The Plutonia Experiment | PLUTONIA.WAD
Dario and Milo Casali
When it comes to discussing the influence that the commercial Doom games have had on the community, an outsider might naturally assume that the original game holds the most sway over the design ethos that governs most mappers. And it's a fair assumption, but you and I know that's not true, is it? Despite the existence of a long-running cottage industry of mappers providing their own takes on the classic episodes, I think it's fair to say that, at least as things stand in 2024, over thirty years since Doom first hit the market, you can look into any ten different community releases and feel the influence of The Plutonia Experiment over a majority of them.
And why not? For Doomers who cut their teeth on the likes of Doom and Doom II, Plutonia presents a consistent challenge otherwise unseen for most of the id Software-created games. Moreover, it's visually pleasing; while we all praise John Romero's use of lighting and textures to create visually striking maps in "Knee Deep in the Dead," the truth is that for the first couple of years of Doom's existence, ugly levels were the norm, both commercially and in the community. Plutonia would change this, with clean design aesthetics that seemed to anticipate Quake, which would release a mere five days after Final Doom. And that's the other thing: The Plutonia Experiment is only one half of the Final Doom experience, but here I am talking about it as if it's the whole package. And while yes, that's a little unfair to TNT: Evilution -- which Plutonia's two-man mapping team also worked on -- it's really obvious which of the two has had the more lasting influence on the community.
Let's step back a bit. The Plutonia Experiment would not exist if not for Evilution; when the latter was picked up by id Software for a publication deal and sent through a lengthy testing phase, brothers Dario and Milo Casali showed off an eight-map project they had been working on to American McGee at id Software. The boys at id were so impressed they promptly commissioned the Casalis to make a full 32-level expansion to be included with Evilution as part of a package to be titled Final Doom. What's interesting is that where Evilution had had an (at the time) lengthy development process even before the id-mandated QA phase, the Casalis cranked out the entirety of Plutonia inside of a four-month deadline and id Software accepted it as-is, 10/10 no notes. As far as I know there's no real way to know whether it was just a matter of not having the time for a lengthy QA process or if they really did think Plutonia was just that good, but the answer is probably both.
(Here's a fun fact about the Casalis: their mother Kim was the original author of the 1960s/70s newspaper strip "Love Is..." which Homer Simpson described as "two naked eight year olds who are married." I don't know why that explains a lot, it just does. She was also an early adopter of artificial insemination, being one of the first to give birth from the procedure following the death of her husband from cancer, with Milo being the result. It was a big media frenzy at the time.)
The Plutonia Experiment's story is pretty straightforward. While it's not clear whether it's set before or after Evilution, or even if the two games share a timeline, the basic premise remains the same: following the events of Doom II, the UAC reformulates with stricter government supervision and resumes teleportation experiments again, in this case learning how to close portals in an emergency. To that end, the UAC builds a device that can close any portal at will called a Quantum Accelerator, working at a secret research complex deep in the jungle with marines on standby just in case. When Hell stages an invasion, the Quantum Accelerator works perfectly, closing the portal then and there. The next day, a whole bunch of portals open, and the UAC base is quickly overwhelmed. The marines are scrambled, and Doomguy -- that's you -- gets there first, and concludes that by the time reinforcements arrive it will be too late, so he goes in alone.
Plutonia would set a new standard for tricky gameplay and a focus on blending challenge with atmosphere. The Casali brothers took the revenant, chaingunner and arch-vile and crafted entirely new scenarios with them, showing off the breadth of just how dangerous these enemies can be when used correctly. Far from the staid sci-fi installations and hell worlds of preceding games, Plutonia focused much of the action in a series of naturalistic jungle zones, ruins and bases; to this day, its jungle theme remains a popular setting for mappers to return to, even outside of the realm of Plutonia fan sequels.
