Doom Travelogues 06: Hell Revealed 2, Part 1

by praxis

1997’s Hell Revealed is one of the few Doom fan creations that you could honestly argue has been as influential within the community as any of the original IWADs. It is not hyperbolic to claim that many of the super-hard WADs that have been released in the years following owe their very existence to Hell Revealed, which legitimized a brutal, take-no-prisoners approach toward gameplay that, more than fifteen years later, is still extremely popular. To this day Hell Revealed is commonly invoked as shorthand to indicate that a map or mapset is really hard, and later classics like Alien Vendetta and the Deus Vult series are seemingly impossible to discuss without mentioning it.

Possibly the Doomiest title screen I have ever seen. Eat your heart out, Romero!

Now, I have a complicated relationship with Hell Revealed, which is another way of saying I’m not overly fond of dying a lot. One of the things you have to wrap your head around when playing HR’s maps is that you can’t really play them the way you would most other Doom levels. They were made by speedrunners, i.e., people who enjoy dissecting levels and learning the optimal ways to complete them, and as a result many of Hell Revealed’s maps demand this same approach from the player. It has been said before that Hell Revealed maps are more fun to replay than they are to play for the first time, and I can’t say that I disagree with this logic.

When I first set out to complete the “10 Years of Doom” feature, I kind of assumed Hell Revealed would end up being my white whale, that trying to complete it without manual saves would eventually spark some sort of nervous breakdown, and that I would quit the whole endevour in frustration. This turned out not to be the case, though I did seriously doubt my ability to complete the WAD at a couple of points. When I finally emerged from the ordeal, blood-soaked and tired, I knew that I had nothing left to fear from the remaining WADs on the list, for surely nothing could be as trying as what I had just emerged from.

And nothing was. But now that I’ve closed the book on the first ten years of Doom (for the time being) I find myself staring Hell Revealed 2 right in its beady red eyes, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to flinch. I expect I’ll be chipping slowly away at this WAD over the course of a few weeks, as I did with the first, so it seemed appropriate to do a multi-part feature as I wend my way haplessly through it. At the very least it will give me some down time between particularly traumatic levels or act as a cautionary tale should I eventually be driven mad by my own hubris.

MAP01: IGNITION! by Jonas Feragen

A small but attractive opening map that, judging by the three SSGs strewn about, was originally designed for deathmatch. The gameplay is pleasantly difficult, with monsters all about but plenty of places to duck in and out of should you have the need. The biggest challenge would have to be the two Arch-Viles squatting in the exit room, but you do have a rocket launcher at your disposal and a few different options when it comes to approaching them. A rough introduction, certainly, but not overly so.

MAP02: High Voltage by Jonas Feragen

Another small map, this one starting off with an interesting battle on a pier between you, a baron, and some shotgunners. After that you’ll face a hallway choked with zombiemen with an adjacent side yard full of… more zombiemen. Yeah, a little wierd. This level’s honestly not too bad, though Feragen does try to get you uncomfortably close to some toughs at a few points. Like the last level, it looks quite nice, with a combination of nukage, natural environs, and high-tech textures.

MAP03: Shackled by Jonas Feragen

Things start to get a bit more serious as Feragen throws a larger number a of monsters at you in trickier scenarios. This includes a number of way to get ambushed if you’re not careful. While a good map overall, sadly a few questionable monster encounters dampen the fun ever so slightly. To wit, the hallway full of barons is unfortunately more of a chore than a challenge, and I can’t say I appreciated the blind teleport into hell knights trap, either. Apart from these two gripes, it’s an enjoyable level.

MAP04: Reluctant Pain by Jonas Feragen

There have been some good levels thus far, but this is probably the first real keeper of the bunch. Feragen gets a lot of milage out of this tiny map, filling it with several tense firefights with just enough room to eke out a win. The main action takes place in two multi-tiered outdoor areas composed of brown stone and nukage, both of which get refilled with monsters at a certain point. I like the majority of the level so much in fact that not even the reappearance of the dreaded close-quarters hell knight trap could bring me down.

