MAP13: Asylum (Icarus: Alien Vanguard)

MAP13: Asylum is the thirteenth level of Icarus: Alien Vanguard. The level takes place in a simulation characterized by drab, gray walls and muddled, green, metal rooms, and was designed by Robert Taylor.

Walkthrough

 * Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials
From your starting point, you will see the red skull key on a ledge, and, like all the levels in this megawad, it is the key for the exit. Grab the super shotgun and turn left. Go all the way down the green hallway until you reach the wall with blue triangles. Open this wall and take the left (east) corridor until you see a window to the right. Press on the wall opposite of the window to open it. In this area, just head north all the way until you spot a wall in the northwest corner with a symbol on it. Press this wall to open the way to an examination room with a chainsaw in the middle and demons on the back wall. Head right from this room and open the next wall with a symbol on it to find a staircase. At the end of this staircase you will get the red skull key. You can then jump back to the starting room and then go back down the corridor and open the wall again. This time, go west into an open room. Open the southwestern wall and then open the nearby wall with the insignia on it. Then open the wall to the left in there. At the fork, go right, and near the cage, you will see a wall with red markings around it. Head through this wall and teleport to the exit room.

Other points of interest
Turn left from the start and head into the gray area. There is an army of imps (plus one shotgun guy) in here. If you go to where they were positioned, you will trigger a lift to the north. Inside, are some hell knights, barons of hell, and a megasphere. If you press on the eastern wall that has the symbol on it, you will open it to reveal the inside of a cage with an energy cell pack and a plasma gun.

Grab the soul sphere in the area with the cages to the northeast (it is on the way to the red key). There is a linedef slightly west of it which opens several blocks. Trigger it then head due south of where the soul sphere is, through the cage to the right of the path that has boxes of shells. Approach the end of this cage and the wall will open revealing a megaarmor.

When you get close to the red key, a door will open. Backtrack a bit to find the northern wall has opened up. Inside are an arachnotron and some demons. Grabbing the armor in the back triggers walls to open with hell knights inside.

The southwest part of the map has a rocket launcher in the center. There are imps in the hallway surrounding this area. Find a way to the interior of this area and to get the rocket launcher, press any of the walls to open the room with the gun. Be careful of the arch-vile and mancubi, and watch out because when you pick up the weapon as all of the walls will lower.

In the southeast part of the map, you will encounter some demons and a toxic floor that represents the insignia that you have seen throughout the map. Go through the wall it is pointing at to pick up the blue skull key.

In the open area that holds the backpack, press on the wall with the blue triangles behind the backpack to find a prison-like area. There are several monsters in the three cages, including zombiemen, demons, and a baron of hell. If you approach the middle cell from the step, you can crush the demons in the middle cell. Unfortunately, there is no way of getting the pickups in the left or the right cells without using the noclip cheat.

Secrets

 * 1) In the same circular room where the blue skull key is found, there is a platform holding a berserk pack.  Run through the middle of the insignia in the northern floor, and the platform will lower, enabling acquisition of the pack. (sector 119) Unfortunately, it is impossible to register this secret, as the lava bordering the platform (the sector actually marked as a secret) is too narrow for you to walk on without climbing onto the floor in the process.

Bugs
Linedef 243 is a door-opening walkover line with a tag of 15. However, there is no sector with a tag of 15 in the entirety of the level.

Because the only secret in this map is impossible to trigger, you can only obtain 0% Secrets on this level.

To the northeast of the rocket launcher area, an imp (thing 77) stands looking at the wall. If you open the door he is facing, and then enter his line of sight, he will ignore you, and will not "wake up" like other monsters do when spotting you, as long as you do not fire a shot. This is an instance of the "sleepwalking sergeant" bug.

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