Dario
and Milo share a lot in terms of design philosophy, but it's generally
pretty easy to tell who designed which map (disregarding that we do have
a list of who designed what.) Milo in particular has some of the
prettier maps, with lots of curved walls and interesting geometry, and
the resurrecting chaingunner trick is a favorite of his. Dario tends
towards tricky, even evil, encounters, often throwing you into one right
from go. But both make pretty consistent use of theming and textures,
which might make Plutonia feel a bit samey after a while
but I for one appreciate their dedication to the jungle setting. One of
the more important myths about Plutonia, of course, is that it's a
slaughterwad; leaving aside the debate for what slaughter actually means
in Doom mapping, Plutonia does not typically go for big
crowds. Even the one map that might be considered a slaughter map,
MAP32: "Go 2 it" is barely 200 monsters. What makes Plutonia's encounters special is that you will feel every single one of the 70 monsters placed in these relatively small maps.
There's another funny thing about Plutonia that I think plays into its popularity, and that's the fact that it's unquestionably a love letter to the vibe of Doom 1 and II. From the soundtrack being entirely selections from the first two Doom games to the cloudy sky in the first act evoking the similar setting from "Knee Deep in the Dead," to several maps being essentially remixes of classic IWAD levels like "Deimos Anomaly" or "Downtown," Plutonia was one of the first mapsets to acknowledge the "classicness" of the original IWADs, a mere two and a half years after the first game's release (which, to be fair, was an eternity in the fast-growing video game industry at the time, technology making leaps and bounds every year. Again, remember, Quake was released five days after Final Doom.)
The ironic thing about Plutonia's reputation for difficulty is that I think it's somewhat overstated, but for Doomers of the mid 1990s, it was the gold standard for difficulty -- there simply was nothing else like it. By today's standards, of course, it's only somewhat tricky -- after all, with things like Hell Revealed, Sunlust, Sunder, among others, there's plenty of ultra-difficult wads out there that makes Plutonia look like a walk in the park. And to be sure, the Casalis are very generous with ammunition, giving you more than enough rocket ammo alone to delete every last archie and screaming skeleton you meet. (Well, with a couple of exceptions.) I feel where most new or lesser-skilled players trip up is that MAP01, "Congo," would be a MAP10 or MAP15 in any other mapset; the first ten levels alone are on par with the middle chapter of Evilution or the third chapter of Doom II. But Doom has difficulty settings for a reason and you're allowed to play on Hurt Me Plenty if you want. Or you could do what I did for this playthrough and play it with the Plutonia weapon set from Final Doomer+, which won't dramatically outstrip the vanilla arsenal in terms of power but has a few quirks that should give players an edge (the grenade launcher in particular is extremely useful in that it will always bounce off the first wall it hits, allowing for cool bankshots like Quake.) However you decide to approach the game, it quickly becomes apparent that once you've gotten over the early poverty of ammunition, the Casalis give you every tool you need to overcome your enemies, you just need to employ strategic thinking and be prepared for anything. The Casalis might employ a few tricks that might get considered bullshit: resurrecting chaingunners, ambushes the second you spawn into the level, and so on -- but eventually you'll begin to grasp Dario and Milo's design sensibilities and be able to plan accordingly.
(I also used Shades of Doom to reskin the monsters to a jungle theme, as well as the Plutonia MIDI Pack and PalPlus -- all cosmetic changes but I feel they give the game a more distinctive identity, especially since Plutonia does not come with any new music out of the box.)
I really like Plutonia. I think, at least as far as the PC games go, it's probably my favorite or second favorite (the only tie would be the original -- some classics are classic for a reason.) I appreciate its dedication to an ideal, its consistent use of theming and clean design. It starts out tough and stays that way -- arguably, once you've cleared MAP15, "The Twilight," you'll have seen the toughest that the mapset can get. But more than its reputation, more than its influence on the community, I think what Plutonia represents is potential -- it was the obvious step forward, aesthetically and mechanically, for a community that was in transition with Quake around the corner and the months-old Duke Nukem 3D already making its own stamp on the "Doom clone" scene. And for that reason, it remains an important inflection point for the course of Doom mapping for the decades to come.
MAP01: Congo
Milo Casali
The Casali brothers don't play and you're about to find that out fast. Almost from the start, a chaingunner starts shooting at you from a distance -- and he's an example of one of Milo's favorite tricks, a commando that continually resurrects until and unless you can kill the arch-vile behind him. Besides him you'll also run into mancubi, revenants, a pain elemental, and a (very small) collection of zombies and imps. Despite this, it's not a terribly large or complex map -- just be ready.
