Forsaken Overlook (FSKNOVLK.WAD)

FORSAKEN OVERLOOK
by Matt Tropiano

Forsaken Overlook, published in 2013, is part of the Doomworld "Secret Santa" project, arranged by one Brian "Snakes" Knox. The idea was to randomly pair off participating authors in a gift-maker to gift-receiver relationship, where the gift-maker created a single level in the target author's style. The results are then posted anonymously in the project thread, with players able to guess the target author before Snakes pulls the veil back and exposes the charade. In this particular case, the role of "Santa" was played by Doom veteran Matt Tropiano, and his recipient was "LupinX-Kassman" of Community Chest 4 fame. Tropiano did a job of studying his quarry, also producing a document that documents his entire creative process, which you can find and read in the .ZIP. A fascinating read, especially for other authors, I'm sure. The result, intended for Boom-compatible ports, plays in the MAP01 slot.

Forsaken Overlook actually has a bit of a story to frame the action within, maybe drawn from Kassman's insane double-whammy from CCHEST4? You're an adventurer attempting to wrest a magical sword of power from a cursed castle. Tropiano hands you a berserk pack to get things started and just lets you fly from there. FSKNOVLK reminds me quite heavily of the final level of Tropiano's Coffee Break E1, "Stalker". They're both castle-ish and they both have this intricate, deliberate flow that weaves the player through a central area on several occasions. In "Stalker", the stakes are upped with a Cyberdemon shooting at you most of the time. Here, the action is a bit more relaxed, which gives you time to appreciate the care with which Matt's given the architecture.

The overlook is a nasty place to be. Tropiano runs the player through tons of open spaces whose upper walls are speckled with imps, for the most part, with the occasional commando, revenant, or sergeant to ruin your day. You'll also find yourself beset upon by cacodemons and pain elementals in an ambush or two. You usually have enough room to knock about but one of the island ambushes involves a bit more desperation. He also throws many clumps of monsters at the player, usually low-tier enough to be fended off with the SSG, but lethal if ignored. There are a few really cool staged fights, like one where Matt raises a pillar for the sole sake of arch-vile cover, which takes place in a nice darker castle area with a blue / dark gray motif that breaks up the brown and green of the outside. I also like the finale, whereupon grabbing the sword, you're subjected to a three-Cyberdemon crossfire (with a little cover) that requires some deft maneuvering and situational awareness.

I like the layout of the map. There's a lot of space to move in, which helps when monsters are perpetually raining death upon you, like in the massive curved area to the east where your best bet is to press on and come back with the rocket launcher to deal with those mancubuses. There's also a series of jaunts to previously seen islands toward the end, the site of claustrophobic encounters. It would have been cool to see a few more of these little sojourns throughout the level rather than have them backloaded, but it was nice to see them. It also looks very pretty, and not just streamlined, with bits like the fortress facade you eventually exit out of.

From its first offering a la Tropiano, I'd pronounce Knox's Secret Santa project a success. FSKNOVLK is a neat level with tons of monsters to kill, an easy to navigate castle with grand architecture, and a few big surprises for more experienced players. The constant whittling down of scattered imps and zombie snipers might bring you down, but if you stick it out, you'll have some nice fights in store. Plus, you actually get to find the sword in the readme. How cool is that?

This post is part of a series on
Doomworld's 2013 Cacowards

The Top Ten	Best Multiplayer	Runners Up
Back to Saturn X: Episode 1	Eyedea	Interception
Doom 2 the Way id Did	Samsara	Hadephobia
Unholy Realms	Eon Deathmatch	Hellbound
ZDoom Community Map Project: Take 2	Best Gameplay Mod	High / Low 5
Fuel Devourer	Project MSX	Soulcrusher
Kuchitsu	Mordeth Award	Stomper
Forsaken Overlook	ZDCMP2
Stardate 20X6	Mockaward
Pirate Doom	Extreme Weapon Pack
Swim With the Whales	Mapper of the Year
	Ribbiks