DBP49: Mausoleum Nefarium | DBP_49_FULL.WAD
Doomer Boards
Say what you will about the Doomer Boards — and plenty has been said already — they know how to make a Doom wad over there. Since March 2018 they’ve pumped out a whopping sixty-seven wads in the Doomer Boards Project series, with a sixty-eighth on the way as of this writing and almost certainly more to come down the line. (I wonder what they’ll do for DBP69?) DBP37: AUGER;ZENITH afforded them a bit of mainstream community fame and positive attention for once, and in the year since, they gradually refined their output with new ideas and themes. While DBP49: Mausoleum Nefarium isn’t the most original thing they’ve ever done, it nevertheless is a solid entry and definitely a return to form after the debacle over DBP48 — the less said about that one, the better.
Looking objectively at Mausoleum Nefarium’s aesthetic, I can’t help but think about GothicDM and the many texture sets that it inspired. Being quite frank, the Doom community has long flown close to the sun (as msx2plus so succinctly put it in a recent thread) with regards to ripping resources from commercial products. The boomer shooter community has done it for years, and it’s not just Doom. There are Duke Nukem 3D mods out there that use textures and sprites from Blood, Shadow Warrior, and even Strife. Quake mappers have used textures from Hexen II and Daikatana (all else aside, that game had some good medieval textures, so I understand.) And of course the Doom community lifts from just about everywhere: Wolfenstein, other Doom games, Heretic and Hexen, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Half-Life, if it’s a shooter or even just a 3D RPG made between 1992 and 2003 it’s probably had its textures and/or sprites ripped wholesale for use in a Doom wad somewhere. A lot of these have wound up in one form or another in the various Gothic-inspired texture packs.
But that’s kinda the thing isn’t it? In the quarter century since the official Gothic texture pack hit /idgames, the regular output of rehashes and variants arguably have by this point collectively become a sort of dark fantasy slurry that’s become almost generic, up there with “vanilla edit” texture packs and — sorry not sorry — OTEX. In general it’s probably most similar to Quake’s weird Lovecraftian gothic style (most obvious in “runic”-themed maps) but I often spot textures from Heretic and the Hexens (Heretic II never seems to rate.) I suppose it makes sense, given that the Gothic genre of texture sets relies heavily on similar dark fantasy and medieval aesthetics as Quake and Heretic/Hexen. While I do enjoy this aesthetic — I find it overall more interesting than Doom’s vanilla medieval and hell-style textures, though they certainly mesh well with the Gothic style when used correctly — I also agree with the sense in the community that it’s seen some amount of oversaturation.
Mausoleum Nefarium is, if nothing else, deeply rooted in this kind of aesthetic. It’s not the only DBP release to do so — I can point to close to a dozen of them that lean heavily on the Gothic theme (Morbid Autumn being probably the best example.) Now, granted, it changes things up a lot, leaning heavily on a grey, blue and green color palette, with the sky being a quite lovely foggy, moonlit forest. The sepulchral maps — 11 in all — blaze with blue flames, illuminating grey stone and green marble and the stained glass windows and other gothic features that give these levels their character. Mausoleum also comes with an optional feature that turns the flames from lost souls blue (and they glow blue in GZDoom!) as well as pain elementals, fitting in better with the wad’s aesthetic. Cool!
(Disclaimer: I played through this using the excellent Walpurgis , playing as the Myrmidon with Dimensional Instability mode turned off and using the MMDoom mod which replaces the vanilla monsters with creatures from some of the Might & Magic games, as well as Flashlight++ 9.1 with the Lamp preset. MMDoom allows you to pick from one of three factions for the monsters, so I picked the “Dark” faction, with its undead, demons and creepy crawlies seeming fitting. The CGI nature of the sprites might not necessarily fit in well with the Doom aesthetic, but they do call to mind old 90s first-person RPGs and dungeon crawlers. I did watch a vanilla playthrough on Youtube to get a better sense of how the wad plays on its own.)
In spite of the overly familiar theme, Mausoleum is a welcome, if relatively quick, play. As is usually the case with DBP, most of these maps are designed to be burned through in ten minutes or less. As such they’re not typically very large or possessed of a lot of enemies (though MAP09, MattFright’s “Diamond Stronghold,” is a major exception, an epic time worthy of a bigger project.) The mapping team this time around consists of DBP regulars Jon “40oz” Vail (who headed up the project,) kvsari, BiZ, and matador, and relative newcomers mayhemicdestrvctor, glikkzy, Adam “gibbon” Bilbrough, and last but not least, MattFright.
DBP can sometimes be a mixed bag, and Mausoleum is no different. While MattFright’s map is unimpeachable, mayhemicdestrvctor’s two contributions are very basic and small, and one of them is outright incomplete. Most of the others sit somewhere between that range, though I’m not particularly enamored of gibbon’s MAP08, “Temeratum Palatium.” There are a couple of interesting moments such as glikkzy sending you through a portal into an alternately-textured version of the tomb complex you just went through in MAP05: “Chiral Keep,” or navigating the watery ruins of BiZ’s “Vestigial Shrine” on MAP06, but for the most part, it’s pretty straightforward Doom action, and most of the maps make extremely good use of the texture pack.
I had a good time with Mausoleum Nefarium. While the Gothic aesthetic is certainly well-worn at this point, Mausoleum’s take on it is relatively fresh, creepy and unsettling, reminding me of “Down Among Dead Men” in the classic Thief2X mod for Thief II: the Metal Age. I had fun and I think you will too.
get it on Doomworld
MAP01: Chateau Nefarious
Jon "40oz" Vail
A big, spooky gothic ruin that makes great use of a combined Gothic and Episode 4 texture set. It's all greens and blues and black trim, with that rather arresting night sky and dark blue water. Beautiful map, and it plays pretty good too. The half-circle with the mancubus presiding over it has a few interesting encounters, but it's the exit switch fakeout with the collapsing cliff wall revealing a whole mess of pinkies and other trash that really stood out to me. Great opener.
MAP02: No More Room
kvsari
A massive ossuary with a bloody great start and lots of monsters to kill. It's pretty twisty with lots of narrow passages; while there are a few setpiece battles (the large room with the muddy vat at the end plays host to a couple) most of the fighting is going to be in the tunnels. Visually it has some interesting elements (the semi-circular bone room is ominous for how few enemies you actually face in it!) but mostly relies on grey brick and brown dirt. The lone secret is kinda cool for how it seems to send you to some kind of dimensional Bone Zone.
MAP03: Mors Mihi Lucrum
mayhemicdestrvctor
Compared to the previous levels this one is very small, but it's crammed chock-full of enemy to the point of being damn-near slaughter, with lots of hitscanners to keep you on your toes. I can't help but feel like maybe mayhemicdestrvctor should have spent more time finishing the map's layout than placing monsters, because the entire southern corridor (which you can see beyond the decorative railings) is inaccessible despite the presence of items and a broken switch.
MAP04: Sepulchrum Imortae
glikkzy
This one is pretty fun. It's a straightforward tomb complex of mostly grey stone and windows letting in the moonlight. Lots of chaingunner madness here to keep you on your toes, but the combat is mostly in dribs and drabs. The fight in the courtyard isn't as big as you'd expect... at first. It's got nothing on the big show down in the bonehoard however. Great-looking level.
MAP05: Chiral Keep
segfault
Thematically the music is one of the most ill-fitting tracks for a map like this you could find. In terms of gameplay, though, it kinda works, as it's a non-stop roller coaster through a creepy temple and the creepier catacombs downstairs, culminating in what appears to be a mysterious FIREBLU teleport that takes you to an alternate version of the same map in a different texture theme (swapping green marble for blue-grey,) very reminiscent of Evilution's infamous "Wormhole" map. There's not much in the way of big setpiece fights except in the mirror version of the start room, where a steady trickle of monsters teleport in -- not that you can't just run back upstairs.
MAP06: Vestigial Shrine
BiZ
It's hard to say what reality we're in considering the way the last map ended, but who cares -- there's demons to slay! While the map is full of narrow confines that make using the rocket launcher precarious, and I rather disliked the pit that you need to ride a narrow elevator out of (I'm not a fan of such things), overall I think "Vestigial Shrine" is a really good map that shows off the strength of the textureset. Now if only getting to the outdoor secret didn't require a super bullshit solution.
MAP07: Exitium Vehemens
mayhemicdestrvctor
Another super-tiny map from mayhemicdestrvctor, "Exitium Vehemens" is nevertheless full-to-bursting with baddies. The map is arguably even uglier than "Mors Mihi Lucrum," with very little detailing, though I won't call it outright featureless. If nothing else, at least this one is actually finished.
MAP08: Temeratum Palatium
gibbon
While architecturally it reminds me of some Heretic user maps (particularly Philippe Lesire's Khazad-Dum) gameplay-wise it's rather limp. Most of the map is large empty spaces; small groups of enemies mill about but there's not a whole lot of opposition. The biggest fight is the big green room with the pile of skulls; not even the large outdoor area offers a lot of combat despite the expectation of a pitched battle. Disappointing.
MAP09: Diamond Stronghold
MattFright
Undoubtedly the crown jewel of DBP49, "Diamond Stronghold" is possibly MattFright's greatest map, a sprawling assault on the front of a great marble fortress. You'll have to take two separate teleporters to eventually unlock switches that, when both are pressed, grant access to the front steps of the stronghold. Enemies come in waves and large groups, with lots of angry meat to deal with in particular. This map has the habit of tanking your FPS if you're not using a beefy machine, so watch out -- otherwise, be prepared for one hell of a ride.
MAP10: Rex Insanus
matador
This one reminds me of Chris Lutz' Dark Tide. Once you've stormed the front gate you'll find yourself in a geographically rather small palace complex set above some water. Most of the map will have you running along relatively narrow pathways chopping your way towards the keys, all of which are placed in plain sight but require understanding the intricacies of matador's pathing to reach. Combat is mostly incidental, though there's a couple tough spots here and there.
MAP11: Mausoleum Nefarium
40oz
DBP49 eschews the traditional credits map for a rather hectic finale that traps you in a circular arena while hordes and hordes of lost souls pour in from the central dais. If you're using the blue-flame lost soul mod this looks really cool. With so many monsters in such a small space it turns into slaughter really quickly, so make good use of your best demon-deleters. The arena is really nice looking, though perhaps a bit too smooth for the aesthetic.
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