MAP05: Insatanity by Jonas Feragen & Derek McDonald

A few challenging encounters can be found here, but overall this is a step down in difficulty after the last two maps. The number of toughs is in the single digits, actually. One of the hardest fights, the SSG room, is entirely optional, as is the blue key card. Still, the level is extremely tight health-wise, so there’s ample room for you to screw up in such a way that you won’t be able to recover. It’s very nice to look at, too, with good use of brown brick, rusty steel, and a little bit of water.

MAP06: Revival by Mike Watson

A rather plain-looking map compared to the previous ones, with lots of gray brick and basic architecture. The skylight in the first room is a nice touch, though. It fares better in the gameplay department, however the difficulty is mitigated significantly by the level’s layout, which allows you to duck in and out of cover pretty effectively throughout. A nasty baron trap midway through is probably the level’s most dangerous encounter, but savvy players will be able to back out to a position of relative safety. A cyber rear’s its head, too (the mapset’s first), but only completionists need fight it.

MAP07: Not That Simple II by Jonas Feragen

Yet another solid contribution from Feragen. It starts out with the familiar Dead Simple manc-rachnotron arena battle before spilling out into less familiar territory. Once you’ve crossed the bridge into the second half of the level there are a number of large monster packs to contend with, but with ample ammunition and room to breathe things are pretty manageable. My favorite feature of the map has to be the cyberdemon gatekeeper that makes sure you don’t try to skip the opening battle.

MAP08: Ballistics by Sam Woodman

The first thing you’ll notice about Ballistics is that there are shell boxes all over the damn place. Seriously, even if you can’t hit the broad side of a barn, you’ll have enough shotgun ammo to see you through. Once you get over the item litter you’ll notice the level is composed of two identical courtyards encircled by raised and barred walkways. Opposition here is pretty stiff, but patience goes a long way since enemies are often confined to very specific zones. The mirrored design means you’ll know the layout of the back half by the time you reach it, and the final cyberdemon showdown is similarly telegraphed.

MAP09: The Siege II by Jonas Feragen

An interesting concept piece by Feragen. After fighting off imps and spectres with a rocket launcher, you’re transported to a small box with a window on each side where you’re required to literally hold down the fort as you wait patiently for an exit teleporter to lower. A host of beasties (mostly revenants) attack from all sides while cacos and pain elementals encroach from above. There’s plenty of ammo and health provided for you, so the main imperative is to keep moving and take as few hits as possible.

MAP10: Base Blaze by Yashar Garibzadeh

The standout feature of this map is an early fake-out involving a false exit precipitated by three key cards which are more or less handed to you on a silver platter. This bizarre sequence aside, it’s a pretty nondescript map that shuffles you from one small area to the next so quickly that it never really establishes a firm identity. The hardest bit involves a claustrophobic revenant fight, though you’re thrown a megasphere beforehand, as if the author felt remorse for what he was about to do.

MAP11: Raw Hatred by Mike Watson & Eric Roberts

The grand finale to E1 is primarily silver techbase with some brown brick and green marble areas attached. Gameplay is surprisingly breezy up until the final stretch where Watson dutifully reminds you that “Yes, Virginia, there is a Satan.” The main source of pain is revealed behind a facade wall that lowers to reveal a baron/knight mix backed by arch-viles. You’ll have an invulnerability, two megaspheres, and lots of ammo at your disposal in this map, so there’s more than enough here to see you safely to the exit.

All things considered, the first episode of Hell Revealed 2 could have been a lot worse. Of course, the thing that’s oft forgotten about Hell Revealed the First is that it doesn’t really take it’s gloves off until the second chapter. So if history repeats itself things are about to become much less amenable for little ol’ me. One additional thing I’ll say is that Hell Revealed 2 certainly looks better than the first one. Hell Revealed wasn’t ugly by any stretch of the imagination, but the gameplay was clearly the primary concern, and I’ve been very much appreciating the greater attention to aesthetics in the sequel. The Hell Revealed series is predicated on trial and error in a lot of ways, so it helps that a level look nice when you’re replaying it for the sixth time. With few exceptions, HR2 has been a pretty pleasant experience, and I see no reason not to keep pushing forward. Famous last words and such.