Hello there, i'm MtPain27 and this is Dean of Doom,

the show we give grades to classic and contemporary Doom WADs.

Why? Because ranking things is fun!

Today's episode will be dedicated to Thy Flesh Consumed,

a 4th nine-level episode for Doom which was released in stores with the Ultimate Doom in 1995.

This is the final set of classic Doom levels that id Software ever worked on with old-hands John Romero,

American McGee and Sean Green each contributing two maps,

rounded out with submissions form Tim Willits who went on to work for id and John Anderson a.k.a Dr. Sleep.

This episode was shoehorned in as a prequel to Doom II,

even by id standarts the story element of this one is very lasy and can be thought of as a sort of DLC,

except back then it came for free if you bought the original game.

Hope The Ancient Gods - Part One is worth it, folks...

Anyway, i wanted to knock this one out because it's the last big classic Doom release that I haven't covered on this channel,

and seeing as i don't have the willpower to cover the Master Levels at the moment,

it'll probably be the last commercial Doom release i cover for quite some time. Let's get to it!

Before we dive in, here's how the show works:

we'll give each level on the WAD two grades - one for quality and one for difficulty.

We grade from A to F and difficulty from X to E - X for Extreme, E for Easy and A through D in between.

A "Grade A" level is fun, memorable, visually distinctive, creative and a fair challenge.

Lower grades indicate the level lacks some or all of these qualities.

Bear in mind that I'm just an average Doom player and these review reflect only my opinions,

so our definitions of difficulty and great map design will surely differ.

Disagreeing is part of the fun, after all.

At the end of the day this show is really about spreading the joy of doom, so let's do so.

For those new to the show, here are the rules:

One: we play on Ultra-Violence.

Two: we play each level from a pistol-start.

Three: in order to review the WAD, i must have played it at least twice.

Four: saves are allowed, but discouraged.

And five: i go for 100% kills in all levels, making exceptions in cases where it's not just worth it.

I play on ZDoom with compatibility settings on strict. Now, to the WAD.

E4M1: Hell Beneath.

It's illegal in my state to write a review about Hell Beneath without including the following disclaimer:

This map only has 9 health bonuses and no power-ups or recovery items except for one green armor.

Okay, now that's done...

Hell Beneath is more survival-horror than "rip and tear".

It's another example of American McGee's minimalist style: his map is about as spasious as a box of saltine crackers and covered in slime,

which you'll have to take a dip in to get this rocket launcher.

It's functionally impossible to kill everything in the level without it.

Shotgunners have never seen more threatening - every time you get clipped by one, you can kiss that health goodbye for good.

The teleporter traps at the beginning and in the red key building are almost guaranteed to chip away at your health,

And this map's five barons will gulp down the majority of your ammo including all your rockets.

McGee springs four of them at once on you when you activate this torch secret,

which famously displays the Nine Inch Nails logo.

I didn't get any footage of it because i was too busy running away like a bit~

Hell Beneath is an easy map to hate, but you know what?

I admire it, because it plays as evil as it feels.

That's what Doom is all about, isn't it?

E4M2: Perfect Hatred.

The story goes that John Romero started working on this map at midnight and finished it 6 A.M.

But frankly i find that a little hard to believe because Perfect Hatred is about as good a map as Romero ever made,

at least from a gameplay perspective.

It's very intense