Holy Hell

Holy Hell is a single-level PWAD for Doom II using a limit removing source port, specifically PrBoom or GZDoom. It is a slaughter map that was designed by JK, with an initial release in March 2006 followed by an improved version 1.1 in August 2006.

The main level (MAP05) is actually included four more times with identical (MAP04) or nearly identical (MAP01-03) geometry. Only the number of enemies and resources varies significantly, allowing less powerful computers to run the level. Each level variant also features its own custom music track. A small section of the level is included separately under the map marker.

Holy Hell Revealed is an expanded and more extreme version of the level that was created by a different mapper in 2016.

The pier
Walk forward to teleport to the main area.

Main area
Press the switch you see in front of you. Wait for the wall to the west to lower, and press the switch on the west side of the new area. Walk three courtyards to the east, go in the cave to south, and walk across the longest linedef of the pond around the megasphere. The wall to the south will start to lower. Walking over it will start lowering walls to the east and west (the "rest" of the wall that just lowered). You don't need to wait for them (necessarily), just to go up three lifts along the south wall of the cave, then press the switch on the south wall. Go back to the courtyard to the north, and enter the building to the east.

Nazi HQ
Attempt to open the doors on the north and south ends of this room, then go through the door at the top of the stairs. (Technically, you only have to try opening the south door, as the north one only affects the top half of the door ... which you can walk right under.) Enter either room to the north or south, and press the switch up the stairs. Do the same thing in the other room. Go to the middle of the two rooms, enter the small room to the east, and press the button on the east wall. Go back to the main area, but follow the red carpet south at the intersection. Press the switch at the very end of the hallway, past the carpet. (To lower the megasphere in the room to the north, press the corresponding switch past the carpet on the very north end.) Press the switch on the west wall of the main area, on the northern end. Press the corresponding switch on the southern end of the wall. Go past where the switch was in the small middle room, and open the east wall behind it. Go up the staircase and press both switches. Go back to the main area with red carpet, and head to either the north or south end. Walk just past the end of the wood on the floor leading up to the soulsphere in the middle of the room (picking up the soulsphere is optional). Do the same thing in the corresponding room, to the north or south. Head back through the small room in the middle area to the east, and head back up the staircase. Press the switches on the north and south walls. Head back to the first room in nazi HQ, with the blood fountains - the doors you tried to open earlier are now actually open. At the end of the north and south hallways are rooms to fight through, ending with a switch on the far (north and south) walls. After you hit both switches, you can officially leave Nazi HQ.

Main Area
Leave the building, then head to the middle courtyard's north wall and press the switch to the left of the blue key door. Head a few courtyards west, and press the switch on the south side of the courtyard. Go into the new courtyard to the north of the main area.

Level two
Ride up two lifts on the east side, climb the stairs to the south, go in the room in the east wall, and press the switch. Go to the south-east corner of the first main courtyard, and press the switch in the newly-revealed alcove. Wait for the nearby walls to finish falling, then keep heading south, climbing up three lifts and opening two doors before collecting the red key. Wait for the south wall to finish falling, hit the switch, and head back out. With the red key, head all the way north again, and this time enter the red key building.

Red key building
Inside the church, enter the north-west door, then the north-western door again (as well as the one behind it). At the end of this corridor, you must shoot the pentagram wall to reveal the basement room. In this room, picking up the megasphere is optional, but you will need to walk over the middle part of the star in the ground. Then, head back out, all the way to the very first courtyard again.

Main area
The pillar in the west courtyard has lowered, so you can pick up the blue key. After picking up the blue key, it's obviously time to go in the blue door.

Blue key building
Continue through the room, then the hallway, then use the wooden planks to jump across the lava pit in the room after. Head to the northwest of the lava room, and ride the one-way elevator down. In the FIREBLU room, ride a lift on the north side, then activate the switch on the north wall. Continue east on the ledge to ride two more lifts, then jump south to the 'island' in the middle of the room. Here, you will need to call down two lifts in order to use the teleport at the top of this 'island'. You are taken to the north side of the lava pit room, and will need to take another teleporter that has opened up to the northeast. This places you on the south side of the room, so you can leave similar to how you came in (through the hallway [to the side this time] and back out the front door).

Main area
Head west, past where the blue key was, and now this courtyard has opened up to reveal yet another large area. Head north, enter the door, and ride the lift down. In this large gray room, press the switch in the middle. There are four more switches-behind-walls you must activate: to the middle-west, south-east, south-west, and middle-east, in that order. This will open an alcove to the south with a teleporter in it. Take this teleporter back to the surface. Head to the south, then two courtyards to the east, then enter the building on the south side (opposite the blue key door).

Level three
Continue south, through the door, and up the lift. Pick up our final (yellow) key, and the wall to the south will start falling. Wait for it to finish, press the switch behind it. Wait for the wall to the north-east to finish falling, then press the switch behind it. With the pillars lowered, you must walk over the six bright spots in the room (where the pillars were). This will lower walls to reveal a teleporter in the south-west. Step through it, open the door to the north, and head back out of this building. Head one courtyard to the east, and open the yellow key door on the north side.

Yellow key building
Ride the lift up, and press the switch at the top. Wait for the north-west wall to finish lowering, then enter that room. Head to the north side, then walk on the skinny path leading south towards the middle of the room. Activate the FIREBLU pillar's south side - this will start lowering the wall to the north. Go in that room, open the door, and enter the teleporter. You are taken to the ledge overlooking the westernmost courtyard.

