Quite an interesting debut map (that I had the honour of beta testing). It starts out pretty typically, but then suddenly it opens up to the impressively expansive main section seen in the screenshot, which was a cool experience for me.

Aesthetics: Generally speaking, rooms are quite boxy, but some of them feature fairly intricate details, such as fountains and chandeliers. I especially liked the starting area, the dining room at the beginning, the main room featured in the screenshot and the arena room close to the ending of the map. The final rooms of the map, however, feel particularly empty and kind of out of place.

The map is divided thematically into distinct sections, which provide variation and make the map interesting to explore. The transitions between the sections are pretty good, but the transition to, what I assume to be the actual temple of doom, feels kind of abrupt and out of place.

There's also the thematic mismatch of having base buttons in a wizard environment, which at times sticks out kind of noticeably. There's also a shootable button with a texture generally attributed to pressable buttons. The context makes it obvious enough to shoot, though.

Gameplay: The map starts out traditionally, but the sprawling section in the screenshot really differentiates the map in both good and bad ways.

On one hand, the scale allows for some non-linear progression where the player can choose how to advance, while the enemies keep you occupied and challenged. The player is also fairly well stocked in supplies, regardless of the path he or she takes.

On the other hand, depending on where the player decides to explore, a lot of backtracking may occur, due to reaching the exit but without the key. There are some arrows and messages to hint the player on what he or she should do, but they may still not be enough to prevent the player from feeling directionless and going through unnecessary backtracking. The enemies in the main area, while providing a good amount of challenge, may feel a bit frustrating due to the player being exposed to many hitscan weapons firing from a long distance while the player is limited in sniping capabilites.

The map has a completely optional section that the player might first enter while deciding where to go in the main section. Entering this section first might make the map a bit tougher due to the player not having very powerful weapons nor armor at that point, but it's still not unfair, I think.

The arena fight towards the end of the map, while in a cool environment, feels kind of underwhelming. The player is provided with powerful stuff, while the opposition is kind of lacking. After the fight there are still a couple of mostly empty rooms with a few monsters and a button puzzle, which the map could maybe have done without, especially if the preceding arena fight had been more climactic in nature. Speaking of a button puzzle, the arena has a button puzzle where you need to shoot four buttons, but due to the buttons coming back up, you could just shoot a single button four times and be done with it.

All in all, a debut map with novel ideas that made it interesting and fun to play through, even with its quirks and flaws. Looking forward to GunSgtHighway making more maps in the future!

Well,

I'll try to be constructive.

I really liked the idea of a more open map. And thumbs up for showing the player the main objective of the map, that it was to find the gold key. I think that most of quake players starts the map with the tab pressed. When I saw that there were no secrets, it immeadiatly felt like exploring wasn't gonna happen. But when you have to shoot the four buttons to progress, I thought, ok.

When you see the open area, it really felt like a great thing. But you immediatly see some issues. You could distribute more super shotguns ou put it in a place that you were sure that the player would get, because it felt boring killing a lot of enemies with a single shotgun.

The prison areas (before the silver key door) felt like optional and unfinished. A maze like with inteconected corridors. I think quake works better with a more linnear approach.

When you get the silver key, I just ignored the enemies.

The exit part, after you get the golden key (In my case, I went there first) seems empty. And, because of the huge map, the 'connection areas' were just a drag and boring.

Overall, great first map, I like seeing enemies in the distance, feels like a natural thing. But I hoarded them like flies at the start, so it got kinda of difficult for the wrong reasons.

And the technical part, I think you could get more consistency. The thundergun is on top of a pressable button that doesn't gets pressed. There was a part of "push 4 buttons" but one of them was a shootable one.

As the map's name suggests, it's very Doom-like in both layout and gameplay. In particular, it reminds me of Sandy Petersen's maps in Doom II.

I agree with the criticisms that Esrael and Brunomiwa made--I found the progression choppy or confusing at several points, and the rooms toward the end of the map are under-detailed.

On the other hand, the room shown in the screenshot, with its wooden platforms and giant wall full of torch-lit alcoves, is unique and quite arresting visually. The opening courtyard is also nice. And I enjoyed the accompanying soundtrack, which accentuates the map's Doom-like atmosphere.

Overall, although the gameplay drags in places, this is impressive for a debut map, and I hope GunSgtHighway keeps mapping.

I really enjoyed this one, and for a first map really nice!

Interesting map for sure, the non-linear part feels interesting but sometimes I felt really lost. Would probably be better on another playthrough now I know what to do. Starting area is cool and the big reveal is also really cool, and the fact its non linear was neat. I do feel like if I didn't take a specific path I was understocked and got my ass kicked, and some areas felt really slow, and some spots I was soft locked and had to reload. Map felt very ambitious