MAP02: Well of Souls
Dario Casali
You've met Milo, now meet Dario. If you've explored "Congo" well enough and you're playing continuous, you probably won't have too much trouble with this one, a gloomy jungle river-and-ruins type deal with a cool lowering water level that reveals some enemies (a la Quake's "Dismal Oubliette.") The canyon fight is tough with all the cacos and revenants and very little room to maneuver, but it's the chaingunner-and-baron ambush in the ruins that gave me the most trouble. Also, the MIDI pack theme is awesome.
MAP03: Aztec
Milo Casali
This is probably one of the most straightforward -- even easy -- maps in the whole set. It's a dark ruin complex with a lot of curved walls and sunken rooms. The narrow confines offer a lot of cover, making it easy to deal with the revenants, arachnotrons and other artillery from relative safety. The only trouble spot might be the arch-vile, but if you can get him into a fight with the nearby revenant it should distract him long enough to get into a better position to deal with him. Fun level.
MAP04: Caged
Dario Casali
The first three levels were tough but generally fair. "Caged" is thusly a wake-up call, with an opening ambush right off the bat that's extremely dangerous to get out of unscathed (hope you brought the armor and soulsphere from the last level with you!) The level itself is a bit short on safe ground for you but is generally open for the monsters, with a swarm of cacodemons especially able to take advantage of the open airspace to harass you as you frantically search for cover. Dario is kind enough to bestow a lot of ammo, however, as well as the plasma rifle if you can make the jump. I like the crush of barons in the brown sludge room where you get a ton of rocket ammo.
MAP05: Ghost Town
Milo Casali
This is one of the more famous maps in Plutonia, later immortalized in the likes of Chronicles of Ghost Town and Plutonia Revisited's "Escape from Ghost Town." It's a somewhat linearly spread out little jungle town with lots of chaingunner snipers, barons, a twin arch-vile ambush, and even a spiderdemon. It's a fun little map with a cool aesthetic and entertaining combat.
MAP06: Baron's Lair
Dario Casali
Act 1-A concludes with this map that runs off in four directions from a central hub. It's not the most terribly difficult map, though the arachnotron ambush in the west wing might give you trouble, to say nothing of the surprise cybie in the east. The southern wing feels like a callback to "Ghost Town," but it's a little easier to deal with than "Ghost Town" ever was. Be sure to check the floating skull box at home base repeatedly for supplies!
MAP07: Caughtyard
Dario Casali
Well, it's no "Dead Simple," but it does have a similar premise of tight quarters with lots of fire coming your way. You're in a little fort with lots of revenants and zombies up on the walls and some mancubi roaming the courtyard, and arachnotrons patrol the moats outside. Oh, a Baron is in here too. It's a rude shock but once you've cleared the mancubi the rest is easy. Mind the archie.
MAP08: Realm
Milo Casali
While starting off similarly to "Well of Souls," Milo quickly sends us into a sunken bunker where the exit is in sight but without utilizing some speedrun tricks you'll have to explore the dark tunnels first. Toughest fight is the last one, a revenant and arch-vile ambush just as you're about to exit that can catch you off guard.
MAP09: Abattoire
Milo Casali
A tough little underground installation. The opening room is pretty simple at first with light resistance, but it fills up with imps and an archie later on. The demon-and-revenant room is a rough one to deal with once more skelly bois start showing up, but if you can get into the secret area you'll have some excellent cover. The rest of the map is pretty gravy, honestly. Fun map.
MAP010: Onslaught
Dario Casali
A straightforward jungle base type deal. Dario pulls one of his favorite tricks -- a chaingunner ambush right at the start -- but if you can dodge it and grab the invisisphere, you'll be prepared for the next minute or so. The toughest fights are probably the big showdowns in the middle area where the yellow key is -- you can hide in the starting yard and let the baddies come to you, at least. Dario also uses arch-viles to resurrect chaingunners, though it's blessedly inconsistent and you can probably game it a little depending on where they drop when they die.
