MAP28: Unto the Cruel (PlayStation Doom)

MAP28: Unto the Cruel is the twenty-eighth level in the Ultimate Doom episode of the PlayStation and Sega Saturn versions of Doom. It is based on the original E4M8: Unto the Cruel, with modifications made to adapt the map to the consoles' limitations. The author of the original map is Shawn Green.

Essentials
Go down the staircase in front of you to a wall with a demonic face. Press the switch on your right to open the door, revealing an open area with a large central pillar and numerous monsters, mainly shotgun guys. Go through the door, turn right and follow the walkway to another demon face wall - open it to find a chamber with two boxes of rockets and the red skull key.

Leave the chamber and follow the walkway back, going all the way round to a third demonic face wall. Open it and step into the teleporter behind this wall to be taken to a new area. Head straight forward and climb the metal staircase, turn left and cross a bridge to a platform holding megaarmor, then turn left again to cross a bridge leading into a brick building. Press the switch on the north wall to lower a lift which will take you down to a wooden passage. Turn right and head straight forward past a staircase to pick up the yellow skull key, then go up the staircase you just passed, turn left and head down another staircase to a teleporter. Step into this teleporter to return to the area with the large central pillar.

The pillar has red and yellow skull bars on its north and south sides respectively - open these walls and press the switches behind them to raise a bridge to the west, and raise a staircase to the exit area. Follow the path you just created to reach an open wooden area containing four, seven or ten Hell knights depending on skill level. When they are all dead, the pillar in the center of the area will lower to reveal the exit teleporter.

Other points of interest
The large pillar encountered early in the level also has alcoves in its east and west sides, indicated by walls with lion faces. Each alcove holds a medikit protected by a monster.

In the outdoor area with the blood river, climb the metal staircase and turn right. Cross the bridge and follow the passage with metal walls to a water-filled area with several marble columns, each holding a different pickup. The columns will lower when interacted with, allowing you to take a berserk pack, a box of bullets, a light amplification visor, a soulsphere, an energy cell pack and two boxes of shells.

After getting the yellow skull key, open the wall to the east of its platform between two red firesticks. This will reveal a teleporter leading to a ledge in the previous outdoor area. Follow the ledge round to find two boxes of bullets, two boxes of rockets and a partial invisibility powerup. The ledge also holds a chaingun in multiplayer games.

There are several items of interest in the exit area:
 * The east side has two marble columns that hold a soulsphere and megaarmor; you can lower the columns by pressing use on them.
 * Pressing use on the center of the west wall between the two windows will reveal an alcove holding a BFG9000 and two energy cell packs.
 * There are staircases on the north and south sides of the room leading up to rooms overlooking the area. The south area has two energy cell packs and a plasma gun, and the north area has two boxes of rockets and a rocket launcher.

Secrets

 * 1) From the start, turn left and press use on the alcove containing a twitching hanging victim. This will open a wall on your left concealing a chaingun, four boxes of bullets and three medikits. (sector 83)

Bugs
Inherited from the PC version: a cacodemon (thing 118) has no flags set for any of the three difficulty classes, so does not actually appear in the level. The two player starts (things 0 and 5) have no flags set either, but because of special handling in the engine, they function normally in the level.

Comparison of versions
Numerous changes exist in this level compared to the PC version.

Room design

 * All the staircases in the level have fewer steps, except the staircase leading to the exit room.
 * The blood river in the southern area of the level has fewer sides.
 * The southern area of the level has a platform with megaarmor. Three brightly-lit sectors surrounding the pickup were removed in the console version.
 * The water-filled area in the southern area of the level has been shrunk, reducing the number of columns and powerups inside it. A hidden zero-height sector is also added around the area, allowing it to be taller than 256 units without distorting the wall textures.
 * The water-filled area has been displaced to the east forming some sort of corridor between the southern area and the water-filled area, most likely with the intention of reducing the geometry visible at once.
 * The sky floor used to exit the level is replaced with a rapidly-flashing teleport pad.

Monster placement

 * Nearly all zombiemen are replaced with shotgun guys. However, two zombiemen are added in the corners of the exit chamber on Ultra Violence skill level (UV).
 * The four alcoves in the large marble pillar in the northern area of the level contain cacodemons on Ultra Violence, and nightmare spectres on Hurt Me Plenty (HMP). In the PC version of this level, the alcoves contain barons of Hell on UV and cacodemons on HMP.
 * The spiderdemon and barons at the end of the level are replaced with Hell knights. They must all be killed to reveal the exit.

Other

 * A hidden chamber with an exit switch is added to the final room of the level. This is presumably intended for multiplayer games, as the chamber can only be opened from the inside.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains four spawn points:
 * 1) facing west. (thing 166)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 167)
 * 3) facing east. (thing 168)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 169)

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