SIGIL II - E6M1: Cursed Darkness (Ultra-Violence 100%)

[@dewsey]

You're right that this map is very hard to properly unwind, and the cyb is a rude addition making UV extra punishing. However you did not do all the unwinding and disentangling! For example, the BA+zerk secret is actually the first of the 30s-door-close secrets, except it has a mechanism to open it later, like you did. If you don't bother with cleaning up the start area and just wing it past the cyb, you can eat up all the goodies on your first visit to the cemetary. As for the tediously slow snake path, have you considered ignoring the evil eyes in the room and just jumping down? :) Also this is a bit of a double edged sword exploit, but technically the sky crusher (which I personally adore, it is an abstract kind of hell after all) can be activated early, which means you can get some extra crushes on the cyb while doing other stuff. Anyway I'm glad you enjoyed the Barrels of Convenience!

[@guotyr2502]

ACKTUALLY

[@hubbardfan]

Especially after you get the rad suit go to the secret room and then go do the snake floors by jumping down haha if you so chose. Romero said in making of videos that came with the Big Box versions... he wanted it to be hard enough that he would need to make use save points while playing the ultra violent version rather than just run straight through the level... also the TM on the secret room he did for fun as a joke lol...

[@HmmHmm-ve7ou]

Love how after first Sigil Romero realized that Doom players got much better nowadays, so he can go crazy with his maps

[@11-AR-11]

Romero is such a stand up dude for choosing to still be part of the doom community. Wish Carmack would take a break from building time machines or whatever and check in from time to time.

[@fisk0]

what if he's making a machine to travel back to 1993 to add all the 30 years of Doom additions to the original launch of the game though?

[@PenguinDT]

You never know. In the interview stream with Romero, Carmack did mention that despite him not being a nostalgic by nature, he loved being back at QuakeCon and even prodded Romero to join him next year. And he escaped the evil android alien Zuckerberg, so he is free to do whatever he pleases now.

[@Lance14470]

Binding in between the Post apocalyptic reality we all live in John c. Carmack

[@CatsOverdrive]

Despite proclaiming to be the most pragmatic and unsentimental in the team, John Carmack is the one guy in the group that made the Doom community a thing. And i'm not just talking about the quality of the game and the multiplayer. I'm talking about how he's the guy in the team that actually pursued the idea of making games technology accessible to everyone. Say what you want about his leadership skills, but his move on releasing his previous game engine on GNU GPL whenever he created a new one, basically making them free and accessible for use and study for everyone. Later becoming more involved in making his games more accessible to modding (releasing mapping tools, quake 3 with the shader scripts, doom 3 with it's interface scripts and built in level editor, accessible through console commands! And still breaks my heart that no one dove into RAGE SDK). Guy did that during his tenure, much to the opposition of some of the people in the team(there is no profit, potential for rivals to study and reuse their technology, its just not a good business practice). He did so out of his personal frustration of growing up and not having the tools and the resources to learn quickly. And, as he succinctly stated on one of his old interviews that stuck with me; Games could not only be a static, authored environment for the player to temporarily inhabit, but a canvass to allow THEIR creativity. Those are pretty much the reason why I still play and mod quake 3 today. Most people have an "Einstein with his tongue out" poster. I have "Jonn Carmack with an awkward smile while wearing his occulus prototype" poster.

[@kelleroid]

​@@CatsOverdrivehonorable mention to "John Carmack at his giant CRT coding in the early 90's" image

[@ObnoxiusBrat]

Romero still has his unique style despite the existence of countless mappers. I really like how Sigil looks.

[@xiiixlllvlllxiiix]

Hellish theme maps are my favorite, sigil is a masterpiece

[@AB0BA_69]

The dark and oppressive nature of the maps is an acquired taste. I'm not always in the mood for a Sigil map, but when I am, it's perfect 😊

[@williamsmith666]

Thing is, said countless mappers aren't on Jamie Romeo's level. Almost all their work is overwrought crap with no finesse or class; huge overdone maps with five thousand cyberdemons or attempts to make Doom into something it's not are both incredibly hacky. A lot of us just want good stages

[@AB0BA_69]

@@williamsmith666 I just want DoomCute =3

[@fmsyntheses]

I personally prefer the tech base stuff, but the aesthetic is done well.

