MAP30: Icon of Sin (Doom 2 In Name Only)

MAP30: Icon of Sin is the thirtieth and final map of Doom 2 In Name Only. It was designed by Cyriak Harris (mouldy). The map consists of seven linearly-connected areas, each inspired by one of the. Visiting each area unlocks the central hub where the Icon awaits. The par time defined in MAPINFO is 3:00.

Essentials
Following a mandatory death exit from the prior level, the player must collect weapons (one available in each area) and ammo (widely available) to deal with the spawned monsters. Performing a certain action in each area (usually collecting the weapon) prevents more monsters from spawning in that area, but completing the area too quickly (or not performing the action at all) will earn the player a bonus arch-vile in the final fight. Each area also hides a secret. It is not necessary to collect all the weapons before accessing the central hub.

Players can begin in any of the seven areas, a useful way to explore each area before too many monsters are spawned.

Starting from the level start (due South) and traveling counter-clockwise, the areas are:


 * Luxuria (lust) // A fleshy area with a central pillar where the chainsaw awaits. Walking on the balcony lowers the pillar; from atop the pillar, shooting the eye opens the door to the second area.


 * Gula (gluttony) // A buffet of health potions, and the shotgun. The switch to access the next area doubles as an elevator for easy access to the shotgun.


 * Avaritia (greed) // An abundance of backpacks at a cost to collect, and the chaingun. To access the next area, press the skull switch to lower the pillar, ride it up and jump to the alcove.


 * Acedia (sloth) // Sleeping dead in their coffins, and the super shotgun. An elevator provides the super shotgun, and across the coffins two skull switches open doors--left to the previous area, and right to the next.


 * Ira (wrath) // A maze of shoot-open doors, and rocket-launcher wrath delivery. From the previous area, shooting the double face directly past the entrance provides the rocket launcher. Many alcoves containing rockets are located on the upper level, along with the (push-activated) switch to the next area.


 * Invidia (envy) // A green area, tempting you with powerups you cannot reach and a plasma rifle you can. To claim the plasma rifle you need to press the green button on one side and run for the door that opened on the other side. Follow the slime tunnel to reach the final area.


 * Superbia (pride) // The BFG, and a literal fall when you go to claim it. In a tightly timed sequence, the skull switch controlling the side lifts and the skull switch controlling the BFG pillar must be pressed in that order, followed by a run for the lift and a run for the BFG. This sequence becomes nearly impossible when the area is swamped with monsters, which happens quite quickly with three spawn points.

Once the player has visited all seven areas, a red key will appear in each area allowing access to the central hub. Opening the red doors will unleash the accumulation of flying monsters first. Proceeding into the center will remove the barrier blocking the ground monsters. Approaching the icon will raise a spiral stairway; at the top the Icon's weak point is fully vulnerable to any of your weapons.

Strategy
The crowd-clearing power of the BFG, along with the difficulty of obtaining it when the area is full of monsters make Superbia the logical place to start. From there you can proceed in either direction, but collecting the more powerful weapons first will probably be easiest.

Secrets

 * 1) Luxuria (lust) // The walk trigger which lowers the central pillar also temporarily opens a teleport in the second area leading to a mega armor. (sector 204)
 * 2) Gula (gluttony) // The switch which opens the path to the third area also reveals a supercharge. (sector 84)
 * 3) Avaritia (greed) // A brick texture on a pillar near the red door opens to reveal a berserk pack. (sector 238)
 * 4) Acedia (sloth) // An elevator where the missing torch would be leads to a supercharge. (sector 302)
 * 5) Ira (wrath) // Shooting some switches raises an elevator pillar. Atop the pillar, another shoot-activated face-switch opens an alcove with a megasphere. (sector 401)
 * 6) Invidia (envy) // Entering the door which leads to the plasma gun opens another door farther down the wall containing an ammo cache. (sector 366)
 * 7) Superbia (pride) // The switch which lowers the lifts also makes an invulnerability orb available near the south-east spawn point. (sector 547)

Bugs
The seven arch-viles (Things 416 through 422) in the northern monster cache have no flags set for any of the three difficulty classes, so they do not actually appear in the level.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doomed Speed Demos Archive are:

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing south-east. (thing 426)
 * 2) facing east. (thing 427)
 * 3) facing north-east. (thing 428)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 429)

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