DBP23: Evil Egypt

 

DBP23: Evil Egypt | DBP_23_v2.WAD

Doomer Boards

Say what you will about the Doomer Boards, but I admire their knack for finding underused or even completely unique themes to map within — everything from cyberpunk, to an unofficial Halloween Harry/Alien Carnage sequel, to steampunk, to a Spaceballs tribute, to even the Doom 3 setting. It’s only natural that they’d do an Egyptian-themed project, given that Ancient Egypt has informed some of the Doom community’s most famous maps — Evilution’s MAP31: “Pharoah”, Alien Vendetta’s MAP20: “Misri Halek”, a sizable portion of both Scythe 2 and Epic 2, among many others. So here we have Evil Egypt, the 23rd entry in the long-running Doomer Boards Projects with twelve solid maps and a final ending map to blow a couple hours with.

Standard mod disclosure: I used Gothic Doom (specifically the weapons module,) Shades of Doom for a more Egyptian flavor to the monsters, Doomkid’s 150 Skins so I can play as the Hunter protagonist I often use, Flashlight++ 9.1 set to a lantern preset, and Retro FX for that slightly more retro/oldschool charm.

Evil Egypt isn’t really much like Serious Sam, despite the similarity in setting. I would say it’s more like an Egypt-flavored Plutonia, mostly in terms of encounter design. Obviously being a glorified speedmapping project means that an accurate comparison is a bit of a moving target, especially with a fully eleven different mappers across thirteen maps. Jon “40oz” Vail is the project leader again, with three maps making him the only repeat mapper for this project. We also get contributions from thegrb (who doesn’t seem to have any other work,) NaZa (mostly known for his leading the Eagle Speedmapping Sessions,) Jack “Jaxxoon R” Stewart (a DBP veteran who has also contributed to the Doomer Bards Krew projects), Fenes “DooM_RO” Octavian (whose resume includes several other DBP entries,) VigilantDoomer (who like thegrb has no obvious resume on Doomwiki,) DBP veterans dmdr, Big Ol’ Billy and the always audacious Ilya “joe-ilya” Lazarev, community project staple James “Phobus” Cresswell, and finally Glen “glenzinho” McColl (who has been involved with DBP almost since the beginning.)

With so many cooks, Evil Egypt is quite a varied soup, from the more abstract offerings of dmdr’s “Phallic Separation” or Big Ol’ Billy’s “Cigars of the Pharoah” to the full-on tomb raiding of thegrb’s “The Tomb of Archvilotep” and joe-ilya’s audaciously-named “Misri Halek Pt. II.” Storyline-wise you seem to be an adventurer of sorts — intermission texts namedrop “Croft” and “Jones” — who, upon exploring an ancient tomb, wind up getting sucked into the Egyptian underworld, which currently seems to be under occupation by the forces of Hell. This mixing of mythologies is weird, but ah well, you’re not really here to debate Kemetism, you’re here to shoot a bunch of demons!

The early maps are probably a bit more difficult than the back half. You’re pretty under-armed for the kind of stuff that gets thrown at you, for example the arch-vile/imp/revenant ambush in “O Isis und Osiris;” by the time you reach the second episode, you should be better equipped, eventually even grabbing a BFG to make some of the more slaughtery encounters manageable or even trivial.

I liked Evil Egypt. While like any community project, by the Doomer Boards or otherwise, it has its highs and lows, Evil Egypt is a pretty solid play through and through. If you’ve burned your way through Epic 2 and whatnot and are looking for more Ancient Egypt-flavored stuff, you really could do worse.

get it on /idgames

 

MAP01: The Tomb of Archvilotep

thegrb

The adventure begins in a creepy little tomb complex. There's a couple ways to go from the opening room, but you'll have to figure out a simple puzzle if you want to go deeper inwards. You'll deal with everything from booby-trapped burial chambers to blasphemous rituals in a great hall. The crush of hell knights might be a little hair-raising if you're not properly equipped.

MAP02: O Isis und Osiris

NaZa

There's a lot of arch-viles here. Two sections are divided by a hallway. The western section is a throne room that summons the first archie of several with a bunch of imps and cacos. The eastern section starts out simple until you start unlocking the tombs by the entrance, at which point more enemies start filling in. The map's big finale is a hectic showdown in a pyramid with THREE archies, a bunch of imps and some revenants, forcing you to hide behind the four columns in the corner for cover while pumping the crowd full of rockets. After that, the ambush by the exit is positively quaint. I like the way blood pours down the pyramid as you approach it.

MAP03: Lions Den

Jon "40oz" Vail

Love the impressive approach to this sandy tomb complex. It's not the most complicated map -- you're mostly looking to get the red skull key so you can throw a switch in the west wing, but to get it you'll have to first deal with a nasty encounter full of imps with four mancubus turrets surrounding you, then deal with a mess of demons and a cybie. Grab that megahealth on your way out -- you won't be coming back.

MAP04: Doomguy is a Mummy

Jack "Jaxxoon R" Stewart

The first really big map of the set, Jaxxoon R throws a lot of hitscanners at us compared to previous maps as we explore an abandoned temple that features, among other things, a hall of kings, an outdoor area with waist-high dunes we can't climb, a waterway with a secret (and lots of sniper coverage,) and a sunken cave teleporter that ultimately leads to the exit -- though that plasma rifle is tantalizing...