[@proosee]

I can't imagine how Romero must feel right now knowing that game he created is still loved and played by so many people. He appreciate us so much he even put a cyberdemon in first map!

[@296801]

There's a Cyber-Demon on every level on UV.

[@CatsOverdrive]

I'm now laughing at the thought that, cyberdemons are a map author's way of showing affection and appreciation to players. The more cyberdemons is there on a map, the more the players feel loved.

[@FlyInTheLotion]

I love Romero's tight resource management, makes it spicy in an exciting way, without flooding you with high-tier enemies.

[@proosee]

Yeah, Romero has talent to make true survival horror out of Doom.

[@Vytaan]

Yeah, SIGIL 2! Glad to see you play this :D I think the point of the two pinkies at 2:05 is so you have enough time to hear the footsteps of the nearby cyberdemon during the blind run and don't rush to the suddenly very dangerous ledge. Or at least, that's what it feels like to me.

[@Dollar_Store_Cacodemon]

Sigitaan, when? 😜

[@decino]

I think they're there to block you when trying to rush for the optional 30-second door secret.

[@jorgebohyn]

⁠​⁠Yes exactly. It’s what I do to get the secret Megaarmor and Berserk early on and those Pinkies are REALLY good at blocking your path lol.

[@AB0BA_69]

@@decinoHey Decino, back in the "Explosions" analysis video you floated the idea of doing an analysis on Line of Sight in Doom. I know you have a lot going on right now. Just mentioning this in hopes that this video idea is still somewhere on your video idea list, that's all :)

[@Squishenstein]

“30 years old. Officially a Boomer.” Me at 28.. hold on just a fucking minute. 😭

[@JimmyTheBear]

Baby boomers born in the 40s. The guy is felxing his knowledge on dumb American fortnite kid speak.

[@Gecti]

You still have time! Don’t waste your 20s! The moment you turn 30 you become the old guy in the club making everyone uncomfortable!

[@ObnoxiusBrat]

F

[@KingLich451]

​@@Gecti😢

[@onlyusernameleft2]

Haha I played Commander Keen as a kid I'm a senior citizen

[@Veezyjung]

It's a bit heartwarming so see that Romero's still got it after all those years. Sigil and Sigil 2 are proof of that.

[@dnvunderj]

im on E6M5 and i gotta say it's really fun. my dumbass thought i had to use zdoom for me to play this with a smooth framerate but it actually works really well

[@Ank502]

I watched this map be built from the ground up. Glad to see you playing it, Decino.

[@MrCantStopTheRobot]

Did you catch Romero commenting on the Sigil2 logo room with the TM? I only caught it back when it was still a single pentagram... very out of the loop.

[@summersmashhit9177]

The box art for Sigil 2 is peak death metal. Clandestine, Like an Ever Flowing Stream, The Tomb Awaits... love it.

[@eduardodiaz9942]

Eviternity sequel, and Sigil sequel. Today's been a good day to be a Doom fan.

[@mja2317]

Finished it today. Beautifully designed and kicked my ass next way til Sunday. Can't ask for more than that. Romero's still got it. Surprised you're playing the MIDI version but it's cool to check it out because I played through with the THORR soundtrack.

[@decino]

MIDIs always fit Doom better in my opinion.

[@hubbardfan]

Yeah I mean I definitely get that... but... playing this with thorr give doom eternal vibes@@decino

[@Gecti]

I struggle with episodes 3 and 4, so i don’t know how you play these and harder so easily. My hat is off to you pumpkin man!

[@MrEW1985]

John Romero is beyond awesome. Producing maps for a game that is literally from the last millennium.

[@RetroGamingWithEdgarRivera]

Yeah 30 years of good old doom, I still can't believe it. Anyway I been waiting for the release of Sigil 2 and now that it's out in the wild, this going to be interesting to watch.

