Game:

Doom II: Hell on Earth (1994)

Category:

Vlog

Duration: 23:53

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3

Welcome back for some more Doomy goodness, folks. Today we're going to check out a favorite of mine called Intergalactic Xenology Trilogy, a 16-level Boom-compatible collection of maps made by Dreadopp and Lord_Z. Intergalactic Xenology Trilogy (which I'll occasionally call IXT from now on for brevity) is actually a compilation of three episodic collaborations between the aforementioned creators that uses the texture pack of skillsaw's magisterial megawad Ancient Aliens. When they were released on their own, the first two episodes of IXT were runners-up at the 2020 and 2021 Cacowards respectively, so we know from the start that we're in for a real treat. Let's see what those pesky aliens are up to now!

Basic info
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IWAD: doom2.wad
Difficulty: Ultra-Violence (pistol start)
Map author: Dreadopp
Music: "Sleep" by Jimmy
Port: DSDA-Doom 0.27.5
Compatibility level: 9 (Boom v 2.02)
QoL mods: Colored Blood, Ultrawide Statusbar (from Ancient Aliens)
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Additional notes
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Things are quickly coming to a head in our trippy adventure, with 'Starlight Crossroads' being an extended preamble to the finale. It serves its function very well as a non-linear gauntlet map where the basic flow is doing "normal" combat in three different environments before a big fight for control of the keycards. Its open nature plus Dreadopp's decision to hide 3 of the 4 secrets behind colored doors means that the level has a lot of replayability and strategic depth behind it, encouraging you to think about the most optimal and trouble-free pathing. I think yellow should be tackled first if you're willing to go through a pretty uncomfortable revenant lock-in because it nets you the plasma gun (and a bit later, a hidden berserk pack) in exchange for a very cheeseable imp + hell knight ambush. In my practice run I encountered a lot of trouble by going red second before I realized that it's much better to do blue after yellow in order to get a secret supercharge and to have access to a very useful secret BFG for the tricky revenant horde assault at red. Yellow to blue to red sounds right to me. That being said, I totally understand that some players would like to get the bad out of the way as soon as possible, and the red keycard battle is definitely doable with the RL + plasma gun combo only. One thing to note is that in 'Starlight Crossroads', not all ammo is created equally - you'll want to save up on cells as much as you can and stick to something like the chaingun for the fodder. I wouldn't go as far as saying that ammunition is in short supply, but good management will get you very far and will avoid headaches. Props to Jimmy for his excellent "Sleep", a soundtrack that fits nicely with the general vibe. All in all, a lovely map.

Secret 1: 6:55

Secret 2: 11:42

Secret 3: 19:06

Secret 4: 22:36

Links
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WAD:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/Ports/megawads/dzintxnt

QoL mods:

Colored Blood:

https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/118074-dsda-doom-source-port-v0243/?page=16

Ultrawide Statusbars:

https://github.com/NightFright2k19/doom_widehud

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