Scythe 2
From DoomWiki.org
| Scythe 2 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Author | Erik Alm |
| Port | Limit-removing |
| IWAD | Doom II |
| Year | 2005 |
| Link | Doomworld/idgames |
|
This mod received one of the 2005 Cacowards on Doomworld! |
Scythe 2 (stylized as Scythe II on the title screen) is a 32-level megawad for Doom II created by Erik Alm and first released on June 6, 2005.[1] The first edition was missing the final three levels that Alm eventually created for the re-release, published on July 10, 2009. The megawad is split into six episodes; upon finishing one, the player loses all his weapons and ammo via a death exit and is forced to start the next episode with just a pistol. Each episode has a different setting and visual style.
The first Scythe was very popular, so this was a highly-anticipated sequel. Scythe 2 was also well-received, winning a Cacoward. While the original featured small, action-packed levels, Scythe 2 is filled with large, complex and detailed maps. This change has proven to be highly influential. In 2019, an article on the history of Doom mapping called Scythe 2 "the second most influential PWAD of all time after Alien Vendetta".[2]
Contents
Content[edit]
Custom monsters[edit]
An Evil Marine prepares to attack the player in MAP31: Secret.
The Afrit makes its first appearance in MAP26: Death.
Scythe 2 uses an embedded DeHackEd patch to add two new monsters: an evil plasma-firing marine and a floating, super baron of Hell.
- Evil Marine
- The Evil Marine is an extremely fast-moving enemy that possesses 250 hit points and replaces the SS Nazi. An evil clone of Doomguy, he moves at an even more rapid speed than the player. His movement method, which is to zigzag towards his target and pause occasionally for a split second to fire plasma, makes him a dangerous enemy to combat. The Evil Marine is used sparingly throughout Scythe 2, but is the sole monster encountered in both MAP16 and MAP31. He is found much more often in cooperative play, where he appears as early as MAP03.
- Afrit
- Commander Keen is replaced with the Afrit (or super baron), a powerful monster with 2500 hit points that floats through the air, consisting of a crimson-colored upper body of a Hell noble with a trail of fire for legs. Its main attack is to fire a volley of six mancubus fireballs in a wide spread, quickly followed by three revenant missiles. The Afrit can only be found in the last five maps in single player, and is used sparingly in all but the final level due to its high lethality. It is encountered as early as MAP18 in a cooperative game, but even then is nowhere near as common as the Evil Marine. The sprite of the Afrit was originally made by Espi for the ZDoom community Monster Resource WAD.
- Monster spawner bug
- Scythe 2's DeHackEd patch introduces a potential bug into the game by using the A_Chase code pointer on the monster spawner's initial animation frame (spawnstate)—a byproduct of the state being repurposed in the Afrit's walk animation—which results in any map that contains a monster spawner to crash the game almost immediately upon startup. This happens because the A_Chase function is programmed to immediately check for a valid target and if none is found, return the calling actor to its spawnstate to search for a new target with A_Look. But in the case of the monster spawner, since A_Chase is called on the spawnstate, the state A_Chase transitions to is the same state it is already on, causing the code to become stuck in an infinite recursion loop, which quickly triggers an abort due to a stack overflow and crashes the game. This is also likely the reason why the first release of Scythe 2, which ended on MAP27, included a MAP28 consisting of an empty metal box with no exit, as this prevents the player from reaching Doom II's MAP30, which would otherwise have triggered a game crash.
Levels[edit]Gothic episode:
Egypt episode:
Industry episode:
Waste episode: Earth jungle episode:
Gothic hell episode: Secret maps: |
Soundtrack[edit]
|
Speedrunning[edit]
Current records[edit]
The DSDA episode records for Scythe 2 are:
| Run | Time | Player | Date | File | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV speed episode, MAP01-MAP10 | 02:50 | Kyle McAwesome | 2023-07-18 | s2e1-250.zip | |
| UV speed episode, MAP11-MAP20 | 03:52 | Kyle McAwesome | 2023-07-20 | s2e2-352_.zip | |
| UV speed episode, MAP21-MAP30 | 02:39 | Kyle McAwesome | 2023-07-18 | s2e3-239.zip | |
| UV speed run | 1:27:30 | j4rio | 2015-06-01 | s2all-8730.zip | |
| NM speed episode, MAP01-MAP10 | 07:46 | Andrea Rovenski | 2015-07-12 | s2e1n746.zip | |
| UV max episode, MAP01-MAP10 | 08:34 | Drew DeVore (stx-Vile) | 2023-07-12 | s2e1m834.zip | |
| UV max episode, MAP11-MAP20 | 10:09 | Drew DeVore (stx-Vile) | 2023-07-14 | s2e2m1009.zip | |
| UV max episode, MAP21-MAP30 | 19:46 | Drew DeVore (stx-Vile) | 2023-07-16 | s2e3m1946.zip | |
| UV max run | 3:37:17 | Donovan Myers (Arbys550) | 2020-10-14 | s2mx-21717.zip | |
| UV pacifist episode, MAP01-MAP10 | 04:26 | megasphere308 | 2023-09-07 | s2ep1p426.zip | |
| NoMo episode, MAP01-MAP10 | 02:08 | kvothesixstring | 2025-12-11 | s2e1o208.zip | |
| NoMo episode, MAP11-MAP20 | 01:49 | kvothesixstring | 2025-10-08 | s2e2o149.zip | |
| NoMo episode, MAP21-MAP30 | 01:49 | kvothesixstring | 2025-09-19 | s2e3o149.zip |
The data was last verified in its entirety on January 9, 2026.
Gallery[edit]
Intermission screen
Credits screen
Ending screen
Trivia[edit]
- The soundtracks for maps 06 to 18 and 23 to 25 were selected by Drew DeVore (stx-Vile). The rest were selected by Alm.[3]
- According to torn, the final three maps were completed in three weeks in 2009.[citation needed]
External links[edit]
- Scythe 2 at Doomworld/idgames
- Scythe 2 (first release) at the Doom Speed Demo Archive
- Scythe 2 (second release) at the Doom Speed Demo Archive
- Erik Alm's Page of Doom
- Release thread for the first 29-level version on Doomworld forums
- Release thread for the full version on Doomworld forums
References[edit]
- ↑ Erik (6 June 2005). released - Scythe 2. Doomworld forums. Retrieved 27 August 2023.
- ↑ Not Jabba (10 December 2019). "Roots: The evolution of Doom level design." Doomworld. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
- ↑ Doomworld status update