MAP011: Hunted
Dario Casali
One of the all-time classic meme levels of Plutonia, Dario's "Hunted" is you versus a bunch of arch-viles in a maze of trenches, sealed off by automatic doors that trigger when you cross certain (easily identified) lines. It's such a simple map with a simple concept but it's nerve-wracking, but Dario is kind enough to give even pistol starters a super shotgun and plenty of ammo. Your reward at the end is the BFG, thank goodness -- but continuous players had better pick the right exit or they'll be left in bad shape for the next level.
MAP12: Speed
Milo Casali
A dark little wooden dungeon/bunker/something or other with blood pouring everywhere. It's a tough nut to crack, split between two large chambers. On the one side are a lot of cacodemons and other bullshit; on the other the resistance is a little lighter until the cyberdemon (an archie on lower difficulty) shows up. It's a confusing map, without much in the way of marked locks, but if you can find the yellow key door the rest falls into place as you try to raise some walkways. Simpler than it looks, but still pretty tough. Also brings back the chaingunner-sniper trick, annoyingly enough.
MAP13: The Crypt
Milo Casali
An abandoned/corrupted techbase kind of deal with a cool opening, a tough mancubus ambush right inside, and generally low-key combat for the rest of the map. It's a really short level, with most of the action in the outdoor area to the east. The archie in the blood sewer is less of a threat than the revenant that spawns right behind you, especially if you can keep him busy with chaingunner corpses. The finale room is easily handled if you're careful, just mind the archie behind the door.
MAP14: Genesis
Dario Casali
The blood theme continues, though this time it hurts you. A semi-bi-symmetrical map with solid aesthetics set around I guess some sort of toxin facility, "Genesis" is a short and sweet collection of blood pits and pathways. Toughest fight is probably the ambush when you grab the invisibility.
MAP15: The Twilight
Milo Casali
Oh, Milo, what are we to do with you? Imagine Dario's "Caged" on steroids and you've got "The Twilight," a nasty little metal nightmare that has you moving from cover to cover to avoid an onslaught of chaingunners. Slow and steady wins the race, here, because Milo drops multiple tough encounters on you (especially on the east stairway) with a spiderdemon finale to boot. If you're savvy enough to find the invulnsphere, though, you can pretty much just walk to the exit -- or the secret exit, if you prefer...
MAP31: Cyberden
Dario Casali
Honestly, after "The Twilight," Dario's "Cyberden" is a surprisingly easy map even by Plutonia's standards. The main loop involves finding four marble demon reliefs with switches in their foreheads, having to come out to the central courtyard each time, fighting the previously caged cybie that's been let out to play, and then exploring one of the side rooms the switches progressively unlock, before going off to find the next switch and doing it all over again. Dario is nice enough to release the big boys one at a time, making dispatching them easy... what you really have to watch for's the horde of revenants released by the fake exit (which doesn't even look like the standard Plutonia exit!) And no, you don't get a choice of exit -- you're going to the super-secret level and you'll like it.
MAP32: Go 2 It
Milo Casali
The meme level to end all Plutonia meme levels, "Go 2 It" is a remixed "Entryway" from Doom II set to "Nobody Told Me About id" (or the furiously bouncy remix, "Plunge Saw," if you're using the MIDI pack) with around 200 monsters. Widely hailed as one of the first slaughtermaps (if not the first, certainly the groundwork had been laid as early as Doom's E2M9,) "Go 2 It" is a messy little massacre that throws hordes of monsters at you, most of them hailing from the Doom II-exclusive bestiary: arachnotrons, arch-viles, revenants, mancubi, pain elementals, and chaingunners, with just a small group of barons and of course the two big bosses to represent Doom 1. Milo is kind enough to drop loads and loads of ammunition on you and you'll need most of it to deal with the crowds, but you're also afforded plenty of cover -- a relatively safe zone being the room upstairs from the old MAP01 starting point. What's interesting is how the level gradually evolves from its original Doom II layout to a more open one as you progress and grab keys, with one of the biggest changes being a monster closet opening up in the middle of the U-bend hallway that separates the old opening room to the old pre-exit chamber and spilling out a ton of bullshit. It's a really fun map provided you take it slow and take advantage of the copious supplies laying around.
