MAP18: A Dead Man's Town (Memento Mori)

MAP18: A Dead Man's Town is the eighteenth level of Memento Mori. It was designed by Henrik Rathje, and uses the music track "Hidden Anger" by Mark Klem. Although this level was designed for cooperative multiplayer gameplay, there is an additional switch in the room after the second teleporter that makes completing the level possible in single-player.

Essentials
Opening Area

You begin in a small room. On co-op, players 2 and 4 spawn in the room on the other end. Gather up your weapons and ammo and head out the door. The yard in the east is teeming with monsters, including a chaingunner pillbox, a Hell knight, and on Hurt me plenty and above, an arachnotron. The corridor also has a Hell knight on Hurt me plenty and above. Once you cross the middle of the corridor, two traps will open - one on the left with up to three imps and a Hell knight, and one in the yards with two imps.

Find the door in the northeast of the corridor, and go down the staircase. Another trap will open in the north wall of the yard as you exit, with a revenant (Hey, not too rough or below) or an arch-vile (Hurt me plenty and above). Kill it and flip the switch in the trap. This opens up a staircase in the east wall of the yard. Head up this staircase.

As you reach the top, however, you are teleported to a new area.

Red Key/Second Area

In this set of dark rooms, open the door in the east, kill the chaingunner, open the door in the south, then open the door in the east again to exit the building. As you exit, two cacodemons will emerge to attack (Hurt me plenty and higher only). Clear the open area of former humans, then go to the southwest of the yard. Go all the way around the cracked stone structure to find up to two revenants a shotgun guy or chaingunner. Proceed towards the switch, and another revenant will be alerted (Hurt me plenty and above). Flip the switch to raise stairs behind you.

Go up the stairs to the platform with the red key. From there, you may be able to spot an imp (Hurt me plenty and below) or an arch-vile (Ultra-Violence and above) which has been released into the north end of the open area. Snipe the monster out, then collect the red key and armor.

Drop back down to ground level and go through either red key-locked silver door in the northeast of the open area Proceed up the steps, but as soon as you hear a platform moving, watch for a chaingunner in a trap opening near you. Continue forward through the next two doors.

In this next room with two curved staircases, a Hell knight (Hey, not too rough and below) or a baron of Hell (Hurt me plenty and above) stands on the raised area ahead. On Hurt me plenty and above, watch for chaingunners on either side of the entrance as you enter. Continue up the stairs and flip the switch at the rear of the raised area to lower some walls nearby. As you walk through, walls behind you open to reveal two Hell knights (Hey, not too rough and below) or two barons of Hell (Hurt me plenty and above). There is more than enough dodging space, so they should not be too much of a problem. Find the silver wall on the back of the room and equip your plasma gun if available. As you approach it, an arch-vile lowers into the room - incinerate it before it incinerates you.

Continue forward, and you are suddenly teleported to a new area.

Switch Puzzle

The next area is a switch puzzle. Due to the way the teleport lines are set up in the previous area, co-op players will alternately teleport to opposite sides of this room. The first player always ends up on the western side of the room, and the second player always ends up on the eastern side of the room. Clear the room of former humans (and on Ultra-Violence, revenants) first before completing the puzzle.

To complete this puzzle in single-player:


 * Flip the northwest and southwest switches to raise the bars on the west side and raise one part of the central platform.
 * Flip the switch in an alcove in the southwest to raise the bars on the east side (this switch is blocked in co-op by an obstacle).
 * Cross over and flip the northeast switch to raise the other half of the central platform.
 * Flip the switch in the north of the room.

To complete this puzzle in co-op:
 * Player on the west side must flip the northwest and southwest switches to raise the bars on the west side and raise one part of the central platform.
 * Player on the east side must flip the northeast and southeast switches to raise the bars on the east side and raise the other part of the central platform.
 * Flip the switch in the north of the room.

The door to the south is now open. Drop down and continue through, taking out any chaingunners and a mancubus. Go up the stairs and open the door to enter a new area

Blue Key

You are now in a small cluster of buildings. This area is teeming with monsters - just right for a co-op game, but quite a big number on a single-player run. As with most of these types of areas, your first order of business is to clean out the area of as many monsters as possible, so you can go about progressing the level in peace.

Once the monsters are significantly thinned out, find the southwest brick building and go up the steps. Prepare your plasma gun - as you enter, a wall lowers to block your exit, and you are ambushed by a chaingunner and on Hurt me plenty and above, two barons of Hell in a tight space. Grab the soulsphere and dump your plasma before you get boxed in. Continue forward to deal with a demon, shotgun guy and revenant, then a baron of Hell, an arachnotron and a shotgun guy around the corner. At the end of the corridor is a switch, but on Hurt me plenty and above, an arch-vile protects it. He will immediately teleport away to the monster-filled platform on the west. Flip the switch behind and jump out through the door back to ground level. Remember to kill that arch-vile before he resurrects a platform's worth of monsters!

