DBP11: Lilywhite Lilith

 

DBP11: Lilywhite Lilith | DBP11.WAD

Doomer Boards

At this point I don’t think anyone is under any illusion about the Doomer Boards or their reputation. But in spite of their status as the Doom community’s grease trap, they’re a creative bunch over there — where else would you find an entire episode’s worth of Doom maps inspired by Genesis and Phil Collins? That’s right, DBP11: Lilywhite Lilith is a tribute to the 70s prog rock gods.

It’s real weird. Let’s get into it.

First, the obvious disclaimer: I played this using Shades of Doom, which allows you to select your own monster reskins (I used it for Final Doom as well, if you recall) as well as the excellent Alice: Toys of Madness gameplay mod that effectively turns the game (sans monsters) into American McGee’s Alice game. I was perhaps a little harsher on that game than it really deserves, but I appreciated its commitment to a vibe. Pretty much the entirety of the mod’s assets — including the Cheshire Cat — are lifted directly from that game, and to be quite honest, it works very well with DBP11’s aesthetic, if not quite its gameplay.

Lilywhite Lilith is defined by lots of marble architecture and hanging gardens; it’s one of the prettiest wads I ever played, actually, taking on a sort of pastoral aesthetic with lots of green grass and wooden trellises and stained glass. According to a Discord post by project leader Jack “Jaxxoon R” Stewart, the texture set draws from a number of sources including Witchaven, Undying, Counter-Strike, Amulets & Armor, and elsewhere. The end result is a starkly neo-classical look that’s almost in antithesis to the more traditional gothic aesthetic so popularized by Gothic Deathmatch.

Storyline-wise it seems to be mostly abstract, or even a dream, the text file hinting at something awful amidst the pastoral gardens of crumbling limestone. The intermission texts aren't any more illuminating, something about a mad queen -- Lilith? -- who may exist outside of the bounds of time or even, perhaps, be borne from human hatred. I don't know, someone get Peter Gabriel in here to look at it.

The enemies are mostly untouched, save for two. The hanging Commander Keens have been replaced with dolls, seeing use in a single map (the first one, as part of a secrets chain.) The Wolfenstein guy -- always a popular choice for DEHACKED shenanigans -- has been replaced with a “plasma zombie,” a slow-moving former human with a two-shot plasma gun. Not as dangerous as the arachnotron, but definitely should be considered a threat especially in groups.

The music is about half MIDI renditions of Genesis or Phil Collins, half tracks from other games such as the Saturn version of Sonic 3D Blast. Oh, and a random Pearl Jam MIDI. It’s all a rather fitting selection throughout.

In terms of mapping credits, Jaxxoon R is the MVP here, with a full four maps constructed by him in addition to leading the project. Right behind him is Glen “glenzhino” McColl and Big Ol’ Billy, both of whom contributed two maps each. SuperCupcakeTactics — always a delight — has one map, but it’s the most mechanically interesting one of the bunch. And Ilya “joe-ilya” Lazarev is behind what I think is the low point of the mapset — sorry, but it must be said. I suspect part of it may be because of the Alice gameplay mod, but I found “Five Minute Afloat” rather unfair — you’re trapped on a small boat with basically zero cover and wave after wave of enemies teleport in from all sides. It’s timed so that they don’t all come in at once, but with such little cover dealing with all the fliers and especially the plasma zombies becomes very difficult.

Most of the maps swing between about 50 to 200 monsters each; some are quite large by DBP standards, with Jaxxoon’s “Cascade” being especially notable for its sprawling adventure format and Big Ol’ Billy managing to turn an entire Genesis song concept into a cohesive map with “Cynthia and Henry.” The DBPs are supposed to be kind of popcorn maps, but as DBP11 proves, the Doomer Boards can and will surprise you.

The Doomer Boards Projects regularly turns out unique or interesting themes, but I have to give credit, DBP11: Lilywhite Lilith is a true stand-out even by DBP standards. If you like Genesis or Phil Collins, you’ll love this. If you hate Genesis or Phil Collins (I’ll understand if that’s the case) you’ll still love this.

