SIGIL

 

SIGIL | SIGIL_v1_2.wad

John Romero

This review was originally posted to Medium and tumblr.

John Romero is a legend. Only his evil counterpart, John Carmack, can really have any competing claim to the title of id Software’s most legendary founder. Romero had built a name for himself on the strength of his level design — tightly designed and consistently themed — for Doom. His intensive community outreach only further made him a rockstar in the eyes of shooter fans on the nascent internet. And while hubris and ego might have contributed to his downfall at the turn of the millennium, he’s only had two decades-plus to rebuild his good name, and rebuild he has. After his contributions to “Thy Flesh Consumed,” he would leave Doom behind in 1995 to work on Quake; 2016 marked his first new work in the Doomsphere in years with E1M8B: Tech Gone Bad, intended to sort of reclaim the E1M8 slot that previously went to “Phobos Anomaly,” which was the only level in the entire first episode that Romero didn’t contribute to. He would follow that up with E1M4B: Phobos Control, a replacement for the partially-Tom Hall-made “Command Control,” before going quiet for a couple years. December 10, 2018, the game’s 25th anniversary, saw him announcing a whole new episode, set between “Thy Flesh Consumed” and Doom II: Hell on Earth; five months later and SIGIL would rock everybody’s world.

While SIGIL might not be the most important Doom community release of 2019 (that would arguably be Eviternity, which coincidentally dropped a sequel last night at the same time as SIGIL II) it’s certainly up there. A much fuller offering than Romero’s previous one-offs, SIGIL presents a new vision of Hell, drawing thematically somewhat from both “Inferno” and “Thy Flesh Consumed,” but with some original conceits as well, including the burning red cracks in the floor that have become Romero’s signature. A common feature, one that Romero does his best to beat into the player’s head from the start, is the use of the evil eyes, those strange floating eyes surrounded by a mystic green symbol. Romero uses these to indicate shootable walls, which will trigger some raised platform or door or whatever to continue on your path. He’s quite insistent you learn this mechanic — you shan’t be getting through the first level otherwise.

Each level has its own thing going on, from the raised platforms of “Baphomet’s Demesne” to the tripartite opening of the way in “Paths of Wretchedness.” “Abbadon’s Void” is the one most like a vanilla level, a collection of buildings on a group of islands in a burning sea, and “Nightmare Underworld” is more about the journey than the destination, the one map in the entire set that doesn’t seem to have any set theme but has you traveling narrow rock passes and crumbling green fortresses to reach the exit. Romero has evolved as a designer quite a bit in the years since “Knee Deep in the Dead;” his original internal design rules seem to have been tossed out the window in the face of much more robust tools and better computers. Indeed, SIGIL won’t actually run on the dusty old DOOM.EXE — limit-removing ports only, please! Yet in spite of the significant advancements — and constantly changing trends — in Doom mapping, Romero has eschewed the large engagements pioneered by Doom II and sanctified in Hell Revealed II to instead create tight little maps with low monster counts that can still kick your ass. It’s all about the encounter design, and you’ll be dealing with a lot of close-quarters nastiness on top of snipers, swarms of cacos, and no fewer than seven goddamn cyberdemons on Ultraviolence. What all this ultimately means is that SIGIL has no set theme, as it were — or rather, unlike “Knee Deep in the Dead” there’s little in the way of a narrative structure, but rather a series of nasty little puzzle boxes for you to gradually open. So we get levels like “Cages of the Damned” which starts you off in a narrow passage, bisected by columns, but as you progress the columns raise up and the walls fall away, revealing the hostile army awaiting you.

SIGIL was actually released as a semi-commercial product. While the mapset was free to anyone who desired it, containing by default a selection of MIDI tracks from Doomworld virtuoso James Paddock, it was designed with music from eccentric guitar god and long-time Doom fan Buckethead in mind. This high-quality soundtrack is the main reason for Romero slapping a price tag of €6.66 (which comes out to about 7 bucks and change in US dollars, at least as of this writing.) You’re totally free to just use the MIDI version, however. Buckethead would compose a track specifically for SIGIL, the blistering “Romero One Mind Any Weapon,” but the rest of the soundtrack is carefully selected for the maps they play on, leaning towards spooky ambience and heavy metal odysseys. I’m especially partial to “The Patrolman,” even just for listening in the car, but I really like how “Cold Frost Part 6” makes “Abbadon’s Void” feel isolated and windswept, even for an island in hell.