[@KonradGM]

Also for Sigil2 he streamed some of it, and main rule behind each level was that it had to be hard enough that he had to save - scum to beat it on UV. Watching some of those levels being made were fun, especially first one since... let's just say crushing him wasn't the original idea xd

[@AvroxTZ]

I had missed that this came out already, cool to see you play it :)

[@TheBrassDancer]

Been looking forward to seeing this! Romero's done a fine job. -Buckethead's- EDIT: THORR's soundtrack kicks ass as much as I thought it would.

[@decino]

THORR did the soundtrack, not Buckethead. Jimmy did the MIDIs.

[@TheBrassDancer]

@@decino My mistake, thanks for correcting me. Not entirely sure, in which case, I got the idea that Buckethead was responsible for the soundtrack. Could have sworn Romero mentioned something about it on one of his streams?

[@decino]

I think that was initially the plan but I can imagine Buckethead being difficult to work with.

[@KonradGM]

@@TheBrassDancer i only remember him mentionig that he didn't went ith buckethead becasue he wanted buckethead to be sigil, and sigil 2 to be different, though maybe it was evolving story

[@Ben_of_Langley]

Got this wad Today myself as well as eviternity two played this first level of sigil two got my Butt kicked and then started eviternity two which I'm currently up to the first secret level and so far both Wads have been absolutely brilliant so looking forward to seeing your thoughts on sigil two and I would hope maybe in the future maybe some eviternity two but anyway as always Cheers for the upload decino

[@RevolverRez]

Happy Birthday Doom! With Sigil 2 and Eviternity 2 its proven to be one hell of an anniversary!

[@RevanKnight56]

Getting Heretic E4M1 flashbacks with this map! John Romero sure knows how to be difficult.

[@GeminionRay]

I didn't know SIGIL 2 is already out! Thanks decino. Definitely will try out this WAD myself. Nothing like good old Romero's level design. I see he still loves Lost Souls lol

[@KonradGM]

AS for ending, i feel like this was Romero's way of encouraging more in fighting abuse in this mapset. Since on my first playtrough i ran past everything and let them infight cyberdemon, and he took care of it. Which is something i did a lot in Sigil 2.

[@XzMondayNightzX]

"I should play this blind over Christmas." *decino upload.* "Well I'' at least get all the secrets."

[@Flyxolydian]

Yeah, been through this one too. Romero really upped the ante in terms of difficulty, a couple of the maps are genuinely quite difficult! His mapping chops have improved a tonne, some of the later levels are really quite pretty.

[@SirChristian100]

Thank you John! I said it in his making of Sigil 2 streams - in 30 years we will watching those and enjoy the memories

[@Erik-bt3om]

The secret with the mega armor and beserk (8:20) is tagged to close 30 seconds after starting the map. If you can rush that secret, then it should only be necessary to run two laps around max. The secret with the 4 ammo boxes and green armor can also be accessed with a precise jump from the exit platform, to the right. (7:31) Stupidly high risk for sure.

[@skeith804]

Wait what? I just got that secret after jumping in the normal way and shooting the eye behind the Caco. Hm.

[@adiveler]

From the next map and forward, each level have one time-limited secret that you would need to get ASAP from the moment you start!

[@AdamChristensen]

Yes!!! I was hoping you'd be reviewing this soon. Happy birthday Doom! 🥳❤️🎂

[@matthewgagnon9426]

The ™ is there because hell is lawyers.

[@TedKennedyX]

I agree with your semtiments about this map on Uv. Fun and I'll always accept a challenge from Romero, but could use a pass-through. That mob of enemies at the final door get even more pointless when you notice that monster-blocking linedef at the entrance after the elevator. And I still haven't had a run yet where the Cyber cooperates with the crusher.

