Linna (LINNA.WAD)

LINNA

by Esa Repo aka "Espi"

(based on Come to a Head by "Deadnail")

In June of 2001, Deadnail uploaded his only single player level to /idgames, Come to a Head (SP_DN01). It was a weighty techbase map with grueling thing placement, best enjoyed on HMP and even then you'll likely suffer without knowing the level's five secrets. Nine days later, Espi renovated the level and uploaded Linna, a MAP01 replacement for... whatever the confluence is of source ports that are Boom-compatible and also allow jumping. GZDoom and Zandronum ought to work, Eternity, Odamex, Legacy, and idk, Risen3D? I know that I'm selling someone's favorite source port short right now, I just couldn't tell you which one.

Like Espi's KARMEA, which was a Finnish word that roughly translates to something like "spooky", Linna is another word from the Finnish lexicon, this one meaning "castle". Which, appropriately enough, is what Repo retextured SP_DN01 into. This is a Gothic green marble fortress with one side area, a jaunt to a Hellscape consisting of stalwart islands in a giant lake of lava. Deadnail's Come to a Head started in media res as it was the second level in what was originally intended to be a five map episode. Linna, however, is presented exactly as it is. Doomguy has arrived at an imposing fortress, no doubt a bastion of Hell, and sets about to clearing it out.

I was curious as to what Espi was going to change, if anything, from SP_DN01 to LINNA. The level's layout and progression are basically unchanged and the general composition of the fights isn't too far off in spirit from the thing placement in HMP. It feels like Repo put a bit of thought into how he tweaked the fights, though, and the relatively clean if plain architecture has gotten some much-needed facelifts. This is partly because, well, a crate warehouse doesn't make as much sense in a big brick castle. Some of the embellishments don't technically add a lot, but the amount of character that they add to previously plain visuals is immense. And I'm not talking about the border textures in areas like the first outdoor space, even if they DO look amazingly, shiningly plastic.

I love the crate storage conversion. It's now a big, open courtyard with a great three-pillared monolith in the center and some sort of Baron altar nested in the northern tip. The colonnade is the location of a soul sphere secret and makes for a great visual as it pops in out of nowhere. The fight here is actually a bit more intense than the one Deadnail had on UV but that's because there's still one pain elemental and four more cacos for a total of five gasbags. While it's a denser fight than the original, it's more manageable because the author has made sure to give you plenty of ammo leading up to it. Of course, smashing the meatball will still be your number one priority, it just feels less like you have to "cheese" things with tactical corner-hugging and door camping.

The sluice with the plasma gun secret used to be damage floor from door to door under the idea that it was a radiation area. The lowest point, the trench, is still toxic but there's no need to stand in the sticky blood. You can get your first glimpse at Espi's wicked cool extra-goopy blood texture just fine. The inner castle has a few DoomCute changeups. The blue armor has been changed to a Berserk pack, and grabbing it triggers what else? but a teleporter wave of demons and specters in the main area. The outer, southern yard looks much better with its castle battlements and arch-vile face gates. The pacing of the encounters has also been restructured. You could previously just grab the yellow key and run. Now it's tucked behind the sacrificial-looking altar while a soul sphere stands in its place, the trigger for an understated but dangerous arch-vile fight.

I'm most happy with the way the makeover that the Hellish teleporter destination got. Espi has some new textures that instantly gives the location a fresh feel and he has decorated some of the islands with ruinous structures that give the impression of an ancient, lost civilization. Like, this isn't some corner of Hell, this is some world that's been desolated by the forces of evil. The positioning of the monsters is more or less the same but you are spared any pain elementals, perhaps because the teleporter destination offers less certain cover since it's been reduced from a UAC tech shack to a triangular colonnade that eerily resembles the one seen in the southeast yard. ...is this lowkey a time travel gimmick???

The finish is an interesting decision. All of the massed monsters of SP_DN01 are reduced to seventeen imps. Not very daunting--at all--but there's a three-skeleton surprise in the exit room. That's just enough to not feel trivial to me. I appreciate the stripped-down encounter design overhaul. The masses of low-but still-threatening zombies in the atrium are reduced to four pairs of shotgun guys, dangerous to ignore but less tedious to take down. I think that the most unwelcome surprise of the entire experience is the doubled hallways that to and away from the eastern yard. It's an interesting spatial inversion of the sluice area, which has opposing elevated areas with a low, walled-in yard between them. Originally, the wall that connects the north hallway to the south would descend upon grabbing the key, setting up an organic encounter with specters. Espi's recontextualization has the walls divided by a switch-activated descending lift that sports three chaingunners. I was surprised, to say the least, but I survived.

Linna is an interesting case study in tracing Repo's work from his debut to Suspended in Dusk and parts beyond. Espi's architectural embellishments and encounter overhauls have elevated Deadnail's level to a more lighthearted and unique play. If you want to shoot some monsters up in green marble corridors and want to do a fair bit of island hopping while dodging red (and green) fireballs, then give Linna a try.

ESPI'S LINNAMENT

APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE COME TO A HEAD