Go to the west side of the southwest building and find a gap in the west wall. Take out another arch-vile and a cacodemon here. Find the opening, then mow down everything in the darkened staircase to reach the platform with the blue key.

Yellow Key

Go to the blue door in the northeast of this area. Clear out the former humans ahead (on Ultra-Violence and above, be careful of a revenant waiting near the entrance). Go through the passage in the east and alert the arachnotron. As you round the corner, the wall opens, revealing two Hell knights. The arachnotron will pause to open fire, creating an opportunity for monster infighting that makes your life easier. Flip the switch behind the arachnotron.

The door in the west wall of this area is now open. Kill any barons of Hell in this room, then open the door, equip the super shotgun and go up the stairs. Give the chaingunner ahead a face full of buckshot. As you reach the top steps, a block will lower behind you, preventing exit. A trap will also open at the top of the stairs. On Ultra-Violence on above, it contains another mancubus. Lure it out and give it some super shotgun blasts at point-blank range before it can fire. Turn the corner and deal with an arachnotron (Hey, not too rough and below) or a mancubus (Hurt me plenty and above).

Grab the yellow key and leave this building.

Exit

Go to the building in the south. The last set of enemies you face comprises a baron of Hell and some former humans. Once again, plasma should make short work of this group of monsters.

Find the yellow door in the south of the building and open it. Flip the switch behind it to exit the level.

Secrets

 * 1) After you are teleported the first time, head to the southwestern room of the building you are in, but do not push the skull switch. Instead, open the southwestern door and enter to find a compartment (sector 57) containing a green armor. Pushing the skull switch raises the stairs, thus blocking off access to this secret, making 100% Secrets impossible to obtain.
 * 2) After exiting the northwestern building, look to the eastern protrusion; the northeastern corner has a flashing light. Head to that corner, press on the southern metal beam (in the flashing light) and the wall to your left (sector 267) will open to reveal five boxes of rockets, a bulk cell, a rocket launcher and a megasphere.
 * 3) To the south of the stairway that you take to obtain the red skull key is an alcove (sector 228) with a soul sphere. Walk on top of the wall enclosing the stairway, thus opening a window in the southwest with a revenant (arch-vile on hard skill levels), and then jump over to the alcove, thus opening two walls to the left and right, releasing two (one on easy skills) chaingunners. After killing them, open the door in front of you and enter the passage. As you walk behind the corner, the room outside behind the window you just opened is lowered to the ground, releasing the enemy inside if you did not kill him before. Move on to first block the passage's entry behind you and then a room in the south to lower, revealing two Hell knights, a shell box and a blue armor. (In the west of the T-shaped walkway in the outside area's center another wall opens, revealing a mancubus (chaingunner on easy), a plasma gun and a shell box. Another wall is supposed to open, but due to a bug it will stay shut. See bugs section.) Continue the passage to encounter another Hell knight and to find a bulk cell. Walking around the corner triggers the blocked entry to reopen, so you can either move on, grabbing the berserk pack and opening the exit or just exiting through the entry.
 * 4) After obtaining the red skull key, open either red key door, head up the stairs and enter the next door. To the west is a wall with large tears in the wallpaper revealing bricks underneath. Open this wall (sector 135) to reveal a megasphere on easy or a blue armor on medium and hard skills.
 * 5) In the southwestern room of the yellow keycard building, a portion of wall (sector 434) in the southeast of the room can be walked through, leading to two boxes of rockets and a blue armor.
 * 6) In the exit building, at the top of the stairway, the southern wall with the lantern on it (sector 386) can be opened to reveal a teleporter leading to the northwestern roof, with a horde of enemies you better killed before, among the ammo of five sergeants and two chaingunners, (a shell box on easy and medium skills,) an energy cell and two medikits.

Bugs
As described in secret #3, walking through that passage lowers (Linedef 1151; Type 37 - W1 Floor Lower to Lowest Floor (changes texture), Tag 27) a room in the south (sector 245) and a wall outside (sector 249). Another wall (sector 250) is supposed to lower, but since it's floor has the same height as the adjacent sectors, it stays shut, never releasing the chaingunner (thing 44) and the Hell knight (thing 43). So, 100% of the kills cannot be reached unless using the cheat.

Routes and tricks
The switch that opens the way into the town area after the second teleport can be triggered from below before either of the two platforms are raised.

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 4, 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 January 15, 2023.

Player spawns
This level contains six spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 427)
 * 2) facing east. (thing 428)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 429)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 430)
 * 5) facing west. (thing 431)
 * 6) facing north. (thing 432)

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