Doom II - Squonker 3 - MAP07: Secks Bad - DOOM Good (Ultra-Violence 100%)

Hey peeps, I'm continuing my exploration of the Squonker Team oeuvre and I hope you'll join me! The recent release of a number of QoL fixes for the earliest Squonker wads by fellow community member Devalaous pushed my interest in one particular output: Squonker 3, an 8-map, vanilla-compatible episode released in 2021. According to the Doom Wiki, Squonker 3 is the first notable release of the group, using "textures from various 90s PWADs". Onward with the Squonk!


Basic info
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IWAD: doom2.wad
Difficulty: Ultra-Violence (pistol start)
Map author: Dallas Cox (aka DCG Retrowave)
Music: "Clouds" by Brian Orr
Port: DSDA-Doom 0.27.5
Compatibility level: 2 (Vanilla)
QoL mods: Colored Blood, Ultrawide Statusbar, Minor Fixes by Devalaous
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Additional notes
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Highly experimental, highly creative, and utterly bonkers concept-wise. It took me at least 5 minutes to figure out how to not get instantly obliterated by the unconventional opening setup and make any kind of progress. DCG's refusal to abide by the rules is undoubtedly alienating as the intentional implementation of the hall of mirrors effect and collision bugs is super effective at destabilizing you both visually and psychologically. That's one part of the equation - the other is the frantic and chaotic spiral climb in the brown arena, a section that seems to go on forever as you wrestle with tiny steps and a cornucopia of demonic hecklers blocking your way and sniping you. The situation at the top doesn't get any calmer as you'll be sandwiched in between a cyber-led squad on one side, and an arch-vile + multiple pain elemental division on the other, thankfully not simultaneously. The good news is that the madness will partially solve itself due to infighting, while the chunky items will offer you a chance to play a bit of sane Doom. Damn weird!

P.S. In most cases, not all the revenants at the beginning can be killed, at least not from a pistol start. They frequently like to drift off into No Collision Land, sending you on a fruitless and confusing search for 100%. In this run I was very lucky to find the stragglers close to the start of the level.

Secret 1: 0:00

Links
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WAD:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/lev...

QoL mods:

Colored Blood:

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic...

Ultrawide Statusbars:

https://github.com/NightFright2k19/do...

Minor Fixes by Devalaous:

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic...