MAP11: Terror Core (Doom 64)

MAP11: Terror Core is the eleventh map of Doom 64, designed by Danny Lewis. It uses the music track "Aspects Of The Vile". The sky is a purple dark storm like sky. The goal to this level is connecting bridges, fighting lots of Hell Knights and unlocking keys. The environment is set in some castle gardens which have demonic decorations. The music for this level is a dark, creepy atmospheric sound similar to the music in MAP09: Even Simpler.

Walkthrough


Map begins in a small concealed room with a door in front of him that leads to a water logged aqueduct network that sits at the base of a large fortress-like complex. PLayer should have his chainsaw out and ready for the hoard of pinkys and imps that will swarm him as soon as he emerges from the room (A chainsaw pickup is available just outside of the room if player doesn't have one). Sergents lurk in the rear section of the aqueduct as well. After taking out all enemies in the aqueduct, the player will find a pair of switches at the far right end inside a niche in the rear of the aqueduct. One switch causes the blue skull key to appear near the map start, and the other activates a wall that automatically moves up and down at the far left niche of the aqueduct symmetrical to the the right niche with the aforementioned switches. The left niche contains a shotgun and a backpack.

Then the player heads for the front of the aqueduct to collect the blue skull key just off to the left of the map start, and then he can open the blue door that's directly across from said map start. Player needs to have a powerful weapon ready to kill the two barons and hell knight behind the door. (At this point, it's a good idea to check the aqueduct one more time for any extra ammo because the next part contains numerous monsters that need to be killed). The player then enters the blue door into the beginning of the fortress. Take the first left down the corridor and open the door (The door on the far opposite end contains a rocket launcher and only opens when this door opens. Player will need to be quick to collect the launcher before the door closes). Inside the door are several spectres that will naturally attack you, but you can pick off with the chainsaw. Then the player heads to the right of the spectre room across a walkway which takes him to a room infested with nightmare imps, cacodemons, and hell knights (There's also an open spot behind a torch block where three barons lurk in a room that you can't access yet, but it's still possible to kill them if you have the weapons and patience. Otherwise, just wait to fight them later after you gain access to the room.). After killing all monsters, player activates the switch in that room and then heads back to the previous spectre room, up the newly activated stairs, through the column barrier into the courtyard beyond. Player will have to sweep the courtyard for hell knights lurking on upper platforms and health and ammunition as needed. Then he heads to the back of the courtyard and activates the switch, which will cause an onslaught of lost souls, imps, and spectres to appear. Player should fire off a couple of BFG rounds to destroy the bulk of them while picking off the rest with a lesser weapon. Afterward, the player heads back through the column barrier into the spectre room, turns the corner to the right and goes into the door which takes him onto an elevating platform that gives him access to the corridors which traverse the courtyard from above.

Pick off the hell knight guarding the beginning of the corridors, then open the right door, pick off the hell knight across from you, and before you go across, be ready to kill the pair of mancubi that appear outside to your left. You'll notice the yellow skull key sitting just to the left of them. Continue across the walkway into the door ahead, then open the door to the right. Activate the switch on the wall, then go back across the walkway into the first part of the corridors, and the door inside there will now be permanently open. Beyond is a portal that will teleport you directly onto the platform where the yellow skull key rests. Collect it, then go back through the courtyard and spectre room back to the beginning of the corridor network, and go right across the walkway again into the yellow door and navigate the access tunnel beyond. A bunch of cacodemons and imps lurk in this area, so be ready to pick them off. Afterward, head to the end of the access and you will find the red skull key. Collecting this key will cause a hoard of lost souls to appear. Take them out, then head out of the room back to the beginning corridor of the fortress to the red door.

If you didn't kill the three barons earlier, you will now have to face them once you open the red door. After taking them out, enter the red door room and go into the portal. The portal is surrounded by a wall which drops down when you cross the floor just outside the red door. The portal takes you to an adjacent platform overlooking the aqueduct where a couple of sergents lay in wait. Kill them and activate either of the two switches in the niche just behind the portal to end the map.

Secrets
In the room where you first start the map, the wall directly behind the player can be dropped to reveal a berserk powerup. (The game does not consider this a secret area however).

In the courtyard at the two platforms where you killed the hell knights, there is a soul sphere and a mega armor. To get the soul sphere, first the player makes their way to the platform where he got the yellow skull key (through the corridors and into the portal there). Then look right. The player will see a switch on the far wall that can't be activated with any hitscan weapon. Player will have to jump for the switch and activate it manually. This might require several attempts, but after the player successfully activates the switch, go back to where the portal is and the player will find a secret corridor has opened up. Traverse the corridor and it will take the player to a door that opens to reveal the soul sphere to him that he will need to jump across a gap to collect. To get the mega armor, the player heads through the yellow door back into the access corridor. At the point where the corridor makes a 90 degree turn, the player will trip a section of wall located at the far left end of his position to open up, and the player will have to quickly scale the ledge along the left side of the corridor to reach the alcove that the wall section was concealing. The player will use this alcove to jump across the corridor to the other ledge and scale right into a hall that takes him to a door that opens and reveals the mega armor. The player will have to jump across the gap to collect the mega armor just like with the soul sphere.