Doom 2: Eviternity - Map 19: Dehydration (UV Max)

Eviternity is a 2018 WAD primarily authored by Dragonfly, with guest maps coming from prominent members of the Doom community. It was released on Doom’s 25th birthday as a celebration of the game and its community. Eviternity also makes use of the now famous texture pack OTEX, courtesy of Ukiro. To utilize OTEX as much as possible, the WAD is split into 6 aesthetically distinct episodes. Those episodes are Archaic, Automation, Crystalline, Brutality, Descension, and Hallowed. Apart from the meticulous attention to detail and combat, custom enemies also frequently make appearances throughout the WAD. It’s safe to say that Eviternity became a new high bar for modern WADs to strive for. ==================== IWAD: Doom 2 Port: DSDA-doom 28.3 Compatibility: MBF (comp level 11) Mapper(s): StormCatcher.77 MIDI: Jimmy - Brutal Schism ==================== Eviternity: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/lev... DSDA-doom: https://github.com/kraflab/dsda-doom ==================== Rarely do I come across a map like Dehydration, a map so tantalizingly close to magnum opus status, yet flies too close to the sun in many ways, turning into a fatiguing chore. I switch from side to side every time I play this map. Parts of it exemplify the cream of the crop in Eviternity, and other parts leave me drained, frustrated, and sometimes uninterested. It should go without saying, but StormCatcher put in a staggering amount of effort into Dehydration. With a bulky monster count, secret count, and linedef count, Dehydration is a massive undertaking for both the mapper and player. I’m similarly awestruck by this map in the same way as Anagnorisis. I don’t know how one can make a map so utterly gorgeous, yet so utterly massive, all while not cracking and crumbling under the titanic pressure of delivering a final product suitable for a triple A WAD. As I said previously, the map lives in an uncomfortable zone that certain kinds of large maps live in. That zone is maps that are super linear that have no little to no side paths and/or additional points of interest. If these maps stretch on for too long, like this one does unfortunately, then the super linearity starts to become an annoyance after a while. Hopefully, this is helped by things such as a good MIDI and engaging combat. Dehydration, for the most part, has these things. Even then, some of the combat is either slightly uninteresting, slightly mean-spirited, or dragged on for slightly too long for me to say that the combat is perfect. The last section in particular has a lot of these problems for me. Some of the setups don’t engage me as much, and the Annihilator usage is a bit annoying, with its usage in wide-open areas. I think towards the beginning and parts of the middle are where the combat really shines. It has a forever forwards pushing momentum that I quite enjoy, and it makes the feeling of linearly invading this gigantic tech base more engaging. Thankfully, Jimmy provides Dehydration with one of his best tracks ever made, even rivaling Motion Machine and a track later on in the hell episode. That track really helps to keep you perpetually locked in a state of focus and persistence, but sometimes I just can’t help but nod my head to the MIDI whenever there’s no combat. Ultimately, this is a flawed masterpiece. A map that has the makings of something legendary, and for the most part almost reaches that status, but falls short in multiple categories. I do wish that, if the linearity was still kept, that there were some optional areas, like rocky landscapes hiding weapons and/or secret fights. Hell, even just something to break up the linearity, because it is quite literally going from point A to B to C and so on. Overall, this is a map that I rarely revisit, but when I do, I’m always reminded of its expert craftsmanship, yet also slowly reminded of things that keep me from compulsively replaying it.