too, although I thought the secret level exit was hardly challenging, as you could see the secret area from tw different places, could see the secret exit door, and several tempting goodies all pointing you towards it (albeit you still had to figure out how to get there, but that was not hard either).
  16. Burial Grounds — A nice little map set in a a rocky valley with some graveyards and a chapel. The stone chapel and indoor areas are excellent, with lots of atmosphere and good detail for the pews and the crypt. The graveyards are less impressive but still done okay. The indoor areas lead on the fights too, with a good fight to get in and then an excellent trap later on.
  17. Book LordsscreenshotSomething of a change of style at this level, which has a marble and wood theme — and lots of bookcases. It consists of a central hall, with various side rooms, but mostly monsters are released into, or teleport into, the main hall, in a series of increasingly tough fights.
  18. MS FuturascreenshotA small industrial crates-and-cement level, with a small storage building at the centre and a spiderdemon outside. The outdoor part of the level is unusually imposing, being very dark, and concealed in the darkness is a large backdrop including a large crane-like object — together with the bold music this makes the level very imposing. The actual fighting is trivial by comparision, although the opening fight is good for 30 seconds; once inside the main building the enemy are easy, and killing the spiderdemon is as tedious as such fights always are.
  19. ADscreenshotA tech/industrial style map, in a cement gray and shiny metal texture theme. I liked the layout, where you work your way around the outside first, then get into the core areas in the middle later: it gives lots of windows between areas, and an interesting structure to a level. Good architecture and nice details. There is plenty of action too, with a series of big fights once you get into the central area.
  20. — More cement and metal at this level; smaller than the last level, but I liked the use of metal wire fences to divide things up and give the level a greater sense of size. Only a cramped fight with a cyberdemon worth mentioning — apart from that, tons of loot sees the player through comfortably.
  21. SolitudescreenshotA little lava cavern hell-hole, very nicely done. The opening fight is nasty, and so are the rest — there is little space, little cover, little ammo, and no mercy.
  22. Despair — Blood and red rock caverns. Another very tough level, with very limited ammunition. The early fights give the player very little space to play with, and little chance to get the enemy infighting, so you have to work hard for every room here. A couple of good traps and a good secret too.
  23. AngerscreenshotMore blood and red rock caverns, but this level has an excellent style applied all the way through, with revenants in alcoves shooting at the player, and objects on pillars, and lots of torches and other decorations. The first fight entering the main area is excellent, with an archville poised overlooking the whole area, and all the corners and cover infested with imps and other monsters. This area hosts all the big fights at this level, and due to its layout there is never any really good place to take refuge, so it keeps the player very busy.
  24. Hatred — More big open-air showdowns at this level. The main area here is quite an arena, with a cyberdemon and several mancubi shooting down into the space which the player shares with a horde of imps, barons and later cacodemons. The cyb can be made to do most of the work. The design is excellent, particularly the sharp and jutting gaps into other caverns. The battles in the side areas are less interesting, but the main area gives the player plenty to do.
  25. — A dark level consisting of underground tunnels, with excellent lighting, and one interesting cyberdemon battle.
  26. screenshotA huge grandstanding level, which reminded me slightly of Top Hell (Hell Revealed MAP28), due to the large number of cyberdemons overlooking the start. It's great fun, running around and watching — and trying to avoid becoming a part of — the slaughter. The cyberdemons can be made to do most of the work, but keep some of them around, because there are lots more monsters to teleport in as you get the keys. The layout is interesting enough that it's more than just a runaround, and you have to get a good feel for the layout and the best hiding places if you are going to survive.
  27. screenshotA good level which merges the style of the original Monster Condo (Doom 2 MAP27 —), with its bookcases and brown stone, with the style of this episode — dark tunnels and red rock. The atmosphere is suitably sinister, and there are good lighting and windows in the main building, which the connecting tunnels are nicely done; the weakest part of the level is the large library, which is rather bland and symmetrical. There are lots of traps, with more monsters being released into this main area at every stage. The best traps are in the confined space of the tunnels, though — plus an excellent final cyberdemon showdown, where the player is forced to take a blur sphere, which is highly inconvenient (although in practice it just forced me to die a couple of times, and then run away and wait for it to wear off).
  28. — A racetrack level, where you have to race to the exit before a background timer mechanism causes the player to die. I'm no spedrunner and found this quite impossible, but I dare say someone who has some practice at this kind of thing can manage it. There is little actual oppostion but plenty of tricks and traps cleverly thrown in to slow the player down.
  29. Hell on Earth

    I am very glad that I didn't quit after getting stuck on the previous level, and -warped to this one. This is a superb level. It's an industrial cityscape, but set in an icy canyon — think Downtown (Doom 2 MAP13) crossed with Poison Processing (Requiem MAP03). The author has done what you should do in a level of this type: make full use of the vertical space, with steep stairs, lots of windows and wide views to give lots of impressive, high-up views of the city. There are a number of new textures imported, and I was reminded of Sector 666

    The gameplay is just as impressive. I was starting with a pistol, which made things unreasonably hard, and I was lucky to get out of the start building against two archvilles with only a single shotgun. But once outside I was soon able to bring myself up to strength. With lots of mancubi high up in other buildings shooting down at you, and also a number of revenants and an archville lower down in the buildings, there is plenty of fighting, and the outside is not really safe until some way into the level. All the buildings are full of windows looking out, so the level has a very open feel, and there are often monsters sniping from teh distance from other buildings. There are lots of traps, some quite nasty, all well worked out. Monster placement is good, with lots of crates in the buildings and perched monsters on other buildings forcing the player to keep an eye out around and above.

  30. I Dunno Torn by Kim "Torn" BachscreenshotThe episode takes the chance to change style completely for teh secret level, in this gothic/medieval torchlit stone dungeon. It is a good lever, with a very cavernous feel. There is a lot of attention to detail, with lots of metal bars, pillars, torches, and gory decorations. And plenty of action too, with some well placed archvilles and some good traps and secrets.
  31. enoZ soahC — A small level with just a couple of yards, and whole lot of monsters that teleport in. It's brief and brutal, just a matter of surviving while the monsters mostly kill each other. The first yard is clever, as you have to use thr raised section and gratings as protection while you sit it out; for the final fight, by contrast, you just have to run around and hope to live through it.

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