Brigandine (BRIGANDINE.WAD)

BRIGANDINE

by Alun "Viggles" Bestor

Back in 2015, Viggles made an explosive return to the Doom community - after only having released a few deathmatch levels back in 1996 - with the publication of Breach. The first of a two-part series, it began as a single level but had to be split because it was on the verge of exceeding the extended limits of most source ports. Brigandine isn't the fairly-anticipated sequel but it is another MAP01 replacement for Doom II for limit-removing ports, this time released in 2017. Bestor's original conception was a "quickie" given the scope of the work he'd performed for Breach but the end result appears to indicate that every map of his is capable of becoming a long, torrid love affair.

It doesn't have a provided story and one of the immediately appreciable differences between this and Breach is that its implied narrative is almost nonexistent. There are no cinematic encounters or setpieces, which leaves nothing for Brigandine to rely on when it comes to engaging the player beyond the way it looks and the way it plays. The main exceptions are the bits of implied action like the dead marine found near the starting area who has bullets on the wall behind where his corpse lays. Otherwise it could be part of an immense, infernal Pandemonium just as easily as a nightmarish, corrupted section of cityscape given the potential ambiguity of the sky.

Brigandine is beautiful, not that I expected anything different of the author behind Breach. The shift from shelled-out techbase to brick and metal Gothic superstructure results in a vastly different aesthetic, though. The core of Bestor's character is still there with its emphasis on radial architecture but the ways in which his hyper-detailing is implemented better befit its setting so that it avoids looking like the same sort of environment plus a new coat of paint. Some levels from the modern school of design tend to fall into this trap because of the emphasis on streamlined gameplay and pleasing, abstract shapes dominating their layouts. Alun shows a lot of verve as an environmental designer.

The map's foundation is informed in part by the author's conscious decision to create a level that would play equally well in deathmatch. At least, in theory. The resulting flow is smooth and all extradimensional excursions have been excised. The absence of this sort of careful scripting amplifies its already open layout but holds back some of Breach's wow factor, part of the reason why it made for such an immersive experience. For me, at least. Some players will no doubt be equally as happy knowing that they can repeatedly mainline the combat without having to replay bits like the cage telefrag / cracked Baron sequence.

Brigandine feels pretty punchy both in the way monsters are thrown at the player and the way in which the provided space gives you room to play in. Its standout encounters usually place you in a position of peril and under assault from several different directions. I think that the real meat of the map is found behind the red key door during the staircase ascent and subsequent key grab but I also enjoyed the teleport ambush in the marble pillar / blood trident room. The extensive secret Berserk pack area is another neat annex but the novelty of its teleport / horde-style encounter probably pales if you don't discover it until late in the level. Of course, you could just revel in the red haze regardless.

Perhaps my favorite aspect of Brigandine is the impressive depth of world building that takes place outside the playing area. It really feels as though it's part of a much larger complex. There are a wide variety of structures and landscapes beyond the periphery of the playable space, sometimes as tantalizingly close as the opposite side of an iron-wrought fence. There's a certain sense of wonder involved in the scattered secrets that take you beyond the confines of the map's normally accessible area, alas how briefly, my favorite of these being the short jaunt to the teleporter-accessed backpack pillar.

Atmosphere also abounds in some minute touches like the strange monster closets, which resemble compromised spawning vats built into the walls, as well as the dynamite soundtrack from conelrad. It sounds something like a sinuous apocalypse slithering inexorably across a Hellish landscape. I'm reminded of Chrono Trigger's "Undersea Palace" track for inexplicable reasons but the vast majority of the influence that I hear is tropes of the Diablo series. There's the ominous angelic choir, for one, but also the wining / droning sort of electric pedal steel effect. It's pretty freakin' cool.

Bestor takes the authorial aspect of the Doom community to unparalleled heights. While it would be great to see a larger mapset with this same level of dedication to environmental detailing I'm sure that the work involved must be staggering so I'm glad to get what we can. I look forward to the second part of Breach or, indeed, whatever Viggles publishes next.

BRIGANDRUIN