E4M1: Hell Beneath (Doom)

E4M1: Hell Beneath is the first map of Thy Flesh Consumed in Doom. It was designed by American McGee and uses the music track "Sign of Evil." In the Doom Classic port, it has a par time of 2:45.

On Ultra-Violence, it is believed to be one of the hardest levels not only of the episode but also in the entire Doom series. On this difficulty, there are no medikits or stimpacks; any additional health is limited to nine health bonuses, and there is only one piece of green armor. The easier difficulties have four medikits, two of which are available through a secret. Stiff resistance is also offered by numerous shotgun guys and a number of barons of Hell.

Overview
The map title comes from Proverb 15:24: "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."

Essentials
From the start (A), go forward (to the shotgun) then to the left, round the nukage pool, past the red door (B), then right and flip the switch (C) at the other end of the gallery. The marble wall blocking the short passage (D) to the right from the start will lower. Go back round the nukage pool and through the passage to another similar area. Follow the walkway to the right until you see an entrance (E) to the building in the center. Jump down into the nukage moat and go through the entrance. Walk up the stairs, turn left and pick up the red skull key (F). Go back downstairs to the room with a window. The raised floor in front of the window (G) is a lift. Ride it up and jump back to the walkway around the area, go through the passage (D), then around the nukage and through the red-key door (B), make your way around the rectangular structure occupying the back part of the room and pick the blue skull key in the niche (H). Go out of the room, follow the walkway to the blue-key door (I), open it and step on the white pad with a pentagram on it (J) in the room behind the blue door.

Secrets

 * 1) Drop into the nukage pool ahead of you at the start of the level. Press the use key on the end of the platform to the right to lower it, exposing a hidden tunnel with a rocket launcher at its end. Open the wall to the left of the rocket launcher to reveal a room with a pair of teleporters. (sector 69) Each takes you to a corresponding ledge near the level's beginning. These ledges contain a medikit each on Hurt Me Plenty or lower difficulty.
 * 2) In the room behind the red door, make your way left around the rectangular structure and press the use key on the torch. This lowers the rectangular structure, uncovering a hidden "NIИ" logo. The area surrounding the "NIИ" letters is tagged as a secret. (sector 30) Note that the letters themselves are not tagged as secret, so this secret may be a bit tricky to register. Pressing "use" unleashes four barons. Walking across the "upper" side (closest to the room entrance) of the logo causes the walls to raise up, blocking the entrance to the room. The logo is not present in console versions of Doom that feature this map, probably due to trademark concerns. While the walls are raising up, do not run to the structure which contains the blue skull key. If you do so, you will get trapped here with no means to exit unless you cheat to disable clipping. Also do not run onto the walls themselves, as they will crush you. The wall blocking the entrance has a switch to lower it.

Bugs
There is a small Hall of mirrors effect visible at the top of the inside of the red door frame due to a missing upper texture, though it is barely noticeable in the darkness.

There are 4 known anomalies in this level's REJECT table.

Design oddities
The red key can be picked up from the outside area by bumping the grate.

Version differences

 * In the Xbox port of the Ultimate Doom, the torch responsible for revealing both the Nine Inch Nails logo and the last monster closet with four barons of Hell cannot be activated. As a direct consequence, it is impossible to get either 100% kills or 100% secrets in this version of the map.
 * In the Doom Classic Unity port versions of the game, the Nine Inch Nails logo has been removed entirely, likely due to trademark concerns. This mirrors a change earlier made for the Sony PlayStation version of this level.

Current Compet-n records
The Compet-n records for the map are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on November 22, 2020.

Current DSDA records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on April 14, 2022.

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing south. (thing 112)
 * 2) facing east. (thing 113)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 114)
 * 4) facing north. (thing 115)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Inspiration and development
The "NIИ" logo is a reference to, the American industrial rock band, of which American McGee was a fan. id Software's next game, Quake, would feature sound and music by the band's frontman, Trent Reznor, who was himself an id fan and friend of McGee and John Carmack.

This reference has been removed from the map twice, first in the PlayStation version of the map, and then again in the Unity-based versions of Doom Classic. The latter instance was due to concerns over use of the trademark.

Trivia

 * It is the smallest level in Ultimate Doom.
 * Teleport destinations are usually marked by the "crushed gibs" sprite.