Perdition's Gate

Perdition's Gate is a 32-level commercial megawad for Doom II designed by Wraith Corporation and published by WizardWorks in 1996. An 11-level demo version was distributed via the Internet and on the D!ZONE Gold compilation disc. Unlike its sister release, Hell to Pay, which is a partial conversion, Perdition's Gate only contains new graphics for various textures and new music besides its levels.

According to Tom Mustaine, Perdition's Gate was offered to id Software. He contacted Shawn Green, who "responded positively about another 32 level pack for Final Doom." Shortly afterwards, he was informed that the "Final Doom window of opportunity had closed," so Perdition's Gate was offered to the Wraith Corporation instead.

Authors
Map design was shared by Tom Mustaine and Bob Mustaine, Jimmy Sieben (ArchDaemon), and Mackey McCandlish (Avatar). Artwork for the project was created by Jim Elson, Tom Mustaine, Mackey McCandlish, Pavel Hodek, and Jaroslaw Wolski. The music was composed by Tom Mustaine and L.A. Sieben (Anavrin). Additional sounds were provided by Jim Elson, and Kristin Weeks acted the computer voice.

On the administrative side, production was handled by Jim Elson with the assistance of Tom Mustaine, and Mark Gundy was in charge of marketing.

Story
Over 15,000 years ago, an alien race existed in a distant galaxy, a race of beings that had mastered ways of mixing technology with the power of the mind. These were the overseers of the universe, protectors of developing worlds, and masters of incredible technologies. Yet, possessing such technology led to conflicts with savage alien races, including a race of monstrous demonic aggressors.

A war ensued between the savage demon race and the alien overseers. The overseers attempted to make peace with the attacking force but their attempts ended in miserable failures. The savages were a race of pure evil, no understanding of diplomacy or peace. In a desperate final attempt at suppressing the aggressors, the overseers closed down their most valuable technology, the inter-dimensional teleporters. Before all the teleporters were powered down, legions of the demonic race made their way through, wreaking havoc on under-developed, formerly protected worlds. One of those worlds was Earth, many thousands of years ago.

The sight of raging monstrous creatures to villagers and peasants in Earth's biblical times bred fear in the minds of all. Eventually, the small unsupported armies of monsters were destroyed, but the advent of these creatures rooted myths into human culture about demons from Hell.

Thousands of years of development followed as the people of Earth began to forget about demonic myths and legends of the past while passing headlong into the technological era. At the same time, the demons took over the former overseers' world, and began attempting to understand the overseers' awesome technology. Masterminds were bred to help teach and integrate the demon technology with that of the overseers. Not until recently did the demon race possess the power to re-commission the inter-dimensional teleporters. Thanks to the efforts of human experimentation on the moon of Phobos, the teleporters on the overseers' world were given life once again. Soon after, the demon masterminds began to understand the workings of the overseer technology and built up attack forces to continue their conquest of the universe.

Four years have passed since Earth marine forces won the war against the demon aggressors. You are a cadet marine who has been called upon to serve in the UAC strike force while they continue running controlled gateway experiments at their Earth headquarters. Arriving at the main gate on your first day of service, you notice that things seem amiss. You pull out your service handgun, and enter the main gate suspecting the worst. Little do you know, but you are about to embark on a journey to the overseers' world, the dawn of a new battle on another plane of existence. Hopefully, you have what it takes to clean out the alien world, and find the portal leading to the plane of Hell itself; hopefully, you can find and destroy Perdition's Gate.

Levels
Map credits were provided by Kmxexii.

Earth

 * MAP01: UAC Main Lobby, Shipping and Receiving/Main Gate by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP02: UAC Executive Areas, Interlock by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP03: UAC Executive Areas, Recreation Area/Yard by Tom Mustaine
 * MAP04: UAC Executive Areas, Storage Area by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP05: Executive Areas, Sub-Basement Entry by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP06: Sub-Basement, Waste Areas by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP07: UAC Nukage Areas, Nukage Monitor/Flow Control Facility by Tom Mustaine
 * MAP08: UAC Nukage Areas, Waste Tunnels/Drainage Tunnels by Tom Mustaine
 * MAP09: UAC Experimentation Labs, Hangar/Storage Area by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP10: UAC Experimentation Labs, High Security Area by Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP11: UAC Secret Teleporter Lab by Tom Mustaine

World of the Ancients

 * MAP12: Entryway to the Worlds of the Ancients by Tom Mustaine and Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP13: Distant Worlds by Tom Mustaine and Mackey McCandlish
 * MAP14: Transfer Locking Area by Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP15: Teleporter Central by Tom Mustaine and Mackey McCandlish
 * MAP16: The Alien Shrine by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP17: Interdimensional Control by Tom and Bob Mustaine
 * MAP18: The Throne of the Vile by Tom Mustaine
 * MAP19: Closer to Hell by Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP20: The Last Stand by Tom and Bob Mustaine

Planet Hell

 * MAP21: Hell's Gate by Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP22: The Deepest Reaches by Mackey McCandlish
 * MAP23: Hell's Gymnasium by Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP24: The BloodStone Gardens of Hell by Mackey McCandlish
 * MAP25: Hell's Park by Mackey McCandlish
 * MAP26: The Blood Tunnels by an unknown contributor
 * MAP27: Hell's Masterpiece by Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP28: High-Tech Hades by Jimmy Sieben
 * MAP29: The Bomb Facility by Tom Mustaine
 * MAP30: The Escape by Tom Mustaine

Secret Maps

 * MAP31: World of Wonders: The Planet of Living Rock by Mackey McCandlish
 * MAP32: World of Wonders: The Sea of Radioactive Waste by Mackey McCandlish

The map names were taken from the output of PG-PLOT.COM (executable file on the disc). The names mentioned on Tom Mustaine's website differ.

Current records
The DSDA episode records for Perdition's Gate are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 28, 2022.