MAP16: The Omen
Milo Casali
After "The Twilight" and the two secret levels, "The Omen" is a super easy one, a little rock-and-nukage deal that can be gotten through in a few minutes. The raising and lowering walkway makes for an interesting method of bottlenecking enemies in the blue key area. The nukage is safe to stand in so long as it's not an otherwise inescapable pit, of which there are a couple. Standout fight would probably be the zombie apocalypse on the raising and lowering columns past the yellow key door.
MAP17: Compound
Dario Casali
Another short and sweet map with an opening gimmick involving flooding a room with nukage to access the rest the level. You'll have to get a little radioactive, as the nukage on this level hurts, but once you've gotten to the room with the big hash-symbol shaped platform the rest is mostly gravy. The western area with the red key is pretty straightforward, mostly zombies with a random mancubus. The toughest fight is probably the ambush near the switch that opens the path to the yellow key, as a lot of trash mobs and an archie show up. By the time I was getting into the map it was over and everybody was dead, so yeah, it's surprisingly short for the enemy count.
MAP18: Neurosphere
Milo Casali
When Tom Mustaine first submitted a map to id Software for The Master Levels they rejected it as being too obviously derivative of Doom II's MAP14, "The Inmost Dens." But when Milo Casali snuck this cute little number into Plutonia, id Software pretty much gave it a pass -- famously, they suggested no revisions to any part of the entire megawad, in contrast to the lengthy QA phase of Evilution. I wonder why? Anyway, here's "Neurosphere," a pretty direct "Inmost Dens" clone (and one of many that the community has churned out over the years.) It's got everything you'd expect from such a shameless remake -- bouncy level progression, hitscanner hell, and some pretty striking visuals that seem to anticipate Quake in some way.
MAP19: NME
Milo Casali
Given the way "NME" starts in an L-shaped corridor which terminates in an overlook over a toxic blood pool you must skip across, the disconnected layout of the map that you must use teleporters to traverse, and the overall dark hellbase theme -- this is pretty much just a remix of Doom 1's E2M1, "Deimos Anomaly," isn't it? Of course, it's significantly more threatening, with a near constant stream of enemies teleporting into the upper corridor to start with and a surprise cybie guarding the switch that leads to the exit. Definitely one of my favorite maps from this set.
MAP20: The Death Domain
Dario Casali
Cool little hellbase fortress from Dario, this one has you basically making a complete circuit around the edge of the map in a quest to get the blue key. The opener is a sharp shock but if you're quick about getting some cover and taking out the revenants above you'll probably be alright. The tougher fight is unquestionably the squad of barons who teleport around the balcony they're on, one of those fights that on paper is deliciously evil and in practice is a little annoying. Cool level overall with the MIDI pack providing a spooky vibe.
MAP21: Slayer
Milo Casali
A Plutonified remix of Doom II's MAP11, "Circle of Death," "Slayer" is smaller, tighter, but arguably not as mean. You're still dealing with a lack of cover from go, and the pain elementals can be a pain in the assamental, but Milo is generous with supplies and a few well-placed rockets will melt most of that monster count.
MAP22: Impossible Mission
Dario Casali
Now here's a surprise, a rather classical techbase with lots of (non-toxic) nukage. It can be a little infuriating with all the backtracking but along the way there's some cool encounters like the mancubi emerging from the slime pipes (I think Doom 3 might have lifted this idea) and the multi-baron (and an archie) massacre when you go to grab the red key.
MAP23: Tombstone
Milo Casali
Milo brings us a more Shores of Hell-style techbase with heavy use of darker stone and (inconsistently toxic) blood pools. It's in his trademark curvy style but is otherwise pretty straightforwardly a techbase map. The opening can be a bit hectic (this is Plutonia after all) but it's the revenant/archie ambush that might cause the most trouble if you're unprepared.
