So I beat this masterpiece recently. I liked what I played and all the praise this wad got is deserved. I beat every single map on UV without saves, but had to use saves in some of the maps before beating them saveless (namely MAP03, MAP06). Here's my thoughts about individual maps:
MAP01: Great opening map with a fantastic midi. Took me a bit to find some of the secrets.
MAP02: Nice map, I liked the environment and all the doomcute in this map. Gameplay wise it doesn't really stand out but it was still fun to play and does a good job at establishing the tone and atmosphere of the wad.
MAP03: Liked this one as well, but due to sandbox-y nature of the map I had to spend more time looking for secrets and figuring out the way to progress... But it was my own fault for being dumb. I actually liked the interconnectedness of the layout and extreme verticality in some of the places.
MAP04: Didn't really like this one. The layout felt like it was way too simplistic compared to the previous maps and I didn't like linearity of the map. It felt out of place for me... Also it was made by Jew-Ilya! Gross.
MAP05: Cool map, I had some trouble beating it blind and almost resorted to using saves but then I figured where the first 3 secrets were and that helped a lot. Not sure if you can beat the final fight without the secret invuln, I tried once before finding out where that invuln was and got my ass whooped. Monsters teleporting onto the lower floors were kinda annoying but also kinda cool because I had to juggle my threats when an arch-vile teleported downstairs and I had my back turned on revs and other crap.
MAP06: Really liked the atmosphere and combat in this map. It was pretty tough and I died quite a few times so it's the second map where I used saves before beating it saveless. Felt like fights in this map require preknowledge and the ammo was a tiny bit stingy, but I liked it. Sunlust in my Auger;Zenith?! Based. Also computer area secret wtf, I didn't need it lolll.
MAP07: Cool sandboxy map. I died a few times trying to grab the SSG first because the intended progression felt a bit tedious but overall I had fun. The only thing about this map I didn't like is secrets. They're not hard to find or anything (though I did have to open doom wiki to find out how to lower the dumpster where berserk was because I couldn't see it lol) but they all require the player to find the hidden switch nearby. And while I like the consistency, I wish one of the secrets would require a little bit of platforming or something like that because all of them felt too same-y. Also this map seemed quite a bit easier than MAP06 to me.
MAP08: Good map, but kinda forgettable. The amount of switches you have to press to progress felt a bit excessive. Don't really have much else to say about this one.
MAP09: Pretty forgettable map with meh detailing and basic layout. Not really bad, but I struggle to name a single thing I liked about it.
MAP10: Pretty cool exploration focused map. Combat was pretty easy for the most part, but it's not a bad thing. I liked exploring the map and there's some interesting texturing ideas and I think detailing was pretty nice. Almost beat it saveless on my first try but had to restart the map because I activated the all-ghosts bug in the final arena (turns out you can't use hitscan weapons here). But I couldn't get 100% kills on my second try either, some of the enemies didn't teleport in and one of the barons in the final arena became a ghost for some reason lol. So I decided to call it quits since I got pretty much everything the map had to offer.
MAP11: Nice open-ended map. Unfortunately I forgot to write notes about it after playing it for the first time, so can't say much more than that.
MAP12: I watched MtPain27's review before playing Aug;Zen so this map didn't really impress me. Actually, playing it was kinda annoying.
MAP13: Liked the combat in this map a lot. Had to beat it with saves first, just like I did with MAP06. I felt like visually it looks a tiny bit less detailed than MAP06 but still pretty good imo.
MAP14: Cool map. Fun combat and secrets. The final fight is a pushover though. I used DoomWiki to find out how to reach the sixth secret.
MAP15: Fun map. I enjoyed the gimmick and the combat wasn't too hard. I still managed to die in SMM/Baron fight T_T
The only thing about this map I didn't like is that it didn't have any secrets.
MAP16: This map has pretty fun combat. I couldn't find the secret soulsphere by myself so I had to open DoomWiki again lol. I missed a few shots during the final fight so I couldn't kill one of the viles. I don't have anything bad to say about this map. Good gameplay, good visuals, good midi...
MAP17: Great exploration focused map. I had a bit of a hard time finding all the kills and secrets and had to open DoomWiki again. There also was one revenant in an out-of-bounds closet that didn't teleport in because I missed something so I had to noclip to get 100% kills.
MAP18: Liked this one as well. Very fun combat and nice secrets. I really liked the setting of this map and that ship where you can find a secret plasma gun fight was pretty dope. I was a bit disappointed when I realized those grey pillars in the double archie fight are indestructible, but I guess it makes sense since it would look weird if the metal fence connecting the pillars wouldn't collapse.
MAP19: Outstanding map. I liked the free roaming combat and lots of doomcute in this map. It's a bit weird that it occupies MAP19 slot since it's essentially a power fantasy but I guess grand scale of the fights excuses it.
MAP20: This one was ok. The part with blinking lights is a bit irritating and I didn't like the Chasm secret because those spam ads were super annoying and I even had to use automap to find the secret lift.
MAP21: Short and very fun slaughter-y map. A fitting end for the megawad... I'm glad there were no secrets this time around so I wouldn't have to waste my time searching for them and focus entirely on the pew pew. After dying multiple times to the cyber rockets I decided to just use rewind when I get 100% kills and use cheats to escape the crushers. So I did. What else can I say... It was fun, the visuals and midi are great... That part where you come out of the curtain and start blasting BFG balls reminded me about the beginning of MAP30 from Scythe 2 lol.
MAP22: Credits map. Nice.
Screenshots:
imgbox.com/g/bt5cWZxu5r