No Hope For Life Episode 1: Back to the Fight (NHFL.WAD)

The road to Hell is paved with E1 replacements. No Hope For Life is a joint venture by three fixtures of Doom's source port boom: Andy Leaver, Jay Trent, and Pablo Dictter. Andy had already done a small set of E1 levels, bitebwad, in 2000. Jay participated in the 2001 Doom Center E1 Mapping Contest (judged by the man himself, John Romero), clinching 2nd place out of fifteen entries. Pablo had published a ton of levels by this point, many of which are no longer publicly available, and was working on an E4 replacement with Karthik Abhiram, Tobias Munch, Damian Lee, and Joel Murdoch - The Ninth Gate. tNG never fully panned out, though, whereas we have 2001's No Hope For Life Episode 1: Back to the Fight available to download on /idgames... admittedly some two years after its initial, official release. The authors suggest ZDoom but it should work in any limit-removing port, the primary concern being the dreaded visplane overlord.

No Hope For Life does not have a story, which is amusing to me since Pablo got Murdoch of Caverns of Darkness fame to author one for his Subversion episode. As I peek ahead it does not look as though Andy was much for story blurbs in his releases. Judging by the subtitle, the player character is presumably Doomguy, since there aren't any other well-known space marine survivors of demon encounters. The location is a UAC outpost that either experimented with teleporters or discovered some ancient, demonic ruins. Either way, the monsters now run the site and you have taken it upon yourself to clean it up.

EDIT 01/20/22: "Digi Mortal" and some of the other level titles come from what must have been one of Leaver's favorite bands, Fear Factory, and their 1998 / 2001 releases.

The final product is a styles clash. Pablo Dictter supplied four levels. Historically speaking, PD made three more maps for NHFL that were cut for the final running, after which he rolled them up with three freshly-crafted levels for his Subversion episode. Andy Leaver, the project organizer, crafted four levels of his own. I find it suspect, however, that the .ZIP and .TXT title for his bitebwad was DIGIMORT with his E1M1 of this set bearing the appellation "Digi Mortal". Jay Trent supplied a single level which then goes in his own, third direction. It is perhaps both the most and also least traditional map of the entire set.

Pablo's level are E1M4, E1M7, E1M8, and E1M9. He has a distinct style that consists of short, linear levels that are composed of hallways and rooms that are only slightly larger than the adjoining corridors. Aesthetically, he's an environmental detailer who greebles every inch of each surface. His usage of crates as sector detailing borders on the fetishistic. Combat is not particularly challenging apart from the claustrophobia and congestion that comes from having a small playing area to fight in and piles of shit to get hung up on while you're trying to dodge. If Dictter is going to lock you in with any sort of monster then it's going to be something like a Baron, but you ought to be adequately prepared resource-wise.

"Edgecrusher" (E1M7) is my favorite of Pablo's levels from the set. I wonder how much of this is due to him having an outdoor starting area with an interesting, scene-setting design. His "Linchpin" (E1M4) has a nukage-oriented gimmick where you can duck into drainage tunnels for powerful items at the cost of health. The secret level, "Seeds of Evil" (E1M9), has a sequence that appears to be designed to soft-lock the player if you walk past a switch. "Gate to Hell", alternatively titled "Death Comes Ripping" (E1M8), is the shortest of Dictter's levels here but tells a logical environmental story with an armor-plated observation booth that faces the teleporter corridor.

Leaver didn't have much of a body of work up to this point. His bitebwad levels were small and generally linear but showed a desire to work with larger room spaces and interesting structures. The combat was pretty punchy, with some big shootouts and surprising ambushes. "Digi Mortal" (E1M1) feels like it's cut from the same cloth as it's relatively short if architecturally interesting and has a few beefy demon ambushes. "Hi-Tech Hate" (E1M2) practically EXPLODES, though, with wide-open areas and tons o' monsters for multiple avenues of player exposure. "Waste Area" (E1M5) consists of a labyrinthine arrangement of large corridors connecting a few big rooms, which - along with tons of ambushes - makes for a kickass monster slaughter. "Vile Evil" (E1M6) starts out sedate enough but becomes a hornet's nest level where you can run anywhere but nowhere is safe to start, feeling very modern in its encounter design.

Jay's sole offering is "Phases of Evil" (E1M3). It's immediately obvious as a remake of "Toxin Refinery" albeit more cramped and with some clunky design decisions like lift pillars in nukage that you have to jump down to to use. It's also pretty tight with health, making for what I feel is a bigger if not necessarily fair challenge than Romero's. Some of these details reflect similar choices made for his JXT-E1M1.WAD from the Doom Center E1 Mapping Contest (E2M6). Trent also shows some ingenuity with the door interlock arrangement in the western annex, adding a strong mechanical component to his level design.

I'm not high on Dictter's total contributions here but I'm glad to see something like "Edgecrusher" come out after playing his most recent work. It always feels like he's on the edge of creating some excellent visual spaces and I feel as though he really delivers here. Andy's craft has developed by leaps and bounds. There's a strong symmetric component in "Hi-Tech Hate" and "Vile Evil", but Leaver is good about switching things up a bit to leave surprises unique to each side. I like Jay's "Phases of Evil" and would have gladly played an E1 retooling in his style. He would go on to create an E1 replacement - 900 Deep In the Dead - but it isn't quite the same thing.

The set is kind of lopsided due to the relative map size and encounter design. However, picking through PD's short pairings works to give you a breather after the larger, more complex levels. Leaver's frantic combat and ballsy ambushes might hit a little too hard if you're more into the measured pace of the dungeon crawler-style that Dictter espouses. Trent's E1M3 tribute is somewhere in between as the smaller scale of its fights work together with the claustrophobic confines to twist the player into uncomfortable positions. Difficulty will adjust the monster count for Andy's and Trent's maps but Pablo's smaller complements appear to be untouched. 

No Hope for Life Episode 1 is a solid E1 replacement for anyone craving more OG Doom action. It won't compare for authenticity but it's at least free from pesky Cyberdemons and Spider Masterminds. If you haven't tried it yet then you might as well give it a go, especially if you like slaying monsters on moons.

NO HOPE FOR LIFE

EPISODE 1

BACK TO THE FIGHT

by Andy Leaver, Jay Trent, and Pablo Dictter

Digi Mortal	E1M1
by Andy Leaver
Kicking things off with a highly congested crate warehouse with a relatively linear pathway. Andy gives you plenty of ammo and health to weather the lurking nasties. This includes two very large hordes of demons, both of which do a good job of exerting pressure on the player. Backpedaling is a tricky proposition when you're liable to have a crate or metal strut at your back. The second pinkie ambush is part of a one-two punch, provided that you notice and blaze toward the chaingun. The bonus items set up on shelves to be out of reach of children are logically ridiculous. They do, however, give the warehouse a unique character.

E1M2	Hi-Tech Hate
by Andy Leaver
	Completely different from E1M1. The author ditches claustrophobia for wide-open spaces and hordes of caged monsters in order to leave the player feeling utterly exposed. The main concourse is staffed by a mix of shotgun guys and demons, giving you both immediate threats as well as space-hogs that you can't leave alone. The dead spaces have turret-like crosses populated by imps with caged zombies in the far back. Andy has two big ambushes prepped for you, the second of which got a big start from me due to the immediacy of the teleport assault. Cool stuff; I really appreciate the outdoor scene glimpsed from the eastern wing.

Phases of Evil	E1M3
by Jay Trent
This is a remake of "Toxin Refinery" as evidenced by its opening scene. Many of the exact details have changed, however, and the combat feels more difficult if only due to what feels like meager amounts of health. This makes some design decisions, like the nukage vats and lifts used to cross the north-central portion of the level, feel dickish. It also forces you to respect the handful of judiciously-placed spectres. I like the way the return ambush in the dark plays out, however. There's some cool sector machinery going on in the shadowy computer annex, originally the locus of so many E1M3 secrets.

