Doom 2: Speed of Doom - Map 15: Descent to Core (UV Max)

Speed of Doom is a 2010 WAD comprised of 33 maps made entirely by Darkwave0000 and Joshy. Darkwave0000 is a somewhat mysterious, but deeply influential character in the Doom scene, and only really pops up when he contributes to the French Doom Community WADs (like the 3HA series and 180 MPV).
Joshy on the other hand has had a pretty long career since SOD. Having contributed to big projects like BTSX 2, Community Chest 4, and Ancient Aliens, being the project lead for both Plutonia Revisited WADs, and having his own 32 map WAD in Resurgence, Joshy’s impact on the Doom community can’t go unnoticed.
Both mappers have pretty distinct styles, and the fact that they alternate maps in Speed of Doom (Darkwave handles even # maps, Joshy handles odd # ones, besides the secret maps) highlights these differences even more.
In general, Speed of Doom combines influences from many of the most popular and influential WADs from the early 2000s. Scythe/Scythe 2, Alien Vendetta, Hell Revealed, and others can be seen in Speed of Doom, and it coalesces to form an entirely unique and influential mapping style in its own right. There’s a reason why so many modern mappers look to Darkwave and Joshy’s masterpiece for inspiration. Speed of Doom is incredibly fun, bloody, violent, and full of intense combat and heavily atmospheric environments.
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IWAD: Doom 2
Port: DSDA-doom 28.0
Compatibility: Boom (comp level 9)
Mapper(s): Joshy
MIDI: stewboy - wash
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Speed of Doom: www.doomworld....
DSDA-doom: www.doomworld....
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Descent to Core brings us back to a more Hell Revealed style construction. Right away, you’re met with an army of Arachnotrons and an assortment of other demons, which sets the tone for the rest of the map. Spiders will constantly be present in this map, big and small. The most deadly Spider in the map is definitely that pesky Mastermind, who has a nasty angle on a very solid chunk of the map.
The mostly mid-tier enemies throughout are pretty dangerous, and the hitscanners interspersed among them add more fuel to that fire. Joshy also continues to completely choke rooms with heavy-duty demons so that you have no choice but to carve through them one by one. Take the rightmost area, for example. The Mancubi are pretty awkward to deal with on those stairs, and the Arch Vile is a constant reminder that you need to be aware of your position at all times.
I got to say, I’m not much of a fan of the way you access the secret levels. I feel like it just requires too much RNG and can get really annoying after a while.
The finale is also something to mention, with that Cyberdemon blocking your way. I kind of ran out of the relevant ammo needed to kill both the Mastermind and the Cyberdemon, so I tried inciting some infighting, but it didn’t really work. You can at least use that for a chance to hit the switch and preemptively deal with the Arch Vile and Chaingunner at the exit. Overall, this is a good map that continues to build on Joshy’s core mapping principles.