Except for the big Archvile ambush cheesing, I got the same experience as @Flyxolydian with the final area of map 27.
The Pain Elementals are the good ideas of these fights (with the archvile ambush, but… if it can be cheesed…), though this fight is maybe my least favorite of the big ones from this wad.
On the other hand, I’m constantly impressed by the skill level Doom players develop because first part of map 27 felt pretty hard to me and I died a lot there :-) (and I play HNTR)(but I didn’t camped, not even thinking about it). And I loved that part.
One personal point of view, again, I’m not exactly convinced by the afterlife II midi’s choice on this map. It works very well on the first part but, for the reasons mentioned above, don’t on the big last area.
Regarding map 28, not very much to say except that it’s not a big scale one. I enjoyed every fight in it !
About map 29 : this is the big boy, with various influences and the French brutality as a link. Once again, on HNTR, the «every step = archviles» is less present, you end the map exhausted but full.
I can’t say anything to really good doom players - if some find the wad not that challenging and grindy, I’m not qualified to deny it - though I may say that, for casual players who like some challenges, HNTR is really well balanced. Most maps get their killcount divided by two or three and are still hard (but doable).
As a whole : I’ve been through every map at least two times (one ITYTD the other HNTR), it’s true some of them can take some time on blind run, because of enemies and, also, some exploration.
You’ll find some intricate complex maps (02, 06, 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19 are the big ones, but not the only ones) some open ones (with tiny to heavy touch of non-linearity) (01 (yeah), 09, 10, 11, 12,13, 15, 18, 19, 20, 22, 26), only one (cool) maze (17), some punchy/frantic short maps (07, 09, 10, 31, 32, 20, 21, 24), some slaughter of course (hitscanners on map 02 or map 08, high-tier monsters on map 15, 18, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)(I’m tangent on maps 23 and 22… they have big fights, yeah, but the maps as a whole didn’t really felt slaughter)*.
On second (and subsequent) playthroughs, the maps gets better and better. You realize how UV-speed oriented some of them are (don’t mean they are short, but finding the shortest path is enjoyable here and you also realize how many non-mandatory areas there is… plus, some maps have non-mandatory but life-changing secrets (best examples : map 05 and map 08)).
I’m also impressed by the variety of textures and the aesthetics, being able to make a whole 32-megawad of shades of green without being boring is quite a «tour de force». At least I never felt bored, it’s always a matter of tastes and colors.
Yeah. I really liked this wad. One of the most ample and addictive.
This doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be polished a bit more :-).
*Personally, I’ve felt really distinct vibes from the different slaughtermaps, maybe because of my skill level choice… for instance map 15 feels a bit Darkwave, but it’s not Darkwave, and map 22 (which is Darkwave’s) felt Darkwave but different, one of its most adventurous work. There is always a nice and tough first part before the slaughter really begin and the big fights are sometimes puzzly, sometimes harassing, sometimes infight-dependent and… yeah, sometimes you have to circle strafe or horseshoe.
Edited by apichatpong