Grand canyon
Follow the path west, then north, then up the stairs and back south a bit, and finally jump down the series of cliff faces leading west. Approaching the partial invisibility will cause a wall to the south to begin falling. Wait for it to finish, then press the switch behind it. This will lower the floor around another switch to the north, near the columns. Run over and press the switch. This will lower a wall in the alcove to the west of the first one. Wait for the wall to lower, then press the switch. This will raise the lava in the pit to the north, allowing you access to the western half of the canyon. If you continue straight west in this new area, you will come across a megasphere. Progression, however, is to the south-west. Approaching an alcove in the south-western cliff, the floor will begin to rise. If you fall at any point, you will need to call down the lift where the alcove was. Follow the ledge to the north, then west, then north again, and into another lift-alcove. Follow the ledge around and hit the switch at the end. The wall nearby will start to fall. Go through the small cave inside, and emerge on the other side of the switch. Continue along the path, and climb two more lift-alcoves. The open area condenses into a pathway, and soon after this the walls nearby will start lowering. You will need to follow the path west, then north, then back east along the northernmost wall. There will be one final lift-alcove above where the lava pit was. Carefully follow the ledge until you drop off the eastern edge. Don't worry about falling back onto the grass; there are blocking linedefs in the way. To the north, where we went up the small staircase earlier, a wall has opened and revealed a teleporter leading to our way forward.

The big ballroom
Enter the teleporter to be brought to a small cross-shaped room. Approach the pillar to the north to call down the lift around the megasphere. Approach the megasphere to open up walls in the corners of the room, and to lower a wall to the north. Press the switch behind it to open up some more walls, then run south and into a small tunnel before pressing the switch on the south wall. This will open up some more walls, allowing you to press a switch in the eastern half of the room, along the north wall. More walls will open up, allowing access to the final switch to press here, in the far north-east corner of the room. This will cause part of the north wall in the west half of the room to start falling. Wait for it to lower, then head further into the tunnel beyond. You are teleported to a continuation of the tunnel. Continue walking forward to cause the lift at the end to lower, leading to the final arena.

The bigger ballroom
The first goal is to raise bridges across the lava pits on the east and west ends of the room. The switches which do this, are buried in walls to the north and south side of the room, opposite the corresponding pit of lava. You need to climb each wall (north and south), and approach the switch from the side to lower the floor around it. In the center of the arena on the north and south sides, are switches which will call down lifts which you can find by following the nearby outer wall clockwise (north to east, south to west).

Press the northern switch, then run across and press the southern switch. Run west to see the lift falling, along the south wall. This arena is 180-degree rotationally symmetric, so directions after this point are relative to either side of the room.

(A) Step on the lowered gray patch of floor. This will cause the lift to slowly rise. If you fall off before pressing the next switch, you'll have to press the switch to call the lift down again. Follow this ledge back counter-clockwise, around a ledge jutting out, above the switch that lowered the lift you just rode, and around another ledge. Press the switch on the inner wall of this second jutting ledge. It will lower the floor around another switch just below where you currently are. Continue and fall off the end of the ledge, and press the switch found at the bottom along the FIREBLU wall. Wait for the lift to lower, then ride it back up. Follow the ledge clockwise, around the two jutting ledges again, and eventually the floor will start to fall. You can press the switch early by standing on the falling floor and activating the hole in the ground, or just wait for the floor to fall and then press the switch properly. This will raise a bridge across the lava on the opposite side of the room. Run over it, and activate the switch on the far wall of the alcove.

(B) If this is your first alcove switch, run back west a bit (across the bridge), find the gray floor on the north side of the room, and then repeat (A) through (B) for the next alcove switch. Otherwise, run back east across the bridge and press the switch on the north side of the arena to call down the lift again. Ride it up, and follow the wall east until you reach the second jutting ledge, which has been lowered. Press the switch in the white rock to raise the lift, then go forward down the stairs and press the switch on the north side of the small room. Go back up the stairs, continue straight to fall off, and press the switch on the south side of the room. Ride the lift up again, cross the ledge, ride the second-jutting-ledge lift up, go down the stairs, and press the switch on the south side of the small room. Go back up the stairs again, continuing straight again, and this time run to the eastern side of the pillar in the very middle of the room. The small room switches have opened an alcove, containing a giant wall-skull switch. Press it to lower part of the wall on the other side of the pillar. Wait for it to lower, and then enter the teleporter in the new alcove.

Main area
You are taken to the top of the south-westernmost pillar in the very first courtyard. Try to walk out of it, and you are teleported to the south-east pillar, then the north-west, then the north-east. The north-east pillar teleports you to the room you originally spawned in.

The pier
Now just walk forward, onto the pier, and live happily ever after.

Secrets

 * 1) In the field south of the hub area, head to the far southwest corner and press on the recessed wall to find four invulnerabilities. (sector 1311)

Routes and tricks
In the first room of the Nazi HQ, you are to attempt to open doors at the North and South ends of the room, which actually open the upper and lower halves (respectively) of a different door, up the stairs in the middle of the room. Technically, you only have to try opening the South door, as the North one only affects the top half of the door you will be entering ... which you can walk right under, once the bottom half is out of the way. This has minimal impact on the rest of the map, as a different sector closes the doorway off properly, and re-opens it as expected later.

After entering the Yellow Key Building, you will ride up a lift, and press a button to lower the wall the button is on. Behind this, is another wall which lowers, and takes quite a while to do so. After this wall lowers, a walkover linedef on the other side of the doorway will cause the floor to raise up again, and permanently seal off the room you just left. However, this is a one-time trigger, and the linedef which raises the floor can actually be crossed as the floor is still lowering. This causes the linedef's trigger effect to be removed, while having no effect on the still-lowering floor. What this means is that you can press up against the long-time-to-lower wall as it finishes lowering, and run over it quickly into the next room, to stop the floor from closing behind you. This will allow you access to the previous room during the next fight, making it significantly easier.

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on October 4, 2022.

Map data
* The vertex count without the effect of node building.

Things
The MAP05 level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: