Tangerine Nightmare (TN.WAD)

The French Doom Community celebrated in 2024 with a huge win, finally pushing out a release candidate of their Necromantic Thirst megaWAD after years of development. They didn't get there by just chipping away at their mega-project, though. franckFRAG and WH-Wilou84 fostered a creative community through their 3 Heures d'Agonie speedmapping project, which got sequels in 3HA2 and 3HA3. This seemed to activate authors like Datacore, who has since become one of the most productive authors of their subset of the Doom diaspora. Tangerine Nightmare started as a Datacore-led project with an emphasis on an orange color scheme. At some point, and I can't exactly tell by reading the development thread, franckFRAG sort of organically became the lead. What started as a vanilla adventure became a (mostly) limit-removing episode for Doom II, finalized in early 2018, replacing MAP01-MAP10.

The plot: You aren't in heaven :(. No; you're in Hell. Actually, to be accurate, you never LEFT Hell. You were battling it out with ultimate evil and passed out or died or something and you wake up to some coffins with only a fleeting recollection of your last battle. Unfortunately, your superhuman antics did not get your soul a ticket out. It seems that fighting through Hell only gets you DEEPER into Hell. Maybe the angels figured that it wouldn't pay to keep a good thing from going. Anyway, you're not in the average, every day Hell. This is ADVANCED Hell. It's bright orange, incredibly hot, and dry. If you've played Swift Death then you may remember a certain inverted black pyramid named Itanimulli that subjected the player to unspeakable, eternal torment. It's a reoccurring motif throughout the set, which makes me wonder whether this is sort of the hero of SWIDEATH pursuing Itanimulli to lay waste to his final, physical form. A DooMed space marine can dream, though... in Tangerine Nightmares.

The original scope of the project was vanilla levels without any zombies and steering clear of any cell ammo weapons. The episode wandered from Datacore's original conception, maybe because people just had too much fun using franckFRAG's gorgeous textures to make castles and crypts that had never before been seen in any Doom. Datacore's original, vanilla compositions were punched up by franckFRAG and WH-Wilou84 and make for a pleasant introduction into Tangerine Nightmare's aesthetic in MAP01-MAP03: "Sombre Venue", "Molten Desolation", and "Rain of Embers". There are some uncomfortable ambushes but I think that these early levels generally play as Doom II SSG-fed soul food for folks who don't mind, say, an arch-vile sneakily resurrecting monsters at the other end of a curved hallway. On occasion.

In the context of the rest of the PWAD, these opening levels are disarming. Datacore's layouts getting embellished by Livolant and Huber leads to a sort of unified character that abruptly changes with the Jambon/Livolant "Bile Noire" (MAP04). The noxious aquifer feels like a "Dark Dome"-lite of Alien Vendetta fame in its player exposure, resulting in appreciably different combat styling. Yugiboy85's "Orange Juice" (MAP05) follows, which is the closest that any of the subsequent levels get to the action level of Datacore's maps. Which isn't to say that it's anywhere near as easy. I think that its step up in difficulty is great, with some fun lock in fights over its linear castle adventure. It also feels more married to its limit-removing architecture, as opposed to the refurbished vanilla levels. Not that I'm hating on Datacore; there's just a certain sense of spectacle in the subsequent levels that isn't really achieved in the opening trio outside of establishing outdoor scenery.

I kind of expected JCD to show out with something slaughter-ish and "The Forgotten Land" (MAP06) delivers. It's great to have a level that is more into navigating Tangerine Nightmare's topography and while it's more serviceable than showy, its combat stylings are greatly appreciated. I was more caught off-guard by Roofi's "Goetia" (MAP07), a glorious, sprawling masterpiece that reminds me of some my favorite parts of Eternal Doom. It's an explore at your own pace underground wonderland that occasionally dips into slaughter encounters, particularly toward the end. It has a lot of secrets, including a side quest to obtain the BFG that requires that you snuff out the candles of all the mancubi, some of whom are hidden.

"Pandemonium" (MAP08) is an appropriate enough boss shooter level. I love the battle in the cathedral that starts it. The BFG-fueled rampage up the crater's perimeter to the keep was also kind of fun. The brawl in the courtyard with the final teleporter is a bit much, but if I had to compare it to Huber's "Umbreion Nils" (MAP10), then pretty much the ENTIRETY of this PWAD's normal levels would pretty tame. I appreciate that the team stuffed this into the secret slot, coming after the cute credits level (MAP09), because it's brutal. I would have loved to see Huber and franckFRAG do something with these textures on the same order as, say, WH's "Crucifix Held Close" from Community Chest 4 (MAP28) or Livolant's Muskadet, but I appreciate the experience. I could be knocking off my slaughter-rust in decidedly uglier and unpleasant ways, too.

As far as aesthetics go, Tangerine Nightmare is a definite success. The only other orange-themed levels that I've played that I can think of offhand consist of Skillsaw's Hell levels in Vanguard (MAP11 & MAP12) and Valiant's E4 (Thou Art Annihilation) as well as Pavera and jmickle's "Compactor" from Mutiny (MAP08). (And, I can't believe I'm saying this, Kurt Maples's Sin City). TN doesn't really resemble any of these things. Skillsaw's orange is more of a highlight, excepting the gleefully garish "Infernal Chasm", with the predominant textures being tan and dark metal (or skintek in those void levels). "Compactor" and to a lesser extent the rest of Mutiny has orange, but it's more rusted metal textures that add to the grungy feel as highlights and not, well, orange as its base.

Which is what Tangerine Nightmare does; it's orange first and then tan and ash-grey rocks, bricks, and metal as highlights. It's great that the set opens up with a leisurely stroll through the uniquely-schemed aesthetic of naturalistic landscaping. An invention of franckFRAG's, I believe, it sells the power of the orange before you ever step foot into the ash-grey and black gatehouse. Is that flowing liquid that looks like the faces of souls here specifically for this map? That's incredible! When you finally see predominantly dark structures again, in Yugiboy85's MAP05, it's with the sheer depth that comes from having so many orange textures to use as highlights. This helps them feel more like "real" spaces and less like the abstract playing fields of, say, Stardate 20X6. Not that don't love the Ribbiks color highlight aesthetic!

I may actually have been slightly disappointed after seeing the flesh brick textures and other guts in the first three levels since I was sort of expecting to see TN develop its own peculiar brand of organic Hell. I was wrong, of course, and to be honest I think that it's more important that Tangerine Nightmare stand as an excellent proof that it doesn't matter that nothing rhymes with orange. The color as a theme is more than capable of standing on its own. I mean, when juxtaposed with some more Chthonian tones. I guess that it's hard for the orange to shine garishly when it tends to darken to something closer to brown or grey in the more ambient lighting when you're not standing close to it. I think that this is a good thing, by the way.

Another thing that helps the aesthetic a bit of a makeover for the cast. The imp, lost soul, revenant, pain elemental, arch-vile, and Cyberdemon are still the same, but everyone else has gotten new sprites, even if some are "just" recolors. Moving the bright pink demon to blood red and shiny red cacodemon to ash-and-orange is a great way to tone down Doom's more colorful monsters. The arachnotron and mancubus have been replaced with the aracknights and corpulents of Amuscaria's Hell-Forged to cut down on the sci-fi undertones. The zombies have gotten a similarly-spirited makeover, putting an ominous cloak on the riflemen and some badass, Hexen-looking armor on the shotgun guys. Not to be outdone, the Baron gets a pair of wings to further differentiate him from his good friend, the Hell knight.

TN is wicked cool. Like, I could have easily gone for a megaWAD with most of this material, especially if it was tuned like MAP01-MAP07, but I don't think that wishing has ever caused maps to get made. If they did, then I would have wished up, like, a dozen sequels to Eternal Doom III ages ago. Instead, I have to wait for pleasant surprises like "Goetia". I highly recommend Tangerine Nightmare, but you may want to give MAP10 a miss, at least on UV. Here's hoping for Tangerine Nightmare 2: Orange You Glad I Didn't Say Necromantic Thirst II.

TANGERINE NIGHTMARE

by various authors

Sombre Venue	MAP01
by Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux and Franck "franckFRAG" Livolant
In some ways it is deeply terrifying playing a PWAD by the French Doom community because my imagination has been so indelibly stamped with Plutonic and slaughter visions. Imagine my surprise with this understated, gorgeous slice of amber Hell backed by the dulcet tones of Mark Klem's music! This is a cool orange and brown landscape with a small, entrenched outpost. The authors instill an early sense of danger without immediately throwing monsters at the player by forcing you to traverse the bright orange lava on several occasions. This is a nice way of easing you into things. Similarly, your first encounter with revenants gives you a bit of dodging room to dance, even if you're required to use the shotgun against them. I appreciate that my natural inclinations to goat around were rewarded with a trip to some of the world-building backdrops in the map, including a sneak peak at what I assume is Datacore's calling card. franckFRAG's signature is a little more obvious, even if it is embedded in the ceiling.

MAP02	Molten Desolation
by Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux and William "WH-Wilou84" Huber
	Now this is a bit more what I was expecting. This level takes place in the subterranean portions of tangerine Hell, brawling through caverns and catacombs. I love the aesthetic; the new flesh textures have busted up pretty much all of the expectations that I had of "orange Hell them". Which, I admit, is almost entirely based on Skillsaw's Vanguard and Valiant. This is a very punchy SSG-centric level with big, meaty monsters showing out in multiples of two, like Hell knights crammed together like bouncers, space-hogging cacodemons, or mancubi spreading their bulk across entire hallways and coming at you like a living wall. The fight that sticks out the most in my mind is the switch surprise in the northwestern area. The Hell knights stick out as an immediate threat, so if you're too focused on that then you might not pick up on the severity of the sounds of monsters individually awakening while you slug it out. Yeah, that arch-vile got me. The second one was kind of cute, though, in a totally ineffectual "aww, he thinks he's gonna surprise me" kind of way. I really like the look of the southeast area with its flesh-like brick walls (or are they brick-like flesh walls?) and the red jelly glowing recesses. It looks wicked cool. Whenever I see something like this I get flashbacks to STRAIN's MAP28, and that's a good thing.

Rain of Embers	MAP03
by Maxime "Datacore" Bisiaux, William "WH-Wilou84" Huber, and Franck "franckFRAG" Livolant
Another badass jaunt through the ochre citadel. This one is centered upon a large chamber with a green key on a lava fountain. You'll be fighting through and all around it before you can leave with the skull key. I like the crypt-like motif that the "castles" have so far, as though you are unsealing ancient ruins with sleeping evils. I got this pretty strongly when accessing the northernmost annex and its large squad of imps and revenants but there are also plenty of times where demons and other things boil out of the openings. Like the previous map, it's very SSG-centric. You won't be hurting for shell ammo; I had 98 on my exit. If it were just demons and cacos and the like then we would be very much in the realm of Doom II comfort food for, err, less-skilled players. The rocket launcher is a fairly early acquisition, which together alongside the sneaky arch-vile attack in MAP02 ought to get the hair on the back of your neck up. I realize that this is sort of the point, but this level is VERY orange, so much so that the tan side-areas stuck out as visual treats. These would be the secret cave with the berserk pack and flowing torch as well as the cool tan imp / revenant holding pens with the dark metal banding. The finish's silhouetted crosses  behind the lava-flooded battlements are a great penultimate visual, though.

MAP04	Bile Noire
by Jean "Jambon" Bon and Franck "franckFRAG" Livolant
	I hesitate to say that the past three levels were a warmup because I have no idea how much farther off the beaten path the FDC is about to take me. Thankfully, this is kind of familiar territory. Bon and Livolant have concocted a wonderful killing ground in something resembling a vast, underground sewer. Think colonnades, steps out of muck, and tiered platforms. Oh, and TONS of monsters. At least, it feels that way at the opening. This is closer to one of those later Hell Revealed / Alien Vendetta levels in that, when you start, you're in hostile territory and it takes a good bit of effort in order to find / carve out a safe space. Most of the higher ground is occupied by monsters and while it isn't nearly as severe as, say, "Dark Dome", it's still pretty daunting. Part of this is because a good portion of the PWAD's action is accomplished with the regular shotgun. This makes the action feel significantly less punchy, at least until you find the SSG. I got lost here really bad because my eyes glazed over after accessing the red key chamber, not realizing that the way to the rocket launcher platform had opened. Other than that, it wasn't terrible to explore. I really liked the minor cacodemon swarm at the soulsphere tower and the slaughter-style monster closet guarding the green key. Also, I love the Itanimulli pillars overlooking the start. It's nice to see that French Bill Cypher is becoming its own sort of motif.

Orange Juice	MAP05
by "Yugiboy85"
"Orange Juice" is a bit of a return to the combat stylings of MAP02 and MAP03 but maintaining a harder edge on the pitched ambushes. There are three big teleport-fueled brawls that I remember: the lock-in near the middle of the map with imps and pain elementals; the demon mosh pit in the eastern outdoor annex; and the big end-of-level (but pre-Cyberdemon) shootout. I LOVED these fights! The player pressure was pretty heavy for me but I managed to scrape past the first two without suffering a death. I feel pretty lucky about the demon / arachnotron ambush since I was hunkered down in the arach-alcove. As tough as it can be, I'm glad that the player is more or less hustled along and locked into a linear path. This is a gorgeous level that, while orange, doesn't feel overwhelmingly so. Dark grey-black stone with orange highlights is a great look. I'm curious as to what Yugiboy would have done with the flesh-themed textures but I've got to admire what was accomplished through the two-tone scheme. The spiral staircases, the building facade as seen from the easternmost spot, and the northern breezeway by which you access the early rocket launcher secret are some of my favorite bits of architecture thus far. The exit taking the early outdoor staircase and turning it into a slope deeper into the juice is a great ending touch.

MAP06	The Forgotten Land
by Jean-Charles "JCD" Dorne
	JCD gives us a better idea of the topography of this slice of Hell in the appropriately-named "Forgotten Land". The author's architecture and landscaping isn't perhaps as ornate as the previous levels but its functionality emphasizes its primary point. Generally speaking, the layouts won't get in your way as you blast through JCD's slaughter packs. The floorspace is generally flat and clean to facilitate dancing through demons and other nastier things. The opening sort of lulls you into thinking that maybe you're in for an epic, slower-paced adventure map with its cliff imps and zombies but it's just a warm-up. Two of the biggest fights in this set consist of pounding rockets into bulky packs of foes, one of the primary components of said hordes being revenants. It isn't quite as simple as that, either, as I ran out of explosives and mopped up with the SSG in both encounters. These are the sort of encounters where you may have to die at least once in order to figure out where the arch-viles are and then plot appropriately, like the ambush after flipping the switch behind the blue key door. For some reason I had a really hard time with the platforming segment that gets you from the west to the east side, the one that you access the plasma gun from. I also really appreciate the "secret" invul sphere for the second phase of the blue key area; I don't know how I would have survived that freakin' crowd of monsters without it! Also, the final area isn't maybe the hardest of the encounters but it's certainly a wicked-cool arena. The circular race-track and teleporting imps give me faint Sunlust "Go Fuck Yourself" vibes, like a pale echo, but this is MUCH nicer to the player.

Goetia	MAP07
by "Roofi"
If you had told me that Tangerine Nightmare had something like Eternal Doom in it, then, well, I would have been even more stoked to play it! Well, maybe not ED's combat, specifically. Maybe if Eternal Doom was toting a bat with nails in it. Most of the ETERNAL vibes come from the wicked cool floating text that hints at powerful secrets but there's one particular area, the eastern annex that extends out into oblivion, that gives me Chris Couleur "Rainbow Bridge" (MAP24) vibes. I guess it's the ruined cityscape that straddles the walkway, and especially the mancubi bunker. "Goetia" is a huge level and I had a ton of fun exploring it. Every time I had an impulse to go catting around and leaping to traditionally difficult places I was rewarded. One of these dumped me onto the scarlet key quite awhile before I found the stairs to the basement, where I think it probably would have been required. It took me a long time to figure out why there were mancubi tucked into various secrets, but it was worth it! How else will you get access to the arachnotron dimension? And unlock the BFG 9000?? As hinted at earlier, "Goetia" is a punchy level. Granted, a good portion of the monsters are tied up in the finale and its four sequential teleporter waves, but the demons are more spread out than you might think. You won't feel that way when you have an arch-vile on a ledge behind you with a wall of Barons approaching around the corner, though. Or cacodemons in your face with a wall of Barons approaching around the corner. The opening is a bit of a hornet's nest as you work about carving out safe spaces. I think that the bigger danger, though, is in forgetting what monsters (like revenants in high places) are still alive. The finale is about as peak slaughter as Roofi gets. The Chekov's supply platforms around the central structure each lower to reveal a switch. Flipping one teleports in two packs of monsters, at least one side being goosed with a couple of arch-viles. Having the BFG really helps as you can quickly zerg down the archies and then tackle the remaining monsters at more or less your own pace. I don't think that they're lock-in fights, either, so you have a bit of freedom in establishing when and where you want to stand your ground.