[@adinocc2042]

It is cool to have some new Doom maps from Romero to play. Hope the WAD get's a little better as it goes on

[@ZenSolipsist]

Watching John Romero stream building this live has been a real treat too 🧡☺️ the love is alive and well

[@Jim_Owen]

I'm so excited for this wad, to play and to watch decino play! But I haven't played it yet so I have to wait to watch this... which is a challenge for me

[@blunt_master]

i missed out on the last special edition, not this time! the amount of times this wad has made me go "god damn it romero" is nothing short of what i expected lol. jimmy's done an incredible job as always too. very fun wad

[@UnknowableThen]

John Romero and Milo Casali are the only 2 mappers I can think of where I can play a WAD knowing nothing and immediately realize they made it. Their styles are so unique.

[@dreadwanderer]

The madman's doing it! Happy 30th!

[@charliebusby5428]

What an awesome map!!! Love the frantic vibe that is classic of the original games but with very visually pleasing layout and aesthetics. Thanks Romero

[@jqnbrz1746]

Aesthetic on Sigil wads its beautiful. And Romero its really good making difficult maps with doom 1 rules, love it!

[@BigPashPlays]

I’m glad you pointed out the TM on the Sigil logo in that secret, it tickled my funny bone good n proper when I saw that

[@BraveUlysses]

Nice run on the first mapcame here right after BMD finished his Stream of Sigil 2. Nice to see you doing it right after it came out

[@VolcanoPenguin]

Playing each map before I watch your playthrough, which is a first for me. This map caught me hooooooooooorribly off guard. I didn't get the berserk/mega armor secret or that last fire/blue secret OR THAT CRUSHER before I gunned down the cyberdemon. Made him take care of the two cacos and barons. I had to cheat to find those last two secrets. Mr Romero is starting this off with a bit of a gut punch. Can't wait for map 2.

[@tobinmusic]

I just finished the episode, it was awesome and excellent tunes by James!

[@Brentastrophe]

I only clicked and want to comment/upvote not to watch, but because I want to support you on this playthrough without spoiling anything for me. I wasn't into the mod side of doom when sigil 1 came out, but now I'm ready :D

[@alexandersmith6140]

I was getting antsy for consecutive Auger;Zenith updates there - though I imagine you have a lot happening in your personal life right now besides making comfortable video distractions for some X hundred thousand randos on the web, so, I've no right to be impatient. And then you drop this, and I'm like, yeah - OK, I totally get it, no grumbling about Auger;Zenith playthroughs from here. The A;Z mapset takes a dip in quality in the middle, so I'm not surprised if you're struggling to muster enthusiasm for it. I *am* keen, however, to see you play A;Z MAP17. I think that's a really cool map. While I'm leaving a comment, since you haven't uploaded the VoD of your Viewer Submission selection stream: you're missing nothing from Lost Civilization. The doomcute and level layouts are great work, but goddamn is the combat frustrating and pointless and sloppy. The best way to play that mapset, I reckon, is with a "kill monsters" console command at the start of every map. Then you just walk around, find the keys and secrets, and admire the views.

[@mauricio5868]

I think those pinkies before the teleporter are there to make rushing for the megaarmor secret more difficult. The secret door starts open and closes after 30 seconds, so if you want the goodies earlier, the pinkies placement makes sense. I went for it early because I didnt know the door would reopen by the end.

[@JohnVullo]

Same! I think it may be a bug? I dont know why it would open up later, or what even triggers it opening again.

[@mauricio5868]

@@JohnVullo probably to allow for 100% even if you take it slow. It would be frustrating to get to the end killing everything only to realize one secret is unobtainable.

[@lukebehrendsbro.]

Sorry for the late post here. This 1st map is hard enough as it is. This MIDI is good, but I like Thorr's better cause his was something else. I like it alot. Crushers can kill CyberDemon but I guess do it twice for CyberDemon to die, that's my guess. 🤔Romero is the best when it comes to troll maps hahaha!

[@TLNineSeven]

This is my first proper look at any Sigil 2 content. I tied playing this first level blind, UV, with no saves, it kicked my butt. xD I only ever got as far as the narrow path with the Imp and Shotguner cages. The lack of health especially is brutal. Definitely going to switch to going through the wad with saves. 😅 Nice work figuring this one out!