MAP24: The Final Frontier
Dario Casali
In what feels like a callback to Romero's post-Knee Deep contributions to the IWADs, "The Final Frontier" is as thorough an imitation of his pit fetish as Dario can muster. Aesthetically it looks -- and mostly plays -- like "The Living End," the penultimate level of Doom II, but that random cyberdemon lording over the second chamber feels like a reference to a similar irritant in Thy Flesh Consumed's "Against Thee Wickedly." Progression is slow, as you don't have a lot of room to maneuver and Dario throws lots of fliers at you, but if you can at least get rid of the cybie you should probably be okay.
MAP25: The Temple of Darkness
Milo Casali
It's trench warfare and you're in no man's land, Milo dropping you in the middle of enemy territory and forcing you to run to cover (again.) This is actually a very short sequence, however, because once you actually step into the portal inside the titular temple, you'll have to deal with things like the hell noble throwdown in relatively cramped quarters, a hellish dock with lots of baddies down by the lavafront, and of course the red key trap, which is pretty annoying to deal with.
MAP26: Bunker
Dario Casali
Dario delivers a freewheeling cavern bunker adventure. If you're playing pistol start this might actually be a tough level as it's relatively light on ammunition for a Plutonia map, but even continuous players will be hunting for supplies. The bunker itself has loads of zombies but encounters are a bit scattered, given the open-ended nature of the map and the way more baddies will teleport into the flooded tunnel that circles the installation, eventually making their way inside. But there's definitely a pretty hectic baron fight by the blue key if you peek into the nearby ammo storage, and a big horde floods in from the exit area. If there's a late game level that most exemplifies Plutonia to me, it's this one. Awesome level and probably my favorite.
MAP27: Anti-Christ
Milo Casali
This one gets labeled as another "Living End" remix and it certainly has the aesthetic but in all honesty it feels more like a somewhat easier version of Thy Flesh Consumed's "Perfect Hatred" (the infamous E4M2 of Ultimate Doom.) You're not granted a lot of room to manuever, and there are lots of chaingunners and other long-distance artillery around to make your life painful. Most of these threats can be deleted if you're quick and careful, but Milo also likes to throw multiples of pain elementals at you, a couple of surprise moshpits (one behind the yellow door and one by the blue key) and one of those chaingunners is perpetually resurrected by an archie that cannot be killed by normal means so you'll have to deal with long-distance fire coming your way for much of the map. Fuck you too, Milo.
MAP28: The Sewers
Dario Casali
We close out Dario's contributions to the set with this slightly ugly, but not terribly complex, sewer system. The map revolves around a large cross-shaped intersection, with different sections branching off from each of the arms. You'll have some decent fights in most of these sections, with the standouts fight to me being a stream of bullshit emerging from the pool in the large cistern area and shortly after that a fight with a teleporting archie. Despite the overuse of an ugly green brick texture this is actually a pretty fun level with some interesting geometry.
MAP29: Odyssey of Noises
Milo Casali
The penultimate Plutonia map is both uncharacteristic for Milo and for the mapset as a whole. Basically it's Doom II's famous "Downtown" level, but bigger, browner and meaner. The majority of the level's garrison consists of snipers and other entrenched forces of various types, including a somewhat-stationary cyberdemon lording over the smouldering crater to the south. However, there are free-roaming groups, including three who invade the map at various points in your progress. If you like "Downtown" you'll love this. If you hate "Downtown" you'll still love this.
MAP30: The Gateway of Hell
Milo Casali
Less underwhelming than "Icon of Sin," more straightforward than "Last Call," the final level of Plutonia loads you up with some ammo and a megasphere before sending you off to first deal with an archie ambush and then a rather hectic take on an otherwise typical "Icon of Sin" style battle, as you'll have a lot of pre-existing baddies to deal with on top of the new ones that continually spawn in, including a cyberdemon occupying the platform that you need to get on. Good luck, marine.
-June <3
Part of a series on Classic Doom
| Doom |
The Ultimate Doom |
| Doom II: Hell on Earth | |
| The Master Levels | No Rest for the Living |
| Final Doom | |
| TNT: Evilution | The Plutonia Experiment |
| Doom 64 | The Lost Levels |
No comments:
Post a Comment