MAP52: The Abandoned Mines (PlayStation Doom)

MAP52: The Abandoned Mines is the fifty-second level of the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Doom, and the twenty-second level of the Doom II episode. It is based on the original MAP26: The Abandoned Mines, with modifications made to adapt the map to the consoles' limitations. The author of the original map is John Romero.

Essentials
Press the gargoyle switch in front of you and follow the hallway through a four-way intersection, turning left at the end. Press the switch at the end, then go back down the hallway and through the now-open wall on the left. Kill the imps blocking your way and take the red keycard from the corner of the ledge they stood on.

Go back to the intersection you went through earlier and head west, going through the red door at the end. Cross the lava pit and climb the staircase. A floor ahead will rise to reveal one or two Hell knights; kill them and take the blue keycard in the alcove behind them.

Return to the intersection and head east, entering a cavern with a winding set of steps over a lava pit. Follow the steps up to the top and open the blue door, which leads to a narrow walkway over another lava pit. Follow the walkway round to its south side and cross to the central ledge with the yellow keycard. Backtrack to the four-way intersection and go north up the first hallway you used, which leads to the exit door behind a yellow bar. Open the bar and the exit door, then step into the water pool to finish the level.

Other points of interest
A super shotgun can be found inside the starting room.

An armor pickup can be found on the same ledge as the red keycard.

Secrets

 * 1) At the level start, immediately turn around and open the piped wall behind you to reveal a secret passage. (sector 32) it leads to a caged walkway with two medikits and an energy cell at its end, but the area is also occupied by monsters so beware. Using the teleporters in the sludge below, players can also get to platforms holding a plasma gun and an energy cell pack.
 * 2) Press the switch in the starting room. When the floor lowers, open the vented wall to the right to enter another secret area. (sector 46) Grab the backpack in the first passage, then head north across a sludge pit into another small passage. A floor will lower in front of you; from here you can open the distinctively-textured wall in the south-east corner and head into another area containing armor bonuses and a chaingun. Head into the teleporter ahead (crossing the small step will open an alcove with a chaingunner) to be taken to a ledge overlooking the south-west sludge pit in the area. Drop off the ledge to a platform with barrels and a rocket launcher, then press the gargoyle switch in the south-east corner of the sludge to open a door leading back to the caged hallways.
 * 3) The wall behind the blue keycard opens, revealing a switch. (sector 110)
 * 4) Press the switch in secret #3 to lower two lifts in the lava room to the east. The south lift leads to a switch which (redundantly) opens the red door and the door to secret #1. The north lift leads to a megaarmor; from here, open the brown rock wall on the right to find a tunnel leading to a soulsphere. (sector 123)

Bugs
The cacodemons (things 136, 137 and 138) inside the western alcove adjoining the walkway area past secret #1 are blind, as long as the player stays on the wooden walkway and makes no noise.

Comparison of versions
A number of changes were made to this level compared with the PC version.

Room design

 * All switches use a gargoyle face on metal wall texture (named on PC).
 * All nukage pits are changed to sludge.
 * The heights of several sectors with lava and nukage pits were reduced to less than 256 units.
 * Ceilings were added to the outsides of the windows around the walkway in the center of the level.
 * The exit sector uses a water floor instead of a sky.

Monster placement

 * Mancubi are replaced with Hell knights.
 * Barons of Hell are replaced with two knights each on Hurt Me Plenty and Ultra Violence skill levels. On I am a Wimp and Not Too Rough, only one knight guards the blue keycard and the baron in the area containing the yellow keycard is removed without being replaced.
 * The cyberdemon found in the south-west sludge pit in multiplayer is absent.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains seven spawn points:
 * 1) facing west. (thing 216)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 217)
 * 3) facing west. (thing 218)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 219)
 * 5) facing south. (thing 220)
 * 6) facing south-east. (thing 221)
 * 7) facing east. (thing 222)

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

Trivia
Although the level is technically set in Hell, it uses keycards instead of skull keys.