[@Samm0th]

Happy birthday to one of my favorites games of all time. Been addicted since my 6 years old.

[@Benetkabc2nd]

Hello! Amazing I was celebrating the DOOM Birthday same way :D

[@MondySpartan]

Romero wasn’t joking about hardcore classic DOOM punishment in Sigil II with the Cyberdemon being in the first map. Happy 30 years DOOM!

[@nonenothingnull]

YESSSSS HAPPY 30TH DOOM BOOMERDOOM ENERGIC CYBERLOO

[@Nob1ej0n]

Happy 30th, DOOM!! Yup, this was a hard one. The cyberdemon is hard, but he's definitely not the hardest part of this map. I died so many times from everything else, including the floors. And yeah, I did spend several minutes to get the cyber to stand under the crusher. I'm glad I at least played through it before watching. It helped me really appreciate your strats. This was a good run. And I appreciated your criticisms afterward. Good thoughts. I'm curious to see what, if anything, John changes in the next revision.

[@Olek54321]

wow, this is going to be a heck of an adventure :D

[@5hAwNf3rT1g]

Happy to see you play this (I’m playing it now as well) but I really wish we could have seen you do this blind. This wad is brutal.

[@decino]

This WAD blind is a horrible experience. It would not have been fun to watch.

[@Humongous_Pig_Benis]

Thanks for letting me know Sigil II was out! Here I go agaaaaainnnnn...

[@Markworth]

Can't wait to watch you complete this so I can feel inspired to spend an hour converting it to an episode for my GZDoom install only to get immediately destroyed and need cheats to beat a single level.

[@bannisray3683]

Happy Birthday Doom!🎉

[@johndoe7270]

Nice to see Romero try Doom Cute. I imagine he really appreciates that kinda stuff. Oh, and you know what else dropped? Eviternity 2. Happy birthday Doom!

[@agustinacho5345]

Finally Sigil 2!!. Happy 30th birthday to doom!!! 🥳🥳

[@ayjanu]

As for the Cacodemon in the "Sigil II" secret, I was there when John was putting it in, live. I don't exactly remember the details, but I think it was either a user suggestion, or he put it in because he thought it was fun/cool, or something like that. A lot of the more "atypical" design choices that John made, were because he thought they would be fun/cool - not everything has to always be practical.

[@Wourghk]

Si6il™ II® is lookin' good.

[@ElderDragonBrasil]

There is no issues on this map. You should do more infights in the final part and it easy to maintain the cyber in the crusher. Besides that, nice playthrough, Decino!

[@KonradGM]

I like sigil 2 but at the beggining i wasn't sure i was gonna like it. Biggest thing that threw me off is that it kinda required me to play diferently than i would normaly do, which means to rely a lot more on monsters infighting. One thing that i completely didn't like originally were timed secrets (which i think start after map 2?) where after starting map you have x amount of time to reach it, but it allowed for more fantic gameplay, so i actually kinda like it now.

[@chuckyb3211]

They gave us sigil 2 on the add ons for consoles and this map was brutal…I died 15 or so times just in the starting 2 rooms..but I got past it and just beat the first map in sigil 2…UV of course ..thanks for the videos !!

[@megaknight270]

I HAD NO IDEA SIGIL 2 WAS OUT LETS GOOOOOOO

[@Warioman765]

civvie was showing this off just yesterday, that roaming cyberdemon is quite the menace at first glance

[@ugandanknuckles3900]

I need to find this one. Sigil one was really good for such a contemporary release, very true to the original with added mapping knowledge. The use of shooting the buttons became in my mind almost a Romero staple.

[@gunsdf]

Thanks for the secrets ✌🏼

[@Silverflower351]

Happy doom anniversary decino, we all have been here since the beginning (I played doom in the 90s) so I guess we are a bunch of boomers 😅😅

[@Lvl31Gardevoir]

just started Sigil 2, and this map really kicked my ass! Learning it was fun and i got really close to UV-Maxing it... with saves lol

[@SiNNeD84]

I have played map e6m1and i totally agree with you, its a real hot start, the exit is a bit tough (but doable) the last 3 secrets was made i think to make it the 100% completionist a bit harder. But then again the map looks very good and a typical John Romero style. Nice playtrough Decino👍🏻

[@RoundWaveCrusher]

He's still got it! I really liked it.