 

MAP01: Awakening

Jack "Jaxxoon R" Stewart

A short and quick little opener, set first in a small series of well-appointed rooms, then moving through a marble corridor to the exit. Off in the distance is a folley in a lake; getting there requires first dealing with a nasty trap and a little bit of doll murder to get yourself the red key, then finding your way outside (hint: some windowsills can be climbed.)

MAP02: Gilded Cage

Jaxxoon R

A sprawling complex of gardens, both indoor and outdoor. You'll be dealing with a lot of fire coming from behind cover, from flower tunnels to bushes in a more overgrown area of the garden. Some nicely interconnected areas; I also like the sense of continuity from the previous map.

MAP03: Frasia Marine

SuperCupcakeTactics

A rather well-appointed tomb complex abutting a sea or lake. A major gimmick is explosive barrels triggered by tripwires -- in most cases, you'll be able to just shoot the barrels out ahead of time, but there's one ingenious little trap that has you dodging obstacles to get away from the huddle of barrels you've just dropped into. The glass casket area is a great place for a fight. It took me a bit to figure out the puzzle in the stained glass corridor -- just smash everything.

MAP04: Forest of Shattering Glass

Jaxxoon R

This one is a large forest area with a couple of buildings. It starts off quiet enough until imps come at you through the stained glass. You'll have plenty of room to deal with the bad guys throwing stuff at you up the embankments. Once you've thrown the red key switch a bunch more baddies come in to replace the ones you just killed, including up to two archies undoing all your hard work. Towards the end you'll have to smash some windows yourself to progress, just mind what's behind them!

MAP05: Silent Sorrow in Empty Boats

Glen "glenzinho" McColl

The song is "Easy Lover" but there's nothing easy about this glenzinho map, a quadrilateral marble complex with caves and tunnels surrounding it. The central ziggurat will rearrange itself as you progress, exposing you to more baddies including an archie or two, but it's the trek to the orange key that will have you tearing your hair out as you'll have to deal with a horde of bad guys including up to three archies on a series of tiers that you have to take lifts up. Argh!

MAP06: Five Minute Afloat

Ilya "joe-ilya" Lazarev

As is often the case with joe-ilya, it's a map that's interesting in concept but kinda irritating in execution. You're on a boat -- a very small one -- and surrounded by several more. Over the next several minutes several waves of enemies will spawn in from all directions, ranging from imps to plasma zombies to way too many fliers and ultimately a cyberdemon. So that's fun. Good luck, because you have almost zero cover and even less health, and ammo is arranged in such a way that it's almost impossible to make the most of it if you come into the map already topped off because you'll be stepping over it and getting minuscule amounts.

MAP07: Cascade

Jaxxoon R

Jaxxoon takes us on an adventure through a sprawling brick and marble complex that repeatedly turns in on itself. It's one of the best kinds of levels, the kind that has a bunch of little set pieces and encounters that connect organically. Lots of hitscanners will drive you batty, but it's the swarm of cacos in the multi-wave outdoor fight that could get messy.

MAP08: Cynthia and Henry

Big Ol' Billy

Large Ancient William takes us on a journey to the strains of a MIDI rendition of "The Musical Box" by Genesis. Savvy prog fans will recognize the immediate theme, of a murder by croquet mallet in a child's bedroom. You'll be revisiting this bedroom a couple of different times, your ultimate goal being to complete both encounters which will allow you access to the exit. Like "Cascade" before it, "Cynthia and Henry" is a sprawling adventure of a country manor, all marble domes and stone parapets, with an interesting motif of flowing blood amidst the hanging gardens. Really, really fun map.

MAP09: Liliths Last Supper

Big Ol' Billy

The grand finale is a massive melee in a sort of dining room. A spiderdemon holds court on the upper level, and she's got a lot of goons to protect her. Lucky for you, Billy has given you plenty of powerups to deal with the problem. I like the finale that has you on a dinner plate giving indigestion to what appears to be the titular Lilith. God, prog rock is weird.

MAP10: After the Ordeal

glenzinho

A simple credits map that doesn't even have an exit, it's a nice little remix of scenes from the mapset. 

 

 

 

-june<3

Lilywhite Lilith,
She gonna take you through' the tunnel of night.
Lilywhite Lilith,
She gonna lead you right.

The Doomer Boards Projects 

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