SIGIL won’t blow you away with anything new. Its aesthetic appeal lies in Romero knowing how to use default assets to create unsettling imagery, like the flashing sigils on the walls, the freaky cracks in the floor, the vast seas of fire or the use of a burning red texture against pitch darkness to create an unsettling contrast (especially effective when a Baron of Hell steps through it!) Difficulty-wise it can be a little tight on ammunition, but if you know where the secrets are you can get your footing much quicker, placing it somewhere between the latter half of “Thy Flesh Consumed” and that brutal one-two punch of the first two levels of same. Ultimately, what makes SIGIL special isn’t even its pedigree — Doomworld infamously “snubbed” it by placing it with the runners-up in the Cacowards that year — but with the level of care and focus on fresh, entertaining gameplay from a guy who just hasn’t been terminally logged-in on Doomworld like the rest of us have. The community has long had its own trends and preferences in design ethos — for example, it often shies away from realism towards more nebulous concepts like “flow,” which can be seen in the likes of the sheer artfulness of Sunlust and Ancient Aliens, presenting an overall vibe and solid gameplay but not really looking like anything. With SIGIL, of course, Romero won’t be mistaken for an acolyte of Russian Realism, but he brings with him a design sensibility that speaks to his years as an industry veteran, even if after 20+ years away from Doom the community is resolved to see him as just some guy and not a man who helped build the industry he works in.

I like SIGIL quite a lot. While it’s only ever going to be considered “semi-official,” perhaps more official than The Lost Episodes of Doom or the Tom Mustaine-led projects Hell 2 Pay and Perdition’s Gate, but less official than, say, No Rest for the Living, it’s still a wild ride, a nasty little piece of work that rewards the savvy but leaves just enough room for the newbs to get their footing. Buckethead’s soundtrack creates a vastly different vibe from Jimmy’s, one that leaves me with my head feeling like an empty Coke can with a bee trapped in it, but it’s worth playing through with both and seeing which suits the episode better.

 

 

 

Buckethead version

 

Free version

E5M1: Baphomet’s Demesne

Romero sets the tone with this visually striking opener. You start off already under ambush, and first-timers are likely to hit the eye symbol in the ensuing shootout, but if you can grasp the basic conceit, you’ll be able to navigate the narrow paths over the walkway. Just mind you watch the lost souls ambushing you. Secrets are really easy to find, and you’ll need them.

E5M2: Sheol

This one comes off a little Doom 64, but you won’t see me complaining. The concept of a little Hellish outpost in a sea of lava is not new, but Romero makes it feel especially cramped. I like the maze ambush, especially if you’re smart enough to not grab the supercharge right away.

E5M3: Cages of the Damned

This might be my favorite of the episode? It starts off simple and cramped, but after exploring a bit the walls fall away to reveal the level’s namesake, and you’re under assault from at least two directions depending on how thorough you were clearing out the blood tunnel or the central cage. I like how it loops in on itself.

 

E5M4: Paths of Wretchedness

This one definitely feels like Doom 64 with the branching paths that you have to explore in turn to find the keys to unlock a gate at the far end. Each one feels like a mini-level in itself, with its own conceit. The crusher machine at the end of the right-hand path is one of the most visually striking elements in the episode, but the sinking stones across the lava river require quick thinking.

 

E5M5: Abaddon’s Void

Like E5M2’s meaner cousin (though both show a very Sandy Petersen influence.) It’s a dark, moody piece, with at least one cyberdemon (two on UV, because fuck you that’s why) hanging out at each end of the island chain. You’ll be able to telefrag the both of them eventually, but until then you’ll be under threat as you navigate the narrow paths around the outer buildings.

E5M6: Unspeakable Persecution

A tight cave complex that starts off relatively simple on the one side, but the other side features a deadly game of cat and mouse on higher difficulties as you try to navigate the teleporter maze on the walls of the regular maze. You will also at long last get the plasma rifle, and if you’re savvy, the BFG. Very cool level.

 

 

E5M9: Realm of Iblis

This is a weird one. Romero typically shies away from anything too techy (crusher maze in E5M4 not withstanding) but this one has just outright some kind of… tech thing in the middle of a smouldering pit. It’s a small part of the level overall though. Quake-like crushing columns will block your way here and there, but the real threat is the big bastard ruling over the underground keep.

E5M7: Nightmare Underworld

The penultimate level is a sprawling journey through a twisted canyon complex, absolutely chock-a-block with zombies. The cacodemon pit is a cool feature, but this otherwise is not my favorite level – too cramped and generally doesn’t feel like the other maps.

 

E5M8: Halls of Perdition

(Getting that screenshot was a real pain.) The final level is a return to form, one of the most visually striking levels in the entire episode with its emphasis on red and black. The lost souls outside the fence are there to distract you from the lost souls inside the fence (and their cheery buddies too.) The dark maze on the ground floor is fantastic, but the finale feels less epic than it could have been – you don’t have a lot of room to maneuver, nor any cover, so if you’re caught off guard you probably won’t be getting out unscathed.

 

Final thoughts

“The Shores of Hell” remains my favorite of the official episodes, but if we’re ever considering SIGIL an official fifth episode then that would be a very close second. It’s a great showcase of how Romero has evolved as a game designer in his 20+ years away, and the dueling soundtracks provide a very different vibe depending on which one you pick. Great stuff.

-June <3

Song of the damned never ends, so don't pretend
We are condemned where we stand