E3M5: Dungeons of the Dark (Serenity)
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| Serenity maps |
|---|
E3M5: Dungeons of the Dark is the fifth level of Serenity. It was designed by Björn Hermans and Holger Nathrath, and uses a MIDI rendition of "Twin Peaks Theme" by Angelo Badalamenti, from Twin Peaks, as its music track.
Contents
Walkthrough[edit]
Essentials[edit]
Open the door to your right to enter an intersection, then continue south through another door and pass some zombies to reach a third door with a shotgun guy behind it (and a megaarmor on Ultra-Violence (UV) and Nightmare (NM) skill levels). The narrow passage to the east is a crusher trap, so run past it then run through the window ahead and drop down two platforms to reach a small tunnel below. Follow the tunnel (which contains demons and lost souls on Hurt Me Plenty or higher) to a switch and flip it to go down to a nukage pool, which is not harmful, then go round to the south-west end of the pool to find a lion switch next to a pentagram wall. Press the switch to open a demon wall on the east side of the pool, go through it to enter some marble tunnels then enter the easternmost tunnel to find a skull switch at the end. Press the switch to open another tunnel in the south-west corner, as well as a cage containing a few monsters, then go into that second tunnel and press another skull switch to lower a block holding the yellow skull key, along with a couple of demons and zombiemen.
Go back to the nukage pool and open the demon wall between the yellow skulls to find two zombiemen/shotgun guys protecting a gargoyle switch. Press the switch to open the pentagram wall you saw earlier, then go up the steps behind it to go to the N room near the starting point. Deal with any waiting enemies then press the round pillar in the middle of the N (you may need to stand in the lava to do this) to lower it and get the blue skull key. Climb up the spiral stairs and open the red wall at the top, then step on the platform behind it and press the south wall to go up to the starting point (do not step off the platform at this point as you will get stuck). Return to the pit area where you jumped across the platforms, but this time drop into the pit and open the blue door at the bottom to enter a junction with a red door.
Head west at the junction and follow the corridor to a door, pass through it and go forward to a dark room where you can see the red key on a pedestal. Carefully climb the steps up to the pedestal to activate crushers on either side of it and reveal one or two imps, then get on the moving platform between the crushers and let it carry you up to a switch that will lower the pedestal. With the key, go back to the red door you passed earlier and open it, then go through a second door to enter a seemingly empty area with an archway. Pass through the archway to lower the wall ahead and reveal several monsters, including a baron of Hell on UV and NM, along with another switch, then flip the switch and kill the monsters that are released behind you before leaving the room. Go back into the passage that led to the red key room, where a window has opened allowing you to enter a courtyard with the exit button (and a computer area map on UV and NM).
Other points of interest[edit]
Secrets[edit]
There are no official secrets in this level.
Bugs[edit]
In the blue key room, if you back off the platform at the top of the stairs as it rises, it will become impossible to finish the level without the noclip cheat, as there is no way to call it back down again.
The spectre (thing 122) on the teleporter to the blue key area (sector 111) is unable to move, as the space it occupies is too small.
Demo files[edit]
Areas / screenshots[edit]
The cages
Jump from here for a shortcut
Rocket launcher room
The hangmen
The yellow key
The blue key
The red key
The archway
The end
Speedrunning[edit]
As this level does not contain official secrets, the NM 100S category is redundant.
Routes and tricks[edit]
It is possible to jump into the rocket launcher room from the lower platform in the pit area. Doing so lets you skip the blue and yellow keys.
Current records[edit]
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:
| Run | Time | Player | Date | File | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV speed | 0:44.51 | Neurometry | 2017-12-30 | ser5-044.zip | |
| NM speed | 2:09.17 | Serge Marudov (Never_Again) | 2012-11-19 | serennm_na.zip | |
| UV max | 7:06.57 | vdgg | 2022-07-02 | ser5-706.zip | |
| UV -fast | 12:14.57 | Serge Marudov (Never_Again) | 2001-11-26 | seren_na.zip | |
| UV -respawn | |||||
| UV Tyson | |||||
| UV pacifist |
The data was last verified in its entirety on August 2, 2022.
Deathmatch[edit]
Player spawns[edit]
This level contains five spawn points:
- facing east. (thing 226)
- facing east. (thing 227)
- facing east. (thing 228)
- facing east. (thing 229)
- facing east. (thing 230)
Statistics[edit]
Map data[edit]
| Things | 231 |
| Vertices | 974* |
| Linedefs | 1117 |
| Sidedefs | 1558 |
| Sectors | 247 |
Things[edit]
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:
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Technical information[edit]
Inspiration and development[edit]
An early version of this map appeared as E2M3 of the collection "Nathrath's Fab Four" (NATHRATH.WAD).[1]