MAP05: Atomic Wadjet

Fenes "DooM_RO" Octavian

A rollicking good time from DooM_RO, this one's got imp ambushes, nasty overhead gauntlets, arachnotron turrets, a hot lava field you have to navigate via a series of rock islands, a neat little booby trapped shrine, and a big showdown with multiple archies that is a lot easier if you duck back inside the cave before the door shuts on you. It's got it all!

MAP06: Fear Has Big Eyes

VigilantDoomer

A big temple complex with an imposing front door. Most of your time will be spent in the fountain room, dealing with the revenants and other beasties hanging out in here. At some point you'll find your way down into a massive lava cave, which is suspiciously generously stocked (VigilantDoomer does it with the blue key ambush, too) and also suspiciously quiet. Once you grab the red key, a bunch of imps and zombies pour in, overseen by twin squads of revenants watching from the sidelines and presided over by an arch-vile. But if you're quick, you can book it back to the tunnel before the bars close on you. This isn't an escape, though, as the trash mobs will just teleport back into the fountain room, complicating an already sticky situation as spectres and a cyberdemon now lurk in there. I really like the arch-vile rising from a sarcophagus when you go to get the red key.

MAP07: No More Plagues

40oz

40oz reveals his love for slaughter in this arena-focused challenge map. It's pretty straightforward -- first, a winding path up a hill before a horde of spectres chase you back down into the arms of some hell knights; then, a massive battle as multiple squads of enemies ranging from trash mobs all the way up to an archie begin to spawn in from both sides (on top of sniper fire from the four columns in the corners); and lastly, dealing with some caged cybies while a swarm of hell knights pour down the steps of a pyramid, quickly overrunning the much smaller playing field and forcing you to occasionally dip into the lava on the borders of the plaza in order to dodge the press of noble flesh, and just for one last insult, the pyramid is guarded by revenants and a baron. Pretty fun if you like slaughter, not too difficult if you don't... though bringing a BFG helps!

MAP08: Phallic Separation

dmdr

What a name. dmdr drops a hot-n'-heavy little challenge map that moves around a couple of different, small areas with lots of height variation and small crowds of enemies that you're kind of forced to take out from relatively safe places. For such a small-sized map it's surprisingly hectic, especially the final fight as a crowd of baddies will pour from the exit area -- and teleport in behind you unless you retreat up the stairs or something -- and with all the shitheads in the way it can be tough to deal with the archies in the crowd. Fun map.

MAP09: Kings Embers

40oz

A red, hellish cavern system dominated by imps with their mancubi overlords, "Kings Embers" is classic 40oz: looks great, plays great. Not a lot in the way of actual Egyptian trappings here, but I suppose we're pretty deep into the Egyptian underworld at this point. Escaping the area requires going through several dozen revenants; if you save the invulnerability for when you go through the blue door and use your time wisely, you can put down most or even all of the skeleton crew before it runs out. Otherwise, good luck.

MAP10: Cigars of the Pharaoh

Big Ol' Billy

Never thought I'd hear an Eminem MIDI, let alone one that worked with the Egyptian theme, but here we are. B.O.B. throws us a curveball with this large, kinda Plutonious mess. The title refers to an old Tintin comic, but here it's taken somewhat literally, with cigars laying around (constructed in DoomCute style) and usually heralding the presence of an arch-vile. The map is defined by its large main chamber, which is divided into three sections, each with its own quirks; nearby is what appears to be an oasis of sorts, and your job is to find your way to three chambers adjoining this oasis, each with the same mysterious symbol that is all over the map, gradually introducing more enemies into the main chamber. The third and final trip will unleash an unholy mess of fliers including several pain elementals, as well as a cybie occupying the only lift out of here. What I wound up doing was grabbing the secret invuln, BFGing the cybie right off his perch, and taking the lift for myself.

MAP11: Misri Halek Pt. II

Ilya "joe-ilya" Lazarev

Ilya's got a lot of balls calling his map that... nevertheless, while I often dunk on Ilya's mapping skills -- he has big ideas, but his execution rarely matches his ego -- "Misri Halek Pt. II" isn't bad. It's split into two different wings that you'll visit in turn; the western wing is easier, mostly comprised of hopping across islands in lava. The eastern wing is more labyrinthine, which is fairly true to the name. Grabbing the red key triggers a rather nasty ambush, but if you're quick and savvy you can retreat through the mess and to safety, allowing you to pick off the beasties with relative impunity. Cool fakeout at the end, but what's with the random SS guys in a secret?

MAP12: Abdicate the Throne

James "Phobus" Cresswell

The big finale map is weirdly devoid of boss monsters; instead, you've got a broad expanse stretching before you between the throne you start in and the ship you're trying to get to, and lots of low- to mid-tier monsters all over the place. You're looking for the blue key so you can get into the area behind the throne and thus grab the red key, which will unlock the dock, but it's a chaotic battle zone that only gets even more crowded once you grab the red key.

MAP13: No Rime or Reason

Glen "glenzinho" McColl

Just a quick ending map to keep players from moving on to stock levels, with a midi rendition of Iron Maiden's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." No credits here, weirdly enough.

-june<3

All the old paintings on the tomb
They do the sand dance, don't you know?
If they move too quick (oh-way-oh)
They're falling down like a domino

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