Dust Devil

Dust Devil is a single-level PWAD split across two maps for Doom II, requiring the GZDoom source port. It was created by Captain Toenail and first released on February 22, 2022, and shortly thereafter uploaded to the idgames archive on March 13, 2022. The map uses a blend of a techbase and desert/canyon setting, with level progression interwoven between two distinct areas: the research outpost and the dust fields, creating a unified single-map experience.

The goal is to find three keys to unlock access to an ancient artifact the player is tasked with recovering. To do this, the player moves back and forth between the research outpost, which houses the artifact, and the dust fields, where the artifact had been discovered among the ruins of an ancient civilization. The map features an extended bestiary of monsters as well as additional gameplay elements such as jumppads. The PWAD makes use of the OTEX texture pack and sprites from the Realm 667 repository for the custom monsters and items. A new power-up is included in the form of the "Ragesphere", a orange soulsphere that doubles the rate of fire of all weapons for 20 seconds. Each of the three keys is either preceded or followed by a boss encounter. Dust Devil was awarded one of the 2022 Cacowards.

Story
"Alright marine, listen up. For this mission we are sending you through the portal, to Andras VI. This is an arid world plagued by dust storms. The UAC have a research outpost and mining operations here. While extracting minerals in the dust fields they uncovered some ruins. Remains of an ancient civilisation. A unique artifact was recovered from the site and brought to the research lab for study. Some sort of ritual blade. Shortly afterwards the base suffered a demonic incursion and contact was lost. We assume everyone is now dead. Or worse... This is where you come in. The brains at HQ are very interested in this blade. They believe it may be the key to halting the invasion back home. It should still be in the research lab locked behind a triple key security field. Collect the keycards, retrieve the artefact, and get your ass back to the portal for extraction. Those are your objectives. Good luck marine. Godspeed."

- Briefing

Levels

 * DUST00: Intro

Soundtrack

 * DUST00: "In My Mind" by James Paddock (Jimmy)
 * DUST01: "Terabyte" and "Wicked Gods" by James Paddock (Jimmy)
 * DUST02: "Ambience" and "Wicked Gods" by James Paddock (Jimmy)