Austrian Avian Association: Post Mortem | AUAVIAN.WAD

MundyC

A little while back I reviewed a total conversion for Doom II, targeting Boom-compatible ports, called Austrian Avian Association. It was a real odd bird, so to speak, based on Alpine folklore and putting you into the feathers of a Schnabelperchten, a humanoid bird creature whose job was to watch over humans during winter and eviscerate the ones who don’t keep their houses clean. Yeah, it’s that kinda game. AAA I thought was pretty alright, embodying a lot of what makes old total conversions of yesteryear so fun — especially aesthetically — while at the same time playing pretty well. Well, did you know that a month after I reviewed that, MundyC dropped a new version complete with a brand new expansion? I played Austrian Avian Association: Post-Mortem, and lived to tell about it!

Post-Mortem moves the action ahead by a couple years. It’s March, 1900, a year and change after the events of the main game, and Katharina (whose name now canonically includes an H) is dealing with PTSD and guilt over all that happened. She spends months looking for a way to resurrect everyone who died, only to turn up nothing… until the Austrian Emperor himself sends Katharina a tip about a mythical MacGuffin in the Empire’s southern reaches that has the potential to restore life. The archaeology team that discovered this clue has since come to grief, but nevertheless, Katharina packs her bags and heads for the Croatian coast…

Post-Mortem is a little unusual. It’s made up of just four levels plus two ending maps depending on what happens. Structurally, it plays a little more like a survival horror game, with a gentle touch of resource management early on and an oppressively uneasy tone to the first two levels, both of which have pretty short monster counts. It plays a little more straightforward for the third map, even culminating in a bit of microslaughter at the end before going back to a more survival vibe as you’re trying to escape the massive underground vault beneath the temple before the whole thing comes down around your ears.

Gameplay-wise it’s exactly the same, save with a couple new enemies, namely the “Maldurion Dopplesoldner,” a giant angry crab humanoid with a gun (who now pops up rarely in the main campaign as a random choice of enemy when destroying one of the monstrous plants) who can take a hit pretty well and the readme suggests may not be entirely organic; and the Lindworm, a giant invincible dragon that protects the MacGuffin you’re after and often will pop up to chase you (though thanks to the nature of Doom’s AI, it’s relatively easy to outrun in the later encounters.) The weapons remain unchanged, save for the BFG replacement, which has gotten better sprites and lore and a name change; the Maxim gun remains completely busted as a weapon and as before will see you through the trickier parts of the game.

I think MundyC has gotten a little better at making maps in the time between making the original version of AAA and the expansion; the vibe — especially with the digital music playing in ports that support it — is also extremely on point, creepy and unsettling. If I had to compare it to anything, I’d say that MundyC has a very Build-style taste in level design, reminiscent of Blood especially. I also appreciate how much work has gone into the readme, which is loaded with cool little details about the world and each map that you’re in (which can be helpful as a guide!)

If you liked Austrian Avian Association when it was new, you’ll like Post-Mortem. If you didn’t like Austrian Avian Association, well, I don’t know what to tell you; while the premise is strange, even goofy, and certainly a lot of the aesthetic feels deliberately dated in a way that might be alienating to some folk, I think as a whole product AAA is one of the best traditional total conversions in recent years. You owe it to yourself to come back and play Post-Mortem, if just to spend more time with our bird friend.

get it on /idgames

MAP13: Vacation in the Dinarics

With the ominous, uneasy music there's a real sense of tension, of something being *wrong* as you run around what's apparently a resort town on the Croatian coast. There are a lot of NPCs here but they all appear as immobile shadows with shining eyes. They're not the only ones here, though, as you'll run into a few monsters as you explore the town. (Or are they monsters? The text file implies they might not be...) You can of course run straight to the exit (you might need a key) but if you go looking around you can get a lot of pickups, including some weapons and armor, as well as all three keys which unlock a particularly tantalizing secret...

MAP14: Temple of Honangsura

I admit I was a bit skeptical when I heard the Fallout 1 music, but I soon came to appreciate its ability to provide a creepy, desolate tone to this abandoned temple. It's unclear what exactly it's a temple *to*, other than some sort of moth figure wearing a scarf (??) -- but none of this is important, really. Excellent use of OTEX textures for a creepy vibe. There's a sense that the place has been very recently retrofitted -- rusting metal supports allow access to the burial chamber to the west, and some sort of map room is available to the east provided you find all the buttons. The low monster count gives it a bit of a survival horror feel, especially when you grab a skull key and all the weird crab monster statues come to life...

MAP15: The World Is Damned And Lost

After the more survival-horror-ish approach of the last two levels, MAP15 is a level more in keeping with what we've come to expect from this weird little game. It's a massive, technologically advanced vault beneath a mountain of stone, manned by men in cloaks and haunted by what appears to be a massive cave dragon lurking in the lower depths. You'll run into it several times, the first two being done in either order and involve a terrifying chase through a sunken tunnel (you'll need protection to go underwater) and a game of cat-and-mouse in a flooded sewer. The third and final one has it showing up alongside a horde of bad guys in the final room; even if you kill all the other enemies, you'll see why you can't kill the dragon: the game doesn't count him as an enemy! (He may be a repurposed prop. God, DEHACKED is weird.)

MAP31: Canary In A Coal Mine

The finale has you on the run from the vault after you've lifted the story's MacGuffin. The readme -- which you should definitely have open as you play this -- doesn't tell you this, but you do not have an abundance of time. Fortunately, if you're quick enough to get the blue key, you'll get access to the Percht Gauntlet, which should make the final encounter trivial. I would definitely make two runs of this -- the first to learn the map, the second to get through it as quickly as possible before the walls collapse and you're sent to MAP16, and you don't want to be sent to MAP16.

MAP32: Dämmerung

The ending map, as our bird friend returns home, ready to perform the ritual that brings back everyone who died. Enjoy the sunset, as well as read a mysterious message near the ritual site...

MAP16: Dunkelheit (titled "Stay With Us..." in the automap)

You're not supposed to be here -- this is the bad ending, a dark, watery nothing where mysterious creatures watch you from among the rocks...

-june<3

Little bird in blue worlds
Spinning things with wings
Beating the sacred heart
Running cold and scared

Thursday, October 10, 2024