[@iguana9173]

Just watched zdenda1990 playing this wad and bigmacdavis is doing a livestream on this. I knew you were going to be playing this wad too.

[@Khrada]

30 years, what a ride. With the release of SIGIL II and the stream with John Carmack, Romero is really spoiling us.

[@Skuttie]

Sigil 2 really is a massive increase in difficulty from 1

[@eldandraken4850]

Ciivie 11 having trouble with Sigil 2 UV Dadcino: 'hold my baby...'

[@darknoob1894]

30 years my i feel old lol. happy Anniversary doom . this first map is crazy hard looking 😅

[@lordwarcraft666]

A god of destruction (decino) playing a map from a god of creation (romero)... What a era to live

[@airunux8556]

30 years of slaying demons, WOO!

[@fellow_doomer]

really challenging. thats one way to start a wad

[@reigninoel]

I watched BMD's stream from the other day, to say this map is not very blind run friendly is a bit of an understatement.

[@meganice653]

You can punch the cyber trough the wall in the corridor where you jump on to the gravestone area, where he can't hit you :)

[@the_fatshark]

Maybe a nice idea to do a small analysis video about the maps, techniques, textures, difference to older DooM maps, music etc. Maps look good! Ammo starvation make it spicy 😅 and some badass MIDI bangers!

[@sempiternal_futility]

30 years of doom!

[@rieskaruisku]

Sigil II is one of those "John Romero's about to make you his b***h" moments.

[@CrucibleOfHate]

Yoooo SIGIL II released on my birthday, that's what we're talking about!

[@kanizan]

Happy fucking birthday !!

[@JustinQuinn623]

Without knowing the secrets, this is very hard. Romero has become allergic to health packs.

[@OblivionWalkerVerified]

Allergic to health packs lol

[@c4ptrampage386]

well, i'll be back to watch this once i've played sigil 2 myself, don't want spoilers.

[@comfortable.and.furious]

I just barely got this up and running in GZDoom (took forever for me to figure out how to turn off mouse free look) and my god, what a brutal first level on Ultra-Violence.

[@waterbreak]

Looking forward to your Eviternity 2 playthrough though :)

[@decino]

Not going to happen.

[@tomaspardo2013]

Now I know what I'm playing tonight

[@edzeppelin1984]

I just played this blind, expecting it not to be too hard. After I'd died three times in the opening room, I sat there and thought "wait, what?"

[@ChristopherAndersonPirate]

I didn’t even know Sigil 2 had released until this new Doom1+2 update (that I don’t like, feels like it has no options), but Sigil 2 comes with it and I’ve been having fun in it

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

30 year anniversary for D1. I still can't believe that I crafted two entire custom episodes of Doom fun nearly 100% alone ("Darkhell" and "Blakhell") so bloody long ago. And now, *I* am seeking a serious programmer! 🙂 Go figure.

[@SleeperJohns]

I always put on fast monsters + nightmare reaction in my Doom experience. Maybe because I'm a Quackhead.

[@ChefSalad]

Decino, you should do a tier list video with special guest star John Romero (if you can get him, lol) where you rank Doom II's enemies with respect to how good/fun/easy-to-map-with they are. I imagine Pain Elementals will rank low since they're annoying to play with and hard to use well, but Cacodemons will rank high since they're easy to use well and fun to play against, as examples.

[@DinnerForkTongue]

Pain Elementals are a tough case. They work brilliantly as player blockers and as "time bombs", as in the later you take care of them tue worse it gets. Else, they're an annoying Caco. I suspect Revenants will rate pretty high, as will Hell Knights. Archies are Archies. And as for Ms. Tier F, I wouldn't quite put her in bottom bracket off the bat. Look at how _dangerous_ Insane Gazebo made Spidermama in most of his maps. Especially The Cage!