MAP08	Pandemonium
by Franck "franckFRAG" Livolant
	This is a gorgeous, festering sore in orange Hell. The opening zombie/demon BFG slaughter--well, if you found the secret BFG--is a bit of light fun before you hit the boss spawner. The actual show is a huge crater with a Sauron-like tower in the middle of it. The initial approach seems quiet but the first gunshot awakens a boss shooter. To be honest, apart from maybe stuff uncomfortably sneaking up behind you, or maybe an unlucky arch-vile spawn, the IoS isn't really what I'd worry about. You can partly treat this as a BFG zerg--there's more than enough ammo for it--but your progress is checked at several points by slow lifts that are backed by cadres of Hell nobles. These keep you from just rushing the exit. Plus, the forces entrenched in front of the final teleporter are particularly formidable. You don't actually have to kill everything in order to press the three buttons that unlock the final gate, but there's a lot of risk between the two Cyberdemons standing almost on top of them and the arch-vile overseers.

Credits	MAP09
by Jean-Charles "JCD" Dorne and "Roofi"
No monsters, just an atmospheric walk through Tangerine topography with the occasional author shrine (and one to absent friends...). I think that this is really cute; I kind of wish that more team projects ended this way. ...Except it doesn't really end this way, does it? Not if you find the secret exit. [WH]? And a secret map slot? I'm having PRCP flashbacks...

MAP10	Umbreion Nils
by William "WH-Wilou84" Huber
	According to Google translate, this is a latin phrase that can translate to "no shade". Or, well, it's "Nils", so perhaps "No Shadows". Maybe it could also loosely translate to something like "Darkness Zero", which would be another pretty cool title. Not "Zero Darkness", though. I'm trying to figure out how "no shade" works within the context of this level and about the closest I can get, beyond it sounding cool, is the idea that there is nothing to cast a shadow, e.g. no cover. This is a brutally difficult level, definitely the hardest that I've played in a long time. It's a bonus level, though, so it's not like it's sitting like a gross hulk in the middle of a megaWAD. It all comes down to three major encounters. I'm not counting the first teleport ambush in the atrium with the blue key door. That's babytown frolics. No; you have your pick of two different arena fights before the big enchilada. To the west, a "C"-shaped battleground with a circumscribed toxic shadow. Your first shock is a squad of arch-viles perched at the north end of the "C". Some of them are boxed in with monster-blocking lines, but a handful of them aren't. When you start the fight, some demons start teleporting in from the other end. The strength of the beasties arriving mounts as you pump rocket after rocket into the seemingly interminable hordes. I guess that the rad suits are meant to tip you off that you're meant to do some crowd surfing to stir up infighting over the course of the battle. To the east, an uber-claustrophobic chamber where you have--again--monsters teleporting in on one end and entrenched arch-viles on the other. I feel like I had the best handle on this fight. The key for me was to manage the crowd on the right while dividing rockets between the viles to slay them as quickly as possible (which will be replaced two times before being disarmed) and the teleporter front while being mindful of a mancubus who serves as a spoiler for anyone maximizing their positioning between the two fronts. Once you get the far archie disarmed, you can start using his platform for cover and shift your positioning. Apparently the author did not intend for the player to slay the arch-viles until after the teleporter wave had been fought off. Oh well! To the north, an absolute Hell with a Ribbiks-like glowing revenant alcove, a neverending geyser of cacodemons and pain elementals that effortlessly crowd out the playing area, and two Cyberdemons. One on the floor, and one on the high ground. This is a nightmare and players who are vastly more skilled than I, while successfully completing it in a single segment, have pointed out where its difficulties lie. It seems that a big part of this is in the reliability of Cyberdemon infighting. My upper tier Cybie seemed to want to follow me back into the switch alcove, so it didn't ever get to become the safehouse that I've seen described. Even after you get everything cleared out, there's one last jab at the player, a squad of arch-viles rushing into the corpse-laden breach. Did I mention that, amidst all this chaos, your strongest weapon is a rocket launcher with the combat shotgun mainly used for utility cleaning when you feel a bit safer? Like, I appreciate this and I actually loved the east and to a lesser extent west battles, but I don't think that I'll ever play this level again, at least on UV.