MAP28: The Spirit World (Doom II)

MAP28: The Spirit World is the twenty-eighth map of Doom II. It was designed by Sandy Petersen and uses the music track "Getting Too Tense". The par time is 7:00.

Essentials
At the start go towards the west opening and follow the hall down towards a large room with some isolated lava. In the east wall of the room you will see a small opening, big enough to go through it. Follow the narrow path towards a huge room with arachnotrons and one or two spiderdemons; incidentally, this is the only level designed by id Software that features more than one spiderdemon (on Hurt Me Plenty skill level and higher). Go towards the south side and run. Near the yellow key door, go to the south and climb the stairs to a room with pillars and a throne. Walk on the chair and back up to a platform that had lowered. Hit the north switch and get the yellow skull key behind a door.

Return to the lava area and go through the yellow key door and return to the small pathway you came from before. At the end, lower the small lift and run through the large room. At the end, ride the lift up and return to the start of the level.

Enter the yellow key door and grab the red skull key, which will trigger a revenant ambush. Immediately return to the large room with the small lava lakes. This time go to the southwest corner of the room and pass the false wall. You will be in a small room with a pillar at the center. Shoot the west wall and go through the newly opened door. Open the red key door and exit but watch out for the arch-viles beside the door.

Secrets

 * 1) In the room with five pillars at the northern end of the level, there are three alcoves that open. The east wall of the northern alcove (containing a mancubus) opens, revealing a secret alcove containing another mancubus and a berserk pack. (sector 93)
 * 2) The north wall of the eastern alcove in the same room (containing some revenants and imps) opens, revealing a secret alcove containing a revenant and several backpacks. (sector 92)
 * 3) And the east wall of the southern alcove (containing several lost souls) opens, revealing a supercharge. (sector 88)
 * 4) In the "throne room" at the south end of the map, step onto the throne to lower the circular platform in the center of the room. (sector 54)
 * 5) While on the circular platform from secret #4, hit the skull switch on the north wall to lower a wall behind the throne (as well as the four pillars). Take the teleporter behind the throne to reach the megasphere and invulnerability at the opposite side of the room. (sector 55)
 * 6) In the "ribbed" hall containing the yellow key, there are a pair of false walls. The first is in the corner of the L-shaped hall. The arachnotron inside should give it away (it's also visible on the automap). Walk through the wall to get a plasma gun. (sector 17)
 * 7) The second fake wall is about halfway through the north-south running leg of the corridor, on the eastern wall. Inside are several zombiemen and chaingunners. (sector 3)

Bugs
In version 1.666 and earlier, there were only two deathmatch start spots, making this level unplayable in deathmatch mode.

The exit room contains three pits with a Hell knight and two revenants, which will all rise when you obtain the megasphere in this room. However, the revenants are not present on I'm Too Young To Die and Hey Not Too Rough, meaning that on those skill levels it is possible to fall into the empty pits and become unable to escape. The same problem can also arise if the player kills the enemy in one of pits and then falls down into them, before obtaining the megasphere and triggering the floors to rise.

Tips
Entering the chair room from the lava chamber opens a door hiding the arch-viles near the exit. If the door leading to the exit area is open at that point, the loose arch-viles will be alerted and set out to revive the enemies previously killed. The trap can be avoided by only opening the door to the exit area after retrieving the red key.

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 5, 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 3, 2022.

Player spawns
This level contains five spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 86)
 * 2) facing north. (thing 146)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 263)
 * 4) facing south-west. (thing 264)
 * 5) facing north-east. (thing 265)

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

Trivia

 * This level is tied with for the longest par time in Doom II.
 * This level is tied with for the longest par time in Doom II.