E1M9	Seeds of Evil
by Pablo Dictter
	This includes one of the most baffling design decisions that I have seen in a long time. In the red skull key basement is a gargoyle switch. When you run into the basin where the red skull key pillar is located, then the floor in front of the switch rises, sealing it off forever. If you should do this before activating the gargoyle, which lowers the pillar, then you will be stuck. Otherwise, this is a pleasant corrupted techbase mashup a la Dictter. Health feels really tight early on; you'll probably attrition out if you rush in blindly. Some of the segments break a little bit from PD's stringy "world of corridors" approach. I like the way the red key room is built with its little basement and crimson brick sidetube. I also enjoy the large, marble chamber where you snag the plasma gun. There's a fun bit where you have to take a sort of alternative path to grab the blue key, a different take on the optional chaingun from Subversion's E3M6.

Linchpin	E1M4
by Pablo Dictter
More of a return to form. This is a network of corridors, most of which are on the same plane, with a few OSHA-non-compliant nukage pools to dabble in. The toxins figure into a few secrets but they're very costly as the poison is 20% damage and there are no rad suits. Between this and a relative lack of health (Berserk pack and secret soul sphere notwithstanding), well, you might have a rough time. Ammo is also less than plentiful; Berserk punching demons is highly recommended. While it is a relatively benign corridor crawler, I did get one great moment where you can step on a crate only to have it sink into the nukage. It's, like, environmental-detail important; the only reason you'd ever tread on it is pure impulse. Very cute.

E1M5	Waste Area
by Andy Leaver
	I will grant that, if you oversimplify stuff, this level could be described as a "network of corridors". Leaver's haunting halls link up a handful of larger areas, however, and have the unnerving look of a vast, subterranean installation. You actually get a chance to pick a direction and wander for a time before potentially reaching a progression gate. Some corridors, like the deep blue spectre zone, don't make any earthly sense but make for a great visual. The larger spaces are pretty cool. The junction prior to the blue key door has what looks like caged examination tables and a bunch of waiting benches. Given the medikits, could it be a medical facility? As ridiculous as the ubiquitous couches are - one long hallway ends with a loveseat - the mood lighting does wonders for the atmosphere. Combat is pretty OG Doom-ish, even the enormous monster closets, one of which floods your living space with demons.

Vile Evil	E1M6
by Andy Leaver
This one's a real blood tornado. The teleporter sendoff is vaguely "Phobos Anomaly"-ish as you mow your way through zombies and imps to a teleporter. The destination has a wide-open layout with hallways and areas to explore, except there are tons of monsters every which way. The hornets' nest is full of demons, imps, and shotgun guys, and the outdoor area is no safe haven with its limited maneuverability and staff of imps. The best you can do is pick a direction and carve out some semblance of a safe space, after which you can start clearing in earnest. Excellent action with a healthy dose of desperation and panic as befits the last marine.

E1M7	Edgecrusher
by Pablo Dictter
	An excellent PD level. The opening outdoor yard with the little, extraneous sewage annex already had me hooked. The author continued to deliver fun rooms to explore, like the catwalk area leading to the blue key station. There's still a bunch of crate porn, especially the letter H warehouse, but Pablo sneakily uses them throughout to deploy lost souls. That's a hook that I can get into! The author throws one Baron at you but you have plenty of ammo to take it down - including some just in time rockets. Combat is unremarkable if a little meaty with the cacodemon ambushes.

Gate to Hell / Death Comes Ripping	E1M8
by Pablo Dictter
Uh, this is a straightforward gauntlet of monsters. PD's big payoff here is finding your way into that circular structure seen at the map's beginning, which is something like a blast shield / observation booth. Most of the beasties aren't threatening but it's more dangerous when you step beyond the seal toward the teleporter chambers. The locked-in encounter setup will probably catch you off-guard and cause you to trigger the second Baron while you're dancing about.

YOU'RE FROM TWO

DIFFERENT WORLDS!