MAP31: The Descent (Hell Revealed)

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Hell Revealed secret maps

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Secret maps

This level occupies the map slot MAP31. For other maps which occupy this slot, see Category:MAP31.

MAP31: The Descent, designed by Yonatan Donner, is the first secret level of Hell Revealed. It uses a remix of the classical music piece "Adagio in G minor" composed for Rise of the Triad.

Description[edit]

According to the Hell Revealed info pack:

In this lift you will not be sure if you are descending into hell, or are in hell already. Enemies will fight you all the way down, and there more resistance awaits. You must get the ammunition in the start or you will never survive the descent. And you must be very good to get out alive. Your heartbeat might go very high when you expect the way out to show any moment... You can leave from the normal exit, which requires two keys, or the secret exit, which doesn't require any key. But to leave through it you will need to prove good maneuverability skills.
Size: small
Difficulty: very hard

Walkthrough[edit]

Map of The Descent
Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector, thing, and linedef numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials[edit]

When the level starts, you will see a pillar in the middle of the room. Shoot it. This will open 4 doors at the sides of the room, all containing guns. Next, activate the switch on the same pillar you shot before. The floor will start to descend and monsters will spawn, starting with zombies, ending with arch-viles and barons of Hell. You do not necessarily have to fight the monsters on the descending lift: in the lift, there's only a single teleport destination which you can occupy, and this will prevent monsters from teleporting into the lift. In source ports with z-clipping, you can also stay on the pillar platform or quickly run into one of the weapon/ammo stashes after hitting the switch.

After the lift has stopped moving and you are at the bottom, you will be confronted by chaingunners in the halls, and the halls lead to rooms with spectres in them. The secret exit is to the south and the normal exit is to the north. The keys are located in the west and east rooms. On Ultra-Violence and Nightmare every corner room will house a cyberdemon, making it hard to get to the soul spheres situated in the corners of the map. Picking up the red keycard reveals revenants and barons of Hell around the map, while picking up the blue keycard makes an arch-vile teleport to the center, most likely resurrecting some of the enemies you had killed before. Be aware of your health, the level only includes few health pickups.

Note that the keys are only required if you are headed for the normal exit. If you are going for the secret exit, you can reach it right away once you descend all the way down. The southern part of the map holds the secret exit. It is intended for the player to carefully navigate on top of small pillars to reach it; however, it's possible to just strafe50 straight to the exit switch.

Secrets[edit]

  1. Press use on the walls behind the guns at the beginning to open them and reveal ammo stashes. (sector 14)
  2. See #1. (sector 15)
  3. See #1. (sector 16)
  4. See #1. (sector 17)
  5. The alcove before the secret exit switch counts as a secret. (sector 85)

Areas / screenshots[edit]

Speedrunning[edit]

Routes and tricks[edit]

UV / NM speed runs avoid the lift fight as described above.

Current Compet-n records[edit]

The Compet-n records for the map are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV speed (normal exit) 02:18 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-30 hr31-218.zip
UV speed (secret exit) 02:05 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-30 hr31s205.zip
NM speed (normal exit) 02:19 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-29 hs31-219.zip
NM speed (secret exit) 02:12 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-29 hn31s212.zip
UV max 06:42 Chris Ratcliff (Ryback) 2012-05-03 hr31-642.zip
NM100S 02:19 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-29 hs31-219.zip
UV -fast 06:46 Chris Ratcliff (Ryback) 2012-05-01 hf31-646.zip
UV -respawn
UV Tyson
UV pacifist (normal exit)
UV pacifist (secret exit)

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 6, 2020.

Current DSDA records[edit]

The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

Run Time Player Date File Notes
UV speed (normal exit) 2:18.06 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-30 hr31-218.zip
UV speed (secret exit) 2:05.40 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-29 hr31s205.zip
NM speed (normal exit)
NM speed (secret exit) 2:12.77 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-28 hn31s212.zip
UV max 5:27.57 Ancalagon 2024-07-17 hr31m527.zip
NM 100S 2:19.09 Eugene Kapustin 2004-03-28 hs31-219.zip
UV -fast 6:46.31 Chris Ratcliff (Ryback) 2012-04-30 hf31-646.zip
UV -respawn
UV Tyson
UV pacifist (normal exit)
UV pacifist (secret exit) 2:11.09 GrumpyCat 2021-05-11 hr31sp211.zip
NoMo (normal exit) 2:07.97 aika 2022-05-21 hr31o207.zip
NoMo (secret exit) 2:02.46 aika 2022-05-14 hr31so202.zip
NoMo 100S 2:12.31 Casey Alvis (Altima Mantoid) 2002-07-04 hrhelp2.zip

The data was last verified in its entirety on August 13, 2024.

Deathmatch[edit]

Player spawns[edit]

This level contains four spawn points:

  1. facing south-east. (thing 101)
  2. facing south-west. (thing 102)
  3. facing north-west. (thing 103)
  4. facing north-east. (thing 104)

Statistics[edit]

Map data[edit]

Things 333
Vertices 591*
Linedefs 625
Sidedefs 1018
Sectors 107
* The vertex count without the effect of node building is 521.

Things[edit]

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

Trivia[edit]

The lift with spawning enemies may be inspired by Quake E2M6.

External links[edit]

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