MAP29: Odyssey of Noises (The Plutonia Experiment)

MAP29: Odyssey of Noises is the twenty-ninth map of The Plutonia Experiment. It was designed by Milo Casali and uses the music track "At Doom's Gate", as in Doom's E1M1: Hangar.

Overview
Odyssey of Noises is one of the most expansive and difficult of the official Doom levels. It resembles a city, complete with roads running between the numerous buildings. At one end of the level is a vast lava-filled crater. Because of the level's layout, it is very unsafe to be out in the open, since the player is exposed to attack by monsters sniping from numerous windows almost everywhere in the map.

Essentials
Start

You start in a building with a pool of blood. Go down the stairs and head out the door.

Your first order of business is to head behind the building you are in. Kill the three imps in sniping windows on the building's wall. Head to the southwest of this area and notice a hole between two buildings. This provides a great vantage point to snipe off a monster on a platform in the lava crater - on Hey, not too rough and below, a revenant; on Hurt me plenty, an arachnotron; on Ultra-Violence and above, a cyberdemon (making this step particularly important). This will save you much pain when collecting the red key.

Your next order of business should be to go around the map and kill as many enemies you can see, ensuring that a minimum of enemies will be taking pot-shots at you while you are progressing the map. Once the enemies have been reduced to an acceptable level, proceed to collect the red key.

Red Key

Proceed to the southwest of the map. Look for a building with three square pillars forming a corner. Head into the building and take the stairs up to a platform (there may be an arachnotron if you have not killed it earlier). Kill the revenants ahead, then jump from the platform onto a flight of steps across the lava crater, leading to a large door. As you step onto the "island" where the revenants were on, pay attention to the cages to the right of the big door - chaingunners will appear in them.

Head through the big door. There will be two chaingunners ahead. Turn left to find another door, behind which lies the red key. However, as you step back into the main room, an arch-vile will be released from the west wall in the room. Defeat it and flip the switch in its alcove. This will lower the red bars in the level.

Yellow Key

Head to the building just north of the building you started in (northeastern "block", southernmost building). Head up the staircase in its north face and follow the ledge around to an opening. Back up, then run through the opening through the next building. Continue running through the plus-shaped opening in this next building to reach another metal floored building. This building may have some chaingunners remaining, so use caution.

The yellow key is on a pedestal in the northeast corner of this building. However, once you grab it, two traps open - one in the building to the east with one (Hey, not too rough and below) or two (Hurt me plenty and above) chaingunners. The brick structure also opens to reveal two cacodemons and on Ultra-Violence, a pain elemental. Deal with the monsters and get back to street level.

Blue Key

Head to the eastern building of the northwestern block. The yellow door is on the eastern face of this building, behind a row of pillars. Kill the two revenants inside, then flip the switch, which raises bars blocking access to the blue key.

Next, find the road that leads directly into the lava crater. The blue key is in the building southwest of where you spawned, along with some boxes of rockets. Open the door and take the blue key.

Raising Access to Exit

Head to the middle block in the north of the map, and find the eastern building. Head up the stairs to a raised area. Move west, face north, back up as far as possible and then run forward. You should make the jump onto the next room. Next, face west, back up as far as possible, then run forward across two roofs towards a door flanked by blue banners. Go through this door.

You will be in a room with "fan-like" lighting patterns on the floor. Flip both switches in this room and kill the baron of hell in the corner. Once this is done, drop back top street level.

Do note that this has triggered a trap in the building to the southwest - it has opened up, releasing five cacodemons (Hey, not too rough and lower), five cacodemons and two pain elementals (Hurt me plenty), or eight cacodemons and two pain elementals (Ultra-Violence and above).

Exit

The exit is in the southwest of the map, in a dark brown building with black banners flanking a door high on the wall. Head up the steps and open the door.

You will now be on a platform above a blood-floored room. Raised stepping stones lead to the exit behind a metal frame. Beware of arch-viles in the northeast, northwest and southwest corners. The final trap here is the pedestal sinking into the blood as you run over them - simply run across all the steps and you should be safe. If you fall in, there is a teleporter to take you back up, and a niche will open next to the door with a teleporter to the other side.

Secrets

 * 1) After getting the red skull key, return to the building you started the level in (the southernmost of the easternmost row of buildings). A secret room will have opened on the back side of it. (sector 154)
 * 2) While standing on the platform the yellow key rested upon, straferun into the opening in the building to the north. Inside this alcove is a megasphere. (sector 191)

Current records
The Compet-N records for the map are: The data was last verified in its entirety on May 5, 2013.

Map data
* The vertex count without the effect of node building is 2485.